Mad Max, Charlotte Rampling, and Kristen Stewart Dominate Village Voice/LA Weekly Critics Poll

Here's the statistical quirk that sums up Mad Max: Fury Road's sensational greatness: 73 of the 127 critics voting in our annual poll picked George Miller's apocalyptic Busytown Racers classic as one of the year's best films. Only one of those critics voted for it in the Best Screenplay category...

By New Times Staff

December 16, 2015

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Here's the statistical quirk that sums up Mad Max: Fury Road's sensational greatness: 73 of the 127 critics voting in our annual poll picked George Miller's apocalyptic Busytown Racers classic as one of the year's best films. Only one of those critics voted for it in the Best Screenplay category. (The winner there: Spotlight, written by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy.) But Miller raced away with Best Director, with Carol's Todd Haynes in a respectable second.

In the acting categories, Kristen "Clouds of Sils Maria" Stewart doubled the votes of Rooney "Carol" Mara, her closest competition for Best Supporting Actress. But consensus in the doublestuffed film year proved otherwise elusive. Best Actor is a squeaker, with winner Géza Röhrig (Son of Saul) and second and third places' Michael B. Jordan (Creed) and Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) all within two points of one another in our ranking system. Fassbender actually turns up on three more ballots than Röhrig, but Röhrig's supporters ranked him higher. (If we spotted Fassbender the couple of points critics gave him for his turn as another world-devouring egoist, in Macbeth, he would sneak into first.)

Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) bested Nina Hoss (Phoenix) more handily in the Best Actress race, and Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) won out over Best Supporting runner-up Sylvester Stallone by only a handful of votes. If Creed and Rocky have taught us anything, it's that that counts as a win for both.

As for the worst film of the year: Unlike in American politics, hate inspires less consensus than love. Only seven critics sandbagged the winner/loser, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Still, that's two more than named The Cobbler, and you can't fathom how terrible The Cobbler is.

Best Picture

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

2. Carol

3. Spotlight

4. Phoenix

5. Tangerine

6. Anomalisa

7. Clouds of Sils Maria

8. Inside Out

9. Brooklyn

10. The Assassin

Best Actor

Géza Röhrig, Son of Saul

Michael B. Jordan, Creed

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Best Actress

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Nina Hoss, Phoenix

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actress

Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria

Rooney Mara, Carol

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Best Supporting Actor

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Best Undistributed Film

Chevalier

Best Documentary

The Look of Silence

Best First Feature

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Best Animated Feature

Inside Out

Best Director

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Screenplay

Spotlight

Worst Film

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Movie Everyone Is Wrong About

Jupiter Ascending

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