Friday, May 22, 2026

AFI Top 10 Includes Silver Linings, Django, Les Miz, Lincoln, Argo, Zero Dark

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The American Film Institute jury has chosen their top ten films for 2012. I have to say I can’t disagree with any of their picks. It’s a good group, and it  accurately represents the year. I do think they missed on “The Master,” but they may not have wanted to give one film company–TWC– three spots on the top 10. I know from sources that the group also really liked Dustin Hoffman’s “Quartet,” which I think is going to be the sleeper hit of the season. Also not on the list are “Hitchcock,” “The Sessions,” and “Cloud Atlas.” The AFI included “The Dark Knight Rises,” which I’m not sure will make it to the Oscars. It’s nice also to see “The Life of Pi,” which has a 50/50 shot at an Oscar vote.

As for the TV winners: they’re all the same. It’s all the same as it is all the time. In TV, once your show is chosen for one batch of awards it just continues until it’s almost over. I don’t like or understand “Modern Family,” but it just goes on and on. No love for “Episodes,” the wittiest show on TV. And the AFI can’t pick “Downton Abbey,” because it’s British. ZZzzzzzz……

 

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BREAKING BAD
GAME CHANGE
GAME OF THRONES
GIRLS
HOMELAND
LOUIE
MAD MEN
MODERN FAMILY
THE WALKING DEAD

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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