Bored by the Oscars? In this episode of Notes From the Back Row, Jenna, Veronica and Carlo make up their own awards show and categories in order to award the movies that mattered.

To simply rattle off the movies I enjoyed, and the reasons why, would be too safe and too shallow. What follows is not a list of my favorite movies this year but rather an examination of one obvious, omnipresent theme: desperation.