The AFI Lists
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 11:17PM 
The AFI are now in their 20th year so they're as old as our own Film Bitch Awards ;) Each year they choose 10 American movies to honor and 10 American television programs and then usually make one nod to non American things as they did this year with shoutouts to South Korea (Parasite) and the UK (Fleabag). Their nominating jury is made up of critics, movie people, and other luminaries and changes each year. But regardless of the individual voters you usually end up with something like the Oscar list. This year leans VERY December as if no other months held movies so the jury had extremely short attention spans. That said at least The Farewell and Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood are surviving those very very very short attention spans that always plague voters.
Here is the full list of this year’s honorees who will be honored at a luncheon in January...
AFI MOTION PICTURES OF THE YEAR
1917
THE FAREWELL
THE IRISHMAN
JOJO RABBIT
JOKER
KNIVES OUT
LITTLE WOMEN
MARRIAGE STORY
ONCE UPON A TIME IN… HOLLYWOOD
RICHARD JEWELL
We're disappointed that Richard Jewell which is... not good... keeps getting honors. It is... not good. You'll see for yourself on December 13th. Or if you're lucky, you won't! It would have been so nice to see something acclaimed from earlier in the year recognized instead like, oh... Ad Astra? Hustlers? Booksmart? Us? Or what about the very current A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood which is about 100 times more creative and nuanced than Richard Jewell or Ford v Ferrari which is the kind of solid mainstream example of stunning Hollywood craftmanship that people can only pretend Richard Jewell is... because it isn't. ("But Nathaniel, what are your true feelings about Richard Jewell? Why are you so vague?")
SPECIAL AWARD
PARASITE
AFI TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
CHERNOBYL
THE CROWN
FOSSE/VERDON
GAME OF THRONES
POSE
SUCCESSION
UNBELIEVABLE
VEEP
WATCHMEN
WHEN THEY SEE US
Pretty great list of shows, eh?
SPECIAL AWARD
FLEABAG
Reader Comments (36)
"Waves" is the kind of bold, passionate American filmmaking that ought to be represented by this list. Same can be said of "Ad Astra." Disappointing.
Solids all round picks. (In before the NOT ME bot.)
It seems a bit odd that only Veep is there for the comedies given how many great comedies there on the air right now. The Good Place and Barry seem like they would be shoo-ins.
Interested to hear more of your thoughts on Richard Jewell, Nathaniel. I saw it last night and actually liked it quite a bit.
Totally with you, Jonathan!
I think the most interesting thing from the past few days of awards (AFI, NYFC, NBR, Atlanta, Satellites) is the recurring appearance of KNIVES OUT. I don't think it was on the list of possibilities for many Oscar watching websites (including here). Maybe it's just a flash in the pan? Golden Globes will be telling...
Joker and Richard Jewell!!! What a moment!!! Does anyone else want a coffee?
Kill Jojo Rabbitt before it go to the Oscars.
This is not looking gd for A Beautiful Day, Bombshell, n The Two Popes but ultimately the Globes noms nex wk will steer the directions o these hopefuls.
Sidenote: Globes has ruled Uncut Gems as drama n the film n Sandler wld've to compete in the super competitive Drama catergory!!
Clint Eastwood is com...
Isn’t 1917 British? I guess it’s got American money...
Eh, this list on the movie side is a bit flaccid. Only The Farewell and Knives Out feel like interesting, unexpected choices.
This season is gonna be so masculine.
Nathaniel: Reader question for you for a future podcast. Why does Jojo Rabbit keep popping up in the Oscar conversation when reviews were so bad and box office was kinda meh? Just because it was assumed to be a frontrunner all season long? People are so lazy!
@George
Jojo Rabbit has gotten more of a divisive response (a la Three Billboards, Green Book) rather than outright negative. The people who love it are passionate about it (e.g. TIFF's people's choice award). I'm not surprised it's hanging in there.
It's made almost 20 million at the box office. It's doing well.
Waves is the worst movie of the year. No cap.
The frontrunners are all covered (Irishman, Hollywood, Parasite, Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, 1917). It's the second tier that looks wobbly: Little Women, Two Popes, Joker, Farewell, Ford v Ferrari and Bombshell seem to me like they could go all the way or never show again in any list.
It's Knives Out and Uncut Gems the ones that seem to be overperforming with these early awards so far. We will see how they do.
Lucky... exactly right. This is why i sometimes miss the days of 5 nominees. it would be genuinely exciting to see which of the presumed top 5 would drop to since (there are really six of them) plus all the passion votes for the perceived to be second tier.
Happy to see Watchmen recognized so soon after its premiere as one of the essential shows of the year (and the decade). It’s a monumental achievement that threads an insanely tricky needle. It does for sociopolitical themes and the superhero genre what Joker should’ve done.
I’m feeling good about predicting the Knives Out surge a couple of weeks ago. That movie plays and audience reaction is a bellwether that gets sidelined more than it should. AMPAS and HFPA are just people, after all. I’ll be surprised if De Armas and Craig don’t get Globe nods. An Original Screenplay nod at the Oscars also isn’t out of the question.
What exactly did you expect from Richard Jewell? The screenplay is super problematic with its villainous female journalist sleeping her way through her profession. Honoring a not very bright person who was wrongly accused of a terrorist act he helped lessen its impact -- will only go so far as the screenplay itself because Clint often times is incredibly restrained with his directorial choices. And Bates is not Margot saying her lines like she's breathing through fatness -- they laugh at you (puff, breath, gargle).
Bombshell feels like it is out. It hasn't won anything, and they must feel the reviews won't be great, since they've pushed them to next week. The Two Popes isn't looking great either - Netflix probably won't be able to get three BP nominees in the lineup.
But we've only heard from a few groups so far, and no actual industry voters.
People clapped when the credits rolled when I saw Knives Out. And I had two friends say the same thing.
Nathaniel, we need to talk -- Richard Jewell isn't as bad as you're making it out to be. I thought it was a pretty compelling story. Subtle, absolutely not. But it's going to go far in the Oscar race and Paul Walter Hauser is looking at a nomination (and deservingly so!) He carried the movie!
These lists aren't quite as Dudeville as NBR's, but I still worry about the rest of awards season.
Love the inclusion of Unbelievable.
I wonder about “the old days” when the Academy Awards were in late March or April. The nominated movies had been seen by the general public who were then more interested in the awards. And the voters had time to think about it and consider how the movie had gone over with audiences, not just being pressured into nominating the coolest thing.
I’ve gone through feeling irritated, jaded, melancholy, and detached at how stories of men doing manly things are the only movies that are considered serious movies.
If movies about lead actors are going to be the ones nominated, I choose “Ad Astra” and “Motherless Brooklyn” as brilliantly artistic movies with a thoughtful protagonist and a human point of view.
Interesting that "The Crown" is American enough to be included. Is being produced by Netflix enough to count it as American? I think pretty much all the creative forces behind it are British.
The groupthink is setting in. But go Knives Out go!
Let's play an old-timey game: What movies would be in for Pic/Director if we were still in the old 5 movie system? My guess:
PIC:
Irishman
Hollywood
Parasite
Marriage Story
Jojo Rabbit
DIR:
Irishman
Hollywood
Parasite
Marriage Story
1917
With 1917/Jojo being the split choice.
Knives Out is NOT that good. Thumbs Up, as Siskel and Ebert used to say, but hardly "Two Big Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Way Up." If they wanted a comedy, they should have added Booksmart. Sigh.
Solids all round picks. (In before the NOT ME bot.)
FAKE PEGGY SUE
The Irishman is the best movie on that list. Missing is a beautiful day in the neighborhood and ford v Ferrari. Once upon a time in Hollywood was good. Joker is a rotten film. The farewell however deserves high marks from me.
I want to see 1917. I saw the trailers, looks very intriguing
The NBR routinely gets a lot of shit for its credibility (or lack thereof) and often dubious top 10, but in my mind it’s the AFI’s that’s more reliably embarrassing. (I mean, even the NBR steered clear of Joker.)
Anne Thompson said on twitter that Jojo is less secure than everyone thinks. No one is talking about it.
It's also yellow on metacritic. The last film I can find that was that poorly reviewed that was nominated for Best Director was The Reader, and that was a Weinstein film nominated in a weaker year.
JoJo may have enough people liking it to put it first or second on their ballots. But it's not winning Best Picture.
"Taxi Clown" was not a good movie
Nathaniel, I am really worried about A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. It is not a "cool" film. Nobody seems to be talking about it. What it does do is tell an interesting story in subtle, beautiful ways. And Hanks was magnificent.
Paranoid -- i think you might be right on that split actually.
Daniella -- but alas KNIVES OUT is a late year release, and you know how people are with the short attention spans.