Roger Ebert will be remembered as being independent in his tastes. His top films of the year, which he published every year, starting in 1967 with Bonnie and Clyde, rarely lined up with the Motion Picture Academy of America's Best Picture winners.
Ebert listed his top 10 or more films annually, with one in the No. 1 slot (except in 2008 and 2009, when his top films were unranked and BuzzFeed used extrapolations based on his top films of the decade). Just under 18% of those No. 1 movies ended up winning Best Picture. Sixteen of his favorites won no Oscars at all, and over the years they averaged fewer than two Oscars apiece. But many of his No. 1 films also became fan favorites — their average IMDB rating is just under 8 (the average rating of all IMDB movies is 6.38). Ebert may have spoken for the average moviegoer more than he did for the people giving out awards.
