"1994 was, in my opinion, a horrible year for movies. Three of the films on this list were not strong enough to have made such a list in previous years. I have noted these 'second-tier' choices."
Words that haunt me. I posted that to Usenet in early '95 (the post itself, which listed my top 10 for the year, doesn't survive; I found the above in someone's partially quoted reply to it that did), and think of it whenever I'm about to slam world cinema's latest annual output, because 1994 would now probably be my pick for the single greatest movie year of my adult lifetime. (Though, to be fair, many of the films on my '94 list—Exotica, Cold Water, Wild Reeds, Chungking Express, U.S. Go Home, A Confucian Confusion—hadn't yet been released in the U.S. when I was complaining. A couple of them still haven't.) I don't agree with Bilge Ebiri's perennial contention that every year is a terrific year for movies, but I have at least learned not to trust my own contemporaneous assessment. Because I pretty much always express some degree of disappointment.
That disclaimed, the folks who consider 2023 a banner year (and I saw many such statements, though they're surprisingly hard to google months later) are out of their minds. No doubt many Skandie voters find the star-rating section a pain in the ass to fill out (the automated ballot requires them to wade through all 1,100+ eligible films), but the results are extremely useful in quantifying enthusiasm. Admittedly, there's little point in directly comparing 2023 to, say, 1996—not only has the August Voting Body radically changed since then, but those voters who are still around tend to be stingier with high ratings than they used to be. But not much shifts over the course of a single year. And last year's highest-rated film—not the Best Picture winner, but the film that everyone most admired collectively, with dissenting opinions factored in—was Killers of the Flower Moon, with a 3.22 average. Not good enough to be on top the year before. (TÁR, 3.38 avg.) Not good enough to be second the year before. (The Banshees of Inisherin, 3.26 avg.) Not even good enough to be third the year before. (RRR, 3.23 avg.) And let's not even consider going back as recently as 2016, when Scorsese's Silence, with exactly the same 3.22 rating as Flower Moon, finished 9th on the average-rating list. Do I really believe that none of 2023's celebrated releases are as beloved as Manchester By The Sea and Paterson and Cameraperson and Toni Erdmann and even Everybody Wants Some!!? You bet I do.
(Now that I look, Killers of the Flower Moon has the all-time lowest average for highest average, if you follow my meaning. Previous low was 2010, when Dogtooth topped the list at 3.28; years with nothing above 3.3 are very rare. I also noticed that of the five Wes Anderson films that have placed 2nd in Best Picture to date, Asteroid City has by far the lowest average: 3.10 vs. 3.21 for Fantastic Mr. Fox, 3.32 for Moonrise Kingdom, 3.38 for The Grand Budapest Hotel, and 3.45 for Rushmore.)
So it's apparently not just my own crankiness, though I can't rule out the possibility that others' crankiness may be slowly catching up to mine. And that average-rating section is arguably now of more interest than the main categories (Picture, Director, Actress, etc.), since our results no longer wildly diverge from Oscar and general awards-buzz orthodoxy. Which is mostly a matter of AMPAS in particular having gotten dramatically more hip in recent years, though not hip enough to nominate Showing Up or someone like Laure Calamy (in Full Time)—we still have some utility. I of course am chuffed that my underdog favorite, Falcon Lake, ignored by literally every other critic and body compiled hereabouts, placed 7th (ahead of the almost universally admired Scorsese!) in Best Picture and 10th (from 22 of 30 voters, so it's a genuine consensus) on the average-rating list. That's the sort of alternative viewpoint that I created the survey to foster, way back in 1995.
Okay, on to the number-crunching. You presumably already know whether or not that's of any interest to you; no shame, certainly, if it isn't. And if by some chance you've stumbled onto this blog without knowing what the Skandies even is: It's an annual poll of cinephiles (mostly not professional critics, though some are) that I've been conducting since 1995, and complete results for the past 28 years can be found here.
NOTE: The layout below is not optimized for mobile. Some of it (the Directors' Gallery at the bottom in particular) will be gobbledygook unless you're on a laptop/desktop.HIGHEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2023)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of ten votes)
01. 3.65 The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
02. 3.61 Being John Malkovich (1999)
03. 3.61 A Separation (2011)
04. 3.58 Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
05. 3.57 In the Company of Men (1997)
06. 3.56 Secrets & Lies (1996)
07. 3.53 La Promesse (1997)
08. 3.52 Yi Yi (A One and a Two…) (2000)
09. 3.50 From the Journals of Jean Seberg (1996)
10. 3.49 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
It's nearly impossible for new films to make this list, due to a significant uptick in voter stinginess with high ratings since the '90s. Here's how it looks for the last decade-plus (since 2010):
01. 3.61 A Separation (2011)
02. 3.49 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
03. 3.48 Margaret (2011)
05. 3.46 Nocturama (2017)
3.46 Phantom Thread (2017)
07. 3.45 The Tree of Life (2011)
08. 3.44 Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (2019)
09. 3.43 Certified Copy (2011)
10. 3.41 Holy Motors (2012)
No new additions this year, as my introduction above surely made abundantly clear.
LOWEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2023)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of five votes)
01. 0.20 Date Movie (2006)
01. 0.20 America (2014)
03. 0.50 Collateral Beauty (2016)
04. 0.58 Miss March (2009)
05. 0.60 Dragonfly (2002)
05. 0.60 The Last Face (2017)
07. 0.61 The Roommate (2011)
08. 0.67 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
09. 0.67 The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (2015)
10. 0.70 Beastly (2011)
10. 0.70 Left Behind (2014)
Nothing new here, either. Voters are avoiding the truly terrible films as they get older, and the most hated of 2023, among those that received at least five votes, was Cat Person, with a comparatively robust 1.10 average. Everything else hit at least 1.50.
MOST DIVISIVE FILMS (2023)
(std. deviation >= 0.75; minimum two votes 3.5 or higher, two votes 1.5 or lower)
• All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (0.91)
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
(lowest-ranked film seen by at least 75% of voters)
1996: Twister (1.80)
1997: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (2.33)
1998: He Got Game (2.59)
1999: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (2.18)
2000: Nurse Betty (2.31)
2001: Vanilla Sky (2.20)
2002: Storytelling (2.03)
2003: The Matrix Reloaded (2.29)
2004: The Village (2.30)
2005: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2.49)
2006: Little Miss Sunshine (2.52)
2007: Ocean's Thirteen (2.52)
2008: Milk (2.83)
2009: The Hangover (2.35)
2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2.71)
2011: Midnight in Paris (2.47)
2012: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2.37)
2013: American Hustle (2.50)
2014: Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2.44)
2015: While We're Young (2.67)
2016: Knight of Cups (2.52)
2017: The Shape of Water (2.48)
2018: A Star Is Born (2.68)
2019: Joker (2.44)
Turns out Beau had good reason to be afraid.
PASSIONATE MINORITY AWARD
(lowest average among top 20 films in Picture voting)
1996: Dead Man (2.94)
1997: Crash (2.52)
1998: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (2.68)
1999: The End of the Affair (2.96)
2000: Requiem for a Dream (2.73)
2001: Amélie (2.71)
2002: 8 Women (2.79)
2003: The Good Thief (2.81)
2004: I ♥ Huckabees (2.84)
2005: Oldboy (2.68)
2006: Manderlay (2.69)
2007: Once (2.79)
2008: Funny Games (2.83)
2009: A Serious Man (2.83)
2010: The Exploding Girl (2.75)
2011: Shame (2.63)
2012: Damsels in Distress (2.76)
2013: Spring Breakers (2.72)
2014: Goodbye to Language (2.64)
2015: The Assassin (2.73)
2016: Knight of Cups (2.52)
2017: Downsizing (2.50)
2018: You Were Never Really Here (2.86)
2019: Midsommar (2.80)
Past Lives was in fact one of only two films that placed in the top 20 but weren't on my prediction list. (The other was All of Us Strangers, a late-breaking release; I had Perfect Days and The Plains, which respectively finished 21st and 26th, in their place.)
DAMNED WITH FAINT PRAISE
(highest-ranked film by average rating not to place in Picture voting [10+ voters] )
1996: Get on the Bus (3.29)
1997: Forgotten Silver (3.36)
1998: The Kingdom II (3.14)
1999: My Name Is Joe (3.18)
2000: Erin Brockovich (3.14)
2001: No Man’s Land (3.19)
2002: Roger Dodger (3.14)
2003: The Weather Underground (3.18)
2004: Bright Leaves (3.16)
2005: Howl's Moving Castle (3.15)
2006: The Devil and Daniel Johnston (3.18)
2007: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (3.25)
2008: The Duchess of Langeais (3.20)
2009: Night and Day (3.07)
2010: Another Year (3.21)
2011: Senna (3.07)
2012: The Imposter (3.10)
2013: Drug War (3.17)
2014: National Gallery (3.25)
2015: The Look of Silence (3.28)
2016: I Am Not Your Negro (3.18)
2017: Ex Libris (3.06)
2018: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (3.10)
2019: Apollo 11 (3.13)
Fourth freakin' time in the past decade that a Wiseman doc has taken this "prize." We dig 'em but we don't vote for 'em. Also of note: high-ish averages for the relatively little-seen The Beasts and The Starling Girl (both 3.00).
For whatever reason, this is the spot where I've been noting Atli Sigurjónsson's annual predictions, which he sends me privately before the daily countdown kicks off. As usual, just looking at voters' top 10 lists and Letterboxd and/or Crix Pix ratings got him reasonably close, though he was further off with the winner than I can ever previously recall (which just speaks to the fact that there was no clear standout). Bonus points, however, for correctly placing Falcon Lake and Killers of the Flower Moon at #7 and #8, respectively. Here they are, with the film's actual placement noted parenthetically.
1. Poor Things (3) 2. Asteroid City (2) 3. Showing Up (5) 4. Oppenheimer (4) 5. May December (1) 6. Anatomy of a Fall (6) 7. Falcon Lake (7) 8. Killers of the Flower Moon (8) 9. The Killer (9) 10. De humani corporis fabrica (12) 11. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (20) 12. Ferrari (11) 13. The Holdovers (13) 14. The Zone of Interest (10) 15. Fallen Leaves (17) 16. The Taste of Things (18) 17. The Plains (did not place, #26) 18. Perfect Days (did not place, #21)
He missed G Minus One (#14), John Wick Chapter 4 (#15), and Past Lives (#16). I had 18/20 vs. his 17/20, but he nailed eight films' precise placement to my four. (I had Oppenheimer, Anatomy, Ferrari and The Holdovers right where they landed.)
DAMN THE REVIEWS, FULL SPEED AHEAD
(lowest average among films seen by at least 10 voters)
1996: Twister (1.80)
1997: Batman & Robin (1.28)
1998: The Avengers | Stepmom [tie] (1.50)
1999: Jawbreaker (1.14)
2000: Pay It Forward (1.41)
2001: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (1.26)
2002: Scooby-Doo (1.08)
2003: Bad Boys II (1.60)
2004: Exorcist: The Beginning (1.21)
2005: Undead (1.29)
2006: The Hills Have Eyes (1.65)
2007: Smokin' Aces (1.64)
2008: Jumper (1.54)
2009: Gigantic (1.00)
2010: The Last Airbender (1.05)
2011: Vanishing on 7th Street (1.55)
2012: This Means War (1.50)
2013: Gangster Squad (1.29)
2014: That Awkward Moment (1.45)
2015: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (1.79)
2016: Zoolander 2 (1.60)
2017: The Assignment (1.77)
2018: Vice (1.67)
2019: Serenity (1.05)
Ironically, I only saw Saltburn because the reviews, or at least some key reviews, were (inexplicably) very positive. Probably the most superficially respectable winner here since Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
SELECTION COMMITTEE ON CRACK
(lowest average for a film that screened at the New York Film Festival)
(post-expansion: Main Slate only, plus "Special Event" world premieres)
1996: Flirt (2.20)
1997: Kiss or Kill (1.79)
1998: Voyage to the Beginning of the World (1.80)
1999: Dogma (1.89)
2000: Before Night Falls (2.31)
2001: La Ciénaga (1.95)
2002: In Praise of Love (1.95)
2003: Chi-Hwa-Seon: Painted Fire (2.19)
2004: Free Radicals (2.08)
2005: Palindromes (2.15)
2006: Rolling Family (1.83)
2007: The Go Master (1.93)
2008: Married Life (2.25)
2009: The Windmill Movie (2.13)
2010: Hereafter (2.05)
2011: We Are What We Are (1.64)
2012: Hyde Park on Hudson (1.69)
2013: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1.92)
2014: Child of God (2.00)
2015: The Princess of France (2.42)
2016: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2.10)
2017: My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (1.96)
2018: Wildlife (2.29)
2019: A Faithful Man (2.08)
I saw Stonewalling only five months ago and couldn't tell you anything about it. A void in my memory.
ALONE AGAIN (NATURALLY)
(suggested by Alex Fung; lowest average for a film that received a 4-star rating
1996: The Stupids (2.30) | Bryan “Frankenseuss” Theiss (ret.)
1997: Kissed (2.46) | Alex Fung
1998: Psycho (2.11) | Erik Gregersen (ret.)
1999: Twin Falls Idaho (2.28) | Milton Lawson (ret.)
2000: Beautiful People (2.29) | Keith Collins (ret.)
2001: The Road Home (1.88) | Erik Gregersen (ret.)
2002: In Praise of Love (1.95) | Jeremy Heilman
2003: Gigli (1.92) | Jeremy Heilman
2004: The Passion of the Christ (2.18) | Victor J. Morton
2005: The Brothers Grimm (2.29) | Bilge Ebiri
2006: The Fountain (2.21) | Peter Reiher (ret.)
2007: Southland Tales (1.88) | Dave Cowen; Jeremy Heilman
2008: Jellyfish (2.36) | Daniel Waters
2009: 12 (2.29) | Bilge Ebiri
2010: Somewhere (2.41) | Nictate (ret.)
2011: A Serbian Film (1.81) | Daniel Waters
2012: Alps (2.43) | Don Marks
2013: Maniac (2.50) | Jeremy Heilman
2014: Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (2.43) | Victor J. Morton
2015: The Tribe (2.43) | Daniel Waters
2016: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2.10) | Jeremy Heilman
2017: Song to Song (2.24) | Jeremy Heilman
2018: The 15:17 to Paris (2.07) | Jeremy Heilman
2019: Jojo Rabbit (2.25) | Jeff McCloud
Jeff had abstained for at least a couple of years but is back with his bizarre adoration of the entire MCU, which he swears is not an Andy Kaufman-style bit even though his taste when I first encountered him in the '90s was ultra-arty.
AUTEUR! AUTEUR!
Highest-ranked director whose movie didn't place in Picture.
1996: Peter Jackson, The Frighteners (#7)
1997: Wong Kar-wai, Happy Together (#17)
1998: Alex Proyas, Dark City (#17)
1999: Steven Soderbergh, The Limey (#11)
2000: David Gordon Green, George Washington (#7)
2001: Michael Mann, Ali (#8)
2002: Michael Haneke, The Piano Teacher (#14)
2003: Robert Altman, The Company (#7)
2004: Martin Scorsese, The Aviator (#8)
2005: Peter Jackson, King Kong (#10)
2006: Michael Mann, Miami Vice (#9)
2007: Paul Greengrass, The Bourne Ultimatum (#9)
2008: Lance Hammer, Ballast (#14)
2009: Lucrecia Martel, The Headless Woman (#8)
2010: Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (#14)
2011: Raúl Ruiz, Mysteries of Lisbon (#13)
2012: Hong Sang-soo, The Day He Arrives (#17)
2013: Johnnie To, Drug War (#17)
2014: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (#19)
2015: Aleksei German, Hard to Be a God (#10)
2016: Kelly Reichardt, Certain Women (#10)
2017: Yorgos Lanthimos, The Killing of a Sacred Deer (#14)
2018: Lucrecia Martel, Zama (#9)
2019: Nemes László, Sunset (#10)
2020: Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night (#4)
2021: Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part One (#9)
2022: Noah Baumbach, White Noise (#10)
2023: Mark Jenkin, Enys Men (#9)
AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
Highest-ranked screenwriter whose movie didn't place in Picture.
1996: Belinda & Philip Haas, Angels & Insects (#4 in Adapted)
1997: David Mamet and Hilary Henkin, Wag the Dog (#5)
1998: Whit Stillman, The Last Days of Disco (#8)
1999: M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense (#18)
2000: John Cusack et al., High Fidelity (#6)
2001: Karen Walton, Ginger Snaps (#6)
2002: Dylan Kidd, Roger Dodger (#2)
2003: Billy Ray, Shattered Glass (#4)
2004: David Mamet, Spartan (#11)
2005: Skander Halim, Pretty Persuasion (#4)
2006: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (#6)
2007: Noah Baumbach, Margot at the Wedding (#4)
2008: Martin McDonagh, In Bruges (#5)
2009: Scott Z. Burns, The Informant! (#8)
2010: Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain and Chris Morris, Four Lions (#5)
2011: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants (#12)
2012: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods (#7)
2013: Cormac McCarthy, The Counselor (#7)
2014: James Ward Byrkit, Coherence (#6)
2015: Andrew Haigh, 45 Years (#8)
2016: Shane Black & Anthony Bagarozzi, The Nice Guys (#4)
2017: Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (#3)
2018: Mark Perez, Game Night (#8)
2019: Mike Leigh, Peterloo (#14)
2020: Mike Makowsky, Bad Education (#5)
2021: Nicole Holofcener & Ben Affleck & Matt Damon, The Last Duel (#13)
2022: Rian Johnson, Glass Onion (#4)
2023: Christian Petzold, Afire (#10)
I strongly suspect that Thomas Schubert's (deliberately, but still) off-putting performance is responsible for this discrepancy, even though Schubert himself placed 9th in Actor.
Highest-ranked scene from a film that failed to place in Picture. (Starts a year later because I didn't create Best Scene until '97, after I combined Original and Adapted Screenplay into just Screenplay.)
1997: The car scene, Scream 2 (#6)
1998: Protein-rich hair gel, There's Something About Mary (#7)
1999: Monologus interruptus, Deep Blue Sea (#7)
2000: Smack my Crispin up, Charlie's Angels (#4)
2001: Jimmy shanks a nonplussed Chopper, Chopper (#3)
2002: Evaluating Elizabeth, Lovely & Amazing (#3)
2003: Rainstorm pas de deux, The Company (#4)
2004: "Cousins?" (Molina/Coogan), Coffee and Cigarettes (#3)
2005: First encounter of the close kind, War of the Worlds (#2)
2006: Nude wrestling, Borat (#3)
2007: Han River attack, The Host (#1)
2008: Deranged penguin, Encounters at the End of the World (#10)
2009: Honeymoon on the tracks, You, the Living (#4)
2010: Backseat murder attempt, Let Me In (#5)
2011: Scaling Burj Khalifa, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol (#4)
2012: Landing the plane, Flight (#4)
2013: Opening, Post tenebras lux (#2)
2014: Wedding dance, In Bloom (#9)
2015: Donnie vs. Leo (single shot), Creed (#2)
2016: "Would that it were so simple," Hail, Caesar! (#2)
2017: "Bellbottoms," Baby Driver (#4)
2018: Extracting the bullet, Game Night (#1)
2019: Umbrella attack, Shadow (#5)
2020: Meeting with HR, The Assistant (#2)
2021: “Night Colonies,” The Year of the Everlasting Storm (#5)
2022: "Hello, college!", Babylon (#8)
2023: Train collapse, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One (#2)
For a while, I thought that Dead Reckoning: We'll Reckon Again might be the first Mission: Impossible film to place. But no. Landed way down at #46, with just a single vote.
Cannes Palme d'Or
1995: Underground (#15, 1997)
1996: Secrets & Lies (#2, 1996)
1997: Taste of Cherry (#15, 1998)
1997: The Eel (did not place)
1998: Eternity and a Day (did not place)
1999: Rosetta (did not place)
2000: Dancer in the Dark (#10, 2000)
2001: The Son's Room (did not place)
2002: The Pianist (did not place)
2003: Elephant (did not place)
2004: Fahrenheit 9/11 (did not place)
2005: L'Enfant (The Child) (#6, 2006)
2006: The Wind That Shakes the Barley (did not place)
2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (#1, 2008)
2008: The Class (did not place)
2009: The White Ribbon (did not place)
2010: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (#9, 2011)
2011: The Tree of Life (#1, 2011)
2012: Amour (#6, 2012)
2013: Blue Is the Warmest Color (#8, 2013)
2014: Winter Sleep (#15, 2014)
2015: Dheepan (did not place)
2016: I, Daniel Blake (did not place)
2017: The Square (did not place)
2018: Shoplifters (#19, 2018)
2019: Parasite (#2, 2019)
Venice Golden Lion
1995: Cyclo (#14, 1996)
1996: Michael Collins (did not place)
1997: Fireworks (Hana-Bi) (#5, 1998)
1998: The Way We Laughed (N/A, not theatrically released during window of eligibility)
1999: Not One Less (did not place)
2000: The Circle (did not place)
2001: Monsoon Wedding (did not place)
2002: The Magdalene Sisters (did not place)
2003: The Return (did not place)
2004: Vera Drake (#6, 2004)
2005: Brokeback Mountain (#3, 2005)
2006: Still Life (#18, 2008)
2007: Lust, Caution (did not place)
2008: The Wrestler (#13, 2008)
2009: Lebanon (did not place)
2010: Somewhere (did not place)
2011: Faust (did not place)
2012: Pieta (did not place)
2013: Sacro GRA (N/A, not theatrically released during window of eligibility)
2014: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (did not place)
2015: From Afar (did not place)
2016: The Woman Who Left (did not place)
2017: The Shape of Water (did not place)
2018: Roma (#4, 2018)
2019: Joker (did not place)
Sundance Grand Jury (Dramatic)
1995: The Brothers McMullen (did not place)
1996: Welcome to the Dollhouse (did not place)
1997: Sunday (did not place)
1998: Slam (did not place)
1999: Three Seasons (did not place)
2000: Girlfight (did not place)
2000: You Can Count on Me (#3, 2000)
2001: The Believer (did not place)
2002: Personal Velocity (did not place)
2003: American Splendor (#20, 2003)
2004: Primer (#10, 2004)
2005: Forty Shades of Blue (did not place)
2006: Quinceañera (did not place)
2007: Padre Nuestro (did not place)
2008: Frozen River (did not place)
2009: Precious (Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire) (did not place)
2010: Winter's Bone (#2, 2010)
2011: Like Crazy (did not place)
2012: Beasts of the Southern Wild (did not place)
2013: Fruitvale Station (did not place)
2014: Whiplash (#20, 2014)
2015: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (did not place)
2016: The Birth of a Nation (did not place)
2017: I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (unreleased, placed 5th in the Undies)
2018: The Miseducation of Cameron Post (did not place)
2019: Clemency (did not place)
AVERAGE RATINGS FOR OSCAR WINNERS
Again, take ratings for films from the '90s with a grain of salt—no way would The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love get anything close to 3.20+ today.
No Country for Old Men: 3.45
The Departed: 3.42
Parasite: 3.37
The English Patient: 3.27
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: 3.26
Titanic: 3.23
Shakespeare in Love: 3.21
The Hurt Locker: 3.18
Oppenheimer: 3.17
Moonlight: 3.14
Million Dollar Baby: 3.06
Gladiator: 3.04
12 Years a Slave: 3.04
American Beauty: 2.97
Argo: 2.86
Spotlight: 2.85
The Artist: 2.82
Chicago: 2.78
A Beautiful Mind: 2.73
Nomadland: 2.72
The King's Speech: 2.63
The Shape of Water: 2.48
Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): 2.44
Everything Everywhere All at Once: 2.43
Slumdog Millionaire: 2.42
CODA: 2.28
Crash: 2.11
Green Book: 2.07
____________________________________________________________________________________
Most Appearances in Top 20 (Actors)
(ties for number of appearances broken by average placement)
01. Tilda Swinton (19)
1. Julia
4s. Michael Clayton
4s. Snowpiercer
5. The Deep End
5. We Need to Talk About Kevin
7. Only Lovers Left Alive
9s. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
11. I Am Love
12s. Burn After Reading
12s. Suspiria
13s. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
14. A Bigger Splash
16s. The Dead Don't Die
18. Female Perversions
19s. Thumbsucker
19s. Trainwreck
02. Philip Seymour Hoffman (15)
1s. The Master
3s. Charlie Wilson's War
5. Capote
6. Synecdoche, New York
6s. The Talented Mr. Ripley
6s. Almost Famous
10s. Magnolia
10s. 25th Hour
11. Doubt
12. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
12s. State and Main
15s. Happiness
15. Owning Mahowny
18. A Most Wanted Man
19s. Mission: Impossible III
03. Isabelle Huppert (15)
1. Elle
2. The Piano Teacher
2s. 8 Women
4. Gabrielle
8. Abuse of Weakness
8. The School of Flesh
8. Things to Come
12. White Material
13s. I ♥ Huckabees
13s. Amour
15. La Cérémonie
17. Time of the Wolf
17. In Another Country
19s. Claire's Camera
19. Home
1. Two Lovers
3. The Master
3. Inherent Vice
3. You Were Never Really Here
5. Her
9s. Gladiator
10. Walk the Line
10. The Immigrant
11. I’m Still Here
13. C’mon C’mon
15. Beau Is Afraid
15. Joker
05. Julianne Moore (12)
1. Far From Heaven
5s. May December (2023)
6. Still Alice (2014)
8s. Magnolia (1999)
11. The End of the Affair (1999)
13s. The Big Lebowski (1998)
15s. An Ideal Husband (1999)
16s. A Single Man (2009)
16. Gloria Bell (2019)
19. Savage Grace (2008)
19. The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Julianne Moore, with her nod for May December, replaces Nicole Kidman at #5. Which seems fair, since Kidman replaced Moore at #5 last year.
(again, ties broken by average placement)
01. Joel [& Ethan] Coen (10)
1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. No Country for Old Men
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. The Man Who Wasn't There
6. Fargo
7. A Serious Man
10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
11. Burn After Reading
12. The Big Lebowski
12. True Grit
Did not place: Intolerable Cruelty; The Ladykillers; Paris je t'aime [segment]; Hail, Caesar!; The Tragedy of Macbeth
Ineligible: Everything prior to Fargo; To Each His Own Cinema [segment]
1. The Departed
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Silence
5. I Heard You Paint Houses
7. Kundun
9. Gangs of New York
14. Shutter Island
19. Hugo
Did not place: Bringing Out the Dead; The Aviator; Shine a Light; Public Speaking; Living in the Material World; Conjuring the Rolling Thunder Re-vue; Personality Crisis: One Night Only
Ineligible: Everything prior to Kundun; My Voyage to Italy; The Concert for New York City [segment]; Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty; A Letter to Elia; The 50 Year Argument
3. Before Sunset
3. Boyhood
4. Before Midnight
7. Everybody Wants Some!!
9. The School of Rock
12. A Scanner Darkly
15. Waking Life
18. Bernie
Did not place: subUrbia; The Newton Boys; Tape; Bad News Bears; Fast Food Nation; Me and Orson Welles; Last Flag Flying; Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Ineligible: Everything prior to subUrbia; Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach
04. Christopher Nolan (9)
3. Memento
4. Oppenheimer
5. The Dark Knight
13. Inception
14. Dunkirk
18. Interstellar
19. Batman Begins
20. Tenet
____________________________________________________________________________________
New-ish category! Actors who've had at least two appearances in the top 20, but haven't made the cut in the past ten years. We used to like them. What happened? (Actors who die will be removed a year following their last eligible performance.)
Note: The two-nod minimum, which is meant to keep this list manageable (as there are many, many actors who've shown up only once, most of them in no way notable), also eliminates some big names that one might expect to be here: Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, etc.
Each actor's most recent Skandie appearance is in [brackets]. New additions are in bold. Removed because they finally placed again this year: Michael Cera, Robert Downey Jr., Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Sigourney Weaver, Jeffrey Wright. Not added because he passed away (sob): James Gandolfini.
• Mathieu Amalric [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Catherine Deneuve [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Emmanuelle Devos [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Robert Downey, Jr. [2008: Iron Man + Tropic Thunder]
• Aaron Eckhart [2008: The Dark Knight]
• Jackie Earle Haley [2009: Watchmen]
• Vlad Ivanov [2009: Police, Adjective]
• Frank Langella [2008: Frost/Nixon]
• Alison Lohman [2009: Drag Me to Hell]
• Anthony Mackie [2009: The Hurt Locker]
• John Malkovich [2008: Burn After Reading]
• Samantha Morton [2008: Synecdoche, New York]
• Timothy Olyphant [2009: A Perfect Getaway]
• Clive Owen [2009: Duplicity]
• Gwyneth Paltrow [2009: Two Lovers]
• Jérémie Renier [2009: Lorna's Silence]
• Julia Roberts [2009: Duplicity]
• Mickey Rourke [2008: The Wrestler]
• Ludivine Sagnier [2008: A Girl Cut in Two]
• Jason Schwartzman [2009: Fantastic Mr. Fox]
• Kristin Scott Thomas [2008: I've Loved You So Long]
• Michael Sheen [2008: Frost/Nixon]
• David Strathairn [2008: My Blueberry Nights]
• Stanley Tucci [2009: Julie & Julia]
• Naomi Watts [2008: Funny Games]
And finally. Back when I started the survey, I remember looking forward to the time, a decade or so later (i.e. now), when there'd be tons of accumulated data to wade through. In particular, I was excited about the prospect of being able to compare how various films from major directors had been received over the years. Granted, that process isn't exactly definitive—the AVB has mutated over the years and even the diehards tend to be stingier with their star ratings than they were back in the mid-'90s. But perhaps my favorite task after receiving the averages is updating my Directors' Gallery, plugging this year's films into various post-'94 oeuvres. Here are the entries that saw additions this year—every filmmaker who's ever placed in the Director top 20. 2023 films are in bold. Numbers in parentheses indicate how the film placed in Best Picture that year, if applicable; if the film title is in parentheses that means it received fewer than 10 votes and hence the result is a bit less meaningful. N/A (not applicable) means it was eligible but didn't even get five votes and so didn't make the main list.
Ben Affleck
Gone Baby Gone (6) 3.24
Argo 2.86
The Town 2.63
Air 2.60
(Live by Night) 2.29
Wes Anderson
Rushmore (2) 3.45
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2) 3.38
Moonrise Kingdom (2) 3.32
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2) 3.21
Asteroid City (2) 3.10
The Royal Tenenbaums (8) 3.03
The French Dispatch (9) 2.89
Isle of Dogs 2.89
The Life Aquatic W/ Steve Zissou (17) 2.89
Bottle Rocket 2.63
The Darjeeling Limited 2.40
Ari Aster
Midsommar (14) 2.80
Hereditary 2.69
Beau Is Afraid 2.40
Kenneth Branagh
Hamlet (9) 3.29
(A Midwinter’s Tale) 2.83
(Cinderella) 2.75
(All Is True) 2.42
Thor 2.39
A Haunting in Venice 2.29
Belfast 2.27
(Murder on the Orient Express) 2.11
Love’s Labours Lost 2.10
Death on the Nile 2.05
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2.05
(Sleuth) 1.40
Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Leviathan (11) 3.14
De humani corporis fabrica (12) 3.11
Sweetgrass 2.87
(Caniba) 2.17
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (12) 3.10
Winter Sleep (15) 3.00
About Dry Grasses 2.96
Distant 2.93
The Wild Pear Tree 2.88
Climate 2.84
Three Monkeys 2.58
Sofia Coppola
Lost in Translation (8) 3.04
The Virgin Suicides (19) 2.84
Priscilla 2.75
The Beguiled 2.66
Marie Antoinette 2.65
On the Rocks 2.50
Somewhere 2.41
The Bling Ring 2.24
Brandon Cronenberg
Possessor (16) 2.94
Infinity Pool 2.65
Antiviral 2.40
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
La Promesse (13) 3.53
Two Days, One Night (4) 3.35
L'Enfant (The Child) (6) 3.26
The Kid With a Bike (7) 3.18
The Son (6) 3.16
Lorna's Silence (11) 3.09
Rosetta 2.89
The Unknown Girl 2.75
Young Ahmed (15) 2.71
Tori and Lokita 2.43
Sean Durkin
Martha Marcy May Marlene (10) 3.06
The Nest (10) 2.93
The Iron Claw 2.71
David Fincher
Zodiac (3) 3.27
The Social Network (4) 3.22
Fight Club (3) 3.19
Gone Girl (14) 3.03
The Killer (9) 2.98
The Game (9) 2.95
Panic Room 2.79
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 2.44
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 2.42
Mank 2.30
Greta Gerwig
Little Women (7) 3.10
Lady Bird (12) 3.07
Barbie 2.82
Nights and Weekends* N/A
* with Joe Swanberg
Jonathan Glazer
Under the Skin (1) 3.29
The Zone of Interest (10) 2.91
Sexy Beast 2.81
Birth 2.74
David Gordon Green
George Washington 3.05
All the Real Girls (15) 2.93
Stronge 2.88
Pineapple Express 2.71
Joe 2.69
(Manglehorn) 2.58
Undertow 2.56
Snow Angels 2.56
Prince Avalanche 2.50
Halloween 2.43
Halloween Ends 2.28
(Our Brand Is Crisis) 2.19
(The Sitter) 2.00
Your Highness 1.89
(Halloween Kills) 1.75
(The Exorcist: Believer) 1.50
Alain Guiraudie
Stranger by the Lake (5) 3.17
Staying Vertical (15) 3.02
(Nobody's Hero) 2.72
Todd Haynes
Far From Heaven (4) 3.37
Carol (2) 3.35
May December (1) 3.14
The Velvet Underground 3.00
I'm Not There (10) 2.92
Dark Waters 2.71
Wonderstruck 2.47
Velvet Goldmine 2.43
Hong Sang-soo
Right Now, Wrong Then (11) 3.24
In Front of Your Face (8) 3.11
Woman on the Beach (13) 3.10
Night and Day 3.07
The Day He Arrives 3.05
On the Beach at Night Alone (16) 3.03
Oki's Movie 2.88
Grass 2.85
The Woman Who Ran 2.85
Hotel by the River 2.83
In Another Country 2.82
The Day After 2.80
Woman Is the Future of Man 2.79
in water 2.77
Walk Up 2.69
Claire's Camera 2.66
The Novelist’s Film 2.63
Introduction 2.60
Mark Jenkin
(Bait) 3.08
Enys Men 2.77
Neil Jordan
The End of the Affair (20) 2.96
The Butcher Boy 2.86
Michael Collins 2.85
The Good Thief (18) 2.81
Byzantium 2.78
Ondine 2.65
Greta 2.42
Breakfast on Pluto 2.32
In Dreams 1.91
(Marlowe) 1.78
The Brave One 1.72
Aki Kaurismäki
Fallen Leaves (17) 3.00
The Man Without a Past 3.00
The Other Side of Hope 2.75
Le Havre 2.68
Lights in the Dusk 2.37
Paul King
Paddington 3.09
Paddington 2 (16) 2.96
(Wonka) 2.33
Hirokazu Kore-eda
After Life (13) 3.26
Still Walking (19) 3.11
Nobody Knows (18) 3.07
Shoplifters (19) 3.06
After the Storm 3.00
(I Wish) 3.00
Our Little Sister 2.92
Like Father, Like Son 2.79
Monster 2.46
The Third Murder 2.45
The Truth 2.45
(Maborosi) 2.40
Broker 2.27
Neil LaBute
In the Company of Men (2) 3.57
Possession 2.78
Your Friends & Neighbors 2.62
(Some Velvet Morning) 2.50
Lakeview Terrace 2.43
Nurse Betty 2.31
The Shape of Things 2.27
The Wicker Man 1.79
Death at a Funeral N/A
Dirty Weekend N/A
Fear the Night N/A
House of Darkness N/A
Out of the Blue N/A
Yorgos Lanthimos
Dogtooth (1) 3.28
The Favourite (5) 3.09
Poor Things (3) 3.07
The Lobster (13) 3.02
The Killing of a Sacred Deer 2.72
Alps 2.43
David Lowery
A Ghost Story (4) 2.98
The Old Man & the Gun 2.87
Pete's Dragon 2.81
The Green Knight 2.66
(The Year of the Everlasting Storm) 2.43
Ain't Them Bodies Saints 2.33
Peter Pan and Wendy N/A
Michael Mann
The Insider 3.07
Ferrari (11) 2.85
Ali 2.82
Collateral 2.81
Miami Vice 2.79
Blackhat 2.71
Public Enemies 2.58
Pietro Marcello
Martin Eden (8) 2.84
(Futura) 2.50
(Scarlet) 2.50
For Lucio N/A
Lost and Beautiful N/A
Steve McQueen
Lovers Rock (2) 3.22
Hunger (6) 3.10
12 Years a Slave (17) 3.04
Mangrove 2.93
Red, White and Blue 2.92
Widows 2.79
Education 2.64
(Occupied City) 2.64
Shame (19) 2.63
Alex Wheatle 2.56
Hayao Miyazaki
Spirited Away (3) 3.43
Howl's Moving Castle 3.15
Princess Mononoke 2.90
The Boy and the Heron 2.85
Ponyo 2.83
The Wind Rises 2.81
Errol Morris
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (4) 3.42
The Fog of War (11) 3.24
Mr. Death 3.10
Tabloid 3.00
Standard Operating Procedure 2.98
Wormwood (17) 2.97
American Dharma 2.64
The Unknown Known 2.64
(The B-Side) 2.56
The Pigeon Tunnel 2.50
(My Psychedelic Love Story) 2.31
Cristian Mungiu
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (1) 3.39
Graduation 2.95
Beyond the Hills 2.84
R.M.N. 2.78
(Tales From the Golden Age) 2.69
Christopher Nolan
The Prestige (2) 3.40
Memento (3) 3.31
The Dark Knight (5) 3.17
Oppenheimer (4) 3.17
Dunkirk (14) 3.12
Insomnia 2.92
Inception (13) 2.84
Tenet (20) 2.84
Interstellar (18) 2.83
Batman Begins (19) 2.81
The Dark Knight Rises 2.63
(Following) 2.28
Hlynur Pálmason
A White, White Day (6) 3.03
Godland 2.70
(Winter Brothers) 2.60
Véréna Paravel
Leviathan (11) 3.14
De humani corporis fabrica (12) 3.11
(Caniba) 2.17
Foreign Parts N/A
Alexander Payne
Election (6) 3.26
(Citizen Ruth) 3.22
Sideways (7) 3.05
The Holdovers (13) 2.98
About Schmidt (14) 2.97
Nebraska 2.81
The Descendants 2.68
Downsizing (20) 2.50
Paris je t'aime 2.24
Christian Petzold
Phoenix (6) 3.24
Transit (6) 3.17
Barbara 3.00
Afire 2.89
Jerichow 2.82
Undine 2.82
(Yella) 2.29
Kelly Reichardt
First Cow (1) 3.21
Old Joy (5) 3.17
Meek's Cutoff (8) 3.13
Certain Women 3.10
Showing Up (5) 3.09
Wendy and Lucy 2.98
Night Moves 2.86
Robert Rodriguez
Grindhouse (4) 2.93
Frank Miller's Sin City* (10) 2.74
Spy Kids 2.71
Machete+ 2.61
The Faculty 2.60
Alita: Battle Angel 2.54
Spy Kids 2 The Island of Lost Dreams 2.50
Once Upon a Time in Mexico 2.44
From Dusk Till Dawn 2.43
(Spy Kids 3D: Game Over) 2.06
Machete Kills 2.00
(Sin City: A Dame to Kill For)* 1.88
Happier Than Ever# N/A
Hypnotic N/A
Shorts N/A
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World N/A
* with Frank Miller
+ with Ethan Maniquis
# with Patrick Osborne
Paul Schrader
First Reformed (3) 3.17
Affliction (17) 2.94
The Card Counter 2.79
Master Gardener 2.61
Auto Focus 2.32
Dog Eat Dog 2.20
(The Walker) 2.19
(Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist) 1.86
The Canyons 1.36
Adam Resurrected N/A
Dying of the Light N/A
Touch N/A
Martin Scorsese
The Departed (1) 3.42
The Wolf of Wall Street (2) 3.27
Killers of the Flower Moon (8) 3.22
Kundun (7) 3.22
Silence (4) 3.22
I Heard You Paint Houses (5) 3.20
Shutter Island (14) 3.05
Gangs of New York (9) 3.01
The Aviator 2.96
Hugo (19) 2.93
Conjuring the Rolling Thunder Re-vue 2.85
(Personality Crisis: One Night Only) 2.80
(Public Speaking) 2.79
Bringing Out the Dead 2.52
Shine a Light 2.50
Living in the Material World N/A
Ridley Scott
Gladiator (20) 3.04
The Counselor 2.91
The Martian 2.89
The Last Duel 2.81
Black Hawk Down (20) 2.78
Matchstick Men 2.78
American Gangster 2.50
Body of Lies 2.50
All the Money in the World 2.46
G.I. Jane 2.42
Alien: Covenant 2.39
Kingdom of Heaven 2.33
Prometheus 2.26
Napoleon 2.24
(White Squall) 2.22
House of Gucci 2.06
(Exodus: Gods and Kings) 2.00
Hannibal 1.94
(A Good Year) 1.93
Robin Hood 1.91
Albert Serra
Pacifiction 2.94
(Quixotic) 2.92
Liberté 2.80
The Death of Louis XIV 2.68
Birdsong 2.59
(Story of My Death) 2.31
Steven Soderbergh
Out of Sight (1) 3.37
Traffic (5) 3.24
Erin Brockovich 3.14
The Limey 2.99
Contagion 2.96
(Gray’s Anatomy) 2.94
Ocean’s Eleven 2.93
The Informant! 2.92
KIMI 2.91
Solaris 2.86
Haywire 2.85
Let Them All Talk 2.83
No Sudden Move 2.79
Logan Lucky 2.77
High Flying Bird 2.76
And Everything Is Going Fine 2.75
The Girlfriend Experience 2.72
Magic Mike 2.70
Schizopolis 2.70
Bubble 2.66
The Good German 2.66
Full Frontal 2.63
Side Effects 2.59
Ocean's Twelve 2.52
Ocean's Thirteen 2.52
Unsane 2.40
Che 2.35
Magic Mike's Last Dance 2.22
Eros 2.16
The Laundromat 1.83
Tran Anh Hung
The Taste of Things (18) 2.95
The Vertical Ray of the Sun 2.67
Norwegian Wood 2.25
Cyclo (14) N/A
Justine Triet
Anatomy of a Fall (6) 3.03
(Sibyl) 2.72
John Woo
Face/Off (10) 3.33
Red Cliff 2.75
Paycheck 2.64
Windtalkers 2.43
Broken Arrow 2.37
Mission: Impossible II 2.33
Silent Night 2.33
Zhang Yimou
Hero (5) 3.15
Shadow 3.11
Not One Less 3.03
House of Flying Daggers (20) 3.00
(One Second) 2.92
Cliff Walkers 2.75
Curse of the Golden Flower 2.65
Coming Home 2.56
(Full River Red) 2.50
(Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles) 2.50
The Great Wall 2.46
(Happy Times) 2.44
(The Flowers of War) 2.42
(A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop) 2.19
The Road Home 1.88
Under the Light N/A
