Last February I posted the IMDb ratings for the nine best-picture nominees from the 2011 movie season, professed perplexity at “The Help”'s relatively high rating (8.0, or third-best among nominees), as well as “The Tree of Life”'s relatively low one (7.1, or second-to-last among nominees), and promised to revisit in a year or so to see how IMDb's raters, whoever they were, had sorted it out.

Longtime reader, and inveterate IMDb watcher, Reed, warned me, in the comments field, that “Tree of Life” would plummet. “It is not a movie that will be appreciated outside of a theater setting,” he wrote, adding parenthetically, “Yes, I know almost all movies' IMDb ratings decline over time because the demographics shift, but I imagine that casual viewers will be particularly unkind to 'Tree of Life'...”

He was right. But they were even more unkind to another of the best picture nominees:

2012 ratings taken during February 2012; 2013 ratings taken the morning of January 5, 2013

“Hugo”? Really, people?

Scorsese's kid drops 5, “The Artist,” “The Descendants,” and “The Tree of Life” all drop 3, “Midnight in Paris,” “Moneyball” and “War Horse” all drop 1, “The Help” stays the course, while “Extremely Loud,” lambasted by the critics a year ago, rises an astonishing 4 points.

The best movie of the bunch is now tied for last; one of the worst is now second and holding.

The way of the world. It's not cream that rises. Help.

“The Help” doesn't change; “Extremely Loud” gets closer; “Hugo” barely hangs on.

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