8 Best Picture frontrunners and where to watch them now

The 8 Best Picture Frontrunners (6 you can watch from your couch)

After a history of five nominees and the past decade with a flexible 5-10 nominees, the Academy returns to a set of 10 nominations for Best Picture in 2022. Based on prior festival and industry wins, 8 films have emerged as front runners. 6 are streaming for home enjoyment, and all are totally Ten Buck worthy. Enjoy!

1. Belfast

In a nutshell: From the very start, open up your heart; Belfast is a story of everlasting love. Set in 1969 during the height of the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, Kenneth Branagh’s love letter to his youth is a family drama that you won’t soon forget.
Where to see it: VOD
Likely Oscar nominations (11): Best Picture, Director Kenneth Branagh, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Supporting Actress Balfe, Supporting Actors Jamie Dornan and Ciaran Hinds, Editing, Production Design, Sound

2. The Power of the Dog 

In a nutshell:  “Adapted from Thomas Savage's dramatic novel of the American West” and “directed by Jane Champion” are two phrases I never expected to put together, yet The Power of the Dog is just that. Campion’s films (The Piano, Portrait of a Lady) are generally a work of castration to its characters and well, mankind. Fittingly, her first movie in a decade delivers an actual one. However, she kept me guessing at the path and the ending and I was truly surprised at the final landing place. A rare feat.

Where to see it: Netflix

Likely Oscar nominations (11): Best Picture, Director Jane Campion, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, Supporting Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, Supporting Actor Jesse Plemons, Supporting Actress Kirsten Dunst,  Editing, Original Score

3. West Side Story

In a nutshell: It should have been a lose-lose idea. Staying close to the 10-Oscar winning classic could be too corny. Redoing it; blasphemy. But Spielberg’s vision worked in all the right places while keeping the perfect tone. Turns out, we need both the perfect 1961 film and a new one.
Where to see it: Theaters
Likely Oscar nominations (11): Best Picture, Director Steven Spielberg, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Supporting Actress Ariana DeBose, Supporting Actress Rita Moreno, Costume Design, Editing, Makeup & Hair, Production Design, Sound

4. Dune

In a nutshell: Long ago in a film world far away, Dune was never given the sci-fi film treatment the well-loved book deserved. The sands have shifted and all has been corrected.

Where to see it: HBO Max
Likely Oscar nominations (11):Best Picture, Director Denis Villeneuve, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Makeup & Hair, Original Score, Production Design, Sound, Visual Effects

5. CODA

In a nutshell: CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) is a predictable, feel-good family film that feels more like a TV hit than cinema perfection. However, it hits all the right notes and has kept in Oscar conversation far longer than one would have expected.

Where to see it: Apple +
Likely Oscar nominations (4): Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur, Supporting Actress Marlee Matlin

6. King Richard

In a nutshell: No surprise, Will Smith keeps the story of the Williams family serious but never heavy. Along with West Side Story, this is one of the films offering a fully diverse cast. There's some sloppy dialogue and some corny stuff at play here, but the film has its fans and it should make the list.

Where to see it: VOD
Likely Oscar nominations (6): Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Actor Will Smith, Supporting Actress Aunjanue Ellis, Original Score, Best Original Song,

7. Tick, Tick...Boom!

In a nutshell: In a nutshell: Lin-Manuel -Miranda’s (Hamilton) musical could have gone wrong in so many ways. It could have been too-Broadway, too-melancholy or too-light or too-silly, but it turned out just too amazing. 

Where to see it: Neflix

Likely Oscar nominations (5): Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Actor Andrew Garfield, Editing, Sound

8. Licorice Pizza

In a nutshell:  A breezy surprise from master Paul Thomas Anderson and the most breezy, enjoyable movie of the year. For drama+comedy, I prefer it to CODA.
Where to see it: Theaters
Likely Oscar nominations (5): Best Picture, Director Paul Thomas Anderson, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor Bradley Cooper, Costume Design

The Last Two Slots

Here's the tea. House of Gucci (Theaters) will get 5-7 nominations, but will it make Best Picture? I think it has a chance because I believe Don't Look Up is a slight film that may have peaked too soon — and comedies don't usually make the list. 

9. House of Gucci

Being the Ricardos (Amazon) is a mess of a picture although Kidman, Bardem and Sorkin are front runners in the category, so one might look to the excellent The Lost Daughter (Netflix). Olivia Colman may get nominated for it, and female Maggie Gyllenhaal may likely win for her adapted screenplay... 

10. Drive My Car

...but I think the best money is on Director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, a Japanese road drama film in theaters.