A lot of people think that the American Film Institute should shut up already with the lists, and they have a point: an ordered list of the "100 greatest" anything is bound to be so subjective as not to be worth much, especially when it's not clear why the people compiling the list should be seen as authorities. (The AFI's lists are compiled by "juries" of several hundred filmmakers, critics and historians.) But the lists (and accompanying TV specials) keep coming. The latest is the ungrammatical "AFI's 10 Top 10," a list of the 100 greatest American genre films organized by genre: animation, romantic comedy, western, sports (not really a genre, especially if you include Raging Bull in it, but whatever), mystery, fantasy, science-fiction, gangster, courtroom drama, and epic. The complete selections can be found here.

The lists are sometimes obvious (Alfred Hitchcock makes a 4 for 10 showing in "mystery," and if you can't guess their top three picks for "gangster" in order, you probably shouldn't be reading this blog), sometimes admirable (kudos for Terminator 2: Judgment Day in "sci-fi"), sometimes irritating (The Wizard of Oz as the greatest fantasy film of all time is rubbish), but the more relevant question is: what are they worth? The original "top 100" was a good conversation piece and a useful checklist. What are the rest of them supposed to be good for?

Also: they include "sports" as genre, but not horror. Screw you, AFI.

Silverdocs, the annual documentary film festival in Maryland hosted by AFI and the Discovery Channel, announced today that it plans to honor Spike Lee at the eight-day gathering in June. It's an interesting choice. Anyone active in the documentary community can rattle off a ton of accomplished filmmakers in the field whose degrees of visibility will never reach Lee's celebrity stature. Nanette Burstein? Marina Zenovich? Nick Broomfield? All talented directors with growing bodies of work deserved of recognition, especially by the doc-friendly crowd.

But I'm not complaining. Lee has proven himself just as competent in the arena of non-fiction, and he rarely gets the same kind of credit for it. When the Levees Broke was the essential survey of Hurricane Katrina's crippling impact, and 4 Little Girls mourned death and persecution without negating the perseverance of human spirit. With the unique sort of rabble-rousing Lee has been known for, he's a sort of documentary film himself: During previous public appearances, he has lashed out at a number of targets ranging from George W. Bush to 50 Cent. Silverdocs plans to put him onstage this summer after screenings of his films for a discussion of his career, but who knows what sort of controversy he'll stir up? A good one, no doubt.

The American Film Institute has announced its picks for the ten best films of 2007, and once again it favors Judd Apatow over Joe Wright. Back in 2005, the organization named The 40-Year-Old Virgin as one of the best films of that year, while ignoring Wright's Pride & Prejudice. This time, the AFI has included Knocked Up and left out Atonement, despite the latter's huge presence in the Golden Globe nominations and very probable huge presence in the Oscar race. So, what's going on? Does the AFI really have something against Wright and his very Anglocentric filmmaking? Well, kind of, but only because the organization concentrates on American films (it is, after all, the American Film Institute). To be eligible for the year-end honors, a movie has to have "significant creative and/or production elements from the United States." The movie can even be in a foreign language (non-English, that is) if it is "incontrovertibly American."

Tom O'Neil at the Gold Derby blog still sees some controversy, though. He points out that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which the AFI included this year, was primarily an American production (from Kennedy/Marshall Co. and American director Julian Schnabel) yet had seven foreign partners, while Atonment (directed by a Brit) was also produced by an American company (Relativity Media) and had two foreign partners. I'd add that The Diving Bell is no more "incontrovertibly American" in its subject matter than Atonement -- or even Ratatouille for that matter. While I'm not arguing that Atonement deserved to make the list, I'd assume American Gangster would deserve it more than The Diving Bell, regardless of how much better the latter film may be. At least comedy fans should be happy with the inclusion of Knocked Up, which has so far been left out of most awards season honors.

The complete list is as follows: Knocked Up; Juno; Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; No Country for Old Men; There Will Be Blood; Into the Wild; Ratatouille; The Savages; Michael Clayton; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

I live a ten minute walk from the Arclight Cinema in Los Angeles, easily one of the best movie theaters in the country. The American Film Institute hosts awesome screenings of new and classic films there weekly, and I try to see as many as I can. Just last week, I enjoyed the new Michael Douglas flick King of California, which was followed by an enlightening talk with the movie's writer and director -- Mike Cahill. Neat, right? But nothing could prepare me for the event that hit my inbox just now. Had I been a cartoon character, my bow tie would have spun around rapidly and smoke would have blasted out of my ears. Readers, if you live in Los Angeles -- KEEP OCTOBER 3RD FREE!

The AFI is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an almost unbelievably cool event. On October 3rd, they will screen eleven classic movies at the Arclight, all at the same time. But what truly sets this event apart are the people they've booked to host the screenings. Check this lineup out, and try to keep your jaw attached to your face: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, presented by Jack Nicholson. Spartacus, presented by Kirk Douglas. The Birds, presented by Tippi Hedren. The Sound of Music, presented by Julie Andrews. Bonnie and Clyde, presented by Warren Beatty. Rocky, presented by Sylvester Stallone. Star Wars, presented by George Lucas (settle down!). When Harry Met Sally, presented by Rob Reiner and Billy Crystal. Beauty and the Beast, presented by Angela Lansbury. The Shawshank Redemption, presented by Morgan Freeman. And Unforgiven, presented by Clint Eastwood. Um...wow. Just wow.

Here is the official site for the event. Tickets go on sale September 19th. which is this Wednesday. Tickets are $25, and include popcorn and soda. The first 100 people to show up for each screening get a 40th Anniversary AFI Book. Dress is "festive attire," all screenings begin at 7PM, and doors are at 5:30. For you non-Angelinos, which screening would you choose if you could go? And if you plan on attending, which one are you going to? I'll be at either Unforgiven or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for sure. Both movies are in my personal top ten, and where else am I going to be up close and personal with Jack Freaking Nicholson or Clint Freaking Eastwood? This is going to be a tough choice! See you there?

It's getting to the point where one could make a list of the "Top 100 Movie Lists Released in 2007," and still have some left over. Yet another one hit the net this weekend, "The Online Film Community's Top 100 Movies." Here's how the list was formed: over 50 movie website writers (you can see the list of participants on the site) were asked for an unranked list of their top 100 movies. The list could include any feature-length film, in any language, including documentaries. From there, the list of nominees was narrowed to 502 films. Then all the contributors were sent the nominee list, picked and ranked their top 100 choices, and those choices were "scored according to placement on each list as well as factoring in the amount of lists it appeared on." Got all that? The final collection they came up with skews a bit more modern, a bit more "genre film" heavy, and a lot more action-packed than most similar lists.

The major change here is that, for once, Citizen Kane is not the highest ranked film. The Godfather is in the number one spot here (don't worry Kaners, it's #2). No documentaries made the cut, and foreign films are in fairly short supply. The only two animated films on the list are Pixar -- Toy Story and The Incredibles. We all love the classics, but what sets this list apart is how many oft-neglected recent films made it. I would imagine that is due to the younger age of the average online writer. On the action side, it's great to see films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Heat, Aliens, and the glorious Die Hard make the grade. As far as comedies go, happy to see Back to the Future, The Big Lebowski, Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters and Ed Wood get some love. As for dramas, hooray for L.A. Confidential, Blue Velvet, Do the Right Thing, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I've got some grievances, of course. Fight Club a better movie than Goodfellas? Ridonkulous! Run Lola Run superior to Unforgiven? Unforgivable! But it's a really solid collection, and one I'd imagine will find more support from Cinematical readers than, say, the AFI's recent ranking.

You might have noticed that the much-touted AFI Top 100 list is missing something: female film directors. Few of the films have strong female leads, or were written by women. I suppose AFI would argue that they're not looking at the race or sex of filmmakers or stars, they just want to pick good American movies that everyone loves. But the Top 100 list does leave a lot to be desired if you're looking for diversity of any kind.

Enter the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, who decided they would make their own list of Top 100 films -- not 100 films directed by women, just the journalists' idea of what the all-time top 100 films might be. They wanted to see if for them, "great films" would have such a small representation of women. And unsurprisingly, the AFWJ list does include many more movies written and/or directed by women, as well as women in strong leads. The AFWJ Top 100 list, released on Monday, does overlap a little with AFI's list -- the inevitable Citizen Kane and Casablanca, for example. Howeer, AFWJ doesn't rank the films in order of goodness, but gives you an alphabetical list, which I prefer. In addition, AFWJ did not limit their choices to American films, although the AFI's definition of "American" has always seemed shaky to me. (A Clockwork Orange qualifies for the AFI list, but not Brazil? Weird.) Also, I am a little annoyed that AFI wants you to register with their site in order to download their top 100 list and the original ballot -- do a Web search and find it on a news site instead. The AWFJ list is viewable by anyone.

Well, I know what I'll be doing tonight! The American Film Institute is announcing its new "100 Years...100 Movies" list this evening, and as much as I tend to disagree with their annual lists, I can't wait. The special airs at 8PM on CBS, and will be hosted by...you guessed it, Morgan Freeman. Yes, they already did this list once before, in 1998. Tonight's special marks the 10th anniversary, and there was an entirely new vote conducted this time out. The previous list caused quite a controversy because of what it included (British films on an American list?) and what it left off, specifically films by black or female directors (the snub of Do the Right Thing still stings). 1998's top ten were as follows: 10) Singin' in the Rain, 9) Schindler's List, 8) On the Waterfront, 7) The Graduate, 6) The Wizard of Oz, 5) Lawrence of Arabia, 4) Gone with the Wind, 3) The Godfather, 2) Casablanca, 1) Citizen Kane. It's hard to imagine tonight's top ten list will change drastically, although I'd expect Schindler's List to drop a few spots.

As limited in scope as these lists can be, I eagerly look forward to every one. I can recall excitedly printing out the 1998 list and seeking out the few I hadn't seen. The lil' film fans of today need this sort of thing to know where to start with an appreciation of American film. The AFI intends to "refresh" the list once a decade -- 43 newer movies are in contention this time that weren't last time around, including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Finding Nemo, L.A. Confidential, Fight Club, Spider-Man 2, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Brokeback Mountain, Chicago (Oh please), Crash (Oh please!), and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Oh, puh-leeeeease!!!). Over at AFI.com, you can watch videos of stars talking about their favorite movies, as well as download a ballot for yourself, select your favorite 100, and see how well you match up tonight.

At long last, the schedule for the AFI Dallas International Film Festival is finally up, and now I'm getting excited. Boasting 150 films, the lineup includes quite a few films I've missed at previous fests, and a whole slew of films I haven't even heard of. We'll be covering the fest in its inaugural year; I'm very excited that Dallas is finally getting a real, grown-up film fest. I grew up in Oklahoma and used to live in Dallas, and I'm thrilled that my old stomping grounds are getting more and more access to independent film.

When I was growing up in Oklahoma City, access to indie films was sparse, and it's great to see that the good folks of Oklahoma and Texas have another fest at which to catch some good films. My only gripe is the scheduling of the fest so close on the heels of SXSW. I think it would make more sense to have the fest a little later, say, late April or early May, but I'm sure they have their reasons. If I can get an interview with fest director Michael Cain, though, I'll be asking him about the timing of the fest and whether they'll move it out a bit next year.
I'm planning to cover a good mix of competition films, premieres, the Texas category, and perhaps a Midnight screening and a family film or two as well. We'll try to squeeze in some red carpet and scene coverage for you as well, while we're at it. Check out the fest lineup and let us know if there's anything in particular you want to see us cover. And if you're in or near the Dallas-Forth Worth metro area, tickets go onsale online on March 2.

The L.A. Film Critics Association and AFI just released their lists of best films of 2006, and I have to say, you disappoint me, L.A. Film Critics Ass. and AFI. No 'Departed'? Oh, come on. Martin Scorsese's blockbuster crime drama is the most exciting movie to hit the big screen since ... Martin Scorsese's crime drama 'GoodFellas.'

And AFI, please. 'The Inside Man' made your list of Top 10, but NOT 'The Departed'? Sure, it's well acted, well directed, taut-ly suspenseful. But 'The Departed' is all that and so much more. Career-best performances by Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. Jack Nicholson unglued in a really interesting, crazy-crime-boss kinda way. Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg fully investing themselves in solid, award-worthy supporting roles. Scorsese masterfully bringing out the best in everyone on the screen (and there are a lot of people on that screen).

This early best-of listing is worrying me. When I saw 'The Departed' the first time, I just knew that this was the year Marty was gonna be awarded his long-overdue Oscar, that this movie couldn't lose. And then when I saw it the second time, I thought that maybe Leo would win his first Oscar; the biggest problem I envisioned was how would the Academy decide if it was a lead or supporting role? And then, when the box office kept growing ($116 mil to date), I was reassured that there was no way 'Departed' could lose, since the Academy likes its artistic achievement to be accompanied by a big slice of financial pie.

But now, I have to admit, I'm scared. What if 'Departed' peaked too early, and it loses momemtum before Oscar can show its love? What if Clint Eastwood, with his freakin' TWO big '06 serious, dramatic war movies, wins Best Director AGAIN?!?! Come on, Academy -- isn't Marty slaving away to save old film from disappearing? He's working his butt off for you people. Plus, hasn't he been snubbed enough? This is the year. Don't forget him. And don't make me beg. Because I will, and nobody wants that. It's just demeaning.

Al Pacino, one of Hollywood's most successful, versatile and talented actors can now add AFI Lifetime Achievement Award winner to his list of distinguished accomplishments. According to coming soon, the announcement was made today by Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, that the Institute would give the Lifetime Achievement Award to Pacino at a tribute dinner in Los Angeles on June 7th. The AFI Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor for a career in film and has been given out 34 times since its inception in 1973 -- Pacino's award will mark the 35th anniversary.

During the announcement, Stringer referred to Pacino as "an icon of American film" whose "career inspires audiences and artists alike." In response to hearing he had won the award, Pacino said "I am moved and honored to be considered for such an award." Some past recipients of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award include last year's winner Sean Connery, Tom Hanks (who doesn't seem old enough to be getting a lifetime achievement award yet), Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas and 1973's winner, the great director John Ford.

Pacino's career has spanned over thirty years with many memorable roles in films such as Michael Mann's Heat, ...And Justice for All, Serpico, Brian DePalma's Scarface and, of course, his star-making turn as Michael Corelone in Francis Ford Coppola's classic The Godfather. Pacino is also an eight-time Academy Award Nominee for his roles in film such as Glengarry Glen Ross, Dick Tracy and Dog Day Afternoon. He won the Best Actor Academy Award for playing Lt. Colonel Frank Slade in director Martin Brest's Scent of A Woman, opposite a young Chris O'Donnell and the very cute Gabrielle Anwar.

Some of Pacino's recent work includes turns both in front of and behind the camera on projects such as Two for the Money with Matthew McConaughey, Steven Soderberg's Ocean's Thirteen, 88 Minutes opposite Heat co-star Amy Brenneman and the docu-drama Salomaybe?, which he directed. This is a great honor for Pacino and one he very much deserves. I guess now that he's won a "Lifetime Achievement Award," we can let him off the hook for being in The Godfather: Part III.

What's your favorite Al Pacino movie?