12 Years a Slave

3 Oscar wins, 6 nominations; 1 Golden Globe win, 6 nominations

Fearless, bold and representing a full spectrum of humanity, director Steve McQueen’s biographical and historical drama, 12 Years A Slave, landed nine Oscar nominations with three wins. It’s a major historical milestone in its own right – the first film to be produced and directed by a black filmmaker, and written by a black screenwriter, to win Best Motion Picture of the Year.

The movie follows the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in antebellum United States in 1841. Starring the underrated Chiwetel Ejiofor, it’s a hauntingly beautiful and gut-wrenchingly powerful film. Watch now »

Room

1 Oscar win, 3 nominations; 1 Golden Globe win, 2 nominations

Nominated for four Oscars, Lenny Abrahamson’s quietly powerful drama won Brie Larson an Oscar for Best Actress for her nuanced and affecting lead role. She plays a woman held captive in a three-by-three metre space for seven years, where she bears a son who’s never seen the outside.

Larson is ably supported by wunderkind Jacob Tremblay as her son venturing into an unfamiliar new world. They provide two immersive performances in this hauntingly human drama about coping and resilience. Watch now »

Brooklyn

3 Oscar nominations, 1 Golden Globe nomination

Two-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan has an old-world grace and a haunting quality with the kind of face you’d expect to find in a dusty photo album. Born in New York City to Irish parents, she was destined to play Eilis in this wistful romance drama about an Irish immigrant who lands in Brooklyn in the 1950s. It’s an enchanting journey of ambition and love as Eilish has to choose between her new life and her home country. Watch from 15 March »

Carol

6 Oscar nominations; 5 Golden Globe nomination

A real-life actor mentorship between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara plays out on screen as an unlikely budding romance set in 1950s New York. An adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s critically acclaimed novel The Price of Salt, Carol is a thoughtful, tender and beautifully composed romantic drama. Deeply human, the forbidden affair captures the frailty of the human condition from the dizzying climbs of love to the infernal depths of prejudice. Watch from 15 March.

Jackie

3 Oscar nominations; 1 Golden Globe nomination

Natalie Portman was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for this incisive performance, and she embodies the perfectionism, mannerisms and style of the celebrated First Lady in Jackie. Following the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jackie is a character portrait about the style icon and her struggle to overcome the grief and trauma of this historic turning point in American history. This stylish and well-acted drama exudes the poise and grace of its title character. Watch now »

Scarface

3 Golden Globe nominations

In 1980s Miami, a Cuban immigrant turned mob boss gets consumed by the same greed and drugs that built his empire. The Oscar-winning actor’s savage yet brilliant take on Tony Montana set Al Pacino apart in one of his most iconic roles.

Back in 1983, this gritty remake penned by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma caught everyone by surprise with its ultraviolet mix of comedy and tragedy. The black-and-white poster and “say hello to my little friend” catchphrase have become an indelible part of pop culture. Watch now »

American Sniper

1 Oscar win, 5 Oscar nominations

 Clint Eastwood’s passion for film and his country collide in the biographical war drama American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper as legendary Navy S.E.A.L. Chris Kyle. The drama focuses on the Texan cowboy’s long-range pinpoint accuracy over four tours of duty. But the experience of being at war takes its toll on his home life. The movie’s brilliance is in the tense do-or-die moments as a cool-headed Kyle engages the enemy. Watch from 22 March »

The Beguiled

Cannes – Best Director, Palme d’Or nominee

Sofia Coppola is the director behind Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides and The Beguiled, an American Civil War drama about the unexpected arrival of a Union soldier at a girls’ school.

Starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, the casting echoes Coppola’s penchant for creating exquisite and enigmatic films. When the handsome devil Colin Farrell appears as the proverbial fox in the henhouse, sexual tension escalates as the manipulative deserter tries to seduce everyone at Miss Martha Farnsworth’s dilapidated and haunting seminary. Watch now »

Don Jon

Gotham nominee

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the hardest working actors today – and with Don Jon, he branches out into writing and directing, too. He packs plenty of attitude into his funny character portrait of a New Jersey lothario grappling with a porn addiction. This is a bold comedy drama romance with an independent spirit, delving headlong into toxic. Struggling with real intimacy and the prospect of finding his one true love, Jon Martello learns valuable life lessons through relationships with two strong women, played by Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. Watch now »

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