7 Movies Oscars Shouldn't Sleep On This Year

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It's always weird talking about the Oscars in November. Yes, I know some Oscar pundits start giving predictions as early as March of the previous year, before people have even settled over the most recent Oscar ceremony. I can't do that. I need to sit with things, and more often then not the movies I loved at the beginning of the year don't get much recognition by the time the heavy-hitters start dropping in December.

This year, I'm trying to mix up the usual Oscar talk. The Film Maven Road to the Oscar series is focused on the movies that not everyone is talking about, but that still show up on a studio's FYC page (and need more love). Between now and the close of Phase 1 Oscar nominations on December 11, I'm gonna be chatting with the people who have put together some of the movies I loved this year, and that Oscar voters should consider.

So, to kick things off, here are seven movies I don't think Oscar should sleep on this year. Be sure to drop your underrated Oscar choices in the comments below. And keep checking back every week as we go through the Road to the Oscars.

The Sheep Detectives (Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture)

Kyle Balda and Craig Mazin's The Sheep Detectives currently sits as my favorite movie of the year. The story of sheep solving crime blossoms out into almost a Lion King-esque story about the power of memory, and how one can't ignore the bad things that affect us. And, like The Lion King, it made me laugh and it made me sob like a baby.

Amazon has two movies on this list and yet it feels like they're putting most of their eggs into the baskets of Project Hail Mary and I Play Rocky. The first one I liked and the second one I haven't seen yet. And while Project Hail Mary has some fantastic effects work, the visual effects are equally impressive in Sheep Detectives. So much so that you never get that divide wherein you presume the actors are just acting opposite a tennis ball. The script's excellent pacing and strong depth of emotion certainly makes it worthy of a screenplay nod and, like The Lion King, it's perfect enough to be worthy of a Best Picture nomination.

Send Help (Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay)

The trades have spent a lot of time this year talking about the resurgence of genre cinema, specifically horror, in the wake of the success of Obsession and Backrooms. But I'm not hearing nearly enough people talk about the movie that came out before them: Send Help. The Searchlight-released feature dropped at the end of January where it quickly garnered strong reviews and some very early Oscar talk. That talk has dissipated since then but I'd like to bring it back. Mark Swift and Damian Shannon's script – wholly original, mind you – is funny, inventive, scary, and packs a punch in its discussion of gender dynamics. In the year we've had, it's a cathartic shout for all the anger us ladies have held onto for....a long time.

On top of that, there's not nearly enough discussion of Rachel McAdams as the film's anti-heroine, Linda Liddle. McAdams has only ever been nominated for one Oscar in her career, that being for the 2016 movie Spotlight, which is criminal on its own. As Linda, McAdams makes you root for her even when she does something terrible. She holds an inner strength underneath a pitiable veneer that's superb. When she goes for broke it rests at the knife's edge between utterly wacky and terrifying. It's a performance I never get tired of analyzing.

Is God Is (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actress)

Aleshea Harris's adaptation of her stage play is another early year release that critics loved when it dropped. The story of two twin sisters seeking revenge against their father is operatic and heartbreaking in the way the best Greek tragedies are. It introduces Harris as a bold new visionary voice in directing.

On top of that, leads Kara Young and Mallori Johnson have a phenomenal chemistry together. They're funny and bonded to each other as Racine and Anaia, respectively, yet that bond ends up fueling the two to go down different roads throughout the film. Young's performance is brash, while Johnson's is quieter. One without the other wouldn't work. This dark, twisted roadtrip movie is one that I have still found myself thinking of throughout the year.

Misty Green (Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay)

Chris Rock's examination of a once-successful actress getting a second wind may sound like a story that's been told before, but never this realistically. I've lived in Los Angeles nearly a decade and Misty Green is a very inside Hollywood story that too often isn't told because of the level of complicity that it points the finger at. This is a movie that openly discusses things like yachting and the fine line women continually work in this industry between actress and sex worker, much of it just seen as the price of doing business. Rock makes additional points about the growing mental health crisis in the city, and how too often the richest people in the world live next to the poorest, and neither the two really meet.

Rosalind Eleazar gives a fascinating performance as the title character. A woman who is the epitome of "difficult," and yet there's far more that lies beneath the surface. Her decisions are often fueled by a mix of personal selfishness and fear that leave the viewer frustrated, determined to watch her succeed. It's a painfully acute L.A. story and one I've never seen done before.

Behemoth (Best Score, Best Supporting Actress)

Behemoth is not a perfect movie, but it has one of my favorite scores of the year. That's not surprising considering the Behemoth Collective that assembled the music consists of the best composers in existence, including Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, and Alan Silvestri. It's a sweeping, beautiful mix of music that does a lot of the heavy lifting for the movie. I'd also make an argument for Eva Victor in the film. She has a small role, the epitome of supporting, as one of the women in Pedro Pascal's life and she is so magnetic. She merely has to smile and it's easy to see why her memory carries through the entire feature.

Fjord (Best Actor, Best Actress)

It's surprising that Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan aren't deeper into the Oscar conversation considering the debates I've had about the movie Fjord. Even if a person didn't like the movie I've still heard about how much they enjoyed the performances. Stan and Reinsve do some fantastic work here as two parents who move to Norway and are threatened with losing their children after child abuse claims pop up. As I said in my interview with Reinsve, so much of her performance is just watching her react, often during moments where she believes she's alone. Stan's character bubbles with anger, so much so that it creates ambiguity when the two are put on trial. The pair worked so wonderfully together in 2024's A Different Man that the shorthand carries over to their work here. They're a dazzling screen team.

Wicker (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress)

I've been saying it for at least two months now: Give Wicker all the awards! Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson's script is crackling with wit, sexy as hell, and incisive in its discussion of gender dynamics. The entire ensemble cast is great, but it is the interplay between Olivia Colman and Elizabeth Debicki that sticks with me.

Colman is all rough edges, something we've seen from her before, but as Fisherwoman you can see the decades of hurt lying behind her eyes. She's afraid of love, and the arrival of the Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgard) brings up forty-odd years of anger and sadness to the surface. It's why the fairy tale nature of the movie is so wonderful to see play out. Alongside her is Debicki as the villainous Tailor's Wife. And, really, villain is a strong word as Debicki plays the character more as callous and unfeeling, similarly hardened by having her dreams crushed. Their dynamic is just as passionate as the romantic one between Colman and Skarsgard.

What movies do you think are worthy of Oscars this year? Drop them in the comments below.

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