AFI Reveals Top 10 Movies and TV Shows of 2018

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AFI Reveals Its Top 10 Films of 2018, Including ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Eighth Grade’

By Adam Chitwood

Published Dec 4, 2018

'ROMA', meanwhile, gets a special prize.

The American Film Institute has released its list of the Top 10 Movies of 2018 and the Top 10 TV Programs of 2018. Starting with the films, it’s a pretty stellar lineup—although you may be wondering why Alfonso Cuarón’s critical darling ROMA is left off. As it turns out, the Mexican film was not eligible for the list of American films, and so AFI deemed fit to recognize the Netflix-released masterwork with a special award for excellence outside the Institute’s criteria.

As for what did make the cut, it’s a pretty strong lineup. Oscar favorites A Star Is Born and Green Book nabbed spots on the list, as did strong Best Picture contenders Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, The Favourite, and If Beale Street Could Talk. It’s nice to see First Reformed and Eighth Grade getting some love as well, and Mary Poppins Returns’ inclusion could be a sign of awards things to come.

Notably absent here is Oscar-winner Damien Chazelle’s First Man, which is literally about an American hero. The picture stumbled at the box office in October despite positive reviews and has somewhat faded from the Oscar race, but even so, leaving it off the list of the best American films of the year is pretty striking. Ditto to Adam McKay’s scathing indictment of Dick Cheney, Vice, which may prove to be one of the more divisive films of this awards season.

On the television side of things, the list is packed with critical favorites—including The Americans, one of the best TV shows ever made, as well as the wildly entertaining HBO series Succession. Somewhat more surprising is the inclusion of Netflix’s The Kominski Method, a single-camera comedy from Big Bang Theory creator Chuck Lorre starring Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.

Check out the lists in full below.