The 30 best movies of 2017

This isn’t a ‘best of’ list. The title is misleading. They are my favorites, the ones I tell others to watch, the ones that keep me awake at night mulling over all the minute details.

A Top 10 list would have been too fleeting. A Top 20 list would have been too constricting. Hence this being a list of 30. This has been a fantastic year for film. The hope is that this list will make you agree, disagree, shout in anger, reconsider, and discover.

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A mention before I get started to Twin Peaks: The Return. David Lynch and Mark Frost’s 18 hour return to Twin Peaks is a TV show, but it’s also a film. Sight & Sound named it their second best film of 2017, but the debate still continues as to where this falls. What isn’t debated is to how surreal, brilliant, mind-bending great this is. Contains three great performances from Kyle MacLachlan; but also great performances from every single actor in this (even Michael Cera). The cinematography and writing are married into something special, and there are moments of sheer awe and audacity. It is a truly special time for this to exist.

Worthy outsiders in this top 30 are:

33 – A Cure For Wellness

Gore Verbinski does weirdness for 2+ hours. Baffling and strange, but something I champion at every opportunity.

32 – Nova Seed

Animated by Nick DiLiberto over the course of 6 years. There are over 6000 individual hand drawn frames in this loving tribute to Bakshi and Bluth.

31 – Goon: Last of the Enforcers

An underseen sequel to an underseen 2011 Ice Hockey comedy. Sean William Scott plays Doug Glatt with such heart, the laughs are just a bonus.

One little thing. As I am based in the UK, this is based on UK release dates. So there is no Phantom Thread, The Post or The Shape of Water. Also I haven’t got around to watching Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Disaster Artist, The Florida Project, Call Me By Your Name, Paddington 2, A Ghost Story, It Comes At Night  and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Now onto the countdown…