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!