AFI and Beyond

So, the AFI list didn't have many surprises, but it is a better list than the one they released 10 years ago.

People like to bitch about lists, because face it, no list is going to please everyone. But the AFI is a pretty damn good one. It's hampered by the fact that all the films have to be American (apparently being British is okay too). Yes, the U.S. is king when it comes to cinema, but this denies the worthy works from the Big Three (France, Italy, Japan), as well as many other countries.

There were also some odd omissions - "Barry Lyndon," "The Third Man," "Touch of Evil." I still think "The Producers" was denied a spot, and I was sad to see "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" voted off.

But, overall, it's a wonderful list. It's wonderful to see a Scorsese film ("Raging Bull") in the top 10. How wise of them to know that "Vertigo" is truly Hitchcock's best film, that "City Lights" is Chaplin's finest, and that "2001: A Space Odyssey" deserves to be in the Top 15. And that "Titanic," despite its unwarranted backlash, is an American classic.

You could do a lot worse than using the AFI list as a Netflix guide.