The 2012 Best Picture Nominees Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes Scores

Monday January 21, 2013

The 2012 Best Picture Nominees Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes Scores

Here are the best picture nominees as ranked by their Rotten Tomatoes scores:

BP Nominee	R. Tomatoes	Top Crits	Difference
Argo	96%	95%	-1
Zero Dark Thirty	93%	90%	-3
Amour	91%	97%	6
Lincoln	91%	95%	4
Silver Linings Playbook	91%	91%	0
Life of Pi	89%	88%	-1
Django Unchained	88%	76%	-12
Beasts of the Southern Wild	86%	77%	-9
Les Miserables	70%	58%	-22

I've included Top Critics rankings and the difference between the two. Top Crits obviously less enamored of “Les Miserables” and “Django Unchained.” The love “Amour.” They revere “Lincoln.” “Beasts” is interesting. I would've thought that would be a top-critic darling.�

Now here are the best picture nominees as ranked by IMDb readers:

BP Nominee	IMDb
Django Unchained	8.7
Life of Pi	8.3
Silver Linings Playbook	8.2
Amour	8.1
Argo	8.1
Les Miserables	8
Lincoln	8
Zero Dark Thirty	7.7
Beasts of the Southern Wild	7.5

I did this last year when “The Artist” was on top and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” was at the bottom, but that's not necessarily good news for “Django.” I can't conceive of a “Django” victory. I can't conceived of a “Life of Pi” victory unless the other films cancel each other out. Jeff Wells is still imagining his “Silver Linings” victory. Maybe. “Crash” won once, too. You can never tell. I still assume “Lincoln” but I'm waiting for the DGAs.

Finally, here's where each film ranks on each list:

BP Nominee	R. Tomatoes	RT's Top Critics	IMDb
Argo	1	2	4
Zero Dark Thirty	2	5	8
Amour	3	1	4
Lincoln	3	3	6
Silver Linings Playbook	3	4	3
Life of Pi	6	6	2
Django Unchained	7	8	1
Beasts of the Southern Wild	8	7	9
Les Miserables	9	9	6

The biggest difference between critics (as represented by Rotten Tomatoes) and moviegoers (as represented by IMDb score) is “Django”: near the bottom for the critics, particularly top critics, and at the top for moviegoers. IMDb's readers love themselves some QT. “Pulp Fiction” is at 9.0 (the fourth greatest movie of all time), “Reservoir Dogs” is at 8.4, “Inglourious Basterds” at 8.3, etc., etc. No QT-directed feature film is below 7.0. His lowest is “Death Proof” at 7.1. “Django” will drop, but probably not much. IMDb is his core audience at the moment.

There's also some vast discrepancies between “Life of Pi” (6, 6, 2) and “Zero Dark Thirty” (2, 5, 8). Everyone seems to agree on where to place “Silver Linings”: 3, 4, 3. Everyone except me. My rankings, without having seen “Amour” yet, would probably put “Lincoln” first, “Argo” second ...

Here:

BP Nominee	R. Tomatoes	Top Critics	IMDb	Me
Argo	1	2	4	2
Zero Dark Thirty	2	5	8	5
Amour	3	1	4	n/a
Lincoln	3	3	6	1
Silver Linings Playbook	3	4	3	8
Life of Pi	6	6	2	3
Django Unchained	7	8	1	6
Beasts of the Southern Wild	8	7	9	7
Les Miserables	9	9	6	4

But overall I don't have much enthusiasm for this year's picks. I'd put three of last year's best picture nominees (“The Tree of Life,” “Moneyball” and “The Descendants”) ahead of this year's favorite.