M&M's says it will replace "spokescandies" with Maya Rudolph

M&M's announced Monday it is putting its iconic characters on an "indefinite pause" and replacing them with actress Maya Rudolph after controversy following its mascot makeover last year.

The brand said it didn't expect the changes to their "spokescandies," the colorful cartoon M&M's mascots, would "break the internet," noting that “even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.”

“In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies," M&M's said in a statement on Twitter. "We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet.”

Early last year, M&M's gave the mascots more unique personalities and a new look. The brand also introduced a new purple M&M in September meant to represent acceptance and inclusivity.

"We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong," the brand said. Rudolph confirmed the news in an interview with Today.

M&M's said Rudolph will be starring in the brand's upcoming Super Bowl campaign and will assume the role of "Chief of Fun, using her humor and captivating personality to help the brand build on its mission to create a world where everyone feels they belong."

"While we can’t say much more now, fans should keep an eye on M&M’S social media channels and MMS.com to see more of Maya’s journey, and we will share more on the spokescandies new pursuits over the next few weeks," M&M's said in an email.

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M&M's controversy

The rebrand sparked backlash from conservatives, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who have criticized the "woke M&M's."

As part of the makeover, the green M&M's notably changed her knee-high heeled boots for sneakers. The brown M&M's, meanwhile, switched her stilettos for shorter heels.

Carlson lambasted the change in character design last year, saying “M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous.”

Being polarizing is "the last thing M&M’s wanted since we’re all about bringing people together," the company said. "Therefore, we have decided to take an indefinite pause on the spokescandies.”

It's not clear how long the pause will last. The brand posted a video on social media Sunday featuring the mascots in celebration of the Lunar New Year.


Diane Warren, 'Susan Lucci of the Oscars,' hopes No. 13 is charm

With 13 Academy Award nominations and no wins, legendary songwriter Diane Warren says in a way she’s “happy to be the Susan Lucci of the Oscars.”

For Warren, a master of the cinematic power ballad, it’s about longevity – writing for films since the 1980s, doing "my best work" now at 65 and having “Somehow You Do” up for best original song at Sunday's Oscar ceremony. Honestly, Warren prefers this path to, say, winning 20 years ago and never getting nominated again.

That said, she hopes her losing streak doesn’t mirror soap-opera icon Lucci’s long wait for an Emmy. “It took her 19 times to win. That gives me six more times before it happens,” Warren quips.

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For the most-nominated woman in Oscar history without a win, this year’s nod is particularly sweet because it was unexpected. “Somehow You Do,” from the Glenn Close and Mila Kunis addiction drama “Four Good Days,” faces competition from Billie Eilish, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Van Morrison and Beyoncé on Oscar night and was shortlisted with Jay-Z, Jennifer Hudson and U2. “I was like the little engine that could,” Warren says. “When they announced the nominations, I like had five heart attacks because my song was the very last song.”

Starting with "Rhythm of the Night" in 1985 for "The Last Dragon," Warren has been writing songs commissioned by producers for a multitude of films as well as "casting" singers for those tunes. "They have to be authentic to the movie. That's almost like another character," says Warren, whose first two Oscar-nominated songs – "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" for "Mannequin" (1987) and "Because You Loved Me" for "Up Close & Personal" (1996) – were No. 1 hits. The latter garnered Warren her first, and so far only, Grammy Award.

Warren takes USA TODAY through highlights from her Academy Award songbook, from the stories behind the music to which songs had the best chance of victory:

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‘How Do I Live’ (‘Con Air,’ 1998)

LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood both did versions, though nothing was going to stop an unsinkable mega-hit from “Titanic.” “There was no chance,” Warren says of going up against “My Heart Will Go On.” “Everybody that was nominated that year was like, ‘OK, let's just go have fun.’ ”

‘I Don't Want to Miss a Thing’ (‘Armageddon,’ 1999)

While “The Prince of Egypt” track “When You Believe” won the Oscar, Warren’s tune was a pop-culture heavyweight and remains the only No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 in Aerosmith’s storied career. “That song has become a classic,” she says. Aerosmith "never did other people's songs. They did a Beatles song once and that doesn't count because it's a Beatles song. I was really the first songwriter song they ever did.”

‘Music of My Heart’ (‘Music of the Heart,’ 2000)

It was Warren’s idea to team ’N Sync with Gloria Estefan, who starred in the drama about teachers with Meryl Streep. Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in My Heart” (from “Tarzan”) won but “Music” meant a lot to Warren, who was inspired to write the song by “a camp counselor when I was young who had an impact on my life,” she says. “I remember the night I played it for her, and that was a really cool moment.”

‘There You’ll Be’ (‘Pearl Harbor,’ 2002)

It was a rough road to Oscar night, even before losing to “If I Didn’t Have You” (from “Monsters, Inc.”). “Pearl Harbor” producer Jerry Bruckheimer “just kept making me rewrite it like 20 times,” she recalls. “A lot of jumping through hoops on that one but that worked out. He said, ‘Do not send that to an artist till I approve it.’ And meanwhile, I'd sent it to Faith Hill. She was ready to record it. I usually don't listen when people tell me what to do. And everybody usually benefits when I do that.”

‘Til It Happens to You’ (‘The Hunting Ground,’ 2016)

Until Sam Smith’s James Bond song “Writing’s on the Wall” (from “Spectre”) won, Warren was confident Oscar glory would finally be hers – especially after Lady Gaga’s “spectacular” performance with sexual assault survivors. “It went to a commercial break and everybody did kind of think that was going to win. ‘And the winner is … not that song.’ I've got to say, I was bummed at that one.”

‘Stand Up for Something’ (‘Marshall,’ 2018)

Andra Day and Common’s Oscar night performance of the number – which lost to “Remember Me” (from “Coco”) – was another “pretty phenomenal” memory for Warren, she says. Day and Common were joined by a stage full of “amazing people” including Black Lives Matter and #MeToo activists. “That was a really awesome performance and that's one of my favorite songs as well.”

‘I’ll Fight’ (‘RBG,’ 2019)

Warren figured correctly that Gaga’s ‘A Star Is Born” hit “Shallow” was going to win the night. But "I'll Fight" was an example of Warren “casting” the perfect artist for a movie song – in this case, Jennifer Hudson. “With Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I wanted her avatar to be this big-voice diva because she's so small in stature and very soft-spoken. But her words are loud. Her words have changed people's lives, they've changed laws,” Warren says. “If Ruth Bader Ginsburg could sing, she'd be Jennifer Hudson.”

‘I’m Standing With You’ (‘Breakthrough,’ 2020)

Elton John’s “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” (from “Rocketman”) was victorious against Warren’s tune. She says she originally wanted to go for another artist (“Kelly Clarkson or somebody like that”) because she didn’t know if “Breakthrough” star Chrissy Metz could sing. “I had her come in with my producer and I left because I didn't want any negative vibes in the studio: ‘I don't really want you, but let me hang out with you while you sing.’ So I came back and heard what she did and she sounded amazing.”

‘Somehow You Do’ (‘Four Good Days,’ 2022)

The singer performing a movie song is “almost like another character,” says Warren, and RebaMcEntire “just embodies resilience and strength” in a tune about surviving. And going up against heavy hitters at this year’s Oscars, “it's one of my best songs I think. I love what it says. I love the message of it. I love the melodies in it. It seems to resonate with people and that makes a song special.”

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Oscar watch! These 5 hits absolutely could win best picture this year

It’s perhaps a shade ironic that Academy Awards flirted with having a most-popular-film Oscar this year to get more eyes tuned into the Feb. 24 ceremony, and the best-picture slate might be inundated with hits anyway.

Oscar best pictures aren’t always the biggest box-office powerhouses: Last year’s winner, "The Shape of Water,” grossed only $63.9 million – not a lot, yet a mother lode compared with the $17 million haul of 2010 best picture “The Hurt Locker.” But the 2019 list of Producers Guild Award nominees – a bellwether for Oscars – offers up five films that have made more than $174 million (“Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “A Quiet Place” and "A Star Is Born”). And the upset victory for best drama by Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” at Sunday’s Golden Globes could be a sign that winds are blowing in favor of a populist crowd-pleaser.

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Even though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences temporarily shelved a popular-film Oscar, the category where awards-worthy blockbusters like "Mary Poppins Returns" and "Black Panther" might have landed instead, next month's ceremony looks to star some audience-approved entries. With no apparent front-runner yet heading into the Oscar nominations on Jan. 22, here are five cinematic smashes (in alphabetical order) that could take Hollywood’s biggest prize:

‘Black Panther’

Key nominations from the Globes, PGA, Writers Guild Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards make an Oscar best-picture nomination all but certain for 2018’s cinematic superhero powerhouse, which will also place in some technical categories (and has an outside shot at supporting actor for Michael B. Jordan). The fact that it’s critically acclaimed and made $700 million help at a show that has honored blockbusters before (see: “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”). Add in the movie’s universal goodwill and a younger, more diverse academy voting contingent, and Marvel’s first Oscar might be a memorable one.

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

Love it or hate it, the cinematic ode to Freddie Mercury isn’t going anywhere. The Golden Globes win plus Screen Actors Guild best-cast nomination solidifies its place as a contender. “Rhapsody” also has a strong leading man in Rami Malek, who won a best-actor Globe, is up for the same honor at SAGs and has a good shot at landing in that Oscar category, too. People just love him in this movie, and enough academy voters might be wooed by the excellent Queen tunes. A “Rhapsody” best-picture win might have been laughable to some Oscar watchers a week ago – now it doesn’t seem so stone-cold crazy.

‘Crazy Rich Asians’

Of the likely best-picture nominees, the all-Asian romantic comedy is probably the biggest throwback to old-school Hollywood, and its ostentatious vibe and feel-good nature could play well for Oscar voters still into the classics. “Asians” has the right resume – with Globe and Producers Guild nominations, plus a best-ensemble nod from SAG, which makes up the largest voting bloc in the academy. And like with “Black Panther,” its emphasis on representation will appeal to a crop of changing Oscar voters.

‘A Quiet Place’

John Krasinski’s popular horror film is a true dark horse compared with the other four here, since "A Quiet Place" is sitting on the fence waiting to see if it'll get invited to the party. But it has quietly ratcheted up an impressive awards campaign, earning nods from the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild. (Between this and "Mary Poppins," Emily Blunt could boast of being in two best-picture nominees, though Globe-nominated "Poppins" doesn't have the PGA and SAG cast nominations usually associated with the eventual winner.) “A Quiet Place” also could score nominations in technical Oscar categories with its innovative use of sound (and lack thereof); plus, the presence of “Get Out” in last year’s field suggests chillers are being taken pretty seriously these days. If no one or two films break from the pack, “A Quiet Place” could make some noise.

‘A Star Is Born’

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s built-for-Oscar musical love story won just one Globe out of a possible five – and lost to “Bohemian Rhapsody” for best drama and actor, which sent some heads spinning. Don’t panic: The Globes aren’t historically the greatest indicator for Oscar success, and “Star” remains the closest thing to a favorite there is this year. There’s a good chance it’ll earn a swath of high-profile nominations (as many as three acting nods, plus an obvious song nomination and likely director and screenplay honors, too), and it’s a well-regarded redo of one of the quintessential Hollywood tales. So no reason to throw away those acceptance speeches yet, Bradley and Gaga.

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"It Happened One Night" (1935): "It Happened One Night" was one of the great underdog winners. Its studio, Columbia, wasn't considered one of the majors at the time, and neither Clark Gable nor Claudette Colbert, its stars, were excited about the project. But it became the first film to sweep the five major categories of picture, actor, actress, director and screenplay. To this day, only two other films -- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) and "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) -- have pulled off the same trick. Columbia Pictures Corporation

Oscar winners 2022 full list: Who won at the Academy Awards?

Favorite "CODA," about a deaf fishing family and their hearing daughter, won best picture at Sunday's 94th Academy Awards. Will Smith and Jessica Chastain took home the top acting prizes and Jane Campion won for best director for her Western "The Power of the Dog."

The Academy Awards returned to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and had a host (three of them, actually) for the first time in four years.

Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes co-hosted the festivities, which had strict COVID-19 protocols in place: Guests were required to show proof of vaccination, as well as undergo several rounds of testing.

Who took home honors at the 94th annual Academy Awards? Check out the list of Oscar winners (in bold):

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Best picture

"Belfast"

Winner: "CODA"

"Don't Look Up"

"Drive My Car"

"Dune"

"King Richard"

"Licorice Pizza"

"Nightmare Alley"

"The Power of the Dog"

"West Side Story"

Best actress

Winner: Jessica Chastain, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye"

Olivia Colman, "The Lost Daughter"

Penélope Cruz, "Parallel Mothers"

Nicole Kidman, "Being the Ricardos"

Kristen Stewart, "Spencer"

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Best actor

Javier Bardem, "Being the Ricardos"

Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Power of the Dog"

Andrew Garfield, "tick, tick ... BOOM!"

Winner: Will Smith, "King Richard"

Denzel Washington, "The Tragedy of Macbeth"

Best supporting actress

Jessie Buckley, "The Lost Daughter"

Winner: Ariana DeBose, "West Side Story"

Judi Dench, "Belfast"

Kirsten Dunst, "The Power of the Dog"

Aunjanue Ellis, "King Richard"

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Best supporting actor

Ciarán Hinds, "Belfast"

Winner: Troy Kotsur, "CODA"

Jesse Plemons, "The Power of the Dog"

J.K. Simmons, "Being the Ricardos"

Kodi Smit-McPhee, "The Power of the Dog"

Best director

Kenneth Branagh, "Belfast"

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, "Drive My Car"

Paul Thomas Anderson, "Licorice Pizza"

Winner: Jane Campion, "The Power of the Dog"

Steven Spielberg, "West Side Story"

Adapted screenplay

Winner: "CODA," Siân Heder

"Drive My Car," Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe

"Dune," Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth

"The Lost Daughter," Maggie Gyllenhaal

"The Power of the Dog," Jane Campion

Original screenplay

Winner: "Belfast," Kenneth Branagh

"Don't Look Up," Adam McKay and David Sirota

"King Richard," Zach Baylin

"Licorice Pizza," Paul Thomas Anderson

"The Worst Person in the World," Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier

International film

Winner: "Drive My Car" (Japan)

"Flee" (Denmark)

"The Hand of God" (Italy)

"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom" (Bhutan)

"The Worst Person in the World" (Norway)

Visual effects

Winner: "Dune"

"Free Guy"

"No Time to Die"

"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"

"Spider-Man: No Way Home"

Cinematography

Winner: "Dune"

"Nightmare Alley"

"The Power of the Dog"

"The Tragedy of Macbeth"

"West Side Story"

Original score

"Don't Look Up," Nicholas Britell

Winner: "Dune," Hans Zimmer

"Encanto," Germaine Franco

"Parallel Mothers," Alberto Iglesias

"The Power of the Dog," Jonny Greenwood

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Original song

"Be Alive" (from "King Richard")

"Dos Oruguitas" (from "Encanto")

"Down To Joy" (from "Belfast")

Winner: "No Time To Die" (from "No Time to Die")

"Somehow You Do" (from "Four Good Days")

Film editing

"Don't Look Up"

Winner: "Dune"

"King Richard"

"The Power of the Dog"

"tick, tick ... BOOM!"

Costume design

Winner: "Cruella"

"Cyrano"

"Dune"

"Nightmare Alley"

"West Side Story"

Makeup and hairstyling

"Coming 2 America"

"Cruella"

"Dune"

Winner: "The Eyes of Tammy Faye"

"House of Gucci"

Production design

Winner: "Dune"

"Nightmare Alley"

"The Power of the Dog"

"The Tragedy of Macbeth"

"West Side Story"

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Sound

"Belfast"

Winner: "Dune"

"No Time to Die"

"The Power of the Dog"

"West Side Story"

Documentary feature film

"Ascension"

"Attica"

"Flee"

Winner: "Summer of Soul (... Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)"

"Writing With Fire"

Documentary short subject

"Audible"

"Lead Me Home"

Winner: "The Queen of Basketball"

"Three Songs for Benazir"

"When We Were Bullies"

Animated feature film

Winner: "Encanto"

"Flee"

"Luca"

"The Mitchells vs. the Machines"

"Raya and the Last Dragon"

Animated short film

"Affairs of the Art"

"Bestia"

"Boxballet"

"Robin Robin"

Winner: "The Windshield Wiper"

Live action short film

"Ala Kachuu – Take and Run"

"The Dress"

Winner: "The Long Goodbye"

"On My Mind"

"Please Hold"

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Little-known directors may contend for Oscar

Dana Harris

Editor in Chief, Indiewire

Meet six directors who may walk off with a Best Director Oscar

Directors of %27Gravity%2C%27 %2712 Years a Slave%2C%27 %27Prisoners%27 and more have their breakthroughs

Director Ryan Coogler is receiving critical praise and awards for his debut effort %27Fruitvale Station%27

October's hardly begun, but the Oscar race is well underway. And this year's a little different not only because there seems to be an unusual number of serious contenders for best picture, but also because many of these films are directed by people you've probably never heard of.

Yes, there's all the usual suspects — Martin Scorsese's got The Wolf of Wall Street, while David O. Russell, who charmed last year with The Silver Linings Playbook, is back with American Hustle. And the Coen Bros. appear to have a critical and audience favorite with Inside Llewyn Davis.

But what do you know about Steve McQueen? Or J.C. Chandor? How about Jean-Marc Vallee? Not to worry; here's Indiewire's handy cheat sheet for six of the Oscar-contender directors you may never have heard of.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Gravity

He's been writing and directing movies for more than 20 years with a versatility few can match. Cuaron's first English-language feature was the 1995 children's adaptation A Little Princess, but he really made his mark six years later when he abandoned the big-budget Bruce Willis drama Hart's War in order to make the microbudget and sexually explicit Spanish-language romance Y Tu Mama Tambien. And with Gravity, he's earning acclaim for nothing less than redefining filmmaking.

Director: Steve McQueen

12 Years a Slave

If nothing else, this will be the year when people no longer automatically think of the blonde, blue-eyed and long-dead actor when they hear this director's name. The London-born McQueen was an excellent soccer player (he went out for Bermuda's team, St. George's Colts) but instead attended art college in London, where he trained as a fine artist. By the time he made his first film in 2008, Hunger, he was already an acclaimed visual artist. He initially found his audience in galleries, where he exhibited his short films as well as sculpture and mixed-media works. He won Britain's best-known award for visual artists, the Turner Prize, in 1999; in 2006 he went to Iraq as an commissioned U.K. "war artist."

Director: Ryan Coogler

Fruitvale Station

This is the debut feature for writer-director Coogler, who also won the grand jury prize at Sundance this year for his drama based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by police at a BART station. However, he originally went to college on a football scholarship, only to transfer twice before he wound up at USC's acclaimed film school. He was still a student when he brought the idea for Fruitvale Station to producer Forest Whitaker — and he hadn't yet written the screenplay. The film is also generating a lot of love for stars Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Jordan.

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Prisoners

This Quebecois filmmaker made his English-language debut with Prisoners starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman (who's getting the best notices of his career). However, this wouldn't be the first time he received awards notice: He was 23 when his first short film won a prize in a youth film competition. Since then he's directed six films and his French-language drama Incendies received an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 2010 — and his last three films received best picture Genies (the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars).

Director: J.C. Chandor

All Is Lost

Chandor picked up a screenplay Oscar nomination last year for Margin Call, which he also directed. However, the All Is Lost script has almost no dialogue — just Robert Redford, lost at sea. Before Margin Call, he was a director for hire on documentaries, on commercials and anything else that would pay the bills.

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée

Dallas Buyers Club

The Montreal-born Vallée made his first film, the French-language Liste noire, nearly 20 years ago, but he gained notice in America with his first English-language drama, The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt as the Victorian queen. (It also received three Oscar nominations, including a win for costume design.) His next film, Cafe de Flore, received the most nominations of any film at Canada's 2012 Genie Awards. However, he achieved the near-impossible by being the director to bring Dallas Buyers Club to the screen: the antihero AIDS drama has been long known in Hollywood as one of the best unmade screenplays.

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Would a real Oscar front-runner please stand up?

With less than two weeks until the Academy Awards on Feb. 9 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET/5 PT), it has become painfully obvious who’s taking all the acting gold but not so much what’s going home with the big prize: best picture. This awards season has spread the love around, giving every major film contender a time to shine and every person in an Oscar pool a chance to chew on his or her nails.

Throwing other wrenches into the works: Best picture is voted on through a preferential ballot, where academy members rank their choices rather than just pick one winner, plus a voting body that is slowly getting younger and more diverse every year.

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While one movie hasn’t risen to rule them all quite yet, some have been left in the dust. The racing drama "Ford v Ferrari" may win some technical awards but that's it, the best chances for coming-of-age adaptation "Little Women" and divorce drama "Marriage Story" are in the screenplay categories, and the World War II satire "Jojo Rabbit" looms as a dark horse with key guild nominations but has yet to make a splash this season.

Here are the five, though, with the right resumes to conquer the best-picture race on Oscar night:

‘1917’

The closest thing to a favorite is director Sam Mendes’ World War I thriller, about two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) racing to deliver orders in time to save 1,600 fellow military men. The film has had big wins at the Directors Guild Awards and Producers Guild Awards, the latter a strong predictor for the Oscars: The PGA honoree has gone on to win best picture 21 out of 30 times, including the past two years with “The Shape of Water” and “Green Book.” Also in its favor is a Golden Globe victory for best drama and an impressive box office, scoring $104 million with only a few weeks of nationwide release. One troublesome statistic remains: “1917” doesn’t have an acting nomination, and only 11 films in Oscar history – most recently “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2009 – have won best picture without one.

‘Parasite’

The Oscars have gone 91 years without awarding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' highest honor to a foreign-language film, so history is not exactly on the side of South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s acclaimed black comedy about class and social inequality. There is real love in the industry for “Parasite,” however, evidenced by the crowd eruption when it snagged a surprise win for outstanding ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. With actors being the largest voting bloc in the academy, the victory – plus an honor for best drama given by the American Cinema Editors – gives “Parasite” momentum going forward, though like “1917,” it also has the problem of no Oscar acting nominations.

‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’

Quentin Tarantino’s star-packed Tinseltown fable – one that intertwines the lives of a washed-up actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), his steely stuntman (Brad Pitt) and the Manson Family – has been a favorite among movie lovers ever since its summer release. “Once Upon a Time” won best comedy at the Golden Globes and best picture at the Critics' Choice Awards, it’s a strong contender in the 10 Oscar categories where it’s nominated (Pitt’s pretty much a lock for supporting actor and Tarantino has a good shot at original screenplay), and the Academy Awards since their inception have always adored movies about Hollywood. This one has it right in the title.

‘The Irishman’

Martin Scorsese’s Netflix gangster epic came into Oscars like a heavyweight, but like “A Star Is Born” last year, is starting to look like an also-ran. The film, which tracks World War II veteran and Mob hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) over multiple bloody decades, received widespread critical acclaim but has lost out on every major honor so far. Still, don’t count out “The Irishman” yet: Crime dramas tend to do well at the Oscars (Scorsese’s “The Departed” marked his first and only best picture in 2007), Netflix put a lot of horses behind its campaign, everyone involved is a Hollywood favorite – not only Scorsese and De Niro, but also supporting-actor nominees Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – and it could benefit from the preferential ballot if it's the second or third choice for a majority of voters.

‘Joker’

Of course the Oscars’ biggest wild card is the one with the iconic comic-book supervillain. Joaquin Phoenix seems destined to win best actor for his unnerving transformation from mentally unstable outcast to face-painted nihilist in Todd Phillips’ psychological thriller origin story. The film's chances for best picture aren’t as good as in other categories – such as original score and hair/makeup – but “Joker” leads with the most Oscar nominations (11 total). Like "Irishman," it might also be helped by the preferential ballot, plus the controversial "Joker" has made enough money ($334.6 million domestically, $1.1 billion worldwide) that it can’t be ignored.

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After 93 years of Oscar best pictures, the Academy's bound to get one wrong now and then.

In 2020, amazingly, they got it right: South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" became the first foreign-language film to win the prized category in Oscars history, galvanizing all corners of the movie industry. In fact, that "Parasite" victory might be the best thing that happened in a pandemic-stricken Hollywood last year.

Sometimes, it's a little more chaotic. Remember Envelopegate? At the 2017 Academy Awards, the musical "La La Land" was named best picture – and then it wasn't, when the correct envelope revealed indie drama "Moonlight" as the winner. As if the gods of cinema inserted themselves to make sure the right movie was honored rather than the one with the guy trying to save jazz.

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Or you have a situation like the 2019 ceremony, where we all thought "Bohemian Rhapsody" would be the worst-case scenario. Instead, "Green Book" took the Oscar and left a bad taste in some mouths.

"The ref made a bad call," Spike Lee said that night. Well, it wasn't the first time.

Before another movie joins the hallowed ranks at Sunday's 94th annual Oscars (ABC, 8 ET/5 PT), we're rethinking past best picture winners and the films that should have conquered them.

1942

Did win: "How Green Was My Valley"

Should have won: "Citizen Kane"

Perhaps the most egregious mistake came relatively early in Oscars history, with John Ford's coal-country drama – which took five Academy Awards to a lone "Kane" screenplay win – getting the nod over Orson Welles' epic about an eccentric media mogul that is widely regarded as the best movie ever made.

1953

Did win: "The Greatest Show on Earth"

Should have won: "High Noon"

Even with a stellar cast – including Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour and Jimmy Stewart – "Greatest Show" is essentially a 152-minute commercial for the circus. They must have been clowning around because this category also included "High Noon," one of the greatest Westerns of the genre's golden age with Gary Cooper as a cool lawman.

1967

Did win: "A Man for All Seasons"

Should have won: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

That year's best picture win went to a rousingly successful Sir Thomas More biopic, along with a bunch of awards-season gold. But come on, "Man," they should have gone for Mike Nichols' debut black comedy about marital strife. It's absolutely nuts, risky for its time, and features astounding turns from Richard Burton and especially Elizabeth Taylor.

1974

Did win: "The Sting"

Should have won: "The Exorcist"

Both were huge hits that came in with 10 nominations, and Robert Redford and Paul Newman's ragtime-tinged con-man caper was the safe choice. "The Exorcist" was the true standout, a fright-fest masterpiece about faith and innocence that's scared the socks off folks for four decades.

1980

Did win: "Kramer vs. Kramer"

Should have won: "Apocalypse Now"

Not to take anything away from the wrenching look at divorce with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, but "Apocalypse Now" was unlike any war film that came before it, an operatic and grandiose episode that delved into the horrors, physical and otherwise, inherent on the battlefield.

1982

Did win: "Chariots of Fire"

Should have won: "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

One was a true-life story of Olympic athletes that we remember now mostly because of its catchy theme song. The other was a rip-roaring, two-fisted and hugely influential ode to the serial adventures of yesteryear – with an adventurous archaeologist on the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant – that took pop culture by storm. And a "Raiders" win would have been a game-changer for blockbusters.

1986

Did win: "Out of Africa"

Should have won: "The Color Purple"

The epic romance with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in colonial Kenya won over Oscar voters but not critics, who gave "Africa" mixed reviews. The Academy whiffed by not honoring a film with Whoopi Goldberg's Golden Globe-winning performance, Oprah Winfrey's high-profile Hollywood debut and Steven Spielberg's honest exploration of racism, sexism and domestic violence in the early 20th century.

1990

Did win: "Driving Miss Daisy"

Should have won: "Field of Dreams"

The pairing of Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman in a heartwarming dramedy about an elderly white woman and her African-American driver took down "Born on the Fourth of July," "My Left Foot" and "Dead Poets Society." Good movies all around, but none as excellent as the corn-fed Kevin Costner fantasy that captured the wonders of baseball and, yes, dreams.

1995

Did win: "Forrest Gump"

Should have won: "Pulp Fiction"

Tom Hanks literally running through history in the overly earnest "Gump" is what the Oscars, at least back in the day, lived for. Not so much Quentin Tarantino's genre mash-up "Pulp Fiction," an ultraviolent, narratively complex cultural phenomenon that wasn't just the best picture that year but arguably of the entire decade.

1997

Did win: "The English Patient"

Should have won: "Fargo"

Anthony Minghella's romantic World War II drama is a fine film, though it tests viewers' patience over the course of three hours. On the other hand, "Fargo" spawned a TV series and a fandom for the Coen brothers' winningly quirky black comedy about murderous deeds and dimwits in snow-covered Minnesota.

1999

Did win: "Shakespeare in Love"

Should have won: "Saving Private Ryan"

"Dunkirk" and "1917" have also gone the route of putting the audience right in the middle of the horrors of war, but "Private Ryan" did it best – and with "America's Dad" Tom Hanks, no less. "Shakespeare" had an intriguing concept as a referential, experimental biopic but it has no business upending another Spielberg classic.

2005

Did win: "Million Dollar Baby"

Should have won: "The Aviator"

Martin Scorsese would end up getting his big Oscar win two years later for "The Departed" but it should have happened with "Aviator." The Howard Hughes biopic, piloted by Leonardo DiCaprio's fantastic descent into eccentric madness, is a no-brainer over Clint Eastwood's above-average boxing drama with the super-downer ending.

2006

Did win: "Crash"

Should have won: "Brokeback Mountain"

Paul Haggis' interwoven all-star drama about racial tensions in L.A., plagued by mixed reviews and complaints of stereotyping, has caught flak for more than 10 years as an Oscar fail. And it is, especially considering Ang Lee's timeless and resonant "Brokeback" was sitting right there, with Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as cowboys in a forbidden love affair.

2011

Did win: "The King's Speech"

Should have won: "Black Swan"

The consensus at the time was that period drama "King's Speech," with Colin Firth's George VI working through a troublesome stutter, pulled an upset on David Fincher's vaunted Facebook bio "The Social Network." Yet flying above both was the polarizing "Swan," Darren Aronofsky and Natalie Portman's weird and wonderful character study of an embattled ballerina.

2019

Did win: "Green Book"

Should have won: "BlacKkKlansman"

"Green Book" is a fine, well-acted movie but on a night where many Black voices were honored, the top prize went to a film about race relations from a white point of view. Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," however, would have been the ideal choice: an entertaining, thought-provoking cop drama that digs into America's racist past to mirror our own tumultuous times.

Oscar best picture winners, ranked worst to best (All 94 films!)

Everybody has their own idea of what makes a best picture winner at the Oscars. Perhaps a biopic or a war movie, something huge in scale such as a "Dances With Wolves" or "Titanic," or a smaller film like the newest to win the Academy Awards' top trophy, "CODA."

What's pretty clear if you undertake watching all 94 (so far) films to take that vaunted prize – and it's not for the fainthearted, trust us – is that you come out of it changed. You love movies a little bit more.

All of these films bear Hollywood's highest honor – but how do they compare with one another? To celebrate the latest entry in this storied canon, we're ranking every best picture winner, from iffy stuff where a recount seems in order to the very best of the best.

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94. 'The Broadway Melody' (1928/29)

The second best picture winner, it's a musical dud with vaudevillian sisters and romantic malarkey that could have won worst picture, too.

93. 'Crash' (2005)

A mess of interwoven stories centered on social and xenophobic tensions in LA, it has a good cast (Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle) and little else.

92. 'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1952)

Jimmy Stewart's a clown and Charlton Heston also signs up for this ostentatious and loathsome three-ring ode to P.T. Barnum’s circus.

91. 'Cimarron' (1930/31)

The rocky drama about an 1800s Oklahoma family was the first Western to win the category, yet it has aged badly with unfortunate racist stereotypes.

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90. 'Cavalcade' (1932/33)

This sentimental tale of family, friends and servants experiencing ups and downs of life from 1899 to 1933 is like "Downton Abbey" but not good.

89. 'Driving Miss Daisy' (1989)

Morgan Freeman plays a Black driver and Jessica Tandy is his elderly white charge in an emotionally manipulative dramedy made for random cable TV showings.

88. 'Around the World in 80 Days' (1956)

An English dude (David Niven) travels the globe and meets colorful characters in a flighty three-hour affair. It's no "Cannonball Run," though.

87. 'The English Patient' (1996)

The pretentious World War II melodrama has Ralph Fiennes as a burned man, Juliette Binoche as his nurse and Kristin Scott Thomas as his already-married love.

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86. 'Out of Africa' (1985)

Meryl Streep's married Danish writer falls for Robert Redford's big-game hunter over 160 snoozy minutes of Oscar-bait romance.

85. 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998)

The biopic rom-com gone wrong finds Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) wooing the woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) who helps him write “Romeo and Juliet."

84. 'The Great Ziegfeld' (1936)

William Powell plays the infamous title Broadway producer in an arduous and showy musical that is, suffice it to say, less than great.

83. 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004)

Hilary Swank packed on muscle to play an up-and-coming boxer trained by an aging coach (director Clint Eastwood) in a film as depressing as "Rocky" is uplifting.

82. 'How Green Was My Valley' (1941)

One of the Oscars' greatest unsolved mysteries is how this maudlin Welsh family coal drama upset "Citizen Kane."

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81. 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)

Vangelis' catchy theme is the most memorable aspect of this emotionally deep but sluggish British sports drama that follows runners racing toward the 1924 Paris Olympics.

80. 'Green Book' (2018)

Mahershala Ali plays a Black pianist touring the Jim Crow South and Viggo Mortensen is his uncouth driver in a feel-good film about race relations with a whitewashed perspective.

79. 'Gentleman’s Agreement' (1947)

Gregory Peck stars as a journalist who pretends to be Jewish for a story on antisemitism, which probably sounded like a better idea in 1947.

78. 'Tom Jones' (1963)

The courtly British comedy finds Albert Finney embracing saucy adventures and getting into swordfights as a squire cast out of his kingdom.

77. 'Grand Hotel' (1931/32)

The episodic drama peeks at the various goings-on at a swanky Berlin hotel, like the budding relationship of a Russian ballerina (Greta Garbo) and jewelry-heisting gambler (John Barrymore).

76. 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008)

Dev Patel's orphan rises from the slums to win the Indian “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" but a Bollywood song-and-dance number botches the satisfying ending.

75. 'The Lost Weekend' (1945)

Billy Wilder's bracing, noir-ish exploration of alcoholism features Ray Milland as a writer whose life devolves into a desperate hunt for his next drink over several harrowing days.

74. 'Forrest Gump' (1994)

The title character’s fanciful jaunt through American history veers schmaltzy, so thank goodness for Tom Hanks imbuing Gump with an enduring charm.

73. 'Marty' (1955)

One of Hollywood’s great character actors, Ernest Borgnine is outstanding as a 30-something butcher who finally finds love and doesn’t know who to do with it.

72. 'The Hurt Locker' (2009)

Director Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War thriller makes you feel the constant stress and danger faced by a military bomb-disposal unit (including Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie).

71. 'American Beauty' (1999)

Who could have imagined 20-plus years later that the divisive "dancing" plastic bag from the suburban satire would be more respected than best actor winner Kevin Spacey?

70. 'Terms of Endearment' (1983)

Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger are a mother and daughter with a polarized relationship, yet Jack Nicholson stands out as a roguish astronaut.

69. 'Gigi' (1958)

Young courtesan wannabe Gigi (Leslie Caron) and Parisian playboy Gaston (Louis Jourdan) see each other as just friends, until romance intercedes in the musical confection.

68. 'You Can’t Take It With You' (1938)

Frank Capra's folksy rom-com casts Jimmy Stewart as Tony, a grounded guy from a snobby family who falls for Alice (Jean Arthur), the most normal in a clan of oddballs.

67. 'Nomadland' (2020)

Chloe Zhao’s look at older workers in modern America combines splendid scenery with a wondrous Frances McDormand as a woman who adores life on the road.

66. 'Going My Way' (1944)

Bing Crosby is the singingest priest you've ever seen in the musical dramedy, a tune-filled battle of wills between Crosby's young holy man and Barry Fitzgerald's elder pastor.

65. 'Argo' (2012)

Director Ben Affleck also stars in the historical thriller (and a sort of salute to the movies) about the CIA using a fake sci-fi movie as a ruse to rescue diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis.

64. 'The Deer Hunter' (1978)

Pennsylvania friends (including Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken) go off to Vietnam and face the psychological aftermath. Well made but super-duper bleak, so maybe chase it with ...

63. 'Oliver!' (1968)

Charles Dickens' spunky characters from "Oliver Twist" get a crowd-pleasing all-ages revamp courtesy of a Victorian musical that doesn't skimp on the earworming showtunes.

62. 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)

Fredric March, Dana Andrews and Harold Russell star in the drama that deals honestly with a theme of the time: World War II veterans returning home to face personal and professional struggles.

61. 'Braveheart' (1995)

Mel Gibson's controversial stances aside, he is pretty good at making you want to put war paint on and fight for Scottish independence.

60. 'Ordinary People' (1980)

Mary Tyler Moore veers unlikable for a change as the hard-to-please matriarch of a family shaken to its core by the death of one son and a suicide attempt by the other (Timothy Hutton).

59. 'An American in Paris' (1951)

Gene Kelly stars as a World War II vet crushing on the French perfume girl (Leslie Caron) who's dating his singer pal (Georges Guétary). Awkward! But this one's all about the wowing 17-minute dance finale set to Gershwin's title tune.

58. 'Mrs. Miniver' (1942)

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon star as an English couple dealing with the early days of World War II in a drama that, unlike many other films on this list, was made during said war.

57. 'The King’s Speech' (2010)

The sweet and inspirational story features Colin Firth as England's King George VI working through a childhood stutter to be the steady voice his country needs.

56. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957)

“Star Wars” fans will appreciate Alec Guinness owning the screen as a World War II British colonel leading whistling, bridge-building POWs at a Japanese prison camp in Thailand.

55. 'Wings' (1927/28)

The first best picture winner holds up well almost a century later. The silent film stars Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen as rival pilots in World War I who dig the same girl (Clara Bow) back home.

54. 'Dances With Wolves' (1990)

Kevin Costner takes a break from sports movies to direct and star in the solid Western epic as a Union soldier who befriends – and fights for – a Native American tribe.

53. 'The Life of Emile Zola' (1937)

Maybe not the most famous biopic but a quite effective one, with Paul Muni as the 19th-century French writer who speaks up for a Jewish captain tagged as a traitor.

52. 'All the King’s Men' (1949)

The film noir tackles the corruptive tendencies of power, with Broderick Crawford as a populist politician who rises up as a Southern governor and wields dangerous influence.

51. 'A Man for All Seasons' (1966)

Paul Scofield brings steady nerve to his portrayal of Sir Thomas More, the British statesman who butted heads with King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw).

50. 'A Beautiful Mind' (2001)

A year after winning best actor for "Gladiator," Russell Crowe returned to the Oscar race with his role as John Nash, a genius on an absorbing journey of math and madness.

49. 'The Last Emperor' (1987)

Bernardo Bertolucci was the first Italian filmmaker to win best director for the immersive historical chronicle of Chinese emperor Puyi's life, from ruling as a toddler to being imprisoned as an adult.

48. 'The Shape of Water' (2017)

Guillermo del Toro's beautifully unconventional romance makes you believe in the love between a voiceless janitor (Sally Hawkins) and a captured fish man (Doug Jones).

47. 'Rain Man' (1988)

Dustin Hoffman shows up on this list a few times as part of some dynamic duos. Here, he plays a savant with autism who reconnects with his brash younger brother (Tom Cruise) on the road.

46. 'Gandhi' (1982)

Richard Attenborough's biopic takes on the tale of the renowned Indian leader and succeeds, primarily because of the spirit Ben Kingsley gives his title character.

45. 'The Sound of Music' (1965)

Julie Andrews is a nun who teaches a family of kids to sing and gallivants tunefully across Austrian mountains, while Christopher Plummer rips up a Nazi flag. They understood the assignment, as the kids say.

44. 'The Artist' (2011)

The (mostly) silent film is a joyous look at Hollywood’s yesteryear, finding something special with an aging star (Jean Dujardin), an infectious ingenue (Bérénice Bejo) and a ridiculously cute pooch.

43. 'Mutiny on the Bounty' (1935)

Clark Gable looks strange without his signature mustache, yet he's a clean-shaven force of good in this watery clash as a seaman taking on Charles Laughton's cruel Captain Bligh.

42. 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003)

Hobbits and Co. finally reach Mount Doom, and Peter Jackson’s massive fantasy trilogy gets its atta-boy.

41. 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)' (2014)

Alejandro González Iñárritu's innovative satire sets its sights on celebrity, family and movie superheroes, with a gonzo Michael Keaton in one of his greatest roles.

40. 'Rebecca' (1940)

Alfred Hitchcock's lone entry on this list is a fitting psychological head trip, with Joan Fontaine playing the new wife of an aristocrat (Laurence Olivier) who can't escape the seemingly constant presence of his dead wife.

39. 'Patton' (1970)

George C. Scott embodies Gen. George S. Patton as a tough leader on the battlefield and a larger-than-life speaker, especially the opening monologue in front of a flag that's a classic Hollywood moment.

38. 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)

The Coen brothers' Western-tinged thriller rounds up a posse with Josh Brolin as a Vietnam vet who finds a load of drug money and Javier Bardem as a chilling hitman.

37. 'Midnight Cowboy' (1969)

Dustin Hoffman found another dude duo with Jon Voight as two hustlers – one a Texan sex worker, the other an ailing con man – navigating New York City’s seedier corners.

36. 'Hamlet' (1948)

Laurence Olivier is the peanut butter, Shakespeare’s Danish prince is the jelly, and they’re made for each other in a delicious treat doing expressionism way before “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”

35. 'Platoon' (1986)

Oliver Stone's Vietnam drama superbly depicts the horrors of war and the morals of the men involved, including Charlie Sheen as a soldier caught between ideologically different sergeants (Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger).

34. 'CODA'

It's a big, warm inclusive hug of a movie, with a hearing girl (Emilia Jones) torn between the struggling fishing business run by her parents (Marlee Matlin and Oscar winner Troy Kotsur) and her own musical dreams. Have a box of tissues by your side at all times.

33. 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (1979)

Dustin Hoffman's best pairing was with Meryl Streep, with their searing look at parenting, divorce and the effects on a child decades before “Marriage Story."

32. 'Titanic' (1997)

In James Cameron’s blockbuster, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet gave us a doomed love story folks could (mostly) buy amid a historical disaster. (Jack totally could have fit on Rose's door, though.)

31. 'Annie Hall' (1977)

Woody Allen is polarizing, his best movie is not. The filmmaker's beloved comedy hilariously follows the relationship build and breakup of a comedian (Allen) and a singer (Diane Keaton).

30. 'The Sting' (1973)

Set to a rollicking ragtime score, the enjoyable crime caper lets Robert Redford and Paul Newman shine as con men who eye a powerful boss as their ultimate mark after the murder of a shared friend.

29. 'Ben-Hur' (1959)

The chariot race rules and the action is on a biblical scale (literally!) in the epic featuring Charlton Heston as a Jewish prince enslaved on a galley ship who plots revenge on the Romans who betrayed him.

28. 'Unforgiven' (1992)

Clint Eastwood rides tall in the director's chair, stakes his claim for best Western ever and stars as an aging farmer who returns to his outlaw ways for righteous retribution.

27. 'Gladiator' (2000)

Joaquin Phoenix's first Oscar win for "Joker" should have been No. 2: He was devilishly top-notch as evil Commodus opposite Russell Crowe's vengeful battler Maximus.

26. 'In the Heat of the Night' (1967)

The late Sidney Poitier wondrously exudes intelligence and gumption as a visiting detective traveling through Mississippi who helps racist cops catch a killer.

25. 'The Departed' (2006)

Martin Scorsese's sole best director win is for this twisty crime thriller with gangster Jack Nicholson, undercover cop Leonardo DiCaprio and Mob mole Matt Damon.

24. 'My Fair Lady' (1964)

Audrey Hepburn's a hoot as cockney Brit Eliza Doolittle, given a makeover by Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins in the musical take on "Pygmalion."

23. '12 Years a Slave' (2013)

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a free Black man tricked into servitude for Steve McQueen's uneasy-to-watch yet essential pre-Civil War drama.

22. 'Chicago' (2002)

The rare A-list musical – with Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones as jazz-era convicts – that ingeniously treats its numbers as flights of fantasy.

21. 'From Here to Eternity' (1953)

Come for Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's infamous kiss on the beach, stay for the drama involving soldiers in Hawaii just before the Pearl Harbor attack.

20. 'The Apartment' (1960)

Nothing says "Christmas movie" like office drone Jack Lemmon lending his place to the boss for hookups and falling for elevator girl Shirley MacLaine.

19. 'Rocky' (1976)

With Sylvester Stallone's headstrong boxer, it's the classic every underdog sports drama will be compared to forevermore.

18. 'It Happened One Night' (1934)

Frank Capra's enjoyable and sexy (for the '30s) romantic comedy had Clark Gable's journalist falling for Claudette Colbert's runaway heiress.

17. 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1929/30)

The extremely powerful anti-war film explored the carnage of World War I and the disillusioned soldiers who came home.

16. 'Spotlight' (2015)

Sigh. "All the President's Men" didn't win best picture. Thankfully this story of crusading Boston journalists and a shady Catholic Church cover-up did.

15. 'West Side Story' (1961)

The cultural portrayals earn some side-eye, but the musical love story still soars with powerhouse tunes and a phenomenal Rita Moreno.

14. 'Gone With the Wind' (1939)

Yep, it's also problematic for modern eyes, but the Southern-fried Civil War epic still works as a spectacle of unrequited romance.

13. 'Moonlight' (2016)

Barry Jenkins' elegant character study of a Black man dealing with his identity and sexuality is an unforgettable, multilayered work.

12. 'Parasite' (2019)

In the first non-English language film to win best picture, a poor but clever Korean family infiltrates a wealthy clan – as well as the viewer's heart and mind.

11. 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962)

Peter O'Toole's title British officer has his allegiances torn in this sweeping, sandy epic that influenced a generation of filmmakers.

10. 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest' (1975)

A criminal (Jack Nicholson) figures being in an asylum is an easy way to do time, then runs into the nurse from hell (Louise Fletcher).

9. 'The Godfather Part II' (1974)

Francis Ford Coppola's great gangland prequel/sequel unleashes Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as two generations of Mob bosses.

8. 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)

Anthony Hopkins made us root for the bad guy (and a cannibal at that) in the only horror movie to crack this vaunted Oscar list.

7. 'The French Connection' (1971)

With an all-timer of a car chase and Gene Hackman's fantastic antihero Popeye Doyle, good luck finding a better cop thriller.

6. 'Amadeus' (1984)

Who said period pieces have to be boring? In the hands of Tom Hulce, musical genius Mozart is a 19th-century wild child we'd all want to party with.

5. 'All About Eve' (1950)

Bette Davis' Broadway star freaks out about her age (at 40!) – and Anne Baxter's zealous understudy does not help – in a stellar lesson on celebrity and coldblooded ambition.

4. 'On the Waterfront' (1954)

Marlon Brando's New Jersey boxer-turned-longshoreman “coulda been a contender” but is definitely the champ of this stunning crime drama.

3. 'Schindler’s List' (1993)

A moving, devastating Holocaust tale about hope and kindness, it's the best Steven Spielberg movie without a certain globetrotting archaeologist.

2. 'Casablanca' (1943)

As Humphrey Bogart learns, you can stay neutral in war only until love and righteousness walk back through your nightclub doors.

1. 'The Godfather' (1972)

With violence, betrayal, drama, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, the sprawling gangster epic is the cannoli on top of the Oscars' best picture cake.

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Oscar nominated foreign films 2022: Where to watch the Oscar ...

CNN —

The best international feature film category at the Academy Awards could, in some ways, be compared to flying economy. Often, the five films that get a seat aboard the Oscars seem squashed in the back, lest they take up space that Hollywood might want to luxuriate in. You’d like to upgrade to best picture? With twice the room and more prestige, who wouldn’t. But many of those seats still appear to be reserved for English-language pictures.

However, things are changing for the better, with Academy voters finding increasing space for international films in other categories. As the awards continues to ask existential questions of itself, this is cause for celebration.

In the Oscars’ 94th year, there are a few firsts among the nominees for best international feature. “Drive My Car” by Ryusuke Hamaguchi became the first Japanese film to be nominated for best picture, and “Flee” by Danish writer-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen became the first film nominated across best international feature film, best animated feature and best documentary feature. Meanwhile Bhutanese cinema received its first nomination in any category with Pawo Choyning Dorji’s “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”

Norwegian nominee “The Worst Person in the World” and “Drive My Car” both made the cut in writing categories – director Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt sharing a nomination for best original screenplay, and Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe for best adapted – while Hamaguchi finds himself only the third Japanese filmmaker nominated for best director.

“Drive My Car” ties Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran” (1986) for most nominations ever for a Japanese film, but a “Parasite”-level sweep is unlikely, even if few would quibble with the movie’s brilliance. However, the repeated inroads of non-English language cinema suggests, to borrow a phrase from Bong Joon-ho, that voters are overcoming the one inch tall barrier of subtitles and finding a whole world of movies to celebrate. No doubt the Academy’s increasingly international membership is helping too.

Last year’s resurgent festival scene and a backlog of releases due to the pandemic meant there was even greater choice than usual. As always, each country may only nominate one movie for best international feature, with 93 countries submitting this year. Many big-hitters missed out. France had Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Titane” and Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening” at its disposal; “Titane” was submitted over “Happening,” only to fail to make the shortlist. Spain submitted Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s “The Good Boss” over Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers,” only for it to strike out and see Almodovar’s film nominated for original score (Alberto Iglesias) and star Penelope Cruz for best actress. Romania’s Berlin-winner “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by Radu Jude, two-time Iranian Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Austrian submission “Great Freedom” by Sebastian Meise are all fantastic films that were either not shortlisted or nominated.

There was such an abundance of great international cinema, the question of whether this category should be expanded to 10 nominees, like best picture, must be asked once more. Until then, we have these five. If you need to catch up on this year’s crop, here’s all the details, along with where to watch them.

“The Hand of God”

Filippo Scotti in "The Hand of God." Gianni Fiorito/Netflix

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is up to his usual tricks in “The Hand of God,” setting them loose on a work of poignant, sometimes bizarre, autofiction.

Set in sweltering 1980s Naples, Sorrentino’s stand-in Fabietto (Filippo Scotti) is an awkward teenager struggling to find his voice among his large, bickering carnival of a family. The talk of the town is the possible move of football megastar Diego Maradona to local club Napoli, but Fabietto is equally preoccupied with his aunt Patrizia (a disquieting Luisa Ranieri). An abused woman with mental health concerns, the director chooses to present this primarily through the medium of her exposed breasts, at which her nephew can’t help but stare. It is not the most conventional sexual awakening committed to screen, and where the film goes from there is eyebrow-raising to say the least (kudos to Sorrentino for his honesty if it’s all true).

That aside, there’s beauty aplenty in how director and regular cinematographer Daria D’Antonio shoot their hometown. Visual flourishes and a Fellini-esque menagerie of larger-than-life characters combine in an elegy to the city and the director’s youth – one defined by a tragedy that set Sorrentino on his path.

“You’ve got to have a story to tell,” a director urges aspiring filmmaker Fabietto toward the end of the movie. Sorrentino, already an Oscar winner for “The Great Beauty” in 2013, hasn’t exactly made a bad fist of telling fictional stories. By returning to Naples and telling his own, he’s come full circle and made one of his richest films to date.

“The Hand of God” is available to watch on Netflix.

“Drive My Car”

Hidetoshi Nishijima and Toko Miura as Yusuke Kafuku and Misaki Watari in "Drive My Car." Courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films

Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi had a huge 2021, debuting not one but two critically acclaimed films. “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” enchanted the Berlin Film Festival, but it was his three-hour adaptation of Haruki Murakami short story “Drive My Car” that gained traction after its debut at Cannes.

The adaptation is an expansion of the story of actor Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) grieving the sudden death of his wife. Two years on, he’s hired to direct a production of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” where Kufuku meets chauffeur Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), with whom he has unlikely kinship. Through chance and his own making, the past surrounds Kufuku, forcing him to confront his loss.

Hamaguchi’s intricately woven story contemplates the disconnect between inner turmoil and outward stoicism. He brilliantly uses Chekhov’s play, with its thematic overlap, as a safe space for characters to wrestle with their real lives. By casting the play as a multilingual production (actors perform in Korean, Tagalog, Mandarin and Korean Sign Language, among others), Hamaguchi steers the audience’s attention towards language and the body. Like Kafuku, we become attuned to when the two fail to tell the same story. His frustrations become our own, his direction of his actors a proxy for what he desires for himself: self-knowledge, and perhaps through that, catharsis.

This is intellectual filmmaking that offers no concessions to the audience. It demands your attention and offers rich rewards in return. Hamaguchi may be surprised by the Academy’s love for the film, but that comes off the back of topping multiple critics’ best of year lists. The film has already won a BAFTA and must be considered red-hot favorite to take the Oscar on Sunday.

“Drive My Car” is available to watch on HBO Max (like CNN, a WarnerMedia company) and Amazon Prime Video in the US.

Read more: Ryusuke Hamaguchi is as surprised as anyone by the Oscar love for ‘Drive My Car’

“The Worst Person in the World”

Herbert Nordrum and Renate Reinsve as Eivind and Julie in Joachim Trier's "The Worst Person in the World." courtesy Mubi

The capstone of Joachim Trier’s Oslo Trilogy, “The Worst Person in the World” refuses to stick to the rom-com blueprint in its portrait of the Norwegian city and its inhabitants.

Julie (Renate Reinsve) is approaching 30 and is coasting. Her older boyfriend Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) is looking to get serious, but Julie has reservations; thoughts that crystallize when free-spirited Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) walks into her life, setting off a charisma bomb that will go down as one of cinema’s great meet-cutes.

Trier has no interest in fairy tale endings, however. His and Eskil Vogt’s rich and textured script drills into the ideation and idealization of modern living, and the life that happens while you’re making – and breaking – plans.

Julie something of a paradox, riven by impulsiveness and indecisiveness (and she’s privileged enough that she can be). The writing is strong, but this is a film propelled by a star turn. Reinsve’s iridescent performance won her the best actress award at Cannes (remarkably, she’d been about to give up the industry before being cast) and as Julie she’s nothing short of a marvel; a muddle of inconsistencies and equally beguiling and infuriating. In other words: deeply human.

“The Worst Person in the World” paints a portrait that’s so arrestingly real, it recasts much of what came before in the genre as synthetic. For romcoms, this is a corner turned.

“The Worst Person in the World” is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in the US.

Read more: Joachim Trier ripped up the romcom script with ‘The Worst Person in the World’

“Flee”

Amin (right), the subject of Jonas Poher Rasmussen's "Flee." Final Cut for Real

Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s international animated documentary represents an impressively original triple threat at the Oscars this weekend.

The Danish film debuted at Sundance in 2021 where it won the world cinema documentary award and it’s been attracting high-profile admirers ever since. It centers on Amin, a gay Afghan who as a boy fled Kabul in the 1990s. Now an academic in his thirties living in Denmark, he narrates the story of his perilous flight, dredging up myriad horrors that are written and rewritten before our eyes as what was once suppressed breaches consciousness and finds form.

The choice of animation allows Amin (a pseudonym) anonymity, but what it affords Rasmussen is dazzling scope for creative expression, utilizing a variety of styles from smooth rotoscope to scratchy sketching in stylistic collusion with the tone of the moment. It’s truly beautiful, impactful filmmaking that’s not quickly forgotten.

“Flee” is available to watch on Hulu and Apple TV in the US.

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”

Sherab Dorji as Ugyen in "Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom." Kinley Wangchuk/Jigme Thinley

This year’s surprise contender, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is only Bhutan’s second entry to the Academy Awards and its first nominee.

Writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s mild-mannered addition to the “city-slicker-goes-to-the-countryside-and-learns-what’s-important-in-life” canon follows Ugyen (Sherab Dorji), a government employee and wannabe singer whose dreams of Australia are put on hold when he’s sent to teach in the remote mountain community of Lunana. Initially dismissive, his petulance gives way to an appreciation of rural life and the culture he was so ready to leave behind, helped by cute kid Pem Zam (Pem Zam) and singer and local beauty Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung).

It’s familiar story, but perhaps one shouldn’t hold that against the film. “Lunana’s” trump card is its stunning setting and window into an underexposed part of the world. Handsomely shot by Jigme Tenzing, we see both bustling capital Thimphu and the majestic foothills of the Himalayas, an idyll if ever there was one. The guileless turns of the film’s real-life highlander cast also grounds the film nicely and act as an effective foil to Ugyen.

Academy voters have plucked from relative obscurity a film that debuted at the London Film Festival way back in 2019. Dorji beat out giants of world cinema to bag a nomination – and with a debut feature, no less. All this considered, “Lunana” represents a landmark in Bhutanese cinema.

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is available to watch on Kanopy and Amazon Prime Video.

The 94th Academy Awards takes place on Sunday March 27.

Oscar nominations 2022: Full list of nominees | CNN

CNN —

The nominations for the 94th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday and included films in a wide range of genres.

“The Power of the Dog” led among nominated films with 12 nods. The drama’s director, Jane Campion, made history by becoming the first woman to be nominated more than once for best director. (Her previous nod was for “The Piano.”)

Fellow directing nominee Steven Spielberg also set a new record. As producer of “West Side Story,” which earned a total of seven nominations, Spielberg has now produced 11 films nominated for best picture, a new record for the Oscars.

Denzel Washington extended the record he already holds as the most nominated Black actor, earning his tenth Oscar nomination for his performance in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” (One of his nominations was for producing.)

The Academy Awards are set to take place on Sunday, March 27. See below for a full list of nominees.

BEST PICTURE

“Belfast”

“CODA”

“Don’t Look Up”

“Drive My Car”

“Dune”

“King Richard”

“Licorice Pizza”

“Nightmare Alley”

“The Power of the Dog”

“West Side Story”

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”

Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”

Judi Dench, “Belfast”

Kirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”

Aunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Ciaran Hinds, “Belfast”

Troy Kotsur, “CODA”

Jesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”

J.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos”

Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

“Drive My Car”

“Flee”

“The Hand of God”

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”

“The Worst Person in the World”

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)

“Audible”

“Lead Me Home”

“The Queen of Basketball”

“Three Songs for Benazir”

“When We Were Bullies”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“Ascension”

“Attica”

“Flee”

“Summer of Soul”

Writing with Fire”

ORIGINAL SONG

“King Richard”

“Encanto”

“Belfast”

“No Time to Die”

“Four Good Days”

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

“Encanto”

“Flee”

“Luca”

“The Mitchells vs. The Machine”

“Raya and the Last Dragon”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“CODA”

“Drive My Car”

“Dune”

“The Lost Daughter”

“The Power of the Dog”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“Belfast”

“Don’t Look Up”

“King Richard”

“Licorice Pizza”

“The Worst Person in the World”

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Javier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”

Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”

Andrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick… Boom!”

Will Smith, “King Richard”

Denzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”

Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”

Penelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”

Nicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”

Kristen Stewart, “Spencer”

DIRECTOR

Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”

Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”

Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”

Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”

PRODUCTION DESIGN

“Dune”

“Nightmare Alley”

“The Power of the Dog”

“The Tragedy of Macbeth”

“West Side Story”

CINEMATOGRAPHY

“Dune”

“Nightmare Alley”

“The Power of the Dog”

“The Tragedy of Macbeth”

“West Side Story”

COSTUME DESIGN

“Cruella”

“Cyrano”

“Dune”

“Nightmare Alley”

“Westside Story”

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND

“Belfast”

“Dune”

“No Time to Die”

“The Power of the Dog”

“Westside Story”

ANIMATED SHORT FILE

“Affairs of the Art”

“Bestia”

“Boxballet”

“Robin Robin”

“The Windshield Wiper”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

“Ala Kachuu — Take and Run”

“The Dress”

“The Long Goodbye”

“On My Mind”

“Please Hold”

ORIGINAL SCORE

“Don’t Look Up”

“Dune”

“Encanto”

“Parallel Mothers”

“The Power of the Dog”

VISUAL EFFECTS

“Dune”

“Free Guy”

“No Time to Die”

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”

“Spider-Man: No Way Home”

FILM EDITING

“Don’t Look Up”

“Dune”

“King Richard”

“The Power of the Dog”

“Tick, Tick… Boom!”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

“Coming 2 America”

“Cruella”

“Dune”

“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”

“House of Gucci”