We did it, everyone! We made it through another year of movies and 2017 did not disappoint. We saw some of the best blockbusters to hit the big screen in years with films like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Blade Runner 2049, War for the Planet of the Apes and Dunkirk all delivering spectacular experiences that elevated aspects of their genres. Independent films like Lady Bird, The Disaster Artist, The Florida Project and Personal Shopper thrived and saw more mainstream success than expected. There was also a huge emphasis on movies tackling social inequality like Get Out and The Shape of Water among others. 2017 also marks the first year The Cinematropolis has been out and in the wild. To celebrate the year-end, a few of our staff contributors who keep up with all of the newest releases got together and each picked their top 5 films of 2017.
Thank you to everyone who read as The Cinematropolis got off the ground. It’s been an exciting year to join the online conversation and we’re thankful to share it with each and every one of you who have read and shared our articles since our launch in June. We can’t wait to share what we’ve got in store with you in 2018, but until that fateful day next year, check out our staff’s top 5 movies of 2017!
Zachary Burns’s Top Films of 2017
Jordan Peele’s Get Out
“With its unique take on the genre, seamless blending of satire and terror, both physical and psychological, and a title that serves as both a threat and a warning, Get Out delivers on every level.” – Zachary Burns
Zachary Burns – The Cinematropolis Co-founder, Video Essay Contributor
6. Blade of the Immortal
Just watch the trailer for this film. Go ahead. I’ll wait. If that isn’t enough to convince you to see this movie then there is simply nothing I can possibly say to persuade you. But let me give it a shot. Blade of the Immortal is a giant bloodbath of a film based on the long-running manga of the same name from the masterful and exceedingly prolific director, Takashi Miike. Marking his 100th film (yeah, you read that right), Miike clearly hasn’t softened over time. In this heavily stylized tale of revenge, skilled samurai Manji (Takuya Kimura, covered in blood most of the time, not always his) is cursed with immortality, forever haunted by the murder of his sister, when a young girl named Rin (Hana Sugisaki, also covered in blood most of the time) enlists his help to avenge the death of her parents. Strong characters, excellent fight scene choreography, and precise cinematography all help to create a film that feels (and often looks) like a live action anime. But I guarantee you’ve never seen anything like this before.
5. Your Name
I walked into Your Name with a blank slate. All I knew was that it was getting a lot of good buzz. What I got was a gut-punch to the feels. Your Name is a beautiful, exquisitely animated film about two strangers who find themselves linked in a bizarre way. And that’s as detailed as I want to get. This film is at times hilarious, touching, clever, heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and always engaging. When you watch this film, and it is essential that you do, have plenty of tissues standing by.
4. Lady Bird
I’ve been in love with Greta Gerwig (sorry real-life girlfriend) since she blew us all away in Noah Baumbach’s’ Francis Ha. So when I heard she would be writing and directing Lady Bird, it quickly became my most anticipated film of 2017. This film did not disappoint. Following Saoirse Ronan’s Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson as she navigates senior year of her Catholic high school, Lady Bird proves to be the coming of age tale every other coming of age tale has strived to be. This was another film like so many this year, that kept evolving itself to be something new just about every time I thought I knew how the film was going play out. In a stacked cast with great performances by all, two truly stand out: Ronan’s ‘Lady Bird’, and the criminally underused Laurie Metcalf, who plays ‘Marion McPherson’, Lady Bird’s struggling to make ends meet mother. Do yourself a favor and watch Lady Bird so we can all swoon over Gerwig’s talent together.
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Sometimes you know going into a film that it’s not going to be for everyone. A film that will have a “love it or hate it” relationship with viewers. An entry on this list, mother!, is unsurprisingly exactly that kind of film. But a film I did not expect to prove so divisive is Rian Johnson’s entry into the space wizard laser sword saga that is Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I understand not every film works for every person, but damn guys, this one worked for me. Picking up almost directly where Star Wars: The Force Awakens left off, TLJ brings the long-running franchise to new, exciting territory for the first time since the original trilogy. From the very first scene (and what an opening scene!) I was completely on board, ready for this new chapter to take me wherever it wanted to go. At one point in my packed theater on opening night, there was a specific, captivating moment in TLJ where the film goes completely silent for a solid 10 seconds, and all you could hear was the sudden rushing of air as we all gasped in unison. Without a doubt the most exhilarating filmgoing experience in recent memory.
For Zachary’s additional thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, listen to his review: “The Last Jedi – The Cinematic Schematic Star Wars Special”
2. Get Out
2017 was a great year for horror, but this directorial debut from Jordan Peele was easily the standout. Playing on the specific relationship anxieties of meeting your significant other’s parents for the first time (we’ve all been there) with the added racial tension of our protagonist being a black man (played by Daniel Kaluuya) meeting his girlfriend’s (Allison Williams) all white, allegedly liberal family. Let’s just say, those anxieties are well founded. With its unique take on the genre, seamless blending of satire and terror, both physical and psychological, and a title that serves as both a threat and a warning, Get Out delivers on every level.
1. mother!
Few modern-day filmmakers have the courage to make a something like mother! – one of the most audacious, beautiful, and terrifying films in recent memory. Enter Darren Aronofsky, the acclaimed writer/director behind Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and most recently Noah. In mother! Aronofsky tells the story of a successful poet struggling with writer’s block (Javier Bardem) and his devoted young wife (Jennifer Lawrence at her tortured best) when they are visited by uninvited guests at their secluded picturesque home, disrupting their tranquil existence (and their unbraced sinks). A polarizing picture not for the faint of heart that each person can walk away from with different interpretations and ideas of the films meaning. Is it the history of man? Is it a warning about our environmental impact on mother nature? Or is it something else entirely? One thing’s for sure, it’s 100% pure, unfiltered Aronofsky.
Laron Chapman’s Top Five Films of 2017
Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird
“Raw, honest, and beautifully rendered, Gerwig’s story has a strong female voice and a lead character as flawed, complex, and relatable as any captured on screen this year.” – Laron Chapman
Laron Chapman – Essay Contributor and Co-host of The Cinematic Schematic
5. The Big Sick
You’d be pressed to find a sharper, more perceptive
comedy than The Big Sick this year. It is refreshing to see a comedy
so confident in its direction and so unpredictable in its destination.
On the surface, this a traditional romantic comedy featuring an
intelligent, cross-cultural interracial couple. When given a deeper
look, this a wise, keenly observed exploration of religious
liberation, cultural tradition, familial bonds, and self-discovery.
But rather than criticizing these practices, the film provides a
layered, empathetic, and comic examination of it. Comedian Kumail
Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan have a warm, easy-going chemistry and Holly
Hunter is radiant and tough as ever in a supporting turn.
4. The Florida Project
This is pure cinema at its finest. Sean Baker is swiftly shaping up to be one of Hollywood’s great humanist
directors. Following up his brilliant Tangerine with the equally revelatory The Florida Project, Baker shines a vibrant light on a disenfranchised subculture seldom reflected on screen. There is a vitality to his work that is almost voyeuristic in nature. There isn’t a single inauthentic moment in this heart-wrenching tale of poverty-stricken youth surviving on sheer nerve, precociousness, and imagination on the seedy outskirts of Disney World. This may sound like a grim fairy-tale, but there is still plenty of joy and adventure to be had. Most notably in the form of seven-year-old protagonist Brooklynn Prince and a decidedly warm, understated William Dafoe. It makes you value the things you have and empathize with those afforded much less.
3. Lady Bird
In hindsight, there is really no conceivable way Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut was going to be anything less than sublime given her fantastic, eclectic body of work. Still, there is something to be said for just how assuredly she handled the lovely Lady Bird. It finds a delicate balance between sharp humor and searing pathos. Raw, honest, and beautifully rendered, Gerwig’s story has a strong female voice and a lead character as flawed, complex, and relatable as any captured on screen this year. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf are a match made in movie heaven and bonafide shoe-ins for Oscar nominations this year. The harmonious bond between motherhood, womanhood, and female sexual awakening has rarely felt so urgent and captivating.
2. Call Me By Your Name
Mesmerizing. Luca Guadaginino is sensual, a visual poet who has crafted a masterwork with the hypnotic Call Me By Your Name. Guadaginino has Bertolucci sensibilities with a spicy, flavorful twist. There isn’t a wasted frame in this heartbreaking ode to first love championed by a remarkable star-turning performance from newcomer Timothée Chalamet. Told entirely from his vantage point, Chalamet captures the care-free exuberance and messiness of adolescence with maturity and startling accuracy. Armie Hammer and Michael Stulbarg also deliver terrific supporting work as the emotional anchors (both romantic and familial) of the young protagonist’s journey into manhood. Audiences will come for the eye candy and gorgeous Northern Italy scenery, but they will stay for the sobering wisdom imbued during the film’s shattering closing moments. If you survive them, you’ll be better off for it.
1. Get Out
Jordan Peele’s darkly comic satire about a young African-American meeting his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend in an isolated residence makes the tension in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner look like a syndicated episode of The Cosby Show. It burrows deep into the daily anxieties and nuances of the black experience (both implicit and overt). This is a tense, clever, and audacious debut with biting social commentary on contemporary racial politics. I spent most of its running time completely unnerved, not only because it is an effective thriller, but because the horrors it exploits hit home for every person of color. Who knew my own personal, subconscious fears would weave together such a brilliant and thought-provoking work? It’s the kind of film that challenges your whole worldview and there is no turning back once it sinks its hooks in you. Peele’s twisted writing genius and flawless direction make Get Out an instant classic with timely relevance.
Jacob Burns’s Top Five Films of 2017
Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name
“Your Name features beautiful animation, incredible storytelling, and a truly one of a kind film that will take you on an unpredictable ride that you hope never ends.” – Jacob Burns
Jacob Burns – The Cinematropolis Co-founder, Essay Contributor
5. The Square
2017 has been a great year for films where I really didn’t know where they would take me or how they were going to end, and Ruben Östlund’s The Square was no exception. A satirical look at those who make art, those who admire art, and those who curate art. The film loosely follows museum curator Christian (Claes Bang) in the lead up to his museum’s upcoming art installation titled, “The Square”, but the film isn’t largely concerned with the plot and focuses more on the characters and the painfully uncomfortable situations they find themselves in. In a year full of films that made me cringe, The Square is one of the cringiest. With its pointed satire that bounces back and forth between hilarious and horrifying, you will find yourself bursting with laughter, then immediately feeling bad about it.
4. Colossal
After over half a century of giant monster movies, I didn’t really think there was much new that could be brought to the genre, but Nacho Vigalondo’s Colossal stomped all over that thinking. What starts as a dramedy about an unemployed alcoholic who is forced to move back to her hometown quickly evolves into a dramedy about an unemployed alcoholic who is forced to move back to her hometown and discovers that she is in control of the movements of a giant monster on the other side of the world. Anchored by fantastic performances by Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudekis, the film manages to be hilarious, sad, dramatic, and at times, scary. Combined with an unpredictable plot, and an ending that had me standing up and cheering, Colossal is not to be missed.
3. Good Time
It doesn’t take long to realize the irony of the title, Good Time, because it is explicitly clear almost immediately that no character in this film is going to have a good time. The Safdie Brothers’ follow-up to their feature film debut, Heaven Knows What, continues the frenetic and loose style, with a pulsating soundtrack and rough, unrefined cinematography that puts us in the shoes of its troubled characters. The film follows Connie (Robert Pattinson) as he attempts to raise the necessary cash to get his brother, Nick (Benny Safdie), out of jail. This is a film about a character making increasingly poor decisions and self-sabotaging himself with every reactionary move, and yet we can’t help but root for the poor guy, thanks in large part to Robert Pattinson’s career-best performance.
2. mother!
I’d heard all the buzz about Darren Aronofsky’s mother! before I saw it. I didn’t know specifics, but I knew it was going to go to unexpected places. About halfway through it, I thought to myself, “This is great, but not as bonkers as I have been led to believe,” and then… the rest of the movie happened. I stared at the screen, jaw dropped, eyes wide, not believing what I was witnessing. As I sat through that screening, I squirmed and winced and hoped it would end. As soon as the credits rolled, I couldn’t wait to watch it again.
1. Your Name
No movie made me feel more things this year than Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name. When it was released in Japan, it quickly became the country’s highest grossing film of all time, and it’s easy to see why. A coming-of-age tale involving body switching with a masterful blend of sci-fi, fantasy, drama, comedy, tragedy, and romance. It probably shouldn’t work, but it had me riveted from beginning to end. One of my favorite theater-going moments this year was during a particular scene in this film involving a pen that led to a collective gasp in the theater, even causing one theatergoer to utter out loud, “Brutal…” And he was right. Your Name features beautiful animation, incredible storytelling, and a truly one of a kind film that will take you on an unpredictable ride that you hope never ends.
Caleb Masters’s Top Five Films of 2017
Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water
“It’s (The Shape of Water) paced like a Romeo and Juliet romance, looks like a sci-fi period piece, and still delivers the moments of magic and awe that are inherent in the fairytales that inspired another of his critical darlings, Pan’s Labyrinth.” – Caleb Masters
5. Logan
In a genre saturated with Marvel Cinematic Universe movies or competitors trying to mimic them, I took great pleasure in Logan, a film that was more focused on investigating the character-driven parent/child relationship between the titular character Logan, Professor Xavier, and the newly introduced Laura in a western road trip movie.
Not only was Logan disinterested in the tropes of the genre, but it actively critiques them by calling out the absurdity of the previously established canon. In the same way that Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven is a revisionist western that deconstructs the myths of the genre to tell a more personal story, Logan is what I’ve dubbed a “revisionist superhero movie” that breaks down the elements of the big screen Wolverine’s “mythic” status and rebuilds him as a more well-rounded character in an altogether different genre. The film is among 2017’s best because it sends off two characters that have been the backbone of the massively successful genre for more than 15 years, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine an Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, by speaking directly to the great cinema superhero films can potentially become if/when they decide to leave the popcorn behind.
4. The Big Sick
I’m generally not much of a comedy film sort of guy, but Kumail Nanjiani‘s semi-autobiographical story about how he met his wife and started his career transcends the genre. During the 120 minute runtime, I laughed and cried harder than I had in any other film in on the big screen this year. The film isn’t interested in being just a traditional comedy, but also deals with the highly relevant post-2016 election issues of interracial relationships, being non-religious in a traditionally Pakistani Muslim home in America, and going for broke when chasing a dream through the eyes of the especially honest and charming lead character.
Michael Showalter‘s direction highlights all of the most endearing strengths of Kumail and his wife Emily V. Gordon’s script. The performances seem especially raw and transparent with Holly Hunter and Ray Romano both delivering two of the most relatable supporting performances of the year. If The Big Sick is just the beginning of Kumail Nanjiani’s unique contribution to big screen comedies, I can’t wait to see what he does next.
3. The Shape of Water
After tackling a few bigger budget projects like Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro returns to his roots–romance and monster movies. Like The Big Sick, Get Out, and The Post, The Shape of Water has taken on an entirely different meaning in a post-2016 U.S. election world. The film follows a mute janitor played by Sally Hawkins as she encounters and grows fond of an amphibian man who is being held in the facility for study. It uses Del Toro’s signature strengths of attention to visual details, subversive genre-bending and compelling characters portrayed by exceptional character actors like Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, and Richard Jenkins to explore complex themes about the nature of love and the fear-driven culture we live in.
Del Toro’s commitment doesn’t stop at being just an incredibly emotional and heartfelt movie. He also crafts a layered and razor-sharp script that utilizes the best parts of his favorite genres. It’s paced like a Romeo and Juliet romance, looks like a sci-fi period piece, and still delivers the moments of magic and awe that are inherent in the fairytales that inspired another of his critical darlings, Pan’s Labyrinth. This ranks as one of 2017’s very best because more than being a great film, it wants to challenge the audience to learn how to love “the other.”
For Caleb’s additional thoughts on The Shape of Water read his review and analysis essay: “The Shape of Water is Guillermo Del Toro’s Challenge For All of Us to Love ‘The Other'”
2. Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner 2049 is a sequel that never should have worked, but somehow, 35 years after Ridley Scott’s classic was released in theaters, Denis Villeneuve created a new film that surpassed the cult hit in nearly every way. Instead of relying on the story and characters of the original film, Blade Runner 2049 decides to focus on an entirely new character’s investigation in order to take viewers on a mysterious and existential journey into the stunningly beautiful, atmospheric, and lived-in world of dystopian Los Angeles.
Dennis Villeneuve’s masterclass world building is impressive, but what makes this film one of the best of the year is its ability to use the film’s lead, K(Ryan Gosling), to dig deeper and realize the themes introduced in the first film. K’s journey of discovering his own humanity interrogates the key themes of defining humanity. And it doesn’t settle for posing the same answers as the original but takes the ideas even further by opening a dialog about the responsibilities of being a creator. Due to its behind the scenes drama and lofty ambitions, the original Blade Runner has become a classic, but Blade Runner 2049 takes the entire idea to the next level and creates a more cohesive film that is destined to be one of the great science fiction films of our time.
For Caleb’s additional thoughts on Blade Runner 2049, read his essay: “Becoming Human: What Blade Runner Reveals About Humanity Through AI”
Listen to Caleb’s review and analysis of Blade Runner 2049 on The Cinematic Schematic Podcast: “Do Podcasts Dream of Electric Sheep?”
1. mother!
For my number one pick, I ultimately decided to land on a film that connected with me on a deeply personal level. Darren Aronofsky’s mother! hits all of my soft spots including an ambitious plot, themes about the relationships between mankind, God, and mother nature, and an uncompromising vision determined to make audiences uncomfortable as it begs them to ask themselves the tough questions. It’s rare that a studio backs such a raw, visceral and uncompromising for an auteur like Aronofsky.
On a first watch, it’s a film about Aronofsky’s interpretation of God as an egotistical creator who can neither appreciate mother nature or truly connect with his “fans.” It’s on the second watch when this movie becomes something far more autobiographical of the director’s own personal life and career. Like my favorite Aronofsky film, The Fountain, mother! continues to be the gift that keeps giving with each and every rewatch. mother! ranks as my favorite movie of the year because it swings for the fences and poses a number of questions about creation and human existence that I frequently find myself asking each and every day.
For Caleb’s additional thoughts on mother!, read his essay: “mother! Should Be Retitled: ‘The Gospel of Aronofsky'”
