23 Movies You Should Watch Before The 2019 Academy Awards

I'd like to thank the Academy for this list of movies...

1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Netflix

What It's About: An anthology consisting of six different short films, all set in the backdrop of the post-civil war Old West.

What It's Nominated For: Costume Design, Original Song, and Adapted Screenplay.

2. Black Panther

Marvel Studios

What It's About: After the untimely death of his father, T'Challa, the prince of the secret country of Wakanda, must take his rightful place on the throne.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

3. BlackKklansman

Focus Features

What It's About: The true story of Ron Stallworth, the first black police officer in the Colorado Springs Police Department, who decided to infiltrate and unmask the Klu Klux Klan with the help of Jewish officer Flip Zimmerman.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actor in a Supporting Role (Adam Driver), Directing, Film Editing, Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay.

4. Bohemian Rhapsody

20th Century Fox

What It's About: The true story of how Freddie Mercury became the lead singer of Queen and how the band rose to legend status throughout the '70s and '80s.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role (Rami Malek), Film Editing, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.

5. Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Fox Searchlight Pictures

What It's About: Yet ANOTHER true story, based on the scandalous life of biographer Lee Isreal, who allegedly forged letters from famous authors for profit.

What It's Nominated For: Actress in a Leading Role (Melissa McCarthy), Actor in a Supporting Role (Richard E. Grant), and Adapted Screenplay.

6. Cold War

Kino Świat

What It's About: Two people from vastly different backgrounds find romance amid the world-altering Cold War in 1950s Poland.

What It's Nominated For: Directing, Cinematography, and Foreign Language Film.

7. At Eternity's Gate

CBS Films

What It's About: A true story documenting the final years of artist Vincent Van Gogh as he painted some of his most recognizable works in Arles, France.

What It's Nominated For: Actor in a Leading Role (Willem Dafoe).

8. The Favourite

Fox Searchlight Pictures

What It's About: An emotionally-unstable Queen Anne passes power onto her confidant, Lady Sarah, during wartime. However, the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail, causes a power shakeup as she charms the Queen.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actress in a Leading Role (Olivia Colman), Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Stone), Actress in a Supporting Role (Rachel Weisz), Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Production Design, and Original Screenplay.

9. First Man

Universal Pictures

What It's About: Yup, you guessed it, another true story! This one follows the intensely dramatic home life of astronaut Neil Armstrong before he made his fateful trek to the moon.

What It's Nominated For: Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects.

10. First Reformed

A24

What It's About: A lonely, middle-aged pastor's faith is shaken when he meets a radical environmentalist and his pregnant wife.

What It's Nominated For: Original Screenplay.

11. Hale Country This Morning, This Evening

The Cinema Guild

What It's About: This film captures intimate, significant moments in the everyday lives of citizens of Hale County, Alabama, while highlighting the black experience in the southern United States.

What It's Nominated For: Best Documentary.

12. Green Book

Universal Pictures

What It's About: This film follows jazz pianist Don Shirley as he tours the country and begins an unlikely friendship with his driver/bodyguard, Italian-American bouncer Vallelonga.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role (Viggo Mortensen), Actor in a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali), Film Editing, and Original Screenplay.

13. If Beale Street Could Talk

Annapurna Pictures

What It's About: Tish and Fonny have been madly in love since they were children, despite the disapproval of everyone around them. However, their world is turned upside down after Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn't commit.

What It's Nominated For: Actress in a Supporting Role (Regina King), Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay.

14. Isle of Dogs

Fox Searchlight Pictures

What It's About: After all dogs in Megasaki City are exiled to a literal Trash Island, a young boy sets off alone in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots.

What It's Nominated For: Best Animated Feature Film and Original Score.

15. Mary Poppins Returns

Disney

What It's About: The Banks children are all grown up and, with that, comes grown-up troubles all their own. Enter their childhood nanny, the practically perfect Mary Poppins, who arrives to save the day and remind them about what makes life so magical.

What It's Nominated For: Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song, and Production Design.

16. Mary Queen of Scots

Focus Features

What It's About: Scotland and England fall under the rule of Elizabeth I; however, her ownership is challenged when her young cousin, Mary, returns from France to reclaim her right to the throne of Scotland.

What It's Nominated For: Costume Design and Makeup/Hairstyling.

17. RBG

Magnolia Pictures

What It's About: This documentary seeks to shed light on the incredible strides RBG has made for women throughout her career and how she rose to pop culture stardom on the internet.

What It's Nominated For: Best Documentary and Original Song.

18. Roma

Netflix

What It's About: Loosely based on the upbringing of Oscar-award winning director Alfonso Cuarón, this film follows the struggles of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family, set against the backdrop of 1970s Mexico.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actress in a Leading Role (Yalitza Aparicio), Actress in a Supporting Role (Marina de Tavira), Cinematography, Directing, Foreign Language Film, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Original Screenplay.

19. Shoplifters

GAGA Pictures

What It's About: A tight-knit family uses petty theft to get by, but their lives are turned upside-down when they take in a child.

What It's Nominated For: Best Foreign Language Film.

20. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Sony Pictures

What It's About: When teenage Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his reality, he finds himself crossing paths with various other Spider-People (and pigs) from MANY different dimensions.

What It's Nominated For: Best Animated Feature Film.

21. A Star is Born

Warner Bros. Pictures

What It's About: When popular-but-fading musician Jackson Maine discovers (and falls for) struggling newcomer Ally, their relationship suffers as her fame escalates.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role (Bradley Cooper), Actress in a Leading Role (Lady Gaga), Actor in a Supporting Role (Sam Elliott), Cinematography, Original Song, Sound Mixing, and Adapted Screenplay.

22. Vice

Annapurna Pictures

What It's About: The almost unbelievable true story of Dick Cheney's stint as Vice President of the United States and the chaos that ensued.

What It's Nominated For: Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role (Christian Bale), Actor in a Supporting Role (Sam Rockwell), Actress in a Supporting Role (Amy Adams), Directing, Film Editing, Makeup/Hairstyling, and Original Screenplay.

23. The Wife

Sony Pictures Classics

What It's About: As her husband, Joe, is about to be rewarded the Nobel Prize for his work as an author, reserved wife, Joan, looks back on all of the compromises made on her behalf and the betrayals suffered at his hands that brought them to this moment.

What It's Nominated For: Actress in a Leading Role (Glenn Close).