Favorite Movies of 2017?

[Sam Sanchez]

So...I'm a pretty big movie nerd and I watch a ton of movies. Been doing a top 25 (overkill?) out of boredom every year since like 2005, though the message board I would post on is now dead so I figured I'll just put it on here. Take recommendations from it, shit on it, or ignore it...or maybe recommend stuff I may have missed and list your favorites.

 

A lot of my list does seem to have a lot of the Oscar nominations which isn't usually the case I don't think, not sure if it's my taste changing or the Oscars, but who knows.

 

EDIT: Here's a link to the list in general where you could click on each movie to see more info if wanted: https://letterboxd.com/sam_sanchez/list/25-favorite-films-of-2017/

 

25. I, Tonya [dir. Craig Gillespie]

 

24. Lady Macbeth [dir. William Oldroyd]

 

23. Tragedy Girls [dir. Tyler MacIntyre]

 

22. mother! [dir. Darren Aronofsky]

 

21. The Lost City of Z [dir. James Gray]

 

20. Logan Lucky [dir. Steven Soderbergh]

 

19. The Post [dir. Steven Spielberg]

 

18. Wind River [dir. Taylor Sheridan]

 

17. Dunkirk [dir. Christopher Nolan]

 

16. Lady Bird [dir. Greta Gerwig]

 

15. The Meyerowitz Stories [dir. Noah Baumbach]

 

14. Mudbound [dir. Dee Rees]

 

13. Good Time [dir. Ben & Joshua Safdie]

 

12. Lucky [dir. John Carroll Lynch]

 

11. The Shape of Water [dir. Guillermo Del Toro]

 

10. Call Me By Your Name [dir. Luca Guadagnino]

 

9. Brawl in Cell Block 99 [dir. S. Craig Zahler]

 

8. Logan [dir. James Mangold]

 

7. The Square [dir. Ruben Ostlund]

 

6. Blade Runner 2049 [dir. Denis Villeneuve]

 

5. The Florida Project [dir. Sean Baker]

 

4. Get Out [dir. Jordan Peele]

 

3. The Killing of a Sacred Deer [dir. Yorgos Lanthimos]

 

2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [dir. Martin McDonagh]

 

1. Phantom Thread [dir. Paul Thomas Anderson]

 

 

 

A few of these I wouldn't recommend going into without an open mind. Killing of a Sacred Deer probably most of all, unless you're familiar with Dogtooth or The Lobster then you might know what to expect.

 

 

Looking ahead at this year, here's a few I'm keeping an eye out for:

Annihilation - https://letterboxd.com/film/annihilation/
New movie Alex Garland, who directed Ex Machina a couple years ago and had written previously 28 Days Later and Sunshine for Danny Boyle.

Blessed Virgin - https://letterboxd.com/film/blessed-virgin/genres/
Movie about a disgraced nun and it's directed by Paul Verhoeven. All I need to know.

Bodied - https://letterboxd.com/film/bodied/
New Joseph Kahn which is usually a negative for me. And it's about the battle rap scene, which is also usually a negative. But it's been getting great reviews out of festivals last year. Caught my interest.

The Death of Stalin - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-death-of-stalin/
political satire by the guy who made In the Loop in 2009.

First Man - https://letterboxd.com/film/first-man/
Newest from Damien Chazelle, who did Whiplash and La La Land, about Neil Armstrong.

First Reformed - https://letterboxd.com/film/first-reformed/
Supposedly a "return to form" for Paul Schrader, who is famous for writing Raging Bull & Taxi Driver and also for movies like Blue Collar and Hardcore.

Halloween - https://letterboxd.com/film/halloween-2018/
Yet another Halloween remake, but this time directed by David Gordon Green and written by Danny McBride. I'm curious.

Idol's Eye - https://letterboxd.com/film/idols-eye/
New Olivier Assayass starring Sylvester Stallone. I'm interested.

The Irishman - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-irishman-2018/
Newest Martin Scorsese mob movie about Jimmy Hoffa. Starring De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. Hell yeah.

Isle of Dogs - https://letterboxd.com/film/isle-of-dogs-2018/
Newest Wes Anderson. Another animated one similar to Fantastic Mr. Fox. Love the trailer.

Let the Corpses Tan - https://letterboxd.com/film/let-the-corpses-tan/genres/
Horror movie getting a lot of buzz out of festivals late last year. Love the title.

Mute - https://letterboxd.com/film/mute-2018/
New Duncan Jones sci-fi movie starring Sam Rockwell. Reteaming again after Moon.

Paddington 2 - https://letterboxd.com/film/paddington-2/
Reviews are ridiculously good for this movie. Like enough to catch my attention and take it seriously. I enjoyed the first Paddington.

Roma - https://letterboxd.com/film/roma-2018/genres/
New Alfonso Cuaron, who did Gravity and Children of Men

The Sisters Brothers - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-sisters-brothers/
A Western by French director I enjoy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Rutger Hauer and John C. Riley? Yeah, I'm interested.

The Son - https://letterboxd.com/film/the-son-2018/
New Denis Villeneuve. All I need to know.

Suspiria - https://letterboxd.com/film/suspiria-2018/
Another remake, but done by Luca Guadagnino who did Call Me By Your Name. Love the original, curious about this.

Unsane - https://letterboxd.com/film/unsane/genres/
New Steven Soderbergh horror movie? Very curious what this looks like.

Widows - https://letterboxd.com/film/widows-2018/
A Crime thriller heist film by Steve McQueen, director of Shame, 12 Years a Slave and Hunger.

Wildlife - https://letterboxd.com/film/wildlife-2018/
Directorial debut from actor Paul Dano getting some Sundance buzz.

You Were Never Really Here - https://letterboxd.com/film/you-were-never-really-here/
A thriller from Lynne Ramsay who unfortunately doesn't make movies all that often. Really like We Need to Talk About Kevin and Ratcatcher by her. Starring Joaquin Phoenix.

[Ray McKigney]

I want to see Phantom Thread. Love PT Anderson flicks. Three Billboards was great. Shape of Water was really good too. Thanks for the list. I'll definitely check out some of those.

[JAHV76]

The best movie I watched last year was Wind River. Very suspenseful and well done. Dunkirk was good but the minimal dialogue made it tough for me to rate it the best.

[Blarg]

I just went and saw Hostiles this morning. Really was expecting more. It was just not cohesive and never had a real plausible destination.

I think the really low point was recognizing they took a line directly out of Unforgiven and it sounded so forced and out of place. And that was how the characters were in general. 

[Sam Sanchez]

1 hour ago, Ray McKigney said:

I want to see Phantom Thread. Love PT Anderson flicks. Three Billboards was great. Shape of Water was really good too. Thanks for the list. I'll definitely check out some of those.

Yeah, also a fan of PT Anderson, even liked Inherent Vice which everyone seems to hate. I actually went in kinda of lukewarm on Phantom Thread based on the trailers but ended up loving the movie and it's the movie the more I think about, the more I like it.

 

 

12 minutes ago, JAHV76 said:

The best movie I watched last year was Wind River. Very suspenseful and well done. Dunkirk was good but the minimal dialogue made it tough for me to rate it the best.

Wind River is great. Curious to see what else Sheridan does. He wrote the scripts to Sicario and Hell or High Water which are great and then he wrote and now directed Wind River. Has a knack at writing solid crime/thriller movies. 

 

Agree to an extent with Dunkirk. As much as I tend to like Nolan, I would expect going in to be among the top 5 or so. I've only seen the movie once and have been meaning to check it out because I did see it not in the best of moods late at night.

6 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I just went and saw Hostiles this morning. Really was expecting more. It was just not cohesive and never had a real plausible destination.

I think the really low point was recognizing they took a line directly out of Unforgiven and it sounded so forced and out of place. And that was how the characters were in general. 

I still need to see that. I like Bale but not huge on Scoot Cooper as a director who did Black Mass and Out of the Furnace which I wasn't too big on either.

[gotbeer]

@Sam Sanchez  I will defer to you on the movies.  Because you see a lot of quality ones where I just want to be entertained.  But of those that I did see.  I did not like Lost City of Z at all.  I'm surprised you had Logan and Blade Runner so high.  But I did enjoy those flicks a lot, and it's not what you'd usually find on an oscars type list, so hey I saw some cultured movies.  Only saw the last like 30 minutes of three billboards, because someone was watching it.  And I'm glad, because the ending just sku'd.  Dunkirk was the only other one on your list I've seen, and it's probably in that area where you ranked it.  The Shape of Water is probably the one that I haven't seen from your list that I do want to see though.

[Tank]

is Get Out a horror movie?

[Tank]

2 hours ago, JAHV76 said:

Dunkirk was good but the minimal dialogue made it tough for me to rate it the best.

i wanted to like Dunkirk a lot more, but it felt like the movie started in the middle of the story and ended in the middle of the story. i didn't care for the way they handled it, and knowing that a lot of kids were going to see it because of one of the stars, it needed more explanation at the beginning and at the end.

[Redondo]

Saw Mudbound with my wife. Very heavy plot about the south racial stress after WWII. Those farmers really had a rough time to make a living.

Well acted movie. Mary J Blige played a good part. 

[Blarg]

10 hours ago, gotbeer said:

@Sam Sanchez  I will defer to you on the movies.  Because you see a lot of quality ones where I just want to be entertained.  But of those that I did see.  I did not like Lost City of Z at all.  I'm surprised you had Logan and Blade Runner so high.  But I did enjoy those flicks a lot, and it's not what you'd usually find on an oscars type list, so hey I saw some cultured movies.  Only saw the last like 30 minutes of three billboards, because someone was watching it.  And I'm glad, because the ending just sku'd.  Dunkirk was the only other one on your list I've seen, and it's probably in that area where you ranked it.  The Shape of Water is probably the one that I haven't seen from your list that I do want to see though.

You missed two thirds of the storyline so the ending won't pay out at all. In fact you probably missed Woody Harelson's character altogether and that was a critical element. 

[tdawg87]

Logan, Get Out, and It were my three favorites. 

[tdawg87]

10 hours ago, Tank said:

is Get Out a horror movie?

I would say it's more of a psychological Thriller with a ton of humor and self-awareness. If you haven't seen it definitely do so. 

[Brandon]

I'm out of the loop. Haven't seen any movies listed and haven't heard of a few.....though some listed I probably should have watched or tried.

I looked at a movie list for 2017 and think the only movie I saw in theater was Baby Driver because I had a family member in town that wanted to see it. I just saw John Wick 2 the other day. HBO has Get Out, Logan, and Dunkirk which I may come around to seeing at some point as they seem to be above average for most even though they aren't up my alley.

Would like to come across a cerebral or thought provoking flick like Babel or Gone Baby Gone that isn't some pseudo-intellect and pretentious film, but afterwards has you really think or contemplate. I remember the first time watching Gone Baby Gone the chick and I literally needed to talk about what we just saw, it was that heavy or impactful.  

[AngelsLakersFan]

Surprised to see 'Lost City of Z' on the list... is it a step up from World War Z? That movie might've been the worst movie to come out that year.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Only one i saw was dunkirk. Liked it a lot. Wasnt too keen on the french guys arc, and would have much preffered a more historic accurate story, but i liked it.

(There were enough real stories that could have made great movies....didnt have to bullshit physics and make planes perform magic)

[Chuck]

On 1/28/2018 at 8:44 AM, tdawg87 said:

I would say it's more of a psychological Thriller with a ton of humor and self-awareness. If you haven't seen it definitely do so. 

Get Out was my favorite. I did like IT, Wind River, Anabelle Creation and Logan as well. 

[Sam Sanchez]

On 1/28/2018 at 7:37 AM, Blarg said:

You missed two thirds of the storyline so the ending won't pay out at all. In fact you probably missed Woody Harelson's character altogether and that was a critical element. 

Yeah...I actually liked the ending a lot of Three Billboards, watching the last 30 minutes on its own probably doesn't do the movie any favors. Frances McDormand probably has the best performance I saw all year in that movie.

 

 

On 1/28/2018 at 8:44 AM, tdawg87 said:

I would say it's more of a psychological Thriller with a ton of humor and self-awareness. If you haven't seen it definitely do so. 

Definitely this about Get Out. It's incredibly smart and very well-directed psychological horror movie with a lot of humor in it and a critique about racism. Has similarities to something like Stepford Wives and there's a lot of homages to classic horror in there that surprise coming from Jordan Peele but they're all very welcome. Saw hints of stuff like Rosemary's Baby and as well as Suspiria with the opening driving past the woods with similar opening music playing.

 

On 1/27/2018 at 9:04 PM, gotbeer said:

@Sam Sanchez  I will defer to you on the movies.  Because you see a lot of quality ones where I just want to be entertained.  But of those that I did see.  I did not like Lost City of Z at all.  I'm surprised you had Logan and Blade Runner so high.  But I did enjoy those flicks a lot, and it's not what you'd usually find on an oscars type list, so hey I saw some cultured movies.  Only saw the last like 30 minutes of three billboards, because someone was watching it.  And I'm glad, because the ending just sku'd.  Dunkirk was the only other one on your list I've seen, and it's probably in that area where you ranked it.  The Shape of Water is probably the one that I haven't seen from your list that I do want to see though.

I enjoyed Lost City of Z a lot. Reminded me of older Werner Herzog movies like Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God. As far as Logan and Blade Runner go, I felt Logan was easily better than anything Marvel Studios has done to-date, and probably only behind the Nolan Batman movies and maybe Spider-Man 2 as superhero movies go in general.

 

Blade Runner I thought was an amazing accomplishment. I really like Denis Villeneuve as a director and he had the tough task of making a sequel to a now beloved  sci-fi classic (not very beloved at the time), and he had clock in at 2:40 and still managed to make an entertaining and worthy sequel though it seemed to bomb at the box office unfortunately.

 

 

11 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Get Out was my favorite. I did like IT, Wind River, Anabelle Creation and Logan as well. 

I also liked It a lot which seems to be getting mentioned a ton. Would be one of my "honorable mentions" if I already didn't feel like 25 was a lot. 

[Adam]

I've seen zero movies on your list. 

[mtangelsfan]

1 minute ago, Adam said:

I've seen zero movies on your list. 

Dude, Wind River is good.  

I know not to recommend any marvel movies so just stick with Wind River.

[Adam]

I haven't been able to see a movie since The Accountant

[Adam]

Actually I saw the Hitman's Bodyguard too, which was basically the same movie

[Chuck]

@Sam Sanchez it would be AWESOME If you could do a Netflix/Amazon/Hulu review of their exclusive movies as there's a bunch I haven't seen only because I don't know if they're any good or not, or sometimes the first episode is slow and you give up ... like Breaking Bad, which I started 3 times before I finally carried on and watched it all on the 4th try.

Maybe a "Best Online Original Movies" and "Best Online Original Series". 

That would be awesome. I do appreciate your reviews as they point me in the right direction on films/series I should watch.

[Sam Sanchez]

Just off the bat, Mudbound and The Meyerowitz Stories are NetFlix Originals from this list. So would recommend checking those out. Also, there's a movie on there called I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore which is a pretty fun dark comedy though pretty violent at times. Would have been on honorable mention for this list.

 

I'd have to see what is on the other services though. One recommendation for Hulu is a documentary called How to Build a Time Machine. The director of that is a host on a podcast I've been listening to for about 8 years now. I caught it at a one-time screening in LA with a Q&A and I thought it was a great documentary. I believe it finally got a release on Hulu back in November or December, might be worth checking out if your into documentaries.

 

 

Note: edited the original post to include a look at a few random movies I'm interested upcoming later this year.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Sam Sanchez