2017 End of the Year Wrap Up - Sounds of Cinema

Top 10 Films of 2017

What follows are Nathan’s picks of the best films of 2017.

1. The Florida Project

Directed by: Sean Baker

Premise: A single mother and her six year old daughter live in a pay-by-the-week motel located in Orlando, Florida. The daughter spends her days roaming the local grounds and getting into mischief while her mother attempts to make ends meet.

Why It Made the List: Hollywood is a dream factory. The stories told on the screen allow us to experience fantasies of heroism, heartache, and virtue. Even the independent scene generally adheres to that principle. There’s certainly a place for escapist entertainment but a lot of American cinema is propaganda for the good life and reinforces the myths of prosperity and American exceptionalism. Sean Baker’s The Florida Project takes place on the cusp between fantasy and reality. The movie follows the impoverished residents of a cheap Florida motelwhere Walt Disney World—the icon of American fantasy—looms in the background. The tourist mecca of Orlando becomes the ironic backdrop for The Florida Project’s unsparing portrait of life on the margins. The residents of the motel tread just above homelessness and struggle to survive. But what could be a slog through economic deprivation takes on a light and even whimsical tone because it unfolds from the point of view of its child characters. They are mostly oblivious to their circumstances and that creates a fascinating tension between the audience’s horror at what they are seeing and what is normal in these people’s lives. The Florida Project has some extraordinary performances, in particular Brooklynn Prince as six year-old Moonee and Bria Vinaite as her mother Halley. Just as Hollywood movies spin fantasies of glamour and heroism they are also populated with characters who are upstanding and well groomed. The residents of The Florida Project are candidates for daytime tabloid talk shows, people who are usually ignored or discounted as trash, and yet the filmmakers find the humanity in these people even while they make bad choices. And while doing all of this, the filmmakers are neither pretentious nor self-congratulatory. The images—many of them capturing ugliness in a beautiful way—speak for themselves. The Florida Project is quietly profound, honest, and subversive. It’s a movie that tells the truth about American life that so much of our mainstream media diet obfuscates. That, and the excellence with which it is made, qualifies The Florida Project as the best film of 2017.

2. Get Out

Directed by: Jordan Peele

Premise: A young African American (Daniel Kaluuya) meets the family of his white girlfriend (Allison Williams). The parents are awkward but friendly but the visitor gradually begins to suspect that something is wrong.

Why It Made the List: Nearly half a century ago, George A. Romero made Night of the Living Dead and used the horror genre to make an allegory for the cultural and political upheaval of the late 1960s. In 2017 Jordan Peele accomplished something comparable with Get Out. The movie takes on the racism of American culture in unexpected ways. Rather than obvious white supremacy, Get Out exposes something more ineffable and in its own way pernicious – the commodification of blackness and the way people of color are made into an accessory of white life. This story of a young African American venturing to the upscale home of his white girlfriend begins with recognizable examples of subtle or passive racism and gradually escalates into full blown horror. First-time feature filmmaker Jordan Peele executes everything to near perfection. Scenes are staged and edited for maximum impact, subtle hints are embedded into the story, and the scares and laughs deliver but perhaps most impressive is the way Peele manages the tone. Get Out is a slow burn and a mashup of genres including horror, comedy, and paranoia thrillers and all those elements are brought together through crafty execution. The result is a movie that plays on the audience’s expectations and cultural assumptions and then turns them on each other in ways that are provocative and unexpected. It’s a conversation piece of a movie, one that inspires dialogue by airing the fears of one social group in a way that is accessible to another. And Get Out does all this while being eminently entertaining.

3. Mother!

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Premise: A writer and his wife (Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence) live in an isolated rural home. Their lives are thrown into turmoil by uninvited houseguests.

Why It Made the List: No 2017 release was more polarizing than Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! The film suffered from mismarketing, a bungled theatrical release, and a director and star who ill-advisedly decided to spell out the meaning of the movie in press interviews. But no film of 2017 was more ambitious than Mother! and the qualities that made it so polarizing are exactly what make it a great piece of cinema. Mother! is like a Hieronymus Bosch painting come to life and it doesn’t follow the realistic style of today’s movies. The cinema marketplace is so literal that there doesn’t seem to be room for a movie like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Eraserhead and mainstream audiences were unprepared for Mother!’s chaotic and disorienting style. The film’s defiance of commercial conventions makes it unique but Mother!’s greatness is in its execution. The cinematography, editing, and sound are all first rate and the picture slides from tranquil domestic life to flash mob nightmare in a way that’s organic and unsettling. Mother! also features an extraordinary performance by Jennifer Lawrence. She is called to be in a nearly constant state of distress and Lawrence maintains her intensity throughout the film. Everything in Mother! comes together in an allegory that accommodates multiple interpretations and offers so much to think about that it’s overwhelming. For that, this movie should be celebrated rather than derided. Mother! may not have been a financial success but it is one of the best films of the year and it is primed to become a cult classic.

4. Call Me By Your Name

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino

Premise: Based on the book by André Aciman. Set in 1983, a seventeen year old (Timothée Chalamet) spends the summer at an Italian villa with his family and has a love affair with a graduate student (Armie Hammer).

Why It Made the List: It’s rare to get a motion picture that presents sexuality as something other than a dirty joke or a source of corruption. That’s one of many reasons why Call Me By Your Name is an exceptional film. This is a movie about sexual and romantic awakening and it captures the intensity and heartbreak of first love. The movie takes place during the summer in northern Italy and the characters spend their days studying art and music, swimming and biking, and eating fresh food plucked from local gardens. It’s the ideal romantic setting and Call Me By Your Name is unabashedly carnal. The movie has a lush and organic feel with its rustic setting and young bodies who look like ancient Greek sculptures. The movie has a pair of terrific performances at its center. Timothée Chalamet underplays the part of Elio in the right way, allowing the character’s passions and frustrations to show through in the subtle details of his performance. Armie Hammer is also quite good as Oliver, the graduate student. Despite being older and experienced in affairs of the heart, Oliver gets caught up in the passion of the summer. Call Me By Your Name is also exceptional because it does not follow the narrative conventions of love stories or moviemaking in general. The conflict of Call Me By Your Name is time and the fleeting nature of love and happiness and life itself. The picture renders visible the fragility and finiteness of love and existence in a way that’s rarely accomplished on film.

5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Directed by: Martin McDonagh

Premise: A grieving mother (Frances McDormand) buys up three billboards outside of her small Missouri town to accuse the local sheriff (Woody Harrelson) of inaction in solving her daughter’s murder. The billboards escalate tensions in the community.

Why It Made the List: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is the third feature film from writer and director Martin McDonagh and it’s his best work so far. Like In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, this movie is vulgar, violent, and funny but Three Billboards is also shot through with melancholy. Unlike the cartoonishly violent characters of McDonagh’s other movies, the people of Three Billboards are complex and complicated characters who possess a fallibility and frailty that makes them real. Frances McDormand is cast as the grieving mother, a difficult and violent woman who doesn’t always make the right decisions, and she is as fierce as she is vulnerable. Sam Rockwell plays an overzealous deputy and the film handles his character in ways that are challenging and unexpected. Also impressive is Woody Harrelson as the sheriff, a compromised authority figure who faces a health crisis. While there is plenty of violence in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, it is nearly always tied to grief. The characters struggle with violence and destruction that’s seemingly out of their ability to control or avoid and their efforts to rectify perceived injustices just make everything worse. And in that respect, Three Billboards takes on a broader, almost cosmic, dimension as these characters lash out at a community and a world that seems cruel and indifferent to their suffering. The movie’s open ending exposes the uncomforting reality that we may never find a neat conclusion to our pain. That makes Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri more than just a revenge flick.

6. Logan

Directed by: James Mangold

Premise: The third standalone Wolverine movie. Set in the near future, Wolverine/Logan (Hugh Jackman) is in hiding with Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). They encounter a young mutant (Dafne Keen) who is pursued by the sinister agents of a corporate laboratory.

Why It Made the List: 2017 was an extraordinary year for comic book and superhero movies but the most outstanding title was Logan. Decidedly different in tone and style than any other X-Men film, Logan has more in common with westerns like Shane and Unforgiven than it does with most comic book pictures. Logan reworks the premise of an old gunslinger called upon for one last job and uses it to breathe tragic life into familiar characters. Logan isn’t about saving the world; it’s just about saving this one little girl and the human stakes are far more involving and affecting than so many other superhero tales of mass destruction. Logan and Professor Xavier, the last remaining survivors of the X-Men, face old age and both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart give performances that are well beyond what we typically expect from this kind of movie. Jackman and Stewart possess a palatable sense of exhaustion but there are also moments of tenderness and tragedy that aren’t usually found in a movie like this. Holding her own against these seasoned performers is Dafne Keen as a young mutant. Just as Logan rediscovers the virtue of heroism, she transitions from a feral wild child and into a socialized human being. This film sends off its classic characters while setting up new ones in a way that doesn’t feel crassly commercial but an earnest storytelling choice. Unlike a lot of franchises that just sputter out, Logan brings this era of the X-Men to a satisfying and dignified conclusion in one of the best comic book films ever made.

7. Detroit

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow

Premise: Based on true events. In the midst of the 1967 Detroit Riot, a group of people take shelter in the Algiers Motel. Police and National Guardsmen descend upon the motel and interrogate the guests, believing one of them is a sniper.

Why It Made the List: Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow consistently makes films about masculine subcultures and examines how violence shapes individuals. Detroit builds upon the techniques and ideas of Bigelow’s filmography and elevates them to a new artistic high. This is Bigelow’s most complex film and it’s also one of her best. Detroit places the viewer in this historical moment, providing just enough exposition for viewers to orient themselves, and creates characters who are vivid and complex. The film has an authentic sense of place; the production design looks of its time, the dramatic scenes meld seamlessly with the stock footage, and the digital cinematography looks appropriately analog. Detroit is also an incredibly intense experience. The movie has an urgent pace and a simmering tension heightened by the cinematography. When the action moves to the Algiers Motel, Detroit becomes an intimate film as police gather on the scene and brutally interrogate the guests. This portion of the movie is harrowing and it is extraordinary how the filmmakers maintain such unbearable tension for so long. The actors are in the moment throughout and their performances create a contagious feeling of anxiety. Detroit is not a pleasant film to watch. It is, in fact, quite grueling. But that’s not a flaw of Detroit; this film is effective, relevant, and even important because its unpleasantness reveals something ugly but true about power, race, and perception. As with most historical movies, the filmmakers dramatize the past to illuminate the present and Detroit ought to be part of contemporary discussions about racism and police violence.

8. Baby Driver

Directed by: Edgar Wright

Premise: A young man (Ansel Elgort) with a passion for music and an aptitude for driving is coerced into working as the getaway driver for a series of robberies. He meets a young woman (Lily James) and tries to find a way out of the criminal life.

Why It Made the List: Baby Driver was written and directed by Edgar Wright, the filmmaker behind movies such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Wright is a filmmaker with a distinct cinematic voice and whose mastery of the form is evident in his control of it. One of the most important qualities of Edgar Wright’s filmmaking is his use of music. Wright’s films have a rich soundtrack that is weaved into the filmmaking. Baby Driver is the best example of that and the picture’s combination of music and moving images merits comparison to Fantasia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and “Scorpio Rising.” The soundtrack of Baby Driver coordinates with the action to make a movie that is, in the truest sense, a musical. It’s also an ode to automotive action and the chases rival anything in the Fast and the Furious movies. Baby Driver is a more mature film from Edgar Wright; it is more disciplined and the characters are less cartoonish than in some of his other movies. In the lead of Baby Driver is Ansel Elgort as a young man with a skill for driving and an affliction of tinnitus, who falls in love with a waitress played by Lily James. Their romance gives this movie a heart that shapes the rest of the action and gives the movie a likable romantic center. The combination of romance, music, and car action made Baby Driver one of the most accomplished movies of 2017 and some of the most fun to be had in a movie theater.

9. Good Time

Directed by: Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie

Premise: A small time criminal (Robert Pattinson) and his mentally handicapped younger brother (Benny Safdie) rob a bank. When the heist goes bad the younger brother is arrested and the older brother sets out in search of the funds to bail him out.

Why It Made the List: Good Time takes place in about a twenty-four hour period and the movie is an intense and at times bewildering story of a man trying to do the right thing in a lousy situation of his own making. Robert Pattinson is cast as Connie, a man who robs a bank with his mentally handicapped younger brother played by Benny Safdie. Pattinson is almost unrecognizable in the part and he disappears into the role while Safdie portrays mental indigence in a way that is not condescending or exploitative. Connie spends his night on the streets of New York City attempting to raise his brother’s bail money and Good Time offers a fresh view of a familiar city. Lots of movies take place in New York but the Big Apple of Good Time is not the gentrified hipster paradise of Girls or the bourgeoisie New York of Sex and the City. This story plays out in the lower social strata but there is an unexpected beauty in the film’s grit. Good Time has a pulsing electronic music score by Oneohtrix Point Never that suits the look of the movie and energizes the storytelling. This is a story about escape and how capital is inextricably linked to the hope of a better life. As dark and intense as the movie is, Good Time is also unexpectedly funny in places. It’s a bleak sort of humor as Connie gets in one misadventure after another and the film is subversive and even heartbreaking in the way it suggests that escape is impossible.

10. I, Tonya

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Premise: Based on true events. Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) trains for the Olympics. Her abusive husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) plots to intimidate the competition and the situation spirals into a media circus.

Why It Made the List: 2017 saw the release of several films and television specials about cultural moments of the 1990s including the Unabomber case, the Los Angeles riots, and the Menendez Brothers trial. Among these 1990s period pieces was I, Tonya, which retold the tabloid story of figure skater Tonya Harding and the way her husband and his bumbling associates conspired to kneecap rival figure skater Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver) in the lead up to the 1994 Winter Olympics. I, Tonya is a high energy farce with colorful characters and the filmmakers take the right approach with the material, treating everything about it with an appropriate level of derision. The story is told with an irreverent style that skewers the pretentiousness that characterizes so many Hollywood biopics. In much the same way Harding’s white trash presence was unwelcome in professional figure skating, I, Tonya is the vulgar outlier of the Hollywood awards season. And yet, this movie is also an accomplished piece of work with some extraordinary performances. Margot Robbie is the human center in this outrageous comedy of errors and Robbie turns up the absurdity when necessary but she also finds the humanity in this woman. Also impressive in supporting roles are Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser. Everyone in I, Tonya is on the same zany wavelength and the movie comes together in ways that are funny but also unexpectedly affecting. This strange concoction of unusual cinematic techniques, outstanding performances, and collage of tones makes I, Tonya one of the best films of 2017.

Honorable Mentions

What follows are films that were either runners up to the Top 10 list or other pictures that came out in 2017 that are worth mentioning.

11/08/16 – A documentary about Election Day 2016. The movie was an interesting cross section of reactions to the election and a valuable time capsule.

All the Money in the World – This sleek thriller was one of Ridley Scott’s best movies.

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion – The second part of this Bollywood epic was a terrific piece of spectacle that was also an absorbing tale of family intrigue populated by interesting supporting characters.

Battle of the Sexes – This retelling of the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs was one of the best sports movies of recent years.

The Beguiled – Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of Thomas Cullinan’s novel was a smart and well-paced drama with a vibrant atmosphere.

The Big Sick – The true story of comedian Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself) falling in love with Emily Gordon (Zoe Kazan) was one of the most likable movies of 2017.

Blade Runner 2049 – The long anticipated sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic was a thoughtful and beautifully crafted piece of work.

Brigsby Bear – One of the most unusual films of 2017, Brigsby Bear was a quirky look at nostalgia and protracted adolescence.

Captain Underpants: His First Epic Movie – One of the best animated films of 2017 and one of the best superhero films in an outstanding year for that genre.

Catfight – This black comedy is a delightfully mean-spirited political allegory.

Colossal – A terrific fantasy film with great characters and an unusual tone that offers some fascinating ideas to contemplate.

The Disaster Artist – A good movie about the making of a really bad one, The Disaster Artist is a smart and funny picture that’s also a sendup of Hollywood success stories.

Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan’s World War II picture was an ambitious cinematic experiment. The movie doesn’t quite come together as a whole but Dunkirk has some extraordinary things in it.

Free Fire – One of several impressive shoot-’em-up movies released in 2017, Free Fire was distinguished by its limited location, choreographed action, and colorful characters.

A Ghost Story – This film accomplishes so much within a modest running time and a confined setting that it is comparable to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Girl with All the Gifts – The zombie genre has been popular for years but The Girl with All the Gifts moved the genre forward and did some fascinating things with it.

Goodbye Christopher Robin – The drama about author A.A. Milne and the origin of Winnie the Pooh is a solid piece of drama with some thoughtful ideas about the relationship between life and art.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Another of the exceptional comic book movies of 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a worthy follow up to its predecessor.

Ingrid Goes West – Ingrid Goes West captures this particular moment in our culture and in years to come it may be a defining title of this decade.

John Wick: Chapter 2 – An excellent piece of action cinema that is terrifically crafted and very entertaining.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer – One of the strangest and most unsettling films of the year.

Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut was a smart and funny coming-of-age story with great performances by Saoirse Ronan, Beanie Feldstein, and Laurie Metcalf.

The LEGO Batman Movie – One of the most enjoyable superhero films of 2017. The movie may play better for older audiences who grew up watching the 1990s Batman films.

Life – A much better Alien rip-off than Alien: Covenant, Life was a good and scary monster-in-space film with some satisfyingly icky moments.

Logan Lucky – Steven Soderbergh’s latest heist movie was a lot of fun and had strong comic performances by Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig.

The Lost City of Z – An old fashioned movie about British explorer Percival Fawcett’s search for an ancient city deep within the Amazon.

Lucky – Harry Dean Stanton gives one of the best performances of his career in the title role as a solitary man facing his mortality.

Molly’s Game – Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut was anchored by Jessica Chastain’s fierce performance as Molly Bloom.

Mudbound – This story of black and white soldiers returning from World War II vibrantly captured rural life and was a grueling story of racism.

Novitiate – An underseen title about nuns entering the convent at the time of Vatican II.

Patti Cake$ – A rap musical featuring some great tunes and a host of terrific performances by Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Cathy Moriarty, and Mamoudou Athie.

The Red Turtle – A lyrical and at times surreal animated film about a man shipwrecked on a deserted island.

The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to Creature from the Black Lagoon had terrific production design and a bold performance by Sally Hawkins.

Spider-Man: Homecoming – A fine addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and arguably the best Spider-Man film.

Stronger– A thoughtful dramatization of 2013 Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman.

T2 Trainspotting – Coming twenty-one years after the original, T2 Trainspotting was a thoughtful example of the nostalgia sequel and it incorporates a wistful perspective in a way that is smart and perceptive.

Thor: Ragnarok – The best Thor movie and one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Wall – An intimate and intense war picture set in Iraq in 2007.

War for the Planet of the Apes – The third chapter of the new Apes saga was a good finale to an outstanding series of films.

Wind River – Taylor Sheridan’s newest crime drama isn’t always pleasant to watch but it is terrifically made with good performances by Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Graham Greene, and Gil Birmingham.

Good Buzz List

These are films that were released in 2017 and have strong word of mouth, and in some cases award nominations, but Nathan was unable to see them in time for the year end summary, usually because they did not open in southern Minnesota and have not yet been made available for home viewing.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) – A French drama about the Paris chapter of ACT UP as it petitioned the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s. The film won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Hostiles – A western starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, and Wes Studi that has been praised for its cinematography and performances.

In the Fade – This German film about the aftermath of a terrorist attack won the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Loving Vincent – An animated documentary about the final days of painter Vincent van Gogh.

Menashe – This drama taking place within Brooklyn’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community was named one of the ten best films of 2017 by the National Board of Review.

My Friend Dahmer – A film about the teenage years of Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The movie didn’t get much of a theatrical release but it did get very good reviews.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women – The story of William Moulton Marston, the creator of the DC comic book character Wonder Woman, and the women in his life who inspired the character.

The Square – The winner of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. This Swedish film tells the story of an experimental art installation gone wrong.

Great Performances

This is a list of some of the great performances in 2017, although not all of them were in great movies.

Alien: Covenant – Michael Fassbender’s dual roles were the best thing in this otherwise disappointing movie.

All the Money in the World – This sleek thriller has impressive performances by Christopher Plummer and Michelle Williams.

Battle of the Sexes – This retelling of the 1973 tennis match has terrific performances by Emma Stone and Steve Carrell as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

The Beguiled – Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, and Colin Farrell are outstanding in Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of Thomas Cullinan’s novel.

The Big Sick – The true story of comedian Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself) falling in love with Emily Gordon (Zoe Kazan) was one of the most likable movies of 2017.

Brigsby Bear – Kyle Mooney is great in the lead role.

Call Me By Your Name – Call Me By Your Name features exceptional performances by Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Colossal –Anne Hathaway is very good but the revelation in Colossal was Jason Sudekis.

Churchill – The other Winston Churchill film of 2017 featured notable performances by Brian Cox and Miranda Richardson.

Darkest Hour – Darkest Hour is primarily a showcase for Gary Oldman’s performance as Winston Churchill.

Detroit – An extraordinarily unsettling film that features exceptional performances by John Boyega, Will Poulter, and Algee Smith.

The Disaster Artist –James Franco gives the performance of his career as Tommy Wiseau.

Downsizing – Hong Chau was the best part of this movie.

Dunkirk – Mark Rylance was especially good as a civilian boater in Christopher Nolan’s World War II picture.

The Florida Project – Sean Baker’s portrait of people living in poverty has extraordinary performances from the cast of child actors and from Bria Vinaite and Willem Dafoe.

Free Fire – Free Fire was distinguished by its ensemble cast of colorful characters.

Get Out – This film sports a terrific cast including Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, and Bradley Whitford.

Gifted – A mostly predictable feel-good movie punched up by an exceptional performance from child actor Mckenna Grace.

The Glass Castle – Woody Harrelson and Brie Larson were convincing as father and daughter in this adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ memoir.

Good Time – Good Time has notable performances by Robert Pattinson and Bennie Safdie.

Ingrid Goes West – Ingrid Goes West has impressive performances by Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, and O’Shea Jackson Jr.

I, Tonya – This biographical story of figure skater Tonya Harding featured a terrific cast including Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, and Paul Walter Hauser.

It – The cast of child actors were the best part of this satisfying adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.

Lady Bird – This coming-of-age story was elevated by great performances from Saoirse Ronan, Beanie Feldstein, and Laurie Metcalf.

Lady Macbeth – Florence Pugh offered a complex portrait of desire and dignity in the title role.

Last Flag Flying– Richard Linklater’s sort-of-sequel to The Last Detail had great performances by Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and especially Steve Carell.

LBJ – The movie didn’t quite live up to Woody Harrelson’s performance as President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Logan – Hugh Jackman’s final Wolverine film sent off the actor and the character with style and gravitas. Patrick Stewart and Dafne Keen were also great.

Logan Lucky – Steven Soderbergh’s latest heist movie was a lot of fun and had strong comic performances by Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig.

Lucky – Harry Dean Stanton gives one of the best performances of his career in the title role and Tom Skerritt shows up for a great cameo.

Molly’s Game – Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut was anchored by Jessica Chastain’s fierce performance as Molly Bloom.

Mother! –Jennifer Lawrence is especially good in this, more so than in some of the movies that earned her Academy Award nominations. Also impressive are Michelle Pfeiffer and Ed Harris.

Mudbound – The entire cast of this film was exceptional, in particular Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks.

Murder on the Orient Express – The ensemble cast of this movie was terrific.

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer – Richard Gere has been doing some exceptional work in the past few years and his performance in Norman is among his best.

Novitiate – This underseen title about nuns entering the convent at the time of Vatican II has notable performances by Melissa Leo, Margaret Qualley, and Dianna Agron.

Patti Cake$ – A rap musical featuring some great tunes and a host of terrific performances by Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Cathy Moriarty, and Mamoudou Athie.

Phantom Thread – Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, and Lesley Manville made strong contributions to Paul Thomas Anderson’s film.

The Post – Meryl Streep was quite good as Washington Post publisher Kay Graham.

The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to Creature from the Black Lagoon had a terrific performance by Sally Hawkins.

Split – James McAvoy is outstanding as a man inhabited by twenty-three personalities.

Strange Weather – Holly Hunter is terrific as a grieving mother who investigates her son’s suicide.

Stronger– Jake Gyllenhaal gives one of his best performances as Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman.

Thank You For Your Service – This story of soldiers returning home from the wars in the Middle East had exceptional performances by Miles Teller, Haley Bennnet, Joe Cole, and Beulah Koale.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Martin McDonagh’s film features great performances by Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell.

The Wall – An intimate and intense war picture set in Iraq in 2007.

War for the Planet of the Apes – This film continued to elevate motion capture performance primarily through Any Serkis and Steve Zahn.

Wind River – Taylor Sheridan’s newest crime drama had good performances by Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Graham Greene, and Gil Birmingham.

Wonder – The cast of young actors were terrific in this, in particular Jacob Tremblay and Izabela Vidovic and Noah Jupe.

Wonder Wheel – Kate Winslet was the high point of Woody Allen’s latest film.

Wonderstruck – Millicent Simmonds is extremely effective as a deaf girl.

The Zookeeper’s Wife – Johan Heldenbergh and Jessica Chastain are excellent as the directors of the Warsaw Zoo as is Shira Haas as a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis.

Bottom 10 Films of 2017

What follows are the very bottom of the cinematic heap for 2017

1. A Cure for Wellness

Directed by: Gore Verbinski

Premise: A young business executive (Dane DeHaan) is sent to an isolated hospital in the Swiss Alps to retrieve the CEO of a struggling corporation. The executive gradually suspects that the hospital is not what it appears to be.

Why It Made the List: A Cure for Wellness feels every second of its two and a half hour running time. Director Gore Verbinski thinks he’s making a David Lynch film but A Cure for Wellness has much more in common with Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. This is the obnoxious kind of dud that thinks it’s smarter than it is and doles out twists that have no payoff and surprises that are obvious long before they are revealed. A Cure for Wellness’ artistic pretentious are entirely disingenuous. This is an exploitation picture but the filmmakers insist that they are making something important and don’t do us the courtesy of having any fun. The movie is a slog through artistic self-deceit and the push and pull between what the filmmakers think they’ve done and what they’ve actually made comes to a head in the finale which eroticizes a sexual assault. It’s a moment that’s only shocking in how inept it is and how long the filmmakers take to get there. Sleaziness has never been this boring. The emptiness, incompetence, and insincerity of A Cure for Wellness –and the amount of time it wastes—makes this the worst film of 2017.

2. Baywatch

Directed by: Seth Gordon

Premise: An adaptation of the television series. The head of a lifeguarding team (Dwayne Johnson) conflicts with a new recruit (Zac Efron). The lifeguards investigate a criminal plot to manufacture and distribute drugs in the bay.

Why It Made the List: No film of 2017 was as sloppy or as lazy as Baywatch. This lewd take on the 1990s television show quite literally has the production values of a homemade Youtube video. It’s a sloppy mess of lousy editing and terrible special effects that wouldn’t have passed the standards of a syndicated 1990s television show. Everyone is terrible in Baywatch, in particular Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron who, when they aren’t shoving their muscles in our faces, alternate between gay panic jokes and obnoxious self-awareness.

3. War on Everyone

Directed by: John Michael McDonagh

Premise: A pair of corrupt cops (Michael Peña and Alexander Skarsgård) blackmail and coerce criminals. When a local kingpin plans a heist, the officers attempt to insinuate themselves into the plot.

Why It Made the List: The self-consciously bawdy humor done so well by Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh is often imitated by people who take misogyny, homophobia, and violence at face value. War on Everyone is the tone deaf cousin of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. This is an awful picture about bad people doing terrible things but it has none of the humanity or self-awareness of the films it imitates. War on Everyone is an immature mess that is about as transgressive as a thirteen year old who just learned to cuss.

4. CHIPS

Directed by: Dax Shepard

Premise: An adaptation of the 1970s television show. An FBI agent (Michael Pena) goes undercover within the California Highway Patrol. He is partnered with a rookie (Dax Shepard) and the two of them investigate corruption.

Why It Made the List: Viewers who actually remember the CHIPS television show won’t recognize it in this movie and for everyone else CHIPS is unimaginative, unfunny, and stupid. It’s incompetent as an action comedy and CHIPS is an ugly film full of misogyny and homophobia. Director, writer, and star Dax Shepard and his wife Kristen Bell have crafted a public image as the “fun couple” but many of CHIPS’ attempts at humor come at Bell’s expense and when Michael Pena’s undercover officer isn’t ogling women he makes gay panic jokes.

5. I Do. . . Until I Don’t

Directed by: Lake Bell

Premise: A recently divorced filmmaker sets out to make a documentary about marriage which argues that the concept of a lifelong commitment is outmoded. To prove her thesis, the filmmaker recruits several couples whose relationships are in trouble.

Why It Made the List: I Do. . . Until I Don’t is intended to be an edgy comic statement about contemporary marriage. It isn’t. This movie is a glorified sitcom episode but it doesn’t even do that right. Its presentation of marriage and love is utterly facile. The love-conquers-all resolution has rarely been employed as lazily as it is here. I Do. . . Until I Don’t is increasingly incoherent until it stumbles into a conclusion that is so artificially saccharine that you’ll vomit into your popcorn.

6. Home Again

Directed by: Hallie Meyers-Shyer

Premise: A newly single forty-year-old mother (Reese Witherspoon) living in Los Angeles takes in three twenty-something filmmakers as they try to get their passion project off the ground. She begins a romantic relationship with one of them (Pico Alexander).

Why It Made the List: Home Again intends to be wish fulfillment for middle aged female viewers and the filmmakers are so dead set on offering a vision of comfort and affluence that they ruin any potential drama. This is a movie in which everything is fine with everyone coexisting peacefully and getting everything they want out of life. And not a moment of it is convincing or authentic. The few bits of drama are generic and contrived and the filmmakers pander so hard to their audience that the movie stinks of desperation.

7. The Only Living Boy in New York

Directed by: Marc Webb

Premise: A recent college graduate (Callum Turner) discovers that his father (Pierce Brosnan) is having an affair. He makes contact with his father’s mistress (Kate Beckinsale) and eventually begins his own affair with her while contemplating his next move.

Why It Made the List: The Only Living Boy in New York pines after The Graduate but it’s not even American Pie. The picture was written by Allan Loeb, whose previous disasters include Collateral Beauty and The Switch. Loeb confuses whimsy with idiocy. The characters speak in trite platitudes that mean nothing. The film poses as a feminist piece but it’s really just the soft sexism of beta-males who politely objectify women. And the patented Alan Loeb Big Reveal™ exposes the stupidity at the heart of the movie.

8. Rings

Directed by: F. Javier Gutiérrez

Premise: The third film in the Ring series. A young woman and her boyfriend get caught up in the curse of Samara, the evil ghost that is unleashed by watching a bizarre VHS tape. A researcher uses the tape as part of an experiment to prove the existence of the afterlife.

Why it Made the List: Rings might be a sequel, it might be a reboot, but it’s really just a mess. The filmmakers assume the audience understands the premise but they also contradict the continuity of the series. The plot of Rings is random with the characters making inexplicable and stupid decisions. Rings is also another horror film whose makers don’t know the difference between being spooky and just being murky. There have been plenty of bad remakes and lousy sequels and Rings is among the worst of both.

9. A Quiet Passion

Directed by: Terence Davies

Premise: A biographical film about poet Emily Dickenson (Cynthia Nixon).

Why It Made the List: A Quiet Passion is historical filmmaking at its worst. This movie is terribly shot with sequences that are severely over or underexposed and production design that looks like a museum exhibit. Just as artificial are the performances in which everyone behaves like an animatronic and speaks in stilted period dialogue. Nothing about it is believable and the movie drags on without saying anything relevant about Emily Dickenson. A lot of critics loved this movie but they were wrong. It is a boring and shoddy piece of work.

10. Transformers: The Last Knight

Directed by: Michael Bay

Premise: The fifth film in the Transformers series. Following the events of Age of Extinction, Optimus Prime has left Earth to visit the remains of his home world. Meanwhile, a government agency hunts the Transformers and an inventor and a scholar search for an ancient artifact.

Why It Made the List: The Last Knight might not be the worst Transformers movie but it is the most boring and the most incoherent. The plot leaps across space and time, making connections that are absurd even by the standards of Michael Bay. Characters are introduced out of nowhere and drop out of the movie just as quickly. The story—such as it is—contradicts earlier Transformers movies while rehashing the climax of other films. Despite all its busyness nothing really happens, or at least nothing worth caring about.

Trends of the Year

Movies About Writing Books

Several movies this year gave the backstory or imagined the creation of classic books.

Stories About Dunkirk

The evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk during World War II figured prominently in several films of 2017.

Kick-Ass Action Heroes

The action genre has seen a return to practical stunts and highly choreographed fights and gunplay. 2017 saw the release of several extraordinary examples of this.

Great Comic Book Films

2017 was one of the best years for comic book movies, with Marvel leading the ways with three titles that rank among the best films in the MCU. Several other impressive movies were released as well although Justice League was not among them.

Great Sequels

Sequels remained a regular fixture of Hollywood’s release slate and there were several outstanding new installments.

Stephen King Adaptations

The works of Stephen King enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in 2017 with several adaptations of his work.

Great Performances By Child Actors

Movies about the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Los Angeles riots was marked by several documentaries and dramas.

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