What is a “Best Picture?” The award gets handed out every year, and our culture has collectively decided it’s a worthy title, one that means said film is agreeably very good, maybe even great. But taking a closer look at the various films that have won the Best Picture Oscar over the years, it’s clear the award doesn’t automatically equal longevity, or even quality. A Best Picture is a moment, a snapshot in time. Certain wins make sense given what was going on in the world during that particular year, certain wins make no sense at all in hindsight, and certain wins are just downright deserved.

All of this to say that a Best Picture win doesn’t necessarily mean that said film is the best motion picture of that particular year, and doesn’t even guarantee that it’ll be the movie most remembered in 10 or 20 years time. The English Patient won Best Picture in 1996, but also nominated that year was Fargo, a film that history has clearly favored.

And this is important to remember as we reach the end of the current Oscar season. Which is why, ahead of the ceremony, I’ve decided to take a look back at the last 10 winners of the top honor and rank them, from worst to best. Are these the 10 best films of the last decade? Of course not. But they’re the 10 films that won Best Picture, for better or worse, and I think looking back on the various winners provides some much needed perspective to the Oscars in general. As becomes abundantly clear, not all Best Picture winners are created equal.

So before the Academy anoints a new honoree, let’s take a look at its most recent company.

10. Crash

Crash is not a good movie. If ever you need reminding of the Academy’s fallibility, look no further than Paul Haggis’ cliché-ridden, overwrought morality tale about racism in Los Angeles. The film adds nothing to the conversation of race beyond pointing out the obvious, and plays out in ham-fisted fashion as various “reveals” show us that we are all, to some degree, prejudiced. It’s a forgettable film with little by way of substance, and is pretty much only remembered today for the shock of its win, not as a movie worth revisiting.

So why did Crash win Best Picture? It’s one of the great mysteries of our time. To be fair, the film had its devotees (Roger Ebert among them), and while the Academy was called out as “homophobic” for rewarding Crash over the favored winner Brokeback Mountain, it’s possible the easy-to-digest film was simply the most agreeable choice over the darker, more complex nature of Brokeback, Capote, Munich, and Goodnight, and Good Luck. Whatever the case, Crash is undoubtedly the worst Best Picture winner of the last decade, and certainly one of the worst of all time.

9. The Artist

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Image via Warner Bros.

Fun fact: a movie called The Artist was released in theaters just four years ago, and it won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor! Having trouble remembering? Indeed, The Artist may not be the worst Best Picture winner of the last decade, but it’s certainly the most forgettable. It’s a perfectly fine film in and of itself, a nice chronicle of the Silent Era of motion pictures and an ode to moviemaking in general, but it’s just so darn fluffy and vapid. Even now, I’m having trouble finding things to say about it because the film just simply exists. Again, there’s nothing downright bad about the movie, but it’s one that no one seems eager to revisit, and one I’m fairly sure many folks don’t even remember being a Best Picture winner.

8. The King's Speech

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Image via TWC

Oh The King’s Speech. Like The Artist, this is a perfectly fine film unto itself—it’s nicely made, Colin Firth is nice, it has a nice ending that makes you feel nice. But Best Picture? Director Tom Hooper’s historical drama about overcoming adversity is another head-scratcher, a perfectly OK movie that fails to stand out as extraordinary and a film that, just a couple of years later, has faded faster than Google Glass. Seriously, is anyone talking about The King’s Speech or itching to revisit this Best Picture winner? Conversely, The Social Network—that year’s critical darling—is the film that ended up enduring despite losing the (deserved) major awards. Me, bitter? No way.

7. Birdman

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Birdman is one big joke adding up to nothing of significance. It takes aim at self-serious actors, franchise culture, superhero movies, critics, self-absorbed Millennials—you name it. It’s funny, it’s over the top, and it holds nothing back, but what’s the point? That’s the film’s problem: an air of importance clouding its thin thematic resonance, and yet it didn’t really come as a surprise that an organization of actors, directors, producers, etc. singled out Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s comedy as the best film of 2014. But the movie remains noteworthy for Emmanuel Lubezki’s groundbreaking cinematography and for a slew of terrific(ally over-the-top) performances that are in keeping with the film’s “joke-y” tone. It’s enjoyable to a point, and impressive from a technical standpoint, but getting down to the nitty gritty, despite blowing a lot of hot air, it really doesn’t have much to say about anything at all.

6. Slumdog Millionaire

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Image via Fox Searchlight

The win for Slumdog Millionaire is the perfect example of how the Oscars are a snapshot in time, not a rubric for choosing what will historically stand as that year’s best film. In 2008, the American public was reeling from a massive financial crisis, with public morale in the toilet. Danny Boyle’s breezy, uplifting, fairy tale-esque India-set story, then, provided Hollywood escapism in the best possible way—a story any and everyone could get wrapped up in and come out the other side on Cloud Nine. Is it one of the best films of the last 10 years? Probably not, but its impact is irresistible, with Anthony Dod Mantle’s thrilling cinematography transporting viewers to the streets of Mumbai while A.R. Rahman’s magnificent original score propels the story to its glorious, Bollywood-infused finale. Sure parts of the film are problematic and the film hasn’t quite stood the test of time as well as other winners, but Boyle’s tight and electric storytelling is infectious, resulting in one of the most purely entertaining Best Picture winners of the past decade.

5. Argo

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Image via Warner Bros.

What a wild year this was. One could argue Argo’s Best Picture win was a direct rebuke from Academy voters following Ben Affleck’s Best Director snub, but a movie doesn’t win the big prize simply because folks are upset—Argo had widespread support within the voting body, and for good reason. It’s a handsomely crafted thriller with a Hollywood hook and excellent performances to boot. Is Argo better than that year’s other Middle East-set political thriller, Zero Dark Thirty? I’d argue not in the slightest—Kathryn Bigelow’s film is downright masterful in its execution—but Affleck’s take on this Iranian crisis is wildly entertaining, with the actor/director proving more than adept behind the camera, so it’s not exactly a bad pick for the top prize. It’s an entirely agreeable film—it doesn’t break the mold but it’s not exactly rote either—and thus one of the more palatable winners of the last 10 years.

4. The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker was a groundbreaking Oscar winner in a number of ways—including boasting the first female Best Director winner for Kathryn Bigelow—but it was the David vs. Goliath narrative of Hurt Locker vs. Avatar that proved to be the most fascinating once the night was over. Bigelow’s Iraq War drama is one of the lowest grossing Best Picture winners in history, while James Cameron’s blockbuster sci-fi spectacle was billed as “the future of cinema.” And yet, when push came to shove, voters opted to go for the complex drama over a very basic story that was loaded with cutting-edge visual effects.

The Hurt Locker is a film that’s easier to admire than to like, as Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal take a hard look at the toll the Iraq War took on the folks who were actually doing the fighting. Jeremy Renner’s complicated performance as William James is terrific, and the complex emotions felt towards and by James are indicative of the film and its thematic throughline as a whole. Not to mention the fact that Bigelow crafts some of the most precise and effective tension-filled sequences of the past decade; whatever you think of the film itself, its set pieces are undeniably thrilling. It’s still hard to believe that this “little engine that could” actually did win Best Picture over the Herculean Avatar, and it remains one of the Academy’s more commendable decisions.

3. The Departed

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Image via Warner Bros.

While Slumdog Millionaire gives it a run for its money, I’d argue The Departed is the most entertaining Best Picture winner not only of the last decade, but in recent memory. Martin Scorsese admits he simply set out to make a commercial film, with no idea this is the one that would finally net the iconic filmmaker his long-deserved Best Director Oscar. This movie moves at warp speed like a delightful roller coaster, hitting so many euphoric points along the way (Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg’s rapport, Leonardo DiCaprio’s bar fight, the bungled stakeout) that it’s hard to keep track of them all. This is some career-best work from Scorsese’s longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and Scorsese himself pulls out tremendous performances from his A-list ensemble.

But what makes The Departed special is that it’s not all fun and games—Scorsese tackles issues of identity and belonging against the backdrop of this spider web crime thriller, resulting in an experience that is thematically, visually, and emotionally satisfying. It’s simply a great movie, and sometimes that’s enough.

2. 12 Years a Slave

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Image via Fox Searchlight

12 Years a Slave is a masterpiece. While at first glance people dismissed it as mere Oscar bait, once folks got a look at the film they realized co-writer/director Steve McQueen had crafted a deeply unsettling, unflinching portrait of one of our nation’s worst moments in a way that was both unique and immensely emotional. McQueen’s camera lingers on moments that other films may dismiss as too troubling, too disturbing, forcing audiences to confront this piece of history that still reverberates today. It’s brought to life through a soulful, passionate performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, but it’s Lupita Nyong’o’s devastating turn as Patsy that lingers long after the credits have rolled.

What makes 12 Years a Slave a great film instead of a mere good film is the masterful craftsmanship and storytelling via McQueen, who weaves together a journey that can have no happy ending despite its “happy” ending. He refuses to milk this period of history for melodrama or cheap tearjerker moments, instead evoking empathy by relying on shots motivated by truthfulness and the phenomenal performances of this stellar ensemble. For all the times the Oscars got it wrong, this one they got so very right.

1. No Country for Old Men

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Image via Miramax Films

In hindsight, it’s still kind of incredible that No Country for Old Men won Best Picture. It almost feels like too good of a film to actually win. Admittedly, the first viewing of Joel and Ethan Coen’s stark Cormac McCarthy adaptation left me cold and perplexed, but subsequent viewings illuminated the brilliance and boldness of the storytelling. Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh is one of the great film characters of all time, an unstoppable force of evil who causes a small-town sheriff to question his place in the world. And cinematographer/longtime collaborator Roger Deakins turns in what’s possibly his best work yet with the Coen Brothers, capturing the stark Texas landscape with haunting beauty.

Again, it’s hard to believe No Country for Old Men actually won the top prize at the Oscars. It’s an obtuse, strange film that takes the esoteric sensibilities of the Coen Brothers and applies them to an unflinchingly dark drama. The ending is strange, the protagonist gets a shocking sendoff, and it leaves plenty for the audience to chew on with little by way of easy answers. But that’s all part of the film’s charm, and it’s in service of the very specific tone and story the Coen Brothers have settled on. This is surely one of the boldest Best Picture winners in history, and as it stands, is the “best” Best Picture of the last decade.