Top 20 Of 2017: Part 2 (10 - 1)
10: Wind River
For the third year in a row, Taylor Sheridan has a film in my Top 10 and with this being his first directing job I’m on board for more from him. A murder mystery in the frozen wilds, Sheridan reminds you that this is an ugly world and there are ugly people in it, the grief and pain never leaves and the evil that men do is ever present. Renner has arguably never been better as the morally grey Lambert but Sheridan’s direction as cold as the setting is why this stands out as a thriller for the ages.
9: Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Martin McDonagh’s difficult third album easily proves to be his best cinematic writing to date with a tale of loss, hate, redemption and cunt-punting. It takes some of the most morally flawed characters in film history, McDormand’s anger driven Mildred and Rockwell’s racist idiot Dixon and sends them both on a path which leads to places you do not expect and places you wouldn’t think of. It’s not the black humour of In Bruges but the complex morality, the elegant cursing and the incredible acting with McDormand and Rockwell both deserving to win the Oscars means it’s a worthy companion for McDonagh’s opening act.
8: Paddington 2
Who the fuck saw this coming? For all the graphic violence and morally grey films I have on this list, Paddington 2 – the highest rated film on Rotten Tomatoes – is as charming, wholesome and tolerant as can be and is so goddamn sweet that you can’t help but smile. Whether it’s Paddington changing prison into a nursery for hardened gang members or The Brown Family trying to priove his innocence (Sally Hawkins again being the standout for another underwater scene) or even Hugh Grant as a surprisingly funny villain. 2017 might be the first year I’ve not had an animated film in the top 10 since 2012, but Paddington more than makes up for it in the family film section.
7: A Ghost Story
Death has never been so poetic, so confusing or so unique as this before. I still cannot honestly say why A Ghost Story works but it’s a film that does not follow the rules, covering love, loss, time and patience all with Casey Affleck wearing a white sheet. It is sheer poetry and absolutely deserves to be seen blind for how it challenges the audience to see a different perspective and understand what it means to come to terms with your own death.
6: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Yeah, it’s here. And for good fucking reason, The Last Jedi gave me everything I didn’t even know I wanted in a Star Wars film, complete and utter failure. A movie where the heroes actively lose, a movie where Jedi master Luke Skywalker flirted with murder and hated himself for it, a movie where the main heroine tries to redeem a villain and almost loses everything for it, this is the Star Wars movie we needed and the one we deserved for complaining The Force Awakens was too derivative. Johnson and Disney take some incredible leaps and brave decisions that obviously have pissed off a lot of people and while there are complaints that are valid, for me The Last Jedi is this generation’s Empire Strike Back, the chapter that turned Star Wars on its head and took it in a bold new direction.
5: Blade Runner 2049
It might be Sheridan’s third year in my top 10, but it’s Villeneuve’s third year in my top 5 and his Blade Runner Sequel made the 30 year wait worth it. Between the slowly unfolding mystery, the thematic weight – Joi still remains one of the most layered romantic interests I’ve ever seen – the acting with Gosling and Ford delivering some of their best work and the un-fucking-believable cinematography to keep the film gorgeous, nourish and unqiely Blade Runner-esque. Everything about this film worked and made it a worthy follow-up that in many ways improved upon the original, I still need so many viewing to wrap my head round the whole thing Villeneuve has shown that he can handle anything and cements his place as one of the best directors working today.
4: Logan
No MCU film cracked the top 10 but Marvel still rides high with the best X-Film to date and one of the best comic-book movies to date. It has been 17 years in the making but Jackman’s swan song as Wolverine in his full-on R-Rated glory is as brutal, as depressive, as poignant and as brilliant as you could expect. Scaled back to a rescue mission, evoking westerns of old, and bringing Jackman, Stewart and newcomer Keen to career high performances, Logan is what all comic-book movie should strive to be.
3: Raw
As much as I loved Get Out and IT, the best horror movie of the year came from that terrifying and brutal country known as France. Part coming of age tale, but sisterly rivalry, part body horror, part dark comedy and part sheer cannibalistic glory, Raw was the horror film I wanted and delivered in all counts. It’s approach to violence and sexuality is as brave as I’ve seen and the central performance from Marillier as much so, but I fell in love with this piece the moment I walked out the theatre and it’s stuck with me ever since.
2: OJ: Made In America
Alright so I don’t usually let release dates bother me, usually I keep it to US Releases to keep things level. But when I’d finished OJ: Made In America, I knew I had to work round the dates to allow this a place on this year’s list because it deserved the recognition. Much like Tonya Harding I knew virtually nothing about the OJ Simpson case, but the end of this eight hour run I wanted more. The examination of race, celebrity, public opinion, L.A. culture and everything in between, I’ve been waiting to take this journey again because nothing else has engrossed me like this or gone as in-depth on a subject I had no interest in before, a damn masterpiece of documentary film-making.
1: War For The Planet Of The Apes
When it comes to picking the best movie of the year there have been a few ways of deciding it. Sometimes it’s a film that flies in at the end of the year and blows everything away; sometimes it’s a film that has stuck with me for longer than anything else. But sometimes there’s a film that I’ve walked out of at anytime in the year and immediately said ‘That was it, nothing else will beat this.’ That is how I felt about War For The Planet Of The Apes and 7 months later, here we are. There are just too many elements for me to even think about covering them all here, the personal war raging within Caesar trying to protect his apes while not resorting to Koba levels of violence, the psychological battle between Caesar as an insane colonel still holding onto his faculties making him even more dangerous, Serkis delivering the best performance of his career with Caesar desperately holding onto the last piece of humanity he has left, Reeves evoking Apocalypse Now, Bridge On The River Kwai, Outlaw Josey Wales, The Great Escape and more and the incredible cinematography to tie it all together. I walked out of War wondering if I had any reason not to give it a 10/10, I didn’t then and I still don’t now, utterly deserving of the Number 1 spot.