I thought I’d take a look at the BFCA to see how they’re stacking up the Oscar contenders so far. Some have opened, some haven’t. But so far, here is how it’s looking.
Boyhood 96/100
Whiplash 93/100
Birdman 91/100
Theory of Everything 91/100
Gone Girl 90/100
The Imitation Game 90/100
Foxcatcher 88/100
Nightcrawler 88/100
The Grand Budapest Hotel 87/100
Interstellar 81/100
Get On Up 80/100
The Good Lie 80/100
The Homesman 79/100
We’ll check back in as time goes by and more scores are added and more movies are released. But the BFCA isn’t the be all, end all, it’s kind of a good barometer of how they will vote. On the other hand, Nine once led the Critics Choice nominations with a 79 score overall.
Al Robinson tallied the scores from Best Picture years past, but the only ones that really matter are from 2009 on because they had more than five – really we should only be looking at 2011, 2012 and 2013 but for inclusion’s sake:
2009
The Hurt Locker-93
Avatar-89
The Blind Side-85
District 9-87
An Education-95
Inglorious Basterds-91
Precious-89
A Serious Man-86
Up in the Air-97
2010
The King’s Speech-97
127 Hours-90
Black Swan-89
The Fighter-89
Inception-94
The Kids Are All Right-85
The Social Network-95
Toy Story-97
True Grit-91
Winter’s Bone-85
2011
The Artist-91
The Descendants-92
The Help-89
Hugo-87
Midnight in Paris-85
Moneyball-91
The Tree of Life-78
War Horse- 80
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-78
2012
Argo-94
Amour-87
Beasts of the Southern Wild-85
Django Unchained-88
Les Miserables-87
Life of Pi-86
Lincoln-88
Silver Linings Playbook-90
Zero Dark Thirty- 92
2013
12 Years a Slave-94
American Hustle-91
Captain Phillips-90
Dallas Buyers Club-88
Gravity-93
Nebraska-87
Her-87
Philomena-89
The Wolf of Wall Street- 85
Yeah, I remembered A League of Their Own after I hit the submit comment button. I’d put that one in my BP lineup. Plus, bonus, it was directed by Penny Marshall.
I think My Cousin Vinny had an awesome script. Best picture? Probably not. But I have a few comedies I’d place much higher in the Oscar’s pantheon than other people might.
*9
@ SASHA
I think it just depends on the demographic…for instance the ratings on Letterbox’d so far skew heavily towards like/love, similar to that of past Best Pic winners
http://letterboxd.com/film/interstellar/
And in the past 2 years 7 out of 10 Best Pic nominees have appeared on the first page for the highest ranked of the year-
http://letterboxd.com/films/year/2014/by/rating/size/small/
Speaking of Glengarry Glen Ross, how about this line up for 1992 Best Picture:
Aladdin
Chaplin
A Few Good Men
Glengarry Glen Ross
Malcolm X
My Cousin Vinny
The Player
Reservoir Dogs
Scent of a Woman
Unforgiven
That’s a lineup of ten. But any combination of those 5….
^ or Little Miss Sunshine > Amour, ZDT, Brokeback or Pi? right. Not on my tiny part of the planet.
Personally I wouldn’t rate Tree of Life any higher than a 60…
The fact that both TREE OF LIFE and EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE have an identical score is embarrassing!
@ SASHA
I suppose that is true…in which case the 85 and higher “rule” has held true for 4 out of the last 5 years. 2011 was just an odd year with a lot of high rated films missing the cut…
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2-93
A Separation-93
Martha Marcy May Marlene-92
The Ides of March-91
Drive- 91
The Guard-90
Super 8 – 88
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-87
X-Men: First Class- 87
50/50- 86
My Week With Marilyn-85
@LCbaseball – I know. I’m also looking at the RT score, which ain’t very good — 71 is pretty low for RT. BFCA seemed like their target audience. On the other hand, people either LOVE Interstellar or not. The love part is what might get it in for Best Pic.
Best Picture would be Prom Queen (or King), and the nominees would be the royal court.
Steve, good analogy. There are so many movies that I view differently as the years have gone by. For instance I just watched Glengarry Glen Ross for the very first time a few weeks ago…my fault, my fault…but I can only imagine how I would’ve thought of it 10 years ago. I probably would have liked it but not enough to really love it. Now that I’m in sales, though not the sales work in that movie, I was able to understand and appreciate all the terminology being flung around by the actors. Seeing Jack Lemmon acting like a best friend to a total stranger, just living off that next sale, made me grin because that’s the stuff I know would never work. Some directors are ahead of their time. Some shouldn’t even be in the time they’re winning the big awards. I guess there’s the jocks, the populars, the nerds. Often times the nerds are laughed at in high school…until they make a million dollars a few years down the line and the jocks are still partying and saying, “Well I was cool…once…”
“They give the scores at that time, and are stuck with them for years to come.”
The snapshots are the movie equivalent of a high school yearbook picture. No indication whatsoever of how they’ll look (or be perceived) 20 yrs hence.
When I woke up Oscar nomination morning of 2003, and saw no About Schmidt, Adaptation, Catch Me If You Can, Minority Report, and especially Road to Perdition, I just thought, “Huh!?” But yeah, a lot of films are like wine, they just get better with age.
Al, I would still take City of God over Chicago. I’d say The Pianist was still the best but Road to Perdition and Adaptation. just get better with age. I haven’t seen Frida so I know this is nothing more than me pounding my fists but I can’t see how Thomas Newman lost original score that year. The music for Road to Perdition to this day is one of my favorites.
Shoot. I forgot that since City of God came out in Brazil in 2002, but the United States in 2003, it wouldn’t be able to be nominated for Best Picture with other movies from 2002. It would have to wait until the next year. Okay, so because of that, then I think the AMPSAS voters would re-vote the BP lineup this way:
Adaptation.
Chicago
**The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers**
The Pianist
Road to Perdition
Ryan, agreed for sure. I think if they could have it the way the voters wanted now, 2002 (for instance) would look like this for BP:
Adaptation.
City of God
**The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers**
The Pianist
Road to Perdition
Thanks Steve. 🙂
Yeah, I’d say snapshots are a great way of describing it. They give the scores at that time, and are stuck with them for years to come. I mean, how else is it explained that Up in the Air got a score of 97? Haha. 🙂
“Yeah, I’d say snapshots are a great way of describing it. They give the scores at that time, and are stuck with them for years to come.”
describes RT
describes MC
describes BP
Ashwin-
Ah yes, the good old war-hero-gets-castrated-for-his-homosexual-tendencies arc. A classic.
Personally I like their voting body because they aren’t snobs and they aren’t afraid to give high grades to high quality populist entertainment as well as Oscar bait and other such films. Again, a score greater than 85 does not mean you’re automatically in clearly as the Harry Potter films were all rated 85+ but among those that are 85 or higher you will almost always find your eventual crop of Best Picture nominees. It’s a pre-requisite of sorts. I just hope the “rule” can be broken again this year to allow Interstellar in…
@ THE GREAT DANE
That may all be well and true but there is obviously correlation between the scores they give films and what ultimately ends up as Oscar Best Pic nominees. It’s not like they change their rating after the Oscars nominees have been announced…
On Metacritic ‘The Imitation Game’ is only 67 much lower than others. Even ‘Crash’ did better with a 69 score. Of course ‘Crash’ had more reviews. One criticism of ‘The Imitation Game’ seems to be that it follows a predictable formula.
So the lowest score for a Best Picture nominee has been 78? And “Tree of Life” is one of them?! Crazy…
But BFCA are such kiss-asses when they announce their Best Picture nominees. They always just choose whatever the buzz says at the moment of their voting. They nominated “Phantom of the Opera” for their Best Picture JUST because David Poland had written in his column that it was the best musical in 50 years and that he thought it would win Best Picture. So BFCA nominated it – even though they had given it a score of 63!?!?
They nominated Nine as well as Best Picture (when Nine had not opened and was considered a contender before the real reviews started coming). Enough said.
They are trying to GUESS the Oscar nominees every year, not actually voting for what they believe in/think. They have always been a joke.
Good work, Al, for putting all this together.
It really underlines the fact that these numerical grades are only snapshots in time (just like Oscar) and have very little to do with a film’s longterm impact or legacy in film history. A score in the 90’s five-to-ten years ago is no more permanent – or indicative of true quality – than a score in the 70’s during the same period “proves” a film is lacking. History and memory decide, not numbers.
Interesting to look back and chuckle a bit.
@ Q Mark
Hate to bring this up again but…
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 (2011)
TOP CRITICS: 100%
Average Rating: 8.8/10
Reviews Counted: 48
Fresh: 48
Rotten: 0
Also, the Metascore was a very respectable 87…
Was ‘Deathly Hallows 2’ better than War Horse, Extremely Loud and at least a few other movies in the weak-ass 2011 Best Picture lineup? Sure. Should it have been nominated under normal Best Picture standards? No, since it was only a pretty good movie, not a notable one by any stretch. I never understood the movement to honour the Potter movies with anything more than technical Oscars — they were well-done but hardly the focused achievement of the LOTR trilogy or maybe even the Dark Knight movies. Had the producers stuck with different filmmakers for each entry rather than settle for a workman like Yates, it might’ve been a different story. (Or if Cuaron had been willing to take on the entire series, as Prisoner of Azkaban was clearly the best one.)
LCBASEBALL22,
What’s funny is I had thought about Potter, and then forgot to add it. I would have been perfectly fine with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows getting nominated for Best Picture. Hell, it probably should have. I just think that these AMPAS voters are a bunch of stodgy fraidy-cats.
Also AL, you forgot the most heinous snub from within those years: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – 93
@AL
I’m pretty sure Interstellar is still capable of fluctuating (but it’s only been going between 82 and 83 the last few days) as more members see the film and report in…
What? Really?! It’s a terribly mediocre film…
Oh, now I’m upset, no angry, no pissed, no livid!!!!!!!
Almost Famous got a BFCA score of 100 / 100 and DIDN’T even get nominated!!!!! WTF??? Grrr!!!!
HULK SMASH!!!!
All the Best Pic nominee Scores from 2004-now…
2004
Million Dollar Baby- 90
The Aviator- 94
Finding Neverland- 91
Ray- 92
Sideways- 96
2005
Crash-88
Brokeback Mountain-92
Capote-89
Good Night and Good Luck-95
Munich-89
2006
The Departed-91
Babel-94
Letters from Iwo Jima-95
Little Miss Sunshine-94
The Queen-95
2007
No Country-91
Atonement-87
Juno-93
Michael Clayton- 87
There WIll Be Blood-87
2008
Slumdog Millionaire-92
Curious Case of Benjamin Button-91
Frost/Nixon-94
Milk-92
The Reader-87
2009
The Hurt Locker-93
Avatar-89
The Blind Side-85
District 9-87
An Education-95
Inglorious Basterds-91
Precious-89
A Serious Man-86
Up in the Air-97
2010
The King’s Speech-97
127 Hours-90
Black Swan-89
The Fighter-89
Inception-94
The Kids Are All Right-85
The Social Network-95
Toy Story-97
True Grit-91
Winter’s Bone-85
2011
The Artist-91
The Descendants-92
The Help-89
Hugo-87
Midnight in Paris-85
Moneyball-91
The Tree of Life-78
War Horse- 80
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-78
2012
Argo-94
Amour-87
Beasts of the Southern Wild-85
Django Unchained-88
Les Miserables-87
Life of Pi-86
Lincoln-88
Silver Linings Playbook-90
Zero Dark Thirty- 92
2013
12 Years a Slave-94
American Hustle-91
Captain Phillips-90
Dallas Buyers Club-88
Gravity-93
Nebraska-87
Her-87
Philomena-89
The Wolf of Wall Street- 85
Prior to the anomaly year of 2011 you have to go all the way back to Seabiscuit (83) for a nominee with a score less than 85…
The thing is you have to really only the count the years when Oscar expanded its slate. It’s interesting with five but not relevant since the only years that really can relate to this one would be: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.
Test…
I got curious, and I wondered about how The Avengers / Guardians of the Galaxy saga stacks up. Here’s the answer:
Guardians of the Galaxy – 91/100
The Avengers – 90/100
Iron Man – 90/100
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 88/100
Iron Man 3 – 84/100
Iron Man 2 – 83/100
The Incredible Hulk – 81/100
Thor – 81/100
Captain America: The First Avenger – 78/100
Thor: The Dark World – 77/100
Awesome, thanks Ryan! 🙂 That’s twice today you’ve helped me out. Thank you thank you. 🙂
Oh, and you’re welcome! 🙂
(Too many smiley faces?)
I didn’t include Her because stupidly, the website had no record of it. Yeah right. WTF?
http://www.criticschoice.com/
Al, I keep track of BFCA scores in a personal list offline that I use for reference. Her had a Critics Score of 87. So I’ve inserted it there on your great list. (Thanks for all your hard work.)
@LCBASEBALL22
I guess we should hope then that Interstellar will get in a la War Horse. But, is 82 it’s final score or can it still go up or down?
Okay, I put together the list of some of the most notable films from 2010 – 2013 and their BFCA Scores:
The King’s Speech – 97/100
The Social Network – 95/100
12 Years a Slave – 94/100
Argo – 94/100
Inception – 94/100
Gravity – 93/100
The Descendants – 92/100
Skyfall – 92/100
Zero Dark Thirty – 92/100
American Hustle – 91/100
The Artist – 91/100
The Dark Knight Rises – 91/100
Drive – 91/100
The Ides of March – 91/100
Moneyball – 91/100
True Grit – 91/100
127 Hours – 90/100
Captain Phillips – 90/100
Silver Linings Playbook – 90/100
Black Swan – 89/100
Blue Jasmine – 89/100
The Fighter – 89/100
The Help – 89/100
Philomena – 89/100
Dallas Buyers Club – 88/100
Django Unchained – 88/100
Fruitvale Station – 88/100
Lincoln – 88/100
All Is Lost – 87/100
Amour – 87/100
Hugo – 87/100
Her – 87/100
Les Miserables – 87/100
Nebraska – 87/100
The Town – 87/100
Before Midnight – 86/100
Life of Pi – 86/100
Looper – 86/100
Mud – 86/100
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – 86/100
Beasts of the Southern Wild – 85/100
End of Watch – 85/100
The Kids Are All Right – 85/100
Midnight in Paris – 85/100
Prisoners – 85/100
Rush – 85/100
Saving Mr. Banks – 85/100
Side Effects – 85/100
Winter’s Bone – 85/100
Star Trek Into Darkness – 85/100
The Wolf of Wall Street – 85/100
42 – 84/100
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 84/100
Crazy, Stupid, Love. – 83/100
Lone Survivor – 83/100
Moonrise Kingdom – 83/100
Secretariat – 83/100
The Impossible – 82/100
Lee Daniels’ The Butler – 81/100
Flight – 81/100
The Hunger Games – 81/100
Inside Llewyn Davis – 81/100
The Master – 81/100
Shutter Island – 81/100
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – 80/100
War Horse – 80/100
Warrior – 80/100
August: Osage County – 79/100
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – 79/100
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – 78/100
Rampart – 78/100
The Tree of Life – 78/100
The Place Beyond the Pines – 77/100
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – 77/100
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 76/100
Oz: The Great and Powerful – 76/100
Cloud Atlas – 75/100
Hereafter – 73/100
Margin Call – 73/100
Out of the Furnace – 72/100
The Fifth Estate – 61/100
The Counselor – 58/100
@ AL
Right, well now while an 85 or higher is not a sure thing for an Oscar nomination, but sadly it has often been a sort of pre-requisite for consideration, so Interstellar may be out of the game (unless it’s a Tree of Life, War Horse, and Extremely Loud type of year…but this only happened once in the past decade)
YAY!! Finally!! A trailer for Selma.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/here-it-is-folks-the-first-trailer-for-ava-duvernays-selma-is-here-20141106
Big ones from last year that was not nominated for Best Picture. Interesting. Gone Girl better than all of these, Interstellar is not.
Blue Jasmine – 89 / 100
Fruitvale Station – 88 / 100
All Is Lost – 87 / 100
Before Midnight – 86 / 100
Mud – 86 / 100
Prisoners – 85 / 100
Rush – 85 / 100
Saving Mr. Banks – 85 / 100
Side Effects – 85 / 100
Lone Survivor – 83 / 100
The Way, Way Back – 83 / 100
Inside Llewyn Davis – 81 / 100
Lee Daniels’ The Butler – 81 / 100