Brow Beat

Watch All Eight of Slate’s Video Essays on This Year’s Best Picture Nominees

The Big Short, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant.
Every movie deserves a defense.

Image by Slate. Stills via Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros.

Over the past few weeks, as part of our series “The Best Case for Best Picture,” Slate staffers and critics have mounted their strongest arguments for the movie they think should win the Oscars’ biggest prize. It hasn’t been easy: They’ve also had to contend against the counterarguments of Slate culture editor Dan Kois. From the quiet romanticism of Brooklyn to the pulse-racing spectacle of Mad Max: Fury Road, this year’s Best Picture contenders are all over the map. But every movie deserves a defense. Watch them all, and decide which movie you think comes out on top.

Aisha Harris, for Mad Max: Fury Road

Alan Scherstuhl, for The Revenant

Forrest Wickman, for The Big Short

Laura Bennett, for Room

Willa Paskin, for Brooklyn

Dana Stevens, for Spotlight

Julia Turner, for The Martian

Read all of Slate’s coverage of the 2016 Oscars.