Amazon Prime just quietly added one of this year’s best picture Oscar nominees
It has a huge Rotten Tomatoes score.
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Previous Page Next PageAhead of the Oscars 2025, taking place this weekend, Amazon Prime has just quietly added one of the most acclaimed of this year’s best picture nominees.
Nickel Boys, released in August, 2024, has raked in two nominations at this year’s Academy Awards – and has been tipped to win big on Sunday night.
RaMell Ross’ movie is set in Florida in the 1960s, and follows two African-American boys, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), as they are sent to a brutal reform school.
The pair strike up a friendship as they try to survive the abusive facility, while also attempting to draw attention to the treatment they are subjected to.
The film, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s 2019 novel of the same name, also starred Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jimmie Fails, Daveed Diggs, Luke Tennie and Hamish Linklater.
For film fans who haven’t been able to catch Nickel Boys yet – or just want to watch it again – thankfully it has been added to the Amazon Prime Video slate just in time for the ceremony.
Nickel Boys is up for two Oscars at this weekend’s ceremony (Picture: MGM)It currently commands a huge 91% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to a 75% audience ranking.
Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian praised: ‘There are outstanding performances here from Ellis-Taylor, Herisse and Wilson, and Jomo Fray’s cinematography and Nora Mendis’s production design are exceptional too.
‘This is a survivor’s coming of age: tough, disillusioned, brilliant.’
‘Nickel Boys is a fragmented film, so much so that it can be difficult to grasp it,’ Maureen Lee Lennker from Entertainment Weekly shared.
Ethan Herisse led the way in the stunning movie (Picture: MGM)‘But at a certain point, it turns around and grabs you instead, refusing to let go until you’re left sitting in a startling and stunned silence.’
‘The film sidles up to the narrative’s wrenching twists rather than heavily foreshadowing them, and is all the more gutting for it,’ The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Robey penned.
As Ross Bonaime of Collider added: ‘Ross creates a work of art that brilliantly adapts Whitehead’s book, while also finding his own ingenious way to film this story, and in doing so, creates easily one of the best films of 2024.’
Full list of Oscars 2025 nominations Best PictureAnora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Best DirectorSean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Best ActorAdrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Best ActressCynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Best Supporting ActorYura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Best Supporting ActressMonica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Best Original ScreenplayAnora
The Brutalist
A Real Pain
September 5
The Substance
Best Adapted ScreenplayA Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
Best Animated FeatureFlow
Inside Out 2
Memoir Of A Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Best International Feature FilmI’m Still Here (Brazil)
The Girl With The Needle (Denmark)
Emilia Pérez (France)
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig (Germany)
Flow (Latvia)
Best Documentary Feature FilmBlack Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat
Sugarcane
Best Original ScoreThe Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Best Original Song‘El Mal’, Emilia Pérez
‘The Journey’, The Six Triple Eight
‘Like A Bird’, Sing Sing
‘Mi Camino’, Emilia Pérez
‘Never Too Late’, Elton John: Never Too Late
Best CinematographyThe Brutalist
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Maria
Nosferatu
Best EditingAnora
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
Best SoundA Complete Unknown
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Best Production DesignThe Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked
Best Makeup And HairstylingA Different Man
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked
Best Costume DesignA Complete Unknown
Conclave
Gladiator II
Nosferatu
Wicked
Best Visual EffectsAlien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Wicked
Best Documentary Short FilmDeath By Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments Of A Beating Heart
The Only Girl In The Orchestra
Best Live-Action Short FilmA Lien
Anuja
I’m Not A Robot
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Best Animated Short FilmBeautiful Men
In The Shadow Of The Cypress
Magic Candies
Wander To Wonder
Yuck!
Nickel Boys is up for two trophies at the Oscars on Sunday, including the coveted best picture gong, alongside I’m Still Here, Conclave, The Brutalist, Anora, Emilia Perez, Dune: Part Two, Wicked, A Complete Unknown and the Substance.
It has also earned a nod for best adapted screenplay, battling it out with A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Emilia Perez and Sing Sing.
Nickel Boys is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now.
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