Oscars, Maybe ... : An Incomplete List of This Year's Possible Picks.

Kurt Loder
Thu, 01 Jan 2026 21:00:00 -0800
Lifestyle

I don't know if you realized this, but the Oscars are only 10 weeks away. How excited are you? Not very? A long time ago, back in the 1980s and '90s, the annual Academy Awards ceremony in some years might draw a national TV audience of more than 50 million people. Last year, with the movie industry still wobbling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure was under 20 million. As Seth Rogen once mused, maybe the public has just run out of interest in watching a herd of wealthy Hollywoodians gather in a fancy room every year to give each other prizes. Seth may be on to something there.

Having no special talent — and possibly an anti-talent — for predicting these things, I usually hesitate to pick Oscar nominees, let alone eventual winners. However, I do have a few thoughts about this year's crop of possibilities. Would you like to hear them?

First off, I think a substantial cache of statuettes should be set aside for Josh Safdie's "Marty Supreme," a mad rush of a movie that does for Ping-Pong (of all things) what "Pulp Fiction" did for rigged boxing, diner heists and wristwatch concealment. Splitting off from his brother Benny, with whom he codirected such nerve-grindingly intense films as "Good Time" and "Uncut Gems," Josh and his longtime cowriter Ronald Bronstein take us back to the funky Lower East Side of New York in the 1950s to watch an abrasive young hustler named Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) do whatever it takes to make his oddball dream of table-tennis supremacy come true.
Updated: Fri Jan 02, 2026

I don't know if you realized this, but the Oscars are only 10 weeks away. How excited are you? Not very? A long time ago, back in the 1980s and '90s, the annual Academy Awards ceremony in some years might draw a national TV audience of more than 50 million people. Last year, with the movie industry still wobbling from the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure was under 20 million. As Seth Rogen once mused, maybe the public has just run out of interest in watching a herd of wealthy Hollywoodians gather in a fancy room every year to give each other prizes. Seth may be on to something there.

Having no special talent — and possibly an anti-talent — for predicting these things, I usually hesitate to pick Oscar nominees, let alone eventual winners. However, I do have a few thoughts about this year's crop of possibilities. Would you like to hear them?

First off, I think a substantial cache of statuettes should be set aside for Josh Safdie's "Marty Supreme," a mad rush of a movie that does for Ping-Pong (of all things) what "Pulp Fiction" did for rigged boxing, diner heists and wristwatch concealment. Splitting off from his brother Benny, with whom he codirected such nerve-grindingly intense films as "Good Time" and "Uncut Gems," Josh and his longtime cowriter Ronald Bronstein take us back to the funky Lower East Side of New York in the 1950s to watch an abrasive young hustler named Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) do whatever it takes to make his oddball dream of table-tennis supremacy come true.

Chalamet brings a sizzling kick to the movie, and he's not alone in hitting some pretty high notes. Odessa A'zion ventures into Oscar-nod territory with her performance as Marty's worn-down semi-girlfriend Rachel; and Gwyneth Paltrow, returning to the big screen after a six-year hiatus, all but glows as a once-famous actress Marty gets involved with. I have some reservations about this movie (it's too long), but there's no denying its fresh energy (editing by Safdie and Bronstein) and its rich, lived-in look (production design by the great Jack Fisk).

Other possible Best Picture possibilities would be Paul Thomas Anderson's conceptually muddled "One Battle After Another," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ryan Coogler's ambitious, Black-centric western, "Sinners," with Michael B. Jordan and Jack O'Connell. Both of these movies have many enthusiastic supporters. In addition, there's also the possibility of Academy voters throwing a bone to James Cameron for his just-released "Avatar: Fire and Ash." I assume this third installment of the director's possibly never-ending franchise is another expensive fiesta of top-shelf cinematic technology. But I haven't seen it yet and, to be frank, I'm not in any rush.

Then there's "Weapons." If the Academy weren't famously uninclined to honor horror movies, this Zach Cregger production would be a natural Oscar candidate. Its ominous narrative is wonderfully creepy, and about halfway through Amy Madigan slithers onto the screen in a hair-raising performance as Gladys, a deranged biddy of a sort no one should ever invite into their home.

Finally, let's dole out some love for two more of the year's singular performances. One is by Rose Byrne, at a career peak as a woman being driven mad by various life annoyances (as we all so often are) in the hallucinatory "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You." The other standout is the gifted Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve — already an indie star for her work in Joachim Trier's great 2021 film "The Worst Person in the World," now lighting up the familial depths of Trier's exceptional "Sentimental Value."

All in all, 2025 was a good year for movies. For every dog (like "Honey Don't!" and "Better Man" — the monkey musical), there were solid flicks like "The Accountant 2" (a walloping action item with Ben Affleck) and "The Friend" (actually about a dog, featuring Naomi Watts and Bill Murray).

Those films are all worth belatedly seeking out. Now, with 2026 newly arrived, let's start all over again.