TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2017

   To continue with the lists of December, here's something a little different to what is normally on this blog. For those who don't know I'm also a massive movie nerd, so please let me know if you like what you're reading here and if you'd like to see more of this on this blog.

10) A Cure For Wellness (Dir. Gore Verbinski, MA15+)

   A wonderfully weird return to horror from Gore Verbinski that certainly has its flaws, but if you're willing to suspend your disbelief A Cure For Wellness will surprise, disturb and thrill. Jason Isaacs goes full villain in the way only Jason Isaacs does, and Dane DeHaan (who hasn't blown me away in the past) really surprised me with his solid performance of a morally reprehensible but deeply scarred investment banker. Not only that, but it's absolutely gorgeous to look at, making the scenes of horror stick with you even longer.


9) Manchester By The Sea (Dir. Kenneth Lonergan, MA15+)

   Huge fan of both Casey Affleck and Kenneth Lonergan's work in this film, they're both at the top of their game here in Manchester By The Sea. A lot has been said about Affleck's performance, and I do think he deserves all the praise he is given. It's not a typical "awards performance", but rather a performance you have to lean into and search beneath the veneer to crack open. Subtle, devastating and hilarious in all the right places, Manchester By The Sea didn't leave me for a long long time.

8) It (Dir. Andy Muschietti, MA15+)

   It was absolutely everything I was hoping it would be. Opting not only to focus solely on the half of the novel following the Losers Club as children but to shift the setting from the 1950s to the 1980s made the movie a whole lot more concise and refined than its 1990 miniseries counterpart, as well as tapping into the weird nostalgia trip that is dominating a lot of popular culture at the moment. The key to It, though, is the kids. That all the kids in It are great is one of the main reasons it works so well; its is as much Stand By Me or The Goonies as it is A Nightmare On Elm Street, and the scares are that much more effective because of it.

7) Silence (Dir. Martin Scorsese, MA15+)

   I discovered the novel written by Shusako Endo this year, before I even was aware of the Martin Scorsese adaptation's existence, meaning that I was able to experience Silence twice in the same year in two different mediums. Where the novel is strangely intimate in its scope, Scorsese turns the story of two 17th century Jesuit priests venturing into the heart of Japan in search of a lost (physically as well as, supposedly, spiritually) brother into pure cinema. At 161 minutes it's no walk in the park, and it could easily frustrate or bore the casual viewer with its preoccupation with meditation, landscape and mood over direct narrative, but for those willing to dig deep and think about deep philosophical and theological questions it is incredibly rewarding. It also has possibly Andrew Garfield's finest performance to date (a huge call, I know, considering he was also excellent in Hacksaw Ridge this year).

6) Dunkirk (Dir. Christopher Nolan, M)

   Say the name Nolan and you've got my bum in a cinema seat. Dunkirk on the surface seems to be Nolan's most impersonal film to date, and a number of critics had issue in the lack of character depth, but for me that only meant that Dunkirk was the most ambitious event-based war movie I've seen. Following the events from three different perspectives, all of which take place over different time periods, was one of the most interesting pieces of writing in 2017, and gave the movie an extra piece of inherent rewatchability. And seriously, it doesn't get much better than those dog fights, does it? Further proof that Nolan is one of the premier directors working currently.

5) Baby Driver (Dir. Edgar Wright, MA15+)

   Without a doubt the coolest movie of the year, and for me the superior musical to another little movie that came out earlier in the year (yes, it's a musical, fight me). I've always found Edgar Wright's work a little hit and miss (I know, I've had that checked by a professional) but I had an absolute blast with Baby Driver. It's not often you see a film that knows its way around action set pieces and stunningly choreographed car chases, as well as being so intrinsically linked with its soundtrack in editing, performance and mood, but Baby Driver pulls it all off with a sly wink and a handbrake turn.

4) Get Out (Dir. Jordan Peele, MA15+)

   I had literally no idea what to expect from Jordan Peele's directorial debut, but you can bet it wasn't a razor sharp political satire within a horror thriller within a comedy. I almost forgot Get Out was a horror a couple of times because of how genuinely hilarious and how pointed its social commentary  was at times, but when its third act kicked into gear it got seriously twisted. Not only that, but the twist was both chills-inducing and genuinely unexpected, rendering repeated views completely necessary. And trust me, it's almost a completely different movie the second time around. Get Out is a really exiting debut from a director with a unique voice - I can't wait to see more from him (in the meantime I'll just be rewatching Key & Peele sketches).

3) Logan (Dir. James Mangold, MA15+)

   Finally a superhero movie that genuinely transcends that superhero genre! I have been waiting to see what will happen to the superhero genre - will it slowly die out as people become less and less interested, or will it reinvent itself to ensure that won't happen? For all that has been said about recent movies like Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it is getting to the point I sorely wished it wouldn't, where even when a superhero movie is a "full-blown comedy" it still follows the same blueprint that inevitably culminates in a big bad CGI threat that is the biggest and baddest CGI Threaty McThreat-face there has ever been. Logan recognises this, and even points to a similar case in Hollywood history; the western (if you haven't seen Shane then you don't really get Logan - go and see it). Yes, Deadpool did pave the way for Logan with its R-rated violence and language, but I think more importantly Logan will pave the way for more likeminded cine-literate superhero movies in the future. Not only that, but bloodless and glamourised violence with little to no impact is replaced with some of the most brutal, emotionally abusive scenes ever shot in a superhero movie. Violence is one of the things that has always bothered me about the genre, and Logan gets it right. I'm not saying every superhero movie needs to be like Logan, but it's an example of just what can be done with the genre and a less than gentle nudge into the future of comic book cinema. I can't tell you how much I love Logan.

2) It Comes At Night (Dir. Trey Edward Shults, MA15+)

   Similar to The Witch from last year, It Comes At Night is a testament to the power marketing has over cinema-goers' experience at the movies. You only have to look at the movie's Rotten Tomatoes aggregates - 88% from critics and 43% from audiences - to see what I mean. Contrary to what the trailer, poster and admittedly the title suggest, It Comes At Night is not a monster movie. Well, it is, but not in the way you would initially presume. Imagine the bleakest post-apocalypse movie ever, then wring out any hint of hope or moral redemption, and you're probably close to the nightmarish, fingernail destroying 90 minutes of It Comes At Night. Compelling in it's simplicity, it relies solely on the characters found in the two small families that are thrust together - it actually reminded me of the equally nerve-racking Ex Machina which was essentially a triple handed character thriller - and in the vein of such classic horror/thrillers as The Shining, Rosemary's Baby and recently the aforementioned The Witch it relies as much on ambiguity as it does hair-raising scares. Best not to see this one for the first time at night by yourself.


Honorable Mentions:

Spiderman: Homecoming (Dir. Jon Watts, M)

La La Land (Dir. Damien Chazelle, M)

The Lego Batman Movie (Dir. Chris McKay, PG)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Dir. Rian Johnson, M)

Alien: Covenant (Dir. Ridley Scott, MA15+) It was fun, alright!?

1) Blade Runner 2049 (Dir. Denis Villeneuve, MA15+)

If you don't get the original Blade Runner, then don't presume to love 2049. Granted, I had no idea what to make of Blade Runner the first time I saw it aged about 13, but having since read Philip K Dick's source novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep four or five times and seen Blade Runner at least ten times in three of its different cuts, each time looking at it from a different, specific angle, I can truthfully say that I love Blade Runner. Having said this, any movie that takes that many attempts and warrants that many revisions and revisitations clearly has flaws, and to say that Blade Runner is a perfect movie would simply untrue. Come 2017 and enter Denis Villeneuve, and we have not only my favourite movie of the year but possibly one of the most exhilarating and thought-provoking cinema experiences of my life. There's no doubt Villeneuve is a cinematic genius at this stage in his short career, given he has already given us such gems as Sicario, Incendies, Prisoners, Enemy and Arrival, but Blade Runner 2049 proves that he is among the most important working directors. It is a rare sequel that treats the source material with respect but dares to push forwards into uncharted territory (a balance that Star Wars struggled with), and dare I say it joins the ranks of sequels that better the original. Ryan Gosling is unsurprisingly spot-on as blade runner K, even if he does somewhat reprise the stoic, quiet and impenetrable alpha male role of previous films like Drive and The Place Beyond The Pines, but the stand out for me was actually Harrison Ford returning to his role as Rick Deckard. Jared Leto's one-dimensionally evil character is the only slight blemish for me, but he was peripheral enough to the core story and conflicts that this wasn't a real concern for me. It isn't often that I sit in the cinema for five minutes while the credits roll, literally unable to comprehend what I have just seen - I have vague memories of a similar experience seeing Finding Nemo at my first ever trip to the cinema - and so it's important that movies like Blade Runner 2049 are properly recognised when they come around. There's also a CGI character that genuinely blew my mind - I'm not going to say who it is to stay away from potential spoilers, but compared to Tarkin and Leia in Rogue One and Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War, Blade Runner 2049 is some serious witchcraft that would see the visual artists burnt at the stake in medieval times. Even though it clocks in at 164 minutes I a little disappointed when the credits begun rolling, one of the reasons that Blade Runner 2049 is the only perfect movie from 2017 as far as I'm concerned.