Your Streaming Guide For This Year's Oscar Movies
Here's what to watch so you can bring a hot take to your Oscars party
Hey there! Thanks for subscribing to Do You Like Apples. Welcome to our very first newsletter!
If you’re like us, you’ve wasted hours in the last few years flipping around on Netflix for something to watch. Let’s put a stop to that. Every Friday, you’ll get an email with a few movies currently on streaming services, where to stream them, and why we think they are worth your time. We’re stoked to share our love of movies with you, and we hope you’ll receive some good recommendations in the process.
For the first one, we’re getting you ready for the Academy Awards on Sunday, February 24th. Below, we’ll recommend a few Oscar-nominated movies from 2018 that you can stream right now.
(But before we do that, our first official recommendation is to watch the inspiration for our newsletter’s name. If you somehow haven’t seen Good Will Hunting, it’s currently on Netflix and it’s a stone-cold classic. Chances are you’ve already seen it, so instead, make your day a little brighter and watch this clip of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon breathlessly accepting their Oscar over 20 years ago. They look like kids!)
Alright, let’s get to it!
Drew recommends…
First Reformed (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Nominated for: Best Original Screenplay
No film from 2018 managed to leave its mark on me quite like First Reformed. So rarely in American cinema is faith depicted as it is here. Writer-director Paul Schrader’s anguished and cerebral drama of a deeply troubled pastor is structured like a thriller set in a church. As Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) is unraveling physically, emotionally, and spiritually before our eyes, we become increasingly worried that he might do something drastic. Somehow the Academy robbed him of a Best Actor nomination, but Hawke has never been better than he is in First Reformed. He’s more restrained than usual as his character’s frustration and anger at the effects of sin, loss, and impending climate change churn just underneath the surface.
This one won’t be for everyone. It’s a mostly bleak and cynical vision of our fallen world, but rarely have spiritual issues — faith and doubt, hope and despair — been rendered on screen with this much depth and feeling. And the startling, unexpected ending is one that could be examined for ages.
Minding the Gap (streaming on Hulu)
Nominated for: Best Documentary Feature
A skateboarding documentary that isn’t at all about skateboarding, Minding the Gap is a raw and turbulent look at adolescents becoming adults in Rockford, Illinois. Director Bing Liu follows a couple of his skater friends, Keire and Zack, over several years as they find jobs, have children, and try to figure out life. Since this is a doc largely about domestic violence and broken homes, it’s often an uncomfortable sit. Your heart breaks over and over as the subjects describe the pain inflicted on them. Then they hop on their skateboards and Minding the Gap soars with euphoria as they escape the suffering, even if just for a moment.
On one of his boards, Keire has written “THIS DEVICE CURES HEARTACHE” in all-caps. That might not be 100% true, but man, do you really wish it was.
Isle of Dogs (streaming on HBO Now)
Nominated for: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score
Okay, that’s enough gloom. Now a fun one.
If you like dogs and/or Wes Anderson movies, I can guarantee you’ll enjoy the pleasant and endearing Isle of Dogs. With witty humor and just the right amount of sentiment, Anderson has lovingly crafted this homage to Japanese cinema and culture that doubles as a tribute to Man’s Best Friend (say the movie’s title really fast). The animation is beyond gorgeous (Anderson tops his own work in Fantastic Mr. Fox by a mile) and the voice acting is superb (Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and I could keep going).
It’s not likely to win Best Animated Feature on Oscar night (either Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse or Incredibles 2 will), but Isle of Dogs is worth a watch for dog lovers and Anderson apologists alike.
Billy recommends…
Roma (streaming on Netflix)
Nominated for: 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay
Going to the St. Louis International Film Festival this year was the highlight of my film life in 2018. Being in a group of film lovers like me was such a joy. They actually stayed quiet throughout a whole movie and the film Roma is a hard one to digest. I would understand an audience member getting fidgety in their seat through this one. Not because it’s a bad film, it’s actually great, but this film is a slow slow slow burn. Once the climax of the movie hits, you realize how effective the beginning parts of the movie were.
One of our best modern directors, Alfonso Cuaron, forces you to sit with the main character Cleo, a nanny/maid for a Mexican family. You see the boring parts of her life. You see her take care of and love the family that employs her. Enjoy nature with family and friends. Fall in love and then be immediately betrayed. All these events are shown as if you were experiencing them yourself. No matter the joy. No matter the sadness. Most people do not immediately react in the moment. It takes months and sometimes years for the effect of certain events to manifest themselves. Cuaron deciding to show events realistically will make this film boring for many. It was for me at first, but if you allow yourself to sit through “the boring” and get to the climax of Cleo’s story then you will realize how important the events from earlier in the film are.
Roma is one of my favorite films of 2018 and I am so glad it is getting love at the Oscars. Throw this film on and allow yourself to see Cleo’s life as your own. It will bring up memories that you have forgotten and realize the importance those memories had on your life. Roma is not for everyone, but I hope taking that journey will be a joyous experience. Despite so much heartache that this film and life can bring.
Ready Player One (streaming on HBO Now)
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. A powerful thing that is being exploited by a lot of film and TV today. When in doubt, they throw in a recognizable pop culture reference and the fuzzy/warm feeling it triggers tricks you into thinking their film or show is good.
Ready Player One is a film that is the mac daddy of pop culture references. It is constantly referencing pop culture that most audience members would recognize and that most people think fondly of. Normally that type of entertainment bores me, but when you give that type of material to the best director of all-time, Steven Spielberg, then I will give that film a shot. I am so happy that I did. Steven Spielberg uses the pop culture references to his advantage to create a story that emphasizes the importance of staying grounded in reality. This is a lesson that I often want to ignore.
One of my favorite things in life is absorbing pop culture. Those dang Star Wars really get to me, you know? So much so that I often compare my life to something so fantastical. And allow it to create fear that keeps me from showing people who my true self is. The stand out of the film is Olivia Cooke. Her character, Samantha, has the same fear I do and uses the virtual reality world (The Oasis) to hide insecurities. While at the same time finding extreme joy in that world. Film is my equivalent to The Oasis. I find such joy in it, but need to allow myself time away from it and reflect on the reality around me. I recommend Ready Player One because it is fun and brings back all the warm and fuzzy feelings that I like about film and pop culture, but it reminds the audience not to be consumed by it.
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