VANITY FAIR AND EW PICK THEIR TOP TENS!

The Look of Silence

It's been a busy day for awards prognosticators and film journalists alike, thanks to the cavalcade of honors being bestowed today. Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly both have lists out and both have the frontrunners listed next to some titles that had not been mentioned yet. Room gets its first mention and The End of the Tour getting a shout-out. Spotlight continues the juggernaut path it's on today, pulling down 33 points! Carol is slow and steady, tacking on another ten points to that total.

Here's the Vanity Fair list:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10 pts.)
2. Clouds of Sils Maria (9)
3. Spotlight (8)
4. Carol (7)
5. Ex-Machina (6)
6. Tangerine (5)
7. The End of the Tour (4)
8. Eden (3)
9. Steve Jobs (2)
10. The Martian (1)

You know, I gotta say, I would expect the Entertainment Weekly list to be more blockbuster/crowd-favorite heavy, but its even got a documentary and a feature film that are both about genocide. Here's the list:

1. Spotlight (10 pts.)
2. Sicario (9)
3. Room (8)
4. The Look of Silence (7)
5. Inside Out (6)
6. Creed (5)
7. Son of Saul (4)
8. Carol (3)
9. The Big Short (2)
10. It Follows (1)


How many points will Spotlight rack up tomorrow? At this rate, I'm not expecting anything less than 20!

SPOTLIGHT GETS ITS SHINE ON

The accolades are piling up for Spotlight this week! The New York Film Critics Online, L.A. Film Critics' Association, and the Boston Society of Film Critics have all held their ceremonies and each one chose Spotlight as their pick for Best Picture. That's an extra 15 points for the drama and it moves into second in the #1BMotY race for now. Mad Max: Fury Road is still 15 points ahead, but at this rate Spotlight will be right behind it in no time.

NEW POLL CLOSES OUT THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER, WHO'S ON TOP??

Last week came to a close on Saturday with the release of IndieWire's list of favorites. A couple of surprises, but the usual suspects each make a showing. Here's the list:

1. Son of Saul (10 pts)
2. Tangerine (9)
3. Heaven Knows What (8)
4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (7)
5. Buzzard (6)
6. Mad Max: Fury Road (5)
7. Anomalisa (4)
8. Taxi (3)
9. Heart of a Dog (2)
10. Carol (1)

Saturday also brought us to our first week-ending chart. You know who is on top. And by a considerable margin. Mad Max has an 18 point lead heading into next week. As for the five films tied for sixth place, those will begin to fall into place as more polls are released, with Spotlight looking to rise up for sure. So here's the #1BMotY chart for the week ending 12/6:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (40)
2. Carol (22)
3. Tangerine (16)
4. Cemetery of Splendour (15)
5. Son of Saul (13)
6. Arabian Nights (10)
The Assassin (10)
Helmut Berger, Actor (10)
Mia Madre (10)
Spotlight (10)

TWO MORE MAGS LET US IN ON THEIR TOP 1O LISTS; ONE PICKS "MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E."!!

Spotlight

Time magazine (still?) has published their choices for the Top 10 films of 2015. It's very different from any of the lists we've seen up to this point. Only one film, Tangerine, has been mentioned before. Spotlight, the number one pick here, seems to be gaining momentum as word of mouth spreads. My buddy Johio said it was awesome. The list follows:

1. Spotlight (10 pts)
2. Phoenix (9)
3. I'll See You in My Dreams (8)
4. Clouds of Sils Maria (7)
5. Iris (6)
6. Mustang (5)
7. Tangerine (4)
8. Creed (3)
9. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2)
10. Ex-Machina (1)

Also weighing in this week was Empire magazine out of the UK. This one is a little tricky, as it contains a few US titles that were released domestically last year. Since that is the case and they are clearly out of contention for #1BMY, they get no points. Other than that, a couple of crowd favorites make showings and Mad Max: Fury Road sits on top of the pile here again. Two of my favorites for 2015, Sicario and It Follows, finally get mentioned, as well. Here's the Empire list:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10 pts)
2. Whiplash
3. Inside Out (8)
4. Ex-Machina (7)
5. Sicario (6)
6. Steve Jobs (5)
7. The Martian (4)
8. It Follows (3)
9. Carol (2)
10. A Most Violent Year

I think we all see the lock Mad Max has for this week. Once we add up the scores tomorrow, we'll be able to tell if anyone is going to have a chance at catching up!

NYFCC AND NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW REVEAL TOP HONORS

Carol

The New York Film Critics' Circle and the National Board of Review have named the winners of their respective end-of-year ceremonies. No big surprises here. Carol won the NYFCC Best Picture nod (5 pts), and it won a few other awards there, as well, holding down the prizes for director, screenplay, and cinematography.
The National Board of Review went the other way and selected much-loved actioner Mad Max: Fury Road (5 pts). Apparently, the NBR didn't think Mad Max's individual parts were worth honoring. Dicks.
More points for the favorites! We'll add 'em up Saturday.

SCORING POINTS WITH AWARDS

When I was putting together the scoring system for #1BMOTY, I was only thinking of Top 10 lists and using them as a scoring template. In doing that, I totally overlooked all the awards that are given out at this time of year, too. They're coming out now and I've decided that a Best Picture win is worth some points on this poll. So, from today on, a movie that wins a Best Picture award from a major critics' association or publication will be given 5 #1BMOTY points. Just the winner gets points, no nominees, as they aren't usually announced unless you are at the ceremony.
So, more points available for all!

JOHN WATERS TELLS US HIS FAVORITES OF THE YEAR

photo credit Greg Gorman


December begins and so does the official Year-end Top 10 season. Every mag and website will be unleashing Top 10 lists for everything, from books to buttplugs. A definite highlight of these lists is John Waters' list of his favorite films. Surprisingly, his picks this year don't seem as willfully obscure as they have in the past. I'm always stoked when Uncle John agrees with me on films that I've seen, like Tangerine and Mad Max: Fury Road. Not surprised he liked Love, a YA love story with unsimulated sex in 3D. Who wouldn't? Really though, has anyone else seen Helmut Berger, Actor? And who knew there was a movie about the Barefoot Bandit??

Here's his picks for 2015 (with points awarded)

1. Helmut Berger, Actor (Andreas Horvath) (10 pts)
2. Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh) (9 pts)
3. The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson) (8 pts)
4. Tom at the Farm (Xavier Dolan) (7 pts)
5. Mad Max: Fury Road (6 pts)
6. Carol (5 pts)
7. Diary of a Teenage Girl (Marielle Heller) (4 pts)
8. Tangerine (Sean Baker) (3 pts)
9. Fly Colt Fly: Legend of the Barefoot Bandit (Adam Grey, Andrew Grey) (2 pts)
10. Love (Gaspar Noe) (1 pt)


Throw some more points on the fire for Mad Max and Carol. They are definitely the ones to beat early in this race, but we'll see how it all adds up for the week on Saturday. I'm sure we'll see a few more polls come out this week. Although one big question mark remains: The Revenant. It was screened last week for critics and industry people, but the review embargo lasts until Friday. Unless it really sucks (it won't), I'm sure the #1 BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR race will look much different come next Saturday.