Best movies that are oscar winners or nominees in actor in a leading role category

Saving Private Ryan(1998)

Combined Rating:
89
Combined Critics Rating: 84

Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.



About Schmidt(2002)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 85

A man upon retirement embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.



Eastern Promises(2007)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 84

A Russian teenager living in London who dies during childbirth leaves clues to a midwife in her journal that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.



Michael Clayton(2007)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 84

A law firm brings in its "fixer" to remedy the situation after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company that he knows is guilty in a multibillion-dollar class action suit.



Frost/Nixon(2008)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 85

A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.



American Sniper(2014)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 82

Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home to his wife and kids after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.



The Imitation Game(2014)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 82

During World War II, mathematician Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians.



Foxcatcher(2014)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 85

U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John's self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.



Pain and Glory(2019)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 90

An aging film director suffering from chronic illness and writer's block reflects on his life.



Mank(2020)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 87

1930's Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).



Pulp Fiction(1994)

Combined Rating:
88
Combined Critics Rating: 83

The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.



The Aviator(2004)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 82

A biopic depicting the early years of legendary Director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.



Hotel Rwanda(2004)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 82

Paul Rusesabagina was a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.



Good Night, and Good Luck.(2005)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 84

Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.



Crazy Heart(2009)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 85

A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him.



Flight(2012)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 82

An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.



The Theory of Everything(2014)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 81

A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife.



Hacksaw Ridge(2016)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 81

WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people, and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.



Taxi Driver(1976)

Combined Rating:
87
Combined Critics Rating: 81

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, while attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.



Phantom Thread(2017)

Combined Rating:
86
Combined Critics Rating: 92

Set in 1950's London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover.




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