Best picture prep: Your pre-Oscar must-sees
Still working your way through the Academy Awards best picture nominees? We watched them all to help you prioritize.
The Oscars air Feb. 26 (ABC, 7 p.m. ET/4 PT).
ARRIVAL
**** (out of four)
Plot: A linguistics expert (Amy Adams) is tasked with deciphering messages from alien visitors.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Rating: PG-13
Upside: It's a supremely crafted, well-acted and thought-provoking exploration of humanity.
Downside: Most every other recent sci-fi movie looks pedestrian in comparison.
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FENCES
***½
Plot: A Pittsburgh garbage man (Denzel Washington) finds success at work but increasing tension at home.
Director: Denzel Washington
Rating: PG-13
Upside: Both Washington and co-star Viola Davis give powerhouse, award-ready performances.
Downside: It's more filmed play than movie, so it doesn't feel cinematic in scope.
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HACKSAW RIDGE
***
Plot: A devout young man (Andrew Garfield) enlists in the Army during World War II yet won't touch a gun.
Director: Mel Gibson
Rating: R
Upside: Gibson's latest is a brutally intense and elegantly crafted war drama.
Downside: The film wrestles with overt preachiness and military-movie clichés.
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HELL OR HIGH WATER
***
Plot: Two West Texas brothers (Ben Foster, Chris Pine) brazenly rob the branches of a bank foreclosing on their family's land.
Director: David Mackenzie
Rating: R
Upside: An excellent Jeff Bridges is in his element as a Texas Ranger pursuing the crooks.
Downside: The Western noir could be a little more subtle in its exploration of modern economic decline.
HIDDEN FIGURES
***½
Plot: Three mathematicians (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe) overcome racial and gender inequality to help America during the Space Race.
Director: Theodore Melfi
Rating: PG
Upside: The film utilizes a strong cast as well as heady themes of civil rights.
Downside: The space drama sometimes takes the focus off the three stars' magnetic chemistry.
LA LA LAND
****
Plot: An aspiring actress (Emma Stone) and a jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling) fall in love while trying to make their dreams come true.
Director: Damien Chazelle
Rating: PG-13
Upside: The movie revisits the Hollywood musical in joyous and dazzling fashion.
Downside: Not for grinches who don't like good tunes and Broadway-style showstoppers.
LION
***½
Plot: Two decades after being lost from his family, a young Australian man (Dev Patel) plots a path back home to India.
Director: Garth Davis
Rating: PG-13
Upside: Patel and newcomer Sunny Pawar give strong performances as older and younger versions of Saroo Brierley.
Downside: The ending couldn't be more emotionally manipulative, though it's forgivable.
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
****
Plot: A handyman (Casey Affleck) is forced to confront a past tragedy when he's named sole guardian of his nephew (Lucas Hedges).
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Rating: R
Upside: Affleck and Hedges are tops among an all-around extraordinary cast.
Downside: Parents will find one scene hard to watch because of the subject matter.
MOONLIGHT
****
Plot: A three-act character study that follows the life of a gay black man from struggling child to intimidating adult.
Director: Barry Jenkins
Rating: R
Upside: The drama is supremely well-acted and beautifully captures the intimate evolution of its main character.
Downside: The middle act, while very good, doesn't rise to the exceptional levels of the film's beginning and end.