Deadline’s Best Picture Oscar Nominees

The Oscar nominations on Tuesday revealed a best picture race spanning a variety of films, from blockbusters such as Avatar: the way of water and Top Gun: Maverick to a film that debuted at a non-traditional awards festival (Everything, everywhere, all at onceat SXSW), winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes (triangle of sadness) and fall festival favorites like Venice (The Banshees by Inisherin, Taright), Toronto (The Fabelmans, very quiet on the western front) and tellurides (women talk). The king also entered the building elvis.

The deadline was present from the first look at each with its ratings. Click on each title to see what we called them.

No news from the western front (netflix)

A Netflix/theme park film co-produced with Gunpowder Films in association with Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment/Anima Pictures Production
Malte Grünert, producer

world premiere: Toronto Film Festival
Release date: October 7, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “Why don’t you tell this very German story from a German perspective for a change? Amazingly, this has never been done before, but now it has happened with a film that looks very polished thanks to fine cinematography by James Friend, production design by Christian M. Goldbeck and a great score by Volker Bertelmann.

Avatar: the way of water (Walt Disney)

A 20th century studio production
James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers

world premiere: London
Release date: December 15, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “The film is beautiful, obsessive and moving, a depiction of a true Eden threatened by fiery destructive forces, both natural and man-made. No one who loved the original will think of missing this sequel, which both creatively and financially raises the bar for everything to come.

The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)

A Blueprint Pictures/Film4/TSG Entertainment production
Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh

world premiere: Venice Film Festival
Release date: October 20, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “Martin McDonagh still has some delicious devilish tricks up his sleeve The Banshees by Inisherina simple and diabolical tale of the end of a friendship, laced with sharp humor and sudden moments of terrifying violence.”

Elvis (Warner Bros.)

A Bazmark production
Baz Luhrman, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss

world premiere: the Cannes Film Festival
Release date: June 23, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “There’s a constant undertone when Presley sticks to his own natural instincts rather than letting Parker follow is, it would have been very different. The sophistication of this film is not only to introduce the man behind the title, but also to show what the machine behind Elvis really was and who made it possible.”

Everything everywhere at once (A24)

A production of Hot Dog Hands
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, producers

world premiere: SXSW
Release date: March 24, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “In Everything everywhere at once, nothing you see is a coincidence…. Every topic addressed is crucial to moving the story forward, thanks to the Daniels and their powerful storytelling. And when you think things have reached the point of ridiculousness, you trick the directors again by raising the stakes even more.

The Fabelmans (Universal/Amblin affiliates)

An Amblin Partners production
Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, producers

world premiere: Toronto Film Festival
Release date: November 11, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “There’s so much to discover in Spielberg’s memory game, a throwback to the boy who would become a legend in his own right, but TIFF’s opening-night audiences assured that this is not his farewell.”

Tár (focus functions)

A Standard Film Company/EMJAG production
Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, producers

world premiere: Venice Film Festival
Release date: October 7, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “…The film represents a bold and rather lavish immersion in a rarefied world and features a rarely seen lead role. For anyone seriously interested in the visual arts, this is something to keep breathing.”

Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)

A Paramount Pictures/Skydance/Jerry Bruckheimer Films production
Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers

world premiere: USS Midway, San Diego
Release date: May 26, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “The timing and execution of this long-running sequel is not only superb, it surpasses the original in every way imaginable, from an omniscient performance for the ages, from Cruise to the emotional storyline. Breathtaking “Airlines and pretty much everything you’d expect from a studio blockbuster.”

Triangle of Sadness (Neon)

A platform production
Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, producers

world premiere: the Cannes Film Festival
Release date: October 7, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “triangle of sadness is a motto about equality: that it does not exist, it cannot exist, that while catastrophe may spell the downfall of the top dogs, new mutts will replace them and behave in the same way.

Talking Women (Orion Pictures/United Artists Release)

A Plan B Entertainment / Hear/Say production
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, producers

world premiere: Telluride Film Festival
Release date: December 22, 2022
Taking away the deadline: “Polley works to develop a tone that is seductive in its ephemerality; it is playful yet deadly serious, dreamy yet devoted to the essence of life, aesthetically playful even when faced with harsh reality. It hops and dances and is hard to pin down, even as it prepares to deliver its heavy blows…”