Movies Update: Awards season begins.

"It Was Just an Accident" and "One Battle After Another" are early winners.

View in browser|nytimes.com December 5, 2025 SUPPORTED BY APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS By Stephanie Goodman Hi, movie fans! After the quiet interlude of the Thanksgiving holiday, awards season came roaring in this week. The Projectionist, a.k.a. our Oscars expert Kyle Buchanan, weighed in with an explanation of the current state of the best picture race. Essentially there are five sure bets for nominations: "One Battle After Another," "Sinners," "Hamnet," "Marty Supreme" and "Sentimental Value." After that a number of films are vying for the final five spots in the 10-film field. Those would-be contenders include "It Was Just an Accident," which the Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi made in secret. You might recall that it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in May, and on Monday it made a splash at the Gotham Awards, the New York ceremony that serves as the kickoff for awards season. The drama, about former prisoners who kidnap a man they think tortured them, won best international feature, best original screenplay and best director. The top winner, though, was "One Battle After Another," which was named best feature. Look for that Paul Thomas Anderson drama to do well at ceremonies to come. Speaking of what to watch out for, the Golden Globe nominations are Monday and the Sundance lineup will be unveiled later in the week. It's going to be a busy one in the film world. For now, enjoy the movies! Eli Adé/Warner Bros. Best Movies of 2025 Our film critics rank their 10 favorites of the year. By Manohla Dargis and Alissa Wilkinson Warner Bros.; A24; Neon The Projectionist The Best Picture Race Has 5 Sure Bets. What About the Other Slots? "One Battle After Another," "Sinners," "Hamnet," "Marty Supreme" and "Sentimental Value" are almost certain to be nominated. After that, it's anyone's guess. By Kyle Buchanan Magnolia Pictures, via Associated Press Critic's Notebook Why Are There So Many Films Right Now Based on the Bible? Films that take their stories from the Old or New Testament are filling screens big and small. To understand why, it helps to know Hollywood history. By Alissa Wilkinson A MESSAGE FROM APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS For Your Consideration Starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, and Javier Bardem - F1 is streaming December 12 on Apple TV Learn More CRITICS' PICKS Corey C. Waters/The Forge Critic's Pick 'The Chronology of Water' Review: Saved by the Pen Kristen Stewart's feature directing debut stars a riveting Imogen Poots in an uncomfortably visceral tale of abuse and addiction. By Jeannette Catsoulis Obscured Releasing Critic's Pick 'Endless Cookie' Review: An Animated Family History Two filmmaking brothers trade tales in a tonally singular documentary. By Robert Daniels MOVIE REVIEWS Peter Mountain/Netflix 'Jay Kelly' Review: All His Memories Are Movies Noah Baumbach's latest film has George Clooney playing the last of the old-school movie stars. By Alissa Wilkinson Universal Pictures 'Five Nights at Freddy's 2' Review: The Robots Are Malfunctioning (Again) The bigger-budget follow-up to last year's abysmal cult horror hit about haunted animatronic puppets is, at best, marginally scarier. By Beatrice Loayza Sony Pictures Classics 'Merrily We Roll Along' Review: It's a Hit (Reprise) The Tony-winning Broadway revival of the notorious Stephen Sondheim flop, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, gets a live stage recording for the big screen. By Calum Marsh Bleecker Street 'Fackham Hall' Review: Keep Calm and Chuckle On Clever sight gags jazz up this "Downton Abbey" sendup about a bookish aristocrat under pressure to marry her first cousin. By Natalia Winkelman Vertical 'Rosemead' Review: A Mother and Her Troubled Son In this drama, Lucy Liu offers a compassionate and grim portrait of a parent at the end of her rope. By Lisa Kennedy Kino Lorber 'Little Trouble Girls' Review: Teenage Infatuation Despite awareness of taboos, two girls in a Catholic school choir are drawn to each other in this feature debut by the Slovenian director Urska Djukic. By Manohla Dargis Film Movement 'Happy Holidays' Review: Fissures in a Palestinian Family In Scandar Copti's film, set in Haifa, Israel, secrets and deceptions strain relationships. By Ben Kenigsberg Jed Knight/IFC Films '100 Nights of Hero' Review: A Feminist Fairy Tale This flawed but endearing film stars Emma Corrin as a protective maid and features Charli XCX as a sister with a secret. By Brandon Yu NEWS & FEATURES Rustin Thompson/WTO/99 Documentary Lens The Protesters and the Police Are Both the Focus and the Filmmakers To tell the story of the demonstrations surrounding a World Trade Organization meeting, "WTO/99" assembled scenes shot by the participants themselves. By Alissa Wilkinson Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features What 'Hamnet' Lost (and Gained) on the Way From Page to Screen The filmmaker Chloé Zhao and the novelist-turned-screenwriter Maggie O'Farrell explained the changes they made in the tale of Shakespeare, his wife and their son. By Sarah Bahr Michael Loccisano/Getty Images the Projectionist Jafar Panahi, Who Filmed in Secret in Iran, Wins Big at the Gotham Awards He won best director, original screenplay and international feature for "It Was Just an Accident." Best feature went to "One Battle After Another." By Kyle Buchanan Murray Close/Lucasfilm, via Getty Images Tom Stoppard Wrote Dialogue for Indiana Jones and Obi-Wan Kenobi The playwright won an Academy Award for "Shakespeare in Love." But he was also a prolific script doctor who worked with filmmakers like Steven Spielberg. By Eric Grode Disney Enterprises 'Zootopia 2' Goes Wild at the Worldwide Box Office The Disney sequel took in $156 million in North America over its first five days. Strong turnout in China pushed the film's global opening total to $556 million. By Brooks Barnes Disney Enterprises But Who Is the Snake in 'Zootopia 2'? Gary Goldman, who has battled Disney in court over the franchise, thinks the viper Gary De'Snake is based on him. By Brooks Barnes Disney/Disney, via Associated Press Fans Are Obsessed With This Celebrity Couple. They Star in 'Zootopia.' WildeHopps, a.k.a. the fox and bunny at the heart of the franchise, has inspired a YouTube movie, TikToks, fancams and more. The obsession goes deep (and sometimes weird). By Esther Zuckerman STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS Alisha Wetherill/Prime Merry Little Streaming From "Oh. What. Fun." to "A Very Jonas Christmas Movie," a roundup of several new holiday titles to stream this season. By Elisabeth Vincentelli Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures 20 Great Holiday Romance Movies From timeless classics to frothy distractions, we've picked the best holiday romances currently available to stream. By Ashley Spencer Clockwise from top left: 20th Century Fox; Focus Features; RKO Radio Pictures 30 Classic Christmas Movies to Watch This Holiday Season Our list of classics is broad, from warm Old Hollywood favorites to the sort of boozy, vulgar entertainments that parents can watch after putting the kids to bed. By Scott Tobias Shudder Five Horror Movies to Stream Now This month's movies include cosmopolitan assassins, flesh-slicing swashbucklers and seasoned supernatural detectives. By Erik Piepenburg How are we doing? 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