It's rare for a movie like "The Substance" to break into the Oscars race. Written and directed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, the film is an intense, satirical and violent body horror thriller about insecurity and the pressures of the unrealistic beauty standards that society forces onto women both when they are young and when they are older.

But through the lens of the 50 films nominated for at least one Academy Award this year — features, shorts, documentaries, and international films — the film industry is still humming with talent. This is on balance a very strong Oscar year.

The 2025 Oscars are almost here, and cord-cutters have a new route to watching the glitzy Academy Awards ceremony live. Live TV streaming services remain a way to stream the show as it unfolds, but for the first time,