The American Film Institute proudly curates lists to celebrate excellence in the art form. We believe their greatest impact is to inspire personal, passionate discussions about what makes a great film and why and, also, to chart the evolution of the art form. Since its inception, American film has marginalized the diversity of voices that make our nation and its stories strong – and these lists reflect that intolerable truth. AFI acknowledges its responsibility in curating these lists that has reinforced this marginality and looks forward to releasing new lists that will embrace our modern day and drive culture forward.
This list seems like pretentious bullshit, honestly. Of all 100 movies, none of them are made within the last 20 years.
There is a strong bias towards black and white movies here, and of course the mandatory Citizen Kane is at the top. I found it mediocre by todays standard, extremely slow and boring.
17/100 are from the 1960s, 20/100 from the 1970s. Seems like a lot of boomer pics to me.
8 from the 1980s? Do they not count Terry Gilliam as an American? No Brazil?
After Hours is an under rated classic.
11 from the 1990s I guess, statistically, is fine.
Only 1 film from the 21st century? And that one is from 2001?
OK, I’ll grant you, the forced perspective of working together Hobbit, Dwarf, Human and Elf sizes all on screen at once was genius, but you expect me to believe no other film in the past 22 years makes the cut?
No Christopher Nolan films? Heck, no Wes Anderson? No Christopher Guest?
I get they probably don’t want to give a nod to comic book movies, but surely Ghost World, Road to Perdition, and History of Violence are worthy of some sort of recognition.
Well by the same token there’s generally a lot of recency bias in online film conversations. All of the films I have seen on the list fit. Art forms can degrade or at least not progress enough to contribute to the “canon”.
What would you add from recent film?
From mainstream cinema the matrix and the dark night come to mind quickly.
Rolling Stone posted up the 50 best of the 2010s:
Roger Ebert.com did a top 25 here:
https://www.rogerebert.com/features/the-best-films-of-the-2010s
Nice lists … thanks!! Tree of life as No 1 in the rogerebert.com list was surprising (for me).
I agree on Matrix and Dark Knight, which could be considered in the same category as Star Wars, which actually is one of the more recent films on the list.
Of the top of my head, I would add
- Heat (1995)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
- No County for Old Men (2007)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Memento (2000)
- Children of Men (2006)
- The Lighthouse (2019)
- Hereditary (2018)
Frankly, the Lego Batman movie is better than Citizen Kane. There are so many good movies to choose from, I have no idea why this one gets so much recognition to this day.
Pulp fiction was on the list. Which I think answers the point about citizen Kane, which is that the greatness of a film, like a basketball player I suppose, is a lot about their significance in their time. Though you could make a different list without that as a factor.
I like what Tarantino does, which is list best films by decade or within some time window.
…the Lego Batman movie is better than Citizen Kane.
Wow. That has got to be the most punk rock thing I’ve read in a while! My sincerest compliments! 🙇 I’m almost envious I hadn’t said it first!
…I have no idea why this one gets so much recognition to this day.
Judging by the list that preceeds your audacious statement, that while I don’t necessarily agree with all of your choices, it appears you’re a person of a certain sensibility regarding film. With that, I say confidently, don’t worry. One day you will understand why Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is considered seminal cinema.
BTW, I thought The Lego Batman Movie was cute. AFI 100 Greatest American Films material, no. Cheers!
This list is very unpretentious lol. I recognize everything they listed and have seen almost half of them. They are some the most famous films of all time. Also Citizen Kane is considered the best because it broke a lot of rules set by studios and it was copied by just about everyone. Cinema wouldn’t be the same without it.
As a non American nor English native speaker, this list has helped me to discover great movie. I have watch every movie from the list. And i wish in other Universe i will be the one who directed or starred in one of those movie!
I have my own bias loving Scorsese, Coppola, Polanski, Tarantino, and recently Jordan Peele, and for actor like Denzel, Al Pacino, Brando, Hoffman, Viola Davis as well as healthy amount of dislike for Fred Astaire like actors and franchises by Spielberg & Lucas (maybe because it is too foreign for me to relate).
But i think it is OK to prefer one movie over the other. And in all fairness i think everyone will have their own favorite movie list. So yeah just enjoy watching every movie you wanna see.