Oscar viewing guide: Prep for best picture

Haven't seen but a handful of the Academy Awards best picture nominees? We watched them all to help get you ready for the big night. (The show airs Feb. 28 on ABC.)

Trailer: 'The Big Short'

Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell star in the movie adaption of Michael Lewis' book 'The Big Short.'

'THE BIG SHORT'

**½ (out of four)

Plot: A group of money managers and brokers try to make millions before the inevitable collapse of the housing industry.

Director: Adam McKay

Rating: R

Upside: Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell impress as financial wheel-and-dealers.

Downside: Not even A-listers and celebrity cameos can make banking exciting.

Trailer: 'Bridge of Spies'

The CIA recruits a lawyer to negotiate the release of a captured U.S. pilot.

'BRIDGE OF SPIES'

***

Plot: At the height of the Cold War, an insurance lawyer (Tom Hanks) is tasked with defending an accused Soviet spy (Mark Rylance).

Director: Steven Spielberg

Rating: PG-13

Upside: Rylance is a revelation to mainstream audiences.

Downside: Spielberg's latest isn't phenomenal, though it hits the spot.

Trailer: 'Brooklyn'

An Irish immigrant is forced to choose between two men and two countries in 'Brooklyn.'

Paste BN

'BROOKLYN'

***½

Plot: An Irish girl (Saoirse Ronan) travels to 1950s Brooklyn to find love and a new life away from her family and homeland.

Director: John Crowley

Rating: PG-13

Upside: Ronan turns in her strongest performance to date as the funny, heartwarming central lass.

Downside: The plot flirts ever so closely with treacly melodrama but never gets too sweet.

Trailer: 'Mad Max: Fury Road'

Though determined to wander the post-apocalyptic wasteland alone, Mad Max joins Furiosa, a fugitive imperator, and her band who are all trying to escape a savage warlord.

VPC

'MAD MAX: FURY ROAD'

***

Plot: Lone wolf Max (Tom Hardy) escapes a tyrant with the help of Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and her crew.

Director: George Miller

Rating: R

Upside: Hardy and Theron add exciting new dimensions to the franchise.

Downside: Too many extended chase scenes.

Trailer: 'The Martian'

When astronauts blast off from the planet Mars in 'The Martian,' they leave behind Mark Watney (Matt Damon), presumed dead after a fierce storm. Meanwhile, NASA tries to figure out a way to bring him home.

'THE MARTIAN'

***½

Plot: An astronaut (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars has to use his knowledge as a skilled botanist to stay alive until NASA can mount a rescue mission.

Director: Ridley Scott

Rating: PG-13

Upside: Damon's nearly one-man show is humorous and compelling.

Downside: No space botanist is this good at his job.

Trailer: 'The Revenant'

'The Revenant' stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a man seeking vengeance after being left for dead.

20th Century Fox

'THE REVENANT'

***½

Plot: After a vicious bear mauling, a frontiersman (Leonardo DiCaprio) is left for dead and has to go on a mission of survival to avenge his son's death.

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Rating: R

Upside: Iñárritu's Birdman follow-up is brutal and beautifully filmed.

Downside: A number of violent scenes are not for the faint of heart.

Trailer: 'Room'

A mother and child are held captive in a 10-by-10 foot space for years. Ma does all she can to make Jack's life fulfilling, but as Jack gets older it becomes clear that they must escape into the real world.

VPC

'ROOM'

***

Plot: A young mom (Brie Larson) and kid (Jacob Tremblay) are held captive in a small room and have to deal with going on with their lives when they're free.

Director: Lenny Abrahamson

Rating: R

Upside: Larson is exceptional at playing a woman forever changed by her circumstances.

Downside: The latter part of the film is shakier storywise than the emotionally charged first half.

Trailer: 'Spotlight'

'Spotlight' tells the true story of how 'The Boston Globe' worked to uncover the scandal of child molestation within the local Catholic Archdiocese.

VPC

'SPOTLIGHT'

****

Plot: A group of Boston Globe investigative reporters put together a major expose on clergy sex abuse in Boston and the church cover-up that followed.

Director: Tom McCarthy

Rating: R

Upside: The whole cast is top notch, but Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton especially shine.

Downside: It serves as a reminder that this kind of dogged journalism has gone by the wayside.

Contributing: Claudia Puig