{"id":330766,"date":"2025-12-04T21:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/330766\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T21:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:30:10","slug":"one-battle-after-another-sinners-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/330766\/","title":{"rendered":"One Battle After Another, Sinners and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cHamnet,\u201d \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d and a powerful one-two punch from Warner Bros. \u2014 \u201cOne Battle After Another<\/a>\u201d and \u201cSinners\u201d \u2014 are among the American Film Institute\u2019s 10 best films of the year, the organization announced Thursday. On the television side, HBO Max\u2019s \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d Netflix\u2019s \u201cAdolescence\u201d and Apple TV\u2019s \u201cSeverance\u201d and \u201cThe Studio\u201d were included among AFI\u2019s top programs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film selections reflect a robust and varied year in cinema, blending box office heavyweights with formally ambitious works. The lineup spans indie auteurs such as Chlo\u00e9 Zhao with \u201cHamnet\u201d and Clint Bentley with \u201cTrain Dreams\u201d; industry veterans like Paul Thomas Anderson (\u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d) and Guillermo del Toro (\u201cFrankenstein\u201d); filmmakers hitting new creative heights, including Noah Baumbach (\u201cJay Kelly\u201d) and Josh Safdie (\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d); stylish visionaries such as Ryan Coogler (\u201cSinners\u201d) and Yorgos Lanthimos (\u201cBugonia\u201d); and dependable studio mainstays like James Cameron (\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d) and Jon M. Chu (\u201cWicked: For Good\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tNeon\u2019s international Oscar hopeful \u201cIt Was Just an Accident,\u201d from writer-director Jafar Panahi, received the AFI Special Award, which recognizes productions that fall outside AFI\u2019s traditional eligibility rules, including international films and other non-U.S. media. Past recipients include \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d (2010), \u201cThe Artist\u201d (2011), \u201cRoma\u201d (2018), \u201cParasite\u201d (2019), \u201cBelfast\u201d (2021) and \u201cThe Banshees of Inisherin\u201d (2022). The designation also helps explain the absence of Neon\u2019s other international standouts: Park Chan-wook\u2019s South Korean black comedy \u201cNo Other Choice,\u201d Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho\u2019s Brazilian thriller \u201cThe Secret Agent\u201d and Joachim Trier\u2019s Norwegian family drama \u201cSentimental Value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe AFI Awards<\/a> remain one of the season\u2019s most meaningful bellwethers. Over the past decade, AFI\u2019s top 10 films have consistently overlapped with the Academy\u2019s best picture slate, typically matching seven or eight eventual nominees. While an AFI selection doesn\u2019t guarantee Oscar momentum, a miss often signals a steeper hill ahead.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a huge boost particularly for Focus Features, which was shut out from the National Board of Review on Wednesday<\/a> and Netflix, which once again landed a leading three films on the list.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhich brings us to this year\u2019s notable omissions. Left off the list were Joseph Kosinski\u2019s racing epic \u201cF1,\u201d Kathryn Bigelow\u2019s political thriller \u201cA House of Dynamite,\u201d Bradley Cooper\u2019s family dramedy \u201cIs This Thing On\u201d and Scott Cooper\u2019s Bruce Springsteen portrait \u201cSpringsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.\u201d All four have been viewed as solid awards contenders, and their absence could complicate their Oscar trajectories. Also missing were consumer-friendly titles such as Rian Johnson\u2019s whodunit \u201cWake Up Dead Man\u201d and Craig Brewer\u2019s musical love story \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d both of which had been expected to resonate with AFI voters.<\/p>\n

\n\tAFI\u2019s recent history continues to highlight the evolving challenges of eligibility amid an increasingly global marketplace. In each of the last two years, eight AFI selections went on to earn best picture nominations, while films such as \u201cA Real Pain,\u201d \u201cSing Sing,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Still Here\u201d and \u201cThe Substance\u201d demonstrated how precursor overlaps can diverge from the Academy. In 2023, AFI also omitted international films \u201cAnatomy of a Fall\u201d and \u201cThe Zone of Interest\u201d under its eligibility rules.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the television side, AFI\u2019s choices reflect a landscape dominated by prestige dramas, genre experimentation and increasingly auteur-driven storytelling. Apple TV led all platforms with three mentions including Emmy-winning comedy \u201cThe Studio,\u201d the breakout dystopian thriller \u201cSeverance\u201d and its new freshman drama \u201cPluribus.\u201d HBO Max and Netflix earned two slots each \u2014 HBO Max for its Emmy-winning drama \u201cThe Pitt\u201d and the crime thriller \u201cTask,\u201d and Netflix for the Emmy-winning limited series \u201cAdolescence\u201d and the historical drama \u201cDeath by Lightning.\u201d Disney+ and FX rounded out the list with the sophomore season of \u201cAndor\u201d and \u201cThe Lowdown,\u201d the critically acclaimed Ethan Hawke\u2013Sterlin Harjo collaboration.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s juries \u2014 one for film and one for television \u2014 included Lily Gladstone, Lauren LeFranc, Patton Oswalt and Thomas Schlamme; scholars Mark Harris and Leonard Maltin along with representatives from Syracuse University, USC, UCLA and UC Santa Cruz; critics Ann Hornaday, Janet Maslin and Peter Travers; and members of the AFI Board of Trustees. The panels were chaired by AFI Board of Trustees member Jeanine Basinger, chair emerita and founder of the film studies department at Wesleyan University, and AFI Board of Trustees Vice Chair Richard Frank, former chairman of Walt Disney Television and president of Walt Disney Studios.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe AFI Awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 9.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe complete list is below.<\/p>\n

\n\tAFI Motion Pictures of the Year<\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d (20th Century Studios)<\/p>\n

\u201cBugonia\u201d (Focus Features)<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankenstein\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n

\u201cHamnet\u201d (Focus Features)<\/p>\n

\u201cJay Kelly\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty Supreme\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d (Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n

\u201cSinners\u201d (Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n

\u201cTrain Dreams\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n

\u201cWicked: For Good\u201d (Universal Pictures)<\/p>\n

\n\tAFI Television Programs of the Year<\/p>\n

\u201cAdolescence\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n

\u201cAndor\u201d (Disney+)<\/p>\n

\u201cDeath by Lightning\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Diplomat\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lowdown\u201d (FX)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pitt\u201d (HBO Max)<\/p>\n

\u201cPluribus\u201d (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

\u201cSeverance\u201d (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Studio\u201d (Apple TV)<\/p>\n

\u201cTask\u201d (HBO Max)<\/p>\n

\n\tAFI Special Award: \u201cIt Was Just an Accident\u201d (Neon)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHamnet,\u201d \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d and a powerful one-two punch from Warner Bros. \u2014 \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d and \u201cSinners\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[167697,88,89051,29506],"class_list":["post-330766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-afi-awards","tag-entertainment","tag-one-battle-after-another","tag-oscars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}