The 2024 Oscars are upon us, and whether you’ve seen all of this year’s nominees or not, the ceremony is the perfect excuse to celebrate great movies. If you’ve already caught up on the major nominees from this year, or you’d just like to find some interesting Oscar winners from years past, then you’re in luck.
We’ve pulled together a few great Oscar-winning movies from years past that are now available to stream on Paramount+. These movies are proof that, while the Oscars don’t always get it right, they don’t always get it wrong either.
Titanic (1997)
One of the greatest epics ever made, few people need to be reminded of just how great Titanic is. If you’re someone who has been turned off by the movie’s reputation as a sentimental weepy, though, you may be surprised by just how undeniably good the movie is. It still holds up, and lead stars Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Kate Winslet (The Regime) are just as charismatic and appealing now as they were in 1997.
Telling the fictional story of two young lovers (one upper-class and one confined to steerage) who make a deep connection on the ill-fated journey, Titanic is one part romantic fable and one part action movie, and one half of its story would not work without the other. Titanic plays out like an epic tragedy, and more than 25 years after it was initially released, its Oscars sweep continues to look better and better.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
In what is widely considered to be one of the best years for cinema in recent memory, No Country for Old Men emerged as the ultimate Best Picture winner. Given the movie’s quality, it’s easy to see why.
Adapted from a Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, the film follows a man who stumbles upon a suitcase filled with cash while hunting, and finds himself being hunted by those who are after that money. Through that relatively simple story, though, No Country becomes a meditation on the nature of evil, and like so much of the Coen brothers’ work, it explores the lengths people will go to for just a little bit of money.
Michael Clayton (2007)
Another 2007 movie, Michael Clayton features what may be George Clooney’s finest work. The film tells the story of a lawyer who works as a fixer for a top law firm and helps his clients get away with their morally questionable behavior.
When another lawyer at his firm has a mental breakdown over representing a corrupt chemical company, though, Clayton himself begins to question whether he should do what’s right or what will earn him the tidiest sum. Michael Clayton is a legal thriller, but it’s not structured the way so many films in that genre are, and that’s part of what makes it so endlessly rewatchable.
