Hollywood: Eight contenders for the best picture Oscar

Los Angeles - Looking at some movies that are battling for top prize this year.

In a year that saw movie theaters boarded up due to Covid-19, eight new films that did reach our screens impressed Academy voters enough that they are in contention for Hollywood's biggest award -- the Oscar for best picture.

The blockbusters may be absent, but an eclectic array of titles are in the mix, from a lavish Netflix ode to Tinseltown's Golden Age to a tiny indie drama about Korean immigrants scraping out a living off the land in rural America.

Here are the eight movies battling for the top prize at Sunday's Oscars ceremony:

- 'The Father' -

Starring Anthony Hopkins and adapted by French playwright Florian Zeller from his own stage production, "The Father" takes viewers on a terrifying voyage through the onset of dementia.

The film is set in a London apartment where ailing but stubborn father Anthony (Hopkins) has chased off his latest caregiver, forcing daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) to find a replacement before her departure for Paris.

But nothing in Anthony's life is quite as it seems, with the audience increasingly questioning his perspective, as his faculties rapidly appear to fade.

Widely praised at its Sundance premiere in January 2020, the film has many admirers -- particularly for Hopkins' tour-de-force lead performance -- but is a long shot for best picture.

Judas and the Black Messiah

In a year that produced several acclaimed movies led by Black casts and filmmakers, only "Judas and the Black Messiah" made the Academy's best picture shortlist.

A twist on the traditional biopic, the movie tells half of the story of slain Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) from the perspective of the FBI informant who betrayed him, William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield).

Produced by Ryan Coogler -- director of Marvel superhero film "Black Panther" -- the 1960s Chicago-set movie follows Hampton's efforts to galvanize activists against police violence, even as the FBI encircled him and his followers.

The latest entrant to the Oscars race, having only premiered to critics this February, has made a splash with six nominations but remains an outside bet.

Mank

No film has more Oscar nominations this year than David Fincher's "Mank," a black-and-white prestige drama bankrolled by Netflix that dramatizes -- and heavily fictionalizes -- the making of "Citizen Kane."

Conceived as a booze-soaked ode to Hollywood's Golden Age, it features a who's who of movie titans of old, including David O. Selznick, Louis B. Mayer and "Kane" creator Orson Welles himself.

The drama centers on aging screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he pens -- apparently single-handedly -- what would become arguably the greatest movie of all time, while mingling with studio bosses and corrupt politicians.

Despite its multiple nods and bona fide credentials, "Mank" has left critics and voters bitterly divided, and its best picture hopes appear to have gone the way of Rosebud.

Minari

Korean-American director Lee Isaac Chung was on the verge of leaving his film career behind for teaching when he shot "Minari," a final throw of the Hollywood dice, based on his own childhood.

Shot in both English and Korean, "Minari" is in many ways a quintessential American story -- of scrappy immigrants trying to carve out a space for themselves, in this case by growing Korean vegetables in 1980s Arkansas.

The film -- which brings together Korean-speaking actors from both sides of the Pacific, including "Walking Dead" star Steven Yeun and veteran South Korean actress Youn Yuh-Jung -- focuses on intimate, family relationships rather than broader issues of race or ethnicity.

Almost universally admired if not loved, the film is arguably the least divisive of the best picture nominees and could be a dark horse thanks to the preferential, ranked voting system used by the Academy.

Nomadland

It is rare for a film to dominate the fall festivals and still be the undeniable frontrunner months later at the Oscars, but Chloe Zhao's "Nomadland" has yet to falter this awards season.

A daring and distinctive blend of road movie, Western, drama and documentary, "Nomadland" depicts a community of older Americans who live off the grid in run-down vans after losing everything in the global financial crisis.

The cast, which features several real-life "nomads" playing versions of themselves, is anchored by a nuanced, earthy performance from Frances McDormand, who helped bring the movie to life as an early producer.

Few analysts see any film other than "Nomadland" taking the top prize, and it is likely to earn several other Oscars.

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