While we’re in a brief lull between announcements by major critics groups, let’s take a look at the current scores that have been assigned by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
– 95 – Spotlight
– 92 – Room
– 91 – The Martian
– 91 – Brooklyn
– 89 – The Revenant
– 89 – Mad Max: Fury Road
– 89 – Sicario
– 88 – Straight Outta Compton
– 87 – 45 Years
– 87 – The Big Short
– 87 – Bridge of Spies
– 87 – Ex Machina
– 86 – Creed
– 86 – Joy
– 86 – The Gift
– 86 – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
– 86 – Steve Jobs
– 86 – Trumbo
– 85 – Carol
– 85 – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
– 84 – 99 Homes
– 84 – Beasts of No Nation
– 84 – Black Mass
– 84 – Cinderella
– 84 – Concussion
– 84 – Love and Mercy
– 83 – Clouds of Sils Maria
– 83 – The Danish Girl
– 83 – End of the Tour
– 81 – Ant-Man
– 81 – Everest
– 81 – Far From the Madding Crowd
– 81 – Grandma
– 81 – Mr. Holmes
– 81 – Tangerine
– 81 – The Walk
– 80 – The Avengers: Age of Ultron
– 80 – James White
– 80 – Trainwreck
– 79 – The Diary of a Teenage Girl
– 79 – Jurassic World
– 79 – The Hateful Eight
– 79 – Spectre
– 79 – While We’re Young
– 78 – Suffragette
– 77 – Mistress America
– 76 – The Lady in the Van
– 76 – Legend
– 76 – The Prophet
– 75 – The Intern
– 74 – Mississippi Grind
– 73 – Macbeth
– 73 – Truth
– 72 – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
– 72 – I Smile Back
– 71 – Youth
– 70 – Chi-Raq
– 70 – Experimenter
– 70 – Heaven Knows What
Some of these numbers are still fluid because a few movies are not in wide release. Because various BFCA critics see the films at different times, the rankings can shift up or down for some titles over the next couple of weeks.
In order to make the sort the rankings into more of an at-a-glance tool for awards categories, we’ll break this down into 4 lists: Narrative Features (i.e. Best Picture contender), Animated Features, Foreign Language Films and Documentaries. I’m choosing to go with the literal meaning of foreign language film. That’s why you see Youth and Clouds of Sils Maria in the list above, alongside other narrative films in English — because they’re in English.
Foreign Language
– 92 – Timbuktu
– 90 – Mediterranea
– 89 – Son of Saul
– 88 – Mustang
– 87 – A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
– 86 – The Second Mother
– 82 – The Duke of Burgundy
– 82 – Mia Madre
– 76 – The Assassin
Animated
– 93 – Inside Out
– 87 – Shaun the Sheep Movie
– 81 – Anomalisa
– 80 – The Peanuts Movie
– 76 – The Good Dinosaur
– 74 – Minions
– 71 – Hotel Transylvania 2
Documentaries
– 92 – Best of Enemies
– 90 – Amy
– 90 – Heart of a Dog
– 90 – The Hunting Ground
– 89 – The Look of Silence
– 88 – Listen to Me Marlon
– 87 – Meru
– 77 – He Named Me Malala
We’ll update these lists in a couple of weeks after some key review embargoes are lifted. (Although the embargoes do not seem to have prevented The Revenant and Joy from appearing here already). And bear in mind that even if we look at the up-to-date BFCA numbers just the night before the Critics Choice nominees are announced, those nominees never correspond 100% with the scores that each film received at the time of its release. There are reasons for that disparity. What are your theories?
