I haven't seen Mad Max: [Fury Road] — I just didn't get to it. I dislike The Revenant intensely — it's a beautifully shot Road Runner movie, in the sense that Leonardo DiCaprio keeps falling down and getting up, and who cares? I don't. Brooklyn and Bridge of Spies, apart from Mark Rylance's performance [in Spies], are not worthy of being picture nominees — both are overly sentimental and feel like movies made in the '50s, in the worst sense. I liked The Martian very much — Ridley Scott made a beautiful movie for all of us who have lost someone in our lives and tried to figure out how we could have saved them. Room is a brilliant movie — well shot and with beautiful performances — about the thing all parents fear as much as anything: losing a child and not knowing what's become of them. Spotlight I liked very much, even though it also deals with terribly upsetting subject matter, because it shows how authority figures often fail to live up to their responsibilities — and because it features wonderful performances. But my No. 1 vote goes to The Big Short, which is the most courageous film of the year. It deals with a subject that most people don't understand in a highly creative and entertaining way without using sentimentality as a crutch.

My vote: (1) The Big Short; (2) Spotlight; (3) Room; (4) The Martian; (5) I abstain.