Halfway Mark Pt 2: Fav Performances of 2025 (thus far)...

by Nathaniel R

Florence Pugh as "Yelena" in THUNDERBOLTS*

Favorite does not always equal "Best" but it's close enough for list-mania purposes! To close out the celebration of the best of approximate first half of the cinematic year (to be precise films that opened between January 1 and July 11 in the US), a shout-out to scene stealers, charismatic leads, and foundational supporting players. There's even a couple of day players in the mix here who made their tiny parts feel essential in one way or another. Herewith a non-definitive list of 25 performances that did it for this moviegoer from the first six months of screenings in 2025. (The numbers: I screened 41 new films in that time span and the 25 stand-outs ended up coming from 19 of those). 

I hope you'll share some of your favourite recent star turns in the comments. These twenty-five performances, presented in two parts (otherwise it would take way too long to post),  are in alpha order because this exercize is like comparing apples to oranges before sizing them up against mushrooms and succotash and dividing them by airplanes and railroads if you catch my nonsensical impossible drift. Ready? Let's go... 

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Halfway Mark Pt 1: Fav Films & Cinematic Achievements

by Nathaniel R 

Film years always start slow because distributors don't do their work evenly. The second half is more robust of course and we've just entered it. Though I always hope to have screened 50 films from the new year by approximately the halfway mark, this year I'm managed 41 to date. Neverthless, let's take stock of January 1st through July 11th (since we're posting just after Superman's opening). Yes, it's slightly more than six months of cinema but close enough. It's not that all of these "bests" from a shallow pool will linger as "favourites", but neither should they be automatically sacrificed to recency bias in December! 

The unofficial honors (with several write-ups) come after the jump...

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First Oscar Predictions of the Year - Complete!

Whew. That took longer than expected but you can now see all of the "April Foolish" first-round predictions for this Oscar year, albeit compiled in May & June and delivered to you in early July. Since the first wave of 20 categories takes so long to compile (updates are easier) we should note up front that James Vanderbilt's Nuremberg, another film centered on the Nuremberg Trials, was scheduled for a November 2025 release after the weeks of research for these charts so it is not yet included.  That said we can hardly claim it a certainty as a competitor. World War II is no longer automatic "Bait" for voters, Vanderbilt is not (yet) an Oscar player and though the cast has four previously nominated actors none are the sort that Oscar voters ALWAYS watch regardless. Anyway, we'll save it for the next up date.

What follows are a dozen key questions were asking ourselves in July about the upcoming competition before things really heat up during the fall film festivals. We've love to hear your thoughts on these 12 questions...

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Oscar Predix: Which actresses will receive their first Oscar nomination this coming season?

by Nathaniel R

Rose Byrne, Ayo Edebiri, and Renata Reinsve

We're almost done with the first round predictions for the Oscar charts. Today, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress and the question most prominent on our minds is which women will have "Oscar Nominee" after their names forever more? It's hard to tell this far out but we have some inkling of the possibilities...

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Oscar Predix: Which actors will have big years?

by Nathaniel R

Jonathan Bailey in WICKED FOR GOOD

This post's titular prompt question is not quite the same as "Who will be Oscar nominated this coming winter?" but having a big year in your career never hurts in gaining awards traction... or at least momentum for a future year. Will Jonathan Bailey's suddenly A-list career (with two potential giant blockbusters in a span of five months) convince Oscar voters that his SAG nomination last year should be mirrored with an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor? Will Sinners cultural dominance this spring help Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo land their first overdue Oscar nods early next year or will the zeitgiest move on?

These are just a couple of the questions I've been asking myself about the upcoming Oscar races for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor but there's more after the jump...

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