AFI's Top Ten Movies of 2010

Today, the American Film Institute selected their list of the Top Ten films of 2010. This list isn't assumed to be a lock for any sort of Oscar potential, but it shows where some potential interest is. While I think we've been blessed with an above normal year in movie quality, I'm not sure this would be my top ten. I know our own Joel Murphy will be putting out our Get The Big Picture top ten list here in the near future, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss the AFI's list.

 

First of all, the list. Then we talk.

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Morgan Freeman to Receive AFI Honors

Oh how far Mr. Freeman has come from his early days on The Electric Company.  More Oscar and Golden Globe nominations than you can count on both hands, wins at both ceremonies, almost 100 credits to his name, and even a couple stints as The Almighty One himself.  So what's missing from the resume of the man with the world's most recognizable voice?  How about a lifetime achievement award.  On June 9, 2011 The American Film Institute will right this wrong by presenting Morgan Freeman with their 39th Life Achievement Award.  Out of sight, Mr. Freeman, out of sight.

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AFI's Top Ten (American) Films of the Year

This deserves some explanation, especially after last year, when Slumdog Millionaire was ineligible. The American Film Institute only concerns itself with American movies. To me, that's pretty silly: "We have the most advantages of any nation in the world when it comes to making films, so let's reward our hulking industry and disregard any movie from any other country, no matter how difficult it is to make films there or whatever social concerns it raises."

So, yeah, last year, there was no Slumdog, because it was principally British, in terms of funding and authorship. And if you look at the big AFI Top 100 lists, they're only American productions, as well. In essence, the AFI acknowledges geography more than it does filmmaking. At least that's my opinion. This year's list of films doesn't suffer as much as previous years do if you're interested in a well-rounded list of the "best" movies from around the world, because the perception is the number of groundbreaking, well-publicized international films is not as strong as nearly every other year this decade. There are still candidates, of course, but not as many top-of-mind foreign films as 2007 or 2008. There are lots of familiar names and plenty of surprises and notable omissions, which will be plain to see.

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AFI Finally Acknowledges Existence of 'Slumdog Millionaire'

Earlier this awards season, I had a thing or two to say about the ten best films of 2008 as voted by the American Film Institute. There's nothing wrong with anything on the list; you won't find The Happening on there anywhere.

Of course, you also won't find Slumdog Millionaire, and that's the problem. Generally regarded as one of the best films if not the best film of 2008, the AFI didn't include Danny Boyle's surefire Oscar nominee on its list. Why? Because it's not American, whatever that means.I took my fair share of ridicule for assailing the exclusion, both here and in a column written by Variety's Anne Thompson, who happens to be an AFI member. "Yes, we left off Slumdog Millionaire--the creators and backers of the film must be primarily American," she wrote, adding condescendingly, "It's the American Film Institute!" Well, frankly, that's horseshit. Who cares if it's American? Are you more concerned with film or geography? Again I ask, what makes a movie "American"? Here are some films that have made the cut for AFI lists since 2001: Moulin Rouge!, the Irish-American co-production In America, Babel, the French-American co-production The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the Colombian-American production Maria Full of Grace, and all three Lord of the Rings movies. Would anyone call Peter Jackson and his Kiwi crew American, even if Time-Warner gave them the money? What about Babel? Where's the American creator in that equation? Ditto Moulin Rouge! and In America. If it needs both American "creators and backers" then this year's list shouldn't include films made by foreign directors, canceling out The Dark Knight.

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AFI Top Ten List Blows It

You might notice a glaring omission from the AFI's list of the top ten films of the year: Where is Slumdog Millionaire?The AFI - and this is one of the things that really drives me crazy about all of their lists - concerns itself only with American productions. That's why there are no Kurosawa films on its Top 100 lists, for example. The problem with that is that it intimates that there's no external influence on American film and never has been. I mean, 50 years later and we can't acknowledge how great that movie is? It's ridiculous. How does that, in any way, advance the common cause of promoting great filmmaking?And I don't know how Slumdog doesn't qualify under those rules since Danny Boyle and I talked specifically about the funding for the film and he said that 40% of it came from Warner Independent, a studio that has since shut its doors. Maybe you have to have at least half your funding come from an American company.You also can't argue about rewarding American-only crews, because those things don't exist anymore. And if you did, you'd have to disqualify The Dark Knight, which has several Brits in the cast as well as an English director, and Benjamin Button would have to be out of the running because its leading lady is Australian and its composer is French.Still, it's a sad oversight, because it renders this list more or less useless. Who really gives a shit where the money came from? Is Slumdog a better movie than Gran Torino? Yes, yes it is. So, by keeping out arguably the consensus best film of the year, the AFI looks a bit out of touch. The only thing worse is if it were eligible and they didn't bother to recognize how good it is.Here they are, however, presented in alphabetical order: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
WALL-E
Wendy and Lucy
The WrestlerYou might have also noticed that Doubt, which cleaned up in the Golden Globes was shut out, as were Revolutionary Road and Rachel Getting Married.