AUSTIN FINALLY CHIMES IN AND A LIST I MISSED

WHOOPS! Just realized that amongst all the revelry last week, I neglected to post a tally for last week's lists. Oh, well. Doesn't matter, as I've already started working on the tally for this week, the final one! We got lists today from two very different parts of the country. New York City and Austin. As to be expected, all the top contenders make their appearances in these three lists. We've already got a clear winner, but how will the rest of the top 10 shake out?
The first list today is one I overlooked a few weeks ago and it's from the Village Voice. They polled their critics and came up with a list that looks not unlike the two from Austin. Check it out:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Carol (9)
3. Spotlight (8)
4. Phoenix (7)
5. Tangerine (6)
6. Anomalisa (5)
7. Clouds of Sils Maria (4)
8. Inside Out (3)
9. Brooklyn (2)
10. The Assassin (1)

Next up, we've got a list from my town's version of the Village Voice, the Austin Chronicle. I've got to give the critics at the Chron a tip of the hat as they seem to be getting better all the time, even though one or two are too genre-focused. Check their picks:
1) Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2) Son of Saul (9)
3) Spotlight(8)
4) Victoria (7)
5) Inside Out (6)
6) Carol (5)
The Tribe (5)
8) Phoenix (3)
9) The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2)
10) Chi-Raq (1)

Finally, we've got the picks from the Austin Film Critics' Association, which seems to exist solely to release a yearly top-10 list. Interesting to note that this is the only list today to not feature any foreign-language films. Here is that list:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Spotlight (9)
3. Carol (8)
4. Anomalisa (7)
5. Room (6)
6. Ex Machina (5)
Inside Out (5)
8. Creed (3)
9. The Big Short (2)
10. Sicario (1)

Mad Max pulling off the hat trick today, pulling WAY ahead. We'll see just how far ahead next post.

STAR WARS CRASHES THE PARTY ON THREE NEW LISTS

Not content with owning the box office for the past two weeks, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is starting to get some mentions on year-end best-of lists. It has been mentioned several times over the past few days, even getting the top spot in one critic's list.
A few of these lists were published this week, but one that won't be counted here is the Seattle Times'. They've got two critics, but they couldn't be bothered to come up with a composite list, instead choosing to put out two separate lists which included one in alphabetical order. What the shit? Get it together people. I know this sounds somewhat hypocritical seeing as I counted each New York Times' critic's lists individually. Well, that's because the Times is a big fucking deal and each of its' critics are very well known and somewhat influential. I never heard of these two over in Seattle. On the other hand, we did get a look at lists from the Great White North, a good movie blog, and a bunch of computer nerds. Let's check them out, shall we?

First up is Peter Howell of the Toronto Star. He's got the titles you're expecting, but is also the first I've seen to give top honors to The Force Awakens. Howell also names a movie on no other lists to this date (which I now want to see). Here it is:
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (10)
2. Carol (9)
3. Son of Saul (8)
4. Mad Max: Fury Road (7)
5. Spotlight (6)
6. The Martian (5)
7. Sleeping Giant (4)
8. Inside Out (3)
9. Amy (2)
10. Tangerine (1)

Twitchfilm has also given us their list. This is how you do it, Seattle! These guys were able to compile a top-10 using votes from 29 writers. 29! That's 27 more than your publication, Seattle Times! Geez. That said, if you don't already read Twitch, I suggest you do. Here are their picks:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Sicario (9)
3. Victoria (8)
The Martian (8)
5. Ex-Machina (6)
6. Carol (5)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (5)
Spotlight (5)
9. The Assassin (2)
It Follows (2)

Wired has taken time from testing new gadgets and software to let the world know that they saw a bunch of movies this year, as well. The only real surprise on their list is the inclusion of Creed, which seems to have lost all the critical steam it had going for it at one point. It's all good, though, as it's been making some money along the way. Can't say the same for Steve Jobs, though. It has fallen out of favor with the critics and won't make enough money to buy the latest iPhone. Check out how Wired ranked their favorites:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Ex-Machina (9)
3. Creed (8)
4. The Revenant (7)
5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (6)
6. Sicario (5)
7. The Martian (4)
8. Spotlight (3)
9. It Follows (2)
10. Steve Jobs (1)

Stay tuned to this blog! Totals for the end of the week will be up shortly. I think Star Wars has blasted its' way into the upper echelons of critical favor!!

ROLLING STONE ROLLS OUT THEIR TOP 10

No surprises from Peter Travers over at Rolling Stone! His list pretty much adheres to the standard set by most every other critic turning in a list of their favorites for 2015. Travers includes Steve Jobs, though, which has been acclaimed but isn't really riding high in the year-end polls. Jobs was good enough for the #2 spot on this list. I missed it when it played here in Austin very briefly.
Here's the Rolling Stone list:
1. Spotlight
2. Steve Jobs
3. Carol
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Brooklyn
6. Straight Outta Compton
7. Tangerine
8. The Martian
9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
10. Inside Out
Anomalisa

While it played well at home, Straight Outta Compton didn't seem to translate well. I've noticed that only American critics have shown any love toward the NWA bio. Oh, well, more "Dopeman" for me.

VARIETY POST THEIR LIST AND MIXES UP THE WEEK ENDING 12/20

One more list before we close out the week here at #1BMotY. Variety posted their picks for the top 10 movies of 2015 and it didn't have any big surprises, but it did allow for one movie to jump back in the race. Every other title seems to have settled into their usual positions, but we'll see if the last two weeks of the year manage to shake anything up. As I'm writing this up I noticed that I skipped over Rolling Stone's list, but it will be included in next week's count for sure.
Here's the Variety list:
1. Carol (10 pts)
2. The Assassin (9)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (8)
4. Spotlight (7)
5. Phoenix (6)
6. The Look of Silence (5)
7. Inside Out (4)
8. Brooklyn (3)
9. 45 Years (2)
10. Son of Saul (1)

So, with that list, the race to be the NUMBER ONE BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR closes out for another week. The top 3 candidates are way ahead of the rest of the field, but I'm betting the upcoming week will provide a few lists that may shake one or two titles loose. I'm also hoping that Sicario gets some more love and makes it to the top 5.
Here's how it shakes out for this week:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (135 pts)
2. Carol (119)
3. Spotlight (91)
4. The Assassin (51)
5. Inside Out (45)
6. Brooklyn (36)
Son of Saul (36)
8. 45 Years (35)
9. Anomalisa (32)
10. Sicario (29)

What will next week hold? Can the excellent The Force Awakens follow up its box office domination with some critical love, as well. I loved it, but we'll have to wait and see if the wags like it enough to rank it. We're getting closer to crowning the #1BMotY!!

SOMEONE FINALLY MENTIONS COMPTON

Two more lists have been published. Yesterday, the American Film Institute gave us their list and today, website The A/V Club named their choices. Both lists have the titles you'd expect to see, but the AFI list (alphabetical, so lazy) mentions two real crowd pleasers, one of which is Straight Outta Compton. Compton is definitely one of my favorites of the year and while I know it's not the #1BMotY, I'm surprised I hadn't seen it mentioned yet. It was snubbed by the Golden Globes, too. Well, at least it made a shit-ton of money. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is also on the AFI list, which is weird because it only started screening for critics last week. Maybe it's great, I don't know. I'm seeing it tonight, so I'm sure I'll have something to say about it in the next post. So let's check out these lists and the pointage they bestow.

Here's the AFI list (alphabetical, so everybody gets 3 points):
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Carol
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Room
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Straight Outta Compton

The A/V Club and their critics have named their choices for the best 20 movies of the year. Here are the top 10 from that list:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10 pts)
2. Phoenix (9)
3. It Follows (8)
4. The Duke of Burgundy (7)
5. The Look of Silence (6)
6. Sicario (5)
7. The Assassin (4)
8. Carol (3)
9. Brooklyn (2)
10. Anomalisa (1)

It's good to see It Follows and Sicario getting some love. They are sure to be on my list. I've still got time and a few movies I need to see before I start to think about getting a list together. I'ma do one, though!

TWO MOVIES PASS 100 POINTS AFTER FOUR NEW LISTS DROP

The Hateful Eight

The internet is rife with Best Of lists this time of year and this week is off to a grand start with a grip of lists being released Monday. All the points that come with these polls have lifted two movies past the century mark: Mad Max: Fury Road and Carol. It's only Tuesday, though, and Spotlight might be lurking on some critic's pick sheet that hasn't been published yet. As for these polls, men's magazine Details proves to be the most esoteric of the bunch (wow) and Film Comment seems to agree with 90% of the lists that have come before it. That's usually the other way around! LA Weekly picked American Ultra as one of the year's best and it was universally panned. Odd. So what's up with these charts? Let's take a look...

First up, Amy Nicholson of LA Weekly gives us:
1. Chi-Raq (10 pts)
2. Anomalisa (9)
3. The Hateful Eight (8)
4. American Ultra (7)
5. Mad Max: Fury Road (6)
6. Room (5)
7. Victoria (4)
8. Spy (3)
9. The Second Mother (2)
10. Tangerine (1)

Film Comment polled their staff and the results are:
1. Carol (10)
2. The Assassin (9)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road (8)
4. Clouds of Sils Maria (7)
5. Arabian Nights (6)
6. Timbuktu (5)
7. Spotlight (4)
8. Phoenix (3)
9. Inside Out (2)
10. The Look of Silence (1)

Mr. Calum Marsh of Details picked his ten favorites:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Mistress America (9)
3. Hard to Be a God (8)
4. Carol (7)
5. The Forbidden Room (6)
6. Arabian Nights (5)
7. Jauja (4)
8. Queen of Earth (3)
9. Listen to Me, Marlon (2)
10. Unfriended (1)

Website The Wrap's critics voted up these titles:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (10)
2. Carol (9)
3. Anomalisa (8)
4. Grandma (7)
5. The Tribe (6)
6. Son of Saul (5)
7. Ex-Machina (4)
8. Clouds of Sils Maria (3)
9. Spotlight (2)
10. Brooklyn (1)

Probably the biggest surprise of all on the lists is the inclusion of Unfriended, from MTV Films. It's a teen thriller that takes place entirely on the internet (social media, skype,and the like). Surprising because it's got a 59 on Metacritic and a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a long week, so maybe we were all wrong and it's going to jump to the top of the rankings. We'll see!

WILL MAD MAX FINISH THE YEAR AT #1??

I stole this image from Variety

This week has seen many polls be revealed, many agreed and some introduced some new titles into the mix. Notably, only five of last week's #1BMotY Top 10 are still around this week. Two of those titles didn't finish in the top five, either. So we can see that some new favorites have emerged, but the winners here are still the titles to beat. The top three are all within five points of each other, but that scene can change with one being left off of someone's list in the coming week. Inside Out is in a very distant fourth place, but it's getting more and more mentions. Honestly, I can totally see the Max love dropping off in favor of more sobering fare but we'll see what happens. Results are below!

#1 BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR TOP 10
week ending 12/13

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (80 points)
2. Carol (77)
3. Spotlight (75)
4. Inside Out (36)
5. Brooklyn (30)
Son of Saul (30)
7. Tangerine (26)
8. The Big Short (25)
9. 45 Years (24)
10. Diary of a Teenage Girl (23)

Is your favorite making the cut? Maybe you haven't seen some? Mad Max, Inside Out, and Diary are all available for home viewing. Tangerine is on Netflix! Carol and Saul will begin screening on Xmas day, The Big Short opens wide on the 23rd, and the rest are playing now.