Lucky
In the past few years I've developed an ever-increasing love for character actors, and what better film to come out in 2017 for this than the final starring vehicle for Harry Dean Stanton? Directed by another favorite character actor (John Carroll Lynch), this movie was on my radar before Stanton passed away, and afterwards became necessary viewing for me. And it did not disappoint. He gives a great understated performance here, in one of the best existential films of the past several years. His character feels very much like an extension of himself, and afforded him that final opportunity to prove himself as one of the most wonderful and overlooked actors of his time. It's quiet, subtly funny, and a beautiful visual slice of America. I couldn't recommend it to most, but for a select few this is a very worthwhile experience.
Kong: Skull Island
It's almost embarrassing how much I loved watching this movie, and in spite of the CG-laden visuals and cornball comedy that seems to invade pretty much every major blockbuster now, I still felt like this stood out as a totally unique experience. Maybe it's just favoritism I have towards giant monster movies, but I felt a giddiness during this that I only shared with one other movie all year (more on that one later), and ultimately it's the emotional reaction ano entertainment value of a movie that I care about most. It gave me a totally different Kong story, used the setting wonderfully, had some truly awesome visuals and moments, and (unlike the 2014 Godzilla) didn't skimp out on the amount of giant monster battles. A total blast to watch, with an after-credits reveal that makes my inner Toho dweeb very excited.
The Void
Another visually wonderful movie, but this time almost the polar opposite. This is a dark movie with an extremely low budget and no fancy computer effects, relying solely on cinematography, set design, and some truly incredible practical effects. On the surface, this seems like any run of the mill direct-to-streaming horror movie, but the amount of care and attention to detail (particularly visually) put into it definitely sets it apart. Seeing something this well-polished handled with such a modest budget just makes me wonder what the hell Hollywood is doing when they make crap like [insert $100+ million budget movie] when they could produce films like this for 1/100,000th the cost. Seriously, it doesn't make sense. This movie ]s creepy, tense, and a great showcase for practical effects.
Colossal
Another giant monster movie, but with an almost rom-com spin. It's a difficult movie to categorize and the inevitable spoilers make this all the more difficult, so I'll cut myself short and try to avoid the plot. Jason Sudeikis absolutely steals this movie in a surprising supporting role, and while the plot does do a few annoying things to over-explain itself, I'm still amazed at how clever this screenplay was. Finding a perfect blend between kaiju and domestic comedy/drama, there is an insane amount of stuff to love about this movie if you're a fan of genre bending and original concepts.
It Comes At Night
I love bottle dramas, and when a film can find that balance between character drama and suspense (bordering on horror), I'm bound to admire it. This felt like a modern retelling of 'Isle Of The Dead', using paranoia and fear instead of a more conventional monster as the villain. Because of this, the movie got crapped on by ""horror fans"" who apparently want every movie to have spooky scary CG demon child monsters popping out at the screen. This is a subtle kind of creepy, and the claustrophobic setting and character interactions make it one of the most suffocating movies of the year...in a good way.
Baby Driver
I've been a fan of Edgar Wright for close to a decade now. He's done nothing but good-to-great films up to this point, and when I first saw about this movie (and read the title) I thought "okay, so this is gonna be the one to break the streak". Oh what a simple-minded fool I was to think that this would be anything less than great entertainment. While the acting is mostly pretty meh and the story isn't the most amazing I've ever seen, Jon Hamm is tremendous and the way this movie flows and utilizes its soundtrack to play into the action and choreography was genius. This is like an elevated musical/music video, and a pretty perfect balance of style and substance.
The Big Sick
I don't automatically hate any film genre, but if I were to list my least favorites, romantic comedy would inevitably rear its simplistic head before too long. That being said, there are obviously some that I like quite a bit. And this witty and unconventional romance that focuses more on the relationship between the male lead and the female's parents than it does with the couple itself. It's sweet, funny, has a surprisingly good performance by Ray Romano, and is just generally a very entertaining and worthwhile movie. Sometimes it's nice to plug in an easy film, and this one is very easy to like.
And now to the official top 10...
10. Good Time
I've been convinced for close to a decade now that Robert Pattinson is actually a good actor and just needed some decent direction and a solid script to prove himself. While he's had some solid moments elsewhere (Lost City Of Z, Cosmopolis, Remember Me), this is the first time I felt his potential had been fully realized. Sort of like Martin Scorsese's After Hours, this movie is all about the increasing absurdity and snowball of tension and frustration Pattinson goes through ager a botched robbery to try to kept himself and his mentally challenged brother out of prison. Shot in the A24 style (documentary cinematography, neon lights, grainy/gritty aesthetic, etc.), and presented as the perfect balance of comedy and drama, this holds up as much more than just an acting showcase for Pattinson -- and even if so it would still be pretty great.
9. Get Out
Every once in a while a horror movie comes along that seems to break the mold for the genre, but is far too clever and good to ever be successfully replicated or lead to any actual changes within the genre as a whole. In 2012 that movie was The Cabin In The Woods, and 5 years later we have this. When it was originally announced that Jordan Peele would be writing and directing a horror movie a lot of people were like "huh what?" but if you've ever seen Key & Peele, you'd know this guy is pretty twisted. Well, here we are. I don't need to go into what makes this movie good, but let it be known that I am not the kind of person who will praise a movie for the fact that black people are in it or anything dumb like that. This is just a great revitalization for a genre that desperately needed a new twist.
8. Phantom Thread
The director/star pairing of my favorite movie ever reunite after a decade, and the result still didn't disappoint. This movie is pretty twisted. With some similarities to The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson uses this film to explore some of the most intriguing and mysterious character dynamics I can recall ever seeing in a film, exploring a dysfunctional relationship to end all dysfunctional relationships. It's shame I can't get into spoilers here (by choice, admittedly, because I want people to have a chance to see this movie for themselves while it's still new), because the twists it takes at the end were so unexpected and brilliant I can't see myself having anything but positive remarks to make about it. It's a wonderful looking movie with great performances and a genius script.
7. Brawl In Cell Block 99
What an out-of-nowhere surprise this was. A gritty '70s throwback crime/prison drama starring...Vince Vaughn? Well, I won't be the first to say comedians often possess a lot more acting talent than they're often given the opportunity to show off, but even I was shocked by how effectively intimidating Vaughn was in this. This is a pulpy B-movie at heart, with a borderline nonsense plot that tosses Vaughn into increasingly dark and violent situations and scenarios as the story moves along. The violence is brutal and satisfying on a primal level (assuming you're a disgusting human like me), but it's the 36th Chamber-esque setting changes that really stuck out most to me. This is not a movie for everyone, but that makes it all the more special to me.
6. The Shape Of Water
This movie just won Best Picture, which naturally means I have to hate it now...right? WRONG! In spite of being a ridiculously simple screenplay with little to no surprises or depth at all (look at the villains and tell me they even bothered to write characters instead of simple archetypes), but ultimately that's not what makes this film so wonderful. And no, it's not how inclusive and diverse it is either. Goodness. What makes this movie so remarkable is in how perfectly executed the story is and how easily a movie about someone who wants to bang a fishperson could come across as, well, really disgusting. From a visual standpoint, this is one of the most exceptional movies of the decade, and the set design and makeup perfectly match the style and fantastical nature of the story. As far as execution of ideas go, this is the most successful Del Toro has ever been. Oh, and the acting is really great, too. Simple in a lot of ways, but totally effective.
5. Call Me By Your Name
Going from such a simplistic screenplay to something like this is jarring, but I'll do my best to describe what I love about this movie. Again, like the last movie this is a love story that could have been creepy. The age difference between the two leads borders on pedophilic, but the successful way they navigate the story and allow their attraction to reach fruition without making either party seem too aggressive about it helps to ground it in a reality that shouldn't end in a phone call to the local police. This is an incredibly simple story with some of fhe most nuanced writing and subtle character development you'll likely ever see. The acting from everyone involved is phenomenal, but as easy as it would be to praise Chalamet and Hammer (who were great no doubt), the standout to me would have to be Michael Stuhlbarg, whose monologue nearly brought me to tears. I don't inherently love or hate romance movies, but the way this one was pulled off has stuck with me -- in fact, it took me two full weeks to process it. That's a sign of depth and quality I'm not generally used to.
4. Dave Made A Maze
Sometimes it's not subtlety or technical proficiency that makes me love a movie, but the sheer scope of its imagination and ability to entertain that wins me over. Dave Made A Maze is, on a purely visual level, one of the strangest and most awesome movies I've ever seen, and this is partially due to the ingenius way it plays with a low budget concept and allows it to completely define the aesthetic. With duct taped together cardboard sets and utilization of random household materials blended not only into the visual style of the movie but within the plot itself, this is a perfectly self-contained vision. There's an unshakable absurdity to the plot that doesn't seem to follow any rules, but the seeming lack of direction is a perfect reflection of Dave's mental state. I can't recall ever seeing anything quite like this, and that isn't even considering the screwball humor that shifts in style without ever betraying the tone of the film as a whole. Definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed the crap out of it.
3. Blade Runner 2049
Denis Villeneuve is, to put it simply, probably the most impressive and consistent director of the 2010s so far, and taking on a challenge like this was surely going to be the movie that would put him to the test more than anything he'd ever done before. That was before it was announced he planned on directing an upcoming Dune movie, but after this, I don't doubt him at all. Following up Blade Runner was never going to be a simple task but while that film was tighter in its direction, there is a world-building epic scope to this movie that rivals any film universe I've ever seen. While the first movie built a believable city, Blade Runner 2049 constructed a functioning universe and society. The cinematography, art direction, and set design are all so beautiful, even without this sense of wonder and creativity it would still be a joy to watch. The plot offer some genuine surprises, and while it's hard to even compare this to the original, I honestly probably liked it even better.
2. John Wick: Chapter 2
Oh dear, what can I even say here without sounding like a total nimrod for putting it above all these other films? The first John Wick was solid, above average entertainment with an interesting character history. But like no other action sequel I can think of, this movie took what worked about the first one and improved it in every possible way conceivable. The action hits hard, the choreography and cinematography are totally in sync and impressive, the humor is amped up without being too silly, and the overall look and feel moving from setting to setting is varied and surprisingly gorgeous. Remember me mentioning earlier how giddy I was during Kong? This is that other movie I was referencing. I was laughing and excited the entire movie just by how damn awesome it was. I felt like I was watching The Raid again for the first time, only here I couldn't hold in just how much I was loving it. If you don't love action movies, you probably won't have an emotional reaction to it like I had, but there was something so satisfying about this whole experience in every way, I can't see how anything else could have entertained me more all year. And this was the most entertained I was by a movie in 2017, but this next film is one that hit me on so many different levels, John Wick never could have even come close to taking the #1 spot on this list...
1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Even with all the praise I offered the rest of these movies, there was never going to be anything else in this spot. What this film managed to accomplish in so many different directions is not only impressive to me, but I don't even know how it was possible. Taking the simple story of a mother confronting local police about their ineffective procedures in bringing to justice the rapists and murderers of her daughter, McDonagh has crafted a complete vision of a community shaken by the methods she has implemented to call attention to their ineptitude. Where a more simple movie might have focused solely on the mother's battle, this movie shifts to different perspectives allowing her son, ex-husband, friends, members of the police, and their families to develop through as little as single scenes as fully realized and believable humans. These aren't just characters, they're people, with quirks, history, and emotional baggage of their own. In only two scenes in the whole film, John Hawkes is able to craft a completely detailed man -- and he's just one single example.
This isn't even mentioning the emotional tightrope this film walks, boucing back and forth between hard-hitting drama and comedy without so much as a pause for breath. An interrogation scene between Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson is a perfect example of this, starting out as a verbal sparring match, instantly transforming into a genuine moment of concern in a millisecond. Another scene involving an altercation McDormand has with her daughter uses a hard cut to punctuate an initially humorous exchange with the sobering reality of her untimely, violent death. Never before had I seen a film so effectively find the balance between humor and tragedy.
Performance-wise, this is among the finest ensemble casts ever. And it's not just the big names of the actors, but how well they are all put to use. With the single exception of Abbie Cornish (who only has a couple scenes), the entire cast is perfectly in-tune with the tone of the movie at any given time, with Sam Rockwell particularly standing out as a shocking sort of character prone to chilling violent outbursts, often coming across as a dopey kid who never really grew up. His stumbling, bumbling personality never feels put on or cartoonish, and his relationship to Woody Harrelson takes on added weight in the second half of the film when you begin to see his character transform before your eyes.
I've already come a little too close to spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, so I'll cut myself off now, but just realizing how much I've been forced to exclude from this write-up has reminded me of how much I need to watch this movie again and make a fully detailed analysis of it as I have never done with another film before. While I would hesitate to call this a perfect movie, this is about as close to perfect as I could expect anything to ever be. Martin McDonagh has directed 3 terrific films now, but I don't think it's possible he could ever top this. Pretty much no one could ever top this. It's the best movie of 2017 by a mile.
Thanks for reading, and hopefully you've got some new movies to look into. If your tastes are anything like mine, it'll be worth it.
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