VOD News | On 22, Feb 2017

Oscars season is like Christmas for Sky. Not only does it have the UK rights to broadcast the ceremony locked down, its first-run deals with the major Hollywood studios means that it also have a number of this year’s nominees already in the Sky Cinema line-up (hello to Hail Caesar!, Zootropolis and The Jungle Book), not to mention the picks of last year’s contest. While those unable to stump up the cash for a Sky subscription were once unable to watch the Oscars live or sample the Sky Cinema catalogue, though, NOW TV now allows non-customers to do both with a £9.99 Sky Cinema Month Pass.

With no contract, it sounds like a decent VOD deal. But is it actually worth it? We round up the top Oscar winners from years gone by that are currently available on-demand on NOW TV. (For Sky customers, these are also available on Sky On Demand, as part of your Sky Cinema package.)

Inside Out – Best Animated Film (2016)

Pixar’s masterful animation takes us on a tour through the head of a young girl, Riley, as she comes of age. As we move from the once-overriding emotion of joy to a mixture of sadness, anger and disgust, the resulting portrait of growing pains is both dazzlingly complex and entertainingly simple.

Max Max: Fury Road – Best Editing (2016)

George Miller’s latest entry in the Mad Max series sees Tom Hardy take over Mel Gibson’s role, but its success lies in another character entirely: Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, who leads a string of female prisoners in an escape attempt from their sinister overlord, Immortan Joe. Full of practical stunts, dazzling visuals and burning with a feminist message, this is fantastic, eye-boggling stuff.

Bridge Of Spies – Best Supporting Actor (2016)

Tom Hanks is on stellar form in Spielberg’s Cold War drama about James, a New York lawyer, who ends up having to negotiate the release of a US pilot from the Soviet Union – but he can’t stop each scene being stolen by Mark Rylance as a Soviet spy James is hired to defend.

The Revenant – Best Actor (2016)

Proof that Leonardo DiCaprio will go to any extreme for an award, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s intense survival epic set on the fur-trading frontier of the 1820s sees DiCaprio’s trapper chased through the woods, battered by blizzards and mauled by a bear. Thank goodness they gave him an Oscar for his performance, or who knows what he might have done next?

Chinatown – Best Original Screenplay (1975)

“There’s something black in the green part of your eye.” “Oh, that. It’s a… it’s a flaw in the iris.”

Roman Polanski’s 1974 film is a classic. That’s undeniable. But it feels like a classic from 30 years earlier. That’s incredible. From the moment the Bogart-like Gittes (Jack Nicholson) gets caught up in a conspiracy involving the town’s water supply, the detective flick feels like a remnant of film noir’s heyday brought out into the sun; most of his investigating takes place in the daylight, a bleached world of modern prosperity – and, of course, sumptuous colour.

Polanski’s production design team waste no time in making the most of this updated 1930s palette. Nicholson’s suit gleams white in the desert – a worthy fashion choice for a man who deals in sleaze. As he uncovers the incestuous corruption at the heart of the city – a flaw that’s both born out of society and gives birth to it – the dirt rubs off. By the end of the film, his suit has gone from white to brown, to grey and, thanks to Polanski’s moody lighting, ultimately black. It’s that kind of detail that gives Chinatown such a unique aesthetic, simultaneously of its time and timeless.

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Sense & Sensibility – Best Adapted Screenplay (1996)

Ang Lee’s take on Sense and Sensibility features a stellar script from Emma Thompson, who also joins an impressive cast that includes Kate Winslet, Tom Wilinson, Hugh Grant and – most importantly – Alan Rickman in a hat as Colonel Brandon.

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Best Music (1962)

A young New York socialite takes interest in a man who moves into her apartment building downstairs in this lovely adaptation of Truman Capote’s novel. Audrey Hepburn is a delight.

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The Sea Inside – Best Foreign Language Film (2004)

Javier Bardem) is sensational in Alejandro Amenabar’s 2004 film abotu Ramón Sampedro, a Spanish ship mechanic and poet who is left quadriplegic after a diving accident.

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American Beauty – Best Picture (2000)

Margin Call. House of Cards. American Beauty. Kevin Spacey must really hate the American Dream. In Sam Mendes’ 1999 masterpiece, he tears it to shreds in a sea of fast food, sex fantasies, murder and depression. A caustic, callous critique – laced with rose petals.

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Back To The Future – Best Effects (1986)

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

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Brokeback Mountain – Best Director (2006)

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star in Ang Lee’s superb drama about two sheep herders who find themselves drawn to each other one night up a mountain in Wyoming. Unflinching and universal.

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The Departed – Best Director (2007)

Martin Scorsese’s thrilling, idiosyncratic take on Hong Kong action flick Infernal Affairs is proof that remakes can be better than the original.

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Raging Bull – Best Actor (1981)

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro live up to their reputations in this superb boxing drama.

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Moulin Rouge! – Best Costume Design (2002)

Swoon and sing along with this sumptuous musical epic.

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No Country For Old Men – Best Picture (2008)

The Coen brothers’ Western, starring Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald, follows a Sheriff’s investigation into a psychopath’s trail of killings – and the hunter who finds himself with the killer on his tail. Tommy Lee Jones has never been better as the weary lawman nearing retirement, while Javier Bardem is chilling as the pneumatic cattle gun-wielding Anton.

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