With easily the least number of movies I've seen from a modern year, 2017 (based on my limited sample size) was also the most mediocre for me in terms of the greatest and the worst that I saw. Most everything fell into the 6/10 to 7/10 range, which is possibly the worst kind of movie to see in great excess. Without a ton of garbage to complain about or brilliant art to praise, a good chunk of my moviegoing experiences from 2017 were pretty forgettable and barely worth the effort. That being said, I still have a dozen or so films I plan on watching before I start doing any top 10s, but that isn't going to keep me from working on this little retrospective. So buckle in, this is going to be a pretty lengthy post, methinks -- Iwas lying when I used the word "little" just a moment ago. HOWEVER, I will include this alphabetized list of all the movies included here, where you can click on the titles you're interested in and go straight to my segment on that particular film. Easy peasy, lemon febreezy. Here's the list:
Alien: Covenant
Baby Driver
The Bad Batch
Battle Of The Sexes
The Big Sick
Blade Runner 2049
Brawl In Cell Block 99
Call Me By Your Name
Colossal
Creep 2
A Cure For Wellness
Dave Made A Maze
The Devil's Candy
The Disaster Artist
Don't Kill It
Dunkirk
Free Fire
Get Out
A Ghost Story
Good Time
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
The Hero
I, Tonya
It
It Comes At Night
John Wick: Chapter 2
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Kong: Skull Island
Lady Bird
Last Flag Flying
The Lego Batman Movie
Life
Little Evil
The Little Hours
Logan
Logan Lucky
The Lost City Of Z
The Love Witch
Loving Vincent
Lucky
The Lure
The Meyerowitz Stories
Mindhorn
Mother!
My Life As A Zucchini
The Shape Of Water
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Split
Stronger
Thor: Ragnarok
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Trip To Spain
The Void
War For The Planet Of The Apes
Wind River
Wonder Woman
Your Name
But while that list is alphabetical, I'll be going in the order I saw them. So first up is the latest M. Night Shyamalan film, Split. This movie sparked a good deal of stupid controversy over so-called "oversimplification" of mental illness, but that entire complaint not only doesn't matter within the context of the film, but also fails to acknowledge the entire point in its use. Overall, this is a pretty over-the-top movie with a wonderful lead performance by the ever-consistent James McAvoy that just might hold the title for most unconventional and unexpected of final reveals in a film of the past decade. (C+)
Next up, the slightly underwhelming follow-up to Lord and Miller's 2014 The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie. Basically, while putting the focus on Batman was a solid move (due to his scenes being the highlights of the first film), straying away from the Batman universe and incorporating outside villains and characters was a huge misstep. Batman has enough fun and exaggerated villains as it is, we don't need Voldemort to be plugged in there, too. The meta humor wasn't as clever, and the sappy moments made me actively cringe. It was fine, but had some serious problems. (C-)
On to The Love Witch, an arguably 2016 film I wasn't able to see until over a month into 2017, so I'll talk about it now. This movie was a ton of fun. As a fan of Hammer horror films and the general aesthetic of '60s horror, I really loved the visual design and lighting, which felt very accurate for the mood the film was going for. It was funny, looked great, and was overall just a great homage to an era and subgenre that rarely gets the amount of attention it deserves. (B)
The next movie I'll talk about is one that really blew me away. As a lukewarm fan of the first John Wick, I went into this sequel expecting something similar, but John Wick: Chapter 2 quickly proved to be one of the most impressively shot and choreographed action movies I've seen -- alongside The Raid films. If you don't love action movies, there's really no need in watching this, but anyone who wants to know what action set pieces can accomplish should watch this immediately. Loved it, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was giddy the entire runtime. (A-)
Another relative surprise, I went into Get Out knowing that I was curious by Jordan Peele directing horror (which I had already assumed might work, due to some of his creepy sketches in Key and Peele), but was still amazed at how brilliantly executed this whole film was. The screenplay is tight, the performances are solid (though I'm still confused by Kaluuya's award nominations), and the humor injected into the story feels very natural and appropriate. It's a unique specimen akin to The Cabin In The Woods. (A-)
After the huge financial and critical success of Deadpool, Fox got wise to the effectiveness that an R-rated comic book movie might have on audiences. And then they made Logan. By taking generally over-the-top characters and blending them into a dark, believable scenario, we get a Children of Men-esque superhero western with a ton of emotional weight. This is the best performance of Patrick Stewart's career outside of TNG. It might have some issues, but they're easily ignored. (B-)
Now here's one I was both very excited and very nervous for. After Godzilla, which mostly kinda sucked, the thought of a beefed-up King Kong within the same universe was intriguing to me, particularly since this wasn't going to be the same old story. And with Kong: Skull Island I got the coolest possible introduction to this new Kong. It's one of the most entertaining movie experiences of the year for me, and the whole visual style was totally awesome. (B)
A shameless Alien ripoff, Life was by no means the most original or mindblowing sci-fi movie I've seen, but the overall quality of the visuals and the impressive CG (which I rarely find myself complimenting) definitely helped a lot. The acting was solid (though I felt most of the cast were relatively misused), and I enjoyed the Gravity-esque cinematography. Also the ending was cool, if slightly predictable. (C-)
Probably the coolest and most visually original horror film of 2017, The Void was filmed on an incredibly low budget, but most impressively doesn't look cheap at all. With some ridiculously impressive practical effects and makeup, this is just a joy to watch for fans of the grotesque. It's one of the coolest body horror films in years, with a great blend of horror and sci-fi. (B)
After Embrace Of The Serpent, my expectations for another Amazonian drama were pretty high, and early looks at The Lost City Of Z made it look pretty great. But due to some laborious pacing issues and a general lack of tension or urgency, this movie just didn't work for me. All the pieces were there, but the execution was off, and without a particularly great lead performance or amazing visuals, it felt like a bland treatment of a promising concept. (C-)
I am not a fan of the MCU. Though there are some great entries in this massive franchise, the majority just don't work for me as anything but forgettable crap. And while I loved the first one, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 fits into that forgettable category. It's fine. It oversimplified the characters, lacked emotion, and felt very much like a sequel to a much better movie. Which it is. (C-)
Even after the mediocrity of Life, it still managed to be a better Alien movie than Ridley Scott's embarrassing Alien: Covenant. Every time something went right with this movie, something else would come along to ruin it. There is almost no logic behind this movie, and every plot twist was as generic and yawn-inducing boring as any I've ever seen. I did not like this. Pretty bad movie. (D-)
What a weird and awesome movie this is. Colossal may run into a few issues trying to explain its crazy plot near the ending, but the journey there is so fantastic, I can't really have any complaints about it. The 180 degree turn Jason Sudeikis' character takes is wonderful, aided by his shockingly good performance. It's a cool blend of kaiju and rom-com. I dig it a lot. (B)
Never let inconsistent marketing warp your experience with a movie. A lot of people did that with the sophomore directorial effort by Trey Edward Shultz, but not me. With striking similarities to the underrated classic Isle Of The Dead, It Comes At Night is a paranoid dystopian nightmare with amazing performances and a shroud of mystery that never fully lifts. It's bleak, depressing, and unfairly miscategorized as "horror". Good stuff. (B+)
Blocking is an underappreciated skill a director must possess, and if for no other reason, Free Fire calls to attention just how important this aspect of filmmaking really is. This has a simple framework, with the entire movie centered around a huge warehouse shootout. Somehow it isn't dull. Very impressive, but maybe not as fun as it could have been. (B-)
I barely remember this, but I watched Mindhorn. It wasn't particularly funny or memorable (obviously), so I don't have much else to say about it. It was a movie I saw and it left no impact whatsoever. Moving on. (D+)
Anytime Edgar Wright makes a new film that's a cause for celebration. The perfect marriage of visuals and sound, Baby Driver succeeds in virtually every technical way. Brilliantly choreographed, exciting, funny...all of these successes outweigh the narrative/character simplicities. I don't have many real complaints here. It's a wonderful movie. (A-)
After A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, I had a feeling that Ana Lily Amirpour might be a talented filmmaker, but an equally pretentious one. And upon watching her second film, I have come to the conclusion that she veers into the second category more than the first. The Bad Batch is a bad movie. It's dull, ponderous, lacks any cohesive direction or point...Nothing about this worked for me at all. It was lifeless and infuriating. (D-)
I'm a big fan of claymation, as I feel it's the most emotional form of animation today, and honestly I could never imagine a more perfect method to bring this story to life. My Life As A Zucchini is a quiet and emotional story that never overplays it, which results in something much more real than it easily could have been. I wasn't blown away by this, but it still worked for me. (B)
I wanted to love this movie so much...a killer mermaid musical? That sounds incredible! But sadly, apart from an original concept, there wasn't anything about The Lure that felt fully realized. The characters were simple, the music was bland, and the film never allowed the craziness to really take off. Overall, very disappointing. (D)
Really good romantic comedies are few and far between. But this is probably due to the conventions of the genre. Enter The Big Sick, a rom-com that uses the absence of a character to tell a funny, heartwarming love story. How genius is that? It needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, but this unconventional approach works shockingly well, and the connection between the two lovebirds feels very real. (B+)
The greatest anime movie I've ever seen that I can't remember almost anything about. This is, of course, a hyperbolic non-compliment, as I didn't see anything about Your Name that really stood out. Storywise there were a few interesting concepts, but it didn't hit me on an emotional level at all. It was pretty good, and I enjoyed watching it, but that's about as far as my praise goes. (C)
Oh look, it's another Spider-Man reboot. But while this iteration does away with some unnecessary redundancies, there really just isn't a point in Spider-Man: Homecoming even existing. I watched it, I enjoyed various things about it, but by the time it was over I pretty much forgot it even existed. The saving grace is Michael Keaton, who plays one of the few MCU villains with any actual depth. (C)
While I'm not as crazy about the Apes trilogy as a lot of people seem to be, there are some definite strokes of genius in this trilogy. As a final entry in a series, War For The Planet Of The Apes does so many things right, and gives Andy Serkis and Woody Harrelson some great material to work with. The visuals are amazing, but the screenplay has some problems...eh, screw it, I enjoyed it. (B-)
A throwback crime caper that I've totally forgotten about 6 or 7 times. Logan Lucky is a movie. That's my statement, and I'll back it up. As entertaining as Daniel Craig is, he's relatively underutilized, and there are some truly godawful performances that shouldn't have been in the movie at all. Hilary Swank, in particular. Overall, it's decent, but I just didn't care about it. (C-)
Probably the most overrated indie horror movie of the year, The Devil's Candy is a heavy metal horror film that felt like Lords Of Salem without the cool supernatural vibes. This movie has been given great reviews. I have no idea why. (D+)
A competently made mystery thriller that works well but doesn't really stick with you past the ending credits, Wind River came and went without much of a splash. Solid acting, solid story, everything about it was just solid. (C-)
As both the latest film by the guy behind Tucker And Dale and starring Adam Scott, I had pretty high expectations for this movie, and in the end it was shut underwhelming, unfunny, and uninspired. It didn't challenge genre preconceptions (although it tried), didn't give Clancy Brown enough to do, and featured a pretty lousy child performance. Just bleh. (D+)
27 years after the TV miniseries and following on the heels of the nostalgic success of things like Stranger Things, it made perfect sense for the proverbial "them" to make a new It movie. And while they could never have recreated the wonderful Tim Curry performance, everything else about this movie is a decided improvement over the original. It's funny, creepy, well-shot, and much more focused. I liked it a lot, even if it's pretty conventional. (B)
Superhero movies bore me, and this one is no exception. Wonder Woman is a by-the-books superhero origin story with lousy CG and enough failed humor to fill a midwest comedy club at 4am. I didn't like it. I didn't care about the characters. The villain didn't surprise me. Just being centered on a woman doesn't make it original enough to be good. (D+)
Spoiler Alert! The Little Hours was far and away the worst piece of crap movie I saw all year. And I knew I would hate it by the first line, as it proved an almost decided ignorance to the appeals of the nunsploitation subgenre. By instantly making the nun characters unbelievable as nuns, it made their attempted deconstruction of their holy veneer painfully misguided and wholly uneffective. This is one of the most painfully unfunny comedies I've ever seen, filled with lousy shock humor that is only shocking for the fact that someone found it funny to include it in a screenplay. Absolute garbage. (F)
And the worst is followed by one of the best. Blade Runner 2049 is the sequel I never thought I wanted, and totally managed to succeed as both a follow-up to the original and as a beautiful piece of art that stands on its own. This is one of the most visually astonishing films I've seen in years, and that's due in no small part to Roger Deakins. It's a tad bloated, but never wears out its welcome. I dug it a lot. (A-)
Gore Verbinski is a pretty original and unique mainstream filmmaker, and while I don't always love his work, he has made some pretty impressive films that helped define Hollywood in the 21st century. But A Cure For Wellness really just sucks. Twist after twist, inconsistency after inconsistency, you can tell where the plot is going and then it throws curveballs that only make it somehow worse. I don't know if I've ever seen a mediocre movie devolve so rapidly. (D-)
I don't usually watch many direct-to-stream movies, but I felt like seeing what Dolph Lundgren was up to and decided to put on Don't Kill It. And, for what it was, I found it pretty entertaining. Some really fun scenes surrounded by plenty of mediocrity, but overall a good use of Dolph Lundgren. It's a solid blend of horror and action. (C-)
I feel like I don't go out of my way for superhero movies and still have them thrown at me constantly. Thor: Ragnarok, while not being amazing, was one of the more entertaining of the year, and I can blame that almost entirely on Taika Waititi, who actually had an opportunity to let his humor shine through. It was a tad sterile, but was funny enough to keep it working. (C+)
I've been a relatively silent defender of Robert Pattinson for years now, and finally my silence was fully quenched by an exceptional performance from the dude. Good Time is the modern After Hours, blending the spiraling absurdity of a day or two with some heavy emotional themes. Great acting, cinematography, editing, etc. It's a really well-made movie in a lot of ways, and I really enjoyed it. (B+)
I plan on talking about it a lot more later on, but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is one of the best movies I've seen all decade. That's all for now. (A)
You ever have one of those movies where you totally get what the filmmakers were going for but it just didn't work for you? That was A Ghost Story for me, a movie so "deep" it literally has a character explain the concept to you right in the middle. Thanks so much for that, ye of little faith. It ultimately just bored me. D
Sort of like the $5 bin version of Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach has a way with characters that feels stilted but somehow believable. And this is still the case with The Meyerowitz Stories, a comedy-drama with solid performances and a quirky sense of humor. It never really takes off, but it works nonetheless. C
Cornball social commentary be damned, I found The Shape Of Water absolutely beautiful. Everything about this film is beautiful on an aesthetic level, and while the story is very simplistic and infused with some puzzling messages, it all comes together wonderfully. I loved watching this film, and the makeup on the creature alone would be enough to justify it significant praise. Great performances, style, and visual storytelling. (A-)
I can't help but to think how much better this would have been had it been made in the style of Ed Wood. The Disaster Artist is based on one of my favorite books, which is based on the making of one of my favorite movies, so there's no way I could have been anything but slightly disappointed here. Franco makes for an inconsistent Tommy Wiseau, the way the film is presented doesn't do it any favors, but seeing these scenarios brought to life was still fun for me. Definitely a mixed bag for me. (C)
After The Wrestler and then Crazy Heart, I've seen this basic story told before, only much better. So The Hero, unsurprisingly, felt pretty uninspired and derivative. Sam Elliott does a great job, but there's not much else to say about the movie as a whole. Very forgettable. (C-)
One of the most totally original and visually ingenius films I've seen in some time, Dave Made A Maze is an imaginative and totally entertaining fantasy with brilliant set design and framing. I don't know the last time I was this impressed with the look of a movie that fully embraces the cheap, but I'm happy to say it worked for me in pretty much every way here. What a joy to watch. (B+)
Darren Aronofsky does over-the-top religious symbolism for 2 hours. Okay. Next time do it better. Mother! is just inadequate as a film on its own. Symbolism should be used to aid a story, not replace one. Very underwhelming. (D)
Coming of age is a genre I generally feel pretty lukewarm about. And as well executed as Lady Bird is, it ultimately never elevates the material above this genre's pitfalls and predictabilities. It feels like something I've seen before, and even with strong performances and a solid script, it can never overcome that general lack of individuality and originality. (C+)
Solid editing, cinematography, music, sound design, and every other technical aspect just isn't enough to make me feel anything during a movie. Without an emotional reaction, I'm forced to watch a movie like a robot, only viewing things on a purely technical level. If I was a robot, I would have loved Dunkirk. But as a human, I found it pretty lifeless, and somewhat lacking in tension. I never had any reason to care about the characters, so when they were in peril I was indifferent. It was all a big pile of okay. (C)
A well-meaning but ultimately super generic and uninspired sports comedy-drama, Battle Of The Sexes hits all the right notes to be a passable bit of entertainment that can pander to a more...feminine demographic. That's fine, not every movie is designed for me. And I did enjoy it, but I wish it had thrown a few more narrative curveballs. Also, Steve Carell was a ton of fun here. Then again, when isn't he? (C+)
What a crazy movie this is. Anyone going into Brawl In Cell Block 99 might be expecting a hard-hitting prison drama, which it partially is, but the twist is that the story almost plays out like an old-schools martial arts film -- I was reminded of The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin. Vince Vaughn is tremendous here, and I loved the gritty '70s vibe it put off. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed this brutal movie. (B+)
Jake Gyllenhaal does really good acting for 2 hours. Stronger is a pretty standard movie, so there isn't much to say. I liked it for what it was, but it never wowed me. Just fine, with a strong lead performance. (C)
I have a huge weakness for British comedy, and as the third in series of movies that basically does nothing new each entry apart from travel to a different country, I can admit that my weakness for The Trip To Spain allows me to both acknowledge and see past its lack of creativity. This is a total hangout movie, and I love hanging out with these characters. Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan play off each other wonderfully yet again. (B-)
I, Tonya. Some wonderful editing, acting, and screenplay quirks are enough to keep the movie afloat, but the distractingly awful Snapchat filter-looking CG face work they did for Margot Robbie's skating scenes was so bad, it makes me much more critical of the movie as a whole than I'd like to be. Still, I really did enjoy it, and Allison Janney was a total blast -- picture J.K. Simmons as Miles Teller's dad as well as teacher in Whiplash. (B-)
Full disclosure, I passed out several times during this movie (I believe I'd been awake for about 25-30 hours when we put it on), but I still was able to keep up with what was going on. The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (the latest Yorgos Lanthammommashouse movie) is pure concept, never feeling the need to explain itself in a logical way, which I like. It tells a dark and depressing story in a way that's oddly amusing. I didn't love it, but it was very intriguing. (C+)
I love Vincent Van Gogh. So a movie about him (following the days after his death, specifically) animated with oil paintings done in his style was obviously going to appeal to me. That being said, the animation was pretty inconsistent with his style (particularly during the flashback sequences), but was still a lot of fun to look at. It's a cool concept, and I liked what they did with the story, but it didn't totally blend for me. Still, pretty interesting stuff. (C+)
I think this might have been a great movie, but it's hard for me to tell. Call Me By Your Name was quiet, subtle, beautiful, and totally effective at telling its story. I really have no complaints about it, but maybe I need to see it again to fully decide on my feelings. Either way, I did think it was really good. Amazing performances, too. (B+)
Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell. With a cast like this, how could Last Flag Flying be anything but good? Sadly, by the second half I wasn't as emotionally invested, but thanks to this wonderful trio of performances and a solid script, this movie managed to stay entertaining and had some really powerful moments. It may have been a little on the nose with some of the dialogue, but overall I liked it. (C+)
A clever follow-up to Creep, the aptly named Creep 2 is less focused on horror and more on some truly weird comedy. The character Mark Duplass plays is so engaging and magnetic, it becomes hard to look away. One of the few found footage movies that I've seen in the past couple years, and it makes good use of it. Good stuff. (B-)
And last up is the character actor-centric drama directed by John Carroll Lynch, starring Harry Dean Stanton in his final film role. And what a perfect note to end his career on. A lovely, minimalist bit of American filmmaking that hits all the right subtle notes and doesn't offer any clean answers. I really enjoyed this, and Stanton ended his career with possibly the best performance of his career. Thanks for this, JCL. You did a great service to an actor you clearly respected. (B)
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