Use this guide if you haven’t seen any of the Oscar movies

Where to watch: HBO Max or Amazon Prime VideoOne thing to know: Michael B. Jordan has appeared in all of director Ryan Coogler’s features, but in this saga of a Mississippi juke joint beset by vampires Jordan plays two characters: twins Smoke and Stack.Insider info: Miles Caton sung alongside the musician H.E.R.

before being cast as blues prodigy Preacher Boy, but he had to learn to master the guitar for the role.Where to watch: HBO MaxOne thing to know: Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s saga of an ex-revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) trying to save his daughter (Chase Infiniti) from a white supremacist colonel (Sean Penn) is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland.”Insider info: “One Battle” is dedicated to assistant director and producer Adam Somner, a longtime collaborator of Anderson’s, who died in 2024. You can hear Somner’s voice in the final moments of the credits.Where to watch: NetflixOne thing to know: Director Guillermo del Toro first read Mary Shelley’s novel as a child and is also indebted to the 1931 James Whale movie.Insider info: Jacob Elordi is now Oscar-nominated for playing Frankenstein’s monster, but he was a last-minute replacement for Andrew Garfield, who dropped out.Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD.One thing to know: This Norwegian film about the complicated relationship between a film director (Stellan Skarsgård) and his adult daughters won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, essentially second place.Insider info: Though the film takes place in Oslo and much of it is in Norwegian, Skarsgård is actually speaking his native Swedish.Where to watch: Rent or buy on VOD.One thing to know: Timothée Chalamet stars as ping pong hustler Marty Mauser in this 1950s period piece from director