Oscars 2022: Wanna Watch All the Nominees–Ascention, Attica (Docus)

Oscar Nominations: Documentary

Where to Stream: Paramount Plus (or Prime Video with Paramount Plu)

“‘Ascension’ is Jessica Kingdon’s observational portrait of the economic growth of China, as well as the class divides that this expansion has exposed. The film debuted at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, where ‘Ascension’ debuted to rave reviews and awards for both best documentary and best new documentary filmmaker.

Oscar Nominations: 1

Documentary

Where to Stream: Showtime Anytime (or Hulu wit Showtime)

Stanley Nelson’s stirring, scalding documentary about the 1971 Attica prison uprising, is an essential film that can now stand as a definitive vision of that epochal event. Drawing from a staggering array of footage that has never been seen before, Nelson puts the event together, moment by moment, day by day, with a clarifying view of its place in history and an empathy that extends to every person onscreen: prisoners and guards, officials and relatives, politicians and observers, the reporters who came and recorded it all. We see every point-of-view; the presentation isn’t so much ‘incendiary’ as novelistic.”

Oscar Nominations: 1

Documentary

Where to Stream: Hulu

Buried for 50 years, the spectacular filmed footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival reveals a musical moment — and a Black revolution — in full flower…It’s a music documentary like no other, because while it’s a joyful, cataclysmic, and soulfully seductive concert movie, what it’s really about is a key turning point in Black life in America.”

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Oscar Nominations: 1

Documentary

Where to Stream: Not streaming yet. Available to view on PBS beginning March 28

In some months’ time, cub reporter Shyamkali will solo pilot a story that brings an accused rapist to justice. But right now she is sitting in the shade of a tree with her boss Meera, who has spiked a story of hers because she didn’t like ‘the angle.’ The steep learning curve she will nimbly ascend is one of three tales of personal and professional persistence that directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh tell in their accessible, engaging debut doc ‘Writing With Fire,’ through which they’ll also tell the story of the Khabar Lahariya newspaper, and of India, in a time of seismic change. Thomas and Ghosh have found their angle, and it’s a powerful one.”

Where to Stream: Netflix

In ‘The Hand of God,’ it’s easy to vibrate sympathetically with Fabietto, because he’s got a sly, pensive curiosity that you can tell will take him places. For most of the movie, however, the places he goes tend to involve his extended family, as well as the occasional scoundrel he hooks up with in town. And while it’s easy to feel that Sorrentino is pulling what you see directly out of his diary (the action is loose, quirky, anecdotal), you wish that he’d portrayed the other characters as he does his surrogate hero.”

Oscar Nominations: Documentary

Where to Stream: Rent on Amazon or Apple

The trusty old tale of a city slicker teacher being posted to a school in the sticks is given a fresh coat of paint in the delightful Bhutanese comic drama ‘Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.’ Gloriously filmed on staggeringly beautiful locations around the most remote school on Earth and wonderfully performed by a cast comprised almost exclusively of first-time actors, this big-hearted crowd-pleaser marks a bright debut for writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji.”

Oscar Nominations: Makeup and hairstyling

Where to Stream: Amazon Prime Video

Oscar Nominations: 1

Makeup and hairstyling

Where to Stream: Buy on Amazon or Hulu

“‘House of Gucci’ has a transfixing backstabbing allure. It may be a drama about a crazy rich Euro chic Old World fashion dynasty, with a cast dominated by American actors scheming and emoting in gaudy Italian accents, but that doesn’t mean it’s some operatic piece of high camp.”

Oscar Nominations: Visual effects

Where to Stream: Disney Plus, Feb. 23

In ‘Free Guy’ — an inventive, much-better-than-you’d-expect 2020 summer tentpole that’s finally being released post-pandemic — Ryan Reynolds plays a video game character who doesn’t realize that his world isn’t real.”

Oscar Nominations: Visual effects

Where to Stream: Disney Plus

The most obscure Marvel Cinematic Universe character to get his own stand-alone movie to date, the comic book mega-company’s ‘Master of Kung Fu’ may not be a household name (not yet, at least), but you wouldn’t know that from ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,’ a flashy, Asian-led visual effects extravaganza that gives the second-tier hero the same over-the-top treatment that big-timers like Hulk and Thor typically get.”

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Oscar Nominations: Visual effects

Where to Stream: Not streaming yet. Available to stream on Starz later this year. Playing in theaters.

Convoluted as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten, Holland’s latest opus spins two decades and three iterations of the Spidey brand into a satisfying meta-adventure.”