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Which film deserves best picture? We passionately defend all eight Oscar contenders Brian Truitt, Bryan Alexander, Patrick Ryan, Jenna Ryu, Andrea Mandell and Kim Willis, USA TODAY
The best picture race heading into the 93rd Academy Awards has kept the focus on writer-director Chloe Zhao s Nomadland, which has plundered the best picture prize in almost every preceding awards show.
But in this topsy-turvy pandemic movie year, anything can happen with the eight films nominated for best picture for Sunday s Oscars (ABC, 8 EDT/5 PDT).
This year s best picture category offers wide-ranging genres and filmmaking: two historical dramas centered on differing 1960s revolutionaries, an old-school Hollywood tale, a descent into dementia, acceptance of deafness, a woman s quest for vengeance and an immigrant family s pursuit of the American dream.
First Comes Like, by Alisha Rai. ★★★ (out of four.)
Out now. A perfect blend of modern dating in the digital age and some good old-fashioned courting, First Comes Like is the latest in Rai s modern love series. Instagram beauty influencer Jia Ahmed is cutting edge when it comes to promoting herself on social media but fails to realize she has been catfished until it is far too late. Not until she is standing in front of Bollywood soap star Dev Dixit, her supposed beau, that Jia figures out there is a problem. Dev has no idea who Jia is. After Jai storms off Dev makes an effort to clear up the confusion only to add to it thanks to some well-placed and pesky paparazzi and prying parents. As a result, a whirlwind fauxmance to romance is born. But don t let the old-fashioned descriptor fool you. While clearly chaste at the start, this is a romance that builds to a slow, sweet, and at times steamily, satisfying end. –