Oscars 2018: Ranking All The Best Picture Nominees By IMDb

Upon receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, films become avidly rated on IMDb. In the few years since the 2018 Academy Awards, the acclaimed movies nominated for Best Picture that year have remained high in rating.

A majority of the 2018 Best Picture nominees are closely rated to each other. However, the way the films rank in comparison to each other may be somewhat surprising. Although they were all met with rave reviews, some of these hit films have been deemed more worthy of the 2018 Best Picture title than others.

9 The Post – 7.2

The Post is Steven Spielberg’s 2018 drama about a Washington Post owner who is determined to expose secrets of the US government in the publication. It is full of stars like Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, and many more. With so many big and talented names attached to the film, The Post receiving a Best Picture nomination only makes sense.

And yet, The Post is the lowest rated of all the 2018 Best Picture nominees. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise though, since it only received two Oscar nominations in total, the other being one of Meryl Streep’s many Best Actress nods.

8 The Shape Of Water – 7.3

The Shape of Water, one of beloved filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro’s best movies, was The Acamedy’s 2018 Best Picture Winner. The film takes audiences on a romantic adventure as it follows a deaf janitor who falls in love with the humanoid fish creature being held in the lab she works in.

Even though the film won the highest acclaim of the night, and it was the most nominated film of that year with a whopping 13 total nominations, The Shape of Water is surprisingly rated quite low among its fellow nominees. Despite this, its other accolades from The Academy include the awards for Best Directing, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design.

7 Darkest Hour – 7.4

Darkest Hour is a World War II biopic about Winston Churchill, played by a completely transformed Gary Oldman. Both Oldman and the team who helped him transform into the highly regarded British leader took home Darkest Hour‘s only Oscar wins with the Best Actor and Best Makeup and Hairstyling awards.

While it is rated lower amongst all the Best Picture nominees from 2018, it still earned six nominations total. Audience reviews of Darkest Hour are a bit mixed overall, but Oldman’s dedicated performance is undoubtedly what shines through the most in the movie.

6 Lady Bird – 7.4

One of the most adored coming-of-age films of recent years, Lady Bird is a comedy drama about an eccentric high schooler and her relationships to those around her, and to her mother in particular. The film is full of heart-tugging and entertaining performances from Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Beanie Feldstein, Timothée Chalamet, and Lucas Hedges.

Lady Bird was filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut. It impressively earned her a Best Directing Oscar nomination on top of the Best Picture nod, but with five nominations total, Lady Bird didn’t end up taking home any awards in 2018, and it is rated a bit lower than most of the other Best Picture nominees.

5 Phantom Thread – 7.5

A dramatic romance about a dressmaker and his lover, Phantom Thread is one of the many masterpieces from Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars renowned method actor Daniel Day-Lewis who has not acted in a film since this 2017 piece as he only commits to very select film projects.

Nominated for six Oscars in 2018, Phantom Thread only took home the award Best Costume Design, which was fitting for the film’s subject matter. Regardless of Oscar wins, its impressive IMDb rating comes as no surprise when looking at the high ratings of previous Paul Thomas Anderson films, and Phantom Thread has a mid-range rating compared to his others.

4 Get Out – 7.7

Jordan Peele’s career as a filmmaker took flight when Get Out shocked critics and audiences alike. It is definitely fitting that Get Out is rated on the higher side among the nominees given how much conversation it stirred up among film and horror fanatics when it was released. About a Black boyfriend who meets his white girlfriend’s family only to discover sinister happening lurking behind the scenes of their privileged lifestyles, Get Out is a twisted horror that audiences need to watch more than once.

Get Out was another 2017 directorial debut that earned both a Best Picture and Best Directing nomination. With four nominations total in 2018, including Daniel Kaluuya’s first Oscar nomination, the film won for Best Original Screenplay.

3 Dunkirk – 7.8

Yet another World War II film nominated for Best Picture in 2018 was Dunkirk, an epic journey that follows British soldiers as they evacuate a chaotic battle in France. As a Christopher Nolan film, it was naturally met with high acclaim and a powerful rating. And yet, Dunkirk ranks nowhere near Nolan’s other films that are among the top highest rated overall on IMDb.

With a mighty eight nominations, Dunkirk took home the awards for Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing in 2018. It also notably saw the film debut of famous singer Harry Styles.

2 Call Me By Your Name – 7.9

Call Me By Your Name, the iconic LGBTQ+ romance from Luca Guadagnino, follows a young boy (Timothée Chalamet) and a student his family hosts for a summer in Italy (Armie Hammer) as they fall into a passionate love for each other.

The film received four Oscar nominations, including Timothée Chalamet’s first and only Oscar nomination so far, but IMDb users clearly think it may have deserved more acknowledgments from The Academy giving its significantly high rating. Call Me By Your Name did, however, win for Best Adapted Screenplay that year.

1 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – 8.1

Although it didn’t win the Best Picture award in 2018, IMDb users have deemed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as the audience favorite among all the nominees of that year. Impressively, Three Billboards falls within the top 200 rated movies overall on IMDb as well.

Starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, the comedy drama is inspired by the true story of a mother whose daughter was murdered and subsequently put immense pressure on the local police department for their lack of proper investigation. It earned seven Oscar nominations, winning Best Leading Actress (McDormand) and Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell). Simply put, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is funny, heartbreaking, and a must-watch piece of cinema.

About The Author