Rachel Lutack December 29th, 2017 - 5:13 PM
Continuing our end-of-the-year “Best of 2017” coverage is our list of honorable mentions, ten films that captured our hearts and minds this year, but didn’t receive quite enough votes to make our official top ten. These films range largely from small indies to huge blockbusters, continuing in revealing the wide variety of genre and narrative that the year had to offer. See the list below arranged in alphabetical order.
THE BIG SICK
Read our review here.
Kumail Nanjiani’s film captures the evolution and current pinnacle of the romantic comedy in The Big Sick. Simultaneously funny, serious, affectionate, and culturally relevant, this film hits so many nails on the head without veering off course or losing narrative focus. Nanjiani covers so much thematic territory within one man’s struggle for love, career, and family, that it will leave the audience with full hearts by the film’s end.
– Rachel Lutack
BRIGSBY BEAR
Read our review here.
A wonderfully crafted feel-good story that fell through the cracks in terms of popularity. A thought-provoking film that provides the viewer with a significant amount of themes without ever being preachy and a fairly absurd premise that ends up being executed perfectly. Brigsby Bear has a witty script, sharp production, and awesome performances from many Saturday Night Live regulars which are tightly knit together by the director and his team. Kudos to the director on his feature film directorial debut!
– Daniel Jungenberg
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Read our review here.
Luca Guadagnino has done the virtual impossible with CMBYN, building a freshly heart-wrenching and immersive romance while making his audience feel as though this is love onscreen for the first time. Timothée Chalamet is a raw and rare talent and Michael Stulhbarg delivers the scene stealing performance of the year.
– Rachel Lutack
THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Writer-director Sean Baker’s look at impoverished people living in the “shadow of Disney World” is one of the most remarkable slice-of-life movies in years and easily one of the best of 2017. It focuses on a single mother and her young daughter who live in a flea-bag motel run by Willem Dafoe (the only ‘known’ actor in the cast, who proves that he can do The Average Man as amazingly well as any of his other roles). Sean Baker presents this world with a rare complexity. It’s sympathetic, but not cloying. He treats his subjects with neither condemnation nor nobility. It doesn’t give into traditional melodrama, nor does it wear its socially relevance on its sleeve. It gives us something that feels genuinely honest and human.
– Brett Harrison Davinger
IT
Read our review here.
Andy Muschietti’s It brought Steven King’s epic to life in stunning fashion. It’s more than a large scale horror show, it’s a beautifully rendered depiction of adolescence and the terror of growing up. With powerful performances by Skarsgård and a cast of immensely talented young actors, It is a modern horror classic. If the academy had balls, we’d see this film on the Best Picture list.
– John Wedmeyer
LOGAN
Read our review here.
It was a fantastically-executed film, not just in the superhero genre, but across the board. The cinematography, writing, and acting were all exceptional and the movie brought so much heart and gravitas to the often-exhausting superhero machine.
– Emily Chapman
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
Read our review.
As the third reboot to take the Spider-Man comic strip and turn it into a blockbuster, this version differs from its predecessors in the way that it allows a more humanistic look at an iconic hero. It shows Peter Parker before he fully embraces his skills as he wants to do more with the Avengers only to have the Tony Stark tell him ʻnot yetʼ. The acting of Tom Holland as Peter Parker makes audiences sympathize with his struggles especially when he is given his new suit and then loses it in a short time frame after causing a big accident that Iron Man must clean up. Ultimately it should be included in this yearʼs 2017 line up because of the different perspective that audiences saw in a familiar storyline.
– Julie White
THOR: RAGNAROK
Read our review.
Thor: Ragnarok might be the Marvel Studios movie to find the sweet spot once attained by their launch title Iron Man. This was pound-for-pound the funniest MCU movie to date. Anchored by the amazing cast of Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Idris Helba, Cate Blanchett and Tessa Thompson, not a moment is wasted in the third Thor film. What We Do in the Shadows director Taika Waititi perfectly took what could have been an underwhelming third Thor film and made it a thrill ride of fun and laughs.
– Raymond Flotat
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Read our review here.
War for the Planet of the Apes continues the conversation implicit throughout the franchise’s films on interiority and consciousness. It asks the audience something which encompasses much of the turmoil in modern society: is violence civilization? And is it even necessary for civilization? Overall, it’s obvious that much thought and passion were behind the making of the film, which draws on the older philosophy of the franchise while also trying to speak to the inextricable connection between apes and humanity. The film, like the other CGI Apes movies preceding it, falls flat with issues of feminism and representation, side-lining female characters and sometimes even keeping them from contributing to the commentary and message of the film (most notably with Cornelia). It also struggles with condensing the narrative, which can make the film seem overlong at times. Nonetheless, War remains a well-made addition to the franchise which does its best to honor and contribute to the source material.
– Emily Chapman
WIND RIVER
Read our review here.
Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River is a massive story artfully woven around a desolate landscape. The film’s leads Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen delicately frame the story of trying to solve a murder where no help seems to be forthcoming and no one in the world outside seems to care about. Most importantly, it shows great promise for Sheridan as a director following the success of both Hell or High Water and Sicario.
– Raymond Flotat
MXDWN Movies Best of 2017 continued coverage:
