A lot of the reviews/recommendations mention various AFI lists, what are these references?
AFI refers to the American Film Institute, an organization which celebrates, promotes, and recognizes excellence in American Film. Over the years, AFI has compiled “100 Years … 100 Lists” which recognize specific types or genres of films, their actors/actresses, or other elements (e.g. heroes, villains, songs, quotes) ranked by votes received from their members. A word about AFI’s rankings – some movies may appear in a 100 movies list which weren’t eligible (too new) for an earlier list. For example, Saving Private Ryan (1998), though it appears on the 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list, it wasn’t available for the 100 Greatest Movies list because it hadn’t been released in time for consideration. Also, AFI derives these lists from nomination “ballots” of 400 films they deem for consideration, meaning they could fail to leave one of the 100 “actual best” off any of their categories because of an oversight on their part.
