The AFI Makes Its Oscar & Emmy Predictions
Monday, December 10, 2012 at 7:07PM The annual unveiling of the AFI Top Ten List, which began in 2000 or 2001 as I recall, was originally an interesting effort to have a diverse prestigious panel select the ten key American films of the year. It, like most other year end lists, quickly morphed into something like a gratuitious press release celebrating everyone's favorite awards-buzzing titles (+ 1 requisite blockbuster). Now, they'll even cheat and include British movies. Les Miz is a British musical about France and was directed by a Brit and stars mostly British and Australian actors. I'm pretty sure that if someone lied to the panel and told them Michael Haneke was secretly born in Hawaii before being whisked off to Wiener Neustadt, Austria they would have found a way to include Amour too!
AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
ARGO, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, DJANGO UNCHAINED, LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI, LINCOLN, MOONRISE KINGDOM, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK and ZERO DARK THIRTY
AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
AMERICAN HORROR STORY, BREAKING BAD, GAME CHANGE, GAME OF THRONES, GIRLS, HOMELAND, LOUIE, MAD MEN, MODERN FAMILY, and THE WALKING DEAD
Again this is what I mean about too many groups. If you don't bring any individualism to the table just merge with other groups who already do this sort of thing and become a bigger supergroup, you're already part of the hive mind! (Note that the always enraging snub of Parks and Recreation by the Emmys continues here with the AFI as well.)
Having typed all that I must quickly admit that A) the easiest solution for those who are easily bored at all the repetition is to tune it out and B) my top ten list will have four or five of those titles on it.
AFI, List-Mania
Reader Comments (13)
Any top TV list that excludes Parks and Recreation is completely invalid in my book.
I honestly don't get the fixation with Batman.
Moonrise Kindgom keeps getting strong notices at all the important places, I think people need to start taking it's best picture chances way more seriously. It's a loved film that will get many number 1 votes and it has passionate support from critics and audiences alike. It has earned or will end up making more at the box office than all the other contenders except for Argo, Lincoln, Les Mis and Life of Pi. Wes Anderson has work with many people and is both respected and loved and has make his most mature film.
Well they included Parks and Rec last year so there's that. But man aren't they tired of honoring Modern Family or Mad Men? I like them both very much still, but was there ever a year since both have made their debuts they weren't included in this list?
As for the films, I really wished Perks of Being a Wallflower or ParaNorman made it in. I had high hopes for the latter since they gleefully included Coraline a few years ago. Oh well.
Yay Beasts and yay Louie!
Happy to see people finally honoring the walking dead. We all know how amazing breaking bad and mad men is, but what about AMC's equally amazing tv program? It has deserved, and does deserve more Emmy recognition. It's a fantastic show and Andrew Lincoln (along with the rest of the cast) is absolutely sensational. The writing is amazing and the makeup is the best there's ever been for any tv show/movie ever. Happy for The walking dead, it's pretty much a REEEEEEALY long movie. And this half-season has been perfection. Hope those emmy people wake up and honor it this year! (Also, yay for breaking bad)
The Walking Dead has never deserved to be honored (as a whole season) before. So this is not a "finally they'll honor it" moment.
With that said, there have been episodes here and there that have been absolutely exceptional in the first two seasons and I've heard fantastic things about this past season. SO maybe it is deserving THIS year.
If I'd add any show to that list, and Parks & Rec of course, it'd be Nikita for being the best hour of female bad assery on television in any given week.
Really wish someone - anyone - would give TREME the recognition it deserves. It was one of the two or three best shows on television this year, and NOBODY watches it. It's a damn shame.
Where is Dexter!
Note how the lists are supposed to be in alphabetical order, but Les Misérables is listed before Life of Pi and Lincoln. And I know I'm not the first person to point this sort of thing out. Maybe we should launch a hashtag: #LesMizStartsWithAnM.
As for the British thing, if they're not including Downton Abbey on their TV list, they either don't recognize Les Miz is cheating, or don't want to be too obvious about it.
Roark -- I do! So so good. It can also be said about other TV Shows as Enlightened, Episodes or Boss. What's the point of mentioning the same titles over and over again? I prefer the Globes. As Nathaniel says, they love their new toys, and I'm fine with that.
Still baffled about Parks and Rec missing out on these kind of Best Of lists. Do voting bodies hate joy and laughter?
...oh wait.
Peggy Sue, I thought Dark Knight Rises was horrifically bad. Terrible, awful, a laughable, terribly written mess. Major plot holes, problems with tone and pace, uneven acting, disposable (and underwritten and underdeveloped) characters, too many underdeveloped subplots, horribly written and so, so so very politically conservative- not that its a problem in itself, but the whole thing came across as very hypocritical.