Nominations for the Oscars have been announced, and like many (myself included) you were wondering where you could catch these precious grails prior to the ceremony on March 27th. 

The main problem with nominated movies used to be that they were all released in the week between Christmas and the new year in order to stay fresh in voters’ minds, and thus weren’t available on DVD before the ceremony occurred. With the rise of streaming services, and the ongoing pandemic, the problem has shifted to “How many streaming services do you want to pay for?” or “Do you want to risk your health to watch Licorice Pizza?”. For you, dear reader, I’ve broken the availability of the 10 (10!?!) Best Picture nominees into three easily digestible categories based on difficulty and cost to acquire:

Easily Available at the Library on DVD:

  • Belfast
  • Dune
  • King Richard
  • Nightmare Alley (Available March 22nd)

Somewhat Easily Available via Streaming (So Long as You Can Afford 3 Different Services):

  • CODA (Apple TV+)
  • Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
  • Drive My Car (HBO Max)
  • The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
  • West Side Story (Disney+, HBO Max)
  • Coda
  • Don’t Look Up
  • Drive My Car
  • The Power of the Dog
  • West Side Story

Annoyingly Only Available by Visiting a Theater (AKA: I Will See This at a Later Date):

  • Licorice Pizza
  • Licorice Pizza

Movies Nominated for Other Awards Available on DVD at the Library Before the Oscars:

Written by Jake Moore, Branch Manager at the Florence Branch