Poor Things Gets Some Props From AFI
Year-end best lists are running through December like the tomb raider. Just this morning, John Waters dropped his best films of 2023 list, and now, this afternoon, the American Film Institute is ready with its own. Which is at least two lists to process in one day, if you’re into that sort of thing. AFI’s picks include the usual suspects. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, already showered with recognition, landed on the alphabetical list, together with Todd Haynes’s May December, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The highest-grossing film in Warner Bros.’ history, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, took her place on the list, right under American Fiction, Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut about a Black novelist who writes a stereotypical book to spite the industry. Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things appeared as well, the second film by the Greek Weird Wave director to be given the AFI stamp of approval.
How will awards season shift with this latest appraisal of acclaimed films? Ask us in January after we wake from the end-of-year hangover. Below, find the full list of films and TV shows that AFI dug this year.
AFI Movies of the Year
American Fiction
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
May December
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
AFI Television Programs of the Year
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Beef
Jury Duty
The Last of Us
The Morning Show
Only Murders in the Building
Poker Face
Reservation Dogs
Succession
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