The 2023 Oscars are less than a week away, which means you have just a few days to catch up on the 2023 Best Picture nominations. You don’t want to be the only one at your Oscars watch party on Sunday night that isn’t laughing at host Jimmy Kimmel’s no-doubt hilarious monologue.
But let’s be realistic: Ten movies is a lot to watch in one week. For those of us with jobs, families, and lives, it’s nearly impossible. Once upon a time, you only had to watch five movies to keep up with the best films of the year—at least, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. But ever since the Oscars revised its rules in 2011 to include 10 Best Picture slots, it’s gotten more and more difficult for procrastinators to fit in a last-minute Oscars cram session.
Not to worry, though, because Decider is here to help. In an effort to help you cut down on the noise, Decider has assembled a list of the 2023 Best Picture nominees, ordered by how dire it is that you watch each title. Below, you can find information on where you can watch the film, and why you may want to prioritize (or not) seeing each film before the Oscars.
Thankfully, in the era of streaming, it’s easier and cheaper than ever to watch Oscar-nominated movies. Frontrunner Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, for example, is streaming free on Paramount+, while Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is available to rent for just $5.99.
1
If you told me in March 2022 that Everything, Everywhere, All At Once—a movie that features Jamie Lee Curtis with hot dog fingers and a fairly explicit butt plug joke—would be the frontrunner for Best Picture, I would have assumed you were a traveler from a bizarre ultimate universe. But against all odds—and likely thanks to Academy’s continuing efforts to expand its membership to be less old, less white, and less male— this weird, heartfelt, oddity of a movie is favored to take home the top prize at the 95th Academy Awards. Even if this wacky take on the multiverse isn’t for you, Everything, Everywhere is the movie to watch if you want to be part of this year’s Oscar conversation. If you have time for one, make it this one.
Streaming on: Paramount+, Showtime, or buy on digital for $19.99
2
Although it’s (sadly) unlikely that Tár will take home Best Picture on Sunday night, you still make this masterful drama about a problematic composer a priority. It’s still a toss-up between Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett for Best Actress, but whether or not she wins a statue, Lydia Tár is going down in cinematic history as one of the best performances of Blanchett’s career. Plus, it’s just a really good movie. Written and directed by Todd Field, it’s a brilliant commentary on art, gender, power, and abuse that will compel you every step of the way. You won’t regret watching it.
Streaming on: Peacock Premium, or buy on digital for $19.99, rent for $5.99
3
Don’t count Martin McDonagh’s darkly comedic drama about a friendship break-up, The Banshees of Inisherin, out of the Best Picture running just yet. With eight Oscar nominations—including acting nominations for the entire cast, and two Best Supporting Actor nods, for Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan—this Irish movie could easily be a wild-card winner. Plus, with so many nominations, you’ll be covering a lot of Oscar ground by watching this one. Definitely turn out captions before you stream it on HBO Max, because those Irish accents are thick, and when you’re left confused by the ending, go ahead and give Decider’s analysis of The Banshees of Inisherin ending explained a read.
Streaming on: HBO Max, or buy on digital for $9.99
4
Though the odds of Steven Spielberg taking home the top prize on Sunday aren’t quite as high, it’s still very possible that we’ll see a Fabelmans Best Picture win at the 95th Academy Awards. If you’re a Gen Xer who grew up on Spielberg movies, you’ll probably want to move this family drama—based on Spielberg’s own childhood as an aspiring filmmaker—higher up on your watch list. It’s a perfectly inoffensive, run-of-the-mill biopic, but if you’re not a Spielberg mega fan, you may find yourself bored throughout the two-and-a-half-hour runtime. All respect to Spielberg, a great director, but this movie is hardly his finest work, and, unlike his most famous movies, probably won’t go down as an essential in film history. That said, it’s still essential to the 2023 Oscars.
Streaming on: Buy on digital for $9.99, rent for $5.99
5
Though the Academy failed to name a single woman on the list of Best Director nominations, they at least honored Sarah Polly’s critically acclaimed drama with Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations. (The film is adapted from the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, which in turn was based on a real-life isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia.) Out of ten films, it’s the only Best Picture nomination directed by a woman, but that’s not the only reason you should watch it. It’s a quiet but fierce conversation about what, exactly, women are supposed to do when they are betrayed by the men in their life, featuring some of the best performances of the year.
Streaming on: Buy on digital for $19.99, rent for $5.99
6
All eyes and ears are on Austin Butler, to see whether the actor will deliver an acceptance speech in his Elvis Presley voice when he most likely wins the Oscar for Best Actor. It’s down to Butler or Brendan Fraser, but given that The Whale isn’t up for Best Picture, if you care about the Best Actor race, go ahead and give this wild Elvis Presley biopic from Baz Luhrmann a stream. The movie was not well-liked by critics, but that didn’t stop it from crushing the box office. Plus, you don’t want to miss out on the most meme-able movie moment of 2022, courtesy of Tom Hanks: “He’s white?!”
Streaming on: HBO Max, or buy on digital for $19.99, rent for $5.99
7
Top Gun: Maverick probably won’t win at the Oscars this year, and star Tom Cruise will be crying all the way to the bank with his No. 1 domestic box office hit. Statistically speaking, you’ve probably already seen this long-awaited sequel. But it really is a fun watch— a simple story that honors the emotional narrative of the first film and is honestly far better than it needs to be. That said, if you’re out of time before the Oscars, you can skip this one and likely guess what you’re missing. Use context clues for Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue jokes, and you’ll be just fine.
Streaming on: Paramount+ , or buy on digital for $19.99, rent for $5.99
8
Netflix doesn’t have nearly as strong a showing in the Best Picture race as it has the past few years, but the streamer can at least claim one nomination, and that’s this modern adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, the world-renowned 1929 German novel by Erich Maria Remarque about World War I. Though it’s not looking good for a Best Picture win, it seems likely that the movie, directed by Edward Berger, will win Best International Feature. With a higher film resolution and a lot more resources, this version of All Quiet on the Western Front feels even more accurate to the horrors of World War I than the book or the 1930 film—so make sure you’re mentally prepared for that.
Streaming on: Netflix
9
Triangle of Sadness is one of those wildcard Best Picture nominations that almost definitely isn’t going to win anything and probably shouldn’t have even been nominated in the first place. Sometimes these wildcard entries highlight hidden gems, but unfortunately, that’s not the case with this dark “eat the rich” satire from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund. Unless you’re fond of watching excruciating vomit-and-diarrhea sequences, you can move this movie to the bottom of your watch list.
Streaming on: Hulu, or buy on digital for $7.99, rent for $3.99
10
If you haven’t gone to see Avatar 2 in theaters at this point, it’s likely because you aren’t very interested in watching Avatar 2. And if that’s the case, I see no reason to subject yourself to this expensive, three-hour spectacle simply for the sake of the Academy Awards. Sure, The Way of Water is a lock for the Best Visual Effects Oscar. But trust us, you won’t lose any points among film nerds at your Oscars watch-party for skipping this one. Also? It’s not available on streaming!
Streaming on: Nowhere, yet! Find a theatrical showing near you via Fandango.
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