Year-by-Year Polls: 2008 (Results)

[Rufus-T]

These are the results for the 2008 poll.

Total number of voters: 56 (54 ranked, 2 unranked)
Total number of films receiving votes: 354

Thank you to these 56 participants:

1SO, Angel Glez, beavis, blocho, brokenface, Caracortada, cayado-coro, cinewest, connordenney, Fergenaprido, filmbantha, Good_Will_Harding, Gordon_Gekko, gromit82, GruesomeTwosome, hurluberlu, insomnius, Ivan0716, jeff_v, joachimt, klaus78, Kublai Khan, leonor, Leopardi, lineupherev, Lonewolf2003, lynchs, mathiasa, matthewscott8, maxwelldeux, Melvelet, mightysparks, morrison-dylan-fan, Mysterious Dude, nimimerkillinen, OldAle1, Onderhond, ororama, PeacefulAnarchy, peeptoad, perceval, pitchorneirda, prodigalgodson, rnilsson19, RogerTheMovieManiac88, Rufus-T, Smoover, sol, St. Gloede, TalkingElvish, Teproc, Torgo, Traveller, viktor-vaudevillain, Y U M E, zzzorf

Films with the minimum of 3 votes or ranked as #1 are listed.

Tie breaker is # of mentions followed by the film with higher ranking and then by number of IMDb votes

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Here is the list:

* = short film

ICM FORUM'S FAVORITE FILMS FROM 2008

RANK	FILM	DIRECTOR(S)	POINTS	MENTIONS	HIGHEST RANKING	IMDb VOTES	POSTER(S) WHO RANKED #1	LINK
1	Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in	Tomas Alfredson	366.5	28	1	203,328	blocho, klaus78
2	WALL·E	Andrew Stanton	343	26	1	980,213	mathiasa
3	Synecdoche, New York	Charlie Kaufman	335	24	1	81,055	brokenface, hurluberlu, Kublai Khan
4	The Dark Knight	Christopher Nolan	299	25	1	2,258,108	filmbantha, Gordon_Gekko, Torgo
5	In Bruges	Martin McDonagh	242	22	2	385,353
6	Waltz with Bashir / Vals Im Bashir	Ari Folman	224	19	1	54,557	Lonewolf2003
7	Still Walking / Aruitemo aruitemo	Hirokazu Koreeda	219	17	1	13,317	PeacefulAnarchy
8	Hunger	Steve McQueen	202	16	1	64,757	ororama
9	Love Exposure / Ai no mukidashi	Sion Sono	187	14	1	11,441	1SO, Ivan0716, OldAle1, Smoover, Traveller
10	Wendy and Lucy	Kelly Reichardt	177	18	2	16,182
11	The Wrestler	Darren Aronofsky	155	17	1	287,057	morrison-dylan-fan
12	Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father	Kurt Kuenne	154	11	2	32,624
13	Gran Torino	Clint Eastwood	153.5	15	1	710,421	maxwelldeux
14	The Hurt Locker	Kathryn Bigelow	145.5	15	5	415,787
15	35 Shots of Rum / 35 rhums	Claire Denis	135	12	4	4,215
16	The Beaches of Agnès / Les plages d'Agnès	Laura Obiols, Agnès Varda	132	11	1	3,246	leonor
17	Burn After Reading	Joel Coen, Ethan Coen	130	14	1	305,514	Teproc
18	The Class / Entre les murs	Laurent Cantet	112.5	11	2	33,652
19	Martyrs	Pascal Laugier	106	13	6	81,394
20	Night and Day / Bam gua nat	Sang-soo Hong	104	7	1	974	connordenney, Leopardi, perceval, prodigalgodson, rnilsson19
21	Revanche	Götz Spielmann	103.5	12	5	13,571
22	Gomorrah / Gomorra	Matteo Garrone	100	10	4	45,839
23	Ponyo / Gake no ue no Ponyo	Hayao Miyazaki	100	9	1	121,465	TalkingElvish
24	Happy-Go-Lucky	Mike Leigh	96	11	4	37,443
25	The Chaser / Chugyeokja	Hong-jin Na	92.5	10	2	56,810
26	Pontypool	Bruce McDonald	88	7	1	28,775	peeptoad
27	Un lac	Philippe Grandrieux	86	6	1	675	beavis, viktor-vaudevillain
28	Of Time and the City	Terence Davies	85	10	2	1,898
29	Involuntary / De ofrivilliga	Ruben Östlund	85	7	1	4,759	nimimerkillinen
30	The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza	Lucrecia Martel	84	8	1	4,526	cinewest, Melvelet
31	Our Beloved Month of August / Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto	Miguel Gomes	84	7	1	1,531	Y U M E
32	Frost/Nixon	Ron Howard	81.5	10	2	101,806
33	Melancholia	Lav Diaz	80	5	2	373
34	Extraordinary Stories / Historias extraordinarias	Mariano Llinás	78.5	8	3	996
35	Man on Wire	James Marsh	78	9	5	52,081
36	The House of Small Cubes / Tsumiki no ie *	Kunio Kato	78	9	4	10,206
37	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	David Fincher	78	7	1	578,634	Rufus-T
38	Milk	Gus Van Sant	76	10	1	162,930	Fergenaprido
39	Departures / Okuribito	Yôjirô Takita	74	7	1	47,878	joachimt
40	Liverpool	Lisandro Alonso	74	7	2	999
41	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Woody Allen	72	9	6	239,732
42	Doubt	John Patrick Shanley	72	6	1	120,283	Good_Will_Harding
43	Summer Hours / L'heure d'été	Olivier Assayas	70.5	7	2	7,061
44	A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël	Arnaud Desplechin	69.5	5	1	6,521	jeff_v
45	Tokyo Sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	67	6	2	8,712
46	Jerichow	Christian Petzold	65.5	6	4	2,166
47	Cloverfield	Matt Reeves	63	7	1	368,988	mightysparks
48	Presto *	Doug Sweetland	63	6	4	22,331
49	The Good the Bad the Weird / Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom	Jee-woon Kim	62	6	5	33,002
50	Slumdog Millionaire	Loveleen Tandan, Danny Boyle	61.5	8	4	788,887
51	Sita Sings the Blues	Nina Paley	61	4	1	4,439	sol
52	Anvil: The Story of Anvil	Sacha Gervasi	60	8	2	15,469
53	Frozen River	Courtney Hunt	59.5	6	1	24,399	RogerTheMovieManiac88
54	Two Lovers	James Gray	59	5	1	37,321	GruesomeTwosome
55	Delta	Kornél Mundruczó	55	4	1	1,527	pitchorneirda
56	I've Loved You So Long / Il y a longtemps que je t'aime	Philippe Claudel	54.5	5	7	19,644
57	Sparrow / Man jeuk	Johnnie To	50	5	2	2,668
58	24 City / Er shi si cheng ji	Zhangke Jia	50	5	4	1,702
59	Sewer / Imburnal	Sherad Anthony Sanchez	49	3	1	51	lineuphere
60	The Reader	Stephen Daldry	47	4	6	228,023
61	The Baader Meinhof Complex / Der Baader Meinhof Komplex	Uli Edel	46	5	1	35,206	Caracortada
62	Lorna's Silence / Le silence de Lorna	Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne	46	5	7	8,212
63	Il divo	Paolo Sorrentino	45	7	3	15,794
64	Changeling	Clint Eastwood	45	5	2	235,336
65	JCVD	Mabrouk El Mechri	45	4	1	37,225	St. Gloede
66	Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog	Joss Whedon	45	4	2	41,345
67	Revolutionary Road	Sam Mendes	44	5	5	193,318
68	The Sky Crawlers / Sukai kurora	Mamoru Oshii	44	4	6	5,303
69	Mid-August Lunch / Pranzo di ferragosto	Gianni Di Gregorio	44	4	4	3,879
70	Bronson	Nicolas Winding Refn	42	6	6	118,279
71	The Wave / Die Welle	Dennis Gansel	42	3	4	101,219
72	Ip Man / Yip Man	Wilson Yip	41	7	5	208,906
73	Sugar	Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck	40.5	3	6	4,621
74	Iron Man	Jon Favreau	36	4	6	924,871
75	On War / De la guerre	Bertrand Bonello	36	3	4	382
76	Artemis' Knee / Le genou d'Artémide *	Jean-Marie Straub	35	4	3	115
77	Rachel Getting Married	Jonathan Demme	34	4	5	46,918
78	I Am So Proud of You *	Don Hertzfeldt	31	5	10	1,608
79	Eden Lake	James Watkins	31	4	7	75,528
80	Taken	Pierre Morel	30	4	6	559,598
81	Three Monkeys / Üç Maymun	Nuri Bilge Ceylan	30	3	3	19,363
82	Four Nights with Anna / Cztery noce z Anna	Jerzy Skolimowski	29	4	17	1,668
83	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	Nicholas Stoller	24	3	5	260,261
84	Food, Inc.	Robert Kenner	24	3	6	49,088
85	Tony Manero	Pablo Larraín	24	3	12	3,656
86	The First Day of the Rest of Your Life / Le premier jour du reste de ta vie	Rémi Bezançon	22.5	3	14	9,028
87	Home	Ursula Meier	22	2	1	3,975	Mysterious Dude
88	Superhero Movie	Craig Mazin	20	1	1	62,973	zzzorf
89	Genius Party Beyond	Tatsuyuki Tanaka, Shin'ya Ôhira, Masahiro Maeda, Kôji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa	20	1	1	827	Onderhond
90	Winter *	Nathaniel Dorsky	20	1	1	24	matthewscott8
91	1859 *	Fred Worden	20	1	1	---	insomnius
92	The Happening	M. Night Shyamalan	18.5	3	14	193,636
93	Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 / L'ennemi public n°1	Jean-François Richet	18	3	13	28,088
94	Cherry Blossoms / Kirschblüten - Hanami	Doris Dörrie	18	3	12	5,565
95	Photograph of Jesus *	Laurie Hill	11	1	1	60	gromit82
96	1968 Tunnel Rats / Tunnel Rats	Uwe Boll	5	1	1	4,590	lynchs

Results as an ICM list
Results as an IMDb list

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Films that received 1st place votes

(ranked in order of number of first place votes received, then by number of points)

5 - Love Exposure / Ai no mukidashi - 1SO, Ivan0716, OldAle1, Smoover, Traveller
5 - Night and Day / Bam gua nat - connordenney, Leopardi, perceval, prodigalgodson, rnilsson19
3 - Synecdoche, New York - brokenface, hurluberlu, Kublai Khan
3 - The Dark Knight - filmbantha, Gordon_Gekko, Torgo
2 - Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in - blocho, klaus78
2 - Un lac - beavis, viktor-vaudevillain
2 - The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza - cinewest, Melvelet
1 - WALL·E - mathiasa
1 - Waltz with Bashir / Vals Im Bashir - Lonewolf2003
1 - Still Walking / Aruitemo aruitemo - PeacefulAnarchy
1 - Hunger - ororama
1 - The Wrestler - morrison-dylan-fan
1 - Gran Torino - maxwelldeux
1 - The Beaches of Agnès / Les plages d'Agnès - leonor
1 - Burn After Reading - Teproc
1 - Ponyo / Gake no ue no Ponyo - TalkingElvish
1 - Pontypool - peeptoad
1 - Involuntary / De ofrivilliga - nimimerkillinen
1 - Our Beloved Month of August / Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto - Y U M E
1 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Rufus-T
1 - Milk - Fergenaprido
1 - Departures / Okuribito - joachimt
1 - Doubt - Good_Will_Harding
1 - A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël - jeff_v
1 - Cloverfield - mightysparks
1 - Sita Sings the Blues - sol
1 - Frozen River - RogerTheMovieManiac88
1 - Two Lovers - GruesomeTwosome
1 - Delta - pitchorneirda
1 - Sewer / Imburnal - lineuphere
1 - The Baader Meinhof Complex / Der Baader Meinhof Komplex - Caracortada
1 - JCVD - St. Gloede
1 - Home - Mysterious Dude
1 - Superhero Movie - zzzorf
1 - Genius Party Beyond - Onderhond
1 - Winter - matthewscott8
1 - 1859 - insomnius
1 - Photograph of Jesus - gromit82
1 - 1968 Tunnel Rats / Tunnel Rats - lynchs

Unranked ballots: Angel Glez, cayado-coro

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Awards

Oscar

32. Frost/Nixon
37. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
38. Milk
50. Slumdog Millionaire, WINNER
60. The Reader

Cannes

18. The Class / Entre les murs (2008 Palme d'Or)

Berlin

-- Elite Squad / Tropa de Elite (2008 Golden Berlin Bear winner) - a 2007 film

Venice

11. The Wrestler (2008 Golden Lion winner)


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Comparing to the top 10 most voted films at IMDb

1. The Dark Knight (225,8108) - 25 mentions, 299 points, ranked #4
2. WALL·E (980,213) - 26 mentions, 343 points, ranked #2
3. Iron Man (924,871) - 4 mentions, 36 points, ranked #74
4. Slumdog Millionaire (78,8887) - 8 mentions, 61.5 points, ranked #50
5. Gran Torino (710,421) - 15 mentions, 153.5 points, ranked #13
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (578,634) - 7 mentions, 78 points, ranked #37
7. Taken (559,598) - 4 mentions, 30 points, ranked #80
8. Hancock (439,152) - 2 mentions, 13 points
9. The Incredible Hulk (427,918) - 0 mention
10. Twilight (420,585) - 0 mention

Note that Breaking Bad, a TV series is the 2nd most voted 2008 title on IMDb.

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Breakdown by primary nations

Number of countries: 47

# of films ____ Country
111 __________ USA
34 ___________ France
29 ___________ UK
23 ___________ Japan
15 ___________ Canada
13 ___________ Germany
9 ____________ South Korea
7 ____________ Argentina, China, Spain
6 ____________ Denmark, Italy, Sweden
5 ____________ Australia, Ireland
4 ____________ Belgium, Brazil, Philippines, Turkey
3 ____________ Finland, Hong Kong, Iceland, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland
2 ____________ Algeria, Austria, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Netherlands, Palestine, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan
1 ____________ Chile, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand

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Comparing to the CFB 2008 year end poll

Rank. Film (current ranking)

1. WALL•E (2)
2. Slumdog Millionaire (50)
3. Milk (38)
4. The Dark Knight (4)
5. In Bruges (5)
6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (41)
7. Happy-Go-Lucky (24)
8. Frost/Nixon (32)
9. Let the Right One In (1)
10. The Wrestler (11)
11. The Edge of Heaven - a 2007 film
12. Burn After Reading (17)
13. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (37)
14. Changeling (64)
15. Waltz with Bashir (6)
16. Iron Man (74)
17. The Visitor - a 2007 film
18. Paranoid Park - a 2007 film
19. Gran Torino (13)
20. Hunger (8)
21. Still Life - a 2006 film
22. Frozen River (53)
23. Gomorra (22)
24. Man on Wire (35)
25. Synecdoche, New York (3)
26. Chop Shop - a 2007 film
27. Flight of the Red Balloon - a 2007 film
28. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (-)
29. Rachel Getting Married (77)
30. Australia (-)


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The next poll will be for 1966 followed by 1944.

[blocho]

It's remarkable how many different movies got a #1 vote. Clearly, opinions on 2008 are all over the place. It may take a few more decades for us to move toward consensus.

Thanks as always to Rufus for all the work.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I love your presentation style when it comes to results. I really appreciate the voter details, the #1 of each participant, and the awards comparisons.

The entry from the Top 20 that perhaps most catches my eye is 'Night and Day'. I think my taste tends to chime with some of those who ranked it highly. I'll look forward to that one.

I loved looking through this. As is usually the case (for me, at least), the list gets more intriguing the further down it one goes. Plenty to make a note of for future viewing. Good to see a few of my faves show up as well.

Thanks for your efforts, Rufus!

[jeff_v]

Good lord, the Oscar Best Picture nominations sucked.

[brokenface]

Good lord, the Oscar Best Picture nominations sucked.

I think Milk's a good film, but yeah definitely not a vintage year. probably one of the weakest of the 2000s.

[Fergenaprido]

Keep in mind that The Hurt Locker was also nominated (and won) Best Picture at the Oscars, but a year later.

Also, I'm surprised that 6 of the Top 30 from the last 2008 poll ended up being 2007 (or 2006!) films this time. Was that CFB poll run in 2008? or sometime later?

[Onderhond]

Genius Party Beyond isn't a short btw, it's an anthology film

[Rufus-T]

Genius Party Beyond isn't a short btw, it's an anthology film

Thanks for catching. It was meant for "1859".

[gromit82]

Thanks, Rufus.

I'll start the 1966 poll in a few days.

[blocho]

Was I the only one to vote for Tropic Thunder and Everlasting Moments?

[Rufus-T]

Was I the only one to vote for Tropic Thunder and Everlasting Moments?

Everlasting Moments, yes. Tropic Thunder, 2 votes.

[sebby]

Good lord, the Oscar Best Picture nominations sucked.

I think Milk's a good film, but yeah definitely not a vintage year. probably one of the weakest of the 2000s.

I would say the weakest, and perhaps by a good margin. I have seen a ton of movies from this year and can't say I love any. Closest is maybe Wendy and Lucy.

[prodigalgodson]

Ayy, Night and Day in the top 20 with fewer than .5% of the number of votes as the number one film, that's worth celebrating. And Love Exposure in the top 10's pretty cool. Thanks for putting together the poll Rufus!

[matthewscott8]

I was so disappointed by the results that I redid them using the same data. I chose only films that people voted as their #1 favourite, ordering them by number of people who favourited them, then with ties ordering them by least IMDb exposure. For example it's truly more remarkable that someone favourited 1859, which has less than 5 votes on IMDb, than someone favourited WALL-E with just shy of 1 million votes. I liked these results a lot better (also have the benefit that I don't have to read the words Slumdog and Millionaire next to one another what a mass hysteria that was)

Night and Day / Bam gua nat
Love Exposure / Ai no mukidashi
Synecdoche, New York
The Dark Knight
Un lac
The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza
Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in
1859
Winter
Sewer / Imburnal
Photograph of Jesus
Genius Party Beyond
Delta
Our Beloved Month of August / Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto
The Beaches of Agnès / Les plages d'Agnès
Home
Sita Sings the Blues
1968 Tunnel Rats / Tunnel Rats
Involuntary / De ofrivilliga
A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël
Still Walking / Aruitemo aruitemo
Frozen River
Pontypool
The Baader Meinhof Complex / Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
JCVD
Two Lovers
Departures / Okuribito
Waltz with Bashir / Vals Im Bashir
Superhero Movie
Hunger
Doubt
Ponyo / Gake no ue no Ponyo
Milk
The Wrestler
Burn After Reading
Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gran Torino
WALL·E

[matthewscott8]

Also seeing as we have reposted the IMDb CFB poll from back in the day, here's the results of a poll I ran on IMDB's FG back in the day:

Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge / Flight of the Red Balloon (2008 Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Let The Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in (2008 - Tomas Alfredson)
Synecdoche New York (2008 - Charlie Kaufman)
WALL·E (2008 - Andrew Stanton)
The Dark Knight (2008 - Christopher Nolan)
Doubt (2008 - John Patrick Shanley)
Milk (2008 - Gus Van Sant)
Man on Wire (2008 - James Marsh)
The Wrestler (2008 - Darren Aronofsky)
Gran Torino (2008 - Clint Eastwood)

and with 2007 and 1 2006 film included:

Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge / Flight of the Red Balloon (2008 Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
My Winnipeg (2007 - Guy Maddin)
Let The Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in (2008 - Tomas Alfredson)
The Fall (2006 - Tarsem Singh)
There Will be Blood (2007 - Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Duchess of Langeais / Ne touchez pas la hache / Don't Touch The Axe (2007 - Jacques Rivette)
Synecdoche New York (2008 - Charlie Kaufman)
WALL·E (2008 - Andrew Stanton)
The Dark Knight (2008 - Christopher Nolan)
Doubt (2008 - John Patrick Shanley)
Milk (2008 - Gus Van Sant)
Man on Wire (2008 - James Marsh)
Encounters at the End of the World (2007 - Werner Herzog)
The Wrestler (2008 - Darren Aronofsky)
Gran Torino (2008 - Clint Eastwood)

[lineuphere]

I was so disappointed by the results that I redid them using the same data. I chose only films that people voted as their #1 favourite, ordering them by number of people who favourited them, then with ties ordering them by least IMDb exposure. For example it's truly more remarkable that someone favourited 1859, which has less than 5 votes on IMDb, than someone favourited WALL-E with just shy of 1 million votes. I liked these results a lot better (also have the benefit that I don't have to read the words Slumdog and Millionaire next to one another what a mass hysteria that was)

Interesting retallying formula implemented here.

I was certainly pleased to see that your happy-making machine made my #1 jump from 59th place to 10th!

Thanks for this interpretation, ms8.
And thank you Rufus-T for hosting.

[cinewest]

I was so disappointed by the results that I redid them using the same data. I chose only films that people voted as their #1 favourite, ordering them by number of people who favourited them, then with ties ordering them by least IMDb exposure. For example it's truly more remarkable that someone favourited 1859, which has less than 5 votes on IMDb, than someone favourited WALL-E with just shy of 1 million votes. I liked these results a lot better (also have the benefit that I don't have to read the words Slumdog and Millionaire next to one another what a mass hysteria that was)

Night and Day / Bam gua nat
Love Exposure / Ai no mukidashi
Synecdoche, New York
The Dark Knight
Un lac
The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza
Let the Right One In / Låt den rätte komma in
1859
Winter
Sewer / Imburnal
Photograph of Jesus
Genius Party Beyond
Delta
Our Beloved Month of August / Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto
The Beaches of Agnès / Les plages d'Agnès
Home
Sita Sings the Blues
1968 Tunnel Rats / Tunnel Rats
Involuntary / De ofrivilliga
A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël
Still Walking / Aruitemo aruitemo
Frozen River
Pontypool
The Baader Meinhof Complex / Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
JCVD
Two Lovers
Departures / Okuribito
Waltz with Bashir / Vals Im Bashir
Superhero Movie
Hunger
Doubt
Ponyo / Gake no ue no Ponyo
Milk
The Wrestler
Burn After Reading
Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gran Torino
WALL·E

I got upset in the nomination thread as soon as I could see what the results would be.

[St. Gloede]

(also have the benefit that I don't have to read the words Slumdog and Millionaire next to one another what a mass hysteria that was)

We should take a moment to appreciate that Slumdog Millionaire just barely managed to scrape its way into the top 50, just a half point away from not making the cut at all. This is especially impressive as it seems to have gotten to 2nd place on CFB.

Pretty stunning feat.

(It is also interesting that none of the best picture winners made the top 30).