This Is Everything You Need to Know to Cheat Your Way Through the Oscars

Updated on 2/28/2016 at 5:30 PM

The Oscars are on Sunday, so there's definitely still time to watch each and every movie nominated for a big award. Then again, you're an important person. You have meetings to get to! And happy hours to attend! And those six seasons of TV shows rotting away in your Netflix queue! Listen, we get it — you don't have time to sit through every supposed "bear rape" or triumph of cinematography that comes down the Hollywood pipeline. Luckily for you, oh busy pop culture consumer, we've rounded up the buzziest movies of the year and narrowed down the bare minimum of facts you'll need to impress all of your friends at their Oscar-viewing parties.

The Martian

What it's about: A team of astronauts accidentally leaves Matt Damon stranded on Mars, where he's forced to figure out ways to survive while cracking extremely sassy jokes.
Nominations: Seven total, including best actor for Damon and best picture.
Why people are talking about it: This sci-fi movie is not only supremely well-made and visually stunning, it also hosts an A-list cast (Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor) and is laugh-out-loud funny.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "I seriously never wanted to eat another potato again after leaving the theater."

Brooklyn

What it's about: A young Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan) finds love (and herself) while trying to make it in 1950s New York.
Nominations: Best picture, best actress for Ronan, and best adapted screenplay.
Why people are talking about it: This tearjerker is a tender, beautifully acted film, and downright gorgeous to look at.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "I couldn't believe how clean they made New York look. No rats at all!"

The Danish Girl

What it's about: With the help of his adoring wife (Alicia Vikander), artist Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) becomes one of the first people to undergo a sex-change operation.
Nominations: Best achievement in production design, best achievement in costume design, best supporting actress for Vikander, and best actor for Redmayne.
Why people are talking about it: The performances by both leads stunned audiences, and the movie's costumes are things of beauty.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "Alicia Vikander had my jaw on the damn floor from start to finish."

Mad Max: Fury Road

What it's about: A bald and badass Charlize Theron is aided in her rebellion against a tyrannical ruler in postapocalyptic Australia by a drifter named Max (Tom Hardy) and some female prisoners.
Nominations: 10, including best picture and best director for George Miller.
Why people are talking about it: Few thought they'd see the day that a Mad Max film would be up for an Oscar, and yet this nonstop action movie ends up being just as thrilling as it is beautifully shot. Also, Theron's role as Imperator Furiosa completely steals the show — and had people raving that this may be the first truly feminist action movie.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "Where can I get a flame-throwing guitar?"

The Big Short

What it's about: Three financiers (Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Christian Bale) predict the collapse of the housing market in the mid-2000s.
Nominations: Five total, including best picture, best director for Adam McKay, and best supporting actor for Bale.
Why people are talking about it: The cast is jam-packed with talent (many were surprised that Carell didn't score a nom for his role as Mark Baum), and the film spins a serious, complicated subject matter into entertainment gold.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "That Selena Gomez cameo is so bizarre."

Bridge of Spies

What it's about: American lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) must defend a Soviet spy in court during the Cold War and help the CIA trade him for a captured American pilot.
Nominations: Six total, including best picture and best supporting actor for Mark Rylance.
Why people are talking about it: This is Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg's fourth movie together, and the pair produce a solid historical drama.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: If anyone asks you where or what the actual "bridge of spies" is, just know it's the spot in East Berlin where Donovan and the CIA want to exchange the Soviet and American spies.

Creed

What it's about: Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) trains Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the son of his former boxing ring foe, Apollo Creed.
Nominations: Best supporting actor for Stallone.
Why people are talking about it: Stallone might have aged a bit, but he still packs a major punch as Rocky. He delivers a touching, heartfelt, and nuanced performance that many didn't think he had in him.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "The only thing I didn't understand was why a fedora was glued to Sylvester Stallone's head in every scene."

The Revenant

What it's about: An 1820s fur trader fights for his life after being brutally mauled by a bear and left for dead by his fellow traders.
Nominations: 12, including best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director for Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Why people are talking about it: Between all of the Oscar buzz for DiCaprio, the insane bear attack scene, and the part where he sleeps in an animal carcass, there was no way this movie wouldn't have been talked about.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "Did you notice how bad the lip-dubbing was for some of the Native American characters? Also, Leo does not get raped by a bear, you guys."

Carol

What it's about: A young photographer (Rooney Mara) develops a forbidden relationship with an older woman (Cate Blanchett).
Nominations: Six total, including best actress for Blanchett and best supporting actress for Rooney Mara.
Why people are talking about it: The film tackles its subject matter tactfully and intimately, and both Blanchett and Mara give magnificent performances as ill-fated lovers.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "There was more chemistry between Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett than in all of my past relationships combined."

Spotlight

What it's about: Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, and Michael Keaton play a group of reporters who uncover the massive child molestation scandal within the Catholic Church in Boston.
Nominations: Six total, including best supporting actor for Ruffalo and best supporting actress for McAdams.
Why people are talking about it: Spotlight is an expert example of a "based on a true story" movie done well and perceptively handles the original source material.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "That moment when Mark Ruffalo says, 'I had that in my back pocket,' to Rachel McAdams killed me."

Room

What it's about: Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay play a young mother and son who finally escape the shed they've been held in for years by the man who kidnapped her when she was a teenager.
Nominations: Best adapted screenplay, best actress for Larson, best director for Lenny Abrahamson, and best picture.
Why people are talking about it: Tremblay and Larson have perfect chemistry, and the movie is able to be simultaneously dark and uplifting.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "I've never wanted to do anything in my life as badly as I wanted to cut Jack's hair."

Joy

What it's about: This is the true story of Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence), the woman who invented the Miracle Mop.
Nominations: Best actress for Lawrence.
Why people are talking about it: The movie wasn't too favorably reviewed, so many were surprised at Lawrence's fourth Oscar nod in six years.
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "The fact that Bradley Cooper's blue eyes were only in that movie for, like, five minutes is a travesty."

Fifty Shades of Grey

What it's about: A college student (Dakota Johnson) falls for devastatingly handsome, yet disturbed, billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan).
Nominations: Best original song for "Earned It."
Why people are talking about it: Really?
What you should say to make people think you watched it: "I 100 percent did not watch this movie."