Film Bitch Awards Best Picture Prizes (2000-2012)
Monday, January 28, 2013 at 12:17PM Appropros of nothing other than to whet your appetite for more Film Bitch Awards announcements, this site's long running awards (I agonize over my snail's pace as much as any of you!) I thought I'd share all of Best Picture winners to date. [If you're just looking for Oscar stuff and clicked over, here's your current Best Picture race and Oscar related articles for the current competition. ] I'm mostly pleased with my choices in retrospect though I would make a couple of switcheroos. You'll notice that in the time I've been publishing my lists for the world I've only ever twice agreed with Oscar's final pic on Best Picture (2003, 2009) though I sort of count 2007 as agreement by virtue of coin-toss almostness. My motto with controlling disappointments with Oscar is to just be grateful if a couple of my favorites get nominated and be thrilled if something in my top ten wins the industry's top prize.
* I will eventually republish the now missing top ten articles - I have them on the hard drive.
Gold: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver: Amour
Bronze: Magic Mike
Also Nominated: Moonrise Kingdom, Les Misérables
Top Ten Article
Gold: A Separation
Silver: The Artist
Bronze: Drive
Also Nominated: Beginners, Weekend
Top Ten Article
Gold: I Am Love
Silver: The Social Network
Bronze: The Kids Are All Right
Also Nominated: Blue Valentine, Black Swan
Top Ten Article
Gold: The Hurt Locker
Silver: Hunger
Bronze: Bright Star
Also Nominated: Precious, Avatar
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Rachel Getting Married
Silver: The Class
Bronze: WALL•E
Also Nominated: Reprise, The Wrestler
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: There Will Be Blood
Silver: No Country For Old Men
Bronze: Once
Also Nominated: 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Ratatouille
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Marie Antoinette
Silver: Volver
Bronze: Shortbus
Also Nominated: Children of Men, The Fountain
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Brokeback Mountain
Silver: A History of Violence
Bronze: Pride & Prejudice
Also Nominated: Caché, Me and You and Everyone We Know
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Silver: Spider-Man 2
Bronze: Vera Drake
Also Nominated: Before Sunset, Sideways
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: LotR: The Return of the King
Silver: Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Bronze: Lost in Translation
Also Nominated: Raising Victor Vargas, thirteen
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Far From Heaven
Silver: Y Tu Mama Tambien
Bronze: Talk to Her
Also Nominated: LotR: The Two Towers, 25th Hour
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Moulin Rouge!
Silver: LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring
Bronze: In the Mood for Love
Also Nominated: Mulholland Drive, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Gold: Dancer in the Dark
Silver: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Bronze: Requiem for a Dream
Also Nominated: Erin Brockovich, Beau Travail
Top Ten Article No Longer Online
Reader Comments (51)
The most surprising placement is Spider-Man 2's silver statue. I liked it a lot, but number 2 of 2004?
This is so fun to see (and even more so since a lot of my choices were exactly the same - hello, 2008 and 2005)!
Is it too much to ask for a Best Actress retrospective as well? It is the category we all come here for, after all!
"I'm mostly pleased with my choices in retrospect though I would make a couple of switcheroos."
Then why don't you? That's the advantage of one's personal "awards" - you can change your preferences over time since there are no actual statuettes to redistribute :)
My faves since I started paying attention:
2012: Take This Waltz
2011: Tree of Life
2010: The Social Network
2009: Coraline
2008: Reprise
2007: Once
2006: Children of Men
2005: The Best of Youth
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Thanks for posting this. Some of my favs up there. (Marie, Far from etc)
I watched "Beasts of the Southern Wild" on the plane and I gave up 10 minutes in (to watch "VEEP" instead haha). I wasn't planning to see it again but then it got buckload of Oscar noms so now I have to give this movie another go! Also, agreed with Gold and Silver placements!
Here are my Best Picture picks as far as I've gone making my own awards:
2012: The Sessions (still have a few left to watch, though)
2011: Shame
2010: Never Let Me Go
2009: Where the Wild Things Are
2008: Hunger
2007: No Country for Old Men
2006: Children of Men
2005: Syriana
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2003: Lost in Translation
2002: The Hours
2001: Amelie
2000: Dancer in the Dark
1999: Eyes Wide Shut
1998: Central Station
1997: Boogie Nights
1996: Fargo
1995: To Die For
I had absolutely no idea you were SO into the Rings trilogy. My little secret: I've only seen the first one and slept through half of it!
I'm glad to see the Spiderman 2 mention! Still the best superhero movie ever, in my opinion.
I remember as a kid finding this site i don't know why and back then my definition of best films was oscar nominated films and then I found many movies I didn't even knew exist in the film bitch awards and I started watching them like it was homework, then I started looking for other kind of cinema on my own, but the FBA were the first step so THANK YOU Nathaniel.
My Choices since 2000:
2000 Requiem for a Dream
2001 Memento
2002Talk to Her
2003 City of God
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 Brokeback Mountain
2006 Pan's Labyrinth
2007 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
2008 The Class
2009 (500) Days of Summer
2010 Dogtooth
2011 A Separation
2012 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
@Checko: Love that you picked 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days! Fantastic film with an amazing lead performance
Wow, 2000 was a good film year...forgot about that.
Our top choices are often the same, though the rest of our lists diverge wildly. The big exception is 2005 where none of those films come close to my best of list. Capote tops my list that year, with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Constant Gardner, and Hustle & Flow filling out the rest.
Your one top-3 that I love without reservation is 2000. Man, what a good top-3 that is!
I'm kind of sad to see all these intriguing choices and be unable to read your write-ups on them. Is there any chance you could put them up somewhere? '01 and '04 seem especially intriguing.
Also another cool thing I noticed: you seem more daring in even years:
2000 Dancer in the Dark, 2002 Far From Heaven, 2004 Eternal Sunshine, 2006 Marie Antoinette, 2008 Rachel Getting Married, 2010 I Am Love, 2012 Beasts of the Southern Wild...
Your odd years are more critic/consensus-friendly ;)
My choices for Top 3 Single Films between 2000 and 2012:
2000: Almost Famous, Memento, Requiem for a Dream
2001: Amelie, Donnie Darko, The Royal Tenenbaums
2002: Far From Heaven, City of God, Talk to Her
2003: Oldboy, School of Rock, Kill Bill Vol. 1
2004: Before Sunset, Eternal Sunshine, A Very Long Engagement
2005: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Brokeback Mountain, Sin City
2006: Pan's Labyrinth, Casino Royale, United 93
2007: There Will Be Blood (even with my issues with it), No Country for Old Men, Hot Fuzz
2008: The Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Happy-Go-Lucky
2009: The Secret of Kells, Drag Me to Hell, Fish Tank
2010: The Social Network, Blue Valentine, The Fighter
2011: Drive, Melancholia, The Help (I'll see a better third place eventually)
2012 (so far): Zero Dark Thirty, The Avengers, Beasts of the Southern Wild
As for LotR: I can't quite feel comfortable putting the individual parts in my top five in any single year. Treated on their own, I feel they are low B+ parts of a behemoth low A+ whole.
I came late to this party - only started following the Oscars and really getting into movies in 2006 during my sophomore year of high school.
2006 - Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men, Dreamgirls
2007 - Once, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood
2008 - Wall-E, The Dark Knight, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2009 - Inglorious Basterds, Up in the Air, Fantastic Mr. Fox
2010 - Black Swan, Blue Valentine, Inception
2011 - The Tree of Life, The Artist, Bridesmaids
2012 - Cloud Atlas, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Misérables
Loving you number 1's.
Off the top of my head, if anyone cares. This asshole list is subject to change everyday:
2000: Memento
2001: Muholland Drive
2002: Gerry
2003: Dogville
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Brick
2006: Volver
2007: There Will Be Blood
2008: Ballast
2009: The Hurt Locker
2010: Meek's Cutoff
2011: Pariah
2012: Oslo, August 31st
Of all the many lovely nominees you've chosen (I adore the love for Dancer in the Dark, Marie Antoinette and Caché, etc.) then I highly applaud the celebration of Spider-Man 2. It's such an underrated piece of wonderful filmmaking.
Will we ever get access to all the previous Film Bitch awards in their entirety again? I was sad to see them go...
Such a good selection of films. I'm wondering, which do you feel most uneasy about years on? I've always got a few I adore that within a year or two I am left unsure why I liked so much.
2000 Almost Famous
2001 In the Bedroom
2002 Y tu Mama Tambien
2003 Lost in Transalation
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 The Squid and the Whale
2006 Pan's Labyrinth
2007 There Will Be Blood
2008 Wall-E
2009 District 9
2010 The Social Network
2011 Drive
2012 Moonrise Kingdom (more still to see...)
A lot of fun and interesting choices here. I, too, was surprised to see Spider-Man 2 up there. It was one of the best blockbusters in recent memory, but not an obvious choice. As I recall, 2004 was a relatively weak year, so I guess it's not completely implausible.
Here's my list since 2005, when I started keeping track.
2012: A Separation, Zero Dark Thirty, Killing Them Softly, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Into the Abyss
2011: Biutiful, Hugo, Poetry, The Adventures of Tintin, The Time that Remains
2010: The Social Network, Mother, Tokyo Sonata, Enter the Void, Secret Sunshine
2009: A Serious Man, The Hurt Locker, Hunger, Summer Hours, Silent Light
2008: Wall*E, 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days, The Dark Knight, Let the Right One In, In Bruges
2007: The Assassination of Jesse James..., No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, There Will Be Blood, Ratatouille
2006: Children of Men, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
2005: Memories of Murder, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence, Good Night and Good Luck, Stay
publish the best actress ones please!!
I didn't realise you were a fountain fan (Love)
Jan -- i couldn't switch them up after the fact since this site is official and widely read. people would come at me with knives. NO TAKEBACKS!
maxbazryder -- thank you. I really think it's the best superhero film of all time. Just perfectly "Pop" and focused and fun and colorful and exciting
reggina -- i keep saying i'll release a book. i'll figure something out.
Nice seeing these again (and count me among those hoping for a book). I remember renting Beau Travail based off your recommendation, and absolutely hating it. I was just starting to get into film at the time, so maybe it was something a bit too challenging for my teenage self, but it opened a door for me to start checking out foreign films that probably never would have happened on its own. So thanks for opening up my world a bit, Nathaniel.
Great lists I am sort of surprised by all the LOTR love which is weird since I have been following your blog for years I don't remember them rating that highly . Such a shame that Peter Jackson has decided to devalue the franchise with all the Hobbit films
Yes for the Gold, and Yes for the Silver. I would substitute Moonrise Kingdom for the Bronze. But I do hope Tony Kushner wins for best Adapted. Has anyone even tried to read Goodwin's book? You need a serious org chart to make it through that team of rivals.
Can someone explain to me why foreign films are sometimes in Best and sometimes in Best Foreign? Like The Artist? Does it have to do with which country is producing?
I would have chosen Kar Wai Wong's In the Mood for Love for Best of EVERYTHING in 2000.
My choices from the aughts onward:
2000: Beau Travail
2001: Werckmeister Harmonies
2002: Morvern Callar
2003: Lost in Translation
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Cache
2006: Half Nelson
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: Hunger/The Wrester (can't decide)
2009: 35 Shots of Rum
2010: White Material
2011: Weekend
2012: Moonrise Kingdom
My list:
2012: Anna Karenina (2nd: Holy Motors)
2011: Martha Marcy May Marlene (2nd: Shame)
2010: I Am Love (2nd: The Social Network)
2009: The Hurt Locker (2nd: Summer Hours)
2008: Reprise (2nd: Flight of the Red Balloon)
2007: Lust, Caution (2nd: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
2006: Marie Antoinette (2nd: Miami Vice)
2005: A History of Violence (2nd: 3-Iron)
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2nd: Before Sunset)
2003: Kill Bill Vol.1 (2nd: The Return of the King)
2002: Talk to Her (2nd: Y Tu Mama Tambien)
2001: Mulholland Drive (2nd: In the Mood for Love)
2000: Battle Royale (2nd: High Fidelity)
Renton: I think I've said I don't get the In the Mood for Love hype at all. Aesthetically, it's completely irreproachable. Dramaturgically? Well, aside from never getting a scene on screen half as scarily effective as the attempted suicide in it's progenitor Brief Encounter, the central couple just generally loses my empathy. Where Brief Encounter was stymied by the VASTLY more logical societal grief of "I don't want to be the first one caught cheating", In the Mood for Love's couple is stymied by the insane moral "dilemma" of "We'll never cheat, even though we're totally in love with each other and our marriages are broken anyways."
I tought I was the only person in the world who LOVED "The Fountain"!
renton - u have good taste
st jeans -- u are not (though i'll admit that the 2006 lineup has always been a strange one. i LOVE marie antoinette & volver equally but the rest of my top ten list i have reservations about. a weak film year for me)
volvagia - diff'rnt strokes. to me they're a hugely sympathetic couple
Pam -- do you mean with Oscar? That's easy. foreign films that open theatrically in the US are eligible just like regular American features. But for the foreign film race itself, theatrical showings are not required except they had to have played in their home country during a specific time. Then they have to be submitted by their country as their official representing film.it gets more complicated for films that qualify for foreign submission in one year and get released in another but that's a whole nother question than the one you're asking i think.
My picks, for what it's worth:
2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2001 LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 Far from Heaven
2003 Lost in Translation
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 Brokeback Mountain
2006 The Departed
2007 Once
2008 WALL-E
2009 The Hurt Locker
2010 Toy Story 3
2011 The Tree of Life
2012 Beasts of the Southern Wild
Thank you, Nathaniel. Haha. Your love for Marie Antoinette and Reprise led me to watch them, so thank you, indeed.
Right now....
2012: Holy Motors
2011: A Separation
2010: White Material
2009: A Prophet
2008: Silent Light
2007: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2006: Children of Men
2005: A History of Violence
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (or Talk to Her, depends if I cheat or not)
2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (or In the Mood for Love, see above)
2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Can you repost the other years from your old site? I'm dying to read them!
I really like the FB Awards. Great insight on movies that I hadn't seen and then when I do see them I look for things that won in FB Awards.
BTW what are your plans for a book on these awards? I know you talked about doing that last year.
"I agonize over my snail's pace as much as any of you!"
Ha, yeah right! You gleefully do other tasks (such as eat breakfast, write facebook pages, live-blog award events, sleep, write articles that are not nearly as great the FB award write-ups, make podcasts,...ect) INSTEAD of working on your awards so that me, and everyone else who enjoy your awards, will excessively come to this site and add to your page-views.
Everytime I come to this site and see a non-Filmbitch awards article, I cry a little inside.
A smart & heartless strategy.
So many great choices!
My favorites from your medalists:
Dancer in the Dark
Moulin Rouge!
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Brokeback Mountain
A Separation (?)
I didn't mean to only put gold medalists - it just happenned.
Here are mine:
2000: You Can Count on Me (Runners up: Dancer in the Dark, The Virgin Suicides)
2001: Moulin Rouge (Runners up: Mulholland Drive, Spirited Away)
2002: The Hours (Runners up: Far From Heaven, Secretary)
2003: Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Runners up: Dogville, In the Cut [much maligned, but I am a fan])
2004: Birth (Runners up: Before Sunset, The Incredibles)
2005: Me and You and Everyone We Know (Runners up: Mysterious Skin, Brokeback Mountain)
2006: Pan's Labyrinth (Runners up: Half Nelson, The Departed)
2007: The Savages (Runners up: Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men)
2008: Wendy and Lucy (Runners up: The Dark Knight, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [I think I like this one a lot more than most people seem to])
2009: Fish Tank (Runners up: Bright Star, The Hurt Locker)
2010: Black Swan (Runners up: Blue Valentine, The Illusionist)
2011: Shame (Runners up: Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia)
2012: ??? Still a few things I want to see before picking faves.
2009 was such a lousy year that when people say they did not see The Hurt Locker as Best Picture, the air bubble in my head goes, 'THEN WHAT FILM WAS????????'
2000: In the Mood for Love (Runners up: Yi Yi and The Wonder Boys)
2001: Mullholland Drive (Runners up: AI and The Royal Tenenbaums)
2002: 25th Hour (Runners up: 24 Hour Party People and City of God)
2003: Lost in Translation (Runners Up: American Splendor and The Best of Youth)
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Runners up: Before Sunset and Birth)
2005:Cache (The Runners Up: The New World and Pride & Prejudice)
2006: Children of Men (Runners Up: Volver and This Is England)
2007: Zodiac (Runners up: There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men)
2008: The Wrestler (In Bruges and Hunger)
2009: The Hurt Locker (Runners up: The White Ribbon and A Serious Man)
2010: Black Swan (Runners up: Carlos and Toy Story 3)
2011: Take Shelter (Runners up: The Tree of Life and Melancholia)
2012: Zero Dark Thirty (Runners Up: The Master and Amour)
no Juno??? :(
I want best lead and supporting actress retros now!!!! :D
Here's my picks
2000: As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
2001: The Days Between
2002: Blissfully Yours
2003: Vai E Vem
2004: L'intrus
2005: The Wayward Cloud
2006: Flanders
2007: Death in the Land of Encantos
2008: Love Exposure
2009: To Die Like a Man
2010: Mysteries of Lisbon
2011: Sucker Punch
2012: Holy Motors
Your choics are widely uneven. Far From Heaven and Brokeback Mountain were two of the best films of the decade (2003's Elephant WAS the best film of the decade) but Beasts is pointless, Kill Bill 1 is crap, and Moulin Rouge! is just thoroughly ridiculous.
If I had had a vote in the Film Bitch awards I would have gone with...
2000: Beau Travail
RU: Erin Brockovich
2001: In the Mood for Love
RU: Mulholland Drive
2002: Talk to Her
RU: 25th Hour
2003: Lost in Translation
RU: Kill Bill, Vol. 1
2004: Before Sunset
RU: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005: Brokeback Mountain
RU: Cache
2006: Children of Men
RU: Volver
2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
RU: Ratatouille
2008: Reprise
RU: The Class
2009: Bright Star
RU: The Hurt Locker
2010: The Social Network
RU: Blue Valentine
2011: A Separation
RU: Weekend
2012: Magic Mike
RU: Moonrise Kingdom