Top/Bottom films of 2017

[RyanSz 3140]

I saw BWO at a fest last year (when it was titled Safe Neighborhood), and I was really mad when the trailers came out because I thought it gave everything away

even down to the paint can scene

.

 

 

Elijah's rat-tail alone is enough reason to love that movie. I saw it the day it came out because Macon Blair (the director) is an Austin local, and his collaborations with Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room, Blue Ruin, Murderparty) are pretty much universally adored by the film crowd here. Melanie Lynskey is so good in that movie, and Elijah Wood is a lot funnier than I've ever seen him.

 

It's hard for me to rank things because I find it an almost impossible task to compare a movie like It Comes at Night with one like The Big Sick. So, here's a non-ordered list of my 20 favorite movies from the year:

 

Lady Bird

Five Fingers for Marseilles (a really rad South African western that still hasn't gotten major distribution)

The Big Sick

Get Out

I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Coco

The Disaster Artist

Thoroughbreds

Ingrid Goes West

The Fate of the Furious

It Comes at Night

The Shape of Water

I, Tonya

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Brigsby Bear

Tour de Pharmacy

A Ghost Story

The Square

Blade Runner 2049

 

Honorable Mention: Good Time - a movie I didn't totally love, but that has a career best performance from Robert Pattinson, who this year has shown himself to be FAR more talented than anyone has ever given him credit for.

 

ETA: My least favorites of the year:

 

The Mummy

Bright

The Book of Henry

The Circle

Beatriz at Dinner

Life

Ghost in the Shell

See for me BWO was made to look like,

Home Alone with real consequences for the traps, rather than Looney Toon injuries, but when it was revealed that the kid was just a psychopathic stalker who had arranged the whole night, I was pleasantly surprised.

Tour De Pharmacy almost made my top list because it was hilarious and I'm glad John Cena is doing more dirty comedies as he really excels at it. I've been wanting to see I, Tonya but it doesn't come out near me until this Friday and I'm in the process of watching Brigsby and Ingrid. I thought It Comes at Night was good, but I felt the marketing really hurt it since it's more of a drama set in a horrific world than the horror movie that it was portrayed as, definitely worth a watch but I feel people need to let go of their ideas of what they think it is.