With the Academy Awards right around the corner, chances are you’ve caught the movie bug. If you’re looking for an excuse to stay in, or the perfect Sunday night movie, we’ve rounded up 17 of the Best Picture winners you can stream right now.
1. American Beauty (1999)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actor in a Leading Role: Kevin Spacey, Best Director: Sam Mendes
Best Original Screenplay: Alan Ball, Best Cinematography
Other nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role: Annette Bening, Best Film Editing, Best Music – Original Score
Synopsis: Lester Burnham is in a mid-life crisis. Feeling stuck in his suburban life, he decides to turn his life around when he develops an infatuation for his daughter’s attractive friend.
Streaming on: Stan
2. The Artist (2011)
Other Oscar wins: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin, Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score
Other nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Bérénice Bejo, Best Writing – Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction
Synopsis: George Valentin is a silent movie superstar in 1920s Hollywood, but the advent of the ‘talkies’ will sound the death knell for his career. But for young extra Peppy Miller, it seems the sky’s the limit.
Streaming on: Stan
3. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Jennifer Connelly, Best Director: Ron Howard, Best Adapted Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role: Russell Crowe, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, Best Music – Original Score
Synopsis: Russell Crowe stars as brilliant mathematician John Nash, who is on the brink of international acclaim when he becomes entangled in a conspiracy. Now only his devoted wife can help him in this powerful story of courage and triumph.
Streaming on: Stan
4. Birdman (2014)
Other Oscar wins: Best Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Best Original Screenplay: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Best Cinematography
Other nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Michael Keaton, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Edward Norton, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Emma Stone, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing
Synopsis: A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
Streaming on: Netflix
5. Forrest Gump (1994)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actor in a Leading Role: Tom Hanks, Best Director: Robert Zemeckis
Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth, Best Film Editing, Best Effects – Visual Effects
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Gary Sinise, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Effects – Sound Effects Editing, Best Makeup, Best Original Score
Synopsis: Tom Hanks plays Forrest Gump, a man who has a ringside seat for some of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century.
Streaming on: Stan
6. The Godfather (1973)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actor: Marlon Brando, and Best Adapted Screenplay: Francis Ford Coppola
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Best Director: Francis Ford Coppola, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
Synopsis: A chilling portrait of the Corleone family, balancing the story between their family life and the ugly crime business in which they are engaged.
Streaming on: Stan
7. The Godfather, Part Two (1974)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actor in a Supporting Role : Robert De Niro, Best Director: Francis Ford Coppola, Best Writing – Screenplay Adapted From Other Material: Francis Ford Coppola
Mario Puzo, Best Art Direction: Set Decoration, Best Music: Original Dramatic Score
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role: Al Pacino, Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Michael V. Gazzo, Lee Strasberg, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Talia Shire, Best Costume Design
Synopsis: Often regarded as the best sequel ever made, The Godfather Part Two continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Streaming on: Stan
8. The Hurt Locker (2008)
Other Oscar wins: Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Best Writing – Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing
Other nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Jeremy Renner, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score
Synopsis: Follows the new head of an elite squad of soldiers tasked with disarming bombs, who recklessly plunges his team into a deadly game of urban combat as the city explodes into chaos.
Streaming on: Stan
9. Kramer Vs Kramer (1979)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actor in a Leading Role: Dustin Hoffman, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Meryl Streep, Best Director, Robert Benton, Best Adapted Screenplay: Robert Benton
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Justin Henry, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Jane Alexander, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing
Synopsis: Ted Kramer’s wife leaves him, and a heated custody dispute begins over their son, Billy. As the custody battle continues, Ted is able to rediscover the lost bond with his son.
Streaming on: Netflix
10. Million Dollar Baby (2005)
Other Oscar wins: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Hilary Swank, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Morgan Freeman, Best Director: Clint Eastwood
Other nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Clint Eastwood, Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay: Paul Haggis, Best Film Editing
Synopsis: Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is a boxer who wants to go pro. Determined to work with the best, she convinces trainer Frankie Dunn to work with her. Meanwhile, Frankie is dealing with the painful estrangement from his daughter. Will working with Maggie be just what he needs?
Streaming on: Stan
11. No Country For Old Men (2007)
Other Oscar wins: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Javier Bardem, Best Achievement in Directing: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Other nominations: Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing,
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Synopsis: Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) hot on his trail.
Streaming on: Stan
12. Out of Africa (1985)
Other Oscar wins: Best Director: Sydney Pollack, Best Adapted Screenplay: Kurt Luedtke, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Original Score
Other nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep, Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing
Synopsis: Set in 20th-century colonial Kenya, Meryl Streep plays a Danish baroness/plantation owner, who has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter.
Streaming on: Netflix
13. Platoon (1987)
Other Oscar wins: Best Director: Oliver Stone, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Best Writing – Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Oliver Stone, Best Cinematography
Synopsis: A look at the day-to-day existence of an infantry rifle platoon, Platoon examines the fight between good and evil, and what it was really like to be a foot soldier in Vietnam.
Streaming on: Stan
14. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actress in a Leading Role: Gwyneth Paltrow, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Judi Dench, Best Original Screenplay: Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard, Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score
Other nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Geoffrey Rush, Best Director: John Madden, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup
Synopsis: A young, broke, Shakespeare is out of ideas, until he meets his ideal woman who becomes his muse as he writes one of his most famous plays.
Streaming on: Netflix
15. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Other Oscar wins: Best Director: Jonathan Demme, Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress: Jodie Foster, Best Adapted Screenplay: Ted Tally
Other nominations: Best Film Editing, Best Sound
Synopsis: An FBI trainee is assigned by her superior to interview an imprisoned, cannibalistic psychopath, Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter, in the hope that he may help uncover the identity of an elusive serial killer.
Streaming on: Stan
16. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Other Oscar wins: Best Director: Danny Boyle, Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Original Song: “Jai Ho”, Best Sound Mixing
Other nominations: Best Original Song: “O Saya”, Best Sound Editing
Synopsis: A Mumbai teen (Dev Patel) reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
Streaming on: Stan
17. West Side Story (1962)
Other Oscar wins: Best Actor in a Supporting Role: George Chakiris, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Rita Moreno, Best Director: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins, Best Cinematography – Colour, Best Art Direction – colour, Best Costume Design – Colour, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Musical Scoring of a Musical Picture
Other nominations: Best Writing – Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Ernest Lehman
Synopsis: Set in the 1950s, the Jets and The Sharks are rival gangs in New York City’s explosive. At a dance in the neighborhood gymnasium, Jets leader Riff challenges Sharks leader Bernardo to a rumble.
Streaming on: Stan