The biggest night in film is not far away at all – but as you’ve probably guessed, this year’s
Oscars are looking a little different to usual.
As a result of the pandemic, almost all of the nominated films made their debut on streaming services rather than in cinemas, with many of the Academy Awards’ top contenders in 2021 only just arriving on platforms here in the UK.
Fortunately, if you’re hoping to catch up on the big films before the Oscars on Sunday 25 April, we’ve got you covered.
Here are all 20 of the films with more than one Oscar nomination this year (plus two extras whose leading stars were also recognised in acting categories), and all the info on where you can watch them...Mank (10 nominations)
What’s it about? We all know that there’s nothing Oscars voters love more than a film about films, so we can’t say we were surprised to see Mank raking in the nominations this year.
Mank sees Gary Oldman in the lead role of screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz, with the biopic telling the story of the writing of Citizen Kane, frequently lauded as one of the best films of all time.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher), Best
Actor (Gary Oldman), Best Supporting
Actress (Amanda Seyfried), Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Where to watch: NetflixThe Father (six nominations)
What’s it about? Based on the French film Le Père, The Father puts Sir Anthony Hopkins in the lead role of a man with dementia, who receives visits from his daughter, played by Olivia Colman.
The Father makes use of unique devices to show Sir Anthony’s character as his dementia worsens, leaving him becoming more confused, forgetting the faces of his loved ones and losing sight of his surroundings,
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Sir Anthony Hopkins), Best Supporting Actress (Olivia Colman), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design
Where to watch: In cinemas from 11 June Judas And The Black Messiah (six nominations)
What’s it about? Judas And The Black Messiah tells the true story of Fred Hampton, leader of a
Black Panther Party chapter in
Chicago in the late 1960s, and his betrayal at the hands of William O’Neal.
The historical drama has won huge praise, with Daniel Kaluuya’s performance in particular being singled out, already earning the
British star a Golden Globe, a Bafta and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Kaluuya), Best Supporting Actor (Lakeith Stanfield), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song (Fight For You – H.E.R.)
Where to watch: BFI Player/Amazon PrimeMinari (six nominations)
What’s it about? Minari focusses on a family of South Korean immigrants in the 1980s, who make a new life for themselves in America, and find themselves in the sticks.
Based in part on director Lee Isaac Chung’s own experiences, watch out for Youn Yuh-jung’s performance in particular. As well as an Oscar nomination, she’s already triumphed in the Best Supporting Actress category at both the Baftas and SAG Awards.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Lee Isaac Chung), Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Steven Yeun), Best Supporting Actress (Youn Yuh-jung), Best Original Score
Where to watch: BFI Player/Amazon PrimeNomadland (six nominations)
What’s it about? Two-time Oscar-winning actor Frances McDormand takes the lead in Nomadland, which sees her character losing her
Job at a plant shortly after the death of her husband.
After finding herself at a crossroads, she sells her belongings and home, before buying a van which she decides to live in, travelling across the US in search of more work.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Chloé Zhao), Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing
Where to watch: Disney+ from 30 April Sound Of Metal (six nominations)
What’s it about? Sound Of Metal introduces us to Ruben Stone, the drummer in a metal group who is devastated to discover that he is losing his hearing, and may have to give up his passion because of this.
The film – which also deals with themes of addiction – has seen actors Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci singled out for praise, and has already triumphed in technical categories at the Baftas.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Riz Ahmed), Best Supporting Actor (Paul Raci), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound
Where to watch:
Amazon PrimeThe Trial Of The Chicago 7 (six nominations)
What’s it about? This legal drama tells the true story of the so-called Chicago 7, a group of anti-war
protesters who were charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the
Democratic National Convention in 1968.
Among the ensemble cast include Sacha Baron Cohen, Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Joseph-Gordon Levitt.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Sacha Baron Cohen), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song (Celeste – Hear My Voice), Best Film Editing
Where to watch: NetflixMa Rainey’s Black Bottom (five nominations)
What’s it about?Chadwick Boseman’s final on-screen outing sees him acting opposite Oscar winner Viola Davis as the titular Ma Rainey, a pioneering recording star in the world of blues music.
The Black Panther star plays trumpeter Levee Green, with the film centring around an especially turbulent recording session in the 1920s.
Nominated for: Best Actor (Chadwick Boseman), Best Actress (Viola Davis), Best Costume Design, Best Makeup And Hairstyling, Best Production Design
Where to watch: NetflixPromising Young Woman
What’s it about? One of the year’s most anticipated films, Emerald Fennell of Killing Eve fame (who you may have recently seen in action as Camilla Parker-Bowles in The Crown, no less) makes her directorial film debut in Promising Young Woman.
The film focusses on a young woman who spends her evenings hunting down sexual predators by pretending to be drunk in bars, and boasts a seriously impressive cast including Carey Mulligan, Jennifer Coolidge, Alison Brie, Bo Burnham, Molly Shannon and Laverne Cox – the list truly goes on and on.
Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Emerald Fennell), Best Actress (Carey Mulligan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing
Where to watch: NOW and Sky CinemaNews Of The World (four nominations)
What’s it about? A brand new Western with Tom Hanks in the lead role, News Of The World debuted on
Netflix last year.
The film sees Tom acting alongside child actor Helena Zengel, playing a Civil War veteran who must return a young girl to her family.
Nominated for: Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Sound
Where to watch: NetflixOne Night In Miami... (three nominations)
What’s it about? Fresh from winning her first Oscar in 2020, Regina King marked her directorial film debut with One Night In Miami..., which tells the fictionalised story of a meeting between activist Malcolm X,
boxing champ Muhammad Ali, athlete Jim Brown and musician Sam Cooke.
The film has earned musical theatre star Leslie Odom Jr two nominations, for his portrayal of Sam Cooke and his contribution to the film’s soundtrack.
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (Leslie Odom Jr), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song (Leslie Odom Jr – Speak Now)
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeSoul (three nominations)
What’s it about? Following in the footsteps of abstract stories like Inside Out, Soul is another hit for Pixar, with a voice cast including Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey and Graham Norton.
The film centres around a middle school
music teacher, unsatisfied with his lot in life, who ends up discovering the true meaning of having a soul when he mistakenly winds up in a whole other dimension.
Nominated for: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score, Best Sound
Where to watch:Disney+Another Round (two nominations)
What’s it about? This Danish-language film is one of the year’s most successful foreign offerings, telling the story of a group of teachers who want to explore the effect alcohol has on them.
Far from giving up booze, though, the group each pledges to drink alcohol once a day for a year, with Another Round following them on their endeavours.
Nominated for: Best Director (Thomas Vinterburg), Best International Feature Film
Where to watch: In cinemas from 25 June Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (two nominations)
What’s it about? More than a decade on from the first Borat film, Sacha Baron Cohen brought his most famous
comedy character out of retirement, for more outrageous satire specifically looking at the Covid-19 pandemic and the then-upcoming US presidential
election.
This time around, Borat introduced the world to his teenage daughter Tutar, who joins him on his adventures (and earning Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova her first Oscar nomination in the process).
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actress (Maria Bakalova), Best Adapted Screenplay
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Collective (two nominations)
What’s it about? This Romanian documentary revolves around a group of journalists as they attempt to unpick a case of serious corruption revolving around public healthcare and fraud.
Nominated for: Best International Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeEmma. (two nominations)
What’s it about? Jane Austen’s classic story has been adapted for the big screen multiple times, but Autumn De Wilde’s fast-paced and candy-coloured version takes a uniquely modern approach, putting us in mind of Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette biopic.
Look out for performances from The Queen’s Gambit’s Anya-Taylor Joy, Miranda Hart and Josh O’Connor (yes, The Crown’s Prince Charles) too.
Nominated for: Best Costume Design and Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Where to watch: NOW and Sky CinemaHillbilly Elegy (two nominations)
What’s it about? This controversial film about a Yale student who returns to his childhood home after a family emergency garnered a lot of attention upon its debut, not least for putting two of the Oscars’ most-nominated-without-a-win stars (Glenn Close and Amy Adams) in its leading roles.
Glenn Close’s performance makes history as it not only cements her spot as the living actor who has the most Oscar nominations without a win, but also makes her one of few stars to land an Academy Award and Razzie nomination for the same performance.
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close), Best Makeup And Hairystyling
Where to watch: Netflix Mulan (two nominations)
What’s it about? The latest in a long line of Disney’s live-action remakes, this one has Chinese-American actor Yifei Liu in the lead role of Mulan, a young woman who poses as a man to take her ill father’s place when he’s called to fight in a war.
Mulan took a more serious approach than remakes like Beauty And The Beast and Aladdin, which many enjoyed, although quite why producers felt the need to get rid of the original film’s brilliant songs is something we still can’t get our heads around.
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design
Where to watch: Disney+ Pinocchio (two nominations)
What’s it about? This adaptation of the classic story is not to be confused with the two other Pinocchio films currently in the works (one at
Disney with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hanks as Jiminy
Cricket and Gepetto, the other a more serious affair directed by Guillermo Del Toro).
We all know the story by now: wooden boy comes to life, tells some lies and lives to regret it. This version won particular praise for its visuals, with its two Oscar nominations being for styling and costume design.
Nominated for: Best Makeup And Hairstyling, Best Costume Design
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeTenet (two nominations)
What’s it about? Well... to be honest, does anyone actually know? And that includes people who’ve actually seen it.
Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, Tenet, is one of the few Oscar-nominated films from this year that was actually released in cinemas in the
UK, captivating and confusing viewers in equal measure when it came out last summer.
Nominated for: Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects
Where to watch: Amazon PrimePieces Of A Woman (one nomination)
What’s it about? This heart-wrenching and devastating drama centres around the aftermath of a traumatic birth in which a woman watches her newborn baby die.
Pieces Of A Woman proved divisive among critics due to the 24-minute birth scene near the beginning of the film, although Vanessa Kirby (who played Princess Margaret in the first two series of The Crown) has won plenty of praise.
Nominated for: Best Actress (Vanessa Kirby)
Where to watch: NetflixThe
United States vs. Billie Holiday (one nomination)
What’s it about? This biopic of legendary musician Billie Holiday was directed by Lee Daniels, whose credits include the TV series Empire and films like Precious and The Butler.
The film has received mixed reviews, but near-unanimous praise for Andra Day’s portrayal of Billie Holiday, which is especially impressive as she was previously known for her work in the music industry rather than acting.
Nominated for: Best Actress (Andra Day)
Where to watch: NOW and Sky CinemaHuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Prices and availability subject to change.READ MORE:British Stars Receive Raft Of Oscar Nominations – Here's The Full ListOscars Bosses Seem To Have Got The Same Zoom Fatigue As The Rest Of UsHere's Absolutely Everything Coming To Netflix This April