Oscars 2021: 30 Nominated Movies You Should Stream Now Movies for Grownups
Where to Watch All the Major Oscar-Nominated Movies Right Now
Get ready for the Academy Awards by streaming films you may have missed
Merie Weismiller Wallace/Focus Features; David Lee/Netflix Carey Mulligan in "Promising Young Woman" and Chadwick Boseman in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Good news! There's still time to win your Oscars pool — but you have to know the contenders. Because of the , a record number of nominated films are available to watch from your couch on streaming media before the stars hit the (virtual) red carpet. For your consideration, then: the lowdown on the 30 best nominees for Hollywood's top awards and where to click to watch them (, April 25, 8 p.m. ET). Another Round
Nominated for: Best Director, International Feature Mads Mikkelsen, who plays a schoolteacher battling a midlife crisis by obeying Baudelaire's command to “be drunk always,” gives a performance so vibrant that Thomas Vinterberg got nominated for best director and the film for best international feature. Watch it: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actress Kazakhstan's most famous fictional TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) returns to spoof Americans in ambush-comedy skits, but the real star (and best supporting actress nominee) is Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova as Borat's daughter. She's the unexpected Cinderella of this year's Oscar race. Cohen said “I mean, if she doesn't win an Oscar, then I don't know what the Academy's for." Watch it: The Collective
Nominated for: Best Documentary, International Feature If you liked Spotlight, you'll be riveted by this Oscar contender about Romanian citizens and journalists who uncovered the authorities’ corrupt response to a fire that killed 64 people — and toppled the government. Watch it: Join today and save 25% off the standard annual rate. Get instant access to discounts, programs, services, and the information you need to benefit every area of your life. Da 5 Bloods
Nominated for: Best Original Score Longtime collaborator Lindo outdoes himself as a PTSD-afflicted, MAGA hat-wearing veteran who returns with war buddies to Vietnam to search for their leader's lost remains. But only Terence Blanchard's score managed to nab a nomination. Watch it: Emma
Nominated for: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Costume Design Anya Taylor-Joy, skyrocketing star of The Queen's Gambit, lights up Jane Austen's story of a selfishly meddlesome maiden, but what the Academy applauded was the film's looks in costume, hair and makeup. Watch it: Eurovision Song Contest The Story Of Fire Saga
Nominated for: Best Original Song Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams are irresistible as a couple of Icelandic singers trying to follow ABBA's route to fame on Europe's big song contest, and the movie's tune “Husavik” is up for best original song in the real world. Watch it: The Father
Nominated for: Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Film Editing masterfully portrays a man facing a scarier monster than Hannibal Lecter: Alzheimer's disease. His performance brings viewers inside a mind in the fight of its life. He's up for best actor, Olivia Colman for supporting actress as his daughter. It could also win best picture, among other nominations. Watch it: Greyhound
Nominated for: Best Sound ably plays a self-doubting captain struggling to protect his ships from Nazi U-boats in a movie that makes you feel like a WWII battle veteran, in large part thanks to how authentic it all sounds — hence its nomination. Watch it: Hillbilly Elegy
Nominated for: Best Makeup and Hair Styling, Supporting Actress In a flick about a persnickety rural grandma who steps in to save a grandchild when her own daughter isn't up to the task of parenthood, Glenn Close might finally win an Oscar (this is her eighth acting nomination). Watch it: Judas and the Black Messiah
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (2 nominations), Picture, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Song Weirdly, LaKeith Stanfield, who plays the Judas who betrayed assassinated Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, is nominated for best supporting actor, and so is Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton — even though Stanfield is obviously the lead actor. “I'm confused, too,” he said. Both deserve it, and the fact-based film could also win best picture among other honors. Watch it: The Life Ahead
Nominated for: Best Original Song Working with her director son, Edoardo Ponti, is arresting at 86, playing a heartwarming Holocaust survivor and caregiver for streetwalkers’ children. But only the original song, “Io Sì (Seen),” is nominated. Watch it: Ma Rainey s Black Bottom
Nominated for: Best Actress, Actor, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling Resplendent with ostrich feathers and gold teeth, growlingly summons the indomitable spirit of America's first professional blues singer. She's up for best actress and the late Chadwick Boseman for best actor as Ma's genius sideman. The evocative film is also up for a number of design nods. Watch it: Mank
Nominated for: Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Picture, Director, Original Score, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound The film's investigation of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz's creative impact on Orson Welles's masterpiece Citizen Kane is a portrait of Hollywood in its morally tarnished golden age. Oscars do love movies about movie history, so it's up for 10 Oscars, including best picture, director, actor (Gary Oldman) and supporting actress (Amanda Seyfried, who's even better than Oldman). Watch it: The Midnight Sky
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects eye-popping Antarctic spaceship drama is justly up for best visual effects. Watch it: Minari
Nominated for: Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Original Score A Korean American family chases the American dream from California to a farm in the Ozarks — a trip to the heartland in more ways than one. It's up for six Oscars, including best picture, but we're hoping for Steven Yeun as best actor and Youn Yuh-jung, the Korean Meryl Streep, as supporting actress. She'd be great in a movie pitting her against Glenn Close's Hillbilly Elegy grandma. Watch it: The Mole Agent
Nominated for: Best Documentary In this superb film, a Chilean detective hires an octogenarian widower to sleuth out who's taking advantage of a woman in an assisted-living facility. Watch it: Mulan
Nominated for: Best Costume Design, Visual Effects Disney's hit live-action remake of the animated classic about China's woman warrior deservedly earned nominations for costume design and visual effects. Watch it: My Octopus Teacher
Nominated for: Best Documentary The most heartrending love story of the year is a true one about the filmmaker's relationship with a wild octopus in a South African kelp forest. Spoiler: Octopuses live only one year, and the death scene may make you cry. Watch it: News of the World
Nominated for: Best Cinematography, Original Score, Production Design, Sound In a good, old-fashioned western with True Grit-like gravitas, Tom Hanks plays a Civil War veteran who roams Texas to read newspapers aloud to illiterate townsfolk and rescues a girl caught between white and Native American cultures. Watch it: Nomadland
Nominated for: Best Actress, Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing As a bold soul in her 60s who loses husband, house and livelihood, best actress nominee Frances McDormand strikes a noble blow here for those who are dispossessed but not downtrodden in a fact-based story nominated for best picture and director, among other honors. Watch it: One Night in Miami
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor, Original Song A knockout film about Muhammad Ali's actual 1964 championship bout — witnessed by Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown — and the debate they have about the responsibilities of success. Leslie Odom, Jr., who plays Cooke, is up for both original song and best supporting actor. Watch it: Pieces of a Woman
Nominated for: Best Actress It's too bad that , 88, who plays a Holocaust survivor whose tough love combats the grief of her daughter's (Vanessa Kirby) over losing a child, didn't become the oldest-ever Oscar nominee in an acting category. But Kirby got a deserved nomination for best actress. Watch it: Pinocchio
Nominated for: Best Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling Life is Beautiful Oscar winner Roberto Benigni plays Geppetto in a live-action version of the tale about the puppet boy who goes from the Land of Toys to the Field of Miracles. Watch it: Promising Young Woman
Nominated for: Best Actress, Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Film Editing Some of filmdom's finest actors anchor a darkly comic revenge fantasy with emotional authenticity, with Carey Mulligan earning a best actress nomination among the film's other honors. Watch it: Soul
Nominated for: Best Animated Feature Pete Docter broke the record for best animated feature nominations (four) with this exuberant tale of a middle-school band teacher (Jamie Foxx) who beats a midlife crisis and discovers what it means to have a soul. A rare animated feature good for grownups. Watch it: Sound of Metal
Nominated for: Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Picture, Original Screenplay, Sound, Film Editing Best actor nominee Riz Ahmed plays a punk musician losing his hearing, with best supporting actor nominee Paul Raci (in real life a recovering addict whose parents were deaf) as his addiction program director. Watch it: Tenet
Nominated for: Best Production Design, Visual Effects Christopher Nolan's latest, wildest sci-fi head-scratcher is nominated for best production design as well as visual effects, which makes sense. The plot makes zero sense, but if you want to find out what happened, before (and maybe after) you watch. Watch it: The Trial of the Chicago 7
Nominated for: Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Original Song Aaron Sorkin's vivid dramatization of the real trial of Chicago's 1968 convention demonstrators turns what was a chaotic circus into a thoughtful spotlight on a schism in society. Watch it: The United States vs Billie Holiday
Nominated for: Best Actress A jazzy biopic that centers on the FBI's undercover setup of jazz immortal Holiday. Andra Day's moving voice may break your heart, make you forget about Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues, and win her best actress. Watch it: The White Tiger
Nominated for: Best Adapted Screenplay If you liked Slumdog Millionaire, you must see this darker movie about class and ambition in India. Its nominated screenplay is based on the Booker Prize-winning best seller about an ambitious, impoverished young man who becomes a rich man's driver, is betrayed, and ruthlessly triumphs against a rigged system. Watch it: Tim Appelo is AARP’s film and TV critic. Previously, he was Amazon’s entertainment editor, Entertainment Weekly’s video critic, and a writer for The Hollywood Reporter, People, MTV, LA Weekly and The Village Voice. More on Movies for Grownups
Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.