AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
DA 5 BLOODS
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
MANK
MINARI
NOMADLAND
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI…
SOUL
SOUND OF METAL
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
AFI TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
BETTER CALL SAUL
BRIDGERTON
THE CROWN
THE GOOD LORD BIRD
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
THE MANDALORIAN
MRS. AMERICA
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT
TED LASSO
UNORTHODOX
AFI SPECIAL AWARD
HAMILTON
So basically what we’re expecting at the Oscars…
WHERE’S WW84?! They usually always have their token “popular film” LOL
Not usually. That’s the problem people have with the Oscars. No popular films get in.
WW84 isn’t popular lol… But there’s always at least a couple good “hits” that get nominated for BP.
Am I the only one who thought Lovecraft Country was garbage?
The last episode was garbage, but I LOVED the first 9 episodes.
So many things happening that I ended up not caring for it.
What are people’s top 10s in movies and TV?
My top ten in film is Bad Education, Palm Springs, Borat, Kajillionaire, Trial of the Chicago 7, Soul, Night in Miami, Uncle Frank, Blow the Man Down, 7500
Still so much to see. I won’t be able to post my definitive Top 25 until the Oscars in April. But, as of this very moment…
1. Soul
2. Promising Young Woman
3. Boys State
4. City Hall
5. Collective
6. Onward
7. Sound of Metal
8. The Mole Agent
9. The Dissident
10. The Trial of the Chicago 7
yeah, i’m more of a TV ranking guy.
I’ve heard of 5 of those (Promising Young Woman) and 4 I know what the plots are (Onward and Sound of Metal) and of course have seen Soul and Trial fo the Chicago 7.
Got anything at all for TV (mini-series or series)?
I’m doing a poll for that with 38 people contributing for that
I still have to see a few major contenders. Notably Judas, The Father, Nomadland and Minari. I also need to see more of the international feature submissions. As of now, though, my list would have a 7/10 overlap with yours.
My solid top 3 are Soul, Nomadland and Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Next tier so far is Mangrove and Promising Young Woman, but there’s a lot I still need to see, including the rest of Small Axe.
Can always count on aroncido for a solid top 3! I didn’t love Promising Young Woman, but happy that it’s putting Mulligan back on the path to Oscar glory (or at least a long-overdue second nomination).
I didn’t exactly love Promising Young Woman either – but it was still good enough for 4 out of 5 stars, which is where my tier 2 stands right now. I’ve seen dismally few films so far from 2020 though, so that’s why it cracks my overall top 5.
got anything for TV? you can do up to 12. I don’t mind if it’s less than 12
I’ll go with Schitt’s Creek, Better Call Saul and Mrs America.
So far (and still some contenders to see), my faves are ‘Sound Of Metal’, ‘One Night In Miami’ and Trial of The Chicago 7′ and ‘La Belle Epoque’
My favorites at the moment (but one should note that my list of films to see is still about 70 films long):
1. Days
2. First Cow
3. Labyrinth of Cinema
4. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
5. Lovers Rock
6. City Hall
7. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime
8. Vitalina Varela
9. Shirley
10. Time
11. The Woman Who Ran
12. Martin Eden
13. About Endlessness
14. Nomadland
15. Ham on Rye
16. The Assistant
17. Sibyl
18. Bait
19. Dick Johnson Is Dead
20. Mangrove
21. Ghost Town Anthology
22. What Did Jack Do?
23. The Traitor
24. Red, White and Blue
25. Bacurau
26. Da 5 Bloods
27. Education
28. On the Rocks
29. I’m Thinking of Ending Things
30. Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream
31. La Llorona
32. The Portugese Woman
33. Driveways
34. She Dies Tomorrow
35. Premature
36. Season of the Devil
Man, you saw a lot of indie stuff. Good for you.
First Cow looks good.
Do you have a top 10 in TV or just movies?
Just movies. I don’t think I’ve seen 10 new seasons of anything from 2020
About Endlessness is so good (was on my top 5 of 2019). Also glad to see Reichardt, McQueen, Hittman, Wiseman, Johnson, Seimetz, Tsai, and others. I saw Martin Eden in 2019 and didn’t love it.
The ending of I’m thinking of ending things really disappointed me. It’s a film that I intend to return to, just in case I’m missing something. Until then, not on the level of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for me.
1. First Cow (2019)
2. Nomadland
3. Sound of Metal (2019)
4. Minari
5. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
6. Small Axe
After that, I really liked The Father, Saint Frances (2019), Saint Maud (2019), The Vast of Night (2019), Another Round, Vitalina Varela (2019), She Dies Tomorrow, Collective (2019), Time, City Hall, and Dick Johnson Is Dead.
I’m looking at the trailer for First Cow, it seems pretty big.
Small Axe is TV, right? that’s been on my TV poll.
Speaking of which, what do you have as your top TV shows of the year?
I’m doing a poll with 35 respondents so far and hoping to get up to 50 at least
Small Axe is technically an “anthology series”, but I followed the LAFCA and other critics groups in putting it on my film list (Mangrove is feature length, and Lovers Rock was one of the best things I saw in 2020, on the big or small screen) and including it in Best Director.
For TV (excluding Small Axe), here’s an unranked list of my top 6:
– Better Call Saul (season 5)
– The Crown (season 4)
– The Good Lord Bird (miniseries)
– Mrs. America (mini-series)
– The Plot Against America (mini-series)
– Unorthodox (mini-series)
Also liked (the end of) BoJack Horseman, Little America and Never Have I Ever.
Super bummed that Promising Young Woman didn’t make the cut. But, really happy about Soul and Sound of Metal.
Pretty good list! So grateful that crazy critic picks like News of the World, Pieces of a Woman, and The Life Ahead are not featured.
Wish they had made room for Promising Young Woman though, easily tied for #1 with Ma Rainey for me.
I saw One Night In Miami a week ago and its stayed with me. I think I like it more than Ma Rainey.
My top 2 are still Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal
I possibly like everything about One Night in Miami better than M Rainey: plot, screenplay, acting and directing.
Both have immense goodwill from critics, which other filmed plays like Doubt didn’t have. And they are no less “film play” than Doubt.
Doubt didn’t fail at the Oscar race. It existed at a time when the Oscar race was just 5 films so a lot of films failed.
After Wall-E and Dark Knight, it would probably have been Wrestler #8 and then I think Doubt might have been #9 over Rachel Getting Married or VCB
Doubt would surely score a BP nomination under the current system but how many films in history scored 4 or more acting nominations and still failed to finish in the BP top 5? Only 4 out of almost 40, I guess. 3 of those were play adaptations. Extremely unusual for films with so many acting nominations to miss BP. It’s the bias against play adaptations.
One Night in Miami was a very good theatrical piece.
I’m a little tired of the sort of asterisks in that these awards given bodies are facing lots and lots of pressure to award as many black films as possible, but One Night in Miami really added somthing to the conversation.
Becoming more and more convinced that Judas is going to make a big time run at big Oscars. The two trailers show more about the STAKES of Chicago radicalism in the 60’s then the totality of the Trial of the Chicago Seven. Sorkin should be embarassed.
Sad for my favorite, News of the World
If it helps, it is the sort of film that will miss here but get in at Oscar!
(like Ford v Ferrari)
Doubt it. And the comparison with FvF makes no sense.
Well, who was on the jury. If I remember correctly, the AFI jury consisted of some civil rights figure like Cornell Wilder so there’s probably a bias towards black films
Take Minari, Soul and Sound of Metal out and replace them by News of the World and The Father and you have the Best Picture nominees.
I don’t see how Minari misses the Oscar. It seems to be one of the dominant players thus far.
It was dominant with critics. We’ll see how it does at the televised awards, but Oscars will be Oscars.
I actually think Minari has a chance of being almost completely shut out and only getting an Original Screenplay nomination.
I have a hard time seeing A24 missing BP for the third consecutive year. I don’t think an independent company as powerful and respected in the industry would ever miss BP for so many consecutive years in an expanded field.
Minari right now feels very safe.
I’m worried purely because of its rather invisible campaign…
News of the World and Promising Young Woman are two of my faves of the year and they both missed 🙁
Promising Young Woman missing out is such a disappointment.
I just hope if nothing else it gets actress and screenplay noms at Oscar. That way, at the very least, Fennell and Mulligan get nominations for it. It really should be a top tier contender in a heap of categories including picture though!
Mulligan can still win, if HFPA embraces the movie!
I actually think both the two nominations I mentioned above could win… I see them as unlikely but they are possible. I hold on to a glimmer of hope…
This does make me a bit worried for PYW – their picks are generally “cooler” than the Oscars think Beale Street, First Reformed, A Quiet Place, The Farewell, Knives Out, The Florida Project as just some examples in the last 3 years instead of films like Food v Ferrari, Vice, Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour that got in at Oscars, so you would expect PYW to do better here than at Oscars!
Yeah, big hit. It also didn’t make Peter Travers’ top 10, and we know how Oscary his picks usually are…
That’s pretty much as surprising as it gets, right? I went 7 for 10, which is pretty bad.
I expected Nomadland, Mank, Minari, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Soul, One Night in Miami, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
So the surprises were Da 5 Bloods (which isn’t really a surprise, although it keeps overperforming), Judas and the Black Messiah (which I guess will be an actual BP contender) and Sound of Metal (for which there seems to be lots of love for).
Misses were The Father (which may or may not have been eligible, idk), News of the World (and I guess this is a moderately big blow for this particular film) and Promising Young Woman (I suspected that it won’t land as well as the early buzz suggested).
Silver lining: these were the 3 least likely on my list.
But hey, this feels like a kick-off for Awards Season proper!
Awards groups have only just begun to get screeners for The Father (SPC has been VERY behind in getting screeners out to most outlets). I suspect that the film was indeed eligible, but some members of AFI probably didn’t watch it in time. SPC is trying to put it in towards the end of the race for late breaking momentum and buzz. I still think its good for an Oscar nom.
Promising Young Woman not showing up here dampens its chances. This is the type of group to champion such a film. I ultimately think its too divisive for The Oscars.
News of the World seems like the movie that would have won Best Picture years ago. For that reason, I think the steak eaters will still go for this one. Will they be enough to get it a Best Picture nom? Some folks Ive talked to like the film, but dont LOVE it or feel extreme passion for it. That could hurt on a preferential ballot.
“For that reason, I think the steak eaters will still go for this one. Will they be enough to get it a Best Picture nom? Some folks Ive talked to like the film, but dont LOVE it or feel extreme passion for it. That could hurt on a preferential ballot.”
Precisely why it wouldn’t win BP even in the 80s/90s. People LOVED all of those epics. News of the World is perhaps the film I really don’t want to see a BP slot filled by this year. I can’t find a single aspect about the film I find extraordinary. Of course it’s a good film with few flaws but I prefer to see films that may be a little bit more flawed but with more standout aspects.
News of the World can definitely still get an Oscar nom, but missing AFI in a “weak” year definitely doesn’t bode well for winning Best Picture.
Oh I dont think even if it got in at AFI that it could win Best Picture. It’s the kind of film that would have won 10 years ago. I think something about it feels too safe. The fact that its “feel-good” and will appeal to older voters still has it in the running for a nomination, but I doubt a win was ever in the cards.
I still think Nomadland and Trial of the Chicago 7 are the only films that could actually win. The others have big check marks against them when it comes down to it. Especially on a ranked ballot. These are the two I think the most people can agree on.
“It’s the kind of film that would have won 10 years ago.”
I would rather say 2 years ago.
And I still think Nomadland is way too non-Oscary to win the Oscar. In some weeks, the “Nomadland is actually very boring” hit pieces will start flowing, just as they did with Roma.
I do agree with that assessment. But I think it’s also a strange year. And it does speak to how beautiful people find it that such a non-Oscary film won Peoples Choice at TIFF. Personally speaking, its a film that wouldn’t normally sit atop my best of year list…but so little has truly connected with me this year, its one I keep coming back to. So in a strange pandemic year, it is absolutely in the running.
But what you mention makes it ripe for upset. Which is why I think Chicago 7 could “Spotlight” itself to a win. Big cast which appeals to the actors. Very entertaining. Current frontrunner for Screenplay and Editing. If its not someones #1, it is probably 2 or 3.
The Judas trailer made Chicago 7 look incompetent by comparison.
Zhao is currently on a Marvel gig, and believe me Disney is going to protect their asset.
Oh but Zhao’s going to win Best Director. That seems like a done deal. But Picture is a different beast.
I think it’s going to be close. But unlike the comparable year of Roma there doesn’t appear to be a Green Book that everyone is rallying around.
There isn’t yet, but I bet there will be. I am betting it will be News of the World or Trial of the Chicago 7. Does One Night in Miami have a shot at having “popular” or “traditional” appeal? I haven’t seen it yet, but it seems likely to get 2 acting nominations. what if it wins the ensemble award at SAG?
Update: Gold Derby is now reporting that The Father was indeed ineligible! I was mistaken.
Super super thrilled for Sound of Metal, Nomadland, Minari and One Night in Miami ….
Disappointed that First Cow and Promising Young Woman missed out.
And in years to come, the only film they’ll still be talking about is I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, and not any of this year’s AFI-listed films. Sort of like the year 2001. People are still going on about Mulholland Drive and zero people talk about A Beautiful Mind (although Charlie Kaufman still remembers it).
Mulholland Drive actually made it to the top 10.
I just mean in terms of longevity.
Sure. We have quite some films in 2001 that stand the test of time. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, Monsters Inc., Memento
I’m thinking of ending things is kind of like Wanda vision in that you have to pay A LOT of attention and puzzle things together. I take it you like that one as well?
I don’t watch Marvel stuff. I’m an adult.
I’m in the same camp, but Wanda Vision is one of the most challenging pieces of TV I have seen. It’s got Lost-like levels of cluing that needs rewatch upon rewatch.
What are your favorite TV shows of the year Chase, I’d love to have your take in my poll to which about 34 people have contributed so far.
Oh dear God, please don’t mention Lost. That’s 6 years of my life I’ll never get back. 121 episodes in what was, at best, a five-part limited series. I liked Queen’s Gambit and Bridgerton. That’s about it. The market is horribly oversaturated.
Oh cool. Fuck you too.
So happy for Mank and Soul.
It’s a bummer that Promising Young Woman missed while The Trial of the Chicago 7 is in.
David Fincher, Spike Lee and Peter Docter are by far the most accomplished filmakers with films in that top 10. I hope the three translate to Best Picture nominations but I’m skeptical about Da 5 Bloods and Soul, my two favorite films of the year.
I don’t think that “directing” an animated film is as much of a chore as live directing, so I’d have trouble ever being thrilled for someone like Pete Doctor.
Soul is an otherwisely beautifully animated film, I must admit
Well, I guess it’s certainly more challenging to direct (without the ” ” because using this is ridiculous here) and to write four animated masterpieces than filming a stage play that you didn’t even write. Plus: Docter has more Oscar screenplay nominations than everyone involved in awards season this year but Aaron Sorkin, arguably one of the best American screenwriters of all time.
Can anyone confirm if The Father was ineligible or missed? I would guess it is ineligible but really can’t be sure!
According to Gold Derby it was ineligible.
Thanks! That will be right then – they are generally pretty onto it
Wow Judas and the Black Messiah must made a good impression on some folks. I wasn’t picking them but there’s hope it gets in. Hopefully it gains some traction soon. Pumped to see Minari, Judas and the Black Messiah as well as Nomadland. Good diverse group.
I think Judas is potentially the sleeper of this field. It will be last of the contenders anyone will actually SEE when nominations come out, and Kaluuya/Stanfield are going to be formidable on the campaign circuit. And producer Ryan Coogler has big time respect in the industry.
It’s also a real movie, although if I had the opportunity right now I think I’d rather rewatch the “stagy” Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on a big screen than Judas, which I thought was great nonetheless.
I was 7 for 10, but my wrong answers were alphabetically aligned with their alternates (First Cow became Judas, PYW became One Night, and Tenet became Sound of Metal)…
Delighted to see Da 5 Bloods and Soul in the list. Sad about Promising Young Woman.
News of the World takes a hit.
I’d still bet on the field in Nomadland vs. the field.