Physicists, revolutionaries, bluesmen, grieving parents, scientists and wandering kings: this season’s best-reviewed films send them into wartime laboratories, a Mississippi juke joint, an Elizabethan household and the sea, and the stories they tell are the ones film lovers are talking about.
Here are six films that deserve a place on your weekend watchlist.
Oppenheimer
In the 1940s, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer leads the secret wartime effort to build the atomic bomb, and then faces the political and personal fallout of what he helped create.
Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr. star in the 2023 biographical drama, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It won seven Oscars at the 2024 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Murphy won Best Actor and Downey Best Supporting Actor.
One Battle After Another
A former revolutionary living in hiding is forced back into conflict when his teenage daughter is targeted by a military officer from his past.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Teyana Taylor star in the 2025 thriller, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It won six Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, with Penn taking Best Supporting Actor.
Sinners
Twin brothers return to the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s to open a juke joint, only to find that the night draws something far darker than a crowd.
Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo star in the 2025 horror drama, written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It entered the Oscars with a record 16 nominations and won four, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Jordan, his first Oscar.
Frankenstein
A driven scientist defies the limits of life and death to create a living being, and learns that his creation cannot be controlled.
Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi star in the 2025 gothic drama, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, based on Mary Shelley’s novel. It won three Oscars, for costume design, production design, and makeup and hairstyling, and is a rich choice for viewers who enjoy craft and atmosphere.
Hamnet
In Elizabethan England, a woman and her husband, the writer William Shakespeare, struggle with the loss of their young son, and the grief that shapes one of the most famous plays ever written.
Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star in the 2025 drama, directed by Chloé Zhao and adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel. Buckley won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance.
The Odyssey
After the fall of Troy, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, sets out on a perilous journey home, facing gods, monsters and the sea.
Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o star in the 2026 epic, directed by Christopher Nolan from Homer’s ancient poem. It is described as the first film shot entirely on IMAX cameras, and it has grossed $1 billion worldwide. It has not won awards yet, but it is seen as an early Best Picture frontrunner ahead of the Oscars on March 14, 2027.