07 July 2008Cinema
AFI 10 Top 10

The AFI is out with its latest set of lists, this time 10 top 10 lists. There's no list for just "Comedy", only "Romantic Comedy" (When Harry Met Sally should be number one), which is odd. So there's no place to honor The Big Lebowski, definitely the best comedy and one of the best films ever produced (thank you Joel and Ethan).

So while it's an interesting set of lists (and designed to foster debate like this), there are some things that I have a problem with.

I don't know why Field of Dreams is in "Fantasy" and not "Sports". That doesn't make any sense to me. Groundhog Day also appears in this odd "Fanstasy" category and should be in "Comedy", a category the AFI just left out. I'd probably include Presumed Innocent along with "Courtroom Drama". Star Wars: A New Hope is listed as #2 on "Sci-Fi, but I think Empire Strikes Back, which didn't make the list, is a superior film. Raiders of the Lost Ark is nowhere to be found, which is a crime. Nor is The Princess Bride, which should be #1 in "Fantasy" instead of the The Wizard of Oz.

Worst of all, The Natural, probably the 2nd best sports movie ever made (behind Raging Bull), is not even on the list. What a tragedy.

Part of the problem is that so many good movies cross genre boundaries and are particularly hard to categeroize. At the end of the day, it's just a few lists which are totally subjective.

Anyway, just for fun, here's my list of the top 10 American comedies (sorry, Monty Python)

10. Love & Death
9.   Raising Arizona
8.   Fast Times at Ridgemont High
7.   A Fish Called Wanda
6.   Blazing Saddles
5.   Airplane
4.   Fletch
3.   Office Space
2.   Groundhog Day
1.   The Big Lebowski

Honorable Mention: Stripes, Trading Places, Caddyshack, Top Secret, This Is Spinal Tap, Better off Dead, History of the World Part I, Kentucky Fried Movie, Napoleon Dynamite, Austin Powers

Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did since I made this list when I was sitting in a boring meeting and didn't give it much thought. Are they mis-ordered? Let me know.

Posted by andrew at July 7, 2008 01:32 PM


Comments

JenBen Says:

You missed 40 Year Old Virgin. Damn that's a funny one.

July 8, 2008 08:49 PM
brian Says:

A pretty good list, but Animal House doesn't make it?

And you would rather watch Groundhog Day than Office Space?

I think you have Groundhog Day a bit too high up (wouldn't even make my top ten), but you can make up for that by throwing Rushmore into the Honorable Mention category.

Also, the mid to late 2000's have been amazing for comedies - which might not deserve top ten all time status, but it might be too early to judge - as noted above with 40 Year Old Virgin...

But there's also Wedding Crashers, Knocked Up, Old School and Borat, which all have potential to be classics. But I'd rather watch them again then a few on the list.

And I know people who swear by Anchorman.

July 8, 2008 09:47 PM
Andrew Writes:

Like, I said, I didn't give it too much thought. Just killing time in a boring meeting, but yes, Animal House should have made the list. A slight oversight. Personally, I can't say enough about Groundhog Day. It's Bill Murray at the height of his comic genius. Don't drive angry.

July 8, 2008 09:56 PM
J. Says:

1. The Big Lebowski (We're in total agreement)
2. Spinal Tap (Honorable mention? Have you gone totally MAD??)

"Nigel: This is a top to a, you know, what we use on stage, but it's very...very special because if you can see...
Marty: Yeah...
Nigel: ...the numbers all go to eleven. Look...right across the board.
Marty: Ahh...oh, I see....
Nigel: Eleven...eleven...eleven....
Marty: ...and most of these amps go up to ten....
Nigel: Exactly.
Marty: Does that mean it's...louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most...most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here...all the way up...all the way up....
Marty: Yeah....
Nigel: ...all the way up. You're on ten on your guitar...where can you go from there? Where?
Marty: I don't know....
Nigel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is if we need that extra...push over the cliff...you know what we do?
Marty: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top...number...and make that a little louder?
Nigel: ...these go to eleven.

3. Manhattan (The pedophile's best film, ever, and very funny to boot)
4. Animal House (Genre defining, outrageously funny and still is, to this very day. An egregious miss by you.)
5.The Party

That'll do. No need for ten when you have a brilliant 5er.

July 10, 2008 01:15 AM




Remember me?

(You may use HTML tags for style)

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.americanidle.org/MT/mt-tb.cgi/1756

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference:
'AFI 10 Top 10'.