Oscar-winning movies represent the pinnacle of cinematic glory, enthralling viewers and critics alike. These films capture the art of storytelling with great performances, excellent direction, and captivating stories. The Academy Awards, or Oscars, have long since celebrated excellence in cinema and those rare works that stretch the limits of creativity and leave permanence on the landscape of film.
Here is a list of 10 of the grandest Oscar-winning movies, each a piece of art. From enduring classics to new-wave wonders, these films deserve their names etched in the history of cinema.
1) Godfather II

The Godfather II came out in 1974. It is the sequel to The Godfather and showcases two stories parallelly. One story focuses on Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone, who has become the new head of the Corleone family business, while the other story follows his father, Robert De Niro’s Vito Corleone, in his early life. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the film was a global hit, was nominated for 11 Oscars, and won six of them. The Godfather is the first sequel to have won a Best Picture Oscar award.
This Oscar-winning movie can be streamed on Paramount Plus.
2) Schindler's List

Schindler's List is one of the best Oscar-winning movies and presents the story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) and how he saved thousands of Polish-Jewish lives from the Holocaust by giving them jobs in his factories. The movie represents the cruel liquidation of the Krakow ghetto when the Jewish inhabitants are uprooted from their homes and forcibly transferred to the Plaszow labor camp.
Schindler witnesses the atrocities done against the Jews and begins to change his way of thinking. Schindler turns his factory into a shelter for as many Jews as possible in order to protect them from the horrors of the camps.
The film, directed by Steven Spielberg, received twelve Oscar nominations and won seven of them. The 1993 film is available for streaming on Netflix.
3) Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer follows the story of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), who is often known as the father of the atomic bomb. The film shows the early life of Oppenheimer and how he became one of the greatest physicists. It also explores the moral and ethical dilemma faced by Oppenheimer when the atomic bombs created by him and his colleagues were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing many innocent people.
The film was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, of which it won seven. Christopher Nolan won his first Best Director Oscar for the movie.
Oppenheimer is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
4) The Silence of the Lambs

Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling in the 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs interviews the most infamous serial killer, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), to track down another serial killer called Buffalo Bill. The conversations between Foster’s Starling and Hopkins’s Lecter are chilling. Lecter creates a psychological game between them by asking her about her personal life in exchange for information on Buffalo Bill.
The film is one of the best Oscar-winning movies and the only horror film to win a Best Picture Oscar award.
The Silence of the Lambs is available for streaming on Amazon.
5) Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind follows Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara’s life and struggles during and after the Civil War. The story is based on Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind' and depicts how Scarlett has to face the pains of love and loss and how she and her family suffer further misfortunes when their plantation is razed to the ground by the war. It is a story of pain and survival.
Gone With the Wind won the best picture award in the 12th Academy Award ceremony. It is available to stream on Max.
6) Everything Everywhere All At Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once is the story of Evelyn Wang. Evelyn is a Chinese-American whose husband, Waymond, runs the laundromat with her while she herself juggles restlessly with an avalanche of personal problems and financial debts.
The story starts with Evelyn being audited by the IRS, which is just one more thing that weighs on her already heavy heart. In the middle of that, she finds herself traveling through multiverses to stop a villain from destroying her world.
It is one of the best Oscar-winning movies of the sci-fi genre and is available to stream on Max.
7) Titanic

Directed by James Cameron, the story of Titanic starts with treasure hunter Brock Lovett searching the wreck of Titanic for a very precious diamond called 'Heart of the Ocean.'. He is contacted by an old woman, Rose Dawson Calvert. According to her, she is the woman shown in a drawing found at the wreck.
The film then flashbacks to 1912, where we see a young girl, Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), who comes from a wealthy family but is quite unhappy. It is there she meets an artist, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio). The film is a story about a tragic love in the middle of a disaster.
Titanic is a great addition to the list of best Oscar-winning movies, as it has won 11 Oscar awards. It is available for streaming on Paramount Plus.
8) Parasite

The film depicts a story about the Kim family, who live in a small, semi-basement apartment and struggle to make ends meet. The family includes father Ki-taek, mother Chung-sook, daughter Ki-jung, and son Ki-woo.
Ki-woo's friend offers him a job as an English tutor for the daughter of the wealthy Park family. He lands the job by using false papers. The Kims then start to exploit the naivety and trust of the Parks and take over the household's staff positions while maintaining the facade of unrelated professionals.
Directed by Bong Joon-ho, this film is one of the best Oscar-winning movies because it is the first non-English film to win the best picture award. Parasite is available for streaming on Netflix.
9) Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a 1994 film directed by Robert Zemeckis, based on the novel by Winston Groom. This film depicts the life of Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), a man with a low IQ but a gentle soul who grew up in Greenbow, Alabama. Mrs. Gump, his mother, instills in him lessons of life that encourage him always to do his best. Despite his limitations, he witnesses and unwittingly influences many major historical events in the 20th-century United States.
It has won six Academy Awards, making it one of the best Oscar-winning movies. Forrest Gump is available for streaming on Paramount Plus and Pluto TV.
10) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the epic conclusion to Peter Jackson's film interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The story continues with Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee making their dangerous journey to Mount Doom in Mordor to destroy the One Ring. The film also shows the last battle of Middle Earth and the aftermath of it.
It has won all eleven Academy Awards that it was nominated for, making it one of the best Oscar-winning movies. If you're looking to watch it, you'll find The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King streaming on Max. An extended version of the film is also available on Max.
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