So here’s the thing,
I was a little startled late last week to realise that the
Oscars were coming up this Monday. Time had completely slipped by me, and I had
barely written any of my usual post commenting on the Best Picture nominees. I’d
given a decent first-draft write-up on a couple of films, but for most of them
all I had were a few scraps and the odd half-formed paragraph here and there.
(This was particularly annoying, since I had seen all of the films a couple of
weeks ago so, unlike most years where there’s usually a film released just
before the ceremony, I really have had plenty of time to prepare my post.) So,
after a lot of effort, here is my last-minute post on this year’s eight
nominees. I feel less satisfied than usual with this post, with many films I
feel there is a lot more that I could have said but didn’t have the time to
articulate my thoughts, and I certainly feel that my transitions between ideas
could use a lot more work, but sadly I don’t have time for it. Nevertheless,
here it is.
[After the jump, comments on The
Revenant, Spotlight, Mad Max: Fury
Road, Room, The Big Short,
Brooklyn, The Martian, and
Bridge of Spies.]
