With movies like The Revenant and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens still bringing in millions at the box office, and Quentin Tarantino’s 70mm roadshow version of The Hateful Eight continuing its trek across the country, you can’t yet watch all of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies from the comfort of your living room. (Unless you’re a gazillionaire with one of those crazy screening rooms, and you pay through the nose to watch theatrical-run movies.) But there are plenty you can see before the awards are handed out—including some of the year’s frontrunners.
Bridge of Spies
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
Though Steven Spielberg is responsible for some of the most popular movies in cinematic history, his luck at the Oscars as a director isn’t as great; the only thing more regular than a Spielberg movie making money is its appearing on the inevitable “snub lists” that follow the Oscar nominations in any given year. In fact, he’s only been nominated twice since the year 2000, and this year was no exception, despite Bridge of Spies being a deeply engrossing tale of an American lawyer conscripted into Cold War subterfuge. Though the film earned six nominations—including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay—Spielberg: The Director got nada.
Ex Machina
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
It’s easy to imagine that, had newbie distributor A24 waited a few months to release Ex Machina in theaters, it could have easily won wider awards acclaim. As it stands, the directorial debut of novelist-turned-screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later…, Sunshine)—about a devious piece of humanoid A.I.—managed to nab nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Visual Effects a jawdropping nine months after its April premiere.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Amazon; Google Play; HBO Now; iTunes
Yes, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s sub-erotic adaptation of E.L. James’ bestselling erotic novel can forever tout itself as an “Oscar nominee.” Yes, just like Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Schindler’s List. (It was nominated for Best Original Song for The Weeknd’s “Earned It, ” but that won’t stop accolade from showing up on the Blu-ray box copy.)
Mad Max: Fury Road
Amazon; Google Play; HBO Now; iTunes
When it comes to the latest entry in the Mad Max series, there are two schools of thought: it’s a two-hour long car chase punctuated by Tom Hardy’s grunts, or it’s an amazing two-hour long car chase punctuated by Tom Hardy’s grunt that was also defiantly feminist and deserves to be named Best Picture. (Guess which camp we’re in.) While the chances for the latter are indeed slim, Hollywood could stand to take a few lessons from George Miller who, at the age of 70 and nearly 40 years after first conceiving of Max Rockatansky, is still infusing the beloved franchise with new life.
The Martian
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
There are only a handful of actors who could pull off spending the bulk of a 154-minute movie alone on screen, talking into a camera, trying to find a way to survive on Mars after being presumed dead and stranded there, and make it a compelling watch. Matt Damon is one of those actors. Which is a good thing for Ridley Scott, who somehow managed to not get a Best Director nod, despite the fact that his fingerprints are all over the screen in The Martian.
Sicario
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario seemed to come out of nowhere when it hit theaters in September. Despite a successful showing at Cannes, where Villeneuve scored a Palm d’Or nomination, the movie—about an FBI agent (Emily Blunt) who is forced to question just how far she’s willing to go when she’s recruited into an elite task force fighting drug smugglers along the Mexican border—was released with little fanfare. That’s all the more surprising given its impressive pedigree; Blunt stars alongside Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro and nominee Josh Brolin, with longtime Coen collaborator Roger Deakins behind the camera to achieve the film’s impressive visceral look. (It’s Deakins who is responsible for one of the film’s three Oscar nominations.)
Spectre
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
Though it didn’t manage to break the billion-dollar mark like its predecessor, 2012’s Skyfall, the latest entry in the James Bond series could hardly be called a disappointment. The film, which re-teams director Sam Mendes with current 007 Daniel Craig, takes a bit of a throwback approach—though with all the state-of-the-art gadgets, gorgeous locations, cool cars, and stunning women one has come to expect from the franchise—as Bond works to uncover the truth behind Spectre.
Spotlight
Amazon/Google Play/iTunes/YouTube
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant may have taken home the Golden Globe for Best Picture, but Tom McCarthy’s film—about The Boston Globe’s investigation into child abuse within the Catholic Church—has emerged as a strong contender. McCarthy’s nuanced approach to the material works particularly well in this film, given how easy it could be to sensationalize a story about institutional corruption; in less deft hands, the results could have seemed tawdry.
Steve Jobs
Amazon; Google Play
Aaron Sorkin won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, yet didn’t even merit an Oscar nomination for his innovative take on the biopic, as directed by Danny Boyle. Maybe that was the problem. Written and performed like a stage play, Michael Fassbender plays the titular role of the late Apple icon with equal parts bravado and vulnerability, leaving the viewer to wonder whether Jobs is a man truly deserving of his millions of loyal followers.
Straight Outta Compton
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
The conversation regarding the Oscars’ lack of diversity has hit a fever pitch, so much so that the Academy has promised to lay out an honest-to-goodness plan that, according to Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, will “bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond.” In the meantime, F. Gary Gray’s N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, serves as a prime piece of evidence that #OscarsSoWhite: while the movie did garner a nomination, it was for Best Original Screenplay—which was written by two white people. (If you’re going to nominate a white person for SOC, at least give Paul Giamatti a Best Supporting Actor nod for his heavy-breathing Jerry Heller!)
Animated Films
Inside Out
Amazon; iTunes; YouTube
Pixar continues to prove that “kids’ movies that adults will love” is neither an oxymoron nor some piece of trumped-up marketing speak. Their latest film is a bit of a darker entry, mostly because it largely takes place inside the mind of an unhappy pre-teen whose family just moved her to San Francisco, where all the pizza is covered in broccoli.
Shaun the Sheep
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes
Like Pixar, Aardman Animations knows how to truly tap into the “fun for all ages” genre. They did it in years past with Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, and now they’ve done it again with this Best Animated Feature Film nominee. Aardman may not be as prolific as Pixar when it comes to feature film output, but whereas Pixar breaks new ground with CGI, Aardman keeps pushing the stop-motion claymation process forward.
Documentaries
Amy
Amazon; Google Play; iTunes; YouTube
Like many artists who died before their time, the story of Amy Winehouse’s rise to success—as told by documentarian Asif Kapadia—is a truly tragic, albeit familiar, one. But Kapadia sets his film (and Winehouse) apart by telling the story in her own words, thereby creating something that’s as much cautionary tale as it is biography of a singular talent.
