When making a film, directors tend to stick to what they know, Quentin Tarantino throws in as much blood and feet as possible, while Terrance Malik makes sprawling, philosophical mumbo-jumbo.
With so many good films released in the past 12 months, some were obviously going to have to be left off the Oscars nominations list, otherwise each category would be about 50 entries long.
When you've got a good thing going, are you going to leave it to one side and start afresh? Of course you're not, which is why Hollywood has such a fondness for sequels.