Who knew pop star Ariana Grande was an adept musical comedian? That surprising discovery should earn her an Oscar nomination for Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the global hit musical “Wicked” (Universal, Nov. 22), which will prove to be a box office hit. Co-hosts Ryan Lattanzio and Anne Thompson agree on as much as “Screen Talk”; but he hates the cheesy visuals and likes Jonathan Bailey’s charismatic supporting turn as the romantic interest of both witches in training, while Anne admires the music, well produced by Marc Platt and delivered with gusto by Cynthia Erivo and Grande.

“Wicked” follows Steven Spielberg’s recent “West Side Story,” which earned seven nominations in 2022 and a win for another supporting discovery, Ariana DeBose. And Rob Marshall’s film version of Bob Fosse’s “Chicago” (2002) was also one of the ten musical Best Picture winners. But we agree that they were executed with greater visual and technical mastery.

Both co-hosts raved about Clint Eastwood’s taut courtroom thriller “Juror #2” (Warner Bros., limited release) which reunites Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette 24 years after “About a Boy,” filmed when Hoult was 11 years old. Now 35, he also stars opposite a 50-year-old Jude Law in “The Order,” Justin Kurzel’s timely FBI vs. Neo-Nazi thriller set in the 1980s Pacific Northwest. And Hoult is also great in Robert Eggers’ Christmas movie “Nosferatu” (Focus Features), as a down-on-his-luck husband whose wife (Lily-Rose Depp) is haunted by an ancient and powerful vampire (Bill Skarsgard).

We want more of these well-executed, tight, mid-budget films.

Among our latest screenings of international feature films, we recommend the excellent family drama ‘Vermiglio’ from Italy, and the stirring 1968 journalistic story from the Czech Republic, ‘Waves’, based on true events.

During this week’s DOC NYC, ‘The Bibi Files’ from Oscar-winning producer Alex Gibney (‘Taxi to the Dark Side’) and director Alexis Bloom (‘Divide and Conquer’) looks at Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, using is made of the secret police interrogations with such close friends of the Israeli Prime Minister as Arnon Milchan, the Hollywood producer, who gave gifts such as valuable Tiffany jewelry to Sara Netanyahu, along with cases of champagne and cigars.

Influential documentary awards group Cinema Eye Honors also released nominations, including contenders like “Frida,” “The Black Box Diaries,” “No Other Land,” “Daughters,” “Sugarcane” and “Union.”

We’re also announcing this year’s IndieWire Honors recipients: directors Denis Villeneuve (“Dune: Part Two”), Steve McQueen (“Blitz”), RaMell Ross (“Nickel Boys”), Chris Sanders (“The Wild Robot”) , plus actresses Jennifer Lopez (“Unstoppable”) and Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”), and more.