Best of 2018 Poll + Oscars Poll

[flip]

Now that the Academy Awards nominations are up, it's time for our dual "best of the year" and "Oscars" polls.

For the "Best of 2018" poll, I'm going to change the rules just slightly to at least give underseen films a slightly better chance. To participate:

- post a list of your favourite films from 2018. If you have seen:

-- less than 20 feature films from 2018, then you can list no more than half the number of films you've seen. So if you've seen 11 films from 2018, you can only include at most five films on your ballot
-- between 20 and 39 feature films from last year: then you can list up to ten films
-- between 40 and 59 feature films from last year: then you can list up to eleven films
-- 60 or more feature films from last year: then you can list up to twelve films

- ranked ballots are strongly encouraged, but are not required. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll assume your ballot is ranked
- scoring for ranked ballots will be on a 1-2-3-4-...-maximum scale (so a three-film ranked ballot will award 3, 2 and 1 points to the three films)
- unranked ballots will award the same total points as a ranked one would, but of course awarding an equal number of points to each film. So a ten-film unranked ballot, say, will award 5.5 points per film

- you can post a ballot now and edit it later - no need to let me know about changes unless you make changes on the day of the deadline. I won't start tallying until Feb 23.

deadline: Feb 23, 2019


For the never-very-popular Academy Awards poll, using the official nominations, you can vote in any category you like. The rules:

- if you have not seen at least half of the nominees in a category, you can't vote in that category
- for Best Pic, if you have seen 4-5 films, you can post a top two, if you have seen 6-7 films, you can post a top three, and if you have seen all eight, you can post a top four
- for the other categories, you can post a top two list if you have seen 3-4 films, or a top three if you have seen every nominee
- ballots must be ranked, scoring as in the poll above
- for any category that garners two or more ballots, I'll tally the results and we'll award the SCFZ alternative Oscars accordingly

[flip]

i've seen 36 films from last year so far, not enthusiastic about all that many of them so i expect my ballot to change a lot:

1. Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)
2. Searching (Aneesh Chaganty)
3. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
4. Ready Player One (Steven Spielberg)
5. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
6. Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
7. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Coen Brothers)
8. Mission Impossible: Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)
9. Dead in a Week (Tom Edmunds)
10. Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)

oscars: so far can only vote in four categories

best picture: seen 8 (only the top four count, but i'm listing all eight)
1. The Favourite
2. Roma
3. Green Book
4. BlacKkKlansman
5. Bohemian Rhapsody
6. Black Panther
7. A Star is Born
8. Vice

best director: seen 5
1. Yorgos Lanthimos
2. Alfonso Cuaron
3. Pawel Pawlikowski

best actor: seen 4
1. Viggo Mortensen
2. Christian Bale

best actress: seen 3
1. Olivia Colman
2. Yalitza Aparicio

best supporting actor: seen 4
1. Mahershala Ali
2. Sam Rockwell

best supporting actress: seen 4
1. Emma Stone
2. Rachel Weisz

best original screenplay: seen 4
1. The Favourite
2. Roma

best adapted screenplay: seen 3
1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
2. BlacKkKlansman

best animated feature: seen 2

best foreign language feature: seen 3
1. Shoplifters
2. Roma

best original song: seen 3
1. When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings
2. Shallow

best original score: seen 3
1. Isle of Dogs
2. Black Panther

best production design: seen 3
1. Roma
2. The Favourite

best sound editing: seen 3
1. Roma
2. Black Panther

best sound mixing: seen 4
1. Roma
2. Black Panther

best cinematography: seen 4
1. Roma
2. The Favourite

best editing: seen 5
1. BlacKkKlansman
2. The Favourite
3. Green Book

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Very excited for this as a tool for making me finish up with the 2018 releases that caught my eye.

I'm assuming we're using IMDB as the adjudicator of what year a movie came out?

[flip]

i don't make any strict rule about what qualifies as a 2018 film, in part because films that had a festival premiere in 2017, but were otherwise not viewable until 2018, should probably still be eligible, and in part because of the staggered releases films get around the world. but i think i won't count votes for films that finished in the top 25 of our poll last year (which is here: https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... scfz-poll/ ), because those films have already been highlighted once in an end-of-year poll. and of course if someone is voting for films from 1977 or something, i'll just ignore those votes

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Sounds good!

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 26 and done for now. This was the year I caved in to blockbuster fandom, so approach with caution.

Top ten:
1. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, USA)
2. Black Panther (Marvel Studios, USA)
3. The Princess Switch (Netflix, USA)
4. Avengers: Infinity War (Marvel Studios, USA)
5. Historytelling (Guillaume Langlois, Canada)
6. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Universal, USA)
7. Ant-Man and the Wasp (Marvel Studios, USA)
8. Carolee, Barbara and Gunvor (Lynne Sachs, USA)
9. The Hymns of Muscovy (Dmitry Venkov, Russia)
10. Vent d'ouest (JLG, France)

There's no hope for me to be able to make Oscar votes.

[nrh]

have seen about 48. have about 70 more i want to get to but not sure how soon that will happen.

1. kaala (pa. ranjith)
2. pariyerum perumal (maari selvaraj)
3. vada chennai (vertrimaaran)
4. asako 1 + 2 (ryusuke hamaguchi)
5. claire's camera (hong sang soo)
6. manmarziyaan (anurag kashyap)
7. classical period (ted fendt)
8. hotel by the river (hong sang soo)
9. ee ma yau (lijo jose pessary)
10. savarakathi (gr adithya)
11. pataakha (vishal bharadwaj)

[ofrene]

seen 90+ (only 2018 stuff)

The Other Side of the Wind
Dead Souls
Asako I & II
Grass
The Real
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Private Life
The Tale
House of Hummingbird
Transit
Leave No Trace
The Waldheim Waltz

so many movies are on watchlist but most of them won't be able to watch till deadline.. (really really want to watch Beale Street..)


This year's Oscar nominee is sooooooo week and pretentious (Green Book is the naivest, thoughtless movie about racism for the last few years). I think I'll able to watch BlacKkKlansman, Cold War, The Favourite before deadline(and gonna skip Bohemian Rhapsody) so participate the vote after watching them.

[john ryan]

Seen about 100 2018 films. I am going by U.S. commercial release.

1. burning (lee chang-dong)
2. leave no trace (debra granik)
3. support our girls (andrew bujalski)
4. the ballad of buster scruggs (coens)
5. mission: impossible - fallout (christopher mcquarrie)
6. widows (steve mcqueen)
7. 9 fingers (fj ossang)
8. shoplifters (hirokazu kore-eda)
9. bad times at the el royale (drew goddard)
10. a simple favor (paul feig)

i'll update my Oscars categories as i see more.

Best Picture - seen 8
1. the favourite
2. a star is born
3. blackkklansman
4. black panther

Best Director - seen 5
1. yorgos lanthimos, the favourite
2. pawel pawilovski, cold war
3. spike lee, blackkklansman

Best Actor - seen 5
1. bradley cooper, a star is born
2. willem dafoe, at eternity's gate

Best Actress - seen 5
1. olivia coleman, the favourite
2. melissa mccarthy, can you ever forgive me?
3. lady gaga, a star is born

Best Supporting Actor - seen 5
1. sam elliott, a star is born
2. richard e. grant, can you ever forgive me?
3. adam driver, blackkklansman

Best Supporting Actress - seen 5
1. rachel weisz, the favourite
2. emma stone, the favourite
3. regina king, if beale street could talk

Best Original Screenplay - seen 5
1. the favourite
2. first reformed

Best Adapted Screenplay - seen 5
1. the ballad of buster scruggs
2. a star is born
3. can you ever forgive me?

Best Cinematography - seen 4
1. cold war
2. a star is born

Best Editing - seen 5
1. blackkklansman
2. the favourite

Best Original Score - seen 5
1. if beale street could talk
2. Isle of Dogs
3. black panther

Best Original Song - seen 5
1. "shallow", a star is born

Best Animated Feature - seen 4
1. spider-man: into the spider-verse
2. isle of dogs

Best Documentary Feature - seen 5
1. mind the gap
2. hale county this morning this evening
3. free solo

Best Foreign Language Film seen 3
1. shoplfters
2. cold war

Best Production Design -seen 5
1. the favourite
2. black panther
3. first man

Best Costume Design - seen 4
1. the ballad of buster scruggs
2. the favourite

Best Visual Effects - seen 4
1. ready player one
2. avengers: infinity war

Best Sound Editing - seen 5
1. first man
2. a quiet place
3. black panther

Best Sound Mixing - seen 5
1. first man
2. a star is born
3. black panther

Best Documentary Short - seen 5
1. a night at the garden
2. period. end of sentence.
3. black sheep

[...]

I've seen 7 or so movies from the year depending on how you count them. Since a couple of the most interesting edge cases are on last years list, I'll skip those leaving:

Annihilation (Garland)
Padmaavat/Padmavati (Bhansali)
Arena (Páraic Mc Gloughlin)

[greennui]

Seen 20.

1. Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
2. Drift (Helena Wittmann)
3. Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino)
4. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles)
5. They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (Morgan Neville)
6. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)
7. Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)
8. The Wild Boys (Bertrand Mandico)
9. The Wolf's House (Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León)
10. The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier)

[pabs]

I saw the trailer for Green Book and I already know I'm definitely not watching it. They're still making films like this?? And they're still nominating them for all kinds of awards??

[augusto]

kaala (pa. ranjith)
pariyerum perumal (maari selvaraj)
ee. ma. yau (lijo jose pellissery)
claire's camera (hong sang-soo)
vada chennai (vetrimaaran)
pataakha (vishal bhardwaj)
soni (ivan ayr)
andhadhun (sriram raghavan)
october (shoojit sircar)
merku thodarchi malai (lenin bharathi)

seen between 30-39. like all of these, though if i had time to go to the local film festival here, perhaps half of the list would look different. (also still not sure how much i like shoplifters and work and snow deferred my beale street plans, though plan to get to it one of these days.) will still go to bat for top 5 any day.

[josiahmorgan11]

I've seen 72 films from last year following Letterboxd's rubric. Only five were shorts. One was a TV episode. Another five were comedy specials.

I will be listing 13 films here as my 'second favorite film of the year' is a miniseries. Up to you, Flip, on whether it counts as a film or not, but it's on Letterboxd so I'm including it here.
So, my 2018 Top 13.
1. The Other Side Of The Wind [Welles]
2. The Haunting Of Hill House [Flanagan]
3. The Image Book [Godard]
4. Permanent Green Light [Dennis Cooper & Zac Farley]
5. Unsane [Steven Soderbergh]
6. The Favourite [Yorgos Lanthimos]
7. Hereditary [Ari Aster]
8. First Man [Damien Chazelle]
9. Under The Silver Lake [David Robert Mitchell]
10. Unfriended: Dark Web [Stephen Susco]
11. Ready Player One [Steven Spielberg]
12. Bhavesh Joshi Superhero [Vikramaditya Motwane]
13. The 15:17 To Paris [Clint Eastwood]

Don't care about the Oscars poll but will vote out of solidarity for those I give a fleeting shit about.

BEST PICTURE
1. The Favourite
2. BlacKkKlansman

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Yorgos Lanthimos [The Favourite]
2. Spike Lee [BlacKkKlansman]

BEST ACTRESS
1. Olivia Colman [The Favourite]
2. Lady Gaga [A Star Is Born]

BEST ACTOR
1. None of them.
2. Bradley Cooper [A Star Is Born]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Emma Stone [The Favourite]
2. Rachel Weisz [The Favourite]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. None of them.
2. Sam Elliott [A Star Is Born]

SCREENPLAY
1. The Favourite
2. First Reformed

[connordenney]

I've seen 42 from last year.

1. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (Orson Welles)
2. HAPPY AS LAZZARO (Alice Rohrwacher)
3. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (Lars von Trier)
4. BURNING (Lee Chang-dong)
5. YOUR FACE (Tsai Ming-liang)
6. SUPPORT THE GIRLS (Andrew Bujalski)
7. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Barry Jenkins)
8. WELCOME TO MARWEN (Robert Zemeckis)
9. ASH IS PUREST WHITE (Jia Zhangke)
10. ISLE OF DOGS (Wes Anderson)
11. THE MULE (Clint Eastwood)

Best Picture:
1. A STAR IS BORN
2. ROMA
3. BLACKKKLANSMAN

Best Director:
1. Alfonso Cuarón, ROMA
2. Spike Lee, BLACKKKLANSMAN

Best Actress:
1. Lady Gaga, A STAR IS BORN
2. Yalitza Aparicio, ROMA

Best Supporting Actress:
1. Rachel Weisz, THE FAVOURITE
2. Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

Best Original Screenplay:
1. FIRST REFORMED
2. ROMA

Best Adapted Screenplay:
1. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
2. THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Best Animated Feature Film:
1. ISLE OF DOGS
2. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Best Documentary – Feature:
1. HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
2. RBG

Best Original Score:
1. IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
2. BLACKKKLANSMAN

Best Original Song:
1. "Shallow," A STAR IS BORN
2. "All the Stars," BLACK PANTHER
3. "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings," THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Best Sound Editing:
1. A QUIET PLACE
2. BLACK PANTHER

Best Sound Mixing:
1. A STAR IS BORN
2. ROMA

Best Production Design:
1. ROMA
2. THE FAVOURITE

Best Cinematography:
1. ROMA
2. A STAR IS BORN

Best Costume Design:
1. THE FAVOURITE
2. BLACK PANTHER

Best Film Editing:
1. BLACKKKLANSMAN
2. THE FAVOURITE

[flip]

just a reminder to vote in this poll! still a couple weeks to go

[DT.]

I won't be voting until the last day! Taking advantage of the massive time zone difference from living down under.

[arkheia]

I've seen 49 films from 2018, most of them are Hollywood productions since it takes longer for me to catch up with festival films and other regional cinemas. Out of those 49 films, these are the only ones I'd probably vote for

1. Gens du lac (Jean-Marie Straub)
2. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (Tsui Hark)
3. The Commuter (Jaume-Collet Serra)
4. Kaala (Pa. Rajith)
5. Fountains of Paris (Stephen Broomer)
6. Mission Impossible: Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)

And the only academy awards category I've seen enough films to vote on is Best Visual Effects :icon_lol:
1. Ready Player One
2. Avengers: Infinity War

[ofrene]

Add Oscar vote. Don't like Lanthimos but The Favourite was impressive and my favorite 2018's oscar frontrunner (though not gonna add to my 2018 list)

Best Picture (seen 6)

1. The Favourite
2. BlacKkKlansman

Best Director (seen 4)

1. Yorgos Lanthimos
2. Pawel Pawlikowski

Best Actress (seen 3)

1. Olivia Colman
2. Yalitza Aparicio

Best Supporting Actor (seen 3)

1. Adam Driver
2. Mahershala Ali

Best Supporting Actress (seen 3)

1. Rachel Weisz
2. Emma Stone

Best Original Screenplay (seen 3)

1. The Favourite

Best Adapted Screenplay (seen 3)

1. BlacKkKlansman

Best Cinematography (seen 4)

1. Cold War
2. The Favourite

Best Editing (seen 3)

1. The Favourite

Best Production Design (seen 4)

1. The Favourite
2. Black Panther

Best Costume Design (seen 3)

1. The Favourite
2. Black Panther

Best Original Score (seen 3)

1. Black Panther

Best Original Song (seen 3)

1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
2. A Star Is Born

Best Sound Mixing (seen 4)

1. Roma
2. First Man

Best Sound Editing (seen 4) (don't know big difference between sound mixing and sound editing but whatever..)

1. Roma
2. First Man

Best Visual Effects (seen 3)

1. Ready Player One
2. Avengers : Infinity War

Best Animation (seen all)

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Foreign Language Film (seen 4)

1. Capharnaum
2. Cold War

[flip]

i'm going to occasionally bump this thread as we get closer to the deadline, which is fast approaching!

[Pretentious Hipster]

Seen 37, 34 features

1. Twisted Pair
2. 大象席地而坐 [An Elephant Sitting Still]
3. The Favourite
4. Transit
5. 地球最后的夜晚 [Long Day's Journey Into Night]
6. Sorry to Bother You
7. La casa lobo [The Wolf House]
8. Altiplano
9. Isle of Dogs
10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

[Curtis, baby]

seen 8

1. Shoplifters
2. The Favourite
3. Cold War
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

[St. Gloede]

Finally starting to get a top 10 I am reasonably happy to display, though at least half should be pushed out by the end of the year.

1. The Favourite (2018, Yorgos Lanthimos)
2. Lazzaro felice / Happy as Lazzaro (2018, Alice Rohrwacher)
3. Zimna wojna / Cold War (2018, Pawel Pawlikowski)
4. Di qiu zui hou de ye wan / Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018, Gan Bi)
5. The Old Man & the Gun (2018, David Lowery)
6. Da xiang xi di er zuo / An Elephant Sitting Still (2018, Bo Hu)
7. The House That Jack Built (2018, Lars von Trier)
8. Todos lo saben / Everybody Knows (2018, Asghar Farhadi)
9. Isle of Dogs (2018, Wes Anderson)
10. Le livre d'image / The Image Book (2018, Jean Luc-Godard)

HMs
The Other Side of the Wind (2018, Orson Welles)
Ni de lian / Your Face (2018, Ming-liang Tsai)

I will try to see "An Elephant Sitting Still" before sunday! - Edit: And it entered on 6th.

[flip]

reminder that the deadline for this poll is tomorrow!

[Silga]

@flip , what time tomorrow?

[flip]

i actually won't announce the results until sunday afternoon (eastern north america time), so i can accept ballots and edits up until then. but i'll probably start tabulating tomorrow, just to save time, in the late afternoon here. so to save me time, i'd ask:

- if you edit your ballot before 5pm (EST) saturday, that's fine
- if you know (or think it's possible) you will edit your ballot after 5pm saturday and before 3pm sunday, please post here to warn me not to factor in your ballot yet
- if you were unable to warn me about late edits, that's also fine, but please do not edit your original ballot - instead quote the entire ballot you posted above in a brand new post, along with the updates you wanted to make, so i know how to adjust the tally (you can quote your old post and just post a brand new ballot - that would be easiest)
- i'll take brand new ballots up until 3pm sunday

[mesnalty]

I've seen just over 60:

1. The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
2. Burning (Lee Chang-dong)
3. Madeline's Madeline (Josephine Decker)
4. Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley)
5. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
6. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski)
7. Black Mother (Khalik Allah)
8. The Tale (Jennifer Fox)
9. Happy as Lazzaro (Alice Rohrwacher)
10. Private Life (Tamara Jenkins)
11. Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)
12. Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)

[Silga]

Thanks, Flip.

I'll try to watch one or two films tomorrow and maybe one on Sunday and I'll cast my ballot before said deadline.

[DT.]

Seen 45. I have Our Time and Non-Fiction lined up in the coming weeks, but until then:

1. Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)
2. Knife + Heart (Yann Gonzalez)
3. The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier)
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel and Ethan Coen)
5. The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
6. The Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles)
7. Capernaum (Nadine Labaki)
8. Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman)
10. An Elephant Sitting Still (Hu Bo)
11. Halloween (David Gordon Green)

HM: First Man (Damian Chazelle)

Worst film: Under the Silver Lake. Genuinely embarrassing.

[St. Gloede]

Thanks Flip, will watch An Elephant Sitting Still today/before early Sunday (not sure if I'll have time for one sitting), and then I'm done.