Where to Stream the Best Picture Nominees Before the Oscars this April
And, just like that, we’re smack dab in the middle of awards season again. Oh, how the last year flew.
After the audience-less (well, aside from anyone that actually mattered) 63rd Grammys earlier this month, awards shows are actually looking like they can exist again in a non-Zoom format. Meaning, unless another catastrophic event happens before the Oscars this year, the 93rd Annual Academy Awards are slated to run as normal as they could be on Sunday, April 25th, 2021.
You know what that means — it’s time to watch each and every single Best Picture Award nominee for yourself to see if the Academy got it right this year.
But, will they?
Nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture this year are as follows:
- The Father
- Judas and the Black Messiah
- Mank
- Minari
- Nomadland
- Promising Young Woman
- Sound of Metal
- The Trial of the Chicago 7
You’ve got a few weeks to pop some popcorn, sit your ass down on the couch and throw your feet up on that coffee table, so don’t feel like you have to watch all of these tonight. But, you’ve got some serious homework to do. Whether you’re watching on the thinnest TV in your home or your laptop, it’s time to get streaming. Because we all know your critique matters the most. Duh.
Here’s how to watch each Best Picture nominee now:
1. The Father
Director: Florian Zeller
Producers: David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi and Philippe Carcassonne
What It’s About: The Father follows 80-year-old Anthony, an aging, stubborn man who rejects any care his daughter introduces. As Anthony ages, his mind begins to get a little lost and confused, and given his headstrong nature, his daughter doesn’t know what to do. It’s a film grounded in the reality of what it’s like to be human and how it feels to care for others.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
2. Judas and the Black Messiah
Director: Shaka King
Producers: Shaka King, Charles D. King and Ryan Coogler
What It’s About: Inspired by true events, this film follows the events surrounding the 1969 murder of Black Panther Party Illinois chapter chairman Fred Hampton and his betrayal by a friend of his working with an FBI informant. The friend, William “Bill” O’Neal had been arrested for attempted carjacking while pretending to be a federal officer. Given the crime, the agent offers all charges dropped if Bill works undercover to help take down the Black Panther Party chapter and Hampton himself.
Where to Watch: HBO Max
3. Mank
Director: David Fincher
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth and Douglas Urbanski
What It’s About: Mank is based on the true story of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. It follows Mankiewicz (Mank) as he stays in the desert to write a masterpiece for hot-shot director Orson Welles in just sixty days. While writing, Mank falls into a number of his vices that seemingly go hand-in-hand with the Hollywood Golden Age lifestyle.
Where to Watch: Netflix
4. Minari
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Producers: Christina Oh
What It’s About: Minari is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming American movie following the move of a Korean family to rural Arkansas to build a better life and start a farm in the 1980s. It depicts the hardships immigrants have to face when beginning a new life in such a vastly different American culture and the unique struggles they encounter.
Where to Watch: Prime Video
5. Nomadland
Director: Chloé Zhao
Producers: Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao
What It’s About: After losing just about everything due to the Great Recession, a woman named Fern begins living in her van and traveling through the American West as a modern-day nomad. It’s a beautifully shot film that encapsulates an otherwise regular woman in an adventure that feels mundanely real and full of emotion.
Where to Watch: Hulu
6. Promising Young Woman
Director: Emerald Fennell
Producers: Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell and Josey McNamara
What It’s About: Promising Young Woman follows a woman named Cassie who once was in school studying to be a doctor. After leaving under awful circumstances, Cassie now lives a double life pretending to be a super-intoxicated woman alone at the bar in hopes to be taken home by strangers whose intentions are to take advantage of her. After the men make their move, she confronts them stonecold sober to get revenge on an instance that occurred during her college years.
Where to Watch: Prime Video
7. Sound of Metal
Director: Darius Marder
Producers: Bert Hamelinck and Sacha Ben Harroche
What It’s About: As a metal drummer begins to lose his hearing, he struggles with the changing world around him and his passion for creating music. When a doctor tells him that his condition will continue to worsen, he has to reconsider his career and adapt to his new life without sound.
Where to Watch: Prime Video
8. The Trial of the Chicago 7
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Producers: Marc Platt and Stuart Besser
What It’s About: This true story follows the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protestors that were charged with both inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and crossing state lines to do so. The trial in the movie showcases a disturbing number of racial discrimination against the people involved in the incident.
Where to Watch: Netflix