My 20 Favorite Films of 2017

When it came to movies, 2017 was more wide than deep.  There were a ton of good films, and what was refreshing is that the type of good films we got was so varied.  There were multiple big budget blockbuster films that were good, a ruminative sci-fi epic, outside-the-box horror films, Classic Hollywood films that don't get made anymore, a gritty exploitation piece, and charming indies.  But there weren't as many outright excellent films.  I'm proud of my top 20, but I'd say that only that two of these films are five star achievements, whereas last year had more than twice that.

Of course, it could be that I just haven't seen the masterpieces yet.  As always, I must issue the caveat that since I'm not a big fancy critic, I don't get access to the movies that are released at the very end of the year for extremely limited screenings, in order to qualify for the Oscars.  That includes major contenders like Phantom Thread and The Post, but also foreign films like Thelma that weren't easily accessible during the year.

Still, even with those caveats, it was a good year to be a cinephile.  Here's to another year of movies!

The rules: As long as a film got an official release in 2017, it was eligible for placement on this list.  This is an important thing to remember, since some of the films that appear in my top 20 premiered at film festivals in 2016, but didn't get released in theaters until this year.  And in the case where a film got no theatrical release, then a VOD debut in 2017 will make it eligible.


Honorable Mentions (25-21)
The world didn't necessarily need another movie that makes a monstrous transformation a metaphor for puberty and sexual awakening, but at least Raw is a very good one.  A love-it-or-hate-it film upon its release, the insane and joyous sci-fi vision that is Valerian is bound to be a cult classic one day.  Call Me By Your Name, another gorgeously sensual film from Luca Guadagnino, is strengthened by two lovely performances from Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet.  In his excellent second film, The Blackcoat's Daughter, Oz Perkins makes the case for being the next Ti West when it comes to slow-burn horror.  Bolstered by an agonizing sequence of tension that takes up the middle section of the film, Detroit tells a true story with terrific docudrama-style intensity.

20. John Wick: Chapter 2 (Directed by Chad Stahelski)

John Wick felt like lightning in a bottle.  Nobody expected anything more than an average-at-best Keanu Reeves actioner, but we got a cult classic, one that was as silly as it was ruthless.  Surely, a sequel could never get that difficult formula right again.  And yet, contrary to popular belief, John Wick: Chapter 2 surpasses its predecessor in pretty much every way.  Free from the burden of trying to sell the empty pathos of the original's "man avenges dog" premise, this installment goes full throttle into the international assassin world, in all of its intricacies and goofiness.  It's a movie that's aware of what it is every step of the way, which just makes it even more entertaining.  And the action scenes are as exciting as ever.  Chapter 2 picks up the gauntlet laid down by the first film and delivers setpieces that are both ingenious in their conception and awe-inspiring in their choreography.  Best of all, the film concludes in a way that teases a third chapter that may be even more insane.  I don't know if the world can even handle that after what we got here.

19. The Beguiled (Directed by Sofia Coppola)

From the outside, it would seem that The Beguiled, a civil war-era drama with some Gothic horror elements, would be a bad fit for Sofia Coppola, a filmmaker primarily known for her work about the interior lives of the upper class.  But her work also deftly explores people in isolation, examining their feelings of profound loneliness and desire.  In that sense, The Beguiled is right up her alley.  The film ponders upon the dynamics when a male encroaches on a strictly female space, as an all-girl boarding school in Confederate territory takes in a wounded Union soldier.  Coppola uses that setup to mine a low-boiling tension that builds to an agonizing degree.  And on the fringes are all the other elements that populate her films, like her great sense of mood and the gorgeous images she conjures up.  But it also finds her stretching herself, handling a story that's far more incident-heavy and high-stakes than her previous efforts.  The Beguiled may not stand up there with the very best of her work, but it's a fascinating evolution for one of our most talented working filmmakers.

18. Blade Runner 2049 (Directed by Denis Villeneuve)

Blade Runner is an undisputed sci-classic.  Though not warmly received at the time, it has become revered for its thought-provoking ideas and fully-realized world that felt like it couldn't be replicated.  (It still might be the coolest looking movie ever made.)  But Denis Villeneuve did just that with Blade Runner 2049, a movie that revisits and deepens the world established in the original, peeling back that film's top layer and taking a long look at the gears and cogs that made it tick.  Like its predecessor, 2049 presents a world of technological unrest and leaves the audience to ruminate on ideas of personhood, as the separation between flesh & blood and ones & zeroes becomes a blurred line.  And also like its predecessor, it's a stunning cinematic vision -- cinematographer Roger Deakins makes use of striking colors to create some of the most breathtaking images of the year.  Perhaps, in time, this will be seen as a sci-fi classic too.

17. Princess Cyd (Directed by Stephen Cone)

Most screenwriting books would advise that conflict is one of the key ingredients to a good story, but Princess Cyd aims to challenge that notion.  The film centers around a teenager who visits her aunt she hasn't seen since she was little, and it rides on a low-key, conflict-averse energy throughout.  But it's an exceedingly lovely film nonetheless, thanks to its natural charm.  Emulating the humanist spirit of Jonathan Demme and Kelly Reichardt, director Stephen Cone packs the film with heartfelt characters, quietly moving interactions, and an endearing warmth.  He finds excitement not in the ways characters clash, but the ways in which they are able to make a connection, to embrace each other with an openness and empathy that is rarely seen in films.  And as the titular Cyd, Jessie Pinnick gives one of the most enchanting performances of the year.  The rest of the film matches what she's delivering too -- Princess Cyd will absolutely sweep you away.

16. Dunkirk (Directed by Christopher Nolan)

Dunkirk initially felt like it was a little small for Christopher Nolan.  This is the man who turned a comic book character into a mythic and serious trilogy, actually spun a hallway around for an action setpiece, and told a story in reverse order.  So naturally, a World War II film that was less than two hours was going to be disappointing on paper.  It turns out, however, that Dunkirk is another instance of Christopher Nolan doing his Christopher Nolan thing.  Spread out in three storylines that take place over different amounts of time and eventually brush up against each other, Dunkirk is an epic film in a compact amount of space.  Nolan doesn't let you watch these moments, he places you inside of them.  You can see every grain of dirt kick up when a bullet flies into the ground, feel the terrain rumble when a bomb goes off, and relate to the sense of desperation that these men in chaos are experiencing.  That makes Dunkirk ambitious in its own way: it feels more like a VR experience than a film.

15. The Lost City of Z (Directed by James Gray)

The talk around James Gray always makes him seem like a stiff kind of director.  He gets compared to Classic Hollywood guys like John Huston and David Lean, and even the praise of his latest film, The Lost City of Z, has an air of "eat your vegetables" to it.  But his work is always incredibly engaging, and this one is no different.  The Lost City of Z is refined, but not boring.  It tells the true life story of Percy Fawcett (played by Charlie Hunnam) and his obsessive quest to find an ancient city in the Amazon, with an enchanting earnestness that draws the viewer in.  Gray shoots the locales in a way that emphasizes their grand majesty, engrossing you in the story's feeling of mystery and discovery being just around the corner.  The narrative may move along slowly, but its deliberate pace mounts the emotions higher and higher, to the point where it all cascades in its quietly devastating conclusion.  It turns out these vegetables taste pretty delicious.

14. Song to Song (Directed by Terrence Malick)

It used to be that a new Terrence Malick film was cinema's version of Halley's Comet.  He'd retreat into obscurity for five to 20 years and then return with another one of his filmic prayers, just as heavenly and woozy as the last.  But a switch flipped after he released Tree of Life, and now he's as prolific as Woody Allen.  That increased productivity has coincided with the critical community sort of turning on him, as if more films from him has diluted what made them special.  To the Wonder and Knight of Cups weren't quite up to Malick's pedigree, but Song to Song has him ascending back to his legendary status.  When his tone poems hit, they hit hard.  Emotions, images, and characters smear together on the palette.  Bodies flit, dance, and entangle together.  The search for meaning, understanding, a key to reconcile past mistakes.  Song to Song contains all of that and more in its bounty, and needless to say, it has an incomparably powerful effect.

13. Atomic Blonde (Directed by David Leitch)

When David Leitch and Chad Stahelski went in different directions after co-directing John Wick, it felt worrisome that the future of American action movies was splitting up.  Instead, it ended up just doubling our rewards.  Stahelski went and made John Wick: Chapter Two, while Leitch bought their sensibilities to a new world with Atomic Blonde.  A neon-soaked, new-wave blaring actioner, Blonde moves with a fearsome skill and slickness, as it doles out a spy plot full of subterfuge and double crossing.  And when it's time for the punching and kicking to start, the film finds another gear.  All of the setpieces, including a highlight in a stairwell that's filmed in a simulated unbroken take, are absolutely thrilling, shot with a visceral immediacy that doesn't sacrifice coherency.  Welcome to the next phase of American action filmmaking.

12. Lovesong (Directed by So Yong Kim)

Riley Keough is quickly becoming the most exciting actor working today.  She gave an astonishing lead performance in the first season of The Girlfriend Experience last year, and even when she has more supporting roles in films like Logan Lucky and American Honey, you can count on her to do something special.  It's gotten to the point where if Keough is in something, you should probably watch it.  Such is the same for Lovesong, a film where she and Jena Malone play two close friends who reunite for the latter's wedding, after a moment of intimacy between the two of them years ago caused them to become estranged.  Director So Yong Kim films their interactions with such grace -- you can feel the years of regret and desire piling up in mountains between the two.  Every conversation is so delicate, every small moment feels huge.  In the way that it depicts the complicated emotions between two women, Lovesong feels like an earthier version of Carol.

11. Okja (Directed by Bong Joon-ho)

Director Bong Joon-ho has had an impressive streak of great movies, starting with his tone-bending Korean films Barking Dogs Never Bite, Memories of Murder, The Host, and Mother; and continuing with his American debut, Snowpiercer.  His spotless record continues with Okja, one of the most impressive films to be released since Netflix got into the movie-making business.  The freak flag sails at full mast in this "girl and her pet" story, where the pet happens to be a genetically engineered super pig.  And he fills the film with various other bits of wild entertainment: Tilda Swinton playing a pair of equally bizarre twins, Jake Gyllenhaal giving one of the most zany performances in the history of film, and a chaotic chase scene that spans multiple locations.  We wouldn't want a Bong Joon-ho film any other way.

10. mother! (Directed by Darren Aronofsky)

Mother! may be the most obnoxious film of the year.  Director Darren Aronofsky has never been one for restraint and subtlety, but he absolutely goes for broke here.  An abrasive mindfreak of a movie, mother! chases its creation allegory down tunnels that get ever more wild and didactic.  It's hard not to admire something with such reckless abandon.  And contrary to the narrative swirling around the story's simple-mindedness, it actually lends itself well to having many meanings grafted on to it.  For that reason alone it would be worthwhile, but it's also so exciting on a moment-to-moment basis.  So yes, it's a little obnoxious, but man, what a fascinating ride.

9. Wonder Woman (Directed by Patty Jenkins)

Who would have thought that the DC Cinematic Universe could have recovered from the back-to-back-to-back blows of Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, and Suicide Squad?  From their grim dispositions to their incoherent storytelling, the whole series seemed like a disaster beyond salvaging.  But like its titular hero, Wonder Woman saved the day.  Not only is it a fantastic film, it's great in ways that set it apart from other superhero films.  It's optimistic, hopeful, and moving like the best Marvel movies can't even imagine being.  Even the comedy isn't in the style of the MCU's quippy patter.  And director Patty Jenkins, in combination with Gal Gadot's charismatic performance, has a nice feel for Woman Woman as a character, allowing her to sell all of the film's action, romance, and earnest beats.  For a brief moment, the world was optimistic about the fate of DC.  It's too bad Justice League had to go and ruin things.

8. Get Out (Directed by Jordan Peele)

Is Get Out a horror movie?  A comedy?  A documentary?  There have been joking discussions about its genre classification since its release early this year, intensified by its nomination in the Comedy/Musical category at the Golden Globes.  Given his origins in comedy, it's no surprise that Jordan Peele generates the film's nervous laughter with an expert's precision.  What is refreshing is that he proves to be quite capable at mining tension too, throwing in classic horror nods while also understanding that you don't need to heighten things much to find the terror in everyday racism.  Get Out is an absolute blast to watch, especially in a theater full of people equally invested in its masterful twists and turns.  So is it a horror film, a comedy, or docudrama?  Who cares, all that matters is that it's an excellent film.

7. The Meyerowitz Stories (Directed by Noah Baumbach)

Linking up with Greta Gerwig might have been the best thing to happen to Noah Baumbach's career.  The Meyerowitz Stories, his subtly sprawling film about the dysfunctions of a family splintered by divorce, bears the most logline similarity to The Squid and the Whale, a film he made before Gerwig entered the picture.  And it brings back some of his signature acerbic nature, dripping acid while sketching out the complications in the history of the Meyerowitz clan.  It's his collaborations with Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha, Mistress America), however, that shine through in influence here.  Meyerowitz is blessed with the same warmth and lighter touch that made those films so wonderful.  It's a work that's bursting at the seams with life, in turns funny, heartfelt, and devastating.  In other words, it's a culmination of everything that came before and ends up being one of his best because of it.

6. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Directed by Martin McDonagh)

It feels like the hype-backlash cycle for films gets faster with each passing year.  Nowadays, there are about seven turns in the critical narrative for a movie before it's available for most of America to see.  Three Billboards, the latest from playwright and filmmaker extraordinaire Martin McDonagh, got it the worst of all this year.  Hailed on the festival circuit earlier in the year only to be cut down on Film Twitter during its theater run, the film has slowly caused people to bristle at the way it treats race, among other things.  That's understandable, since the film presents the audience with all manner of ugliness and then spreads its empathy far and wide.  But it doesn't ask for forgiveness from anyone, instead making the audience question the very nature of forgiveness that its characters are wrestling with.  In that sense, it's one of the most challenging and rich movies of the year.

5. Columbus (Directed by Kogonada)

Columbus takes a very cliche indie movie story premise -- a man and woman who are strangers to each other form a strong bond in a short period of time -- and elevates it in several ways.  First, there are the stellar performances by John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson as Jin and Casey.  Richardson, in particular, imbues her character with a soulful warmth worthy of awards.  Second, the film is wise and restrained enough to keep their relationship fairly chaste, avoiding any ickiness that would come from their age difference if things moved in a romantic direction.  Finally, the film is gorgeously composed by first-time director Kogonada.  He shoots Cho and Richardson in grand wide shots against the backdrop of architectural works to reflect on their characters' sense of stasis in life.  And like the architecture it depicts, Columbus finds incredible beauty in the ordinary.

4. Logan Lucky (Directed by Steven Soderbergh)

When Steven Soderbergh retired from making films a few years ago, absolutely nobody believed him.  It wasn't a question of if he'd come back but when.  Well, the answer was 2017, with the Southern fried heist film Logan Lucky.  And it certainly doesn't appear that he has lost a step either.  (It doesn't hurt that he's been keeping himself busy on TV with stuff like The Knick in the interim.)  Logan Lucky is one of his most purely entertaining films since Ocean's Eleven, which it takes alot of influence from.  But this isn't just a mere lark.  Soderbergh, ever the stylist, wraps it up in a meticulously crafted bow while also injecting some sly political commentary into the proceedings.  In a year full of anti-Trump screeds, this film about Red Staters turning to crime after getting screwed over by GOP practices is one of the most potent.

3. Personal Shopper (Directed by Olivier Assayas)

If there's a film that has lingered in the mind more than any other in 2017, it's definitely Personal Shopper, which has proven to have the staying power of the ghosts that may haunt its narrative.  We should come to expect nothing less from the man who made the gonzo third act of Irma Vep, but director Olivier Assayas bites off a whole lot here: a portrait of grief and loss, old school haunted house scenes, low-rent special effects, musings on technology, and many other things that would appear to not go well together.  Yet, like most of his films, it all works.  Personal Shopper is wall-to-wall with transfixing scenes, making use of Assayas' gift for quietness and space.  The less that happens on the screen, the more you don't want to look away.  Just like a phantom, there may very well be nothing there at all, but the suggestion of this film is chilling nonetheless.

2. Lady Bird (Directed by Greta Gerwig)

At one point in the year, Lady Bird was the best reviewed film of all time on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 100% rating and 173 positive reviews.  In a way, it makes sense -- not only is it a superb film, it feels like the kind of art where anybody can find something to latch on to.  Not everyone may be exactly like film's titular protagonist, a headstrong teen who loves Dave Matthews Band, has a difficult relationship with her mother, and desperately wants to leave her hometown of Sacramento.  But there's a ton of emotional truth to Greta Gerwig's terrific solo debut.  It's a whirlwind of adolescent moments -- from the awkward loss of virginity with a too-cool-for-school boy to the awful school play that nonetheless feels like the most important event in the world -- all told with a light screwball wit and an empathetic eye.  The teenage years may be hell, but watching Lady Bird navigate them is an utter joy.

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Directed by Rian Johnson)

Rian Johnson did it, folks.  He not only lived up to the high expectations placed upon him from the second he signed on to direct the middle chapter of this new trilogy, but he surpassed them to create the best Star Wars movie ever made.  Like Empire Strikes Back, The Last Jedi takes up the "dark middle chapter" mantle ably, delivering a passage that's as emotionally complex as it is purely thrilling.  Johnson is a man who seems to get Star Wars down to his bones, and he uses that knowledge and respect to challenge and subvert what we know about this universe. Characters are forced to reckon with their past and future, meditating on the failures and cyclical mistakes that have set decades of pain and destruction in motion.  This feels like the platonic ideal of what a Star Wars should be, a rousing adventure that's full of little joys and big moments of iconography.  After The Force Awakens kicked things off with a great redux of the previous films, The Last Jedi is the first movie in a while that takes risks and moves this universe forward.


Well, that wraps things up for my best films of 2017 list.  I love reading other lists, so feel free to share yours in the comments.  Or if you have any thoughts on my list, then you can do that too.  To see a complete ranked list of all the 2017 films I've seen this year, you can find it HERE.

Previous lists
2016
2015
2014
2013