AFI Movies of the Year

For the films of 2014
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The Original BJ
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Re: AFI Movies of the Year

Post by The Original BJ »

Which is to say, a pretty small number of people decided these entries.

It wasn't until I looked at that graphic online of all of the posters (most of which feature the protagonists front and center) that I noticed it, but this is pretty overwhelmingly a list of movies about men. With Gone Girl absent, and Wild failing to gain much traction higher than Best Actress (to my disappointment, given that I think it's better than most of these movies), the only one that could be considered remotely female-centric is Into the Woods, and even that's more of an ensemble piece than something dominated by a woman.
Big Magilla
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Re: AFI Movies of the Year

Post by Big Magilla »

Jeanine Basinger, the 78 (according to Wikipedia) or 80 (according to IMDb.) year-old National Board of Review mainstay is likely as largely responsible for the Clint love at AFI as she is at NBR.

Here's the list of AFI judges who participated in compiling this year's list from Awards Daily:

AFI JURY FOR MOTION PICTURES
Tom Pollock
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion Pictures
Producer
AFI Board of Trustees

Jeanine Basinger
Wesleyan University
AFI Board of Trustees

Bob Gazzale
American Film Institute

Mark Harris
Historian

Marshall Herskovitz
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
AFI Board of Trustees

Patty Jenkins
Director/Screenwriter

Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

Kasi Lemmons
Director/Actor

Matthew Libatique
Cinematographer

Akira Mizuta Lippit
University of Southern California

Leonard Maltin
Historian

Claudia Puig
USA Today

Peter Travers
Rolling Stone Magazine
Okri
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Re: AFI Movies of the Year

Post by Okri »

Wikipedia says yes re: J. Edgar
Mister Tee
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Re: AFI Movies of the Year

Post by Mister Tee »

I believe it's a different panel making the choices each year, but, assuming any level of continuity, it's bizarre that Monrise Kingdom made it in a competitive year and Grand Budapest didn't in this sub-par one (especially with duds like Interstellar and Unbroken making the list -- this feels like it came from a blogger who didn't do revisions after Nov. 1st). I've seen some suggest the European-ness of Grand Budapest cut against the American slant -- but, like, The Imitation Game doesn't?

Maybe the biggest takeaway is, Clint might have a real one this year (though someone said J. Edgar made the list in 2011; is that true?)
The Original BJ
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AFI Movies of the Year

Post by The Original BJ »

American Sniper
Birdman (Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Nightcrawler
Selma
Unbroken
Whiplash

Happy to see Nightcrawler on the list, but fairly surprised that both Gone Girl and The Grand Budapest Hotel missed.

Happy to see The Theory of Everything boxed out, but rather flabbergasted that films as lousy as Interstellar and Unbroken were cited. (Though Nolan was cited here even for The Dark Knight Rises, so it's possible he's just catnip for this group.) EDIT: Sasha Stone tweeted that The Theory of Everything was ineligible, though I share her sentiments: given what they did pick, it probably would have made it easily!

I think this is the start of Into the Woods doing a bit better than many had anticipated; surely it will have a solid Globe haul on Thursday.

2nd EDIT: Worth noting that the list included 11 movies, not the usual 10.
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