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AFI Awards Top 10 2011 Movies Include 'Bridesmaids', 'Dragon Tattoo'

by Alex Billington
December 11, 2011
Source: Deadline

It's awards season, so here we go. The American Film Institute (AFI) announced (via Deadline) the official selections of AFI Awards 2011 – the awards season event favored by artists and entertainment executives for its intimacy and collaborative recognition – that records the year’s most outstanding achievements in film. They've named 10 of the "Movies of the Year", including Bridesmaids, The Help, J. Edgar, Midnight in Paris, Tree of Life and War Horse, as well as two Special Awards: one for Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist and one for the Harry Potter series. Congrats to all, a somewhat diverse yet respectful list of films this year.

AFI Movies of the Year:
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
J. Edgar
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree Of Life
War Horse

AFI Special Awards:
The Artist
The Harry Potter Series
(Special awards given to outstanding achievements in the moving image that do not fit into AFI's criteria for the other honorees. For the TV winners, see here.)

As was reported by Dave Karger on EW.com, two films not eligible because they weren't American were The Artist, which got a special recognition anyway, and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. Other than that, the only one people seem to be surprised is missing is Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (trailer), which most critics haven't even seen yet, which might've been the problem with the AFI as well. I still think they named some great picks and I'm personally glad to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on there, as well as Hugo and Tree of Life. Something otherwise fantastic films all around, including one of my personal favorites, The Artist, which I'm glad was recognized in some way. For more, visit the AFI site. Thoughts?

Filed under Awards, Discuss, Lists, Movie News

From around the web:

Bltzie

What, no Warrior?
- Sparky
  
  completely agree. just because it's about MMA doesn't mean it's not the best movie of the year...which, besides Tree of Life, I'd say it is.
Jaimedynamite

drive?
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  These are my #1 and probably #2 of the year... Yea I agree, biggest ones missing.
sandro

Warrior???
Anon

seriously.. warrior needs to be really up there. and i hope nick nolte gets some recognition for his amazing work.
Jim

Warrior and Drive. Bridesmaids was un-watchable.
- Ross
  
  Thank you. I thought it was utter garbage. Even my wife whose tolerance for chick flicks is as low as mine for even the lamest superhero and sci-fi thought it was shocking. A few mildly amusing moments from Chris o'dowd aside. It he's Irish so I'm biased
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  Completely agree with this comment, too.
happy camper

not a great year for film, but The Tree of Life all the way!
- http://twitter.com/darktaxidermist Davide Coppola
  
  FYI: there's always foreign cinema...
JP

Pretty much any raunchy comedy you put on one of these lists is gonna get bombarded with hate messages. It's just too selective. But hey, while we're at it, why don't we just add "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part Who Cares" to the list. That was the funniest film I've seen in quite a while.
Treaaas

uhmm.. where is Warrior? and why bridesmaids? moneyball? hugo??
Chris Amaya

Bridesmaids? Really? I didn't find that movie to be all that funny
Krishna Shenoi

So "J. Edgar" makes it into the list, despite the reviews? Just because it's a DiCaprio starrer directed by Eastwood? And what of "Drive"? Oh, that's just that bloody B movie starring something-Gosling and directed by that Danish guy, isn't it? Sarcasm aside, it's sad that they skipped one of the best movies of the year.
CGarnsay

50/50 is missing... Still that movie is by far one of the better. Same with The Muppets.
peloquin

Yea, I agree with all these comments, Drive, Warrior, and 50/50 were the top 3 films of the year.
Rich

I guess Jane Eyre didn't count because it's a British film.