Golden Brick Award
Criteria
Reviewed/recommended by at least one host.
Not a mainstream/highly publicized movie.
Made by new or an emerging filmmaker.
Shows a clear directorial vision/artistic ambition.
(Criteria fully established in 2014)
View the complete list of every finalist on Letterboxd.
2024
All We Imagine as Light (#991)
Theaters/Select Cities
Good One (#978)
n/a
National Anthem (#978)
VOD
Janet Planet (#972)
Max, VOD
Tuesday (#971)
Max, VOD
Ghostlight (#970)
VOD
The People’s Joker (#965)
VOD
We Grown Now (#964)
Netflix, VOD
Frida (#959)
VOD
How to Have Sex (#955)
VOD
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (#954)
VOD
Cynthia Erivo soars, Saoirse Ronan suffers.
Disappointing, deadbeat, and deadly movie dads.
Glen Powell and Adria Arjona get close in Richard LInklater’s latest.
“Bikeriders” to “Twisters” and everything in between.
The messy perfection of Michel Gondry’s 2004 heartbreaker.
Kurosawa, Ozu, and a giant, fire-breathing lizard make this week’s Top 5.
Murder, madness, and obsession in a pair of Hitchcock’s ‘50s masterpieces.
2023
LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Rye Lane (#921)
Skinamarink (#905)
Theater Camp (#943)
WINNER: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (#943)
Four Daughters (#947)
Shortlist: The Artifice Girl, Earth Mama, Rodeo
The consensus best, the outliers, and the #1 films of the year.
Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning courtroom drama is one of the best of the year.
Reichardt, Holofcener, Schrader, and Judy Blume.
Shut the f*ck up, Donnie, it’s the Dude’s birthday.
“Oppenheimer” vs “Barbie” and other debates about the new movie year.
2022
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Aftersun
In theaters
Bad Axe
VOD
Fire of Love
Disney+
Hit the Road
VOD
Nanny
In theaters
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
VOD
Short List: Master, Neptune Frost
The return of Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc and Wakanda in mourning.
From Addie and Moses to Coop and Murph. Our favorite movie father-daughters.
Is Taika Waititi’s Thor sequel the MCU’s worst film?
Consensus on 2022's best film.
Maguire, Dunst, Dafoe - and that kiss! A look back at Rami’s influential Spidey movie twenty years later.
Who will win, who should win—and who should have been nominated.
2021
WINNER: Identifying Features
Prime l Apple l YouTube l Google Play l Vudu
The Killing of Two Lovers
Hulu l Prime l Apple l YouTube
Nine Days
Prime l Apple l YouTube
Saint Maud
Hulu l Prime l Sling
LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Shiva Baby
Hulu l Prime l Apple l YouTube
Short List: Lamb, Test Pattern
Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield are electric in the new biopic about slain Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.
2020
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Sound of Metal
Amazon Prime
The Vast of Night
Amazon Prime
The Painter and the Thief
Amazon Prime l Hulu l Google Play l YouTube
Blow The Man Down
Amazon Prime
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Amazon Prime l Xfinity l Google Play l Vudu
The Assistant
Amazon Prime l YouTube l Google Play
Time
Amazon Prime
Short List: Selah and the Spades, Clementine, Feels Good Man, Shithouse, Possessor
Maguire, Dunst, Dafoe - and that kiss! A look back at Rami’s influential Spidey movie twenty years later.
2019
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Amazon l YouTube l Google Play l Vudu
The Art of Self Defense
Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, Hulu, Vudu
Atlantics
Netflix
Honeyland
Amazon l YouTube l Google Play l Vudu
Other candidates: Diane; Lynch: A History; Wild Rose; Starfish; Burning Cane; Combat Obscura; Black Mother; Our Time Machine
2018
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Minding the Gap
Hulu l Theatrical l Official Site
The Rider
Amazon Video l iTunes l Official Site
Shirkers
Netflix l Official Site
2017
Raw
Amazon Video l iTunes
Brigsby Bear
Amazon Video l iTunes
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Columbus
Amazon Video l Hulu l iTunes
Lady MacBeth
Amazon Video l iTunes
Loving Vincent
Amazon Video l Vudu l iTunes
Other candidates: Band Aid, Lemon, The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, Whose Streets?
2016
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: The Fits
Krisha
The Witness
Tower
Cameraperson
Other candidates: Born to Be Blue, The Phenom, Morris from America, Southside with You, Rams, Under the Shadow, The Edge of Seventeen
2015
The Duke of Burgundy
LISTENERS’ CHOICE: What We Do in the Shadows
Buzzard
WINNER: Tangerine
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Other candidates: Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine, Slow West, Love & Mercy, The Tribe, Meru, Phoenix, The Mend, Heart of a Dog
2014
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHHOICE: Blue Ruin
Calvary
Dear White People
The One I Love
Starred Up
Other candidates: 20,000 Days on Earth (AK), The Congress (JL), The Double (JL), Finding Vivian Maier (AK), Listen Up Philip, Locke (AK), Mistaken for Strangers (AK), Memphis (JL), Whiplash
2013
WINNER & LISTENERS’ CHOICE: The Act of Killing
Beyond the Hills
Prince Avalanche
Short Term 12
Stories We Tell
Other candidates: Fruitvale Station (JL), In a World... (AK), Leviathan (JL), Like Someone in Love, Much Ado About Nothing (JL), The Spectacular Now
2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Color Wheel
Cosmopolis
The House I Live In
The Loved Ones
LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Oslo, August 31st
WINNER: Wuthering Heights
2011
WINNER: The Arbor
Certified Copy
The Interrupters
Meek's Cutoff
LISTENERS’ CHOICE: Take Shelter
Other candidates: Another Earth, Bill Cunningham New York, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Project Nim, Win Win
2010
Easy A
A Film Unfinished
WINNER: Dogtooth
Four Lions
The Freebie
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Please Give
The Tillman Story
Tiny Furniture
Note: 2010 list was heavy on movies that even we overlooked initially and did not review.
2009
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Food, Inc.
Humpday
WINNER: Moon
Summer Hours
World's Greatest Dad