8 Hollywood Movies Ruling this Oscars!

A movie is called a good one when it is able to entertain it's audience. What makes a movie great is if that movie succeeds in connecting with the audience and stays with them long after the movie has ended. The Oscars is a celebration of such movies. A platform where the world is made aware of the great films that were released in that specific year, which would've been lost and withered off if otherwise. Many great movies do not get the publicity they deserve owing to comparatively less budget they were made against their action/adventure counterparts. A way larger group of people were well aware of Furious 7 than Spotlight, which in turn won The Best Picture Oscar 2016. The Oscars make sure that a great movie reaches greater group of audience it deserves. Though there were fairly good number of cases where the Academy's judgement was wrong (The Crash winning Best Picture against The Brokeback Mountain, for one), their credibility is still intact today for the service they were successful in.

Though 2016 was not able to deliver to it's promise (Suicide Squad, The Allied, The Passengers), it gifted the world a few gems from the film industry. With The Oscars just around the corner, I take a look into eight such movies from Hollywood that are ruling this season.

8. Arrival

A movie that is being hailed as one of the best Sci-Fi movies of the decade, is not a movie for everybody. Exploring the idea of how the world would approach an alien touchdown in realistic manner ths movie stands out of any other alien movie ever made. The sound track is intriguing and engaging at the same time and the visuals are mesmerizing. With a genius film maker Dennis Villeneuve (Enemy, Prisoners and Sicario) taking the directors' place and with a star cast such as Forrest Whitaker, Jeremy Renner including a stellar performance from Amy Adams, this movie is a future classic in making. Beautiful take on the subject matter earned the movie 8 Oscar nominations and it is a favorite in at least 3 of the categories it is nominated in.

7. Hell or Highwater

This movie gave rebirth to westerns, one of most thrilling movie experiences. With a simple plot of two brothers robbing banks in order to save their ranch to save their future, the movie received global critical acclaim while released. I've also hailed the greatness of this movie on another list and how it was overlooked by Indian audience. Chris pine is extraordinary and Ben Foster steals the show alongside the one and only Jeff Bridges. The screenplay is engaging with one of the greatest character development in recent times. You know a movie is great when it has four characters and you care for all of them! Such brilliance earned this movie 4 Oscar Nominations with it being favorite in two of them.

6. Nocturnal Animals

 

It's been seriously long since I've watched such a thriller mixed with art masterfully that stayed long after I've watched it. Nocturnal Animals is dark, gritty and above all, a nail-biting thriller. With three of current industry expert actors, Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon, the movie never loses it's grip on the audience. The sound mixing is impeccable and it only adds flavor. Aaron-Taylor Johnson gives a terrific performance and demands the audience to acknowledge that he's a superstar of coming age. I still wonder how this movie missed out on Best Picture Nomination. Tom Ford, the one who designs for Gucci makes a movie and it is filled with art! This movie is contending in Best Supporting Actor Category and the competition is damn tough!

5. Moonlight

A story of a lifetime, Moonlight looks into three stages of Chiron, an African American. With the three stages broken into three chapters, the movie follows through changes in Chiron's life as he grows. Stellar performances from Mahershala Ali and Naomi Harris and beautifully depicted influence of drugs, bullying and homosexuality makes this movie a top contender for The Best Picture Oscar. Sound track is one of the best for the year. The frames are chosen with proper color dyes to depict transformations. All the three actors chosen to depict each stage of the lead's life does more than anybody can ask and all these qualities help this movie contend in 8 categories in the coming Oscars of which this stands as favorite in 5 categories.

4. Lion

Based on a true story of a boy who got lost in India and starts searching for his home using Google Earth, Lion is a heartbreaking drama of a son of two mothers. Though Dev Patel puts in a performance that's worthy of an Oscar nomination, it is Sunny Pawar, an 8 year old kid that steals the show. He was able to emote every kind of complicated emotion with utmost subtlety. Nicole Kidman put in a wonderful performance as a troubled mother with a kind heart. Cinematography is brilliant and lavish. The music adds to the content of the movie. Lion is contending in 6 categories for this Oscars.

3. Hacksaw Ridge

After being unofficially banished for 10 years, an Oscar Winning Director comes back to make a movie which instantaneously gains critical acclaim all over the world and shoots up to the sky to get nominated for Oscars in 6 categories including three major categories. Hacksaw Ridge is the story of a man who stood and lived for what he believed in by running into a battlefield without ever touching a weapon. Andrew Garfield gives a Oscar Nomination worthy performance and Mel Gibson is back with a bang. The movie doesn't hold itself back in telling one incredible story. The war sequences are shot with absolute brilliance and they terrify us to the core. Desmond Doss, the lead character looks like the light at the end of the tunnel. One movie that redefines hope and faith!

2. Manchester by the Sea

The story of a broken man carrying the weight of her three dead daughters. Manchester by the Sea is hailed all around as a movie that has the capacity to cause a massive heartbreak. The movie that depicts the true weight of guilt and regret. A man who has lost all the zeal for life has to look back at his life when he's handed a new responsibility. With a non-linear way of storytelling, the screenplay is just out-of-the-text-books perfect. Casey Affleck delivers a stellar performance with dead eyes and bent down shoulders with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Michelle Williams again gives a wonderful performance. The movie is contending in 6 Categories including three of the major ones.

1. La La Land

A Musical Romantic movie that demonstrates how success doesn't necessarily mean success. With two struggling individuals in their careers who falls in love with each other, the movie takes it's audience into a whirlwind of music and great writing and then by the ending, it drops them from there, breaking their hearts off. When two individuals sacrifice the love of their lives for their careers, they might make it high in their careers but the heart that bleeds, never stops doing so! Redefining how a romantic movie should look and feel, La La Land bagged 14 Oscar Nominations this season and stands favorite in most of them.

Honorable Mentions: Fences, Hidden Figures and Jackie.