American Film Institute selects the 10 best films of 2011

I don’t want to get too into the pre-Oscar hoopla and what regional critics group selected as their Best Picture or whatever because I’ve already got awards fatigue and the season just started. But I don’t mind the occasional Top 10 (we’ll be featuring ours here next week) and the American Film Institute (AFI) just released their picks for the best films of the year.

It’s an interesting list filled with some no duh choices like THE DESCENDANTS and MONEYBALL, some WTF?! additions like J. EDGAR and some pleasant surprises like BRIDESMAIDS and HUGO.

The AFI awards aren’t always the best predictor of future success but last year had nine out of the ten films nominated for Best Picture on their list (though oddly they didn’t include THE KING’S SPEECH, which eventually went on to win the Oscar).

The films are presented in alphabetical order with no particular ranking. Check them out below and start thinking about your Top 10…

BRIDESMAIDS
THE DESCENDANTS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
THE HELP
HUGO
J. EDGAR
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE