2020s Dynamic Consensus Lists

[swo17]

And we're back! I've created a new thread for this new decade (that's already 14% over ) as I think the 2010s are now better served by the decades lists, and keeping up with more than 10 years of data starts to be more and more unwieldy for ever diminishing returns. If you wish to see the last update for the 2010s, I've preserved it for posterity here (though I think our forum's most recent survey of the decade has more interesting results).

Anyway, for the uninitiated: I make routine sweeps through the Dynamic Top Ten threads every month in order to discern trends in the groupthink of the forum that can eventually be used against it. The reports I present to some guy who says he works for the government are presented for your amusement below.

The fine print: Only the top ten films have been counted from the lists in the Dynamic Top Ten threads since 2019, and lists of less than ten have not been counted. Though 2019 is not displayed here, I'm continuing to register updates to 2019 lists to the extent that they affect films shown here for 2020. Lists submitted by members for years before they joined the site are not being tallied. Lists not updated since early in the year are only partially counted. (Exception: I count all lists for the current year, even those that don't list ten films yet. Once the year ends, I remove any lists that haven't been filled out to ten.) Each film is assigned to the year here where the most people have included it on their lists, but a mention of the film in the Dynamic Top Ten thread for any year counts toward that film's total. Films are ranked based on how many lists they currently appear on, with ties broken based on the relative placement of films within individual lists. Anything appearing on three or more lists that isn't in the top 25 for a given year is shown (in alphabetical order) as an honorable mention. In addition to showing the number of appearances, I'm also showing the change in position of certain films, either since the last update (for the latest year) or from the end of the last awards season (for all prior years). The only changes in position I'm showing are ones that directly result from people adding that film to their list, taking it off, or moving its position. Finally, the consensus #1 film shown for each year is the film that shows up most often in the #1 position of people's lists.

The key word here, folks, is "dynamic." Any member of the forum is welcome at any time to contribute lists in current and prior years, and everyone is free (and in fact, encouraged) to update their lists not only throughout the year, but well after each year has finished, to reflect new discoveries or reevaluations.

As a final note, I'd just like to say that, while it can be fun to watch some of the heavier hitters duke it out for each year's top spots, my real hope with these lists is that people will take note of the lesser known films that have started to build a small consensus, and that they'll go to the effort of seeking those films out for themselves.

Last Edited Date: Aug 31, 2023

The Top Films of 2023

Most #1 Votes: Oppenheimer (6), Beau Is Afraid (3)

Most Listed
01 Oppenheimer (12)
02 Barbie (9) +4
03 Beau Is Afraid (8) -1
04 Knock at the Cabin -1
05 John Wick: Chapter 4 (6)
06 Asteroid City -2
07 Roter Himmel (5) NEW
08 Infinity Pool (4) -1
09 Past Lives (3) -1
10 Copenhagen Cowboy -1
11 Air
12 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One -2

+/- is change during the month ending on Last Edited Date


The Top Films of 2022

Most #1 Votes: Tár (5), Showing Up (4), Pacifiction (3)

Most Listed
01 Tár (19)
02 The Banshees of Inisherin (15)
03 Crimes of the Future
04 Everything Everywhere All at Once (12)
05 Triangle of Sadness (11) +1
06 Decision to Leave (10)
07 Nope -2
08 Glass Onion
09 Aftersun (9) +1
10 The Northman -1
11 Pacifiction (8) +4
12 Top Gun: Maverick
13 The Fabelmans
14 Eo
15 Showing Up (7) NEW
16 Bones and All +2
17 Babylon -6
18 Master Gardener (6) NEW
19 Armageddon Time
20 Blonde
21 The Batman -2
22 The Eternal Daughter -2
23 Godland (5) +8
24 Avatar: The Way of Water
25 Elvis

Honorable Mention: Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood, Avec amour et acharnement, Bardo, falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades, De humani corporis fabrica, Flux Gourmet, Funny Pages, Holy Spider, How to Blow Up a Pipeline NEW, Im Westen nichts Neues, KIMI, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, M3GAN NEW, The Menu, No Bears NEW, The Novelist's Film NEW, The Rehearsal, R.M.N. NEW, Saint Omer, Speak No Evil, Terrifier 2, Tori et Lokita, Trenque Lauquen, Turning Red, White Noise, Women Talking, X

+/- is change since Mar 12, 2023


The Top Films of 2021

Most #1 Votes: Licorice Pizza (6), Memoria (6), Petite maman (4), The Card Counter (3)

Most Listed
01 Licorice Pizza (25)
02 Drive My Car (20)
03 The Worst Person in the World
04 The Card Counter (19)
05 Memoria (14)
06 The Power of the Dog (13)
07 The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (12) +1
08 Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
09 Annette (11)
10 Dune
11 Spencer
12 Petite maman (10)
13 Titane
14 Benediction
15 C'mon C'mon (8)
16 Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (7)
17 The Velvet Underground
18 The Tragedy of Macbeth
19 The Green Knight (6) -3
20 Red Rocket
21 Madres paralelas
22 Benedetta (5)
23 Nightmare Alley
24 The Last Duel
25 No Time to Die

Honorable Mention: Azor, Candyman, Can't Get You Out of My Head, Diários de Otsoga, È stata la mano di Dio, Flee, Friends and Strangers, The Humans, Inside, The Lost Daughter, Mad God, Malignant, No Sudden Move, Old, Passing, Pig, The Souvenir: Part II, The Suicide Squad, Summer of Soul, We're All Going to the World's Fair, West Side Story, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?

+/- is change since Mar 12, 2023


The Top Films of 2020

Most #1 Votes: First Cow (5), I'm Thinking of Ending Things (5)

Most Listed
01 First Cow (20)
02 I'm Thinking of Ending Things (15)
03 Tenet (12)
04 Palm Springs (11)
05 The Invisible Man (10)
06 Mank (8)
07 Da 5 Bloods (7)
08 Days (6)
09 Promising Young Woman
10 The Trial of the Chicago 7
11 Wolfwalkers (5)
12 The Assistant
13 Emma
14 Minari
15 Small Axe: Lovers Rock
16 Les Choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait (4)
17 On the Rocks
18 Quo vadis, Aida?
19 Never Rarely Sometimes Always
20 World of Tomorrow Episode III: The Absent Destinations of David Prime
21 She Dies Tomorrow
22 Another Round
23 @zola
24 Possessor (3)
25 The Father

Honorable Mention: Bad Education, Freaky, News of the World, Nomadland, Riders of Justice, Sin señas particulares, Soul, Underwater, Undine

+/- is change since Mar 12, 2023

[swo17]

First post updated, with The Father new to 2020

[swo17]

First post updated, with Days new to 2020

[swo17]

First post updated, with The Nest, Saint Maud, and Soul new to 2020

[swo17]

First post updated, with Another Round, She Dies Tomorrow, and Swallow new to 2020

[swo17]

First post updated, with Days moved back to 2020 and Freaky also new to that year

[knives]

Freaky is some good news.

[swo17]

First post updated. Quo vadis, Aida? has moved to 2020.

Next month will be the year-end update, at which time I will be doing the following:

1. No longer counting 2021 lists of less than 10, and only partially counting lists of 10 that haven't been updated recently. If you haven't edited your list since at least the last Friday of October and you want it to count as is, then you will need to add a note to your post that indicates this. Lists that I stop counting at year-end can be counted again later if they're subsequently edited to constitute a qualifying top 10.

2. "Freezing" the results for years 2021 and prior (i.e. any changes during 2022 will be shown as changes from that point in time)

[swo17]

First post updated, with the following new to older years:

È stata la mano di Dio
France
Riders of Justice

[swo17]

First post updated, with Friends and Strangers new to 2021.

Also, I've made a change to year assignments to be consistent with how we're now doing them for the lists project. Namely, I'm now making a ruling on each film myself, as documented in the first post of this thread (though I welcome suggested corrections if anyone has them). You are still welcome to assign films to years in the Dynamic Top 10 threads however you prefer. I will find each film and recognize your vote no matter where you list it. The advantage of using my year assignments though is that you wouldn't have to shift anything around when we eventually do the lists project for these more recent years. This change moved the following films to older years:

2021

Das Mädchen und die Spinne (Ramon Zürcher)
Tromperie (Arnaud Desplechin)

2020

Les Choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait (Emmanuel Mouret)
Sin señas particulares (Fernanda Valadez)
Undine (Christian Petzold)

2019 and Prior (i.e. kicked off the results for this decade)

About Endlessness (Roy Andersson)
Bacurau (Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles)
Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov)
Chambre 212 (Christophe Honoré)
Le Daim (Quentin Dupieux)
Ema (Pablo Larraín)
La gomera (Corneliu Porumboiu)
Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello)
Perdrix (Erwan Le Duc)
Tout le monde a raison (Emmanuel Mouret)
Vitalina Varela (Pedro Costa)

[therewillbeblus]

Swo, I've noticed that several people, including yourself, have The Rehearsal down as a film when it's been renewed for season two. I believe in the past your ruling has been that films are only isolated miniseries by same director, etc. So I'm wondering if this'll be counted as a film down the line, even if a season two comes out? I ask because I think Euphoria's second series functions as an insulated sequel quite separate from 1 and likely 3, and would gladly put it at the top of my own list if it has a chance at being voted for in future projects, but I don't wanna waste a ranked spot if that isn't the case.

[swo17]

My approach with these threads is that I try not to impose any rules and just capture what people have decided on their own. You are welcome to list a season of a show if you think it makes sense to include in a film list (and you wouldn't be the first to list a season of Euphoria here). That being said, for lists project purposes, we'll see what treatment makes the most sense when we get to the relevant decade

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah I was just curious, I’m trying to stick to consistent rules to make things easier for myself, but since you had it listed I was wondering if the rules had changed and what the rationale was. Thanks for the response

[Never Cursed]

swo, will you be counting Master Gardener as a 2022 or 2023 film? It had multiple festival premieres in '22, but will release in '23. I want to know just so that I can adjust my 2022 list accordingly

[swo17]

You can define it however you want for your own list, but I'll be tracking it here as a 2022 film

[swo17]

First post updated. Diários de Otsoga is new to 2021.

Next update will be after Oscar night on March 12. This will be the year-end update, at which time I will be doing the following:

1. No longer counting 2022 lists of less than 10, and only partially counting lists of 10 that haven't been updated recently. If you haven't edited your list since at least the last Friday of October and you want it to count as is, then you will need to add a note to your post that indicates this. Lists that I stop counting at year-end can be counted again later if they're subsequently edited to constitute a qualifying top 10.

2. Deleting empty place-holder posts in the 2020-2022 threads that were never updated. These people are free to contribute a list at some point in the future, but they will lose their spot earlier on in the thread.

3. "Freezing" the results for years 2022 and prior (i.e. any changes during 2023 will be shown as changes from that point in time)

[swo17]

First post updated. Showing Up and The Novelist's Film are new to 2022

[swo17]

First post updated. Master Gardener and How to Blow Up a Pipeline are new to 2022

[swo17]

First post updated. M3GAN is new to 2022

[swo17]

First post updated. New to 2022:

Enys Men
R.M.N.
Un couple

[swo17]

First post updated. Barbenheimer is real. No Bears is new to 2022