2017 has been a very good year for films. I’ve managed to see a personal record of 54 movies, and almost none of them are truly awful. Indeed, even half way down the list there’s some really good films well worth seeing.

Once again a number of the top 20 on my list are 2016 Oscar nominees that didn’t get an Australian release until this year, but there’s a number of other films as well.

 

1. Manchester by the Sea

I adored this film.

I love the emotion of the story, I love the beauty of the New England setting, and I love the performances by Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams (who should have won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar!). Lucas Hedges is also a young actor to watch in the future.

Tells a very real story with passion, which is incredibly hard to do.

Loved the movie enough to visit the real town where it was shot in June this year. Lovely place, lovely film.

 

2. Detroit

Powerful movie about the 1967 riots in that city. Brilliant performances from Will Poulter (a favourite of mine) and John Boyega. Utterly gripping, tense and thought-provoking across all of its 143 minutes, telling a character driven story in full detail, with great direction by Kathryn Bigelow.

 

3. Moonlight

The 2016 Best Picture Oscar winner (eventually!). Gorgeously shot, subtly acted. Superb. A different setting to what most movies do, and the use of three actors to play the lead over time pays off.

Mahershala Ali the very deserving winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role here.

 

4. Call Me By Your Name

Probably the most beautiful film of 2017. Every shot of this is lovingly and meaningfully framed, using the northern Italian location perfectly. A lyrical script, and Timothée Chalamet is wonderful. If it was just a little tighter would have made the top 3.

 

5. The Edge of Seventeen

Somehow writer and director Kelly Fremon Craig took a very standard coming of age film and made something really special, interesting and engaging. Everything about this film works in ways that it shouldn’t. Impressive.

Plus Woody Harrleson is cool.

 

6. It

A surprise break out film of 2017, which tells Stephen King’s story really, really well. Amazingly talented young cast that make the horror story work, and uses the movie format to throw a couple of gut punches. Ontario makes a very convincing New England location!

 

7. The Zookeeper’s Wife

Characters and events set in the holocaust kept me on the edge of my seat for the duration, totally drawn into the story.

 

8. War for the Planet of the Apes

Great conclusion to a very enjoyable trilogy of films. Uses the story of the exodus to good effect, but is an exciting adventure movie that also packs some impact.

 

9. Disaster Artist

It’s hilarious, with a heart. Dave and James Franco are wonderful, as are all the cameos in the movie. The recreations of The Room are incredible in their detail, but the whole thing is done with love and insight.

Oh, hi Mark!

 

10. God’s Own Country

A love story set in the Yorkshire winter, which makes the look different, interesting, and enjoyable to watch. Unusually believable lead characters for a tale like this. Simple, but elegant.

 

11. Goodbye Christopher Robin

Much of this film’s success rests with Domhnall Gleeson’s performance, but its also very well directed, making good use of the English summer. Could have been a saccharine and middling film were it not for the brutal honesty of the story. Good performance by Alex Lawther also pulls the final act of the film together.

 

12. Hidden Figures

A feel good film, well made, and very well acted. Is a little too self-aware for my taste and hence doesn’t make the top 10, but still an excellent film.

 

13. Patriots Day

A Boston setting always gets point for me, but this is a very well made action-thriller that sucked me in, even if I knew the ending from the start. Totally absorbing, and a heartfelt ending at Fenway Park.

Mark Wahlberg’s best performance for years.

 

14. Fences

Fences is an excellent play. And Denzel Washington and Viola Davis give some of their best performances in it.

But it never escapes from its origins as a play, to embrace the filmic possibilities. As such, is a worthy top 20 film, but not top 10.

 

15. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Stunning. Beautiful. Inventive. A treat for a film goers to watch.

This film uses cinematography to enhance an already imaginative sci-fi story, and creates something that’s mostly lacking from the “safe” films made these days.

Dane DeHann is another of my favourite up-and-coming actors and is once again excellent in this.

 

16. Thor: Ragnarok

I’m not a comic book fan, so look for comic book films to be good movies in their own right, and also accessible. Thor 3 delivers in spades! Most of all, it is a FUN movie – something a few of the Marvel films have forgotten to be of late. This film balances humour, excitement and action perfectly. Hemsworth gives perhaps his best performance yet, and Jeff Goldblum plays himself well.

Shallow, but enjoyable.

Taika Waititi a director to watch.

 

17. Spiderman: Homecoming

Another enjoyable comic book movie, this one being held together by Tom Holland and Michael Keaton. Avoiding doing another tedious origin story is a big plus, as the film gets on with telling a good story. Would have been higher up the order if not for the intrusion of the rest of the Marvel universe into it.

 

18. Baby Driver

Edgar Wright directs Ansel Elgort, and the result is visual poetry.

The story is utter nonsense, but that doesn’t matter… just watch it and enjoy what you’re seeing and hearing!

 

19. Kingsman: Golden Circle

This sequel could never capture the surprise freshness of the first one, but is still a great film. Is smart enough to move the story on rather than just trying to live on the legacy of The Secret Service, and is the better for it.

Very well filmed action, as you’d expect.

Taron Egerton has made his mark as a capable actor, and it’ll be interesting to see where he takes his career from here.

 

20. Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi

Perhaps the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. Certainly flawed, but a very enjoyable cinema experience.

The film belongs to Mark Hamill and Adam Driver.

 

21. Dunkirk

There’s no doubt that Dunkirk is impressively shot, and combined with the non-linear nature of the story it all makes for an interesting cinema experience. However, none of the characters are really developed, meaning the film lacks accessibility. Just misses out on the top 20.

 

22. Greatest Showman

Its Hugh and Zac singing and dancing with a lot of visual excitement on screen. Lots of fun…. But really don’t think about the story too closely.

 

23. Lion

Good ideas and some decent performances (notably Dev Patel, who’s always reliable) combine with nice location work to make for a good film. However, its all a little too ponderous to really be a great film, in my book.

 

24. Wonder Woman

The first good DC film in years! A great adventure film, well directed, but lacking the sparkle of the comic book movies I’ve ranked above it.

Patty Jenkins really does deserve the credit she’s getting for her direction, though.

 

25. Logan

The story is depressing, and the middle act is tedious. However, the performances of the Jackman and Stewart are stalwart, and the final third is glorious! A real mixed bag here, but at least its trying to do something a little different.

 

26. Murder on the Orient Express

The highlight here is the cinematography, with beautiful shots throughout. Branagh brings Poirot to live complete with flaws and foibles, making for a better movie. Enjoyable.

 

27. The Pass

Russell Tovey in what is almost a one man play. The premise and performances are exceptional, but in the end it just doesn’t seem to know what to do with it all, and the second half meanders a bit. A shame, as it could have been utterly brilliant.

 

28. Passengers

Another sci-fi, doing something a bit different.

There’s nothing really outstanding about this movie, but there’s nothing terrible either. The plot has a few twists, and there’s plenty of moral ambiguity. A good, solid film.

 

29. Jasper Jones

An Australian piece that tells a really nice story, with direction that uses the Australian background well without being obsessive about it (a rare achievement in Australian cinema, sadly). Script probably needed another draft to tighten some of the plot threads up for this to be really great, but its very pleasant.

 

30. Battle of the Sexes

Fun, but could have been more. I have a feeling that this film softened some of its edges in order to be a more mainstream release, and is the weaker for it.

Enjoyable, certainly; but sadly forgettable as well.

 

31. The Space Between Us

Asa Butterfield makes this bizarre premise work, just. Another one where the first half is far superior to the second half. But I enjoyed it.

 

32. Life

Its what a modern Alien film wants to be. Does exactly what it says on the tin and does it well, but very obvious and slightly disposable. A fire and forget sci-fi.

 

33. Denial

Lovely little story about Holocaust Denial, with some good performances, but nothing really special or interesting to lift it into the top half.

 

34. Bladerunner 2049

This is probably the most visually stunning of all the films I saw this year. But its needlessly ponderous, has nothing much to say, and Harrison Ford doesn’t arrive until nearly two hours in!

 

35. Beauty and the Beast

Its fine, but a total waste of the opportunity. Utterly superficial and derivative.

 

36. Viceroy’s House

Another period piece that I certainly enjoyed, but fails to really rise above the material and make something special. Yet to work out the big deal about Hugh Bonneville.

 

37. Miss Sloan

Like a lot of movies I’ve ranked in the 30s, this was an enjoyable watch, and had some interesting ideas, but was also very straight forward. Not a bad movie by any means… just not a great movie either. Perfectly decent political drama.

 

38. American Assassin

Dylan O’Brien makes a good action lead, mostly because of his perfect comic timing and adorable vulnerability. He carries a good and fun action adventure that I enjoyed more than I expected, although it really does get a bit silly in the final half hour.

 

39. A Dog’s Purpose

Dennis Quaid and KJ Apa lead a lovely movie that tells some nice stories, and had a bit more depth that I thought it would. But its all trying a little TOO hard to grab at the heartstrings, plus its rather hard to really enjoy a film that kills a dog four times in two hours!

 

40. Dance Academy

Takes the successful Australian kids show and wraps it up nicely.

 

41. Kong: Skull Island

That a movie like Kong has been pushed into the 40s shows how deep the list is batting this year. A good cast has some fun with the Kong concept, and there’s some nice subversions of expectation, as well as thoughtful direction of Kong and the action. Compromised a bit by the need to shoehorn unwanted “monster universe” set up into it.

 

42. Power Rangers

Never watched the series properly, but this was a fun enough adaption as far as I could tell. Mixes action with teen angst effectively, but lets not pretend there’s any depth to it. I imagine would mean more to fans of the show.

 

43. Speech and Debate

Starring two actors on my watch list at the very start of their careers – Liam James and Austin P. McKenzie – I really wanted to like this coming of age movie. A lot of it is good, however, some of it just requires too much suspension of disbelief for it to really work as a touching story about high school kids.

 

44. Baywatch

Look, this was a lot of fun to watch, but let’s not pretend it’s a great movie!

 

45. Jackie

Given the source material available here, this was a shockingly dull movie. Natalie Portman is so busy making her performance as Jackie Kennedy perfect, she seems to forget to let the audience in. Should have been more.

 

46. Justice League

This was a mess. Forced humour, nonsense plotting, and all rather pointless. Ezra Miller as the Flash good as always, but his dialogue is terrible. Affleck doesn’t want to be there, and Superman barely is there. Wonder women can’t save this studio created monster.

 

47. Paddington 2

My 4 year old niece loved it! And if I was ranking children’s films as children’s films, it’d be right up there. Hugh Grant enjoying himself makes up for a lot of plot clichés.

 

48. Churchill

Utterly boring and lacking any real insight. Just because your movie has Churchill in it doesn’t mean you don’t have to try. The direction wants to be clever, but is just obvious.

 

49. 47 Metres down

I love a good shark movie and the sharks were cool. The rest of the plot is terrible, but who cares… cool sharks!

 

50. Victoria & Abdul

Not as clever as it thinks it is, not as funny as it clearly thinks it is, and with a very cynical spin on history that leaves a bad taste.

 

51. Alien: Covenant

All together there’s maybe 10 minutes of REALLY GOOD stuff in this film. Shame about the rest.

 

52. Rules Don’t Apply

This is very much an indulgence piece for Warren Beatty, and it simply doesn’t work. Dull direction, and too much focus on procedural parts of the plot rather than character. Alden Ehrenreich struggles here, which is a concern given he’s the new Han Solo.

 

53. I Am Michael

James Franco, Zachary Quinto and Charlie Carver – this should have been great. But the plot is so nasty and the characters so forced that I struggled to get through it.

 

54. Batman Lego Movie

Why did I see this movie? The only good thing about it is that is wasn’t as awful as the first Lego movie. Oh, and the reference to King Tut. I won’t make the Lego mistake again.