Oscars 2016: Ranking Every Best Film Nominee From Worst To Best

8. Bridge Of Spies

Steven Spielberg's latest prestige project is perhaps a little bloated and self-important, but it gives us great performances from the ever-enjoyable Tom Hanks and the wonderfully, perpetually sad face of Mark Rylance. Bridge of Spies' self-indulgence can perhaps be forgiven due to the stakes inherent in its Cold War-set storyline - nothing less than all-out nuclear war is an eventuality that could have sprung from the prisoner exchange that insurance lawyer James B. Donovan finds himself negotiating. That said, the film isn't without a certain kind of gas-baggery, as Donovan enjoys take several moral high roads when he knows he's justified in doing so. Spielberg also can't help but include the requisite amount of jingoism as he consistently (and somewhat reasonably) shines a light on the failings of Communist governance. In the end, none of us should be surprised that a film centred around politics is overly-biased to one certain brand of politics.