Silicon Valleywood

Best of 2017: Movies March 9, 2018

Photo credit: flickr user Hans Splinter

So, my brother in law crushed me in the family Oscar pool, but that’s not what matters, for this post at least. For the record, he went a very, very good 20 of 24 while I got 15 right because I thought the Academy would distribute the love for Lady Bird and Get Out, in a sort of @metoo backlash a la last year’s @oscarssowhite backlash, at the same time the anti-Three Billboards crew would split votes. Shows what happens when you overthink things. Regardless, I nailed the big six, as did William.

But this post is not about my Oscar picks, but about what new movies I saw that I really thought were the best. It was a pretty good year, as I rated 6 films 3.5 stars out of 5. Last year, I gave out my first 4-star rating in ages, and 5 3.5 stars. One of this year’s faves was directed and written by Taylor Sheridan, the writer of my 4-star “Hell or High Water” in 2016, so my expectations for his future (Sicario 2 as writer/director, he wrote the first one) are high.

But first, as usual, a few comments on industry trends.

• Per Box Office Mojo, the top 10 U.S. box office hits in 2017 were super heroes, mostly sequels, with two other franchises (Star Wars and Despicable Me), a Stephen King, and a Disney live-actor re-make of a cartoon classic. And Pixar didn’t crack the top 10, though Coco was number 13. Yes, America, we moviegoers are all teenagers or younger.
• Star Wars Whatever (I’ve lost count) and Beauty and the Beast each sold an astounding $500 million plus in U.S. tickets. Star Wars did over $600 million. Disney rules. Encouragingly, Wonder Woman was number 3, Fast & Furious 8 was number 12, and Black Panther will probably crush 2018 and most every other super-franchise, so at least the franchise business is diversifying.
• I saw 7 and liked 5 of the top ten, for what it’s worth. I like blockbusters as well as niche genre flicks, subtitled movies both classy and crass, and Films for Grown-Ups pretty much equally.
• Disney seems unstoppable, but Warners is getting a little of its groove back.

My favorite movies of the year, in the order that I saw them, were:

• Wind River. Very good “reservation noir” with near-tragic themes of grief and survival. Utah stands in beautifully for Wyoming, there’s a Cave/Ellis score, and solid performances all around. Sheridan wrote and directed.
• Good Time. Likely destined for midnight-cult status, Good Time is a tense sensory overload: jittery closeups, hallucinatory neon cinematography, throbbing electronic score. Pattinson is terrific, and comparisons with After Hours are not out of line.
• Three Billboards etc. etc. The script is messy – some gags are cheap, one character’s redemption is unearned – but it gives a solid cast a chance to shine with sharp dialogue, deep characterizations, and murky morals. The result: McDormand and Rockwell are spectacular, and Harrelson and Hedges very fine. Very good score from Burwell, as usual. To the backlashers: it’s not about real midwesterners, it’s about the Amuhrican culture of revenge.
• Lady Bird. Gee, I wonder if this one’s autobiographical. Kidding aside, this is a wise and touching film; Ronan is compellingly believable (channeling writer/director Gerwig without aping her adork-able schtick), and Metcalf as mom is indeed “warm and scary.”
• I, Tonya. American tabloid tragedy, laced with black humor, and even a couple of good sports movie scenes. Robbie and Janey are very good, indeed. “I worked for Hard Copy, a sleazy program that real journalists looked down on…and became.”
• Phantom Thread. Kubrick would approve. Gorgeous formalist cinematography, art design, and score. All three leads are terrific.

To get to a top 10 list, the best of my 3-star ratings were:

• Wonder Woman or Logan or Thor. Wonder Woman delivered, finally, a truly heroic superhero. Logan made critics recall Unforgiven (4.5 stars – I saw it again on the big screen for its 25th anniversary) but was start enough to only name-drop Shane, yet was still pretty emotional for Marvel. In Thor Ragnarok a little too much improv went a long way.
• Call Me by Your Name. If you see one languid, sensuous, Italian gay romance this year, make it this one. Chalamet smolders, I’m still making up my mind about Hammer, and, of course, Stuhlbarg gets the great, life-affirming speech. It’s all a little adolescent, but as I’ve said about a prior Guadagnino film, man, those Italians know how to live. Even the non-Italian academics, apparently.
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Slam-bang action and unexpected character depth. Sure, it has an extraneous third plot and Star Wars-genuine crappy dialog, but the spectacle is there. And if it’s a new theme that you don’t have to be a blue blood to tap the Force, I’m in.
• Our Time Will Come. Chinese neorealist mother-daughter version of those existential French resistance movies. Humor and pathos.

The Shape of Water nailed the fairy tale but fumbled the parable. I thought Get Out was wildly overrated though it delivered a few nervous chuckles. Ditto the latest Planet of the Apes which took itself far too seriously (c’mon, Apocalypse Now quotes?) as a blockbuster with half a brain. Mother! should be up for worst movie of the year – I guess once you’ve done “Noah as Superhero,” there’s nowhere to go but back to The Beginning.