Best Picture Power Rankings: Let the Games Begin

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles 1975

Chantal Akerman's film jumps to No. 1, unseating Vertigo. The 3.5-hour portrait of a housewife and sex worker has gained a serious following over the last two decades.

Vertigo 1958

Drops to No. 2. Amanda notes it's nowhere near her favorite Hitchcock.

Citizen Kane 1941

No. 3, the long-running former champion.

Tokyo Story 1953

No. 4.

In the Mood for Love 2000

Wong Kar-wai at No. 5, a 2000s film cracking the top ten.

2001: A Space Odyssey 1968

No. 6.

Beau Travail 1999

Claire Denis at No. 7.

Mulholland Drive 2001

David Lynch at No. 8, a recent film near the top.

Man with a Movie Camera 1929

Holds at No. 9.

Singin' in the Rain 1952

Back at No. 10 after dropping off the 2012 list. Amanda's favorite.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019

In the top 30, unusually high for so recent a film.

8½ 1963

Top ten in 2012.

The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928

The Searchers 1956

Sunrise 1927

The Rules of the Game 1939

Battleship Potemkin 1925

Blue Velvet 1986

Once the presumptive Lynch entry.

Eraserhead 1977

The Leopard 1963

Tied at 90 with Ugetsu.

Ugetsu 1953

Goodfellas 1990

Down at 63.

The Piano 1993

At 50.

Heat 1995

Didn't make the top 100, to CR's dismay.

Sr. 2022

Chris Smith's documentary, produced by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, about Downey Jr.'s father, the underground filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. Junior makes a film about Senior making a film; it turns into the two of them talking, then into a film about Senior's illness. Runs a brisk 90 minutes. Both hosts count it among their favorites of the year.

Putney Swope 1969

Downey Sr.'s best-known film, an outsider satire set at an ad agency taken over by its lone Black employee. Sean's mother loved it; he chased it down as a teenager in the late '90s.

Pound 1970

Downey Sr.'s film with 16 pounded dogs played by human actors; Robert Downey Jr.'s screen debut. The one Downey Sr. movie Sean hasn't seen.

Greaser's Palace 1972

A Paul Thomas Anderson favorite among Downey Sr.'s films.

Chafed Elbows 1966

Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight 1975

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song 1971

Named alongside Putney Swope as a late-'60s outsider film made outside the studio system.

Easy Rider 1969

The Fabelmans 2022

No. 1, by a narrow margin. Spielberg, Tony Kushner script, Toronto People's Choice winner. Sean worries no one has seen it yet and that the inevitability factor is a poison pill.

Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022

No. 2. Just won Best Picture at the Gothams. A sci-fi comedy with the Daniels working the trail hard; its biggest enthusiasts skew younger than the average Academy voter.

Elvis 2022

No. 3. Second most-seen of the bunch, standing ovations at screenings, SAG loves it. Amanda floats it as high as No. 1; Sean isn't a fan but concedes it's playing.

The Banshees of Inisherin 2022

No. 4. Respected and controversy-free, but the passion feels muted. Farrell for actor, McDonagh for screenplay.

Top Gun: Maverick 2022

No. 5. The one everyone has seen and liked. Amanda argues for higher; Sean thinks the support tops out here.

Tár 2022

No. 6. Both hosts love it and both think Cate Blanchett wins actress, but it has no path to the top prize.

Women Talking 2022

No. 7. Release pushed to December 23rd, which some think was a mistake. The title and cast make it a likely in.

The Woman King 2022

No. 8. Live if the campaign shows up; Gina Prince-Bythewood's Gotham tribute is a good sign.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery 2022

No. 9. Rian Johnson well-liked; it goes into adapted screenplay in a weak year. The open question is whether voters dock it for being a sequel.

Avatar: The Way of Water 2022

No. 10, and marked N/A until it screens December 12th. Sean sticks with Big Jim on principle.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed 2022

Poitras's portrait of artist Nan Goldin, built in chapters around Goldin's archive and her PAIN campaign against the Sackler family. A biography that pivots into a societal critique; Goldin is a producer and collaborator on it.

Citizenfour 2014

Poitras met Goldin around its release. She had to appear in it because Snowden was her source and the audience needed to know it.

How to Survive a Plague 2012

Produced by Howard Gertler, also a producer here; Poitras cites it as a blueprint for how activism works on screen.

Return to Homs 2013

Poitras's pick for the last great thing she saw, on the Syrian uprising.