Oscars 2016: Take our Best Picture poll
Which of this year's nominees for the Best Picture Academy Award do you think should take home the Oscar?
Check out below the trailers of each nominated film; then, vote in our poll at the end of this article! And don't forget to vote in our other polls in other major Oscar categories below.
"The Big Short"
Michael Lewis' bestseller about the housing bubble and stock market crash of 2008 -- one of the darkest periods of recent history -- has been turned into a comedy that treats the financial crisis with all the absurdity it deserves.
Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Director (Adam McKay), Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.
To watch a trailer for "The Big Short" click on the player below:
"Bridge of Spies"
Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller stars Tom Hanks as an attorney recruited by the U.S. government to help broker a secret prisoner exchange with the U.S.S.R., for a captured U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union.
Nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Mark Rylance), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Sound Mixing.
To watch a trailer for "Bridge of Spies" click on the player below:
"Brooklyn"
In this sweet period romantic drama, adapted from Colm Toibin's novel, Saoirse Ronan plays Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant who lands in 1950s New York City, and who finds her homesickness tempered by a thoughtful, working-class Italian who sweeps her off her feet at a church dance. But in returning to Ireland on a visit, she finds her family and friends -- including a dashing rugby player -- reaching out to keep her there.
To watch a trailer for "Brooklyn" click on the player below:
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
The most critically-praised film of the year, George Miller's fourth adventure featuring the character of Mad Max is the most cinematically audacious.
The post-apocalyptic adventure is much more than just an extended chase involving an anti-hero fashioned after Alan Ladd's Shane and a plethora of bikers and hot-rodders in a scorching desert. It's also a study in cinematic alchemy, deftly mixing practical and CGI effects, jaw-dropping designs, inspiring locations and invigorating editing to tell a tale of women subject to violence and servitude in war zones, and -- in Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa -- a rugged example of Girl Power who always has the upper hand, even if one of them is mechanical.
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Director, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costume Design, Makeup/Hairstyling, Visual Effects, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
To watch a trailer for "Mad Max: Fury Road" click on the player below:
"The Martian"
In Ridley Scott's science fiction tale with the emphasis on science, Matt Damon delivers an earnest and funny performance as an astronaut stranded on Mars. The botanist must grow food and protect himself from a deadly environment for two years while awaiting a rescue mission.
Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Matt Damon), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
To watch a trailer for "The Martian" click on the player below:
"The Revenant"
Set on the early 19th century American frontier, the film tracks the guide of a fur trapping expedition who is attacked by a bear and left for dead, only to fight and claw his way back to seek revenge against the man who killed his son. Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the film employs evocative cinematography, camera tricks and editing to immerse the viewer as close to the brutal action as possible.
Nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Director (Alejandro Iñárritu), Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Tom Hardy), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup/Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
- Leonardo DiCaprio on challenges of filming "The Revenant" ("CBS This Morning")
- David Edelstein reviews "The Revenant"
To watch a trailer for "The Revenant" click on the player below:
"Room"
Brie Larson plays a young woman kidnapped by a deranged rapist and held prisoner for years in a tiny backyard shed. It is there she gives birth to a son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), whom she protects from the dire reality of their situation until, she believes, it is time to attempt an escape.
Also nominated for Best Director (Lenny Abrahamson), Best Actress (Larson) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
To watch a trailer for "Room" click on the player below:
"Spotlight"
Directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy, the film recounts how the investigative journalists of the Boston Globe used their old-fashioned, shoe leather-style of reporting to work sources and dig through dusty archives to uncover the Catholic Church's cover-up of priests abusing children.
Also nominated for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Best Supporting Actress (Rachel McAdams), and Best Film Editing.
To watch a trailer for "Spotlight" click on the player below:
Take our poll: Which film should win the Oscar for Best Picture?
More Oscar polls:
- Take our Best Actor poll
- Take our Best Actress poll
- Take our Best Supporting Actor poll
- Take our Best Supporting Actress poll
- Take our Best Director poll
- Take our Best Visual Effects poll
- Take our Best Original Song poll
- Take our Best Original Score poll
Winners of this year's Academy Awards will be announced on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. The show will be hosted by Chris Rock.
For more info:
- oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)
- oscars.com (Official site of Oscar telecast)
- Complete CBSNews.com coverage: The Academy Awards
- Complete CBSNews.com coverage: Movies