The two late entrants into the Oscar race, Little Women and 1917, both scored Best Picture nominations and are credible possibilities to take the statuette at the awards ceremony in February. That's not only because both of them are good, which they are; Little Women is an emotional knockout (its last hour in particular), while 1917 is a riveting and harrowing thriller, inventively told and staggeringly well photographed. Nor is it because they are both wildly successful at the box office, which they also are; by the end of this weekend Little Women will approach $100 million at the domestic box office on a $40 million budget with lots more runway to spare, and 1917 is likely going to earn hundreds of millions worldwide.
Nor is it because they both can claim to be speaking to the zeitgeist,...