10 Oscar-Winning Movies On Netflix UK

The world of Netflix can be a confusing and overwhelming place – you can either browse aimlessly like a customer with an entire shopping centre to themselves, or you can save time, zero in on what you want and be watching quality movies in seconds. In honour of Oscar season, we’ve rounded up the very best movies on Netflix UK that triumphed at the Academy Awards. Get watching!

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'The Godfather' (1972) & 'The Godfather Part II' (1974)

Well, you’re hardly likely to stop after Part I. Two of the finest and most decorated movies ever, the first 66% of ‘The Godfather’ trilogy is godly cinema (we don’t talk about the final chapter). Throw a rock, hit a performance for the ages: Brando is next-level as Don Corleone, source of a billion bad impressions, while De Niro won an Oscar with a firebrand turn as young Vito. The music is sublime, the direction epic, the dialogue to die for – this double package is, if you’ll excuse us, an offer you can’t refuse.

'Forrest Gump' (1994)

Arguably, ‘Forrest Gump’ was the weakest of the Best Picture nominees at the 1995 Academy Awards (the competition included ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Four Weddings And A Funeral’), but it still took the spoils, including Tom Hanks’ second Best Actor Oscar in succession. Gump is still a masterpiece of economic entertainment, condensing America’s tumultuous history into a complicated story of a simple man. Despite winning six Oscars in total, including one for director Robert Zemeckis, Hanks ran away with the movie.

'Chicago' (2002)

'Chicago' was the first musical to win Best Picture since 'Oliver!' in 1968: it's a good old-fashioned slice of razzle-dazzle, with high-kicking turns from Best Supporting Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (in fishnets) and Queen Latifah, plus grade-A tunes from Bob Fosse. It doesn't quite fit the template of 21st century Oscar hopefuls (these days winners must feature at least two of the following: hardship, war, disability, adversity, Meryl Streep) but it's a helluva night at the pictures, thanks mainly to high-tempo energy and an infectious ear for showtunes. Well worth revisiting if you fancy a singalong.

'Dallas Buyers Club' (2013)

The movie that crowned the McConnaissance, ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ is a showcase for an astounding career 180 by Matthew McConaughey, a man who managed to do the impossible and change his obituary headline from ‘naked bongo stoner’ to ‘Oscar-winning actor’. The story of a drug-user who contracts HIV and circumvents Big Pharmacy to get fellow sufferers the medication they need, it’s not just a one-man show: Jared Leto also took home Oscar gold for his impassioned turn as a transvestite HIV victim, while Robin Matthews won Best Makeup with – astonishingly – a budget of just $250.

'Toy Story 3' (2010)

Pixar legend has it that ‘Toy Story 3’ was the easiest movie they ever made: after the incredible critical and commercial success of the first two movies, all the stars were aligned to make the third – and at the time, final – instalment something really special. Anyone who says they didn’t cower at the furnace scene or cry during the toys’ handover to li’l cutie Bonnie is a damn dirty liar – animated films don’t come much more rewarding or emotional than this. We’re having a hard time wondering how 2017’s ‘Toy Story 4’ could possibly hope to top it.

'Good Will Hunting' (1997)

A film that’s taken on extra significance since his passing, ‘Good Will Hunting’ is the best of Robin Williams – a movie that showed he could play serious just as well, if not better, than silly (it sure plays a lot better than something like ‘One Hour Photo’, anyway). Cementing Williams’ position as cinema’s favourite wise-yet-wacky uncle, ‘Good Will Hunting’ also gave messyrs Damon and Affleck their first taste of success: young screenwriters Matt and Ben tore up the rulebook by winning an Academy Award for their first ever script, forging two new Hollywood stars in the process. How do you like them apples?

'Fargo' (1996)

While the new TV show soaks up all the critical acclaim, we wholeheartedly recommend you (Far)go back to the movie that inspired it all. It’s without a doubt one of Joel and Ethan Coen’s best (with a Best Original Screenplay Oscar to prove it) and it’s home to a cornucopia of delightfully odd performances: Frances McDormand was on award-winning form as Marge, the cop in charge, but don’t look beyond Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare as bumbling idiot kidnappers and William H Macy in his finest of many heel roles. It’s a beguiling mix of quaint comedy and shocking violence that could only be Coen.

'Jerry Maguire' (1996)

It’s perhaps the closest Tom Cruise has come to winning an Oscar, pipped at the post by Geoffrey Rush in ‘Shine’, but Cameron Crowe’s ‘Jerry Maguire’ didn’t go home empty handed that night – Cuba Gooding Jr grabbed gold after requesting the Academy show him the love (and the money). It’s not really Best Picture material – it’s fairly light-hearted, jovial and doesn’t have nearly as much forbidden love in a time of war as eventual winner ‘The English Patient’ – but ‘Jerry Maguire’ is still a movie it’s impossible to dislike, thanks to a sheer brute force charm offensive from starting forwards Cruise and Cuba.

'Capote' (2005)

If, like us, you’re still having a hard time coping with the fact you’ll never see another great Philip Seymour Hoffman performance ever again, you can at least console yourself with one of his finest hours on Netflix. Bennett Miller’s ‘Capote’ saw Hoffman rewarded with the ultimate accolade; it wasn’t so much an impersonation as a complete and total transformation that saw him named Best Actor. Hoffman was immune to typecasting: a year later, he’d beef up to play the villain in ‘Mission: Impossible III’ – that’s a range you don’t see on many people these days, and another reason to catch ‘Capote’ while you can.

'Dead Man Walking' (1995)

Four-times nominated for Best Actress without success, Susan Sarandon finally took to the stage the victor for her part in this hard-hitting prison drama about a nun who befriends a murderer on Death Row. Sister Prejean is the moral centre around which the movie swirls, judging neither this way or that, and it’s a remarkable role that tops off a stellar career (even if, really, she deserved the Oscar more for ‘Thelma & Louise’). Sean Penn is also great value for money as killer Matthew Poncelet, giving what could have been a two-dimensional role some genuine emotional depth.

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