The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures

Source: h/t DALL-E.

The Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, March 15, 2026. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right? Regardless, I've ranked the movies in order of my preference for "Best Picture."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science uses ranked choice voting (RCV) to ensure that the winner has broad support throughout the Academy members. I wish US political elections used something similar (see proportional voting). But that's for another post.

My personal ranked choice of the Oscar nominees is based on the grades I gave the movies immediately after seeing them. In case of ties, I ordered them by my judgment today. Note this is not my prediction of which movie will win but how I would vote, if I had a vote. (The bettors are picking "One Battle After Another". I think "Sinners" could win in an upset.)

The envelope please. The winner of "The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures" goes to...

Blue Moon (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Blue Moon (2025): At the bar in NY's Sardi's, Lorenz Hart watches his former partner Richard Rodgers celebrate the opening of Oklahoma! Ethan Hawke is masterful portraying a musical genius in decline. With just one set, and one night, it feels like a stage play, one with little dramatic arc. B+

Netflix

Hamnet (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Hamnet (2025): It's not a Shakespeare biopic. Its fiction that uses Shakespeare to tell a story about parental grief. Grief hangs heavily over the whole movie. But eventually Chloé Zhao uses a Shakespearean tragedy to wring a few drops of catharsis out of tragedy. Heartbreaking. Brilliant. A-

Peacock

The Secret Agent (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Secret Agent (2025): Portuguese. Political thriller set in Brazil in 1977 during the military dictatorship. Tension is already in the opening scene in a desert gas station, builds constantly but leisurely, until it's broken with violence in last few minutes. Too many characters to keep straight. B-

Hulu

The Rip (2026)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Rip (2026): Crime story and action thriller starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as Miami cops struggling to deal with a huge cache of cash that crooks and corrupt cops all have their eyes on. Even though you never know who is going to die next, somehow your money is never on Damon or Affleck. C+

Netflix

Sentimental Value (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Sentimental Value (2025): A filmmaker, estranged from his family, wants to make a movie in his old house with one of his daughters in the lead. She and her sister aren't ready to reconcile. Good examination of the intersection of art and personal life. Excellent acting all around. A-

Prime

Ripple (TV 2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ripple (TV 2025): Lives of four people in NY come together by random events. Their stories are heartwarming and heartbreaking, with lots of tugs at the heart strings. Made for Hallmark+ (it shows), bought by Netflix, good enough to be greenlit for season 2. C+

Netflix

Bugonia (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Bugonia (2025): Wacky conspiracy theorist (Jesse Plemons) kidnaps a drug company CEO (Emma Stone), convinced she's an extraterrestrial planning to destory the Earth. Most of the movie is them failing to communicate, as the blood and stakes rise in this black comedy. Oscar nominations are deserved. A-

Peacock

Agatha Christie's Seven Dials (TV 2026)

Rotten Tomatoes

Agatha Christie's Seven Dials (TV 2026): Fast-moving (only 3 episodes) whodunnit set in a 1925 English country house. Like the original, the hero is a smart young woman who is the equal of the superintendent detective investigating the murder. Not bad for a story from 1929. C+

Netflix

The Amateur (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Amateur (2025): Rami Malek stars as a low-level CIA analyst whose wife is killed and wants revenge, only to uncover a bigger crime involving the CIA itself. Malek lacks the killer instinct, leading to gimicky methods to take out his wife's killers. That's the only thing novel about this. B-

Hulu

A House of Dynamite (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

A House of Dynamite (2025): A single ICBM is headed towards the US. 18 minutes until impact. Tension mounts as the entire government — military, diplomatic, political — tries to determine who is behind it and how to counter it. A thriller without resolution. B+

Netflix

Nobody 2 (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Nobody 2 (2025): Bob Odenkirk plays a working stiff whose undercover job happens to be assassin. In this sequel, he just wants to take his family on vacation to an aging theme park in Wisconsin, where he runs into all kinds of bad guys, which he dispatches in clever ways. Think of this as a violent "Home Alone" for grownups. C+

On airplane

Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Jurassic World Rebirth (2025): Nothing wrong here, just meh. A predictable story about having to get DNA samples from the three largest, baddest beasts on land, sea, and air. What's missing is intelligence and cunning on the part of any dinosaurs, like those velociraptors in the original. C+

Peacock

Ballerina (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ballerina (2025): The torch is passed on the John Wick saga. Ana de Armas takes over as an assasin in training. Same old shit as Keanu Reeves's four movies. If you like action movies with lots of violence (or you're stuck on an airplane over the Atlantic), this could be for you. C+

On airplane

The Chair Company (TV 2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Chair Company (TV 2025): Corporate fraud thriller/comedy? Tim Robinson plays a manager whose chair collapses while he's giving a presentation. He's embarrassed enough to investigate the chair company and uncovers a vast conspiracy theory that gets more convoluted as time goes on. Don't expect answers. C-

HBO Max

Ne Zha II (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ne Zha II (2025): Children's movie, but be warned: it's nonstop violence. Visually stunning animation, but the style seems to change with each scene. Too many characters. Too much confusing back story. Maybe you have see Ne Zha I first. C+

HBO Max

Marty Supreme (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Marty Supreme (2025): Timothee Chalamet plays a small-time, fast-talking hustler trying to beg, borrow, or steal the funds needed to get into the world table tennis championship in Tokyo. Fascinating to watch the acting, even if you can't like the character. A-

In theatres

Pluribus (TV 2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Pluribus (TV 2025): Extraterrestrials make everyone on Earch happy. Only Rhea Seehorn is immune. So she takes it as her mission to save the world from happiness. It's like a Twilight Zone episode where the twist happens in the first episode and the interesting part is watching how it all plays out for nine episodes. A-

AppleTV

Materialists (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Materialists (2025): A professional matchmaker's own perfect man must offer it all — love and money. When a client is sexually assaulted, she questions everything about her job and her own goals. The first half of movie is a thought-provoking look at dating. Second half reverts to rom-com tropes. B-

HBO Max

Ballad of a Small Player (2025)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ballad of a Small Player (2025): High stakes gambling addict knows his luck will change if he can just con someone into staking him enough for one big bet. Colin Farrell is great and Macau is luxurious, but the plot and the characters are threadbare. C+

Netflix