An Evaluation: 88th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees

It's Oscar week, bitches. The biggest night in Hollywood is on Sunday, February 28th, and there's been a lot of discussion about this year's nominees. Outside of the race debate (which, yes, I will give an actual nuanced opinion on after the awards), this awards season has been the year of the rulebreakers. Oscar trends have never been completely unbeatable, but the last two years have shown they're also not entirely sacrosanct. We've seen a lot of styles and types of stories nominated this year and last that, albeit all made by white people, are usually not the Academy's cup of tea, yet have drawn serious recognition. This has also been a year of rulebreaking considering that precursor awards have, for the most part, been all over the fuckin' place. This is the first truly exciting and unpredictable awards season that I've ever witnessed in my (short) life so far, and most seasoned Oscar pundits agree. With the exception of a few relative locks, this year seems fairly up in the air. Such was the case with guessing the nominees, and such is the case now picking the winners.

With all that said, as of last night, I finally saw every Best Picture nominee (and I've seen a good chunk of the nominees in other categories too, sans documentary and foreign film) for this year before the ceremony, which is actually a first for me. And, having realized that I've written a review for a whopping five of the eight nominees, instead of backtracking and hastily giving you late reviews of movies that came out months ago, for the ones I haven't written a review for, you'll get a nice little paragraph(ish) synopsis of what you would've gotten had I written one. Note: this is not my favorites of the year list (that's coming hopefully on Saturday), and these are NOT my full final predictions for the winners on Sunday (that will be coming Sunday morning). However, instead of going in alphabetical order, I'll be talking about each of these movies in the order that most pundits (and I, for the most part) have deemed to be the most likely to win.


The Revenant
This year's frontrunner for best picture has oddly enough turned out to be The Revenant, after about four months of assuming Spotlight to be the most likely and like a week of giving that distinction to The Big Short. The Revenant also holds the distinction of actually being my least favorite of all of this year's nominees. I gave it an A- in my original review, but upon thinking about this movie, I've actually grown to like it substantially less. The movie is gorgeously shot, features a great performance from Tom Hardy who, in my opinion, overshadows the physical showiness of Leonardo DiCaprio, and is directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, an extremely competent and creative director who also made the Best Picture winner and my favorite film of last year, Birdman. But this movie is vastly outweighed by Birdman due to the latter's much tighter script. Birdman's strange imagery and "magical realism" elements worked within the goofy surreality of the story, and helped sell the movie's main themes. The Revenant didn't really establish any clear main themes, and the only ones I've had pointed out to me weren't all that interesting to begin with and were never really expounded upon, which leaves this movie, to me, to just be a very well-shot by-the-numbers revenge story. Anyway, this would be the first time in history that a director has directed two back-to-back Best Picture winners, so precedent isn't on The Revenant's side, but its surge at just the right time, its wins at the DGA, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs, and its impressive twelve nominations are. I'm not the biggest fan of the movie, but I don't actively dislike it, and if anything, this movie can (most likely) have the privilege of being the movie that killed the "Leo doesn't have an Oscar" meme forever.
Grade (Revised): B+
# of nominations: 12
Review


The Big Short

Wow, considering this movie's absolutely nonexistent advertising campaign, I was shocked to see this movie gaining so much traction. But, in this movie's defense, it does put into light an incredibly important issue and explains a lot of abstract economic/financial concepts in a way that's not only funny, but actually really informative, and kind of unique in its presentation. While the cutaway gags, camerawork, and especially the editing (which, by the way, this movie is nominated for, and that still baffles me because I found it to be easily the weakest part of the film) don't always work and can be kind of jumpy and jarring at times, most likely due to director Adam McKay's work extensively in manic comedies prior to this, the movie does have a style and attitude that is very much its own, and is genuinely funny. I'm kind of bummed that the lone acting nomination for this film went to Christian Bale, who I actually felt was the weakest of the five main characters (excluding Pitt because he's on screen for like two seconds and including the two college kid characters not on the poster who, though played by no-names, are really great). I would've much rather liked to see Steve Carell pick up a nomination for this movie than last year's Foxcatcher, a performance which was about 60% makeup work (a phenomenon I call "Depping"), but I'm mostly just happy this film is getting attention and is beginning to be popular with younger people, as it's a reasonably really good movie about an important topic that came out at a pretty perfect time. McKay apparently agreed to make Anchorman 2 solely to get funding to make this movie, so if anything, this movie added a positive quality to Anchorman 2 - its existence helped bring us an actually important and borderline essential movie. This might bump up to an A- upon a second viewing, but for now I'm sticking to my original rating.
Grade: B+
# of nominations: 5
Review


Spotlight

Finally into "A" territory in my opinion. Spotlight is not only an important movie, but an excellent one at that. While the issue of sexual abuse by priests may not be as sweeping or urgent as global financial corruption (or at least it doesn't seem that way to most people, probably because the issue is incredibly personal in nature), and while this movie in its brilliant subtlety may not put the same fire in your belly as The Big Short, it's an incredibly worthy nominee, and I'd be more than fine with it winning. Only McAdams and Ruffalo scored acting nominations for this film, but this is understandable considering there are at least five Oscar-worthy performances in this movie, but really the entire cast just brings their A-game, and the acting in general is just phenomenal. This movie holds its head above other journalist/expository dramas as it makes no attempt to lionize its protagonists - this is business for them, but it's business with incredibly high stakes. Tom McCarthy has always been described as a prime humanist filmmaker, and this is the greatest example of this, while also being his best film by a long shot. It's well acted, well written, fantastically paced (spot-on editing nomination), and above all, it's fucking devastating. The more lurid details of the investigation are handled extremely tastefully, to the point that I think the film's R rating for sexual dialogue is actually kind of inappropriate, and the universality and weight of the victims' experiences are believable and crystal clear. And that long list of cities before the credits left the theater in the most chilling silence I've ever heard in a theater. I can't recommend this film more.
Grade: A+
# of nominations: 6


Room

The odd one out in terms of Oscar appeal, at least as far as I'm concerned. Only within the last decade or so has the Academy really given Best Picture love to such a small indie effort, but if they're gonna pick a small indie effort for this year, Room is a great, great choice. Brie Larson is the frontrunner to win Best Actress after a sweeping victory in precursor awards, and this is unbelievably well-deserved, as Larson gives an impeccably raw and sympathetic performance as "Ma", but in my opinion, the real star of this movie is Jacob Tremblay. Man, this is a real Oscar nomination snub if ever I've seen one. Tremblay was always an outside shot for the nom, but it would've been absolutely worthy, and I would've pined for him to win. In what just might be the best child performance I've ever seen in a movie, Tremblay is absolutely incredible as the glue that keeps not just our main characters, but also the movie as a whole, together, perfectly playing a little kid with an intelligence beyond his years - bratty, inquisitive, innocent, and trusting. Lenny Abrahamson's brilliant direction serves Emma Donoghue's wonderful script (adapted from her own novel) well, as this movie is not only heartbreaking, but tense. Watching the mystery of the titular main location of the film unfold is a real treat, and as the film moves briskly on, its themes of fantasy, losing innocence, and motherhood become clear, and the entire thing is just a joy. Rich, well-wrought characters, an intriguing premise, and note-perfect performances make this movie really, really rewarding. I was going to give Room just a solid A, but I'm bumping it up by virtue of the fact that it's the only film of 2015 that made me cry.
Grade: A+
# of nominations: 4


Mad Max: Fury Road

 FUCK YEAH. The director of Babe: Pig in the City and Happy Feet brings what is almost certainly my favorite film of the year, and one of the most unexpected Best Picture nominees of all-time. Sadly, there's not a whole lot of a case for this movie winning, but it's planned to sweep the technical awards, which is extremely fitting, as this movie is nothing if not a major technical achievement. Single-handedly breathing some much-needed life back into the lukewarm modern action genre, Mad Max: Fury Road is the best 80s action film that didn't come out in the 80s, and is, in my opinion, the poster child of what has truly been a throwback year for movies. Incredibly well-directed, exciting, and absolutely non-stop action sequences, all set within an unbelievably detailed post-apocalyptic world, are just icing on the cake for this movie, which also features some spectacular visual storytelling and sci-fi world-building, beautifully subtle character development, and a great feminist message, not to mention one of the best action protagonists in decades (it's not Max). I'm really bummed that Mad Max will probably not win best picture or director, because I definitely believe it deserves both, but I really am just grateful that this year's Best Picture nominee list includes a film that is unique, exciting, and a huge risk that paid off immensely. This film's merits can't really adequately be discussed in a paragraph, and to be honest I still haven't enumerated everything I love about it even after my sixth viewing, but regardless - if you haven't seen this movie, DO IT.
Grade: A+
# of nominations: 10


The Martian

Contrary to most people's evaluation, I don't find this movie to be that much of an odd one out among this year's nominees. It comes from a storied director (who has directed a Best Picture winner, though has not won himself), was a huge surprise to critics, and is pretty universally well-liked. I, for one, am really happy to see this movie included, even if it doesn't stand much of a chance to win due to the Academy's weird aversion to science fiction generally. Matt Damon does an excellent job in the lead role as Mark Watney, who really is a microcosm of the film's tone as a whole, somehow striking a perfect balance of well-executed tension due to the considerable stakes and great humor to make a movie that is at once intense and also pretty consistently entertaining. It does clock in at a surprisingly long running time, and it's pretty heavy on the math-laden expository dialogue via Watney's Martian vlogging, but Ridley Scott manages to more than competently navigate Drew Goddard's wordy script, which itself is based on the excellent novel by Andy Weir, which I also recommend, though I'd argue this film, while slightly less scientifically sound (though still pretty damn accurate) is better constructed as a movie than the novel is as a novel. With a delightfully pro-science message, well-directed humor and drama, a number of great performances, a surprisingly awesome soundtrack, and plenty of eye candy, there's a little bit of something for everyone here, from science nerds to film buffs to Damon fans. This movie didn't pack quite the punch the second time around, so I'm bringing my original grade down, but I still stand by all the praises I sung for it in the past.
Grade: A-
# of nominations: 7
Review


Bridge of Spies

This is the most lukewarm "A-" I've ever given. Don't get me wrong, Bridge of Spies is very good, but there's not a whole lot I can really find myself truly writing home about. It's just an exceptionally well-made, but not particularly exceptional Cold War thriller. That said, man, can Steven Spielberg direct the fuck out of a movie. The level of detail in even the most middling of Spielberg's efforts is extraordinary. He's a classic hands-on New Hollywood director, really getting down and dirty with his crew. The movie is beautifully shot, and has tons of period detail, which should surely excite your parents when they inevitably ask you to watch it with them (I took mine to see it), as well as having an actually pretty harrowing scene involving the U2 bomber incident that is way more intense than I would have expected. The rest of the movie is very low-key, as it's about foreign diplomats discussing a trade-off, all through sly words. And for the most part, this works out really well. Mark Rylance picked up the movie's lone acting nomination and has gotten most of the movie's precursor buzz, but I think Tom Hanks is certainly the standout of the movie, delivering a real James Stewart-level "old Hollywood" performance. This could also be credited to the fact that Hanks is probably the most likable human being on Earth. Anyway, Bridge of Spies is unlikely to have a frothing fanbase years in the future or be recognized as one of Spielberg's greats, but it's a very solid film that's worth at least one watch that, while not particularly earth-shattering, is another example of classic Spielbergian filmmaking. Fans of the director will find a lot to enjoy, and I'm sticking with my original grade.
Grade: A-
# of nominations: 6
Review


Brooklyn

And finally, the only true surprise nominee for me, as this one was just on the outside of the best picture conversation, looking to be pushed out most probably by Carol, Inside Out, or maybe Straight Outta Compton. Regardless, I'm very happy with this nomination, as this was one of my most favorite movies of the year, and I'm eager to watch it again. It's old-fashioned Hollywood for sure, but oh my god, is it delightful. This is such a sweet little movie, and it's pitch-perfect in basically every way, most notably for sure in its cast. Saoirse Ronan (nominated for best actress this year) is brilliant as an Irish immigrant to 1950s New York City, and her on-screen boyfriend Emory Cohen is equally phenomenal as a scruffy Italian Brooklyn native. Brooklyn is a great coming of age tale of first love, finding home, and dealing with transformative changes in youth, and my favorite thing about it is that it doesn't make its story seem monumental in terms of stakes. The whole story is very personal, and the arc our leading lady undergoes is small and subtle, but formative, essential, and brilliantly composed. It's a simple love story, but again, told pretty much perfectly. It's beautifully shot, emotionally investing, features a hilarious performance from Julie Walters (this movie is actually surprisingly pretty funny), and has some of the best on-screen chemistry between any two actors in Cohen and Ronan that I've seen recently. Brooklyn is such a treat. It could very well bump up to an A+ later, but for now, until I see it again, it's staying at a solid (but very enthusiastic) A.
Grade: A
# of nominations: 4
Review

Well, that's it, kids. The Oscars are in a little less than five days from this point, so we'll see how each of these films fare in the various categories they're nominated in. I'll soon be posting my updated FINAL predictions for the winners in each category, as well as (maybe) my favorite films of the year.