The 96th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 10, at 7 pm ET/4 pm PT, with some of the most celebrated names in cinema and emerging hopeful stars taking part in Hollywood’s most prestigious night. But what are the Oscars focused on this time around? What are the best picture nominees about? What’s worth paying attention to?

To recap, 2023 was a massive year for movies. Summer movie phenomenon Barbieheimer took the box office by storm, with the two supposedly opposed films leading to a record-breaking July. Martin Scorsese’s latest epic, Killers of the Flower Moon, received both critical acclaim and criticism for his take on the Osage Reign of Terror. “Great man” biopics like Oppenheimer and Maestro were bountiful, and so much more.

Read Vox’s reviews, historical analyses, and news coverage to learn more about this year’s nominees, and to understand why all of these conversations matter.