The American Film Institute announced its top ten films of 2015, and since they pushed their release date back a week so they could see The Force Awakens first, it's not a huge surprise that it managed to make the list. The AFI list is the last Oscar Best Picture indicator before the guilds come in- any movie that managed to make this list, plus a combination of the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG ensemble lists should be good for an Oscar nod.
AFI TOP 10
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Carol”
“Inside Out”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“Room”
“Spotlight”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
“Straight Outta Compton”
So, this leave us with a pretty solid top seven, in my opinion. Looks like The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Carol, Mad Max, The Martian, Room and Spotlight are for sure getting nominated at the Oscars. But Best Picture can include up to ten slots- lately it's been nine, last year it was eight. Those last couple spots open will probably go to one or both of The Revenant and Brooklyn, the latter of which was apparently ineligible for this, but is presumed to have strong support coming from BAFTA- and possibly the guilds, but we'll see. The Revenant missing here is kind of a surprise- it may be the kind of movie that's more admired than loved, so that could be on the bubble. Inside Out and Star Wars will likely not show up in Best Picture, but Straight Outta Compton is a wild card after making SAG and AFI. Doesn't seem like a very Oscar-y choice though. Now we wait for the industry guild awards to come in the first week of January- the guilds usually support at least one film that hasn't been lauded much up to this point. It's hard to tell what that will be this time around- I just hope it's not Trumbo.
