Consensus is a funny thing. And a boring one. But when mostly good art is honored you can't complain too much. The American Film Insitute has announced its top ten of the year list which is identical to the Best Picture list offered up by the BFCA via the Critics Choice Awards. Well, as identical as it could be given one eligibility issue...
They are
- The Big Sick
- Call Me By Your Name
- Dunkirk
- The Florida Project...
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- The Post
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
- Wonder Woman
The only difference from the BFCA's list is that AFI has Wonder Woman in the slot the BFCA gave to Darkest Hour. The AFI list is exclusively for American films so Darkest Hour wouldn't have been eligible as a British production.
The people picking the films each year changes so some years they're more "consensus" than others. This year has no instantly embarrassing pick which has kind of been one of their traditions. Usually there has been one that didnt so much age poorly as stick out like a sore thumb instantly in that it wasnt even that well regarded when it debuted (The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, Saving Mr Banks in 2013 Unbroken in 2014 or Sully in 2016).
One other thing: we can't imagine the makers of Coco are happy about being left out of this list since the AFI has historically been welcoming to animated features in this list (far more so than Oscar's Best Picture category). In recent years Inside Out, Toy Story 3, Coraline, Up, WALL•E, Ratatouille, and Zootopia, all made it).
On the TV side of the equation the AFI chose like so
- Big Little Lies
- The Crown
- Feud: Bette and Joan
- Game of Thrones
- The Good Place
- The Handmaid's Tale
- Insecure
- Master of None
- Stranger Things 2
- This Is Us
As the target audience for Feud: Bette and Joan I was able to recognize that it wasn't awesome. Why do other people keep insisting that it was better than: The Americans, Atlanta, Big Mouth, Crazy ExGirlfriend, Mindhunter, Twin Peaks the Return, The Leftovers, Glow, The Deuce, the list goes on and on...Also why is The Crown eligible since this award is meant for American productions? Is it American enough given the funding and production and venue, etcetera?