28 February, 2016

1,047 minutes

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.]