MY OSCARS

and the Oscars go to….

The Oscars are here with us again this 2026 and obviously the contenders are One Battle After Another and Sinners. Yes, they were seen as some of the greatest movies of the year 2025. They are good movies, period. I cannot take away from their greatness but they aren’t as good to my taste as the experts say.

Let me place a caveat, I am a geeky dude with philosophical leanings, meaning, I will always try to insert meaning and a teaching from even the tiniest of stories. A wind might blow a certain way and boom, a whole teaching and inference we can learn opens up to me like Venus fly trap to an approaching insect. I’m the archetypical man in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s search for meaning for I am always looking for one where sometimes there isn’t and maybe there’s no meaning to all this and we are really here trying to find something in a chance universe- but anyway I digress.

So, movie watching is infused with meaning and I watch not to be entertained, but to learn something. Look for the lesson being communicated. Is this the best way to watch movies, being so mindful and intentional not for just entertainment for entertainment sake? Frankly, I wouldn’t even want my child to be like this but I can’t help it. Maybe I just need a person who will make me see life sometimes has not to be faced too intentionally. Again, i digress.

With this in mind, I now give you my top three movies that I was entertained by, but mostly importantly, I learnt something from them about life in general especially for this point I’m in as a young adult trying to find meaning. Just note, I will give the teaching taught and not the story line as I do not want to be a spoiler, you go out and watch the movie and see if you’ll see my point of view or you will get your own deductions, as is the norm of every piece of art that’s worth it’s salt; it must induce as varied thoughts in the audience as is possible.

2nd runners up is Train dreams. The premise of the movie is the mundanity of life. How a grand life isn’t one high after another but one step after another. One choice after another. Nothing grand happens to the main character, it’s just a peek into the life of a normal man who lives in one place, goes to work someplace else, few friends and colleagues,makes bad choices that haunt him, retires, loses all, rebuilds, doesn’t have great travelling adventures, doesn’t have grand ambitions except surviving the day he wakes up. No grand questions about life or purpose. And this is what makes the movie stick out to me; for it captures life for what it truly is. If we are the main characters of our movies called life, we are more like Robert Grainier (played by Joel Edgerton) than we are of Tom Cruise in mission impossible or James Bond. So yeah, this was an 8.5 out of ten movie.

train dreams poster

First runners up was Jay Kelly. The main lesson learnt is that in our pursuit of a goal, a dream, something that fully makes us alive; we should know what we are giving up in the process. We cannot have our cake and eat it. There are some dreams that might mean you will not have a close family unless you are intentional in involving them. Some dreams will chase away friends who will envy you, others attract friends who will only use you for who you are and only being aware is all that makes the difference. And awareness is only brought about by knowing the price beforehand and choosing it anyway. Intentionality is needful in life as it shows you your true wants in life and if you see the price is too high to pay, you refuse and either budget for it or leave the shop completely and look for a cheaper item that will still serve the purpose. And Jay Kelly (well performed by George Clooney) figured it all out to late when he’s thriving in one area but life is falling apart in another area for he thought that the first success will translate to the other areas of his life. but because he wasn’t intentional, it did not materialize. Rating: 9.0 out of 10

jay kelly poster

So, for the crown, Timothée Chalamet’s depiction of Marty Mauser in Marty Supreme takes it. The main inference: the end doesn’t justify the means. It shows how self belief and bullish confidence isn’t all that is necessary for success as is systems, discipline and the like. Lies will only take you so far as is using people as rungs in your ladder to success. It will all come crashing down and will embarrass you. So, temper ambition with discipline and do not lie. And do not want it so bad, you lose yourself in the process. 9.5 out of 10 movie and a must watch for the overtly confident and high achievers who believe the world is their oyster. Who is actually us at this point.

Marty supreme poster

So basically, those movies are my favorites for last year. They are mine, not another’s but mine from watching the nominees and hearing all the movie pundits’ reviews. Wrong or right, it is my list and I love it .