The 30 best movies of 2017
30 – Kong: Skull Island
Jordon Voight-Roberts came to the attention of the film world with his outstanding debut The Kings of Summer. When it was announced he was to helm a new King Kong feature, it was apprehension that was the main feeling around this. This was due to seeing other small indie filmmakers tackle big blockbusters and fail (Colin Trevorrow and Jurassic World).
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However relief and wonder soon replaced that. Kong: Skull Island is a really good monster flick, never shying away from big bold moments of the spectacular. What this does is dispel the slow ponderous 2005 King Kong, and brings to the screen a Vietnam War era monster film that has fun and delivers on it promise of seeing a gigantic ape be the King again.
29 – Logan Lucky
Steven Soderbergh is meant to be retired. However in his retirement he has directed his TV series The Knick, produced Magic Mike XXL and now directed Logan Lucky.
Logan Lucky is a self-proclaimed “Oceans 7-11,” the heist movie taken to the American South via NASCAR, prison breaks, Gummy bears and Seth MacFarlane’s moustache. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver are brothers looking to get rid of the curse that is upon their family. Daniel Craig shows up with bleach blonde hair, looking to subvert his Bond persona, and steals the show. Actually Adam Driver’s fake arm steals the movie.
Soderbergh does fun and breezy better than anyone else, and he also does heist movies better than anyone else. Logan Lucky is evidence of that.
28 – Good Time
This is a very uncomfortable film to watch. The Safdie brothers have harkened back to the era of gritty New York crime dramas of the 1970s. Tense to look at, this is purely on-the-edge filmmaking. Most shot at an extreme close-up, the camera never shifts from its hard focus.
Robert Pattinson as Constantine “Connie” Nikas is just amazing. He is doing great work in getting his persona away from the Twilight films. Ben Safdie as his brother, Nick, is playing a disabled person with such sensitivity. There is love in their relationship, but due to the actions of Connie danger is never too far away.
The Safdie brothers have made something unique.
27 – Silence
A near 3-hour Martin Scorsese epic that is an adaptation on the 1966 Shūsaku Endō novel about the persecution of Jesuit monks in 17th Century Edo-era Japan. Silence is a masterclass in directing. Martin Scorsese has somehow made something that stands with his best.
Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver really help to drive home the pure ugliness and sadness of the era. The idea that faith and to be forced to renounce ones grasp of God is harrowing to think about. Silence is a great film. It will be thought of long after 2017 is a distant memory.
26 – IT
IT is the surprise of the year as far as I am concerned. I thought this was going to be this year’s Carrie, an unwanted remake of a Stephen King book that really should have been left alone. But this was a unfounding success. It’s trailer at release was the highest viewed video on YouTube, and why not? The visuals were astounding, and Bill Skarsgard looked to steal the movie.
IT was more like The Goonies than straight up horror. It leans towards the attitudes to the 80s that Stranger Things had. It’s handling of the decade managed to stay well clear of nostalgia, its success lied in actually telling a story.
The performances of all the kids were fantastic, all of them are stars of the future. Bill Skarsgard is chilling as the inter-dimensional demon.