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Staff Reporter | On 21, Feb 2019
Reading time: 6 minsOscars 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 has a number of this year’s nominees already in the Sky Cinema line-up (hello to Black Panther, Isle of Dogs, A Quiet Place), 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 in the UK or sample the Sky Cinema catalogue, though, NOW TV now allows non-customers to do both with a £9.99 Sky Cinema Month Pass. And there’s a 14-day trial, so you can do both for free.
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-demand, as part of your Sky Cinema package.)
Steven Spielberg won a second directing Oscar for his incendiary story of a World War Two rescue mission. After barely surviving the D-Day landings, Army captain Tom Hanks leads a small team of US soldiers to find and rescue a young private whose brothers have all been killed in action. The hellish opening sequence is an astonishing experience in itself.
How do you follow Chicago? With another musical. Bill Condon’s take on the Broadway Motown hit about a group of singers stars Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover and Beyoncé – but it’s newcomer Jennifer Hudson who steals the show as lead backing singer Effie White.
Sofia Coppola’s bittersweet masterpiece is a touching story of two strangers connecting.
Do do doo. Dum. Dummmm. Steven Spielberg made jaws drop with those five notes in a deceptively simple piece about mankind connecting with a higher power. Richard Dreyfus is scarily obsessed with the idea of extra terrestrials, even to the point of it shaping his mashed potato. But however disruptive his behaviour becomes, Close Encounters of the Third Kind’s power comes from the peaceful nature of their contact – a gently revolutionary notion that makes this a unique entry in the genre and, indeed, one of the greatest science fiction films of all time.
“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti…”
Distilling Ian McEwan’s novel without diluting its potency, this masterful adaptation, starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, is a work of genius.
New York cops Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider face up to drug lord Fernando Rey as they struggle to break his narcotics operation.
A tale of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, this charming Disney flick is surely the House of Mouse’s most feminist to date. More a tale of female relationships than a rom-com or adventure, this is refreshing, amusing and moving stuff. If you’re already singing “Let It Go” in your head, this is for you.
Steven Spielberg brought the dinosaurs back to life for this classic modern blockbuster, which broke ground behind the screen and wowed audiences in front of it.
A day out on the town with Audrey Hepburn? William Wyler’s romantic comedy, which stars Gregory Peck as a reporter who crosses paths with a runaway princess, is a delightful, charming ride.
Sam Mendes switches from American Beauty to American ugly with this sombre tale of a mobster hitman (a rare dark role for Tom Hanks) who finds himself fighting for his – and his son’s – life. Paul Newman is the crime boss who puts Hanks’ loyalties to the test while Jude Law adds to the suspense as an impassive killer and Daniel Craig is distinctly unheroic as Newman’s cowardly son.
Is Billy Wilder’s 1960 masterpiece sad or sweet? That’s one of many reasons why The Apartment is a classic, as it tells the tale of an officer worker who lets his boss use his apartment for an affair – only to fall for the boss’ girlfriend himself.
Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster trilogy, starring Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, is some of the best crime cinema ever committed to celluloid.
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.
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro live up to their reputations in this superb boxing drama.
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.
Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell are on blistering form in Martin McDonagh’s darkly funny and moving study of hatred and grief.
Pixar’s Oscar winner centres on Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez), a music-loving youngster who wants more than small-town Mexico life. His idol is Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), a legendary late pop star to whom he may be related. Could Ernesto and his disgraced great-great grandfather – a vagabond musician who walked out on a young wife and infant son – be one and the same? Finding answers means magically journeying to the Land of the Dead, where skeleton scallywag Héctor (Gael García Bernal) comes along for the ride.
Denis Villeneuve’s remarkable sci-fi sequel is a profound evolution of the timeless original.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s romantic antidote to tortured male artists is a swooning, darkly comic masterpiece.
A charmingly old-fashioned Hollywood romance… which just so happens to star a giant fish monster.
This raw, stripped-down war film is a harrowing elegy to British lives lost – and a powerful portrayal of despair in the face of hope.
This swooning ode to first love is impossibly ravishing cinema.
