The Best Movies of 2017

This marks the first year since 2014 that there was no all-time great movie for me, but there was still plenty of excellent cinema to spread around. And thus, I have written my annual list of the best movies that I've seen this year. I was only able to catch six out of the nine Best Picture nominees, but I honestly just wasn't interested in some of them. Per the norm, I've filled the major categories but made a few extra ones so that I can celebrate great movies that don't fit quite into those. For anyone looking for just a ranked list, I have a TL;DR at the bottom of the blog, as always, but my mini reviews are always worth your time!

A big DISCLAIMER: I did not see every film in theaters during 2017, and I did not always agree with the critical or general reception of every film. These are my personal opinions, but are weighted with cinematic critique in mind. Sadly, I wasn't able to see any documentaries this year (again), nor did I see any good foreign films, so both of those categories are missing. After each winner, I will also mark down my Oscar predictions, so we can see how well I do this year! But first, my dis/honorable mentions!



Movies to Forget

Beauty and the Beast
Kong: Skull Island
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
Star Wars: The Last Jedi



Movies That Just Missed the Cut

Blade Runner 2049
Coco
The Dark Tower (super fun sci-fi Western that got way too much hate)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
John Wick: Chapter 2
Justice League (yes, I actually enjoyed this one!)
The Lost City of Z
mother!
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Wonder Woman



Movies I Didn't Get a Chance to Catch

All the Money in the World
The Big Sick
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
The Post


Finally, here are the Best Movies of 2017 according to Robert, along with my Oscar predictions.




Oscar Predictions for Categories Unrepresented

Costume Design - Phantom Thread
Documentary (Feature) - Strong Island
Documentary (Short Subject) - Traffic Stop
Film Editing - Dunkirk
Foreign Language Film - A Fantastic Woman
Makeup and Hairstyling - Darkest Hour
Production Design - Dunkirk
Short Film (Live Action) - Watu Wote/All of Us
Short Film (Animated) - Dear Basketball (just because I want Kobe to win an Oscar)




Best Swan Song: Logan

In what is likely to be Hugh Jackman’s final appearance as Wolverine, he turned in his best performance to date and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest heroes to come to life on the big screen. This is a much darker, hopeless version of Logan that we haven’t seen before, and director James Mangold creates a perfect modern Western to fit around the final days of the clawed crusader. Logan no longer holds back in his ruthless attacks, slicing people apart, while also dealing with a newfound daughter, a very mentally unstable Charles Xavier, and his own impending death from metal poisoning. In a tribute to the Western classic Shane, we get the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight and a fitting end to Wolverine and his tragic tale. I don't think there could have been a better way to sendoff this iconic character. On a side note, the black and white version of this, called Logan Noir, makes the film even more amazing and artistic, and I almost wish that was how they had released it.

One could also make an argument for War for the Planet of the Apes here and its heartbreaking finale to the epic of Caesar, but nothing can beat Jackman and his melancholy performance in Logan.



Best Visual Effects: War for the Planet of the Apes

I have long been a proponent for the new Planet of the Apes trilogy and its wonderful visual effects, consistently giving us photorealistic depictions of humanoid apes, and making you often forget that what you're watching was generated by a computer. This harrowing conclusion to the retelling of Caesar's story includes a menacing role by Woody Harrelson and a story that continues to surprise, being yet another modern Western in 2017 that I loved. Yes, I LOVE Westerns. But Andy Serkis continues to go unrecognized for his brilliance as a motion capture actor, and I am absolutely certain that he will eventually be one of those people that the Academy gives an honorary award (like Jackie Chan) for his amazing career, including this emotional performance as an ape.


Dunkirk had fantastic practical effects throughout, and Blade Runner 2049 was mesmerizing with its recreation of an enormous Los Angeles, but the personal level that the CGI was used for in War for the Planet of the Apes is incomparable.

OSCAR PREDICTION: War for the Planet of the Apes (although Blade Runner 2049 is going to make this extremely close)



Best Supporting Actress: Elizabeth Olsen (Wind River)

Wind River was one of the most underrated films of 2017, with (yes...) a modern Western set in the far reaches of Wyoming that includes beautiful scenic shots, a great story, and a perfect cast. Elizabeth Olsen, in particular, plays a rookie FBI agent sent in to investigate a murder-rape case on an Indian reservation, and must deal with her lack of resources and communication. She has moments of helplessness, but most of the time acts very decisively and shows tremendous inner strength, especially during a trailer scene where she must battle a temporary weakness. It's fair to state that the third of the Olsen sisters has shown the most acting talent thus far, and so deserves this award.

Dafne Keen was wonderful as a mini she-Wolverine in Logan, and Laurie Metcalf was a scene stealer as a struggling mother in Lady Bird, but I loved Olsen in Wind River more than both of them.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)




Best Animated Film: The LEGO Batman Movie

I cannot believe that The Boss Baby got nominated over The LEGO Batman Movie. There are no excuses for the Academy's second dismissal of a fantastic animated film, and every single voter should be ashamed of themselves. This was not only a great animated film, but probably one of the most true movies to Batman as he is in the comics. Sure, there’s tons of fun meanderings, between laughing at Jerry Maguire to the Joker teaming up with Sauron and Voldemort. But The LEGO Batman Movie truly impressed me with how it captured a key part of Batman that’s never really been touched on in cinema before: his fear of losing his friends and family, and how that colors all of his interactions with them. Will Arnett and Zach Galifianakis are both hilarious in their respective roles as Batman and the Joker, and Chris McKay succeeds in recapturing that frenetic energy and fun that the first LEGO movie brought to the table. This is a truly wonderful film for the whole family, and especially Batman fans, to enjoy!

Coco had some very touching moments, despite being a copy of The Book of Life, and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie was super fun and a throwback to my childhood reading those books, but neither come close to The LEGO Batman Movie.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Coco (because it has ZERO competition)



Best Music: Hans Zimmer (Dunkirk)

The combination of Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan has always given us fantastic and creative musical scores, and Dunkirk is no different. Zimmer uses ear-shattering synthesizer crescendos that mimic the sound of a heartbeat, a ship’s turbine, and even an airplane propeller. The technical sound of his music adds to the absorbing visuals of Dunkirk, making you feel even more in the moment and aware of the terrors of war. But he still gives us uplifting strings when appropriate, stirring your heart at the sight of hundreds of civilian ships coming to the rescue. I’ve yet to be disappointed by the music in a Nolan film, and Zimmer has continued to establish himself as one of the greatest composers of our time.

Baby Driver was as close to a great musical as I'll ever enjoy with its superb timing, and Beauty and the Beast had some good original songs, but neither were as immersive as Zimmer's score for Dunkirk.

OSCAR PREDICTION: John Williams (Star Wars: The Last Jedi)



Best Ensemble Cast: Logan Lucky

Who better to make a Ocean's Seven-Eleven than the original Ocean's Trilogy director himself, Steven Soderbergh? And just like that trilogy, this heist film has a great story with snappy dialogue all supported by a phenomenal cast. Channing Tatum does a solid job as the film's lead, but Adam Driver and Daniel Craig are what make it truly great, with Driver as an unwilling accomplice and Craig as an extremely smart yet dull thief ("We are dealing with science here!"). Even the small actors in the prison scenes are hilarious ("We want the newest Game of Thrones book! The show has gone past what we have so there has to be a new one!") and just make this Southern Robin Hood film that much more enjoyable. If you're looking for a film with meaning, look for another one, but if you're looking for fun combined with some nice twists, this is for you.

Dunkirk and It Comes at Night are both defined by the power of their cast more than any individual member, but the life that the actors bring to Logan Lucky is a huge part of its enjoyability.



Best Cinematic Song: Bellbottoms (Baby Driver)

"Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Right now I got to tell you about the fabulous, most groovy, bellbottoms!"

And with that, we kick off an adrenaline-pumping chase scene to start off an incredibly fun and action-packed film filled with heart. Baby Driver was the closest thing to a great musical in 2017, and its opening scene perfectly encapsulates that feeling of glee. Everything is in time with the music, from the closing of doors to windshield wipers moving, and even with the camera movements and cuts. Everything about this masterpiece from Edgar Wright oozes style, and the soundtrack plays a huge role in that. But what I applaud most is how in one scene, with no dialogue, we figure out exactly what life Baby is living (dabbling in the criminal world but not wanting to be a part of it) and what kind of story to expect. If not for this song's perfection, the coffee scene or parking garage scene could just as easily take home this award for Baby Driver as well.

I really enjoyed the new song Evermore in Beauty and the Beast, and Remember Me has a heartwarming meaning in Coco, but Bellbottoms still takes the cake for Baby Driver.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Remember Me (Coco)



Best Supporting Actor: Will Poulter (Detroit)

Who knew that Eustace from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would become such a malicious villain in Detroit? Will Poulter gives a showstopping performance under Kathryn Bigelow's direction, creating a shadow of menace that rivals that of Anton Chigurh and Heath Ledger's Joker. In a hyperrealistic portrayal of the race riots in 1967 Detroit, Poulter plays a police officer who goes far above the law in rooting out a shooter in a house of teenagers, beating people and showing an itchy trigger finger that makes the safety of black lives in constant danger when in his presence. The best example of this is when he starts taking his captives one by one into side rooms and pretending to execute them, driving fear into the others and confusion into his fellow officers, so much that all police forces besides his city squad leave because they realize what is happening is wrong and that they want no part of it. He often tries to explain away his violence and maintains a "Oh, I'm innocent!" facade throughout that probably even he believes. Poulter brings this horrible, real person to life in a way on the screen that will haunt me for years.

Gil Burmingham was heartbreaking as a mourning father in Wind River, while Jamie Foxx was the perfect over-the-top villain in Baby Driver, but Poulter was astonishing in Detroit.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri)



Best Sound Effects: Dunkirk



I already went over how amazingly Hans Zimmer incorporated war sounds into his score for Dunkirk, and honestly, there is little more to add to that because the music and sound effects for this film are often one and the same. The airplanes sound terrifying, especially when they first dive bomb onto an open beach, screeching down before dropping thundering bombs. The film opens with complete silence as flyers fall in a French town, before it erupts with ear-splitting gunfire and an immediate sense of danger. Being inside a plane or the underbelly of a boat sounds like you're right there with these soldiers, enduring not only the visual horrors that they witness, but experiencing the aural cacophony that they had to endure every second. I cannot praise the sound work in this film enough, making Dunkirk a shoo-in for me.

Get Out had some amazing sound effects, including the mesmerizing teaspoon, and It Comes at Night relies heavily on silence and quiet sounds to drive up the suspense, but neither can boast the immersive display of Dunkirk.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Sound Editing - Dunkirk
OSCAR PREDICTION: Sound Mixing - Dunkirk



Best Celebration of a Terrible Film: The Disaster Artist

Although this is more of a dramedy than a pure comedy, The Disaster Artist is still filled with great moments, primarily of the awkward variety. It follows the creation of the worst film ever made, The Room, and we get to experience the full oddities of misguided filmmaker Tommy Wiseau and his incapability to understand American culture completely. Lead actor and director James Franco does a great job capturing the trainwreck of a film production that birthed The Room, as well as still showing us Wiseau’s humanity, honest motives, and destructive jealousy. One of my favorite moments features Wiseau and new friend Greg Sestero (played excellently by James’ brother, Dave Franco) acting a play aloud in the middle of diner, which is equal parts cringey, humorous, and touching. That’s the beauty of this film; it gives us the hilarious bizarreness of Wiseau while tempering it with the desperate emotions of Wiseau and his desire to pursue his dreams, even if he didn’t quite have the talent to do so.

I can't think of any other film from 2017 that would fit this category, so yeah, The Disaster Artist!



Best Screenplay: Jordan Peele (Get Out)

Jordan Peele has done a masterful job of creating a very believable circumstance in Get Out that relies heavily on subtlety, as I mentioned before. There are many, many hints at a sinister plot in the background without ever being obvious, and when the reveal finally comes, it floors you. But the true genius of Get Out’s writing comes from its uncomfortably accurate depiction of how many people, even liberals who “would’ve voted a third time for Obama,” can have an undercurrent of racism coloring everything that they say and do when interacting with other races, specifically between white and black people in Get Out. In an effort to show their appreciation for other races, they end up undermining them and showing their own ignorance. Peele has constructed these exchanges beautifully and they make Get Out worth seeing if only for these moments between the thrills.

Baby Driver and Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri had some great dialogue while It Comes at Night and Wind River had tense plots, but none of them can touch the originality of Get Out.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Adapted Screenplay - James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name)
OSCAR PREDICTION: Original Screenplay - Jordan Peele (Get Out)




Best Leading Actress: Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)

Best known for her supporting roles in Paddington and Blue Jasmine, Sally Hawkins floored me with her brilliant role in The Shape of Water as a mute janitor at a laboratory in 60’s Baltimore. Director Guillermo del Toro established early on the loneliness of her character, and her desire to be accepted for who she is instead of people always looking down on her because of her disability. She finds a kindred spirit in the unnamed amphibious creature that she finds captured in the laboratory, and their romance touches you in ways you didn’t think the weird fiction genre was capable of doing. Hawkins has to do so much acting through her facial expressions due to her character’s muteness, along with pronounced hand gestures and body language, but she conveys her emotions so well despite these limitations. In the first big leading role that I’ve seen from Hawkins, she empowers this film and helps to make it great, along with a chilling performance from Michael Shannon, and well deserves this award.

Vicky Krieps had a beautiful subtle role in Phantom Thread and Frances McDormand was a great antihero to root for in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, but Hawkins stole my heart.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri)



Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Some people may criticize the lack of dialogue in Dunkirk (which I don’t agree with but understand), but no one can criticize the visual masterwork that director Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema have created. Every shot does its best to capture the sensations of the moment it is presenting. When the planes are flying over the ocean, you can feel the enormity of its size and the danger of crashing amidst such a broad expanse of water. When the soldiers are trapped on a sinking tugboat, you experience their claustrophobia and fear of getting shot like fish in a barrel with no way to return fire. When oil atop the waves sets afire, you sense the helplessness of the soldiers trapped between two ways to die; either drowning beneath the water or immolating on its surface. Every scene in this film is perfectly framed and shot, creating a work of art that will studied and referenced for years to come. Nolan and van Hoytema continue to show their incredible chemistry behind the camera and I eagerly await their next go-round.

Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit) and Trey Edward Schultz (It Comes at Night) showed mastery over tension in their films, but Nolan remains king with Dunkirk.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk) [I hope so, so very much]



Best Leading Actor: Jeremy Renner (Wind River)

Wind River, as I said before, is a fantastic modern Western, written and directed by Taylor Sheridan (his first directing job after writing Sicario and Hell or High Water), but Renner actually turns in the best performance of his career as a hunter on an Indian reservation in Wyoming. Renner was amazing in The Hurt Locker, but he does even BETTER in Wind River, showing a reserved, gentle nature that gives way to cold violence when necessary. He helps a rookie FBI agent, played well by awarded Elizabeth Olsen, to track down the rapist/murderer of a young girl that used to be friends with his own daughter who went missing, and you can feel the personal vendetta surging behind his calm stature. He shows emotion, determination, and skill as this damaged cowboy, and often carries the film during some of its lesser sequences, as well as driving home the power of its greater sequences. If you’ve enjoyed Sheridan’s other films, or the older Westerns featuring John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, you will love this thriller and Renner’s phenomenal performance in it.

Hugh Jackman (Logan) and Andy Serkis (War for the Planet of the Apes) deserve accolades for their final performances as each role in their respective films, and Joel Edgerton is riveting in It Comes at Night, but Renner was absolutely amazing in Wind River.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)



Best Cinematography: Drew Daniels (It Comes at Night)



I feel like I've mentioned It Comes at Night so much in all of the honorable mention sections thus far that most readers are wondering what film I keep raving about. Trey Edward Schultz has sculpted a horror masterpiece that plays out like a true Walking Dead situation, only with far less soap operaness and far more terrifying realities. Part of the terror that drenches It Comes at Night comes from the fact that you never see any zombies or monsters of any kind; you only are aware of them from dialogue and the way anyone tenses up when they are out in the open or out in the night's darkness. This paranoid survival thriller also features some of the best cinematography ever used in a horror film, with long shots of empty hallways and small close-ups on faces that reveal hidden emotions. Drew Daniels has worked with Schultz to create a visual masterpiece that keeps you riveted at every second, regardless of whether anything is happening or not. If you ever want to see a great story told more in images than words (without the blasting sound of Dunkirk), pick this one up.

Of course, Dunkirk had amazing cinematography, and Blade Runner 2049, The Shape of Water, and Wind River all have terrific work as well, but none will ever be as mesmerizing as It Comes at Night.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049) [Although it will be very close with Hoyte van Hoytema for his work on Dunkirk]




Best Film: Dunkirk

That's right, Christopher Nolan finally gets to bring home the award he should have been given years ago for The Dark Knight. One of the absolute best things about Dunkirk is its ability to engross you in the warzone of the French beaches, which involves many special effects and highly impressive practical effects. We live through a dive bombing run where soldiers can do nothing but helplessly lie flat on the beach. We suffer with the men drowning in sinking ships, torpedoed yet again by a Nazi U-boat. We watch in terror as the pilots try desperately to shoot down enemy fighters and bombers, protecting the soldiers retreating below them. Everything in this film is focused on immersing the audience in a nightmarish warzone, which I think many moviegoers missed.

The highest praise that I can ever give to a film is for me to WANT to see it more than twice in theaters. I saw Dunkirk four times, including three times in IMAX. There are rarely films that truly take advantage of that big silver screen like they used to, with many being just fine on a small screen at home (ahem, Lady Bird, Three Billboards, etc.). Gravity, The Revenant, and Mad Max: Fury Road are the most recent films that come to mind, and I would easily put Dunkirk up on that pedestal with them. I feel like I have totally overused this word at this point, but this movie is IMMERSIVE in the truest sense of the word. The enormous spectacle of it all cannot be contained within my measly living room television: it HAS to be seen in a theater to get the true experience.

As a parting word, I want to defend Dunkirk a bit against the many people I have seen that hated on it. There is very little dialogue; because how much dialogue do you think actually happens on a battlefield besides the bare necessities? Also, many films have proven that having no dialogue and acting with other means can be just as effective and take just as much acting skill (The Revenant, The Shape of Water, etc.). The dialogue is sometimes very hard to hear: this was absolutely intentional with the goal of making us, the audience, experience the same kind of tinnitus and hearing loss that these soldiers are going through, also their lack of focus on each other's words. There is no real story: I wholeheartedly disagree, since this film has multiple stories that are interwoven in an ingenious way, connecting multiple timelines and using moments of tension across all of them to keep the film moving and creating unique sequences such as when we fear for the pilot trying to shoot down the bomber while hoping the soldiers escape a sinking ship. This film's story is to create characters and situations that are unique to their predicament, and there are no other war films that have ever done that as well as Dunkirk has. The only comparison to be made would be the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, which has (what?) not much dialogue or names and a whole lot of noise.

I also absolutely LOVED Wind River, which got absolutely no recognition in awards season and almost made me give it the win in protest. I could not decide until the day before the Oscars whether I liked Wind River or Dunkirk more. But in the end, I went with the film that was a cinematic work of art that made me wanting more from it, and so Dunkirk is my Best Film of 2017.

OSCAR PREDICTION: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (but PLEASE Dunkirk!)



TL;DR

1. Dunkirk (Best Film, Best Director, Best Music, Best Sound Effects)
2. Wind River (Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actress)
3. It Comes at Night (Best Cinematography)
4. Get Out (Best Screenplay)
5. Logan (Best Swan Song)
6. The Shape of Water (Best Leading Actress)
7. Detroit (Best Supporting Actor)
8. War for the Planet of the Apes (Best Visual Effects)
9. Baby Driver (Best Cinematic Song)
10. The Disaster Artist (Best Celebration of a Terrible Film)
11. Logan Lucky (Best Ensemble Cast)


Thanks for enjoying my personal awards, and thanks especially to those of you who read through my lists each year! I'm always eager to see who ends up winning the Oscars, but I'm happy with what I've chosen here and always am. Please, comment with any opinions or suggestions and make your own lists!