Both are available on DVD.
mmm
And now I can add Mad Max to the list.
I feel like I’m being generous when I say that I’m not sure I understand how/why this made the list. It was a decent action film with a couple of positive themes and a good climax scene. And this comes in a year where some highly anticipated action films (Spectre and The Avengers) were somewhat disappointing.
But…yeah, I don’t get this one. It is 7th on my list, with the above order unchanged.
We’ll probably watch Room this weekend since it’s streaming on Amazon, now. So very close to being done…
Seen:
The Revenant ****
The Martian ***1/2
Mad Max: Fury Road ***1/2
Spotlight **1/2
The Big Short **1/2
Bridge of Spies **1/2
Haven’t seen yet:
Brooklyn
Room
Surprising in that I didn’t realize how highly I rated Mad Max and there are more mediocre movies than most years. I thought Spotlight, The Big Short and Bridge of Spies, despite the great people involved, were all serviceable but readily forgotten. I wouldn’t bother re-watching any of them. If the first 3 were on right now I would start watching any one of them.
Final tally:
- Room
- The Big Short
- Brooklyn
- The Revenant
- The Martian
- Bridge of Spies
- Spotlight
- Mad Max
Amazing direction and performances in “Room.” Very emotional — I did not expect to be moved to the extent that I was. I’m a little surprised the kid didn’t get an acting nod. I don’t think I can ever sit through that one again, though.
My final rankings:
Room–5 stars. I cried through at least 75% of this. Normally that’s not a selling point for me. I found this astonishingly well done. Larsen and Tremblay both deserved noms for their performances.
The Big Short–5 stars. This was excellent. Stellar acting and storytelling with a difficult subject to make entertaining.
The Martian–4.5 stars. Minor goofiness detracted slightly, but Matt Damon is really compelling.
Bridge of Spies–4 stars. Not what I was expecting going in, but Tom Hanks is so watchable. A little heavy handed at times.
Spotlight–4 stars. Maybe a little too clinical. The storytelling was austere, which was appropriate but not super cuddly.
Brooklyn–4 stars. Really fine work, but I felt a longing for a little more oomph.
Night one of AMCBPS.
Bridge of Spies: 80
Room: 84
Mad Max: 66
The Big Short: 85
I predict Mad Max will win because Academy voters will want to prove they’re open-minded
IMO the only movies that have a chance at Best Picture are The Big Short, The Revenant and Spotlight. There are specific reasons but I’m too lazy & tired to go into them (mainly to do with the preferential ballot). Mad Max will get a few, maybe even Best Director if enough voters are in an irreverent mood.
Just watched The Martian for the first time and I have 2 major takeaways
- I felt the length of the movie a bit because it was much slower than I’d thought. I found myself thinking “nothing big has happened for a while so a plot point is coming soon”. So I found it a bit predictable in that regard. What wasn’t predictable however was…
2…holy shit no body died! Like, not a single person. When was the last Oscar movie that had no one die in it? Ms. Cups and I kept trying to pick out the person who would die for Watney (life for a life) and it never happened. Color me pleasantly surprised. Also, no I didn’t read the book beforehand
Have now also seen Bridge of Spies. Good suspense, several good lines, decent character development. Liked it better than The Big Short, not as much as Spotlight (a better suspense flick), The Martian, or Room.
So **Brooklyn **won’t be available on DVD until March 15? I had read earlier that it would be out today.
It’s showing in only one theater near me. I’ll have to catch it Friday night, God willing & the creek don’t rise.
mmm
It appears to be available for streaming purchase on Amazon currently, if that helps.
I haven’t seen it, so this is me talking out of my ass, but it feels like its inclusion is fairly political. A backlash against the backlash against the feminismation (I’m pretty sure I just invented that word) of Mad Max.
Or rather, it was included because it was very popular with both audiences and critics and was one of the best reviewed films of the year. (The Top Critics average on Rotten Tomatoes is 98%. That’s *higher *than Room, The Revenant, The Big Short and The Martian.)
Okay, but Star Wars is higher than Bridge of Spies, and I don’t think any of us are surprised that Star Wars wasn’t nominated. Liking a movie, even liking it a lot, isn’t always sufficient for its nomination for an Oscar.
It doesn’t. But thanks anyway.
mmm
You seem to think that Mad Max was nominated only for “political” reasons (however thin they may be) and I am simply saying that Mad Max is a worthy film on it’s own, many critics agreed, and it’s inclusion was not a surprise.
That may be so, but it’s my guess is, if the Academy continued with their old standard of only five Best Picture Nominations that "Mad Max: Fury Road" wouldn’t have made the cut.
My guess is, that the Five Best Picture noms would have been:
The Big Short
Brooklyn
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
There is talk that they are likely going back to the 5-movie limit. I hope that’s true.
mmm
Years from now, IMO only Fury Road and **Room **will be regularly watched amongst the Best Picture nominees.