22 February 2025

Skandiewrap, or More Than You Wanted to Know

"You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run into assholes all day, you're the asshole."—Raylan Givens (though he first asks "You ever hear the saying?" so it's likely older and anonymous). 

AITA? It's now been five years at minimum since we've had a movie year that didn't seem decidedly subpar to me, with 2019 the most recent year in which all of the films on my top 10 list are rated 70+. (That's true of every previous year until you get back to 1991, and even that's just because there are likely some 70+ '91 films that I haven't yet rewatched and rated.) Consequently, this introduction to my annual Skandies post mortem has turned into a recurring "Where did all the masterpieces go?" lament. As noted in last year's introduction, I have a recorded history of bad-mouthing years that I myself later declare to have been amazing (1994 was the example I used), so it's entirely possible that I'll look back at 2020–2024, from the vantage point of the 2040s (assuming I make it that far—not guaranteed!), and realize once again that I couldn't see the forest for the trees. Still, the falloff since before the pandemic has been so pronounced, in my view, that I find it very difficult to rationalize. (To be clear, I don't blame the pandemic itself, except maybe when it comes to 2020. But that is when it happened.) 

My friend Bilge likes to say that every year is a great year for movies, which is obviously true in the most basic sense that there has never been a year that didn't produce many films that are admired by many people. Still, when I look at the last five years, even my own favorites generally don't seem like all-timers to me, with perhaps one exception (Memoria). In an effort to determine whether this is really Just Me, and also because the likelihood of a Skandies mid-century survey is fairly slim (come early 2050 I'll be either 81 years old or dead), I decided to conduct a quarter-century survey, inviting the August Voting Body to submit their ten favorite films that premiered from 2000–2024, using our standard Pazz & Jop point system (though a larger number of voters than usual refused to do any ranking, allotting 10 points across the board). While I was curious about the results, I was actually much more curious to see how many films from the past five years would be cited. A: Not very many! 

Here's how it shook out at the top. 22 films, as there was a three-way tie for #20. The near-runaway winner was perhaps predictable given its director's very recent death (though I imagine it'd have landed in the top three regardless). 

[x/x] = number of points / number of votes

01. Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch) [138/12]
02. Dogville (2003, Lars von Trier) [111/11]
03. In the Mood for Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai) [109/11]
04. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, Wes Anderson) [60/7]
05. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson) [60/6]
      Zodiac (2007, David Fincher) [60/6]
07. Inglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino) [52/6]
      Under the Skin (2013, Jonathan Glazer) [52/6]
09. A Separation (2011, Asghar Farhadi) [50/6]
10. Margaret (2011, Kenneth Lonergan) [50/5]
11. Tropical Malady (2004, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) [50/4]
12. Yi Yi aka A One and a Two... (2000, Edward Yang) [50/3]
13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry) [46/4]
14. The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick) [45/4]
15. Synecdoche, New York (2008, Charlie Kaufman) [40/3]
16. INLAND EMPIRE (2008, David Lynch) [38/3]
17. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001, Joel Coen) [36/3]
18. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000, Béla Tarr) [33/4]
19. Ghost World (2001, Terry Zwigoff) [33/3]
20. Cameraperson (2016, Kirsten Johnson) [30/3]
      Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller) [30/3]
      The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese) [30/3]

The most surprising result to me is Grand Budapest's high placement—when I asked basically the same group of voters for their favorites of 2010–2019, Under the Skin (which handily beat Grand Budapest back in 2014) received 148/12 to GBH's 40/4 (good for #18). Not even close. Yet here Wes' film is getting (marginally) more support than did Glazer's, just five years later. Which brings me to my massive disclaimer: Yes, people's opinions absolutely shift over time. I myself included Mulholland Drive on my quarter-century ballot despite its having landed only at #8 on my original 2001 top 10. Didn't fall head over heels for it until fairly recently. So the fact that no film from 2020–2024—indeed, no film from 2017–2024—cracked the list above doesn't mean that one or more of 'em won't show up should I be able to do this again 25 years hence. One could very credibly argue that not enough time has yet passed for recent masterpieces to make themselves known/felt. I genuinely do buy that. 

But still. I mean. Look at this freakin' disparity. Here's every film that received a vote, grouped by year of premiere. 

2000: 9 [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; In the Mood for Love; Memento; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Requiem for a Dream; Songs From the Second Floor; State and Main; Werckmeister Harmonies; Yi Yi]


2001: 12 [AI; Amélie; Donnie Darko; Ghost World; The Man Who Wasn’t There; Mulholland Drive; Pulse; The Royal Tenenbaums; Spirited Away; Time Out; Trouble Every Day; Y tu mamá también]


2002: 11 [*Corpus Callosum; Distant; Far From Heaven; Femme Fatale; Friday Night; Gerry; Irreversible; Punch-Drunk Love; The Rules of Attraction; Turning Gate; 25th Hour]


2003: 6: [The Brown Bunny; Dogville; Kill Bill Vol. 1; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; The School of Rock; Twentynine Palms]


2004: 8 [Before Sunset; Birth; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Kill Bill Vol. 2, Kings & Queen; The Passion of the Christ; Primer; Wolff von Amerongen: Did He Commit Bankruptcy Offenses?]


2005: 4 [Caché; Lady Vengeance; The New World; Tropical Malady]


2006: 7 [Children of Men; INLAND EMPIRE; Miami Vice; Offside; Old Joy; Southland Tales; Syndromes and a Century]


2007: 7 [4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; In the City of Sylvia; No Country for Old Men; Playing; Silent Light; There Will Be Blood; Zodiac]


2008: 5 [Afterschool; Love Exposure; Speed Racer; Summer Hours; Synecdoche, New York]


2009: 7 [Alamar; Disorder; Father of My Children; Inglourious Basterds; A Serious Man; Trash Humpers; Wild Grass]


2010: 5 [Beyond the Black Rainbow; Certified Copy; Meek’s Cutoff; Of Gods and Men; The Runaways]


2011: 7 [The Deep Blue Sea; House of Pleasures; The Kid With a Bike; Margaret; A Separation; The Tree of Life; The Turin Horse]


2012: 5 [The Act of Killing; Frances Ha; Holy Motors; Lincoln; Something in the Air]


2013: 10 [Blue Is the Warmest Color; Computer Chess; Enough Said; The Great Beauty; Hard to Be a God; Inside Llewyn Davis; Mood Indigo; Stray Dogs; Under the Skin; The Wolf of Wall Street]


2014: 8 [Boyhood; The Duke of Burgundy; Goodbye to Language; The Grand Budapest Hotel; Inherent Vice; The Mend; National Gallery; Two Days, One Night]


2015: 9 [Brooklyn; Carol; The Forbidden Room; Green Room; Knight of Cups; The Lobster; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Martian; The Other Side]


2016: 7 [Cameraperson; Manchester By The Sea; Moonlight; The Nice Guys; Nocturama; Personal Shopper; Silence]


2017: 5 [Call Me by Your Name; Dunkirk; First Reformed; Lady Bird; Phantom Thread]


2018: 5 [Cold War; Game Night; The Grand Bizarre; Hereditary; Roma]


2019: 9 [Atlantics; Avengers: Endgame; The Beach Bum; I Heard You Paint Houses; Little Women; Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood; Parasite; Portrait of a Lady on Fire; Uncut Gems]


2020: 1 [Lovers Rock]


2021: 3 [Annette; The Girl and the Spider; Memoria]


2022: 4 [Athena; Decision to Leave; RRR; Trenque Lauquen]


2023: 2 [Beau Is Afraid; The Zone of Interest]


2024: 4 [Anora; Grand Tour; Kinds of Kindness; Nickel Boys]


Or, to put it another way: 


2000–2004: 45

2005–2009: 30

2010–2014: 35

2015–2019: 35

2020–2024: 14


That more or less matches my own sense of movies being amazing early in the century, then solidly good until 2020, then we just go off a cliff...with some great movies still being made, of course, but so comparatively few that someone like me who finds 80% of a year's universally acclaimed films no better than like 68/100 is gonna wind up feeling a bit cheated. Again, see the disclaimer above—it's entirely possible that these numbers would/will look more equitable down the road. But I confess that upon seeing these results, I heaved a sigh of relief: Okay, I'm not crazy. They ain't makin' 'em like they used to. 

For those wondering, Phantom Thread is the highest-ranked film (#5) from the last decade poll that didn't make this list (got 22/2), while The New World is the highest-ranked film (#6) from the aughts decade poll that didn't make this list (got 25/2). 

As for the 2024 Skandies, while I remain frustrated by the need to fill out my Best Picture ballot with films I like but by no means love—this year there were a record six of those, each getting the minimum 5 points—the final results were unusually gemkocentric even for this survey, with all three of my true favorites (Challengers, Red Rooms, Henry Sugar) landing in the top five, and one of them winning. What's more, I'm always happy when we don't simply rubber-stamp the movies and actors that are sweeping other awards-giving bodies, because if we're consistently doing that then what's the point, really? Red Rooms is arguably the most distinctive Picture winner in Skandie history, in terms of having received little to no comparative acclaim elsewhere, and several of our other choices—Luca Guadagnino as Best Director, Glen Powell as Best Actor, Laurie Babin as Best Supporting Actress—are, if not unique, at least unusual (while also being wholly justifiable imo, even if I didn't vote for Babin myself). We also gave plenty of love to a Wes Anderson film that nobody else even considers to be a feature, despite being able to watch it as a feature right this second (provided they have a Netflix subscription). Apart from being forced by my own stupid completist rules to sit through Aggro Dr1ft rather than rewatch Hit Man (which I can still do!), I have no complaints.


Oh, one bit of belated housekeeping: There was briefly a glitch on the Skandies website (see link in following paragraph) in which Zendaya didn't appear, because the software didn't know what to do with a mononymous actor. (Björk was back in the laborious days when I compiled all the ballots by hand.) Fixing this, Mark discovered an error that had escaped me, because the only way to detect it is near-perfect memory (or spot-checking that would take hours): one person voted for Zendaya in Challengers both for Actress and for Supporting Actress, giving her 10 points in each. Ignoring the fact that she's obviously a lead in that movie, grr, this meant subtracting 10 points from her total, which moved from her #9 to #10 (with Strange Darling's Willa Fitzgerald—my own vote for last year's Best Actress, as it happens—correspondingly inching up from #10 to #9). That's reflected now on the site, but I doubt many would've noticed without my mentioning it here. (For the record, before someone asks, it doesn't matter whether the voter in question would prefer lead or supporting. Either way, she'd land in lead, where she freakin' belongs.) 

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 29 years—yes, this is the 30th goddamn time I've conducted this thing—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 (1996–2024)
(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)
      3.48 Memoria (2021)
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—and in fact, might I note, no new additions since 2019. Hmm... Highest-rated film of 2024, to my surprise, was The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, with a 3.33 average. (Not that high averages for Wes' films are at all unusual, but I had a sense, apparently false, that this one's more divisive.) 



LOWEST AVERAGE RATING (1996–2024)
(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 2024, among those that received at least five votes, was John Krasinski's IF, with a comparatively robust 1.40 average. 



HIGHEST AVERAGE POINTS PER VOTE (1996–2024)
(includes only films receiving a minimum of five votes)

New category! Don't know why it never occurred to me to keep track of this before. The way voting works, for those unaware of Pazz & Jop rules, is that everyone gets 100 points in each category, to be divided as preferred among 10 choices. Some people mostly or (in one case) entirely ignore this option and just allot 10 points to everything/one, because ranking is for nerds or whatever the fuck. But you're allowed to give as many as 30 or as few as 5, so long as the ten add up to 100. Most averages fall pretty close to 10, but there are exceptions; here's what's engendered the most passion over three decades. 

01. [21.82] Billy Bob Thornton, Sling Blade (Adapted Screenplay*, 1996, 175/8)
02. [20.56] Emily Watson, Breaking the Waves (Actress, 1996, 370/18)
03. [20.27] The New World (Picture, 2005, 223/11)
04. [19.83] Elles alfresco, In the City of Sylvia (Scene, 2008, 119/6)
      [19.83] 20th Century Women (Picture, 2016, 119/6)
06. [19.65] Kenneth Lonergan, Margaret (Screenplay, 2011, 511/26)
07. [19.55] Hafsia Herzi, The Secret of the Grain (S. Actress, 2008, 215/11)
08. [19.34] Asghar Farhadi, A Separation (Screenplay, 2011, 619/32) 
09. [18.69] Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York (Screenplay, 2008, 243/13)
10. [18.60] A White, White Day (Picture, 2020, 93/5)

(Yes, we had a year in which 511 points was somehow not even close to good enough for a Screenplay win. Jesus.)

Very hard to reach this exalted level—Naomi Watts isn't on this list for Mulholland Drive! she got 591/32, for "only" an 18.47 average—and nothing has managed it in the past few years. 2024's highest average, for which I am partly responsible (my favorite performance of the year), was 16.20 for Alaina Clifford as S. Actress in Eureka (81/5). 

* 1996 was the sole year that Adapted Screenplay existed as a category, and Thornton being atop this list is mostly due to the fact that voters had enormous trouble coming up with 10 original and 10 adapted screenplays worth voting for. Consequently, I combined Original and Adapted into just plain Screenplay the following year, adding Scene in order to keep the number of categories even, which I wanted to do because back then I was printing the results out double-sided and snail-mailing them to voters. Anyway, that's why there's such an odd record-holder here. Thought about going to 11, like Nigel, but nah. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

MOST DIVISIVE FILMS (2024)
(std. deviation >= 0.75; minimum two votes 3.5 or higher, two votes 1.5 or lower)

Megalopolis (0.93)
Emilia Pérez (0.87)
• Aggro Dr1ft (0.81)
• I Saw the TV Glow (0.75)

Exactly the titles I'd expected, though I'm surprised TV Glow is at the bottom of the list rather than the top. Least divisive, incidentally, were Bob Marley: One Love and Firebrand, both of which everyone who saw them agreed were mildly bad. (Thanks a heap for making me sit through the latter, Fremaux.) 



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)
2020: Mank (2.30)
2021: Titane (2.54)
2022: Babylon (2.10)
2023: Beau Is Afraid (2.40)
2024: Henry James' Drive-Away Dykes (2.10)

Here's hoping Joel and Ethan find their way back to each other soon. Thanks to a Patreon request for me to review Babylon, I've now seen all of these except Little Miss Sunshine (which has likewise been a Patreon request, so I'll see it eventually). 



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)
2020: I Was at Home, but... (2.69)
2021: The Killing of Two Lovers (2.75)
2022: Athena (2.73)
2023: Past Lives (2.73)
2024: Aggro Dr1ft (2.62)

I told Aggro Dr1ft's biggest fan, days before the survey deadline, that I'd been wavering on watching it, entirely because I figured it had an outside shot at making #18-20 based on exactly three votes (one of them from a notorious wild card). A few other voters mildly liked it, but more definitely did not. 



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)
2020: City Hall (3.03)
2021: Quo Vadis, Aida? (3.17)
2022: Onoda (3.10)
2023: Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros (3.09)
2024: Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (3.13)

Soundtrack was gaining momentum just prior to the deadline, might have placed had it been easier to watch earlier on. Also of note: high averages for the relatively little-seen Girls Will Be Girls (3.25, was on my own ballot and Bilge's only), The Count of Monte Cristo (3.10, gonna check this out when I have three hours free) and Daughters (3.07). 

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 I can't imagine that anyone would have foreseen Red Rooms winning. Here they are, with the film's actual placement noted parenthetically. 

1. Anora (3) 2. Red Rooms (1) 3. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (4) 4. Challengers (2) 5. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More (5) 6. Close Your Eyes (10) 7. The Beast (6) 8. Last Summer (11) 9. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (12) 10. Hundreds of Beavers (8) 11. The Substance (13) 12. All We Imagine as Light (15) 13. Nickel Boys (7) 14. Hit Man (did not place, #21) 15. Hard Truths (19) 16. Evil Does Not Exist (16) 17. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (did not place, #23) 18. Janet Planet (14)
19. Aggro Dr1ft (20) 20. Coma (did not place, #29)
He missed Rebel Ridge (#9!), Flow (#17), and The Brutalist (#18), with the last two not even appearing his annual "also likely" hedging (which this year instead included Megalopolis and Good One, neither of which made the top 26). I however missed all three of those and Aggro Dr1ft, which I perhaps hopefully had finishing 21st. (Meanwhile I had Coma way up at #13, not sure how/why its support collapsed.) 



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)
2020: Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (1.95)
2021: House of Gucci (2.00)
2022: Moonfall (1.86)
2023: Saltburn (1.72)
2024: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (1.68)

Same as the old empire. 



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)
2020: The Wild Goose Lake (2.18)
2021: Tragic Jungle (1.90)
2022: The Inspection (2.10)
2023: Stonewalling (2.00)
2024: A Traveler's Needs (2.30)

Heartbroken to see Hong "win" this honor. (As you'll see below, his twin 2024 releases are in fact his two lowest-rated films, out of 20 that have been Skandie-eligible. Traveler's Needs is the first one to drop below 2.5 [though I liked In Our Day less].) 



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
2020: The Devil All the Time (2.21) | Jeremy Heilman; Zach Ralston
2021: Spencer (2.31) | Jeremy Heilman; Victor J. Morton
2022: Stars at Noon (2.42) | Jeremy Heilman
2023: Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (2.19) | Jeff McCloud
2024: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2.36) | Jeff McCloud

Still suspicious that this is a bit on McCloud's part but he did 30-bomb The Beast this year, which I did not expect. 



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)

2024: Robert Zemeckis, Here (#15)


Lowest placement in a decade. I didn't see Here but the concept seems more like an exercise in production design than in direction. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

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)

2024: Azazel Jacobs, His Three Daughters (#5)


Here's the problem, Picture-wise: Literally nobody voted for Jacobs in Director. 


_______________________________________________________________________________________

AWESOME! AWESOME!

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)

2024: Performance/Notes, Hit Man (#1)


First winner from a "rejected" film since Game Night's bullet extraction. Still can't believe Hit Man got seven votes without making the cut. That's gotta be a recent record, lemme look. [...] It's the first film to whiff despite getting more than five votes since Shadow in 2019, which finished at #23 with six. For seven or more, you have to go back to 2013, when NO's eight votes were good enough only for 21st. And we had 40 voters in 2013 vs. only 29 this year. 


_______________________________________________________________________________________

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 (did not place)
2016: I, Daniel Blake (did not place)
2017: The Square (did not place)
2018: Shoplifters (#19, 2018)
2019: Parasite (#2, 2019)
2020: festival cancelled
2021: Titane (did not place)
2022: Triangle of Sadness (did not place)
2023: Anatomy of a Fall (#6)
2024: Anora (#3)

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)
2020: Nomadland (#18, 2020)
2021: Happening (did not place)
2022: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (did not place)
2023: Poor Things (#3)
2024: The Room Next Door (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)
2020: Minari (did not place)
2021: CODA (did not place)
2022: Nanny (did not place)
2023: A Thousand and One (did not place)
2024: In the Summers (did not place)

We really do not get excited about the Sundance winner, though the last couple have at least averaged reasonably well. (In the Summers got 2.83, tying it with e.g. Green Border and Between the Temples and Dahomey.)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

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


Normally I'd have this year's winner in bold, but it looks like I'm gonna get this out prior to the ceremony for once. Anora seems to be considered the front-runner (by Gold Derby, at least); if it in fact wins, it'll be tied with Return of the King. 


_______________________________________________________________________________________

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
8. Memoria
9s. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
11. I Am Love
11s. The Killer
12s. Burn After Reading
12s. Suspiria
13. The Eternal Daughter
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

04. Julianne Moore (13)

1. Far From Heaven
3s. Boogie Nights (1997)
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)
17s. The Room Next Door (2024)
19. Savage Grace (2008)
19. The Kids Are All Right (2010)

She also won Actress in the survey's Oscar-style inaugural year, for Safe, but that doesn't count for this tally.

05. Joaquin Phoenix (12)

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


Moore, with her inexplicable-to-me nod for The Room Nexzzzzzzz, moves from #5 to #4, passing Phoenix. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Most Films Landed in Top 20 (Directors)
(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 FargoTo Each His Own Cinema [segment]

02. Martin Scorsese (9)

1. The Departed
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Silence
5. I Heard You Paint Houses
7. Kundun
8. Killers of the Flower Moon
9. Gangs of New York
14. Shutter Island
19. Hugo

Did not place: Bringing Out the DeadThe AviatorShine a LightPublic SpeakingLiving in the Material WorldConjuring the Rolling Thunder Re-vuePersonality Crisis: One Night Only
Ineligible: Everything prior to KundunMy Voyage to ItalyThe Concert for New York City [segment]; Lady by the Sea: The Statue of LibertyA Letter to EliaThe 50 Year Argument

03. Richard Linklater (9)

3. Before Sunset
3. Boyhood
4. Before Midnight
7. Everybody Wants Some!!
9. The School of Rock
11. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
12. A Scanner Darkly
15. Waking Life
18. Bernie

Did not place: subUrbia; The Newton BoysTapeBad News BearsFast Food NationMe and Orson WellesLast Flag FlyingWhere'd You Go, Bernadette
Ineligible: Everything prior to subUrbiaInning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach

04. Christopher Nolan (9)

2. The Prestige
3. Memento
4. Oppenheimer
5. The Dark Knight
13. Inception
14. Dunkirk
18. Interstellar
19. Batman Begins
20. Tenet

Did not place: FollowingInsomniaThe Dark Knight Rises
Ineligible: nothing

05. Paul Thomas Anderson (8)

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Phantom Thread
3. Licorice Pizza
4. The Master
7. Inherent Vice
7. Magnolia
8. Boogie Nights
8. Punch-Drunk Love

Did not place: Hard Eight
Ineligible: Junun

No movement this year. Linklater would have moved into second had Hit Man placed, but again, it somehow did not. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Where Are They Now?


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 he finally placed again this year (indeed, he won): Guy Pearce. Not added because they're gone (sob): Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Paxton. 

• Joan Allen [2005: The Upside of Anger]
• Mathieu Amalric [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Daniel Auteuil [2005: Caché (Hidden)]
• Alec Baldwin [2006: The Departed]
• Eric Bana [2005: Munich]
• Javier Bardem [2012: Skyfall]
• Sacha Baron Cohen [2006: Borat Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby]
• Kathy Bates [2002: About Schmidt]
• Paul Bettany [2011: Margin Call]
• Thora Birch [2001: Ghost World]
• Jack Black [2012: Bernie]
• Helena Bonham Carter [2007: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]
• Jim Broadbent [2010: Another Year]
• Steve Carell [2014: Foxcatcher]
• Jim Carrey [2010: I Love You, Phillip Morris]
• Michael Cera [2007: Superbad Juno]
• Maggie Cheung [2006: Clean]
• Julie Christie [2007: Away From Her]
• Patricia Clarkson [2005: The Dying Gaul]
• George Clooney [2011: The Descendants]
• Jennifer Connelly [2003: House of Sand and Fog]
• Paddy Considine [2005: My Summer of Love]
• Steve Coogan [2011: The Trip]
• Chris Cooper [2007: Breach]
• Kevin Costner [2005: The Upside of Anger]
• Brian Cox [2002: 25th Hour]
• James Cromwell [1997: L.A. Confidential]
• Joan Cusack [2003: The School of Rock]
• John Cusack [2000: High Fidelity]
• Claire Danes [2005: Shopgirl]
• Jean-Pierre Darroussin [2004: Red Lights]
• Hope Davis [2003: The Secret Lives of Dentists American Splendor]
• Judy Davis [1998: Celebrity]
• Julie Delpy [2013: Before Midnight]
• Judi Dench [2012: Skyfall]
• Catherine Deneuve [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Johnny Depp [2003: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Once Upon a Time in Mexico]
• Zooey Deschanel [2006: Failure to Launch]
• Emmanuelle Devos [2008: A Christmas Tale]
• Rosemarie DeWitt [2012: Your Sister's Sister]
• Cameron Diaz [2001: Vanilla Sky]
• Mati Diop [2013: Simon Killer]
• Illeana Douglas [1996: Grace of My Heart]
• Minnie Driver [1997: Grosse Pointe Blank Good Will Hunting]
• Robert Duvall [2003: Open Range]
• Aaron Eckhart [2008: The Dark Knight]
• Jesse Eisenberg [2010: The Social Network]
• Chiwetel Ejiofor [2013: 12 Years a Slave]
• Dakota Fanning [2014: Night Moves]
• Anna Faris [2008: The House Bunny]
• Vera Farmiga [2009: Up in the Air]
• Colin Firth [2010: The King's Speech]
• Bridget Fonda [1998: A Simple Plan]
• Jodie Foster [2002: Panic Room]
• Jamie Foxx [2012: Django Unchained]
• Morgan Freeman [2004: Million Dollar Baby]
• Charlotte Gainsbourg [2014: Nymph()maniac Vol. II]
• Gael García Bernal [2012: The Loneliest Planet]
• Jennifer Garner [2007: Juno]
• Luminita Gheorghiu [2014: Child's Pose]
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt [2009: (500) Days of Summer]
• Olivier Gourmet [2003: The Son]
• Eva Green [2014: 300: Rise of an Empire]
• Bruce Greenwood [2011: Meek's Cutoff]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal [2006: Sherrybaby Stranger Than Fiction]
• Jackie Earle Haley [2009: Watchmen]
• Ed Harris [2005: A History of Violence]
• Leila Hatami [2011: A Separation]
• Jonah Hill [2013: The Wolf of Wall Street]
• Bryce Dallas Howard [2010: Hereafter]
• Danny Huston [2004: Birth]
• Vlad Ivanov [2009: Police, Adjective]
• Tommy Lee Jones [2012: Lincoln]
• Milla Jovovich [2010: Stone]
• Catherine Keener [2007: Into the Wild]
• Anna Kendrick [2013: Drinking Buddies]
• Rinko Kikuchi [2009: The Brothers Bloom]
• Val Kilmer [2005: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]
• Ben Kingsley [2013: Iron Man Three]
• Greg Kinnear [2002: Auto Focus]
• Keira Knightley [2011: A Dangerous Method]
• Frank Langella [2008: Frost/Nixon]
• Denis Lavant [2012: Holy Motors]
• Valérie Lemercier [2007: Avenue Montaigne]
• Melissa Leo [2010: The Fighter]
• Tony Leung [2005: 2046]
• Laura Linney [2007: The Savages]
• Alison Lohman [2009: Drag Me to Hell]
• Sergi López [2006: Pan's Labyrinth]
• Kelly Macdonald [2007: No Country for Old Men]
• Anthony Mackie [2009: The Hurt Locker]
• Tobey Maguire [2002: Spider-Man]
• John Malkovich [2008: Burn After Reading]
• Leslie Mann [2012: This Is 40]
• Rose McGowan [2007: Grindhouse]
• Ewan McGregor [2010: I Love You, Phillip Morris]
• Ian McKellen [2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]
• Helen Mirren [2006: The Queen]
• Alfred Molina [2004: Coffee and Cigarettes]
• David Morse [2003: The Slaughter Rule]
• Samantha Morton [2008: Synecdoche, New York]
• Peter Mullan [2001: The Claim]
• Liam Neeson [2012: The Grey]
• Thandie Newton [2002: The Truth About Charlie]
• Jack Nicholson [2002: About Schmidt]
• Nick Nolte [2011: Warrior]
• Gary Oldman [2011: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy]
• Timothy Olyphant [2009: A Perfect Getaway]
• Haley Joel Osment [2001: AI]
• Patton Oswalt [2011: Young Adult]
• Clive Owen [2009: Duplicity]
• Elliot Page [2011: Super]
• Gwyneth Paltrow [2009: Two Lovers]
• Joe Pantoliano [2001: Memento]
• Simon Pegg [2013: The World's End]
• Sean Penn [2012: This Must Be the Place]
• Barry Pepper [2010: True Grit]
• Rebecca Pidgeon [2000: State and Main]
• Sarah Polley [1999: Go]
• Jérémie Renier [2009: Lorna's Silence]
• Christina Ricci [2007: Black Snake Moan]
• Julia Roberts [2009: Duplicity]
• Mickey Rourke [2008: The Wrestler]
• Geoffrey Rush [2010: The King's Speech]
• Ludivine Sagnier [2008: A Girl Cut in Two]
• Jason Schwartzman [2009: Fantastic Mr. Fox]
• Campbell Scott [2003: The Secret Lives of Dentists]
• Kristin Scott Thomas [2008: I've Loved You So Long]
• Andy Serkis [2011: Rise of the Planet of the Apes]
• Toni Servillo [2013: The Great Beauty]
• Chloë Sevigny [2000: American Psycho]
• Tony Shalhoub [2001: The Man Who Wasn't There]
• Michael Sheen [2008: Frost/Nixon]
• Ruth Sheen [2010: Another Year]
• Shu Qi [2006: Three Times]
• Stellan Skarsgård [2014: Nymph()maniac Vol. I]
• Kevin Spacey [2011: Margin Call]
• Timothy Spall [2014: Mr. Turner]
• Imelda Staunton [2007: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]
• David Strathairn [2008: My Blueberry Nights]
• Meryl Streep [2011: The Iron Lady]
• Hilary Swank [2004: Million Dollar Baby]
• Channing Tatum [2014: Foxcatcher]
• Lili Taylor [2013: The Conjuring]
• Miles Teller [2014: Whiplash]
• Sylvie Testud [2010: Lourdes]
• Billy Bob Thornton [2003: Bad Santa]
• Uma Thurman [2014: Nymph()maniac Vol. I]
• Stanley Tucci [2009: Julie & Julia]
• Maribel Verdú [2006: Pan's Labyrinth]
• Mark Wahlberg [2010: The Fighter]
• Christopher Walken [2012: Seven Psychopaths]
• Emily Watson [2002: Punch-Drunk Love]
• Naomi Watts [2008: Funny Games]
• Sigourney Weaver [1999: A Map of the World]
• Forest Whitaker [2006: The Last King of Scotland]
• Tom Wilkinson [2007: Michael Clayton]
• Owen Wilson [2011: Midnight in Paris]
• Ray Winstone [2006: The Proposition The Departed]
• Reese Witherspoon [2014: Wild]
• Evan Rachel Wood [2006: Down in the Valley]
• Shailene Woodley [2013: The Spectacular Now]
• Steve Zahn [2007: Rescue Dawn]
• Renée Zellweger [2003: Cold Mountain Down With Love]
• Ziyi Zhang [2013: The Grandmaster]



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.

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

Café Society                              2.60

Cassandra's Dream                         2.60

Midnight in Paris                         2.47

Magic in the Moonlight                    2.47

Coup de chance                            2.46

Irrational Man                            2.46

A Rainy Day in New York                   2.40

Small Time Crooks                         2.37

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion            2.33

To Rome With Love                         2.29

Scoop                                     2.28

(Wonder Wheel)                            2.25

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

(Rifkin’s Festival)                       1.50


Pedro Almodóvar

 

Talk to Her (12)                          3.21

All About My Mother                       3.11

Volver (14)                               3.00

Pain and Glory (19)                       2.96

Julieta                                   2.90

Live Flesh                                2.88

Bad Education                             2.87

The Flower of My Secret                   2.75

Parallel Mothers                          2.72

Broken Embraces                           2.65

The Skin I Live In                        2.62

The Room Next Door                        2.56

I'm So Excited!                           2.21


Lisandro Alonso

 

Jauja (16)                                2.83

(Eureka)                                  2.75

Liverpool                                 2.54


Wes Anderson

 

Rushmore (2)                              3.45

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2)              3.38

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (5)    3.33

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 With Steve Zissou (17)   2.89

Bottle Rocket                             2.63

The Darjeeling Limited                    2.40


Jacques Audiard

 

A Prophet (15)                            3.09

The Sisters Brothers                      3.08

(A Self Made Hero)                        3.06

The Beat That My Heart Skipped            2.88

Paris, 13th District                      2.86

Rust and Bone                             2.82

Dheepan                                   2.69

Read My Lips                              2.55

Emilia Pérez                              2.15


Sean Baker

 

Anora (3)                                 3.26

Red Rocket (6)                            3.15

The Florida Project (8)                   3.06

Tangerine                                 2.75

Starlet                                   2.71

Prince of Broadway                        N/A


Marco Bellocchio

 

Vincere (16)                              2.94

The Traitor                               2.71

(Kidnapped)                               2.67

Good Morning, Night                       2.65

Dormant Beauty                            2.55

Marx Can Wait                             N/A

The Wedding Director                      N/A


Bertrand Bonello

 

Nocturama (1)                             3.46

House of Pleasures (5)                    3.40

Saint Laurent (13)                        3.11

The Beast (6)                             3.02

Coma                                      2.94

Zombi Child                               2.55


Catherine Breillat

 

Bluebeard                                 3.02

Last Summer (11)                          3.00

The Last Mistress                         2.88

Fat Girl                                  2.85

Abuse of Weakness                         2.80

The Sleeping Beauty                       2.75

Sex Is Comedy                             2.66

Romance                                   2.00

Anatomy of Hell                           1.77


J.C. Chandor

 

All Is Lost (14)                          3.22

A Most Violent Year                       2.84

Margin Call                               2.74

Triple Frontier                           2.50

Kraven the Hunter                         N/A


Ethan Coen

 

No Country for Old Men (2)                3.45

Inside Llewyn Davis (1)                   3.26

Burn After Reading (11)                   3.01

True Grit (12)                            2.98

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (10)         2.97

Hail, Caesar!                             2.88

A Serious Man (7)                         2.83

The Ladykillers                           2.24

Paris je t'aime                           2.24

Henry James' Drive-Away Dykes             2.10


Francis Ford Coppola

 

Tetro                                     2.70

John Grisham's The Rainmaker              2.58

Megalopolis                               2.46

(Youth Without Youth)                     2.43

(Jack)                                    1.80


Brady Corbet

 

(The Childhood of a Leader)               2.90

The Brutalist (18)                        2.82

Vox Lux                                   2.80


Arnaud Desplechin

 

My Golden Days (16)                       3.11

Kings & Queen (15)                        3.03

A Christmas Tale (10)                     3.00

Esther Kahn                               2.98

Deception                                 2.64

Ismael's Ghosts                           2.64

(Oh Mercy)                                2.63

(My Sex Life…)                            2.60

Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of Plains Indian  2.47

(Brother and Sister)                      2.30


Clint Eastwood

 

Million Dollar Baby (9)                   3.06

Letters From Iwo Jima                     2.82

Juror #2                                  2.81

Mystic River                              2.81

Sully                                     2.74

Changeling                                2.70

Richard Jewell                            2.64

Space Cowboys                             2.63

American Sniper                           2.58

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil   2.57

The Mule                                  2.54

Invictus                                  2.53

Flags of Our Fathers                      2.52

Gran Torino                               2.46

Blood Work                                2.35

Absolute Power                            2.32

Cry Macho                                 2.31

True Crime                                2.31

Jersey Boys                               2.21

The 15:17 to Paris                        2.07

Hereafter                                 2.05

J. Edgar                                  2.04


Robert Eggers

 

The Witch: A New-England Folktale (12)    3.10

The Northman (18)                         2.88

Nosferatu                                 2.70

The Lighthouse                            2.62


Coralie Fargeat

 

Revenge                                   2.82

The Substance (13)                        2.80


Rose Glass

 

Saint Maud                                2.77

Love Lies Bleeding                        2.56


David Gordon Green

 

George Washington                         3.05

All the Real Girls (15)                   2.93

Stronger                                  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

Nutcrackers                               N/A


Luca Guadagnino

 

Call Me by Your Name (3)                  3.31

Challengers (2)                           3.17

A Bigger Splash                           2.74

I Am Love                                 2.71

Bones and All                             2.57

Suspiria                                  2.57

Queer                                     2.31

Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams            N/A


Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

 

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (8)          3.18

Drive My Car (5)                          3.12

Evil Does Not Exist (16)                  3.02

Asako I & II                              2.94

(Happy Hour)                              2.93


Werner Herzog

 

Grizzly Man (1)                           3.40

(Little Dieter Needs to Fly)              3.10

Encounters at the End of the World        3.09

The Bad Lieutenant--PoC:NO                2.91

My Best Fiend                             2.85

(The White Diamond)                       2.83

(The Fire Within)                         2.75

Cave of Forgotten Dreams                  2.73

Rescue Dawn                               2.73

Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds     2.70

(Into the Inferno)                        2.67

Lo and Behold                             2.66

Into the Abyss                            2.64

Family Romance, LLC                       2.61

(Wheel of Time)                           2.57

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done         2.53

(Meeting Gorbachev)                       2.50

(The Wild Blue Yonder)                    2.25

Invincible                                N/A

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin  N/A

Queen of the Desert                       N/A

Theater of Thought                        N/A


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

In Our Day                                2.57

A Traveler's Needs                        2.30


Barry Jenkins

 

Moonlight (8)                             3.14

If Beale Street Could Talk (12)           2.98

Medicine for Melancholy                   2.60

Mufasa: The Lion King                     N/A


Radu Jude

 

Do Not Expect Too Much... (4)             3.17

("I Do Not Care if We Go Down…")          3.10

Aferim!                                   3.08

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (13)       3.03

(Uppercase Print)                         2.80


Cédric Kahn

 

Red Lights (18)                           3.16

L’Ennui                                   2.95

(The Goldman Case)                        2.30

 

Payal Kapadia

 

All We Imagine as Light (15)              2.89

A Night of Knowing Nothing                N/A


Harmony Korine

 

The Beach Bum                             2.74

Spring Breakers (18)                      2.72

Aggro Dr1ft (20)                          2.62

Trash Humpers                             2.57

(Mister Lonely)                           2.39

julien donkey-boy                         1.95

(Gummo)                                   1.75


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

Kinds of Kindness                         2.59

Alps                                      2.43


Mike Leigh

 

Secrets & Lies (2)                        3.56

Vera Drake (6)                            3.26

Another Year                              3.21

Topsy-Turvy (9)                           3.18

Hard Truths (19)                          3.03

All or Nothing                            3.02

Mr. Turner                                2.98

Happy-Go-Lucky (12)                       2.97

Career Girls                              2.83

Peterloo                                  2.80

 

Richard Linklater

 

Before Sunset (3)                         3.43

Boyhood (3)                               3.36

Before Midnight (4)                       3.33

Everybody Wants Some!! (7)                3.23

The School of Rock (9)                    3.16

Hit Man                                   3.07

A Scanner Darkly (12)                     2.97

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (11)    2.86

Waking Life (15)                          2.86

Bernie (18)                               2.85

Tape                                      2.77

The Newton Boys                           2.75

Me and Orson Welles                       2.70

subUrbia                                  2.63

Where'd You Go, Bernadette                2.59

Bad News Bears                            2.50

Last Flag Flying                          2.46

Fast Food Nation                          2.28


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

The Green Fog                             2.97

Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary      2.93

Brand Upon the Brain!                     2.90

Keyhole                                   2.56

Rumours*                                  2.50

 

* with Evan Johnson & Galen Johnson


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

Blitz                                     2.32


Kleber Mendonça Filho

 

Aquarius                                  3.13

Neighboring Sounds (17)                   2.97

Pictures of Ghosts                        2.91

Bacurau* (19)                             2.80

 

* with Juliano Dornelles

 

Takashi Miike

 

Audition (6)                              3.22

First Love                                3.09

13 Assassins                              3.03

Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai             2.80

Dead or Alive                             2.79

(Blade of the Immortal)                   2.75

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

Lumberjack the Monster                    N/A


George Miller

 

Mad Max: Fury Road (1)                    3.49

Babe: Pig in the City (9)                 3.13

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (12)              3.02

Three Thousand Years of Longing           2.79

Happy Feet                                2.42

(Happy Feet Two)                          2.20


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

Separated                                 N/A


Jeff Nichols

 

Take Shelter (17)                         2.94

Shotgun Stories                           2.92

Mud                                       2.89

Loving                                    2.85

Midnight Special                          2.81

The Bikeriders                            2.63


Joshua Oppenheimer

 

The Look of Silence                       3.28

The Act of Killing (7)                    3.13

The End                                   1.80


Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross

 

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (4)            3.28

(Tchoupitoulas)                           3.00

(Western)                                 2.93

(Contemporary Color)                      2.79

Gasoline Rainbow                          2.41


RaMell Ross

 

Nickel Boys (7)                           2.98

Hale County This Morning, This Evening    2.96


Michael Sarnoski

 

Pig (4)                                   3.11

A Quiet Place: Day One                    2.47


Angela Schanelec

 

I Was at Home, but... (9)                 2.69

Music                                     2.64

  

Jane Schoenbrun

 

I Saw the TV Glow                         2.56

We're All Going to the World's Fair       2.55


Paul Schrader

 

First Reformed (3)                        3.17

Affliction (17)                           2.94

The Card Counter                          2.79

Master Gardener                           2.61

Auto Focus                                2.32

Oh, Canada                                2.31

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


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

GladIIator                                2.13

House of Gucci                            2.06

(Exodus: Gods and Kings)                  2.00

Hannibal                                  1.94

(A Good Year)                             1.93

Robin Hood                                1.91


Tsai Ming-liang


What Time Is It There? (11)               3.21

Stray Dogs (10)                           3.17

The Wayward Cloud (8)                     3.08

(Vive L’Amour)                            2.92

Days                                      2.76

Good Bye Dragon Inn                       2.69

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone               2.53

(Afternoon)                               2.42

Where                                     N/A


Denis Villeneuve

 

Sicario (12)                              3.09

Dune: Part Two                            2.91

Arrival                                   2.88

Dune: Part One                            2.77

Blade Runner 2049                         2.75

(Polytechnique)                           2.71

Incendies                                 2.67

Enemy                                     2.43

Maelström                                 2.29

Prisoners                                 2.08


John Woo

 

Face/Off (10)                             3.33

Red Cliff                                 2.75

Paycheck                                  2.64

Windtalkers                               2.43

Broken Arrow                              2.37

The Killer                                2.35

Mission: Impossible II                    2.33

Silent Night                              2.33


Robert Zemeckis

 

Cast Away (12)                            3.06

Allied                                    2.91

Contact                                   2.83

Here                                      2.75

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

(Welcome to Marwen)                       1.80

(The Witches)                             1.60

Pinocchio                                 N/A


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

Article 20                                N/A

Under the Light                           N/A


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