All 94 Best Picture Winners, Ranked

Every year, after the fracas of awards season and studio campaigning, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out the ultimate prize in cinema, the explicit recommendation that if you’re only going to watch one movie, make it the one we picked. We’re talking the Oscar for Best Picture. Less than 100 of these have been handed out through the centuries. But ever wonder how the movies of this exclusive golden club would fare against each other?

Welcome to our countdown of every Best Picture winner ever, from the Certified Fresh (Casablanca, Schindler’s List, Argo, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King…most of them, fortunately), the kinda Fresh (Out of Africa, Forrest Gump), to the ‘HUH? HOW?’ Rottens (The Broadway Melody, Cimarron). We took ’em all and then ranked by Adjusted Tomatometer, which takes into account factors like year of release and number of reviews.

And now we’ve added Nomadland as the 94th Best Picture Oscar winner. See where all the films place in our guide to Best Picture Winners, Ranked by Tomatometer!

“Know Your Critic” is a column in which we interview Tomatometer-approved critics about their screening and reviewing habits, pet peeves, and personal favorites.

Before Leonard Maltin became known as the iconic critic and historian that he is, he was a movie-loving teenager, putting together a fanzine called Film Fan Monthly. He wrote for Variety, TV Guide, and other major publications, eventually becoming Entertainment Tonight’s broadcast movie critic – a position he held for 30 years. Starting in 1969, he compiled lists of every year’s must-see movies – Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide published annually or biannually until 2014. He’s written a dozen books, been the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and taught at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. And now he’s a game… really.

Maltin’s most devoted fans and fellow cinephiles have put together a game in his honor: “King of Movies.” The objective? To be Leonard Maltin in the most convincing fashion. Players pull a movie title from a deck of cards, along with a genuine Maltin review of the title, then must review the film in Maltin’s signature style, attempting to trick a player into thinking Maltin wrote it himself. It’s basically “pick the real Maltin review,” and will be available to purchase from Mondo.

“The idea is to fool the other players that you’ve written an authentic writeup for a movie they’ve never heard of,” Maltin told Rotten Tomatoes in an interview.

In his storied and celebrated career, Maltin is most proud of “surviving,” he says – “and that’s not a flippant answer.”

Leonard Maltin is a film critic and historian. He currently publishes at leonardmaltin.com.

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What do you consider required viewing?

Charlie Chaplin. No further explanation. To me, so much begins with Charlie Chaplin.

Citizen Kane, Singin’ in the Rain, Seven Samurai, La Strada, I could go on and on and on.

What is the hardest review that you’ve ever written?

The Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. Because I went to a screening, and directly from that screening to our studio, and had to write and deliver a review without having more than a half hour to digest the film and organize my thoughts.

Is there something that’s Rotten on the Tomatometer, but you’d defend it to the ends of the Earth?

I actually wrote about this one in the book, Rotten Movies We Love. It’s called Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. And by any objective standards, it’s indefensible, but I love it.

What are you most proud of in your career so far?

I feel very fortunate that I came along when I did – which is to say long before the Internet – when you could still make a name or stake yourself a spot on the landscape through old-fashioned means, self-publishing the fanzine as I did, being generously plugged or promoted by other publications and building a reputation, and then publishing books that were actually distributed widely in stores around the country and not just limited to specialty presses.

My first couple of books – I met a lot of people who say that mine was the first movie book they ever bought when they were in their teens, because they only cost a dollar-and-a-half, and they were on sale at the local drug store or Woolworth’s or card and gift shop in the days before the malling of America and rise of the bookstore chains.

Timing in life is crucial – and luck. The challenge for anyone starting today is cutting through all the clutter.

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Can you give us the rundown on your new King of Movies game?

Well, there are people who were devotees and remain devotees of my annual movie guide for years, in some cases for decades. One of them is Tim League, the co-founder of Alamo Drafthouse. He and one of his cohorts, Ant Timpson, used to play this game where they would try to devise phony write-ups of movies, because especially when writing about older, more formulaic Hollywood movies, there was identifiable rhythm and style to the writing. So they started to challenge each other and friends of theirs.

They’ve now institutionalized this as a game. I played it with them a couple of times, and I’ve done a couple of test runs of the final game. Some people really get it. Some people fall into the rhythm of those write-ups, and they can be very persuasive.

What makes a Leonard Maltin review a Leonard Maltin review?

Well, none of the better qualities are part of this game. Rapier wit and incisive storytelling in capsule form are not the hallmarks of these reviews. It’s the formula – the formulaic descriptions of films that really come out on top in the game.

Is there anyone that you think could “beat” you at your own game?

Well, yes, theoretically. But I did it for so long, I have an unfair advantage.

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What is your favorite classic film?

Casablanca.

Is there a movie that you’ve watched more than any other?

Casablanca.

Can you guesstimate how many times you’ve seen it?

No, I really can’t. Certainly 20 to 25 times.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about critics?

We’re lucky to get paid for what we do. And that is also a truism.

Yeah, we are lucky. We’re not digging ditches, we’re not doing manual labor, but we get paid to watch bad movies. I found out particularly when I started getting recognized from being on television and people would stop me and say, “You got the best job in the world.” I said, “Well, it’s a great job, but you know, some days it feels like a job.” Then people’s eyes glaze over. When you get paid to watch movies, no one wants to hear complaints, and I get that.

What do you think makes a good movie?

They say a smart person can hold two opposing thoughts in their mind at the same time. On the one hand, I’m tempted to say originality and freshness, and yet there’s some movies I like a lot, very good movies, that follow a ritual for a genre and wind up being really good.

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What is your preferred seat in a movie theater?

Aisle seat, midway down the aisle.

What is your favorite screening snack?

Popcorn. No butter.

When reviewing, do you go in cold?

The only way I go. I actually studiously avoid reading or seeing anything about a movie. I don’t even watch the trailers. The less I know about a movie going in, the better experience I have.

Are you pro- or anti- note-taking?

Neither. There are times when note-taking is crucial. I don’t write lengthy reviews, so I find as long as I log-in either that night or the next morning when I get home, that does it for me.

What is your personal record for most movies watched in a day?

Seven. May I add with an asterisk: That was the day I discovered definitively that it’s not the eyes that go first, it’s the tush.

What’s your favorite film from your childhood?

Oh gosh, so many. No one has ever asked me that.

At age seven, my parents took me to see a film called The Golden Age of Comedy, which was a compilation of great moments from silent film comedies with Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin and others. I even remembered the theater where I saw it in Manhattan, and it literally changed my life.

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Who is an actor or director or a screenwriter whose work you always love?

Alexander Payne. He is an original – he and his frequent writing partner, Jim Taylor. Their films aren’t like anybody else’s. They deal in social satire, which very few people even approach, because it’s such a difficult genre.

Who are some under-the-radar directors or a screenwriters that you think more people should know about?

Well, yes. I guess it depends on how you define that radar. Kelly Reichardt, her latest film, First Cow, is the best movie I’ve seen this year. Nicole Holofcener, huge fan; Jeff Nichols, an underappreciated talent; Debra Granik, so many. They’re not exactly newcomers, but they ought to be more celebrated than they are.

Is there someone in your life who isn’t a critic, whose opinion you admire?

Well, my wife and daughter, who are critics, only they don’t get paid for it. I respect their opinions, both of them.

Can you think of a recent movie where you may have disagreed with either of them?

Oh gosh. My daughter and her husband weren’t engaged by Spike Lee‘s Da 5 Bloods. My wife and I just thought it was terrific.

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Who are some up-and-coming critics that you want people to check out?

I deal so much with classic and vintage films. I’ve been very impressed with two young-ish writers and essayists on the scene. One is Imogen Sara Smith, the other is Farran Smith Nehme.

They’re both freelancers, and they’re employed quite a bit by the Criterion Collection. I’ve seen them both on camera and doing commentary tracks and writing wonderfully eloquent essays for Criterion booklets as well. They’re whip smart, and I’m very impressed with both of them.

Do you have advice for critics who are still finding their voice?

Keep at it. Experience is the best teacher, and getting feedback is hugely important too.

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Leonard Maltin is a film critic and historian. He currently publishes at leonardmaltin.com.

(Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images)

If, like us, you’ve spent any time around film nerds and cult movie buffs in the past decade and a half, you’ve likely heard about a little gem known as The Room. A true independent film in almost every sense, the romantic drama was the passion project of a single man, Tommy Wiseau, who wrote, directed, financed, and starred in the film.

Aside from a number of, let’s say, unusual directorial choices, The Room also features a collection of largely inexperienced actors, perplexing green screen usage, dangling plot points, and a curious obsession with American football. It’s also a supremely earnest creation, which is part of the reason why it’s earned such a feverish following and spawned regular midnight screenings across the country.

As it happens, both James Franco and Seth Rogen count themselves among The Room‘s fans, and they recently joined forces to adapt The Disaster Artist, a memoir about the making of the film written by one of its co-stars, Greg Sestero. With the Certified Fresh The Disaster Artist expanding into wide release this week, we spoke to Wiseau about his Five Favorite Films, what it was like to see Franco’s portrayal of him on the big screen, and what the legacy of The Room means to him.

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Ryan Fujitani for Rotten Tomatoes: My understanding is that the South by Southwest premiere of The Disaster Artist was the first time you saw the movie.

Tommy Wiseau: That’s correct.

RT: As you sat there and watched it, what was your initial gut response to it? What was the first thought you had?

Wiseau: I just breathe very heavily. As you know, they talked to me after the show, “Did you like it?” They don’t understand that — again, you may write this — that it’s a setback in my relationship with myself in the sense what I saw. And it shocked me because, actually, I approve 99 percent. Not just as a person named Tommy Wiseau — I approve because he did good job. I’ll be honest with you.

It was very emotional for me. You see, even now it’s very emotional, as you see in my voice. You can feel it — I don’t know if you can feel it or not. But it was emotional. It still is, because he tackled something what, as I mentioned, relate to Casablanca and others. It just too bad he didn’t go forward with some of the emotional feelings, which we tackle, especially at the end of the movie, the time when Greg says, the character, he say, I’m paraphrasing, “Everything is fine. They’re laughing because they love your movie.”

RT: Speaking of the end of the movie, I read that in the original ending, you and Greg parted ways on bad terms, but then James Franco saw that you guys were still close, so he changed the film to end on a more positive note. Is that true?

Wiseau: We never did. They did good job because we never… We always been friends, even though, as you know, he wrote the book and I support not as I supposed to support. I don’t even put the numbers now because everybody quoting me later. But it is what it is. I think Greg and me and others, we even sometimes trapped in Hollywood dilemma and situation what we feel that is right to say something stop and it’s too late to turn around.

But you can always correct, you know? I mean, as you know, I did the movie with Greg, Best F(r)iends. And also I’m working on the sitcom The Neighbors, the season two. So we’ve been very successful in past 14 years. Some of the stuff, it’s coming to my way in a sense as a director and actor. So I like it.

RT: You succeeded in making a film and continuing to work on projects completely outside the Hollywood system, and you did it all your way. With your experiences, what piece of advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers who are trying to get their own movies made?

Wiseau: I would say the same thing what one of the biggest directors said to me, and I don’t want to name the name, but it’s the biggest of the biggest. He’s still alive. Just keep going. They say keep going. And I will add something else. All negative, let them go. So don’t get involved negativeness, because film industry is very complex field, in the sense that you need a passion. If you don’t have a passion, try not to steal other projects. As you probably noticed, perfect example is The Room. You can see on YouTube and other platform, people just steal stuff from The Room, including actors.

I’m going to mention one of the scene from The Disaster Artist. One of the scene, you may watch, the time when you see it, is my character — I mean James playing me — he confront the crew, the actors, and say, “Hey, I know what you say about me.” And then, guess what? This is what exactly happened, 100 percent. And I was very frustrated, but in the beginning I was making fun of them because I say, “Haha.” You know, it’s like little kids. I say, “I got you. I know what you talk about me,” you know? And I never said this for 14 years. Can you imagine that one?

And since they released this movie, I say it now very openly, because, still today, some of my actors — I’m not mention the name — they still that negative. For example, they say, “Oh, script did not exist. This is happened by accident.” They have no clue about industry whatsoever. And so we can go on and write a book about it, all this stuff, but watch the scene. It’s very good scene.

And one other thing with another advice I can give to filmmakers that, the main thing, think positive, and also have respect for others. And that’s the thing what we all lack of in the industry. As you know, current affairs, etc. And so if you have respect for your… Because of some of the area, when you do your art, is collective work. So I myself, people don’t understand, I have assistants, four or five assistant. People say, “Well, how many assistant do you have?” I say to myself, “Hey, I can use two more.” And all this people are extremely important. In this case, Greg, because he was keep going and he didn’t badmouth me — that’s the good news — except in the book. [laughs]

But on the end, everything turned out the way I think it’s supposed to be. I don’t know what the formula is, but to be a good filmmaker [you have to] have respect for others. And have a vision, you know? Like I always say, if you don’t have a vision, you cannot be a director, as well actors.

So, basically, all this advice what I mentioned — passion, respect for others, and have vision — it make you good filmmaker. That’s my take. That’s my advice. Pretty long advice. [laughs]

RT: Thanks for your time, Tommy. Really appreciate it.

Wiseau: We’ll see you at the screening of The Room. And I want to say to all the fans of The Room, have fun with The Room. And I always say, you can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself. Please don’t hurt each other. Thank you.

RT: Thank you, Tommy.

Wiseau: Don’t misquote me.

RT: Oh, don’t worry. We never do.

Wiseau: [laughs] I know you guys. I’m just teasing.

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The Disaster Artist is Certified Fresh and expands into wide release this Friday, December 8. Read reviews for it here.

100 Best War Movies of All Time

From peacetime to frontlines, from coming home to left behind: Rotten Tomatoes presents the 100 best-reviewed war movies of all time, ranked by Adjusted Tomatometer with at least 20 reviews each.

Mel Gibson is getting the best reviews of his directorial career for Hacksaw Ridge, the World War II true story of conscientious objector Desmond Doss, who received the Medal of Honor for saving 75 men without ever carrying a gun or weapon. The legend of Doss inspires this week’s gallery: 24 Certified Fresh WWII movies!

(And before you ask, Grave of the Fireflies is Fresh but not Certified Fresh.)

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(Photo by Theo Wargo / Getty Images)

 

Lainie Kazan is a queen of stage and screen, with a bigger-than-life personality in her work and life alike. Her roles in Beaches, Cemetery Club, My Favorite Year, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding are sometimes more memorable than the films themselves. Kazan started out onstage at a very young age and began receiving public and critical acclaim for understudying and filling in for an ill Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl on Broadway in the 1960s. Now she’s at it again, with this week’s opening of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, reprising her hysterical role of Maria Portokalos. On the phone, Kazan was bubbly, charming, and warm with us when we asked her what five films she might consider her favorites. Here is what she said:

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 opens tomorrow in wide release.