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Each January brings high hopes and bitter disappointments, surprises and snubs. This Tuesday morning was no different when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations for the best films of 2023. There were some obvious frontrunners who were always going to get in, be it Oppenheimer or The Holdovers, and some that always seemed like at least a strong possibility (looking at you, Maestro!).
Still, there were plenty on the bubble, so it’s a relief to see Anatomy of a Fall and Past Lives get in. Be that as it may, as an audience member who couldn’t afford to go to the movie theater every weekend, it might be understandable if you feel daunted at seeing so many films just added to your watch list. So if you are trying to get caught up in time for the Academy Awards telecast in March—or just want to know where to go for a rewatch—we’ve gathered all the streaming destinations for the Best Picture nominees available to watch at home. Below is the list. Enjoy.
Anatomy of a Fall
A gratifying Best Picture nominee, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d’Or but inexplicably was not submitted for consideration in the Best International Film category. No matter, the French film is now in the Best Picture race instead. Deservedly so, too, as Anatomy of a Fall turns a police investigation into the death of a wealthy man who fell (or was pushed?) from a high window into a riveting portrait of the French legal system wherein the man’s wife, Sandra (Sandra Hüller), must stand trial for her alleged role in his death, as well as every mistake, betrayal, and aspersion of their marriage.
Available to rent or buy on: Amazon, Apple (U.S. and UK)
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Barbie
This Barbie comes with an Oscar-nomination before her name. And that bit of toy copy is written in ink! Yep, the most popular film of 2023 is now also a Best Picture nominee thanks to Greta Gerwig’s outside-the-box vision for a movie based on a popular doll. Slyly embedding foundational theories of feminism into a story about a Barbie (Margot Robbie) enduring an identity crisis, Gerwig follows Stereotypical Barbie as she goes into the real world to figure out why she’s sad—and taking the useless and oblivious Ken (Ryan Gosling) along for the ride. The film is way cleverer and more subversive than any simple plot synopsis can suggest. Check it out if you’ve somehow missed it up until now.
Available to stream on: Max (U.S. only); available to rent on: Amazon, Apple (U.S. and UK)
The Holdovers
One of the favorites for acting awards this season, with Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph both taking home Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards for their work, The Holdovers is a beautiful, and bittersweet, dramedy. From Alexander Payne (Election, The Descendants), The Holdovers tracks a curmudgeonly boarding school history teacher who has his heart melted while watching over a handful of kids left parentless during Christmas break. Hijinks and life-changing adventures ensue.
Available to stream on: Peacock (U.S. Only)
Killers of the Flower Moon
As Martin Scorsese’s sprawling and unflinching look at the “Reign of Terror” genocide inflicted on the Osage people in the early 20th century, Killers of the Flower Moon is not for the faint of heart. It is, however, a gripping work of cinema featuring unforgettable performances by Lily Gladstone as Mollie, the Osage woman who sought to bring justice to members of her family who were murdered by white men, and Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest, the husband of the same woman secretly helping perpetrate the murders.
Available to stream on: Apple TV+ (U.S. and UK)
Maestro
Bradley Cooper spent six years learning how to convincingly conduct an orchestra onscreen, so you better be sure he’ll be getting at least Best Picture and Best Actor nominations. Both came to pass as his passion project Maestro was finally put out in the world this past holiday season. Ostensibly a biopic about legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, Maestro quietly reveals itself to be an intimate character study about the marriage between Lenny (Cooper) and his great love, Felicia (Carey Mulligan). He really does love her, but that doesn’t make it any easier when he subtly reveals he is attracted to men.
Available to stream on: Netflix (U.S. and UK)
Oppenheimer
The clear frontrunner for this year’s Oscars, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer could very well sweep the Academy telecast in March. Also one half of the seismic “Barbenheimer” event this past July, Oppenheimer turned out to be a towering blockbuster despite its grim subject matter. J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy in the film) was one of the greatest minds of his generation, and he used it during World War II to help the U.S. develop the atomic bomb and win the war. Unfortunately, it also ushered in the nuclear age we shall forever live in. A talky, dense, and sophisticated three-hour epic told in non-chronological order and with an air of impending doom, Oppenheimer became the unlikely movie of our moment.
Available to rent or buy on: Amazon, Apple (U.S. and UK); available to stream on Feb. 16 on: Peacock
Past Lives
One of the most satisfying Best Picture nominations at this year’s Oscars is Celine Song’s exquisitely tender Past Lives, a romance about two people who in another timeline might have been the love of each other’s lives. But as childhood sweethearts in South Korea, one had a family that moved to Canada, and the other never left Seoul. When they reconnect in their 20s and then later in their 30s, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) are left to see in each other’s eyes the lives that could have been, but never will be… or will they?
Available to rent and buy on: Amazon, Apple (U.S. and UK)
The Zone of Interest
A movie no one would accuse of being an easy watch, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is an undeniably important movie which through sheer word of mouth (or horror?) has found its way into the Best Picture race. This did not necessarily surprise us since the film has an obvious timeliness. The picture is of course abut the incomprehensible evil of the Holocaust, but here it is told from the point-of-view of its perpetrators. We never actually enter the gates of Auschwitz. Instead we spend 90 minutes with the commandant (Christian Friedel) and his happy family, who are living their best lives by turning a blind eye to the nightmares endured by others—to their benefit. You can trace any modern social horror, from the decay of American democracy to the atrocities being committed in the Middle East, on this pointed metaphor. But it may not help you sleep any easier.
The Zone of Interest is currently unavailable to stream.
American Fiction
Jeffrey Wright is absolutely magnetic in American Fiction, Cord Jefferson’s impressive directorial debut that is simultaneously a shrewd satire of the publishing industry (and American culture at large) and a poignant satire about being a middle-aged Black man in America who does not fit simple media narratives. Nonetheless, Wright’s college professor Monk Ellison finds himself in exactly such a construct when under a pseudonym he writes a parody of all the bestsellers marketed around Black pain and suffering… only for his white editors to not get the joke and turn it into yet another bestseller. Now the FBI is looking into this alleged fugitive author.
American Fiction is not currently available to stream.
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s Poor Things remains one of the most dazzling and original movies in years, as well as one of the most divisive. The story of how a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe) puts the mind of a fetus into the body of a recently deceased adult woman (Stone), Poor Things becomes a quizzical emancipation parable as Bella Baxter breaks away from her godlike father to become an empowered New Woman living on her own terms in the 19th century. So you know, that old chestnut! It’s also just a sumptuous feast for the eyes.
Poor Things is currently unavailable to stream.
The post Where to Watch the Oscars 2024 Best Picture Nominees appeared first on Den of Geek.
