2017: A Year of Movies

I doubt that this will come as a surprise, but after a year, I still haven't learned to be responsible with my money, but thankfully I don't have to worry about paying for movies, thanks to my Odeon Limitless membership, which I've used about 50 times this year, and that's not a joke, I counted my tickets, 58 times to be exact. This of course means that I've watched even more movies this year, making this my hardest top ten list to date, by a considerable margin. And as usual, I still haven't seen every film released in 2017, so I'm sure there are some out there that would be on the list had I watched them, but of the ones I did, these are my favourites, organised into a neat little list because top tens are popular, for some reason.

Honourable mentions include Wonder Woman; the fact that a Wonder Woman movie turned out not only to not be complete shit, but the best thing DC's come out with since The Dark Knight, still boggles my mind, it's a pretty good film, but still not film of the year material, at least for me.
Life; a solid science fiction horror film that did follow most of the familiar beats of the genre, not really breaking any sort of mold, but it had cool characters, a fascinating monster, and an ending that scared the living fuck out of me, which instantly gives the film top marks in my book, as it really doesn't happen often, not like that anyway.
Ghost in the Shell; I film surrounded by controversy, one I've written about at length, and a film that, I felt, did a lot right, a lot more than it was given credit for by the vast majority of reviewers. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but a lot of the strengths from the anime were adapted very well, and in some aspects, I even thought it made improvements, like making the characters better and interspersing its philosophy with some really enjoyable action sequences, good film, would recommend.
And the dishonourable mention goes to The Emoji Movie, because fuck The Emoji Movie, enough said.

Number 10 is Blade Runner 2049. I can imagine you'll be seeing this film at the high end of a lot of people's top 10s, but not me. Without a doubt, this is the most technically proficient film of the year, maybe even of the past few years, with stunning visual effects, a bleak and oppressive soundtrack, and cinematography that is literally second to none. The film has an intriguing story and excellent characters, but does struggle with a pace that something gets really hard to sit through, but the things it gets right are impossible to ignore, so here it is at number 10.

Number 9 was a hard one, since it was either Thor: Ragnarok or Wonder Woman, but after a good amount of weighing it up, I decided to make the less advisable move of picking Thor. Wonder Woman had its strengths, that is undeniable, but it also had its weaknesses, it had the badass Trench scene, and some sweet scenes with Steve Trevor and Diana, but then it had a really dumb big final battle that seemed to confuse the film's morals. My biggest complaint with Thor: Ragnarok was that it made too many jokes, I liked pretty much everything else, so, number 9.

Number 8 is one of two films on this list that I never reviewed, because I was too lazy to do it, you know me, I don't make excuses for myself. But just like its predecessor which I also loved, War for the Planet of the Apes has a long title, and is a film where I never knew what to expect, since it was such a splendid example of good story telling. It's twists and turns are numerous and effective, it's characters are terrific, even if they consist almost entirely of CG apes, the CG work and motion capture has never been and probably won't be done better until they make the next one, and the film is dark, like really dark, a bit rough to watch even, impressive for a film about talking monkeys, and it rounds out what's probably one of the best movie trilogies in recent years.

 

Number 7 is a film that would always have been on the list, even if, like Planet of the Apes, I didn't review it, Edgar Wright's latest masterpiece; Baby Driver. Baby Driver is certainly the most stylish film of the year that I've seen, with fantastic directing, very stylish and high energy editing, brilliantly snappy writing, and some seriously sweet car chases that completely make the film, that and the soundtrack, good god, the soundtrack. Baby Driver was a cracking film that I'd gladly have watched again, had my local cinema still been showing it, which for some weird reason they weren't.

 

Number 6 is the latest in my favourite dead movie genre; the Western, only it's disguised as a superhero film for more audience appeal because it's also an X-men film, that's right, it's Logan. Everything that needs to be said about this film has already been said, many times, by many people, with its grim, depressing portrayals of heroes who have fallen from grace, a uniquely small sense of scale in it's very effective story, and a few scenes that are completely heart breaking, including possibly the most satisfying ending to a superhero story that the genre has seen. It's hard hitting stuff, with a style completely dethatched from the flashy, larger than life X-men franchise, it's unique, brutal, and film of the year material through and through.

 

And on the complete opposite end of the scale is number 5, The Lego Batman Movie, a superhero movie that isn't dark, or bleak, or brutal, in fact what little that it does have in common with Logan is that it's not really much of a superhero movie, and that it's also amazing. The Lego Batman Movie has probably my second favourite portrayal of Batman, as not only does he have all of his Batmanisms, but the film relentlessly spoofs them at every chance it gets. Just how extensive and how merciless it's piss-taking of Batman is is funny enough, but on top of that, it's also really clever; similar to The Lego Movie, it's not just a standard animated film, it's one with something to say, and its message isn't shoehorned, it's woven seamlessly into this film's comedy, which is on overdrive, even by Lego Movie standards, its jokes are fast, witty, and brutally constant, and the film is a complete blast from beginning to end.

 

Number 4 is a film that, to my surprise, isn't in the number 1 slot this year, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Yes, this film is very heavily debated among Star Wars fans, with some saying it sucks, and others saying it's brilliant, and seemingly no common ground at all; with the debate starting to get a bit too dogmatic in my opinion, only time will tell which side is right, but for now, I still think it's a pretty great movie. Narrative flaws aside, the film is thematically genius, beautifully directed, and tells a story that boldly forces you to leave all of your predictions and expectations at the door. But it is those narrative flaws; the forced conflicts, entire Canto Bight subplot, and the really sloppy romance, that hold it back from true greatness for me. That doesn't change the fact that when Poe was taking on a Dreadnought in his puny X-Wing, I was losing my mind with excitement, so it's still in the top 5.

 

Swooping in (pun intended, obviously) at number 3 is Dunkirk, a very peculiar film in a lot of ways, mainly in its narrative decisions, the relative lack of characterisation and the non-linear storytelling, but what the film offers instead is something far, far more impactful; a sense of dread and peril unlike anything any film this year has produced. This film's greatest strength is its ability to stop your breathing for prolonged periods, as the threat of death looms for literally every second of the film, and if this is getting a little emotive, it's because I'm listening to the Dunkirk soundtrack while writing this, and it's making me anxious just hearing it. Dunkirk is a very simple yet immensely effective film, and it's a film that I love for all of its perfections, and hate for how scared for my safety it makes me.

 

Something a bit less stressful than Dunkirk is number 2; Paddington 2, the most adorable, lovable, charming, and just darn cute film of the year. I still have no shame in the fact that among my favourite films are Paddington and its sequel, because there's just so much good dripping off of them, not just in terms of quality, but in terms of spirit, they're just so nice, Paddington is such a positive, joyous character to watch, and the sequel does the original justice in every way. The comedy is still relentless, the heart is still there, except it's even more gut punching in the sequel, and Paddington's love for everyone around him is heart melting, my love for this film is probably a little unhealthy, but I don't care, number 2, Paddington 2.

 

On second thought, maybe my love of my number 1 is even more unhealthy, at least there isn't a framed poster of Paddington 2 hanging in the upstairs hall, yet, unlike my favourite film of 2017, which is IT, and that part about the framed poster, yeah, that's true. Like my first time watching Wonder Woman, I went into IT very cautiously, knowing that it being completely terrible was a very real possibility, but instead IT ended up being easily the most moving film I've seen all year. And when I say moving, I mean completely grab me and not let go, spark an autistic obsession with a film, one that dragged me back to the cinema another 5 times, 2 of those times with a note pad, one that made me frame a poster of the film and hang it in my house, buy the book, buy the original miniseries on Blu-ray, frame my fucking cinema ticket and put it next to my framed Godzilla IMAX ticket (also true), I was obsessed, and was so for about 2 months. IT excels at basically everything that it does; it's a nail biting horror, a touching drama, a rib-tickling comedy, an intense thriller, and an intriguing mystery, and somehow the film juggles all of these things and doesn't become a train wreck, with a cast of characters that is unparalleled in the genre, and an unforgettable villain. Yes, I'm gushing, but what did you expect, I wrote a 4000 word analysis of this film, of all the films I've seen this year, no film has been as burned into my brain as IT, so it has to be my number 1, it can't not be.

 

And now you know what films I loved in 2017, and like I said at the beginning, there are a lot of films that I haven't seen; The shape of Water would almost certainly be on this list had I seen it, and films like Coco, Detroit, Darkest Hour and Only the Brave, films I would probably really like, I either haven't seen or haven't had the chance to see, I also skipped dumpster fires like Fifty Shades Darker because this is only a hobby and I'm not an idiot, ignoring the fact that I did see The Emoji Movie for just a second. This list is also just my stupid opinion, so if you think IT or The Last Jedi are bad films, that's cool, because every arsehole like myself has their own opinion, so feel free to disagree, or to think that I've given IT way too much credit, which I very well might have. But with all that being said, it's now time to look forward, 2018 is coming, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Avengers: Infinity War, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Deadpool 2, and many more are all coming, even a new Grinch movie, which hopefully won't be as bad as the last one. Hopefully that will fill the void between now and March 2019, which is probably going to be about the time that I die from some great, cosmic irony, only time will tell. Merry Christmas and thanks for reading, and if you like this nonsense, stick around, hopefully 2018 will be a good year.