A top 10 list? We would never find ourselves doing something like that!
A good job, then, that the American Film Institute hasn’t got the same standards. But enough of such tomfoolery: what did the venerable body believe to be the best movies of the year?
(See TIME’s top 10 movies of 2010.)
In alphabetical order (the AFI won’t rank them in 1-10 fashion), they went with — deep breath required — 127 Hours, Black Swan, Inception, The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, The Town, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter’s Bone.
Two notable omissions were The King’s Speech and Waiting for ‘Superman’. The former was ineligible because it’s a British production, but nevertheless won a special award, as did the latter because the AFI only recognizes narrative films.
(See TIME’s Tuned In blog for the AFI’s top 10 TV shows of the year.)
You wonder if the AFI doesn’t want to appear foolish come the Oscars because this was the first time they’ve handed out special awards, which means the group can acknowledge “outstanding work outside the traditional AFI criteria,” according to AFI president, Bob Gazzale.
It’s a fairly safe list but it’s hard to quibble too much with the choices even if the likes of Please Give, The Ghost Writer or Easy A would have not just been worthy contenders but given the list further cause for conversation. (via AP)