It’s award show season, and glitz and glamour will fill the media outlets for days. Besides the onslaught of “who’s wearing who” and “oh they’re with them,” 2018 brought amazing movies. From the costumes to the editing to original soundtracks, the Oscars highlight parts of movies that we often forget. 7,000 filmmakers and professionals from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote on all of the nominees in their respective categories. The most anticipated category of the night is Best Picture where all the nominees show intense competition. There are reasons why professionals have picked these 8 movies as best pictures.

Languages, biographies, time periods and even universes array how diverse each film this category is. Some of the top-grossing nominees are “Black Panther” (being the highest), “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star is Born.” All three are nominated with a musical category which is definitely fitting considering that two of the movies are based on musicians and the other has an award-winning rapper on their original soundtrack. Considering that these movies are top grossing many critics and film lovers are anticipating a win from at least one of these movies. Next nomination is “Vice,” a biographical comedy about Dick Cheney’s journey through the 2000 presidential election, is head to head with the other movies due to the strong male actors and directors. Christian Bale is currently against Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Bradley Cooper, “A Star is Born,” in that category which brings more value and intensity within the Best Picture grouping. This nomination shows how actors really make up an important element to the film and despite the plot lines, the acting can make up for it.

Two nominations that really separate themselves from the other nominees is “The Favourite” and “Roma.” They are unique because we often don’t see foreign films like Roma or historical dramas like “The Favourite” be nominated for Best Picture. But what really drives the audience about these two movies are the very strong female leads. Roma introduces a mother trying to juggle her job as a maid and her four children in Mexico City in the 70’s while “The Favourite” introduces 18th century Lady Sarah trying to govern the temporary job of the Queen and handle the staff of the royal palace. The resilience and firm characters show how a director can take a rather normal scenario and give more than the audience expected. “Roma” and “The Favourite” handle the psychological inner struggle that the normal person can go through when handling multiple things and they are not going their way. It would such a surprise if these two films win in this category but there is no doubt that they hold an appropriate spot in the category.

“BlackKklansman” and “Green Book” are two nominees that show African American roles in a predominately racist 60-70’s society. These two movies represent strong black protagonists that show the audience that in the midst of hate and discrimination these characters are able to overcome them and make a name for themselves. 2018 really showed amazing racial diversity in movies, even though Moonlight last year won Best Picture, the fact that directors keep feeding amazing diverse movies allows the POC community to keep winning. The competition is hot for all the nominees but even if the movies seem random at pick, the small details like screenplays, plotlines, costumes or editing make Best Picture brilliantly picked.