Final Film Critique: Film and Social Resonance Analysis

List of Approved Films Created by Dr. Nathan Pritts and Dr. James Meetze (2022)

Throughout this class, you will be able to select a film to use as the basis for your analysis. This is a list of approved choices.

NOTE: If you would like to write about a film that is not on this list, you must email your professor in advance. If you write about an unapproved film option in this class you may not receive credit.

Many of the films on these lists are sourced from the Ten AFI Top 10 lists, where you will find additional information and resources. Please note, though, that the different AFI Top 10 lists include films that are not approved.

Drama

“Drama” can be defined as a category of narrative film intended to be more serious than humorous in tone, however, drama is often qualified with additional genre- defining terms that specify its particular sub-genre.

Film Year Imitation of Life 1959 Shadows 1959 A Raisin in the Sun 1961 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967

Do the Right Thing 1989 Boyz N the Hood 1991 Daughters of the Dust 1991 Winter’s Bone 2010 Dear White People 2014 Chi-Raq 2015 Tangerine 2015 Moonlight 2016 Beatriz at Dinner 2017 The Hate U Give 2018 Blindspotting 2018 If Beale Street Could Talk 2018

Clemency 2019

Film Year One Night in Miami 2020 Minari 2020 Nomadland 2020 Biographical Drama

A “biographical drama” is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or group of people.

Film Year Malcom X 1992 Milk 2008 Fruitvale Station 2013 Dallas Buyers Club 2013 12 Years a Slave 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street 2013 Selma 2014 Hidden Figures 2016 Loving 2016 BlacKkKlansman 2018 On the Basis of Sex 2018 Harriet 2019 Judas and the Black Messiah 2020

Courtroom drama

AFI defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film's narrative.

Film Year To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 12 Angry Men 1957 Kramer vs. Kramer 1979 The Verdict 1982 A Few Good Men 1992

Epic

AFI defines "epic" as a genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic interpretation of the past.

Film Year Lawrence of Arabia 1962 Ben-Hur 1959 Schindler's List 1993 Spartacus 1960 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930

Saving Private Ryan 1998 Reds 1981 The Ten Commandments 1956

Fantasy

AFI defines "fantasy" as a genre in which live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world.

Film Year The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2001

It's a Wonderful Life 1946 King Kong 1933

Film Year Anatomy of a Murder 1959 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961 In Cold Blood 1967 A Cry in the Dark (Evil Angels) 1988

Erin Brockovich 2000 Just Mercy 2019 The Trial of the Chicago 7 2020

Film Year Miracle on 34th Street 1947 Field of Dreams 1989 Harvey 1950 Groundhog Day 1993 The Thief of Bagdad 1924 Big 1988

Gangster

AFI defines the "Gangster film" as a genre that centers on organized crime or maverick criminals in a modern setting.

Film Year The Godfather 1972 Goodfellas 1990 The Godfather Part II 1974 White Heat 1949 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Scarface 1932 Pulp Fiction 1994 The Public Enemy 1931 Little Caesar 1931 Scarface 1983

Mystery

AFI defines "mystery" as a genre that revolves around the solution of a crime.

Film Year Vertigo 1958 Chinatown 1974 Rear Window 1954 Laura 1944 The Third Man 1949 The Maltese Falcon 1941 North by Northwest 1959 Blue Velvet 1986

Film Year Dial M for Murder 1954 The Usual Suspects 1995

Romantic comedy

AFI defines "romantic comedy" as a genre in which the development of a romance leads to comic situations.

Film Year City Lights 1931 Annie Hall 1977 It Happened One Night 1934 Roman Holiday 1953 The Philadelphia Story 1940 When Harry Met Sally... 1989 Moonstruck 1987 Harold and Maude 1971 Sleepless in Seattle 1993 The Big Sick 2017

Science fiction

AFI defines "science fiction" as a genre that marries a scientific or technological premise with imaginative speculation.

Film Year 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Star Wars 1977 E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial 1982

A Clockwork Orange 1971 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951

Blade Runner 1982 Alien 1979 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991

Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956

Film Year Back to the Future 1985 Snowpiercer 2013 Ex Machina 2015 Arrival 2016 Dune 2021

Sports

AFI defines "sports" as a genre of films with protagonists who play athletics or other games of competition.

Film Year Raging Bull 1980 Rocky 1976 The Pride of the Yankees 1942

Hoosiers 1986 Bull Durham 1988 The Hustler 1961 Caddyshack 1980 Breaking Away 1979 Race 2016 Jerry Maguire 1996 Million Dollar Baby 2004 Invictus 2009 I, Tonya 2017

Western

AFI defines "western" as a genre of films set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier.

Film Year The Searchers 1956 High Noon 1952 Shane 1953 Unforgiven 1992 Red River 1948 The Wild Bunch 1969

Film Year Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969

McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971 Stagecoach 1939 Cat Ballou 1965 The Power of the Dog 2021

Horror/Thriller

The “horror” genre includes films that seek to elicit fear for entertainment purposes.

Film Year Psycho 1960 Jaws 1975 The Exorcist 1973 The Silence of the Lambs 1991

Rosemary’s Baby 1968 The Night of the Hunter 1955 The Shining 1980 The Babadook 2014 It Follows 2014 Get Out 2017 Us 2019 Parasite 2019