I watched every single 2025 Academy Award nominee

Spencer Villinski wearing a shirt of "Nosferatu," one of his favorite nominated films of 2025. Photo courtesy of Spencer Villinski.

In preparation for the 97th Academy Awards, I watched every single 2025 Academy Award nominee. This is why and how I did it, plus how my predictions went.

This year, between feature-length films and short films, there were 50 unique nominees. For stats nerds like me, this year’s nominees are a combined 78.2 hours, were produced in 27 countries, and feature 14 languages.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of how I pulled off this moviegoing feat, let me explain myself. I love films. I love watching films. I love engaging with films. Not to mention, I love going to movie theaters. Sidenote: Be sure to go out and support your local independent movie theater! Watching films is a type of escapism. It is something that I have found to be a feel-good, stress-relieving activity. In that vein, it is an excellent use of time during the school year.

Additionally, I like a challenge. 

Before I explain how I did it, I need to preface a few things. First, between my immediate family, extended family, friends, and Lasell databases, I am lucky enough to have access to a number of streaming services.

Second, being in close proximity to a major city like Boston, with its selection of independent films and small releases, was crucial. 

Third, I tracked this journey using the social platform Letterboxd. My username is @svillainski if you would like to follow me! I have published reviews of the majority of this year’s nominees on the site. 

Fourth, and finally, I am not sure whether I would recommend this undertaking to others. Watching these 50 films was costly, both monetarily and time-wise. If this were not a challenge, if I were not working off a list, and if I were not against the clock, I would not have watched such a large set of films, especially not at such a blistering pace. If this sounds like an interesting challenge, great, otherwise, moderation is good, too. I do not regret what I did; however, it was not effortless by any means.

Without further ado, here is the method by which I watched all 50 of the 2025 Academy Award nominees.

I watched 24 nominees in theaters, nearly half of the year’s pool. If you count the short film categories as one film each—which makes sense since they typically are one or two hours combined—I saw 12 nominees,or 12 feature-length films, in theaters. Some of the most memorable movie theater experiences were “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (shoutout to Owen Schwartz); “The Brutalist” (shoutout to Harry Albert); “Inside Out 2” (shoutout to my sister, Kate Villinski); “No Other Land”; the Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary Short Film, and Best Live Action Short Film nominees at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA); “Nosferatu” on Christmas Day (shoutout to my sister Kate, again); and “I’m Still Here” (shoutout to Jacob Lustig).

Via streaming, I watched 17 nominees, 19 if you count “Dune” (2021) and “Gladiator” in preparation for their respective nominated follow ups. For the purposes of this challenge, I utilized Disney+, Hulu, Kanopy, Max, Mubi, Netflix, Paramount+, and Peacock. My most favorite films that I streamed were “A Different Man,” “Alien: Romulus,” “Maria,” “The Girl with the Needle,” and “The Substance.”

Lastly, I watched nine nominees by either digitally renting or purchasing them. I digitally rented eight films on Amazon Prime Video: “Anora,” “Better Man,” “Flow,” “Memoir of a Snail” (AMC+ 7-Day Free Trial), “Sing Sing,” “The Apprentice,” and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” Shoutout to Annalee Messina who shared several digital rentals with me. Also, shoutout to Meghan Clair for allowing me to access her Fandango at Home account so that I was able to watch “Wicked.” Funnily enough, many of these films that I paid for ahead of the ceremony, came to streaming just days later.

Now, my personal picks. My most favorite nominees were “Anora,” “Better Man,” “I’m Still Here,” “Magic Candies,” and “Nosferatu.” My least favorite nominees were “A Complete Unknown,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Gladiator II,” “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent,” and “The Six Triple Eight.” My most favorite non-nominees were “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Jim Henson Idea Man,” “Saturday Night,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” and “Transformers One.”

Finally, how my predictions did. As you may or may not know, there are 23 Oscar categories. The “Big Five” categories are Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. Of the 23 categories, I successfully predicted 17 of them. The six categories that I unsuccessfully predicted were Best Actress in a Leading Role (predicted Demi Moore, “The Substance,” won by Mikey Madison, “Anora”), Best Animated Feature Film (predicted “The Wild Robot,” won by “Flow”), Best Animated Short Film (predicted “Yuck!,” won by “In the Shadow of the Cypress”), Best Documentary Short Film (predicted “Incident,” won by “The Only Girl in the Orchestra), Best Film Editing (predicted “Conclave,” won by “Anora”) and Best Live Action Short Film (predicted “A Lien,” won by “I’m Not a Robot”).

Some of the evening’s big winners, or the films with at least two wins, were “Anora” (five wins), “The Brutalist" (three wins), “Dune: Part Two” (two wins), “Emilia Pérez” (two wins), and “Wicked” (two wins).

Okay, that is it! Did I enjoy watching all these films? Yes. Will I do it all again next year? Maybe. Was watching all of them over the course of a few weeks and as a full-time student advisable? Maybe not. Did I overdo it to the point that I shan’t watch another film ever again? Absolutely not.