With the Oscar nominations now upon us (see the complete list of nominees), the countdown to see all the nominees is officially on! While most of the Best Picture and big awards contenders are still in theaters or only available on DVD, you can stream many of the potential winners. If you don’t mind paying a few bucks, you can see The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, Straight Outta Compton, Sicario, Amy, Cartel Land, The Look of Silence, Racing Extinction, Inside Out, and The Hunting Ground on various Video On-Demand services.

Here are the Oscar nominees you can watch right now on their noted streaming services:

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (Makeup and Hairstyling) – Amazon Prime
Ex Machina (Original Screenplay, Visual Effects) – Amazon Prime
Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Song) – HBO Now
What Happened, Miss Simone? (Documentary) – Netflix
Winter on Fire (Documentary) – Netflix
World of Tomorrow (Animated Short) – Netflix
Youth (Original Song) – Hulu Plus

Or if you are boycotting the Oscars for any one of a million reasons, here are other some other selections new to streaming this weekend for you to check out:

Netflix

Meet the Patels (Geeta Patel & Ravi Patel, 2014)

You’ve probably seen Ravi Patel in a number of movies and television—he’s had notable roles in Transformers, Master of None, Grandfathered and small guest starring roles in many others. In Meet the Patels the actor jumps behind the camera while also being profiled in this documentary about cultural relationships in the technology age. The doc humorously explores Patel’s family and their quest to find him a bride, using both traditional Indian customs and more updated means. The film is lighthearted and funny, but also provides a great look into our cultural differences and the difficulty in finding a successful relationship. We listed it as one of the best documentaries of the year, and you can now stream it on Netflix.

Other titles new to Netflix this week:
In the Basement (Ulrich Seidl, 2014)
The Ladykillers (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2004)
Occupied (Series, Season 1)
The Overnight (Patrick Brice, 2015)
Parks and Recreation (Series, Season 7)

Fandor

House (Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, 1977)

For something on the crazier side of cinema, Ôbayashi’s House (not to be confused with the 80’s American horror franchise) is one of the great haunted house films ever. Seven girls on a summer trip visit the title house, only to be killed and consumed in a number of increasingly bizarre ways—as only the Japanese could conceive. A balance of the creepy, crazy and campy, House has become a cult classic. The film is presented on Fandor as part of their “Criterion Picks” section, this week taking a look at some of the finest felines in the cinema—and, oh yes, is that true for House. Other selections include The Spirit of the Beehive, Kuronenko and Grey Gardens. You can check out these Criterion Picks until January 24.

Other titles new to Fandor this week:
L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
Barbara (Christian Petzold, 2012)
Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid, 1943)
Red Hollywood (Thom Andersen & Noel Burch, 1996)
Sans soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)

MUBI

The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (Sophie Fiennes, 2012)

Following Sophie Fiennes’ (sister of Joseph and Ralph) The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema comes another intellectual look at films which explores how we think and act. The documentary is presented by ultra-serious Slovene philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who dissects a number of popular film clips. The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology is a serious film for serious film fans, but isn’t always as dry as you would expect, mostly due to Fiennes’ direction and often her placement of Žižek. Those who enjoy Thom Andersen’s visual essays on cinema should certainly check this one out. Among the films discussed in the doc are Triumph of the Will, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange, Jaws, and Titanic. You can watch the film on MUBI until February 10.

Other titles new to MUBI this week:
Hawaii, Oslo (Erik Poppe, 2004)
In a Glass Cage (gustí Villaronga, 1986)
Little Big Soldier (Sheng Ding, 2010)
Madeinusa (Claudia Llosa, 2006)
Psychohydrography (Peter Bo Rappmund, 2010)

Video On-Demand

The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015)

One of the many big winners on Oscar nominations day, The Martian, received nominations in Best Picture, Best Actor (Matt Damon), Best Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects. While it might not be a favorite in any of those given categories, the number of nominations (third most behind The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road) shows it to be one of the year’s best. And it’s not just Oscar love as the film won Best Film and Best Actor in the Musical/Comedy cattery at last week’s Golden Globes ceremony. Ridley Scott’s critical comeback is a massive, powerful epic about the power of science and the human spirit. If you didn’t catch The Martian in theaters, now is as good a time as any with it hitting VOD concurrent to its DVD and Blu-ray release.

Other titles new to VOD this week:
Hotel Transylvania 2 (Genndy Tartakovsky, 2015)
Irrational Man (Woody Allen, 2015)
Love & Mercy (Bill Pohlad, 2014)
Moonwalkers (Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, 2015)
Sinister 2 (Ciarán Foy, 2015)

After the cinematic high that was 2011, 2012 naturally looked weaker. My top 5 consists of leftovers from 2011 (they only got a US release this year and therefore qualify) but 2012 was filled with plenty of highlights. Only a few films really felt like masterpieces to me but for the most part this year was consistently strong. At this time I’ve seen 94 films from this year, and while there’s still a large amount that I wish I could have seen before submitting this list, here are my 10 favourite films of 2012. (Special note: While I can’t include it since it comes out in 2013, Leviathan literally blows these films out of the water. Do yourself a favour and see it when it comes out.)

C.J. Prince’s Top 10 Films of 2012

Honorable Mentions

The Comedy
Detention
In Another Country
Starlet
Cloud Atlas

In 1980s East Germany, Barbara (Nina Hoss) is showing up to her first day of work at her new job. After applying to leave the country, the police have forced Barbara to move from her job as a doctor in East Berlin to the hospital in a small provincial town. The constant surveillance and lack of privacy is immediately established as all of this information is explained by the local Stasi officer (Rainer Block) watching her from afar. He’s talking to André (Ronald Zehrfield), the head doctor at the hospital and Barbara’s new boss.

Barbara is cold and distant with her new co-workers, who mostly shrug off her behaviour as elitist (“That’s Berlin” one of the doctors says). André clearly respects Barbara as a colleague and keeps offering to help her adjust with the re-location. Barbara has no intentions of making friends any time soon since she’s secretly planning an escape with her wealthy boyfriend who lives in the West. As Barbara’s chance to escape gets closer with every day, her situation becomes more complicated. With the Stasi constantly keeping watch on her, Barbara’s work and underlying attraction to André throw her into a moral conflict that she has no idea how to get out of.

Director/co-writer Christian Petzold is able to communicate the title character’s internal conflicts while keeping an objective perspective the entire time is remarkable. Shot mostly in long or medium static shots, Barbara is deceptively simplistic. Petzold keeps the camera distanced from the characters, and his passive approach makes viewers feel like they’re merely observing events unfolding naturally. This tactic makes each scene have an unpredictable quality to it that only amplifies the film’s tension. When Barbara hears a knock at the door or a car driving by outside her apartment, we’re just as suspicious as she.

Nina Hoss, now collaborating with Petzold for the 5^th time, does an incredible job with her role. With Petzold laying out all of the morally conflicting circumstances, Hoss, simultaneously showing strength, grace and insecurity, perfectly expresses Barbara’s inner turmoil. Her paranoia and defenses gradually thaw away as her time with André grows, all of which are portrayed with a level of restraint that makes Barbara’s development feel like a natural progression. With Hoss providing a strong moral center and Petzold sustaining a quietly intense atmosphere, Barbara makes for a surprisingly thrilling character study. The directorial power of Barbara constantly shines through, helping certify Christian Petzold as one of Germany’s best directors working today.