TOP 10 FILMS OF 2017
1) Your Name.
MY TAKE: “It’s the rare work of art that can base an extraordinarily powerful moment of emotional catharsis on a recurring joke about compulsive boob-squeezing, but that’s the miracle of this movie.”
2) A Ghost Story
3) Get Out
MY TAKE: “Writer-director Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a smart and stylish sociological horror movie more akin to recent revisionist genre entries like The Babadook and It Follows, albeit with a healthy helping of What We Do in the Shadows-level belly laughs.”
4) Kedi
MY TAKE: “Part God-mode Cats of Instagram story stream, part sly travelogue of modern-day Istanbul, Kedi follows about a dozen different street cats and the lives that they have touched. ”
MY TAKE: “Good acting is good acting, however you get there, and Reeves is flat-out great in John Wick: Chapter 2. Every line of dialogue gets strangled in his throat, every life-loathing emotion scars his face, every gesture suggests a ghost who doesn’t realize he’s dead yet.”
7) Logan
MY TAKE: “Get pumped to loiter over the sumptuous anti-sumptuousness of Terence Davies’ meticulous yet ethereal Emily Dickinson biopic.”
9) Harmonium
MY TAKE: “A borderline unbearable bummer at times, but also quietly captivating, with smart and evocative framing and a trio of excellent performances.”
10) Free Fire
MY TAKE: “The hard-boiled, insult-comic dialogue might sometimes lean a little closer to Guy Ritchie than Quentin Tarantino, but the energy and momentum are undeniable—the film has a way of relentlessly slicing forward every time you expect it to stagnate.”
BOTTOM 5 FILMS OF 2017
1) Baywatch
MY TAKE: “Almost every shot is framed to appease corporate sponsors. The only exception is a seemingly endless sequence toward the beginning of the film that involves a plucky slob who gets his genitals stuck in a beach chair — according to recent Pentagon leaks, that scene was created to torture prisoners of war.”
MY TAKE: “The supporting cast mixes abashed slummers like Barry Peppers and Terence Stamp with equally abashed no-names, and as the wishy-washy protagonist who learns to love the saber, 30-something “adolescent” Max Irons gives a performance that can only be described as bad.”
MY TAKE: “A first half of magical treehouses, Rube Goldberg contraptions, brassy best friends and half-witted intelligence is bad enough, but a midpoint twist flips The Book of Henry into a Manic Pixie Rape Revenge movie.”
MY TAKE: “Director and star James Franco clearly called in every favor he was ever owed to fill the cast of this John Steinbeck adaptation, especially since this punishingly literal film feels like a low-budget, heart-on-sleeve vanity project. ”
MY TAKE: “This latest incarnation is a high-gloss recycle job, designed to do nothing more than massage your nostalgia sensors for two interminable hours – this is a film that wants to stand on the shoulders of giants, while still acting like it’s winning the dunk contest.”
TOP 10 2016 RELEASES THAT I STILL NEED TO SEE
Baby Driver (GRADE: B-)
Contemporary Color (GRADE: B)
Frantz (GRADE: C+)
Graduation (GRADE: B)
In Transit
It Comes at Night (GRADE: B)
The Lost City of Z (GRADE: B)
The Lure (GRADE: C+)
Personal Shopper (GRADE: B+)
Song to Song (GRADE: B-)
AWARD WORTHY PERFORMANCES
Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston, Alien: Covenant
Tony Shalhoub, The Assignment
Salma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner
Kirsten Dunst and Colin Farrell, The Beguiled
Nick Kroll, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
Anne Hathaway, Colossal
Ulrich Thomsen and Trine Dyrholm, The Commune
Sharlto Copley and Cillian Murphy, Free Fire
Catherine Keener, Daniel Kaluuya, Bradley Whitford and Allison Williams, Get Out
Rooney Mara and Johnny Mars, A Ghost Story
Mariko Tsutsui and Tadanobu Asano, Harmonium
Sam Elliott, The Hero
Emma Booth and Ashleigh Cummings, Hounds of Love
Melanie Lynskey, I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
Keanu Reeves, John Wick: Chapter 2
Allison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and John C. Reilly, The Little Hours
Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Dafne Keen, Logan
Debra Winger and Tracy Letts, The Lovers
Jason Schwartzman, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea
Richard Gere, Norman
Ahn Seo-hyun, Okja
Cynthia Nixon, A Quiet Passion
Damien Bonnard, Staying Vertical
Steve Zahn, War for the Planet of the Apes
Avraham Aviv Alush, The Women’s Balcony
Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman
RELATED LETTERBOXD LISTS AND LINKS
2017 New Release Power Rankings
Categories: Ballots and Best-of Lists, e street film society
