Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings among AFI best films

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Osama bin Laden thriller Zero Dark Thirty, Iran hostage drama Argo, indie comedy Silver Linings Playbook, and mythological indie film Beasts Of The Southern Wild made the year's top 10 films on Monday as picked by the American Film Institute (AFI).

The AFI list, released at the start of a key week in Hollywood's busy awards season, also honoured Ang Lee's shipwreck story Life Of Pi, Steven Spielberg's presidential drama Lincoln, Wes Anderson's quirky romance Moonrise Kingdom, musical Les Miserables, Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, and Quentin Tarantino's slave revenge western Django Unchained.

AFI's top film picks, selected by critics, scholars, TV and film artists and AFI trustees, come ahead of the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations on Wednesday and Thursday.

All three sets of picks are likely to be leading indicators for the Oscars in February.