The wait is almost over, cinema freaks: the Oscars is upon us yet again. And while the 2016 Academy Awards have already been marked with controversy (as well as a significant boycott), there's no question that millions of movie fans will once again tune in to watch which whether their favorite movies from the past year will receive the accolades they deserve.
But until then, there's still an entire weekend of waiting to do and so many empty hours of potential film-watching to fill. If you're a diehard movie buff (or if Netflix's Fuller House, like many a critic, doesn't appeal to you), what's a person trying to get their Oscar pregame on supposed to do?
Well, it's a good thing we have you covered: we've compiled a list of the best Oscar-winning performances and movies for you to feast your eyes on, giving you plenty of stuff to entertain yourself with before Sunday evening rolls around. Let's get started.
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, 2009)
The role that brought Austrian actor Christoph Waltz international fame might still be his most indelible antagonists of the century so far. His portrayal of SS officer Hans Landa, "The Jew Hunter," in the Quentin Tarantino revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds incorporates an entire spectrum of villainy, from the banality of evil in the everyman typified in that time period, to a maniacal, grinning puppeteer. Even if this is the role that typecast Waltz forever as the bad guy, would you really have it any other way?
Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting, 1997)
Even if Ben Affleck shall now be forever known as Batfleck, he once wrote a movie with Matt Damon (or Jason Bourne, if you prefer) about a math savant named Will from Boston's working class that one the writing duo an Oscar for best original screenplay. It also starred Robin Williams as Dr. Sean Maguire, a widowed psychology professor that becomes Will's mentor. Each of his monologues are soaked in a bittersweet truth that will make you either cry, go see about a girl, or root for a losing team like the Red Sox for the sheer hope of it all -- or maybe do all three.
Best Supporting Actress
Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost, 1990)
Before Whoopi Goldberg yelled loudly at Elisabeth Hasselback on The View for a living, she was a pretty accomplished actress. Her nomination for best supporting actress in the fantasy rom-com Ghost wasn't her first -- she had already garnered one for her break out role as Celie in The Color Purple -- but her turn as a fake psychic who can actually hear ghosts (namely, Patrick Swayze as Sam) was, to quote New York Times critic Janet Maslin's review, "one of those rare occasions on which the uncategorizable Ms. Goldberg has found a film role that really suits her, and she makes the most of it." As hilarious as she is soul-eyed, it almost makes you wish Whoopi was off of the talk show host couch and back in the pictures.
[A quick note: as I was compiling this list, I was incredibly disheartened by the lack of diversity in terms of actors and/or movies I could choose from to curate this list. Goldberg was the only one, and with the pressure the Academy is currently receiving in terms of changing their exclusionary practices, let's hope that these discouraging outcomes for something as simple as a "best of" list will be remedied in the near future.]
Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love, 1998)
Judi Dench was only on screen for roughly eight minutes as Queen Elizabeth I in John Madden's rom-com period piece Shakespeare in Love, making her performance time one of the shortest (but not the shortest) to ever hand her an Oscar win. And dear lord, the woman we call Dame deserves it: even something as tiny as the way Dench's Queen cackles vulgarly and walks with a regal poise points to the complex and contradictory shades of the woman Elizabeth I was during her rule.
Best Actor
Denzel Washington (Training Day, 2001)
Washington's turn as dirty cop Alonzo Harris in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller was a departure from his comfort zone, but his ownership of his detective's dubious, liminal sense of morality propelled the character's indelibility as the modern uber-villain into the Machiavellian all-stars, like Shakespeare's Iago. And with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the current public conversation of police brutality -- as well as the complexity of racial themes and class in Training Day -- Washington's scene's have a visceral relevancy to them that is, needless to say, chilling.
Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962)
There will never be another actor like Gregory Peck, and the performance he gave as father and lawyer Atticus Finch has resonated throughout generations just as much as the character's source material. Knowing that his Oscar was won during the first era of the Civil Rights movement -- compounded with the recent death of Mockingbird author Harper Lee -- will make watching Atticus Finch's pursuit of justice and humanity all the more meaningful.
Best Actress
Katharine Hepburn (On Golden Pond, 1981)/Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday, 1953)
Katharine Hepburn is one of the only actresses in history who ever tied for an Oscar win, and though On Golden Pond was not that movie -- it was much later in her career for her turn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter -- it seems just as fitting to place her with an actress who shares her last name, and her timeless appeal. While Audrey Hepburn as the runaway Princess Ann in Roman Holiday and Katharine's depiction of Ethel, one half of an elderly couple existentially grappling with age, couldn't be any more different, the effervescent charm of both actresses has endured despite the passing of time.
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, 2012)
Jennifer Lawrence cut her teeth while portraying a older-than-her-years teenager in the movie Winter's Bone -- and her subsequent Oscar nom for the role was a harbinger for things to come. Her first Academy win as the conflicted, unstable-yet-somehow-stable counterpart to Bradley Cooper's crazy was another sign that she might be the greatest actress of our time.
Best Picture
When it comes to Netflix, the movies categorically embossed with a "Best Picture" cred tend to be movies like, say, The English Patient, which make you wonder how a film like that ever graced its way into the Academy in the first place. (Oh, and if you were wondering, The English Patient is also on Netflix.) That being said, we did our best with what we were given -- and actually found one true gem in the pile, too.
American Beauty (1999)/Shakespeare in Love (1997)
I can't lie: like many millennials, these were movies that hold a special place in my heart, but despite the great performances and permissible plot lines, the overwrought suburban plight of American Beauty nor the Tudorian, tongue-in-cheek charm of Shakespeare in Love aren't necessarily movies anyone would call "great" instead of "good."
Consider the fact that Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan, a brutal but necessary World War II film that did everything in its power to debunk the glamor of American heroism, or Elizabeth, which delved into the tortured and multi-faceted psychology of the woman who became Britain's greatest monarch in the history of the country -- a rightly expanded character Judi Dench only got eight minutes to dive into? Same for American Beauty: when you put it up against the (actually) cerebral Being John Malkovich or Magnolia, is there even a contest?
That said, at least they're enjoyable, and at least they're not The English Patient.
Wings (1927)
Wings, a silent war movie released during the latter half of the roaring 20s, might not be a remarkable film to some, save for some technical aviation feats, the fact that original "It Girl" Clara Bow is one of the movie's headliners, that it featured one of the first same-sex kisses onscreen, and that it was the first movie in history to receive an Oscar for best picture. However outdated, melodramatic, or kitschy Wings might be to some, it's worth a watch just to see how far cinema has come, and to understand what it took for us to get here.
Photo: Davidlohr Bueso
