20 Best & Worst Movies From 2017 Oscar Nominees

Best: Fruitvale Station (2013)

Fruitvale Station is mostly remarkable for launching the careers of Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan to the mainstream, but it soars because of a lot more than their talent.

Joining the legions of wounded mothers seen on screen, Octavia Spencer's Wanda is a measured performance on the edge of implosion: she's loving towards her son as he lives, wary of his lifestyle choices and terrified of what could - and ultimately does - happen to him. And when it happens, her reaction lands like a haymaker, but it's the awful predictability that really kills.

Worst: Bad Santa 2 (2016)

Nobody needed a Bad Santa sequel: no matter how much money it made, or how beloved the characters, it was a story that was done and which was never going to improve after so long away. And even adding talent as huge as Spencer's and Kathy Bates' did nothing to quell those fears as it tumbled straight into the worst of the year charts.

Why she signed up to play Opal the prostitute just looks baffling, but sometimes you have to take the loss to make the victories sweeter.