10 Years of Muriel: Best of the Best poll

In conjunction with the tenth year of the Muriels, I decided to poll our voters on their picks for the best Muriel Award winners in seven major categories, along with three other categories meant to encompass the period. It was a pretty quick’n’dirty affair – no ranked ballots, no written pieces – but there were some surprises, some blowouts, some competitive races. All in all, good fun. Here were our winners.

Best Film:

1. The Tree of Life (2011) [8 votes]
2 (tie). Inglourious Basterds (2009) [6 votes]
2 (tie). No Country For Old Men (2007) [6 votes]
Other Best Film winners: The Departed (2006), WALL*E (2008), The Social Network (2010), Holy Motors (2012), Before Midnight (2013), Boyhood (2014), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Best Lead Performance (Female):

1. Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy (2011) [15 votes]
2. Tilda Swinton, Julia (2009) [6 votes]
3. Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) [4 votes]
Other Best Female Lead winners: Helen Mirren, The Queen (2006); Carice van Houten, Black Book (2007); Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married (2008); Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit (2010); Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea (2013); Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin (2014); Rooney Mara, Carol (2015)

Best Lead Performance (Male):

1. Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood (2007) [20 votes]
2. Denis Lavant, Holy Motors (2012) [7 votes]
3 (tie). Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) [3 votes]
3 (tie). Michael Shannon, Take Shelter (2011) [3 votes]
Other Best Male Lead winners: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat (2006); Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (2008); Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker (2009); Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network (2010); Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave (2013); Michael B. Jordan, Creed (2015)

Best Direction:

1 (tie). Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood (2007) [8 votes]
1 (tie). Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life (2011) [8 votes]
3 (tie). Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men (2006) [4 votes]
3 (tie). David Fincher, The Social Network (2010) [4 votes]
3 (tie). Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) [4 votes]
Other Best Direction winners: Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married (2008); Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (2009); Léos Carax, Holy Motors (2012); Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin (2014); George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Best Supporting Performance (Female):

1. Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There (2007) [9 votes]
2. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood (2014) [8 votes]
3. Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married (2008) [7 votes]
Other Best Female Supporting winners: Adriana Barraza, Babel (2006); Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air (2009); Greta Gerwig, Greenberg (2010); Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids (2011); Amy Adams, The Master (2012); Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave (2013); Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria (2015)

Best Supporting Performance (Male):

1 (tie). Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (2008) [9 votes]
1 (tie). Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (2008) [9 votes]
3 (tie). Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men (2007) [5 votes]
3 (tie). Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master (2012) [5 votes]
Other Best Male Supporting winners: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed (2006); John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone (2010); Albert Brooks, Drive (2011); James Franco, Spring Breakers (2013); J.K. Simmons, Whiplash (2014); Sylvester Stallone, Creed (2015)

Best Cinematic Moment:

1 (tie). Final scene - There Will Be Blood (2007) [6 votes]
1 (tie). Creation (“Vltava”) - The Tree of Life (2011) [6 votes]
1 (tie). Lemmon 714s - The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) [6 votes]
Other Best Cinematic Moment winners: The Battle of Bexhill – Children of Men (2006); Space dancing – WALL*E (2008); Marriage montage – Up (2009); Staring into the furnace – Toy Story 3 (2010); Entr’acte/”Let My Baby Ride” – Holy Motors (2012); Double Vision Take 1 – Goodbye to Language 3D (2014); “Speak Low” – Phoenix (2015)

Best Body of Work (Directors):

1. Joel and Ethan Coen [7 votes] 2 (tie). Paul Thomas Anderson [5 votes]
2 (tie). David Fincher [5 votes]
2 (tie). Quentin Tarantino [5 votes]
Other nominees: Wes Anderson, Olivier Assayas, Richard Linklater, Steve McQueen, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese

Best Body of Work (Female Performers):

1. Cate Blanchett [12 votes]
2. Jessica Chastain [9 votes]
3. Tilda Swinton [6 votes]
Other nominees: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Greta Gerwig, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams

Best Body of Work (Male Performers):

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman [13 votes]
2. Joaquin Phoenix [8 votes]
3. Michael Shannon [6 votes]
Other nominees: Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender, James Franco, John Hawkes, Matthew McConaughey, Brad Pitt

Thanks for participating, everybody! See you this summer for the Muriels Hall of Fame inductions.