The Oscars have continually acknowledged the best movies in the industry, so you can be sure that when you want to watch a movie that is guaranteed to be brilliant – no matter how many years later – an Academy Award-winning movie is just the ticket. Here are 5 such movies to watch on Netflix.
1. Pulp Fiction
A Quentin Tarantino classic, this 1994 crime movie was nominated for seven Oscars and won one – for Best Original Screenplay. The gritty postmodern film is certainly not for the faint of heart. It features three stories: that of mob contract killer Vincent Vega (John Travolta), prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), and Vincent's partner, Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson).
2. Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino keeps ’em coming, and eight years’ later he hit another jackpot with Django Unchained. This is a Western film unlike any other. Gory, emotive and daring, it tells the story of a slave named Django in the Antebellum South. This one also won Best Original Screenplay and Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor.
3. Whiplash
This drama follows a jazz drumming student, Andrew, and his cruel instructor, Terence. As the film progresses, the far-reaching consequences of Terence’s abusive teaching methods come to light. Whiplash won Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing, and JK Simmons (who plays Terence) received the award for Best Supporting Actor.
4. Inception
Be prepared for a mind-bending sci-fi that will have you on the edge of your seat. The world has taken a scary turn with military technology that allows spies (known as ‘extractors’) to infiltrate their victim’s subconscious to obtain information. One such extractor is given the experimental job of planting an idea into a person’s subconscious, in return for having a murder charge against him dropped. Despite its convoluted story, the film was a major success. It received eight Academy Award nominations and won four: Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.
5. Back to the Future
If there is a single person who was born in the 70s and 80s who has not seen this classic, we dare him or her to step forward. Another award-winning sci-fi, this one stars Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a teenager who travels back in time to 1955. It was nominated for Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Editing, and won for the latter.
