Top Movies of 2017

What have you been watching?

Top Movies of 2017

Postby Doodle Dee. Snickers » Sat Dec 16, 2017 6:36 pm

Alright, now that I've had a day to ruminate on it and get some distance from the Last Jedi, I'm throwing down a probably unpopular "Best of" list.

1. IT. I will be the first to say that most of this movie's placement as # 1 probably comes from the fact that I'm a huge fan of the book (obligatory disclaimer: with the exception of the orgy at the end). I was tempted to set my next horror choice up here since this was such a year for it.
However, expectations were riding into space on this one, and moon-high expectations are so often met by disappointment. I was not disappointed, however. I was met with a movie full of heart, humor, mostly good-to-excellent characters, an excellently-played villain, and enough horror that it didn't feel too much like a thriller. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who loved this film, since this movie's gone on to make more money than God Apple's tax lawyers (and on a 35 mil budget, somehow). On top of that, it was unexpectedly an event movie, too, like SW: Episode 7 expectedly was.
So kudos to you Warner Bros. I'd been saying for years (before they'd even started the project) that IT was the property most in need of a proper telling, and you ½ delivered. Here's to hoping you stick the landing in part 2.

Also 1: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. What's better than making a decision between two movies I absolutely loved? Cheating by not making that decision at all.
I had to stop and think on this one, because I wasn't sure that I didn't want to put IT in the second slot. The problem is, I love both these movies for most the same reason: perfectly executed nostalgia. Both of them gave me everything I've wanted from their respective source material for some time and both were a treat to behold.
Apparently, nostalgia's the exact reason a lot of people have been bombing this movie on Metacritic and RT. A lot of the negative reviews I've been reading are people who are apparently...just pissed that they made a SW movie, I guess? No, it's fine, 8 million same-y Marvel movies is alright (more on that down below), but three Star Wars movies is just cynical.
Anyways, all that aside, I really loved this movie, and I'm already prepared to go see it next weekend (not that I preordered tickets for the second movie, that's something crazy people do).

3. Get Out. Were there ever a more perfectly-timed movie, I haven't seen it. I was out on a date for this one and had just heard the buzz around the movie, so was like “Sure, this one, I guess.” Holy shit, was I unprepared for just how poignant and yet satirizing this horror movie was(and funny, for that matter). Nothing much to say that everyone and their mother hasn't said, other than: Damn fine job for a directorial debut, Jordan Peele. I hope this is the beginning of great things.

4. Wonder Woman. Time and again I've bemoaned the love that World War 2 gets compared to its predecessor, often because it was a flashier and less morally ambiguous war. If aliens came and wanted a good summation of human history all in one single flashpoint, I'd point them toward World War 1. Video games, movies, books, few properties want to touch the far more bleak and nihilistic conflict that was the War to End All Wars (ha, so naive, early 1900s).
So imagine my surprise when a superhero movie, of all things (and Wonder Woman, of all heroes), went out to tackle the subject. This was a pretty decent war movie, and that's before we even get into all the superhero stuff. With Wonder Woman, this is absolutely the best of the DC movies so far.

5. Lego: Batman Movie. This one actually took me by surprise. I ended up watching this at a Thanksgiving party, where someone just had it on. I had no interest in the lego movies, I certainly didn't watch the first one, but this shit was hilarious (as well as having a plain dick joke in a movie mostly meant for kids).
This is a movie for Batman fans, both because it's a big injoke for Batman fans and because it's such a deconstruction of Batman as a character. So this one sneaks its way into the top 5.

Special Mentions –

Kong: Skull Island. This is such a strange movie. It shouldn't have worked. But John C. Reilly put in a surprisingly funny and poignant performance, Samuel L. Jackson brought his A Game, and there's never a moment with John Goodman I don't like (In this movie or any other). Much how like WW felt like a World War 1 movie with Wonder Woman in there, this felt like a Vietnam movie with King Kong in there.
If it hadn't felt like it dragged in places, this might've penetrated the top 5, but I'd suggest everyone with some time on their hands to check this one out.
The Justice League. Yeah, it's trendy to hate on this movie, but I thought it was pretty good. It didn't knock my socks off, but it had its moments and I enjoyed much of it.

Biggest “Meh” of the year that everyone else loved - Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Considering how much I loved the first one, I'm not sure why this is. Is it because the music felt forced? Because I was just kinda 'eh' on the characters? Because it wasn't novel, this time? Because it was more superhero movie than space opera, unlike the last one? I don't know, but I was just over this movie by the time the credits ran.

Stuff from this year I still wanna see
- Anabelle: Creation, Blade Runner 2049

Thing I don't care to watch that everyone else loves and whose lack of inclusion will inevitably piss someone off: Thor Ragnarok. Yeah, I've been tired of all these Marvel movies, frankly. As much as some people piss and moan about Disney doing too much Star Wars, that's me when a new Marvel trailer comes out and everyone's orgasming to a trailer that looks like it could've been pulled from any of the last ten movies.

Hero of the Year:Luke Skywalker. Before I saw the movie, it was actually going to be Beverly Marsh from IT. Instead, I'm giving it to the farmboy from Tatooine. Apparently, there's a lot of anger with how the movie treated Luke Skywalker, and I'm not sure why. I won't speak too much on the character, given that the movie only just came out two days ago, but this is my big bump of the year.

Villain of the Year: Racism. I mean, in general it's been a pretty big villain this year what with Trump and all, but especially in the fantastic movie Get Out. Seriously, go see that movie.

Anyways, how 'bout you guys?
  • 3

Doodle Dee. Snickers
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2730
Joined: Mon May 06, 2013 8:15 pm
Show rep

Re: Top Movies of 2017

Postby Australia » Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:26 pm

Warning, a Guardians movie (sorry, Doods) and Stranger Things season are my favourite of the year because I’m a predictable hack. And this has been a great year for superhero movies – 2017 has had the best MCU movie ever, best DCEU movie ever, best Spiderman movie ever, best X-Men movie ever, best Thor movie ever, best Batman since The Dark Knight and the cheapest-looking 300 million dollar movie ever made which is impressive. So Homecoming, Wonder Woman and Lego Batman are all scrambling for tenth place in my mind. Along with Kingsman, Dunkirk and Skull Island. TV’s a little easier, it’s just Mindhunter and The Defenders beating the shit out of each other. Mindhunter was objectively better but I have subjectively better ones in 6-9th place and I really enjoyed the last half of Defenders. Maybe I should change this to top 15s. That said, here are my top tens.

TV
1. Stranger Things
2. Game Of Thrones
3. Legion
4. Rick And Morty
5. Better Call Saul
6. iZombie
7. The Punisher
8. Bojack Horseman
9. The Good Place
10. Fargo. Suck it, Mindhunter and Defenders. You both lose. Or come eleventh. Whatevs.


Film
1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
2. Logan
3. Baby Driver
4. Blade Runner 2049
5. Thor Ragnarok
6. War For The Planet Of The Apes
7. Star Wars Episode BBVIII: The Last Jedi
8. Get Out
9. IT
10. Kong: Skull Island


Obligatory addendums
I haven’t seen The Disaster Artist yet but from all feedback it’s had, it could also have been scrambling for tenth place with the rest of them. If I watch it before 2017 ends, I may edit it in and yank Skull Island out of there.

I have seen The Big Sick – it was fine but it’s in a genre I detest and it didn’t do anything to change my mind on the subject, so it would be tough getting into the top 30. But if you do like predictable (at least in the first and third acts) rom-coms, it’s one of the few I enjoyed that didn’t involve Simon Pegg and zombies.

Black Mirror isn’t out at the time of this post.


Oh, fuck it! I forgot Ozark.

TV
11. Ozark.
12. The Defenders
13. Mindhunter
14. A Series of Unfortunate Events
15. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Wow, Handmaid’s Tale didn’t even squeak into the top 15. Maybe I should have made a top 20.


Film
11. Spiderman: Homecoming
12. Dunkirk
13. Wonder Woman
14. Split
15. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
  • 2

YamI JamesT Eyebrows Edgar Logan Eric Michael Tess Sunny Notch Kate Jamish Lao Carp Moo FaceCitizen Aquila Nisi Qinglong Chaise Nullbert NotCIAagent JackRoad Delta MURDA Bert Czar Ambi JulyJack Adric Marcuse SilverMaple Nudge 52xMax Damiana Doma Pumpkin Toy Fry Andro Carrie Snarky Royal RLG Pikajew Windy skooma Kleiner Java Sellers Piter Gisarmbards Grimstone Recluse Esteban Syrup Krashlia Twistappel MacReady Funkotron mcfooty Pseudoman Creepy Kivutar nerd Ladki Jim Youghurt satan GL Angler
Scari
User avatar
Australia
Resident Dickhead
Resident Dickhead
 
Posts: 4227
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 6:15 pm
Location: Take a wild guess
Show rep
Title: Kentucky Fried Colonel

Re: Top Movies of 2017

Postby gisambards » Mon Dec 18, 2017 7:57 pm

1. Get Out - a rare movie that accomplishes nearly everything it set out to do. It's simultaneously funny, poignant, disturbing and is extremely well written, acted and directed.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 - I thought it was better than the first one, and found it very entertaining. A lot of great stuff, although it was also overly long, and sometimes the humour did get in the way of a serious scene.
3. Baby Driver - 75% of Baby Driver is a very entertaining movie that probably would be in the top spot if it comprised 100% of the movie, with great performances, good dialogue and fun (and very well-choreographed) action. Unfortunately, 25% of the movie is focused on the actually very boring main character's personal life and budding romance with an equally boring waitress.
4. IT - I honestly actually think Stranger Things is crap, but I think IT effectively captured its positives and omitted the negatives. On top of that, it's properly scary, despite occasional resorting to jump scares. Only minor negative for me is that I don't really like the design of Pennywise - the impression I got in the actual book was that the clown itself isn't supposed to be inherently creepy, it's actually the guise It adopts to lure children in, so I think it's actually less effective (and actually stops the first scene from working that well) to just make the clown something that would immediately terrify children. Any little kid who saw this Pennywise in the sewers would not stop to try and talk to it.
5. Logan - Logan had a lot going for it, but it didn't quite do it for me. Part of the problem for me was possibly that I really am not at all engaged by the X-men franchise (I have seen them, but the last really good one was 14 years ago) and - as undoubtedly strong as Hugh Jackman's performance is - Wolverine is the type of character that really doesn't interest me, so without those connections the movie is missing something.
6. Thor: Ragnarok - Fun, but I felt like it was missing a certain something. It felt a lot more formulaic than I was expecting.
6 & 7. Spider-Man: Homecoming and Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Despite both being very easy to pick apart with hindsight (Kingsman more so, hence why Spider-Man is 6th and it's 7th), they both kept me very entertained throughout their run-time, which is more than I can say for any movie lower than this.
8. Wonder Woman - As obnoxious as its marketing was and despite having an idiot for a director (and I'm still with James Cameron on the film's supposed feminist cred), Wonder Woman was actually pretty entertaining. It was, however, a ridiculously sanitised portrayal of the First World War and was held back majorly by how totally uninteresting Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman is (this is partly down to Gal Gadot, who really can't act and doesn't have the screen presence to make up for it, but also the script - it does seem to be a rule in Hollywood that strong female characters absolutely mustn't have personalities).
9. Star Wars: The Latest One - This is probably lower down the list than it probably would be if judged entirely on its own merits, but I do think it's important that the new Star Wars films just haven't gotten any better. Like TFA and Rogue One, The Last Jedi is fine, competent, and entertaining enough. But that's as far as I'd go, and I no longer have any reason to believe they're going to try and make them any better. It's all a big wasted opportunity.
  • 0

User avatar
gisambards
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2088
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:45 pm
Show rep

Re: Top Movies of 2017

Postby reallifegirl » Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:03 pm

Movies:
Spoiler: show
Baby Driver
The Disaster Artist
Dunkirk
Ingrid Goes West
It Comes at Night
Lady Bird
Logan
My Friend Dahmer
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Wonder Woman

Worst Movie I Saw: Alien: Covenant
Movie I Can't Decide Whether I Liked It or Not, But Jesus It Still Haunts Me: mother!
Movies That May Change the List Because I'm Planning to See Them Before New Year's: Loving Vincent, I Tonya, Shape of Water


TV:
Spoiler: show
American Gods
American Vandal
Big Little Lies
Fargo
Game of Thrones
The Good Place
Saturday Night Live
Stranger Things

....I'm realizing now I don't watch much TV.

Worst TV I saw this year: Any moment of Neo Yokio that didn't feature the huge Toblerone
Favorite TV moment of the year: La La Land accidentally getting named Best Picture and having to hand their awards to Moonlight
TV Show I Will Watch Whenever I Visit My Father And Am A Total Nerd About: Jeopardy!
  • 2

"I can believe things that are true and things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not."

Encyclopedia Dramatica wrote:Reallifegirl: Is supposedly a girl in real life, but we all know that's false. Gets highest comment roughly 75% of the time, and has never had a single red-thumbed comment. Ever.
User avatar
reallifegirl
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1609
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 5:21 pm
Show rep
Title: Officially allegedly female


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests