AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
(These are unordered and are displayed alphabetically and they have chosen 11 films this year instead of 10 with tiebreakers). My thoughts will be below the winners.
AMERICAN SNIPER
BIRDMAN
BOYHOOD
FOXCATCHER
THE IMITATION GAME
INTERSTELLAR
INTO THE WOODS
NIGHTCRAWLER
SELMA
UNBROKEN
WHIPLASH
I have some quibbles with this list. First off Into the Woods looks uniquely poor. It is no doubt watered down from the original stage version for mainstream audiences and no doubt will drift into another Johnny Depp in a weird hat and makeup movie. It’s sad what his films have become. Meryl Streep could save this as she does with countless films but I just don’t care at this point. I probably won’t even see it. I have also not yet seen Selma or Unbroken and I definitely will. They will be good films I am sure, and even with Selma‘s retelling of the MLK story, and a focused one at that by just looking at one event in his life much like Lincoln did, it just has already been done before. And Unbroken looks at a famous POW and in the WWII setting. That’s not new. It might be exciting and at least it’s in the Pacific theater but it seems like an odd choice for Angelina Jolie to direct. Many others here have not yet been released and come out on Christmas. They are deserving and they will be popping up on many year end lists and receive many nominations. I’m looking forward to them. Boyhood, Birdman, Nightcrawler, and Whiplash are all films I have loved. It’s also very nice to see Interstellar getting some love. That might be my favorite thing about this list.
AFI also names the top TV shows. I will bold the ones that will likely end up on my best of the best list as well. They are The Americans, Fargo, Game of Thrones, How to Get Away with Murder, Jane the Virgin, The Knick, Mad Men, Orange is the New Black, Silicon Valley, and Transparent.
midwestmovieman 