Another couple of days, another couple of lists. After the jump the AFI and the AARP lists and a couple notes about which films are coasting through precursor season without a care in the world. Consensus: a powerful tool if you can grab it...
AFI (American Film Institute) Top Ten Films
- Arrival
- Fences
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Hell or High Water
- La La Land
- Manchester by the Sea
- Moonlight
- Silence
- Sully
- Zootopia
...and Top Ten TV Programs
- The Americans
- Atlanta
- Better Call Saul
- The Crown
- Game of Thrones
- The Night Of
- The People Vs OJ Simpson
- Stranger Things
- This Is Us
- Veep
...and a special award to OJ: Made in America, the 8 hour ESPN miniseries that everyone feels the need to honor, even movie award bodies!
AARP "MOVIES FOR GROWNUPS"
Which is an interesting list to consider each year given the age demographics of the Academy
Can Hello My Name is Doris manage Globe Comedy nominations?
- Arrival
- Fences
- Hello My Name is Doris
- Jackie
- La La Land
- Lion
- Loving
- Manchester by the Sea
- Silence
- Sully
A few thoughts
Sully was a pleasant swift sit and all but we continue to be alarmed that it's making "best of year" lists. It's so lightweight! On the other hand it's a relief that there is at least ONE movie released before October that is making some lists. Movie awards will never be worth much as they could or be non-consensus driven until we can convince voting bodies to remember that each year is twelve months long. A lot of fine movies were released from January through September! You only think that's not true if you dutifully trudge to whatever blockbuster Hollywood is pushing on you with the biggest P&A budget each weekend, and are routinely disappointed in their quality.
To recap -- Arrival, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and Sully are the only movies to make ALL four of these lists: AFI, AARP, NBR, and Critics Choice. Silence missed Critics Choice only so it's probably worth noting that they hadn't seen it before voting. I was otherwise occupied on Thursday night when it was widely screened here in NYC but when I see it this week I'll know if the "recency effect" is helping since it's the last film every group is screening. I suspect it is which is, alas, why distributors backload so much. I am surely not the only mouthy movie-lover in the world whose favored movies tend to be films that have been sitting in my heart for at least a few months (so recency does not help with me). But we who love gifts we've played with for a while most are outnumbered by those who love their shiny new toys best!