Adding another announcement to the stack this week is the American Film Institute. Remember, the Institute’s annual list of the year’s best films is limited to American cinema, so you won’t see efforts like “Amour” or “Skyfall” pop up. Nevertheless, I think plenty of great American cinema is often avoided by this list in favor of the most obvious mixture of studio and indie fare.
Last year, for instance, standard awards-hunt comedies like “Bridesmaids” and “Midnight in Paris” that were threatening inclusion in the Best Picture field at the time made the cut, as well as those which clearly weren’t, like Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar.”
Be sure to circle back on Friday for the podcast where Anne and I will reveal our own top 10s for the year. For all my snarkiness about this lot’s list, I’d be dishonest if I didn’t admit a fair share of them made my own collective.
Check out the full AFI list below.
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“The Dark Knight Rises”
“Django Unchained”
“Les Misérables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Remember to keep track of all the ups and downs of the 2012-2013 film awards season via The Circuit.