Photo: VALERIE MACON / AFP / Getty Images
Oscar season is officially homework season.
With nominations out for the Academy Awards, movie fans are scrambling to figure out where to watch the year’s most talked-about films and how to squeeze them all in before Oscar night. The good news? Most of the nominees are already streaming, renting, or playing limited theatrical runs, which means you can build a very respectable awards marathon from your couch.
Streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV+ are hosting several major contenders, while prestige titles still holding onto theatrical exclusivity are popping up in indie theaters and special one-week runs across Los Angeles. Translation: check your local listings, clear your weekend, and prepare to explain to your family why you have to watch three serious dramas in a row.
Photo: Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images
While you’re catching up on Oscar fare, there’s also a brand-new movie entering the conversation
That would be Mercy, a near-future crime thriller directed by Timur Bekmambetov, a filmmaker who has practically cornered the market on “screenlife” movies, which are films that unfold through surveillance footage, video calls, and digital interfaces. Think Searching, Missing, and the Unfriended films. This time, Bekmambetov steps behind the camera himself.
The premise is provocative: it’s 2029 in Los Angeles, and an experimental justice system uses artificial intelligence to determine guilt. If the A.I. judge says you’re more than 92 percent likely to be guilty of murder, you get 90 minutes to prove otherwise, or you’re executed on the spot.
Chris Pratt stars as Detective Chris Raven, a cop who once supported the system and now wakes up strapped to a chair, accused of killing his wife. His judge? A calm, omnipresent A.I. avatar played by Rebecca Ferguson, who gives him access to evidence, files, and footage — all floating around him as the clock ticks down.
It’s a clever setup. Mercy moves fast enough to keep you watching. But the movie never quite decides what it wants to say. Is A.I. justice a terrifying dystopia? A useful tool gone wrong? Or just a flashy plot device to push us from one twist to the next?
If you’re looking for a fast, slightly chaotic watch between awards contenders, Mercy might scratch that itch.
Just don’t let it distract you from finishing your Oscar homework.
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