# AFI: You officially SUCK! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278 "2008-06-18T00:53:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/21 "2008-06-18T10:55:44Z")
[QUOTE=Leaper] Well, it pretty much MADE the genre. I think it’s debatable whether we’d have major animated films at all, or even Disney as a company, had Snow White never existed, or been a flop. [/QUOTE] That’s no reason to rate it no. 1. I don’t see [Birth of a Nation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation) in their “Epics” lists anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/22 "2008-06-18T12:57:09Z")
[QUOTE=Manduck] I wonder if I don’t know what an epic is. I thought an epic had to span a long stretch of time - generations, even. The action in Titanic takes place in the course of a single boat trip - not even a complete trip. How is that an epic? [/QUOTE] How long did the Iliad take? Marc ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/23 "2008-06-18T13:07:42Z")
They lost me when they misspelled Spielberg on screen. “Speilberg.” Snert. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/24 "2008-06-18T13:47:05Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] To the OP: _Wrath of Khan_? Really? It was a good movie, but pretty darned formulaic as science fiction. [/QUOTE] Yes. It should have been in the Top 10 Sci Fi. No point arguing this with me. You won’t win. 😛 (Sorry I misplaced _Big_ in the wrong category. I was fuming.) I skipped out of the rest of the show after they dissed Star Trek. Any other highly qualified films get snubbed? (Where did they put _Gone With the Wind_ and _Ben-Hur_?) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/25 "2008-06-18T14:41:57Z")
They were in “Epics.” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/26 "2008-06-18T14:48:30Z")
[QUOTE=Manduck] I wonder if I don’t know what an epic is. I thought an epic had to span a long stretch of time - generations, even. The action in Titanic takes place in the course of a single boat trip - not even a complete trip. How is that an epic? [/QUOTE] I always assumed “epic” (in terms of a motion picture) meant “more than three hours.” ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/27 "2008-06-18T15:00:27Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] No list of horror films? [/QUOTE] That’s what I was waiting for. Instead, we got courtroom dramas. Snooze. And why just _romantic_ comedies? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/28 "2008-06-18T15:59:30Z")
I love AFI shows…I love film clips. I love guessing the winner. So I will not listen to your snarkiness. Yeah, there should’ve been a Horror category; and maybe a “War Movie” category, or a “Biopic” (although where would you put Lawrence of Arabia – epic? biopic? war?) And I never think of To Kill a Mockingbird as a courtroom drama; it’s a drama, with a courtroom scene. That’s why I didn’t pick it as my winner. For the record, I picked SciFi, Western, Gangster and Epic correctly; my Fantasy, Mystery and RomCom came in #2. Interesting that the top 2 overall films – Citizen Kane and Casablanca – didn’t fit into any category. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/29 "2008-06-18T16:08:23Z")
Yeah, they need a general drama category for _Kane_, _Casablanca_, _All About Eve_, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/30 "2008-06-18T16:20:25Z")
I waited and waited for the “horror” genre. Seriously, if you have your own section in the video store, you’re a genre worthy of recognition. There’s no “courtroom drama” section, but there is a “horror” section. Get with the program. (I’d just like to point out that, despite my diss of courtroom dramas above, I get sucked into watching **Twelve Angry Men** any time I see it’s on TV. That’s a damn good movie. I’m a bit hesitant to call it a “courtroom drama”, though, since you only glimpse an actual courtroom once, briefly, at the beginning of the movie; for the remainder of the running time, it’s a “jury room drama”.) As for “science fiction” versus “fantasy”, the best way I’ve heard of determining what category a movie falls into is this: if the story completely relies upon the presence of the technology, and if the removal of the technology makes the plot impossible, then you’ve got a science fiction movie. Without the DeLorean time machine, **Back To The Future** ’s storyline would have been impossible. Therefore, it’s science fiction. It’s debatable whether the “presence of aliens” makes a movie science fiction or fantasy; up to you, I guess. And sorry folks, but **2001** is just not that good, unless you’ve taken a lot of drugs. “Epic” to me (and I’m sure to the AFI folks) means a huge movie, usually set in another place and time, with elaborate costumes and sets, and a cast of hundreds if not thousands. Although I’ll admit that I’ve never considered **Saving Private Ryan** or **Schindler’s List** to be “epics”; maybe I’m just opposed to history that recent being “epic”. How convenient that Spielberg got _two_ of his films on that list. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/31 "2008-06-18T16:25:13Z")
OK, there should’ve been: Romance Drama Comedy Musical Horror But if you’re locked into 10 categories, you have to draw the line somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/32 "2008-06-18T17:08:44Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] To the OP: _Wrath of Khan_? Really? It was a good movie, but pretty darned formulaic as science fiction. [/QUOTE] No way _Wrath_ deserves inclusion over the ignored first _Terminator, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Forbidden Planet, Close Encounters of the Third Kind Planet of the Apes_ and _The Empire Strikes Back_. I didn’t watch the special, but from a quick perusal, I’d have to say that this might actually be one of the best of the AFI compilations. They nailed the Animated features just about right (a nice retort to the Madness debacle in the Game Room 😛 ), and I really can’t argue with the #1 choices of any of the other categories, though they wouldn’t necessarily match my personal preferences. Nice to see classics (both new and old) like _Groundhog Day, The Thief of Bagdad, Bull Durham, McCabe & Mrs. Miller_ alongside the more predictable usual suspects. My big issue, of course, would be that there’s no Mann or Boetticher amongst the westerns, but at least there is still a Hawks and a Peckinpah. As for the worst inclusions (most of them not good films at all), I’d cite these in each of the categories: **Animation** /_Shrek_, **Fantasy** /_Field of Dreams_, **Sci-Fi** /_T2_, **Sports** /_Caddyshack_, **Westerns** /_Cat Ballou_, **Gangsters** /DePalma’s _Scarface_, **Mystery** /_Dial M for Murder_, **Romantic Comedy** /_Sleepless in Seattle_, **Courtroom** /_A Few Good Men_, **Epics** /_Titanic_ ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/33 "2008-06-18T17:47:52Z")
“In Cold Blood” is a courtroom drama? With 28 seconds of Will Geer waving a knife, a tube of blood and a bible? Why not wait until the next AFI list, which can include Police Procedurals along with Horror and War catagories? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/34 "2008-06-18T17:55:44Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] OK, there should’ve been: Romance Drama Comedy Musical Horror But if you’re locked into 10 categories, you have to draw the line somewhere. [/QUOTE] AFI has already done stand-alone lists for most of these categories, so that’s probably why they didn’t do them this time around. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/35 "2008-06-18T20:14:21Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] **Fantasy** /_Field of Dreams_ [/QUOTE] Oh, yeah. On WHAT PLANET is _Field of Dreams_ more of a Fantasy than a Sports movie??? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/36 "2008-06-18T20:27:18Z")
I wanted War movies. I like War movies. I have some strong and ignorant opinions of War movies. Why was there no War movies category? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/37 "2008-06-18T20:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] Oh, yeah. On WHAT PLANET is _Field of Dreams_ more of a Fantasy than a Sports movie??? [/QUOTE] I’m ok with this…it’s a sports movie where all the sports are played by ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![AlmondJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@AlmondJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlmondJoy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/38 "2008-06-18T20:45:39Z")
i like AFI alot. i guess they can’t please everyone though. plus I really like the films they show at the theater near me. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/39 "2008-06-18T21:10:00Z")
I normally like the AFI specials. I normally disagree with their pick for number one but last nights list upset me with several of their number one picks. Raging Bull as the best sports movie I wouldn’t even put it in the top 10, the same goes for 2001 as the best sci-fi. But the one that got me was the western pick Searchers is a long and boring move that sucks, it wouldn’t even make my list of the top 10 John Wayne movies, heck The Cowboys is a better movie. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278/40 "2008-06-19T18:40:54Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] Oh, yeah. On WHAT PLANET is _Field of Dreams_ more of a Fantasy than a Sports movie??? [/QUOTE] Can’t it be a fantasy movie about sports? (It’s one of my favorite fantasy movies of all time, BTW) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afi-you-officially-suck/453278.md?page=1)