Now that the 2024 Oscar nominations are here, it’s homework time. Sure, nobody but the Oscar voters themselves are required to watch all of the Oscar nominees, but why not head into the awards on March 10 as informed as you can be? Plus, between some of last year’s biggest blockbusters, heart-wrenching documentaries, and what might be the best superhero movie ever, there’s a lot of great stuff to catch up on.
Below, a guide to where you can catch all of this year’s nominees, including streaming links for everything that’s already available for you right at home. Happy viewing!
STREAMING
American Symphony (Netflix)
Oscar and Grammy winner Jon Batiste gets the full documentary treatment with this heartbreaking, intricately crafted portrait of an artist approaching the most ambitious work of his career, and of a marriage facing down a devastating disease. The Netflix film was rather shockingly snubbed for best documentary, where it was expected to win, but Batiste’s original song “It Never Went Away” was nominated in a competitive category alongside two Barbie songs.
Barbie (Max)
Last year’s box office champ is now nominated for eight Oscars, and even without best-director and best-actress nods, it will be a force to be reckoned with at the March 10 ceremony. The Oscar-nominated costumes and production design might be what first caught our eye, but the infinitely quotable screenplay and performances (also Oscar-nominated!) are what’s made it endure.
Bobi Wine: The People’s President (Disney+)
A rousing portrait of political movement and dissent, this documentary examines the effort of singer Bobi Wine to run a democratic campaign against the sitting autocratic government of Uganda—and his plea for the people to make a change.
The Creator (Hulu)
Hailed for the visual effects it accomplished on a relatively modest $80 million budget, the Gareth Edwards–directed sci-fi film earned a nomination for those dazzling effects as well as one for sound. If you ask our critic, it deserved to be a sleeper hit—maybe now’s the time.
El Conde (Netflix)
Rich in classic cinematic references ranging from Nosferatu to Superman, this decidedly strange anti-biopic from Spencer’s Pablo Larraín felt too weird even for the Academy. The gist: Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is a vampire who won’t stop haunting the country he nearly destroyed. But Edward Lachman’s stark, dreamy black-and-white cinematography proved too stunning for his peers to deny.
Elemental (Disney+)
Pixar Animation’s 27th feature film is set in a world of anthropomorphic elements of nature and centers around two: Ember, a fire element, and Wade, a water element. It’s a classic Pixar movie, a heartwarming tale about embracing differences with gorgeous visuals, and it’s nominated for best animated feature.
The Eternal Memory (Paramount+)
In this stunningly moving Chilean documentary, a journalist suffering from Alzheimer’s and his wife, a noted actor, simply take life day by day. Maite Alberdi’s intimate hand captures the heartbreak, humor, and enduring love between a couple treating every day as if it could be their last—or just any other.
Flamin’ Hot (Disney+, Hulu)
You may not have expected Eva Longoria’s zippy directorial debut—a biopic of the man who claimed (rather controversially) to be the inventor of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos—to enter the Oscar conversation after its swift drop on Hulu. But when one asks Diane Warren to contribute an original song, that equation quickly changes—and indeed, Warren’s “The Fire Inside” has given the songwriter, remarkably, her 15th nomination.
Golda (Fubo)
Helen Mirren may be a versatile, transformational actor, but she’d never gone under prosthetics for a role the way this eponymous biopic required. For rendering the Oscar winner completely unrecognizable in the role of Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister who guided her country through a time of brutal war, makeup artist Karen Hartley-Thomas and her team earned a deserved surprise nomination.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 (Disney+)
Nominated in the best-visual-effects category, the conclusion to the Guardians of the Galaxy series was one significant bright spot in Marvel’s otherwise rough 2023.
The Holdovers (Peacock)
The 1970-set film is director Alexander Payne’s first feature since 2017’s drama Downsizing and reunites the director with his Sideways star and now best-actor nominee Paul Giamatti. In the film, Giamatti plays a cranky professor at an all-boys East Coast prep school forced to stay on campus over the holidays and chaperone a handful of students and fellow employees, including grieving mother and cook Mary Lamb, played by fellow new nominee Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Disney+)
The latest entrant in the iconic franchise struggled at the box office even as it brought Harrison Ford back in gear—and winningly paired him with Phoebe Waller-Bridge—but the Academy wasn’t ready to give up on the legendary composer John Williams, breaking his own record this year with his 54th Oscar nomination for the score.
Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV+)
One could argue that the three-hour Western crime drama, which is based on the 2017 book by David Grann, has been an Oscar contender since production was announced. With three icons of cinema involved in director Martin Scorsese and stars Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, the film was always going to be a must-see, and with Lily Gladstone’s powerful, moving performance at its true center, it’s no wonder the film has 10 nominations.
Maestro (Netflix)
Bradley Cooper’s passion project, about the life and loves of famed composer Leonard Bernstein, has long been a front-runner to land Oscar nominations. The film received seven nods in total, including best picture, acting nominations for writer-director-star Cooper and Carey Mulligan, best original screenplay, best cinematography, best sound, and best makeup and hairstyling.
May December (Netflix)
A “sly wonder” when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the latest from Todd Haynes was picked up by Netflix and got a robust awards-season push, including a lot of buzz for stars Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton. In the end it landed just one Oscar nomination, for the screenplay by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, but it’s already well on its way to becoming a modern classic.
Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount+)
Overshadowed last summer by the Barbenheimer phenomenon, the latest Mission: Impossible isn’t quite the Oscar force that Tom Cruise’s last movie was, but it has two well-earned nominations for its sound and visual effects.
Nimona (Netflix)
The animated adaptation of ND Stevenson’s graphic novel features stellar lead voice performances from Riz Ahmed and Chloë Grace Moretz, plus an elegant animation style that helps it stand apart from so many mainstream animated releases.
Nyad (Netflix)
Nominated for both Annette Bening’s rigorous lead performance as the marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, and Jodie Foster’s warm supporting turn as her coach, Bonnie Stoll, Nyad is a sports drama that really lifts off thanks to the friendship at its center. As Vanity Fair chief critic Richard Lawson wrote in his review, “Nyad crackles most when Nyad and Bonnie are grooving together on land.”
Rustin (Netflix)
Colman Domingo’s best-actor nomination makes him the first openly gay actor nominated for an Oscar in more than 20 years—a feat even more special because his nod is for playing civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin, whose pivotal role in organizing the March on Washington was often overlooked until now.
Society of the Snow (Netflix)
The harrowing true story of the Uruguayan rugby team who survived a plane crash in the Andes has never been more vivid than in J.A. Bayona’s film, an Oscar contender for both best international feature and hair and makeup. Bayona says he prepared the actors extensively so he could film “almost like a documentary”—a commitment to realism that absolutely comes through.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Netflix)
Another strike against the “sequel is never better than the original” crowd, this spectacular second cinematic chapter in the saga of Miles Morales joined the ranks of Barbie and Oppenheimer as a dual box-office and critical phenomenon. From an Oscar-nominated team including Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Kemp Powers, the kinetic animation style and dizzying energy hurtled this story to a cliff-hanger—one just juicy enough to keep us both satisfied and hungry for more.
RENTABLE
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet’s layered legal thriller has been picking up acclaim and awards-season steam this month, particularly after taking home the best-screenplay trophy at the Golden Globes. After winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year, Triet’s film has also received seven BAFTA nominations and is now up for five Oscars, including best actress for Sandra Hüller’s powerful performance.
Four Daughters
This innovative, experimental documentary provides an intimate, if controlled, depiction of ordinary Tunisian family life, after two daughters disappear from a family of four children. Director Kaouther Ben Hania places actors in the roles of the missing daughters to carefully explore feelings of grief, loss, confusion, and love in a broken family unit. It’s an exclusive in the Kino Film Collection in addition to being available to rent.
Oppenheimer
The most-nominated film of the year and best-picture favorite, Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic may earn stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr. their first Oscars in addition to accolades for its mind-boggling visuals and score. With a rigorous attention to real history but a brisk pace that makes three hours fly by, it’s a spectacle that still hits hard on the small screen.
Napoleon
The Ridley Scott–directed epic about France’s notorious conqueror, played by Joaquin Phoenix, picked up three nominations from the Academy, including best achievement in production design, costume design, and visual effects.
Past Lives
Celine Song’s celebrated first feature, which she wrote and directed, has been a critical darling since its Sundance debut in 2023. The film, about two friends drifting in and out of each other’s lives over nearly three decades, played by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo, has two nominations for Song’s original screenplay and best picture.
The Color Purple
This starry big-screen adaptation of Alice Walker’s beloved novel and the Broadway show it inspired boasts a talented ensemble and two icons as executive producers, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg. Though Danielle Brooks received the film’s only Oscar nomination, the entire cast has been celebrating both the making and release of the film.
20 Days in Mariupol
This harrowing, immersive documentary emerged as one of the year’s most decorated ever since premiering more than a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival. The filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov breathtakingly documents the 20 days he spent in a Ukranian city under siege immediately following the Russian invasion. It’s both nominated for best documentary and was Ukraine’s shortlisted entry for international feature. (Currently streaming for free on YouTube.)
ONLY IN THEATERS
The Boy and the Heron
The critical acclaim and box office success of what may or may not be Hayao Miyazaki’s final film was enough to land the beloved director a Golden Globe for his fantastical coming-of-age film, also up for the best-animated-feature Oscar.
American Fiction
Cord Jefferson’s acclaimed directorial debut is yet another critical and awards-season darling based on a novel. Fiction is an adaptation of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel, Erasure, and stars Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Erika Alexander, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Issa Rae. The film has five Oscar nominations including best picture, lead and supporting acting noms for Wright and Brown, best adapted screenplay, and best original score.
Godzilla Minus One
Somehow, this relatively low-budget Japanese phenomenon is the first Godzilla movie to ever receive an Oscar nomination, for its visual effects. And how appropriate, with director Takashi Yamazaki conjuring a sense of terror and wonder in his portrait of a postwar Japan under siege from an iconic movie monster.
Poor Things
Combine Frankenstein with a coming-of-age road-trip saga and you come close to describing what makes Poor Things, nominated for 11 Oscars, so special. Led by Emma Stone’s richest performance yet, courtesy of her enduring collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, it’s a visually dazzling and surprisingly moving period piece so appealing that costar Ramy Youssef agreed to do it before reading a word of the script.
The Teachers’ Lounge
Led by a ferociously brilliant Leonie Benesch, this German social thriller was the surprise talk of festivals all around the world in 2023, from its Berlin premiere to its North American launch in Telluride. Accordingly, while flashier titles took up more oxygen in the international-film race, it’s no surprise that this portrait of a modern-day elementary school teacher facing a profound moral quandary made its way into the Oscars’ final five.
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer’s “chilling presentation of evil,” as we’ve described it, is a Holocaust movie unlike any other. The film paints a stark portrait of a family, the patriarch played by Christian Friedel and matriarch by Sandra Hüller, who live a lavish life despite being located right next to Auschwitz. It has five Oscar nominations including best picture, best director, and best adapted screenplay.
NOT AVAILABLE YET
Io Capitano
This best-international-feature nominee from Italy and director Matteo Garrone is a moving “Homeric adventure” about two Senegalese teenagers who leave their home in Dakar in search of a better life in Europe. In addition to the Oscar and Golden Globe nomination, star Seydou Sarr received the best-young-actor award at the Venice Film Festival last year.
Perfect Days
Made by German director Wim Wenders but filmed in Japan, this international-feature nominee doesn’t open in North American theaters until February 7—plenty of time to catch this lovely, meditative film before Oscar night.
Robot Dreams
This first animated feature from award-winning Spanish director Pablo Berger (Blancanieves) is based on the graphic novel by Sara Varon and revolves around a lonely dog living in Manhattan who decides to build himself a robot for company. The moving story about the importance of friendship is nominated for best animated feature but is not yet available in theaters or to stream.
To Kill a Tiger
This best-documentary-feature nominee centers around Ranjit, a farmer and loving father in India seeking justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the survivor of a brutal sexual assault. Director Nisha Pahuja worked for nearly 10 years to bring the story to big screens.
