Here are my ten favourite flicks of the year. As always I don't claim them as the best films but simply the ones I personally enjoyed the most and have made the strongest connection with.
10. LOGAN
James Mangold's X-Men western proved to be tough, violent, emotional and an all round terrific send-off for Hugh Jackman as everyone's favourite badass Canadian mutant. Kudos to everyone but Sir Pat Stew turns in an Oscar worthy performance as a fading Professor X.
9. WONDER WOMAN
Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot proved to be a powerful force this year in bringing the Amazon princess to the screen in an exciting adventure which has something to say about how we see and treat each other. Gadot is fantastic in proving that the greatest of heroes are not just defined by their physical prowess and bravery but also by the tenderness and love in their hearts. Oh and the No Man's Land sequence is an all timer.
8. BABY DRIVER
Edgar Wright's action, romance, car chase, crime caper all set to a specific (and killer) soundtrack is pure genius film-making and an absolute blast from start to finish. The entire cast are terrific but the star of the movie is Wright and his utterly original and highly specific style of film-making.
7. GET OUT
2017 was a strong year for horror and Jordan Peele making his writing/directing debut hit a home run with this sly, subversive, darkly humorous, grimly disturbing racial satire. Asked what genre of film Get Out is Peele apparently said it's a documentary. That tells you all you need to know. I genuinely had no idea where this was going when I watched it and I was completely surprised and creeped out by the revelation. In the lead role of Chris Daniel Kaluuya is fantastic as are the rest of the supporting cast. I can't wait to see what Peele does next.
6. PREVENGE
Another horror from a debut director, this time Alice Lowe (Sightseers) who brings us another absolutely fantastic film. Widowed pregnant mum Ruth (Lowe) goes on a murder spree apparently being coached/controlled by her unborn child. Weird, brutal, sad and very blackly funny, Prevenge slowly unfolds its story and the motives behind the murders as it builds to its dark sad climax. Lowe is fantastic both in front and behind the camera and I was utterly transfixed for the full 90 mins.
5. YOUR NAME
Makoto Shinkai's tale of teenage life, gender body swap, time travel and natural disaster is a magical, whimsical and genuinely affecting delight. Shinkai juggles many balls with this film including different genres, characters, tones and doesn't drop a single one. Yes, there are one or two plot elements which require some mild suspension of disbelief but the overall film is so warm and magical and the characters so likeable and sympathetic that you just go with it as it builds to its achingly emotional finale. Your Name a beautiful film both in what it is saying and how it says it. The animation is gorgeous and the ideas and themes stay with you. A massive hit in Japan and China, Your Name deserved to be huge everywhere.
4. BLADE RUNNER 2049
Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival) does it again in this sequel to the classic 1982 original. Against all the odds Villeneuve crafted a sequel that honours the original film beautifully while also building smartly upon its ideas and themes in a completely logical way. The film looks gorgeous and plays out in a slow, coldly methodical way, layering on its intelligent sci-fi concepts while never forgetting to allow its excellent cast led by Ryan Gosling to show the humanity )or lack of) within machine and man. You just don't get films like this anymore – big budget slow, smart sci-fi aimed at intelligent adults. Not surprising that it wasn't a big hit, just depressing.
3. STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
Writer/Director Rian Johnson took the set-up from The Force Awakens and quite literally tossed it off a cliff. And I bloody loved it. You see, Johnson knows that for SW to survive and to continue, it needs to change, to grow. And growth is often painful. He wasn't content to just provide fan service and rehash old material, albeit in slightly different ways. That's boring. No, he wanted to push SW forward and force (pun intended) it to change and grow beyond what it has always been. And part of that means burning down what has come before. Get rid of dogma. Banish rigid structures. No more simple and easy black and white, good and bad. Democratise the galaxy and also the Force. Effectively Johnson has reset the SW universe. He's wiped away the definitions of the past which always dominated the future and has thrown that future out to everyone in the SW universe and said, “Here you go. It belongs to all of you now. Do what you will.” I just hope with Ep.9 J.J. doesn't just fall back on standard rehash and make it all for nought.
2. mother!
Darren Aronofsky is a film-maker with a distinct and uncompromising voice. I am a big fan. His latest is a dark, violent, twisted, provocative allegory depicting creation, the rise of humanity, the rise of religion (and religious conflict) and the brutal impact of mankind upon the planet we inhabit and rely on to survive. It is not an easy watch and I totally get why many do not like it but I was riveted right from the start to the very end. It's a bold film to make especially when you consider it is from a major studio, had a sizeable budget and boasted a big star in the lead. The entire cast is fantastic and led by the always terrific Jennifer Lawrence as the physical embodiment of Mother Earth. Horrifically mesmerising and thought provoking stuff.
1. DUNKIRK
Christopher Nolan is the man! This time he brings his amazing technical and story telling skills to depicting the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940. Nolan is not interested in politics or in character here, purely in the experiential. He provides the situation, the stakes and drops the audience right in the middle for an intense, propulsive, palm sweatingly taught ticking clock of a war film. As often with Nolan he uses time and perception as story telling devices, cutting between a week spent with the soldiers on the beach trying to survive, a day with Mark Rylance crossing the channel in his small boat and one hour with Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden flying their Spitfires and dogfighting the Luftwaffe over the evacuation below before all three time periods are eventually brought expertly together for the finale. The film is a marvel of technical expertise and of stripped down yet also beautifully complex storytelling. The cinematography by Hoyt Van Hoytema is stunning as is the visceral ticking clock score by Hans Zimmer. Pure cinema.
