'Best films of the 21st century' poll compiler reveals the movies he was surprised didn't make the cut

There was no Spielberg or Herzog, and Birdman just missed out

Naomi Watts in David Lynch's poll winner Mulholland Drive

It’s interesting to consider how very modern films will be regarded in years to come (you can read our assessment on future classics here) and last week’s BBC poll of 177 critics on the best films so far this century caused quite a debate.

BBC Culture editor Matthew Anderson, who spearheaded the survey, took part in a Reddit AMA to share his thoughts on it and serve up more detailed data this week.

Here are the most interesting answers…

On the films he was surprised didn’t make the top 100…

"I was surprised that so many of the big film-makers of the 20th Century are almost absent - no Spielberg, no Herzog etc."

"Mulholland Drive as the winner has divided people but a lot of people on Facebook have been saying WTF about the inclusion of Moulin Rouge! and Spring Breakers and the absence of Lord of the Rings and The Departed."

"...By the was I thought Whiplash might do better in this poll too - in the end only 2 critics voted for it to give it a total of 7 points."

"I was surprised that Birdman didn't make the cut (it just missed out) and I would like to have seen more documentaries on the list - e.g. Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man. I thought that would get a spot on the list."

"Some of the films that just missed out were Elephant, Birdman, Persepolis, My Winnipeg and Punch-Drunk Love."

And the ones he was surprised did…

"I was surprised that Toni Erdmann was on the list because so few people have had the chance to see it - it played at Cannes in May and at the time we reached out to critics it hadn't even played in cinemas in Germany yet. (It will be out in the UK in February I believe - it's really good, look out for it)."

"There were a few films I think are terrible that I was disappointed (though not really surprised) to see do so well, like Amélie and The Social Network. But also ones I love that I was glad to see do so well but hadn't expected - particularly Inside Llewyn Davis."

On the methodology…

We asked critics to vote for the films they are most passionate about and enjoyed the most. And we made sure to mention that animation, documentaries, short, experimental and any other type of movies were eligible for nomination - not just feature films.

The critics each gave us 10 films ranked 1-10 and we gave 10 points to their number 1 choice and 1 to their number 10.

On who voted for what…

"We reached out to hundreds and were delighted that 177 responded. We had votes from every continent except Antarctica!

"We asked critics from newspapers and broadcasters, specialist film publications, academics and film festival programmers."

"Here's the list of how everyone voted."

On what critics tend to vote for…

"In general I think it's a pretty eclectic bunch of films. There is a definite bias toward serious films about weighty subjects, and toward the English language. But that's not to take away from the variety in the list - there are all sorts of films on there and I'm happy about that."

"I think that in many ways, time sanctifies a film as 'great' and that most critics are much more willing to vote for older films than newer ones. For instance, when we held a poll to find out the greatest American films ever , there were only 6 films on the list made after 2000. This was one of the reasons why we wanted to have a poll about films in recent memory and find out about which of those critics thought were the best.

"I would expect 10 or so of these films to make a list of the best films since 1950, but this has a lot more to do with the psychology of voting in a poll like this than the quality of the movies."