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JR'S TOP TEN FILMS-2017 EDITION
2019,
2019-2010,
2019 MID YEAR,
2018,
2018 MID YEAR,
2017,
2016,
2015,
2014,
2013,
2012,
2011,
2010,
2009,
2009-2000,
2006
"Good Old JR" Jim Rutkowski
weighs in with his picks for the TOP 10 films of 2017 |
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2017-Pigs, kids, cannibals &
ghosts top a strong year at the movies. |
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(012618)
A turbulent year, both socially and politically. It’s been a 12-month season
marked by historic division in the West. With social upheaval cropping up in
everything from the bloodied arena of politics to the supposedly saintlier realm
of sports, it has left many bitter and despondent. However, things are never
quite so bleak as they first appear. For instance, the revolt at the shameful
acts committed in the shadows of the entertainment industry has given way to a
therapeutic and cultural purge heard around the world. As the #MeTo movement
cleanses industries from coast to coast, and of every economic background,
already 2017 is offering a promise for a better tomorrow. And within the
confines of entertainment alone, we’ve witnessed a series of phenomenal films.
Whatever issues the biggest franchises and blockbusters might’ve faced in 2017,
smaller and more intelligent fare has been rewarded at the specialty box
office—and by breaking into the mainstream like thunder. More importantly still
though, many of the movies are good. Really good. Some escapist and others
thoughtful. It's been a very good year for cinema. I know this when I have a
difficult time whittling my list down to just ten. Before we get to Top Ten,
here are some of the films that fall just below the cream of this years the crop:
Baby Driver: Got knocked off the top ten at the eleventh hour by Phantom
Thread. Edgar Wright's newest plays like a Busby Berkeley musical with cars.
Blade Runner 2049: The rare sequel that bests its original.
The Shape of Water: Guillermo Del Toro's best work since Pan's Labyrinth.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: No hate from this fan. May be the best Star
Wars film since Empire.
Personal Shopper: The years second best Ghost Story with a thoughtful
performance from Kristin Stewart.
War for the Planet of the Apes: This sequel slipped through the cracks
for audiences this past summer. Too bad. It's a great one.
Wonder Woman: Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot bring real
humanity to the classic character.
Logan The years best comic book movie. With an incredibly emotional
ending.
The Beguiled: Sofia Coppola's remake brings a feminists touch to what was
originally fairly sexist and exploitative material.
The Lost City of Z: Hearkens back to classic exploration epics, and
Charlie Hunnam turns in a great performance as its complex protagonist.
Mudbound: Offers a well-acted, finely detailed snapshot of American
history whose scenes of rural class struggle resonate far beyond their period
setting.
The Post: Steven Spielberg's latest about the Pentagon Papers. With an
all star cast. Misses the top 10 only because it randomly veers into Hollywood
hokum.
And now (drum roll please) my Top Ten films for 2017.... |
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1.)
A GHOST STORY
With A Ghost Story, acclaimed director David Lowery returns
with a singular exploration of legacy, loss, and the
essential human longing for meaning and connection. Recently
deceased, a white-sheeted ghost (Casey Affleck) returns to
his suburban home to console his bereft wife ( Rooney Mara),
only to find that in his spectral state he has become
unstuck in time, forced to watch passively as the life he
knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away. Increasingly
unmoored, the ghost embarks on a cosmic journey through
memory and history, confronting life's ineffable questions
and the enormity of existence. An unforgettable meditation
on love and grief, A Ghost Story emerges ecstatic and
surreal - a wholly unique experience that lingers long after
the credits roll. A lot of Ghost Story reviews end with
unclever jokes about how seeing this film is a “haunting”
experience. But that play on words, hackneyed though it may
be, conveys a visceral truth. This movie has remained with
me for months now, not only its images (many of which are
indelible) but also its ideas. I find myself puzzling out
the temporal relationship between one stretch of the story
and another, wondering about the “rules” of the afterlife
that Lowery’s script establishes, and even thinking about
the successive generations of people who will eventually
occupy my own home. After seeing A Ghost Story, being the
unwitting occupant of a haunted house no longer seems like
such a scary fate. Whether you believe in the supernatural
or not, there’s no real alternative to learning to live with
your ghosts. I could go on writing about this film for
pages. However, there’s a simplicity to this 87-minute
wraith of a movie that seems to demand bare-bones
description rather than lavish praise. So officially my
review is: see it! |
2.)
THE FLORIDA PROJECT
The movie transpires in Kissimmee, Florida, in the shadow of
Walt Disney World, where a seemingly endless array of garish
extended-stay motels provide a cheap alternative to the
high-end luxury of upscale resorts. In this low-rent
fairytale land of $35/night, there are as many long-term
residents as there are weeklong visitors. Moonee, a six-year
old girl, spends her endless summer days running around the
grounds with her friends, Scooty and Jancey. They do the
kinds of things most kids do but their “innocent” mischief
occasionally takes dark turns. They have little or no adult
supervision. Scooty’s mother works full-time as a waitress
(the kids sometimes show up at the diner’s backdoor for free
food) and Halley, Moonee’s mother, has little more stability
and emotional maturity than her daughter. The only one who
seems to keep an eye on the kids is hotel manager Bobby
(Willem Dafoe as we've never seen him: warm and sweet ), and
that’s as much to keep them from damaging the motel as to
protect them from creeps and predators. It offers a
colorfully empathetic look at an underrepresented part of
the population that proves absorbing even as it raises
sobering questions about modern America. Many movies can
rightfully be called dramatic, or funny, or scary, or
whatever. Few legitimately earn the designation “humane.”
This is one of them. The Florida Project is a potent
exploration of economic hardship, broken dreams, and a way
of life where the only true goal is figuring out how to
survive today. Directed by: Sean Baker |
3.)
LADY BIRD
In Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new
cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both
the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother
and her teenage daughter. Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse
Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving,
deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a
nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after
Lady Bird's father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in
Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting
American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look
at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define
us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home. There’s
no epic spread of plot, just moments over the course of a
year that brilliantly detail psychological ups and down,
shaping complete personalities, boosted by outstanding,
deeply refined performances, especially from Ronan and
Metcalf (their argumentative but loving interplay is sure to
trigger PTSD from most female viewers). “Lady Bird” is such
a beautiful, genuine creation, launching Gerwig’s
directorial career on a blindingly bright note, promising
sharp, searching humanist efforts to come. Directed by:
Greta Gerwig |
4.)
GET OUT
Now that Chris
(Daniel Kaluuya ) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams
), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating,
she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Catherine
Keener and Bradley Whitford. At first, Chris reads the
family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts
to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but
as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly
disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could
have never imagined. Funny, scary, and thought-provoking,
Get Out seamlessly weaves its trenchant social critiques
into a brilliantly effective and entertaining horror/comedy
thrill ride. But don't get me wrong. Get Out is much more
then a thrill ride. As a keenly observed portrayal of the
African-American experience, it seems every bit as important
a film as Moonlight is. We can pretend that racism and
hatred are either eradicated or pushed to the fringes of the
world, that here in “polite society” such ancient demons
could never exist.
But they do. And the more we deny their existence the more
powerful they become. Get Out teaches us to be ever-vigilant
and aware and that’s not being paranoid, that’s just sad,
bitter common sense. Directed by: Jordan Peele |
5.) PHANTOM
THREAD
Set in the glamour of 1950's
post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock
(Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville)
are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty,
movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants and dames with
the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and
go through Woodcock's life, providing the confirmed bachelor
with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a
young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon
becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once
controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life
disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas
Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist
on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world
running. Phantom Thread is Anderson's eighth movie, and his
second collaboration with Day-Lewis.
Being an Anderson movie—a gorgeous, gothic, edgy one at
that—we know that something odd, perhaps cataclysmic, is
going to happen between them. It does, and it turns on an
action as simple as the eating of an omelet, which makes the
movie feel, at least on the surface, a world apart from
There Will Be Blood and The Master. The outcome is gorgeous,
wickedly funny and weirdly romantic. With Anderson’s woozily
beautiful cinematography and melancholy, chilly, swoony
Bernard Herrmann-esque strings courtesy of a fabulous score
by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread resonates
with images, moods, textures and themes that evoke the
darkest romances of Alfred Hitchcock–Rebecca, Vertigo and
Marnie spring to mind.vTime will tell, of course, but right
now, Phantom Thread feels like a masterwork. Imagine
Anderson crossed with du Maurier crossed with Hitchcock
crossed with Ibsen. It’s that rich and strange. |
6.)
DUNKIRK
This World War II thriller about the evacuation of Allied
troops from the French city of Dunkirk before Nazi forces
can take hold. Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance
co-star.. Dunkirk serves up emotionally satisfying
spectacle, delivered by a writer-director in full command of
his craft and brought to life by a gifted ensemble cast that
honors the fact-based story. This is not a war film of
inspirational speeches, digressions about loved ones back
home or hopes for the future. No, it's all about the here
and now and matters at hand under conditions that demand
both endless waiting and split-second responses. Dunkirk
doesn’t dwell on the horror of war but instead successfully
conveys the sheer terror of it all through both small, human
acts and deafening scenes of conflict. This isn’t a war
story that leads to victory – that’s not what the story of
Dunkirk is about – it was a retreat, an inglorious defeat.
The war would continue for five more years. But through its
miraculous events, Nolan and an outstanding cast of both
young unknowns and veterans are able to depict not only the
overwhelming, inhuman forces in play but the power of small
acts of decency and bravery. Directed by: Chrisptopher Nolan |
7.) BIG
SICK
Produced by Judd
Apatow and based on the real-life courtship between Kumail
Nanjiani (Silicon Valley)and Emily V. Gordon, it tells the
story of Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail (Nanjiani),
who connects with grad student Emily (Zoe Kazan) after one
of his standup sets. However, what they thought would be
just a one-night stand blossoms into the real thing, which
complicates the life that is expected of Kumail by his
traditional Muslim parents. When Emily is beset with a
mystery illness, it forces Kumail to navigate the medical
crisis with her parents, Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and
Ray Romano) who he's never met, while dealing with the
emotional tug-of-war between his family and his heart.
Funny, heartfelt, and intelligent, The Big Sick uses its
appealing leads and cross-cultural themes to prove the
standard rom-com formula still has some fresh angles left to
explore. A joyous, generous-hearted romantic comedy that,
even as it veers into difficult terrain, insists that we
just need to keep on laughing. Directed by: Michael
Showalter |
8.)
YOUR NAME
Director Makoto
Shinkai’s achingly gorgeous animated feature was a worldwide
smash last year, but it only opened in the States this
spring. Shinkai’s strange, poignant body-swap tale—about a
city boy and a country girl who are cosmically linked
somehow—is as sweet and magical as a first kiss. (A good
first kiss, anyway.) This is a beautiful masterpiece about
time, the thread of fate, and the hearts of two young souls.
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers
living separate lives miles apart. But one night, they
suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki's body, and
he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen
randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each
other. Yet, somehow, it works. They build a connection and
communicate by leaving notes, messages, and more
importantly, an imprint. When a dazzling comet lights up the
night's sky, something shifts, and they seek each other out
wanting something more-a chance to finally meet. But try as
they might, something more daunting than distance prevents
them. Is the string of fate between Mitsuha and Taki strong
enough to bring them together, or will forces outside their
control leave them forever separated?Your Name is wistful
and full of wonder, a dreamy tearjerker that is blissfully
transporting. If you don’t spend several hours afterwards
contemplating the many possible ways in which your life may
have been impacted by the life of someone you don’t even
know living miles away from you, I don’t know what to tell
you. |
9.)
OJKA
It’s a bonkers
corporate satire starring Tilda Swinton, a brave little
Korean girl, and a giant superpig. ‘Nough said. Need more?
Fine. Okja is a rare breed of movie: It boasts a
multi-hemispheric setting and cast, extended use of two
languages (Korean and English), and the distinction of
combining action, arthouse, and political satire in one
funny, biting, disturbing, often kind of adorable package.
The movie ruffled some feathers (and resulted in a policy
change) as part of a Netflix controversy at the prestigious
Cannes Film Festival this year, and it will probably ruffle
a few more as it becomes more widely available, since the
film is every bit as weird — and, on the whole, as wonderful
— as you’d expect from Bong Joon-Ho, the director of
Snowpiercer and The Host. At its core, Okja is a movie about
the horrors of factory farming, and sometimes it turns into
a horror film to make its case. But it’s also skewering the
absurd ways in which corporations co-opt the language of
environmental and localist movements to reel in consumers.
The result is kind of a masterclass in how vocabulary can be
twisted for insidious ends. |
10.)
RAW
Everyone in
Justine's family is a vet. And a vegetarian. At sixteen
she's a brilliant student starting out at veterinary school
where she experiences a decadent, merciless and dangerously
seductive world. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her
family principles and eats RAW meat for the first time.
Justine will soon face the terrible and unexpected
consequences as her true self begins to emerge... Raw's
lurid violence and sexuality live up to its title, but
they're anchored with an immersive atmosphere and deep
symbolism that linger long after the provocative visuals
fade. Directed by Lulia Ducornau |
Meanwhile at the bottom....
Now as for the bottom of the popcorn box, this year had its
fair share of stinkers. Here are the major offenders:
Suburbicon
Written by the Coen brothers. Directed and starring George Clooney. How could
that pedigree possibly go wrong. It did. A major misfire.
The Great Wall
A U.S.- China co-production. A huge budget and a Hollywood star ( Matt Damon )
did nothing to make this just a glorified monster movie. From director Zhang
Yimou who has been nominated three times in the past for the best foreign film
Oscar, sets his career back about ten years with this film.
The Mummy
Universal's planned Dark Universe franchise is, for all intents and purposes,
one and done. If you like incomprehensible collections of things that vaguely
resemble other things you might've enjoyed in the past, The Mummy is the movie
for you.
Justice League
A great year for comic books movies. Except this one. Dull. Deadly dull. This
movie faded from my mind as the houselights were coming up in the theater. No
stakes. No plot. No fun.
FINALLY:
Hear Bocepheus, Rod Flash and Yours Truly discuss their Top Ten lists (30 films in total)
on Episode 58 of The Alternate Reality Podcast....
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EPISODE 58: TOP 10 FILMS OF 2017
(010218)
Discussion of the Top 10 Films of 2017 |
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Images © Copyright 2019 by their respective owners No rights given or
implied by Alternate Reality, Incorporated
Review © 2019 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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