AFI Top 10 Pix of 2007: 'Knocked Up'! Where's 'Sweeney' & 'Gangster'?
As usual, there are jawdroppers on American Film Institute's list of top 10 films of the year. The lineup of 2007: "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Into the Wild," "Juno," "Knocked Up," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "The Savages" and "There Will Be Blood."
I'd be alarmed by the snubs of "Sweeney Todd" and "American Gangster" if AFI hadn't managed to miss "The Departed" and "The Queen" last year, preferring "Dreamgirls" (yes!) and "Inside Man," thus reminding us that these voters (a politburu comprised of journos, academics and industry honchos — (Click Here to See the Judges' Names) can have drastically different views when compared to academy members. (NOTE: 'Atonement" and "Once" were originally listed among the films cited above as possibly being overlooked, but they were not eligible.) In 2005, AFI jurors snubbed, "Walk the Line," "The Constant Gardner," "Hustle & Flow" and "Transamerica" in favor of these 10 pix — click here Click here.) The absence of "Sweeney" and "Atonement" doesn't necessarily mean we won't be top Oscar players.
What's great about the AFI rundown is that it has a sense of humor. Comedies get the last laugh here, while typically voters scoff at the Oscars. This year "Knocked Up" deservedly made the top 10. Last year: "The Devil Wears Prada" and Little Miss Sunshine." The previous year: "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." And animated fare gets acknowledged, appropriately. Remember what the best-reviewed movie is of 2007, according to Metacritic.com — "Ratatouille." Last year AFI found room for "Happy Feet." In 2005, no animated pic made the list, but one great one with lots of CGI did: "King Kong." (Hooray — I loved that big ape.)
In the cases of some snubs, eligibility may be an issue, especially with movies that have foreign tie-ins. This is, after all, the American Film Institute, but "Diving Bell" made the current list even though the Kennedy/Marshal production company had seven foreign partners. As noted above, "Atonement" and "Once" were deemed ineligible.
To Tom O"Neil: Keep your fingers crossed. I know you're rooting like crazy for "Sweeney Todd" to win the Best Picture Oscar, even over such strong contenders as "No Country for Old Men," "Atonement," and "There Will Be Blood," to name a few. But even though Tim Burton's masterpiece is missing from the AFI list doesn't necessarily mean the Motion Picture Academy won't go for it. Remember, the Academy members are film industry professionals honoring their own, so they should have more insight into what really constitutes real achievement in film making. Look at last year's "Departed," for instance, and breath a sigh of relief-missing from AFI's 2006 list, yet it went on to win the top Oscar. Yes, Tom, hope springs eternal.
Posted by: Michael Lewis | December 17, 2007 at 09:33 PM
"Once" wasn't an American-made film, was it?
Posted by: Adam Smith | December 17, 2007 at 03:27 PM
i could totally be wrong, but isn't atonement ineligable because its british?
Posted by: matty-p | December 17, 2007 at 11:19 AM
The List includes at least a couple of Academy members: Frank Pierson, Donn Cambern, Lawrence Kasdan, Dianna Osanna, David Picker, Tom Pollock. That's over half the list.
Posted by: Leone | December 17, 2007 at 12:39 AM