2017 was a pretty great year for movies. I didn’t get to see as many as last year with having to move to California, and my girlfriend having to leave Cinemark. But I managed to see a lot of the great ones that came out this year. Honestly, I didn’t really see any of the ones that seemed like they would be Oscar contenders. I’m honestly not even sure which films of the year are movies the Oscars would nominate other than the fantastic Shape of Water. I barely even watched artsy indies this year. Whatever. I watched a bunch of mainstream films, and it felt good!
10) Logan Lucky
It’s funny. Channing Tatum was in Kingsmen: The Golden Circle this year playing a stereotypical hick. He was an agent, but something about him just rubbed me stupid. He’s also a hick in this film, but he’s not hindered by any of those stupid stereotypes!
Nope. He’s a level-headed, hard working person who wants the best for everyone around him. And that shit is refreshing! Not to mention, this thing is hilarious thanks to its star studded cast starring the likes of Kylo Ren and Channing Tatum. And you know this has to be one of the funniest movies of the year given Daniel Craig is playing a buffed up, white trash crackhead.
9) It
Tim Curry scared the hell out of me when I was in elementary school. I don’t know how I felt about clowns before I watched It, but it may have something to do with why I view them now as murderous rapists.
Come a decade later, and a remake of that haunting film is coming out. I’m an adult now, so it’s harder for me to get scared. And I’m honestly not expecting many scares given the clown doesn’t look too scary from the images. And I was right, he wasn’t too scary. Instead, the real highlight of the film this time were the kids. We get to see everyone of their problems, and how they united to get away from those problems. That’s the true treat.
8) Okja
In Snowpiercer, there was this weird, loose ass connection I made. It was regarding the baby eating Chris Evans. And it’s been a while since I seen the movie and thought this, so it might be a bit sloppy but here goes. Chris would eat babies to survive, and that was ok. But once the option of that green soylent became available, it would be messed up to eat anymore babies. Still though, green soylent tastes like ass and babies taste 10x better; would it be okay to hunger for them still? How is this any different from us with meat is what I thought.
Anyways, that was just where I was at the time, and I don’t think Bong thought about those things through a vegetarian’s lens. But this film definitely does, and it makes me reconsider. Especially with Okja‘s take on CAFO’s and eating things that can be loved.
7) The Lego Batman Movie
I did not think this would be as good as it was. You thought I would’ve learned from The Lego Movie. That looked like a joke, but I eventually saw it (several times). It is one of my favorite animated movies ever. I thought that even though that movie rocked, this one didn’t look like it had the originality or humor to match.
I was so wrong. The Lego Batman Movie brings the fantastic Lego animation to the screen again with a hilarious take on Batman’s loneliness.
6) The Big Sick
All I knew about have this film was that people were raving about it. I missed my chance of seeing it at the theatre unfortunately, but I still managed to see it without knowing anything. And boy what a treat that is.
I don’t want to take that away from you, so all I will say is that it shows a beautiful story of a Pakistani-American in America being tugged a part by his two sides.
5) Baby Driver
A lot of people talk about the music in regards to this film. Honestly, I didn’t focus on that when I seen it (that’s something I’ll have to look at on a second viewing); instead, I focused on the delicious car chases, the badass violence, and the characters, some screwed up, some hopeful.
All of this is stitched together by the master of film, Edgar Wright, with his signature style of, well, lavish ass style.
4) Your Name
We’re all Ghibli-heads. But that’s about as far as I go. Some anime but not much. So if there’s a new Ghibli film, you’ll know I’ll check that shit out. Is that a mistake though? Have I been missing high caliber anime like Your Name? I hope not.
That’s because this anime film is the best animated film of 2017 (sorry Will Arnett). The visuals are absolutely mesmerizing with all the 2D layers creating a parallax feeling. And the story is so beautiful.
3) The Disaster Artist
Its the weekend. I’ve never seen The Room, and I want to check out The Disaster Artist. So I watch The Room with my girlfriend on YouTube in preparation. I’d seen some of the infamous snippets, so I knew what I was getting into. Still though, what a hilarious, nuts ass film. The storyboard editing was so damn poor, I thought the YouTube version of the film I was watching was broken!
The next day I would be ready for The Disaster Artist. I didn’t think it would be this damn good though. Not only is it hilarious, not only is James Franco masterful at the New Orleans accent, and not only is it super heartfelt, but the lore goes deep! You really feel like you’re getting a behind the scenes look at how The Room was made, and it’s delectable!
2) War for the Planet of the Apes
From an alright movie (that was so much more satisfying the second viewing) to an amazing action packed, visually amazing, beautiful sequel, there were some high hopes for this sequel. Could Caesar be in possibly a better film? I think so.
We are thrown into Caesar’s new world created from the aftermath of the second film, and it’s not pretty. From new ape social dynamics as well as human social dynamics to even more heartfelt scenes to actually a very funny ape, War wraps up the trilogy in the absolute most beautiful and satisfying way possible.
1) Logan
Captain America: Winter Soldier showed me how great super hero films could be if the action hit hard, and if their story had more mature themes. Same with the devastating Civil War. But boy does Logan make it look like Winter Soldier has little peanuts inside of its sack.
I always thought that Winter Soldier took notes from the absolutely solid fighting choreography that was in Raid Redemption. And I still believe that. But Logan took the bone breaking viciousness from the Raid series. People die in Logan through ways pretty much unseen in a Marvel film. Sure, Deadpool kind of had some of this, but that movie is a comedy. It was laugh worthy in Deadpool. In this, it’s dig-your-nails-into-your-chair worthy.
Anyways bravo to Fox for allowing Logan to go where no superhero film has ever gone before. But also bravo to them for sending Logan off this way. It’s weird to say because I doubt Fox is done making movies of Wolverine, but this feels like the ultimate conclusion to his life. I grew up watching the X-Men movies with Hugh Jackman, and I loved them. There’s just something so special seeing Xavier and Logan over a decade later come back to these characters and give them such a depressingly beautiful goodbye.
Honorable Mentions
So this month I managed to check out three films from last year: The Shape of Water, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and Thor: Ragnarok. They kicked ass. Yet I already made the list and everything. I didn’t want to change the order, and it was too hard thinking which films were better (obviously not Jumanji). Shape of Water looked damn amazing ranging from the set pieces and colors to the humanlike creature while also bringing political thoughts in an absolutely beautiful way; Jumanji was just a super fun time with some of the best crowd working actors in show business right now; and Thor: Ragnarok put to shame those weak ass movies before it by raising the goofiness and color saturation all the way up.
I also had Silence originally on this list, but then I seen Logan Lucky. Sorry Scorsese, you’re still one of the best out there though. I really liked how complicated this film was; it wasn’t just completely one sided bullshit like God is Dead.
And in a year of amazing superhero films, Spiderman: Homecoming kind of gets overshadowed. It’s still great though, and Tom Holland shows why Spiderman is so great.
I don’t think 2016 was this good, so I’m really excited for 2018. I don’t know of many movies coming out this year, but I know Steve McQueen is working on Widows, and that sounds super dope. Then there’s Avengers: Infinity War, which will blow away many super hero films as well as the two films before it now that the Russo Brothers are in charge. So here’s hoping that 2018 turns out as good as expected and that 2018 has some surprises up its sleeve.