Few nights in the Hollywood calendar year come close to the glitz and glamor of the Oscars. An Oscar statuette is a supreme achievement for anyone involved in filmmaking, and those who win one or more of the golden boys earn the right to label themselves an Oscar winner “insert the title here” for the rest of the story not to mention the career-enhancing potential that comes with it.
As the race heats up for the 93rd Oscar, which takes place on February 28, let’s take a look at some of the most memorable past winners in various categories, or at least those currently being streamed on Netflix.
1 Pot maze
Won: Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, Best Photography at the 79th Oscar
Guillermo Del Toro’s 2014 dark fairy tale is a Spanish-language masterpiece that juxtaposes childhood innocence with the horror of Spanish fascism in the 1940s. wide open to the Pale Man – a tuberculous monster with long, bony fingers and eyes on his palms. The film distorts the fantasy of fairy tale tropes to generate a real life image maturing in its young protagonist Ofelia and leaves a lasting impression with her imagination and punch end. – Alexis Nedd, senior entertainment reporter
Watch Pot maze on Netflix.
2. There will be blood
Won: Best Photography, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) at the 80th Oscar
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, this 2007 film follows a greedy psychopath at the turn of the 20th century. Since Plainview seeks wealth in the West, first in prospecting and then in oil drilling and distribution, he puts money and power above everything else, especially the welfare of others. It is a dark, dusty and unforgiving commentary on capitalism and the way in which a society built on competitive greed brings out the worst in those who succeed. As Plainview’s wealth accumulates, so do the bodies around it, both literally and figuratively. It would be difficult to watch if it weren’t for the incredible and thrilling performances and the wide, almost moving landscapes in which the whole ordeal takes place. – Kellen Beck, science reporter
Watch There will be blood on Netflix
3. Start
Won: best photography, best sound editing, best sound mixing, best visual effects at the 83rd Oscar
Whether the ending haunts or enchants you, Beginning it’s always an experience to watch. From Hans Zimmer’s transcendent score (BWAAHHHH) to the revolving corridors and streets of the dream city, Beginning kept us gaping and guessing – without the confusion of director Christopher Nolan’s most recent work (cough, Principle) It is a thriller, a VFX smorgasbord and a high-risk theft that always fascinates us. However, points out for cheating Marion Cotillard. – Proma Khosla, entertainment reporter
Watch Beginning on Netflix
4. The social network
Won: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Soundtrack at the 83rd Oscar
The thought of watching a Facebook dot com-related movie may make you jaw drop in the year 2021, but The social network remains a compulsively watchable product of its time. Even in his most sympathetic portrait of Mark Zuckerberg of 2010, we see the seeds of the site and its creator as we now know them. The film by director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin vibrates with youthful restlessness, amplified beautifully by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on their cinematic soundtrack. “Sorry, my Prada is in the laundry” remains an icon, and we will be suffering from this rejection of Best Film forever. – PK
Watch The social network on Netflix
5. Hugo
Won: Best Photography, Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing at the 84th Academy Awards
Hugo stars Asa Butterfield as Hugo Cabret, a young man who lived alone at a Paris train station in the 1930s after his father died and his adopted uncle, who manages the station’s clocks, disappears. Not long after that, he is drawn to a mystery involving his deceased father, a non-functional automaton of unknown origins, and Georges Méliès, a French film pioneer.
Ah yes, it is also directed by the legendary director and lover of cinema, Martin Scorsese. Hugo is a children’s film presented by a master craftsman, with a compelling story and an artistically filmed presentation that makes it an unforgettable celebration of the film’s fantastic appeal. It also stars Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer and Jude Law. – Adam Rosenberg, weekend editor *
Watch Hugo on Netflix
6. The Hateful Eight
Won: Best Original Soundtrack at the 88th Oscar
The eight hated is alone among Quentin Tarantino’s films in feeling more like a play than a story for the cinema screen. Most of this bloody western takes place in the cramped, claustrophobic confines of an empty passage station as a group of apparent strangers huddle together to wait for an unpleasant blizzard to end. The truths that emerge during his forced captivity intertwine in a surprising murder mystery driven by Robert Richardson’s exuberant cinematography and an Oscar-winning soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. – AR
Watch The eight hated on Netflix
7. Moonlight
Won: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), Best Adapted Screenplay at the 89th Oscar
MoonlightThe memorable Oscar winning Best Picture was an interesting conclusion to the overwhelmingly positive reception of the film. The film focuses on the inflection points of growth, occurring over the course of a few days in childhood, adolescence and adulthood of a man named Chiron. Each period features a different actor like Chiron, and each version of him learns a little more about the social and personal truths that inform who he is and will become. The film is tragic, romantic and intimate – focusing on the realities of Chiron’s fragmented domestic environment and emerging queer sexuality, while quietly highlighting the humanity of the characters who impacted his life for better and worse. – A*
Watch Moonlight on Netflix
8. Rome
Won: Best Director, Best Foreign Film, Best Photography at the 91st Oscar
The Oscar-winning drama by Alfonso Cuarón follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a housekeeper who works for a wealthy family in Mexico City. Thanks to Cuarón’s writing, direction and cinematography (each of which won its own Oscar), the film is incredibly engaging, involving us in Cleo’s world in a way that most films seek and can never even touch. We feel the comfort in her mundane day-to-day life, the pain of her boyfriend’s betrayal and the blinding panic and trauma in the final act of the film. It is an impressive piece of cinema that should be talked about in the coming decades. – PK
Watch Pomegranate on Netflix
9. American Factory
Won: Best Documentary at the 92nd Oscar
The winner of the 2020 Best Documentary takes viewers into a closed General Motors factory in Ohio, recently purchased and remodeled by a Chinese billionaire, for an impressive look at worker exploitation in the modern era. A complex presentation of multiculturalism and its impacts on the global economy, American Factory it is an uncomfortable watch that remains firmly objective from start to finish, but still manages to make its point. – Alison Foreman, entertainment reporter
Watch American Factory on Netflix
10. Wedding history
Won: Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern) at the 92nd Oscar
The tense story of writer and director Noah Baumbach of a couple ending their marriage divided the audience, with some viewers reporting that they were surprised at the “side” they ended up on. But the reception of criticism of the film was almost universal in its praise for the execution and the impact of the story, with the protagonists Scarlett Johannson and Adam Driver chosen for their magnetic work on the scene.
At the 92nd Oscar, Wedding history he took home only one Oscar from the six categories in which he was nominated. Still, this artistic representation of intimacy remains a triumph of the romantic narrative, venturing far beyond the Happily Ever After that the public knows so well. – AF
Watch Wedding history on Netflix
* This synopsis of the film appeared on an earlier Mashable list