10 Awesome Recent Movies That Came Totally Out Of Nowhere

3. The Last Showgirl

Gia Coppola's new drama The Last Showgirl premiered at last year's TIFF to positive notices, though it was relatively low on the buzz-o-meter compared to other awards hopefuls which also debuted at the fest.

This was the film's only major North American awards stop before it was released in a single cinema in Los Angeles in December - a perfunctory requirement to make it eligible for Oscar consideration.

Expectations weren't high for its awards prospects given distributor Roadside Attractions' limited resources, so it was a genuine surprise to see The Last Showgirl's profile skyrocket basically out of nowhere after star Pamela Anderson received a surprise Best Actress nomination at the Golden Globes.

This momentum continued into 2025, where Anderson and co-star Jamie Lee Curtis both received Screen Actors Guild nominations, and Curtis also landed a BAFTA nod shortly thereafter.

This dovetailed quite perfectly into the film's early-January theatrical expansion, and while the film ultimately failed to secure any Oscar nominations, it still ended up delivering a genuine comeback moment for Anderson - something which seemed like a faint pipe dream following its TIFF premiere.

And given the gritty authenticity of Anderson's performance and Coppola's deft, sensitive filmmaking, it was most certainly well-earned - albeit wholly unexpected.