The American Film Institute has clout. It has established lists on the best comedic films, the best thrillers, best animated flicks, best gangster films, best fantasy films, best sci-fi films, best Westerns, best films revolving around sports, best mystery films, best rom-coms, best courtroom dramas, best epic films, best actors and actresses, best on-screen romances, best heroes in film, best antagonists in film, best film scores, best movie songs, best film lines, best inspiring underdog tales in film, best movie musicals, and, of course, the very best films.
These lists are created in conjunction with those working in the film industry, so those in charge of determining the order of importance have, to say the least, a decent grasp on the subject matter.
More importantly, and thusly, upon what my focus will be, AFI has a decent criteria system. They evaluate films based on cultural impact (in other words, either their style or substance or both left a mark on society), critical recognition (accolades in print), and historical significance (a milestone on the timeline that is the motion picture, either through story, technical achievement, or some other innovation that changed the discourse for film as a whole.) They have other metrics, like what qualifies as an actual film versus what qualifies as a short, but in terms of quality, these are the main guidelines.
Now, I don't know about you, but I have seen a number of films that weren't considered "greats"; that label didn't stop me from watching them, and it certaintly didn't stop me from loving them.
That's why this blog isn't going to focus on the conventionally best in film, such as Citizen Kane or Casablanca. (That's not to say that I won't run into Gone With the Wind or The Godfather, but it won't be from attending to any best-of list.) I am going to devote this blog to evaluating by the same AFI-style guidelines all those films we watch for no other reason than because we want to watch, which is as good -- if not, the best -- reason to watch and enjoy films. Actively watching "the best" films might make it easy to get on AFI's good side, but a true movie-lover loves movies. If you love movies, you watch what you want with such enthusiasm because it's the object of your affection, not because some higher power (that's right, we're talking about you, AFI) tells them to do so. We watch films that nobody else has even mentioned just because they catch our eye.
Same goes for true fans of television, a group from which I'm certainly not exempt.
We fall in love with that which the camera captures and refuse to stray too long from what we love, whether anyone likes it or not. We truly love our screen stealers.
