Skandiewrap, or More Than You Wanted to Know

Well, that was predictable. Some years, I have no idea which film will win Best Picture; other years, I have a pretty good guess, but am well aware that it might be wrong (which it sometimes is). This was the first year in a long time—since 1999, probably, the year of Being John Malkovich—that I've had zero doubt about the result in that category. Wouldn't have bet my life on it, but if somebody had wanted to wager, say, twenty grand, I don't think I would have hesitated (and that's a substantial portion of my net worth, I'm afraid). Action movies as virtuosic and flat-out insane as Mad Max: Fury Road come around maybe once in a generation; with only a handful of exceptions among the AVB (cut to reaction shot of Michael Sicinski gritting teeth, shaking head), its greatness couldn't be denied.

Other races were more contentious. I honestly had no clue who was going to win Best Actor, and would have had a hard time even guessing the likely "nominees" (mostly because I saw virtually no great performances by leading men last year—for me, there was Jason Bateman in The Gift and then pretty much everybody else in a tie for who cares). Given the whole #OscarsSoWhite brouhaha, Michael B. Jordan's win feels like a corrective, though it's not as if the Skandies have been super diverse over the years. (I'd actually thought Jordan was our first African-American champ ever—forgot that Shareeka Epps won Supporting Actress for Half Nelson.) Actress, meanwhile, turned out to be a real nail-biter, the lead shifting among Rampling, Hoss, and Mara throughout balloting; Mara ultimately squeaked out the narrowest victory since 2010, when David Fincher pipped Darren Aronofsky by a single point in Director (even though neither one directed that year's Best Picture, which was Dogtooth). Alex Fung, who used to calculate what he called Impact stats back in the day (basically how many points a film/person received out of how many possible points they could have received, given how many people saw the film in question), pointed out that four of the five people who saw She's Lost Control (myself included) voted for Brooke Bloom, which is pretty impressive even though that was too few for her to make the main list. Sarah Snook, who placed 11th, managed the exact equivalent, receiving points from 8 of the 10 folks who caught Predestination. (What the hell is wrong with the other two of you?)

Last year, I expressed concern that the AVB was getting a tad too aggressively auteurist, as Picture and Director overlapped in 18 of 20 slots, whereas Picture and Screenplay did so in only 13 instances. Well, you heard me loud and clear. Seven directors made the cut in 2015 despite voters being less enamored of the films they directed: Aleksey German, Michael Mann, Pedro Costa, László Nemes, Guillermo Del Toro, the Safdie brothers, and (in something of a shocker, given that The Act of Killing placed 7th two years ago while he didn't make the top 20) Joshua Oppenheimer. We also loved the scripts for 45 Years, Bone Tomahawk, The Big Short, The Kindergarten Teacher, Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, and Results more than we did any of those pictures as a whole. Same number in both cases. That pleases me. Good job everyone. Also good job showing little love for The Revenant, even though I enjoyed it more than most of you did. My hypothetical prediction of the Actor "nominees" would surely have included DiCaprio (who won the category two years ago and nearly won for The Departed); instead, he failed to even make the top 20—as firm a repudiation of suffering-for-my-Oscar as I could have imagined or desired. I don't really get the passion for this particular Oscar Isaac performance, but at least Richard Jenkins was in the running for a while. No anger or major disappointment to report, really, apart from wishing Scott "sorry, I thought I'd be at the office today to retrieve my shortlists and it didn't happen" Renshaw and Sky "stuck outside of Sundance with the snowstorm blues again" Hirschkron had heeded my annual plea to create a provisional ballot that I can use in the event that something goes wrong right before the deadline...which, as you can see, it sometimes does, life being much less predictable than this year's Best Picture contest. FULL CIRCLE!

Okay, on to the number-crunching. (Many of you will want to check out at this point.) What follows are the stats I used to send out to voters (via snail mail!) back in the '90s, which I still maintain for my own obsessive amusement.

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HIGHEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2015)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of ten votes)

01. 3.65 The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
02. 3.61 Being John Malkovich (1999)
02. 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 still nearly impossible for new films to make this list, due to a significant uptick in voter stinginess with high ratings since the '90s, but Mad Max: Fury Road just barely managed it, displacing what had been a three-way tie for 10th between Irma Vep, Lone Star and Margaret.

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LOWEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2015)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of five votes)

01. 0.20 Date Movie (2006)
01. 0.20 America (2014)
03. 0.58 Miss March (2009)
04. 0.60 Dragonfly (2002)
05. 0.61 The Roommate (2011)
06. 0.67 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
06. 0.67 The Human Centipede III (Final Sequence) (2015)
08. 0.70 Beastly (2011)
08. 0.70 Left Behind (2014)
10. 0.75 The Mod Squad (1999)

The final Human Centipede installment knocks out the aging-bro "thriller" I Melt With You.

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MOST DIVISIVE FILMS (2015)
(std. deviation >= 0.75; minimum 2 votes 3.5 or higher, 2 votes 1.5 or lower)

Aloha (0.90)

Tangerine (0.89)

Horse Money (0.79)

The Tribe (0.79)

The Duke of Burgundy (0.78)

Anomalisa (0.77)

Magic Mike XXL (0.75)

Those last three are all on my top ten list, so apparently I myself am pretty divisive.

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BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
(lowest-ranked film seen by at least 75% of respondents)

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)

Though Trainwreck, which was just shy of 75%, has a much lower average than Baumbach's film, and is probably the real winner here.

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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)

I keep waiting for a film to beat Crash's record for the lowest average ever, but it may never happen. Remember, that's Cronenberg's Crash, not Haggis'.

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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)

Interestingly, The Look of Silence scored a significantly higher average than The Act of Killing (3.13), but the latter placed 7th in Best Picture voting while the former finished 25th.

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DAMN THE REVIEWS, FULL SPEED AHEAD
(lowest average among films seen by at least 10 respondents)

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)

Not really a "damn the reviews" situation this year, but a case of the AVB actively hating a film that many critics (inexplicably) loved.

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SELECTION COMMITTEE ON CRACK
(lowest average for a film that screened at the New York Film Festival)
(post-expansion: Main Slate only)

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)

Odds are good that My Name Is Hmmm... would have won the title this year, but almost nobody saw it.

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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
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
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

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MAJOR FESTIVAL PRIZE WINNERS: OUR VERDICT

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 (TBD)

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 (TBD)

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)

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Most Appearances in Top 20 (Actors)
(ties for number of appearances broken by average placement)

01. 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

02. Tilda Swinton (13)

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
13s. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
18. Female Perversions
19s. Thumbsucker
19s. Trainwreck

03. Isabelle Huppert (12)

2. The Piano Teacher
2s. 8 Women
4. Gabrielle
8. Abuse of Weakness
8. The School of Flesh
12. White Material
13s. I ♥ Huckabees
13s. Amour
15. La Cérémonie
17. Time of the Wolf
17. In Another Country
19. Home

04. Kate Winslet (10)

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. Titanic
9. Jude
9s. Steve Jobs
10. Revolutionary Road
10s. Quills
12. Little Children
13. Holy Smoke
16s. Hamlet
17. Hideous Kinky

(Was also a Supporting Actress nominee for Sense and Sensibility in 1995, when the survey employed Oscar-style voting.)

05. Julianne Moore (10)

1. Far From Heaven
3s. Boogie Nights
6. Still Alice
8s. Magnolia
11. The End of the Affair
13s. The Big Lebowski
15s. An Ideal Husband
16s. A Single Man
19. Savage Grace
19. The Kids Are All Right

(Also won Best Actress for Safe in 1995, when the survey employed Oscar-style voting.)

Winslet moves into 4th place, knocking out Edward Norton.

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Most Films Landed in Top 20 (Directors)
(again, ties broken by average placement)

01. Joel [& Ethan] Coen (9)

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
11. Burn After Reading
12. The Big Lebowski
12. True Grit

02. Richard Linklater (7)

3. Before Sunset
3. Boyhood
4. Before Midnight
9. The School of Rock
12. A Scanner Darkly
15. Waking Life
18. Bernie

03. Lars von Trier (7)

1. Breaking the Waves
1. Dogville
7. Melancholia
10. Dancer in the Dark
17. Nymph()maniac Vol. I
19. The Five Obstructions
20. Manderlay

04. Quentin Tarantino (6)

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
4. Grindhouse
8. The Hateful Eight
9. Django Unchained

05. Wes Anderson (6)

2. Rushmore
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
2. Moonrise Kingdom
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
8. The Royal Tenenbaums
17. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Tarantino moves into 4nd place, knocking out Paul Thomas Anderson (who also has placed six films in the top 20—all in the top 8, in fact—but still has weaker average placement than QT or Wes, because only two of them are top 5).

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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. 2015 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.

Woody Allen

Everyone Says I Love You: 3.09
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (19): 2.98
Match Point (13): 2.93
Blue Jasmine (19): 2.82
Sweet and Lowdown: 2.63
Deconstructing Harry: 2.61
Cassandra's Dream: 2.60
Midnight in Paris: 2.47
Magic in the Moonlight: 2.47
Irrational Man: 2.46
Small Time Crooks: 2.37
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion: 2.33
To Rome With Love: 2.29
Scoop: 2.28
Whatever Works: 2.24
Anything Else: 2.13
Hollywood Ending: 2.13
Celebrity: 2.04
Melinda and Melinda: 2.00
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: 1.93

Michael Almereyda

Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram Story (14): 3.02
Hamlet: 2.87
(This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs "The Late Henry Moss"): 2.60
(Cymbeline): 2.31

Lisandro Alonso

Jauja (16): 2.83
Liverpool: 2.54

Roy Andersson

Songs From the Second Floor (9): 3.23
You, the Living: 2.96
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence: 2.92

Olivier Assayas

Irma Vep (5): 3.48
Summer Hours (3): 3.23
Carlos (6): 3.21
Clouds of Sils Maria (9): 3.16
Late August, Early September: 2.88
Something in the Air: 2.82
Les Destinées: 2.79
Clean: 2.78
demonlover: 2.45
Boarding Gate: 2.35
Paris je t'aime: 2.24

Noah Baumbach

Frances Ha (3): 3.32
The Squid and the Whale (6): 3.21
Mistress America (19): 2.94
Margot at the Wedding: 2.92
Greenberg: 2.84
Mr. Jealousy: 2.72
While We're Young: 2.67

Brad Bird

The Iron Giant (11): 3.24
The Incredibles (8): 3.13
Ratatouille (14): 3.08
Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol: 2.91
Tomorrowland: 2.23

Bertrand Bonello

House of Pleasures (5): 3.40
Saint Laurent (13): 3.11

Danny Boyle

Trainspotting (11): 3.19
Millions: 2.93
28 Days Later: 2.90
127 Hours: 2.76
Sunshine: 2.74
Steve Jobs: 2.62
Slumdog Millionaire: 2.42
(A Life Less Ordinary): 2.22
The Beach: 2.08
(Trance): 1.88

Kenneth Branagh

Hamlet (9): 3.29
(A Midwinter's Tale): 2.83
(Cinderella): 2.75
Thor: 2.39
Love's Labours Lost: 2.10
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit: 2.05
Sleuth: 1.40

Andrew Bujalski

Computer Chess (13): 3.10
Mutual Appreciation (15): 2.93
Results: 2.78
Funny Ha Ha: 2.76
Beeswax: 2.75

Pedro Costa

(Ne change rien): 3.17
Colossal Youth: 2.77
Horse Money: 2.73

David Cronenberg

A History of Violence (7): 3.11
Cosmopolis (15): 2.76
eXistenZ: 2.74
Eastern Promises: 2.73
Crash (18): 2.52
A Dangerous Method: 2.48
Maps to the Stars: 2.48
Spider: 2.34

Cameron Crowe

Jerry Maguire (10): 3.27
Almost Famous (15): 2.99
We Bought a Zoo: 2.50
Aloha: 2.28
Vanilla Sky: 2.20
Elizabethtown: 1.90

Guillermo Del Toro

Pan's Labyrinth (8): 2.95
Crimson Peak: 2.76
The Devil's Backbone: 2.66
Blade II: 2.63
Hellboy II: The Golden Army: 2.53
Hellboy: 2.33
Pacific Rim: 2.18
Mimic: 2.06

Jonathan Demme

Rachel Getting Married (4): 3.28
Neil Young: Heart of Gold: 2.94
(Neil Young Journeys): 2.93
(Storefront Hitchcock): 2.92
Ricki and the Flash: 2.76
The Manchurian Candidate: 2.70
(Man From Plains): 2.67
Beloved: 2.64
(A Master Builder): 2.64
Neil Young Trunk Show: 2.50
The Truth About Charlie: 2.48
(The Agronomist): 2.39
Enzo Avitabile Music Life: N/A
I'm Carolyn Parker: N/A

Pete Docter

Up (4): 3.17
Inside Out (4): 3.12
Monsters, Inc.: 3.06

Bruno Dumont

Hadewijch: 3.00
Flanders: 2.96
Camille Claudel 1915: 2.79
Humanité (13): 2.79
Li'l Quinquin: 2.79
Outside Satan: 2.60
Twentynine Palms: 2.42
(Life of Jesus): 2.19

Miguel Gomes

Tabu (13): 3.13
Arabian Nights: Volume Two, The Desolate One: 2.92
(Our Beloved Month of August): 2.64
Arabian Nights: Volume One, The Restless One: 2.57
Arabian Nights: Volume Three, The Enchanted One: 2.54

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Amores Perros (17): 2.82
21 Grams: 2.49
The Revenant: 2.45
Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): 2.44
Biutiful: 2.00
Babel: 1.95

Debra Granik

Winter's Bone (2): 3.24
(Stray Dog): 3.10
Down to the Bone: N/A

David Gordon Green

George Washington: 3.05
All the Real Girls (15): 2.93
Pineapple Express: 2.71
Joe: 2.69
(Manglehorn): 2.58
Undertow: 2.56
Snow Angels: 2.56
Prince Avalanche: 2.50
(Our Brand Is Crisis): 2.19
(The Sitter): 2.00
Your Highness: 1.89

Todd Haynes

Far From Heaven (4): 3.37
Carol (2): 3.35
I'm Not There (10): 2.92
Velvet Goldmine: 2.43

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Flight of the Red Balloon (15): 3.04
Three Times: 2.85
Millennium Mambo: 2.83
The Assassin (17): 2.73
Café Lumière: 2.55

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

(The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet): 2.80
Micmacs: 2.75
Amélie (13): 2.71
A Very Long Engagement: 2.55
Alien Resurrection: 2.39

Charlie Kaufman

Synecdoche, New York (7): 2.93
Anomalisa (10): 2.87

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

Spike Lee

25th Hour (1): 3.42
Get on the Bus: 3.29
(4 Little Girls): 3.14
Inside Man (16): 2.99
(Passing Strange): 2.94
Chi-Raq: 2.74
The Original Kings of Comedy: 2.73
(Bad 25): 2.60
He Got Game: 2.59
Summer of Sam: 2.57
Oldboy: 2.46
Red Hook Summer: 2.42
(Girl 6): 2.28
Bamboozled: 2.13
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus: 2.13
Miracle at St. Anna: 2.00
She Hate Me: 1.32
Jim Brown: All American: N/A

Guy Maddin

The Forbidden Room (7): 3.26
My Winnipeg (8): 3.22
Cowards Bend the Knee: 3.11
The Saddest Music in the World: 3.01
Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary: 2.93
Brand Upon the Brain!: 2.90
Keyhole: 2.56

Michael Mann

The Insider: 3.07
Ali: 2.82
Collateral: 2.81
Miami Vice: 2.79
Blackhat: 2.71
Public Enemies: 2.58

Sam Mendes

American Beauty (16): 2.97
Skyfall: 2.93
Road to Perdition: 2.82
Revolutionary Road: 2.65
Jarhead: 2.44
Spectre: 2.29
Away We Go: 2.19

Takashi Miike

Audition (6): 3.22
13 Assassins: 3.03
Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai: 2.80
Dead or Alive: 2.79
Ichi the Killer: 2.74
The Happiness of the Katakuris: 2.73
Gozu: 2.61
The City of Lost Souls: 2.56
Yakuza Apocalypse: 2.54
Three...Extremes: 2.47
Sukiyaki Western Django: 2.32
The Great Yokai War: 2.25
(One Missed Call): 2.20
(DOA: Final): 2.17

George Miller

Mad Max: Fury Road (1): 3.49
Babe: Pig in the City (9): 3.13
Happy Feet: 2.42
(Happy Feet Two): 2.20

David Robert Mitchell

It Follows (15): 3.00
The Myth of the American Sleepover: 2.66

Gaspar Noé

Irreversible (1): 3.12
I Stand Alone: 2.94
Enter the Void (11): 2.78
Love: 2.41

Joshua Oppenheimer

The Look of Silence: 3.28
The Act of Killing (7): 3.13

Jafar Panahi

Offside (11): 3.25
Crimson Gold (11): 3.20
(The Mirror): 3.20
The White Balloon: 3.14
This Is Not a Film: 3.00
Jafar Panahi's Taxi: 2.84
The Circle: 2.70
Closed Curtain: 2.63

Christian Petzold

Phoenix (6): 3.24
Barbara: 3.00
Jerichow: 2.82
(Yella): 2.29

David O. Russell

Three Kings (9): 3.18
Flirting With Disaster: 3.12
I [Heart] Huckabees (14): 2.84
The Fighter: 2.76
Silver Linings Playbook: 2.63
Joy: 2.54
American Hustle: 2.50
Accidental Love: 2.11 [unfinished/disowned/pseudonymized]

Josh Safdie & Benny Safdie

Heaven Knows What: 3.02
Daddy Longlegs: 2.25

Ridley Scott

Gladiator (20): 3.04
The Counselor: 2.91
The Martian: 2.89
Black Hawk Down (20): 2.78
Matchstick Men: 2.78
American Gangster : 2.50
Body of Lies: 2.50
G.I. Jane: 2.42
Kingdom of Heaven: 2.33
Prometheus: 2.26
(White Squall): 2.22
(Exodus: Gods and Kings): 2.00
Hannibal: 1.94
(A Good Year): 1.93
Robin Hood: 1.91

Paolo Sorrentino

The Great Beauty (15): 3.00
This Must Be the Place: 2.91
Il Divo: 2.74
Youth: 2.46

Steven Spielberg

Saving Private Ryan (8): 3.27
Minority Report: 2.92
AI (7): 2.91
Munich (14): 2.88
Lincoln (19): 2.86
Bridge of Spies: 2.85
Amistad: 2.83
War of the Worlds: 2.82
Catch Me if You Can: 2.79
War Horse: 2.79
The Adventures of Tintin: 2.78
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: 2.39
The Lost World: Jurassic Park: 2.33
The Terminal: 2.10

Peter Strickland

The Duke of Burgundy (3): 3.22
Berberian Sound Studio: 2.72

Quentin Tarantino

Inglourious Basterds (1): 3.46
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2): 3.21
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (4): 3.16
The Hateful Eight (8): 3.13
Django Unchained (9): 3.09
Grindhouse (4): 2.93
Jackie Brown: 2.90

Johnnie To

Drug War: 3.17
Exiled (18): 2.97
Mad Detective: 2.95
Vengeance: 2.87
Election: 2.79
Fulltime Killer: 2.74
Election 2: 2.73
(Breaking News): 2.50
Office: 2.47
(Throwdown): 2.33
Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2: N/A

Denis Villeneuve

Sicario (12): 3.09
(Polytechnique): 2.71
Incendies: 2.67
Enemy: 2.43
Maelström: 2.29
Prisoners: 2.08

Thomas Vinterberg

The Celebration (14): 3.24
Far From the Madding Crowd: 2.79
The Hunt: 2.61
Dear Wendy: 2.14
It's All About Love: 1.77

The Wachowski Siblings

Bound (16): 3.29
The Matrix: 2.96
Speed Racer: 2.57
Cloud Atlas: 2.45
The Matrix Reloaded: 2.29
The Matrix Revolutions: 2.21
Jupiter Ascending: 1.88

Joe Wright

Pride & Prejudice: 3.02
Atonement (20): 3.00
Hanna: 2.57
Anna Karenina: 2.56
(The Soloist): 2.14
Pan: N/A

Robert Zemeckis

Cast Away (12): 3.06
Contact: 2.83
The Walk: 2.68
The Polar Express: 2.65
(Disney's A Christmas Carol): 2.61
Flight: 2.55
Beowulf: 2.47
What Lies Beneath: 2.00

 Zhang Yimou

Hero (5): 3.15
Not One Less: 3.03
House of Flying Daggers (20): 3.00
Curse of the Golden Flower: 2.65
Coming Home: 2.56
(Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles): 2.50
(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