Best On Netflix

The 17 Best Oscar-Winning Movies on Netflix by Rotten Tomato Score

By Meghan O'Keefe @megsokay

Published Feb. 19, 2019, 8:30 a.m. ET

collage of Jodie Foster from Silence of the Lambs, Heath Ledger from the Dark Knight (in middle), and Brie Larson in Room — These are the best movies on Netflix, Rotten Tomatoes *and* Academy-approved. Photo: Everett Collection; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

***L.A. Confidential***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 99%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Supporting Actress (Kim Basinger), Best Adapted Screenplay (Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland)
This close-to-perfect film noir follows a troubled trio of cops as they delve into the underbelly of 1950s Hollywood. Basinger not only won an Oscar, but staged a well-deserved comeback with this tense and sexy mystery. [Watch *L.A. Confidential* on Netflix]Photo: Everett Collection

Schindlers List — ***Schindler's List***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 97%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zairian), Best Score (John Williams), Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminsky), Best Art Direction (Ewa Braun & Allan Starski)
A veritable cinematic masterpiece, *Schindler's List* was director Steven Spielberg's elegy to the victims of the Holocaust. The film not only earned the Hollywood titan his first Oscar, but remains a heartbreaking watch. [Watch *Schindler's List* on Netflix]Photo: Universal Pictures

***Good Will Hunting***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 97%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Original Screenplay (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon), Best Supporting Actor (Robin Williams)
It's the movie that put Matt and Ben on the map. *Good Will Hunting* is a tragic and witty rags-to-riches story about a genius janitor doing his best to tackle his own personal demons. Back in the '90s, it seemed like a better showcase for Damon, but considering Affleck's later directorial success, it might have also been a teaser for what was yet to come. [Watch *Good Will Hunting* on Netflix]Photo: Everett Collection

***Boyhood***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 97%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette)
Richard Linklater's groundbreaking film followed one boy, and the actors playing his friends and family, for over a decade. This unique production style didn't just show the honest truth of adolescence, but provided Patricia Arquette with her best material in years (though now she's tearing it up on TV). [Watch *Boyhood* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***The Silence of the Lambs***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 96%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Picture, Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Director (Jonathan Demme), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally)
*The Silence of the Lambs* is only the third -- and the last -- film to date to sweep "the big five" categories: Best Picture, Director, Leading Actors, and Screenplay. It's also a tremendously entertaining thriller fraught with horror. [Watch *The Silence of the Lambs* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***Apocalypse Now***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 96%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Cinematography (Vittorio Storer), Best Sound (Walter Murch, Mark Berger, Richard Beggs, and Nat Boxer)
Though it was a sensation at Cannes -- and remains a groundbreaking classic -- *Apocalypse Now* only earned Oscars for its tremendous behind-the-scenes achievements. That said, it really did boast some of the best cinematography and sound design of all time. [Watch *Apocalypse Now* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***The King's Speech***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 95%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler)
*The King's Speech* is a different kind of royal movie. Instead of being about intrigue or politics, it's about a reluctant ruler's fight to find his own confidence at the precise moment his people need him. More than that, it's a killer platform for Colin Firth. [Watch *The King's Speech* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***The Pianist***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 95%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Actor (Adrien Brody), Best Director (Roman Polanski), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood)
A beautiful, semi-autobiographic, and lyric look at surviving the Holocaust, *The Pianist* stormed the Oscars, Cesars, and Cannes back in 2002. [Watch *The Pianist* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***Her***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 94%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Original Screenplay (Spike Jonze)
A quirky look at existential loneliness in the age of the internet, *Her* follows one man's passionate romance with his A.I. assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. [Watch *Her* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***Room***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 94%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Actress (Brie Larson)
Even though Brie Larson caught critics' eyes in *Short Term 12*, *Room* was the movie that put her on the map, won her the Oscar, and placed her in line to be Captain Marvel. Larson plays a young woman who has survived in captivity with her son for years, only to crumble the moment she's reconnected with the real world. [Watch *Room* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***Pulp Fiction***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 94%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary)
In one of the more controversial Oscar races of all time, the sweeping and sentimental *Forrest Gump* beat *Pulp Fiction* for the 1995 Best Picture Oscar. Nevertheless, Quentin Tarantino's deconstructed thriller won him an award for Best Original Screenplay (and the film inspired a generation of up-and-coming auteurs). [Watch *Pulp Fiction* on Netflix]Miramax

***Howards End***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 94%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Actress (Emma Thompson), Best Adapted Screenplay (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), Best Art Direction (Luciana Arrighi & Ian Whittaker)
One of the jewels in the Merchant Ivory cinematic crown, *Howards End* is a romantic adaptation of Forster's novel that let Emma Thompson shine as an independent young woman torn between two families' secrets and lies. [Watch *Howards End* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***The Dark Knight***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 94%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger)
*The Dark Knight* is perhaps the darkest and most influential "superhero film" of all time, thanks in huge part to Heath Ledger's tremendous turn as the Joker. Ledger's performance only became all the more legendary when the actor tragically passed away, leading to a bittersweet posthumous Oscar win. [Watch *The Dark Knight* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***Milk***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 93%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Actor (Sean Penn), Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black)
Harvey Milk was a groundbreaking leader for LGBTQ civil rights, and this tender, but honest, look at his life, and death, earned two Oscars. One for leading man Penn and the other for scribe Black. [Watch *Milk* on Netflix]Everett Collection

***Dallas Buyers Club***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 93%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey), Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto)
If *Dallas Buyers Club* is known for one thing, it's delivering two of the most surprisingly transformational performances in the last decade. If it's known for a second reason, it launched the McConnaisance. [Watch *Dallas Buyers Club* on Netflix] Everett Collection

***No Country for Old Men***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 93%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Picture, Best Director (the Coen Brothers), Best Adapted Screenplay (the Coen Brothers), Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
The Coen Brothers are known for their idiosyncratic masterpieces, but *No Country for Old Men* may be their most celebrated film to date. The harrowing, haunting, and darkly comic tale takes us to the edge thanks in huge part to an Oscar-winning performance by Javier Bardem. [Watch *No Country for Old Men* on Netflix]Miramax

***Silver Linings Playbook***
**Rotten Tomatoes Score:** 92%
**Oscar Wins:** Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence)
This manic twist on the rom-com follows two troubled people -- each dealing with their own trials and tragedies -- as they fall in love, against the odds, in the middle of healing and prepping for a dance competition. [Watch *Silver Linings Playbook* on Netflix]Everett Collection

Where to Stream:

L.A. Confidential

Best On Netflix

11 Best New Movies on Netflix: June 2024's Freshest Films to Watch

11 Best New Shows on Netflix: June 2024's Top Upcoming Series to Watch

11 Best New Movies on Netflix: May 2024's Freshest Films to Watch

11 Best New Shows on Netflix: May 2024's Top Upcoming Series to Watch

It’s Oscar Week, which means by Sunday night we’ll finally know if Netflix has nabbed its very first Best Picture win for the incandescent Roma. But even if Alfonso Cuaron’s gorgeous and tender film doesn’t take home the top prize, Netflix’s library is full of incredible Oscar-winning movies. You could almost say Netflix has the best movies in the world.

Some of these films are landmark cinematic achievements, like Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece Schindler’s List, or Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. The former was the first movie to nab Spielberg an Oscar for Best Director, and the latter was the last film to ever win the “Big Five” Academy Awards (i.e. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay).

Other Oscar-winning favorites on Netflix include movies that are best beloved for one tremendous performance. Think Captain Marvel star Brie Larson’s breakthrough Oscar win for Room, or Jennifer Lawrence’s A-list-solidifying Best Actress award for Silver Linings Playbook. Although some of these films have a dark side, like The Dark Knight, which earned Heath Ledger his one and only posthumous Academy Award.

Decider went through Netflix’s vast movie library and compared it to Rotten Tomatoes’ trusted rankings. Because of that, the list of best Oscar-winning movies might surprise you. For instance, Martin Scorsese’s uber-popular Oscar-winning film The Departed didn’t make the cut. (Its Rotten Tomatoes score is a strong 91%.) The Oscar-winning movie on Netflix with the best Rotten Tomatoes ranking? That would be L.A. Confidential.

Pre-game for this weekend’s Oscars with a look at favorites from the past, including Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, and No Country for Old Men.