Here’s your cheat sheet for all eight movies.
Eight films are nominated for Best Picture at the 2021 Oscars. And in an Oscar year when theaters were largely closed and the normal awards season cycle was disrupted by a pandemic, it’s a relief that they’re all at least pretty good, and some are truly great. Among them are historical dramas, stage play adaptations, twisted revenge tales, and stories of the heartbreaking American heartland. All are worth watching. So if you’re looking to catch up on some of the best movies from 2020 (and the first two months of 2021, thanks to the Oscars’ extended eligibility window), here’s where to find them, and why you should. The Father The Father reminds me of a diamond, an exquisite film through which light refracts in unpredictable directions. Florian Zeller directs the film adaptation of his celebrated play about a man named Anthony (played by Anthony Hopkins) who becomes confused and belligerent when he needs to move into his daughter Anne’s flat. Anne (Olivia Colman) has moved him there because his dementia is getting worse, and she can’t bear the thought of putting him in a nursing home. The film loops and doubles and plays tricks on the audience, in a way that draws us into Anthony’s mind. It is both fascinating and crushing, with some of the best writing I’ve seen this year, and Hopkins’s and Colman’s performances (both nominated for Oscars as well) are outstanding. The Father lingers long after it ends, questioning our perceptions of the world and, more fundamentally, of one another. How to watch it: The Father is playing in theaters. It will be available to digitally rent on platforms including Amazon Prime and iTunes beginning March 26. Judas and the Black Messiah Judas and the Black Messiah is galvanizing, with an intoxicating energy that makes the story beats land with a jolt. Director and co-writer Shaka King tells the story of 21-year-old Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya), the charismatic chair of the Illinois Black Panther Party, who was assassinated in a raid on his home by police and FBI on December 4,1969. That raid was partly enabled by William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant who had worked his way up the Black Panther ladder to become the Illinois chapter’s head of security and a trusted member of the party. It’s an electrifying film, and it landed Oscar nominations in six categories, including one each for Kaluuya and Stanfield. Judas and the Black Messiah brilliantly evokes the texture and emotional tenor of the time, the feeling of being part of something bigger than yourself — and of knowing that someone powerful is turning their crosshairs on you. How to watch it: Judas and the Black Messiah is playing in theaters. Mank leads the field of Oscar nominees, with 10 nods in all. And no wonder; in some ways, it’s a classic Oscar movie, albeit with an edge. Mank is the tale of Herman J. Mankiewicz (played by Gary Oldman), the man who co-wrote Citizen Kane, which is still widely considered one of the greatest movies of all time.
