Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Top 15 Baffling Things About the AFI Lists


I have an in-no-way-constructive hobby of seriously hating on the American Film Institutes’ various Top 100 lists. Their initial 100 Years…100 Movies list from 1998 was decent enough – a fine collection of American films with pretty solid rankings. But in the subsequent decade, AFI released a different list every year, which resulted in their laughable 100 Years…100 Movies update in 2008. Here are a few things I’ve never been able to understand about AFI’s lists. Be sure to check out all of their lists here, then come back and tell me what you find most baffling.

Head over to Movie Mezzanine to view the full list

12 comments:

  1. Sorry but I disagree heavily on your #4. There were quite a few moments in Baby Jane that had me on the edge of my seat.
    -Dan

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    1. I guess I've never been "thrilled" by that film in the traditional sense. More like completely mortified. Movie is horrifying.

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    2. I agree that the movie is more horrifying than thrilling but the scenes with Joan Crawford attempting to reach the phone are packed with suspense. I also think it's understandable why The Wicked Witch is higher than Amon on their villains list. The Wicked Witch is just such an iconic character and when was the last time you saw someone quoting Amon?

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    3. Truth, truth. Much of my picks are meant to be purposefully silly, as a way of poking fun at the absurdity of AFI's list to begin with.

      So what I mean to say is, per the Wicked Witch/Goeth listings.... AFI is clearly basing their choices off of lasting notoriety, which is dumb. The "best" villain should be the most villainous, in my opinion.

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    4. So...who are the most villainous villains(top10)?

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    5. Hmm, I'll have to give that one some thought.

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  2. I honestly think I disagree with all of those. Especially the Wicked Witch one. I agree with Anon, she was more iconic so that's probably why she's on there, but like you, I think it should go towards the most villainous. I'm also one of the 10 people on the entire planet that doesn't like The Wizard of Oz, so that probably plays into it as well.

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    1. She's definitely more iconic, but yeah, it should go to whoever is more of an actual villain.

      But wait, do you disagree with me, or with the AFI lists?

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  3. I'm probably repeating myself, but you make brilliant lists man. Those findings are ridiculous, especially the Virginia Woolf, Mammet/QT, and The Sixth Sense ones.

    Some of the changes in the '98 and '07 top 100 lists baffle me. For instance, Doctor Zhivago (#39 on the '98 list) was left off the '07 edition, and The Searchers jumped 84 spots from #96 in '98 to #12 in '07. I'd like to see them do a new list every 10 years though, so we can see how it evolves over time.

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    1. Damn man, thanks for this comment. I agree that although these lists are often just silly (especially the '07 one) I would like to see them do a new one every decade. The evolution would be interesting for sure.

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  4. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is nowhere to be seen on their Top Ten Westerns list. What's up with that?

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