I’m on the record saying the Oscars are my favorite awards show in pop culture. For me, it’s like watching a championship game in sports. You better believe I’m filling out a ballot to see if I can predict the night’s biggest upsets, though I missed on Michael B. Jordan winning Best Actor at the 2026 Oscars.
If you’re searching for Oscar-winning movies, Netflix has an entire section dedicated to the classic movies that walked away with “little gold men.” Our first pick is a sci-fi thriller that serves as a powerful warning for AI’s future. The rest of the list includes a deeply personal Mexican drama, a Civil War epic, and a lively musical biopic. All four movies can be streamed today on Netflix in the U.S.
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Ray
Jamie Foxx’s sensational depiction of a music icon
The success of a musical biopic hinges on the performance of its star. It sounds obvious, but many biopics suffer from a star’s lack of charisma or musical ineptitude. The performance only works if the audience believes in the actor’s transformation into its subject. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in 2004’s Ray is one of the strongest portrayals of a singer I’ve ever seen.
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Ray chronicles three decades of Charles’ life. It starts with his life in poverty as a child, continues through his rise to stardom as a musician, and climaxes with his drug addictions in the 1960s. Foxx is the living embodiment of Charles, from his trademark sunglasses and wide smile to his constant shaking and piano prowess. Even though the film used many of Charles’ original recordings, Foxx deserved that Oscar.
Ray received six nominations at the 2005 Oscars, winning two: Best Actor (Foxx) and Best Sound Mixing.
Ray
Release Date
October 29, 2004
Runtime
152 minutes
Director
Taylor Hackford
3
Glory
A star is born
Edward Zwick tackled the American Civil War in 1989’s Glory with a drama centered around Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) and one of the first officially recongized African American regiments for the Union Army, the 54th. At first, Shaw is an outsider who struggles to gain the trust of his Black unit, most notably Trip (Denzel Washington). Over time, Shaw begins to sympathize with those men and stands in solidarity with them in hopes of earning better treatment from the army they signed up for.
Glory is not the best war movie ever, and it’s fair to criticize Glory for telling a story about an African American regiment through the eyes of its white officer. That doesn’t take away from the performances given by Morgan Freeman and especially Denzel Washington, who won the first Oscar of his career. Even then, it was clear Washington would go on to become a movie star, so thank you to Glory for elevating the profile of a generational performer.
Nominated for five awards at the 1990 Oscars, Glory won Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Washington), Best Cinematography, and Best Sound.
Glory
Release Date
December 15, 1989
Runtime
122 minutes
Director
Edward Zwick
2
Roma
A resilient story about family
Coming off the overwhelming success of Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón used the juice of winning a directorial Oscar to make his most personal film, 2018’s Roma. Set in Mexico City during the early 1970s, Roma stars Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo, a maid for Antonio (Fernando Grediaga) and Sofía (Marina de Tavira). Cuarón centers the story around family to dive deeper into themes of social status, gender inequality, and abandonment. The image of Sofía and her kids hugging Cleo on the beach brings tears to my eyes.
Cuarón becoming the first person to win Best Director and Best Cinematography during the same ceremony should have been the main Oscars’ story. However, Green Book upsetting Roma for Best Picture is what people will remember most about that night.
At the 2019 Oscars, Roma garnered 10 nominations, winning three: Best Director (Cuarón), Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Cinematography (Cuarón).
Roma
Release Date
December 14, 2018
Runtime
135 minutes
Director
Alfonso Cuarón
1
Ex Machina
Beware of AI
Many of Alex Garland’s movies revolve around this idea that people are their own worst enemies. At least that’s what he believes in his excellent scripts. He’s certainly wary of toxic masculinity and its dangers to society. I mean, this is a filmmaker who made a movie titled Men. I still believe Garland’s best directorial effort was his debut, 2014’s Ex Machina, a sci-fi thriller about a man’s attempt to determine a robot’s level of consciousness.
Programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is recruited to the secluded house of CEO Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) to administer the Turing Test to a humanoid robot, Ava (Alicia Vikander). Garland was ahead of his time in his depiction of AI and the godlike tech bros running it. Even if you ignore the real-world parallels, you’ll still enjoy the engrossing story with an ending that raised my eyebrows.
Nominated for two awards at the 2016 Oscars, Ex Machina won Best Visual Effects.
Ex Machina
Release Date
April 24, 2015
Runtime
108 minutes
Director
Alex Garland
More movies heading your wayHead to the Oscar-winning section on Netflix for more movies to stream. If you’re interested in more award-winning movies on Netflix, check out American Hustle or I’m Still Here. Elsewhere, you can watch new movies that recently hit Netflix, including Bugonia and Swapped.
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