henke on 18/12/2017 at 15:54
This year I lived closer to the cinema and the video-rental-place than I ever have before, and the result was me seeing more new movies than any year previously.
Top 10 Movies10.
Alien CovenantThe first act manages to be as terrifying as the first two Alien movies, the middle sags a bit, but the terrifying ending makes up for it.
9.
Baby DriverStarts off with my favourite scene of the year, but then unfortunately it’s all downhill from there. The middle parts are propped up by good performances by Hamm and Foxx. But the whole third act is a mess of unconvincing character-turns and a dour finale that lacks all the fun energy of the early parts of the movie.
8.
Unknown SoldierA really well-made Finnish war movie. Great character drama
and great war scenes!
7.
Star Wars VIII: The Last JediContinues the Star Wars saga in a satisfying way, while also feeling like it stands on its own two legs more than Ep.7 did.
6.
Boyka: UndisputedBOYKA! BOYKA! BOYKA! Scott Adkins is back doing what he does best, roundhouse kicking dudes in the head and laying it on thick with the accent as he plays Russian prison fighter Boyka. A tight action movie with great fighting scenes.
5.
Wonder WomanA really good superhero movie. It’s tight plotting stands in stark contrast to most other DC movies recently.
4.
The Big SickAn autobiographical romantic comedy by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. Features a surprisingly hilarious Ray Romano!
3.
LoganA dark superhero tale with great performances by Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart.
2.
La La LandThe songs are good and the romance drama is good. So good it almost deserves a best picture Oscar!
1.
The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli MäkiA charming movie about a boxer, who has to box, but wants to love.
[video=youtube;dfGZRD9qtPE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfGZRD9qtPE[/video]
Movie scene of the year:Baby Driver’s opening scene. And I want to clarify that I'm not just picking this because (
https://www.avclub.com/the-best-film-scenes-of-2017-1821177413) AV Club also did. I had this picked as my scene of the year wayyyy before that OK.
[video=youtube;6XMuUVw7TOM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XMuUVw7TOM[/video]
Honorable mentions (aka. #11-20):Get Out
Blade Runner 2047
Trainspotting 2
Gerald’s Game
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Fate of the Furious
Ghost In The Shell
Okja
Security
John Wick 2
Still to watch:The Florida Project, It, Atomic Blonde, Lady Bird
<hr>
Top 10 TV Shows10. Stranger Things - Season 2
9. The Punisher
8. The Defenders
7. Rick & Morty - Season 3
6. GLOW
5. Better Call Saul - Season 3
4. Game of Thrones - Season 7
3. Fargo - Season 3
2. Master of None - Season 2
1. Twin Peaks: The Return
TV scene of the yearGotta give it to Wally Brando! What a performance.
[video=youtube;-AeANz2ndM8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AeANz2ndM8[/video]
So, what were YOUR favourites from this year? :)
icemann on 19/12/2017 at 06:55
Agreed on Twin Peaks. Easily my favorite show for this year.
henke on 21/12/2017 at 06:34
I take this lack of Top Movies lists as everyone's silent agreement with my list. Thank you, I knew I was speaking for everyone here! :)
Sulphur on 21/12/2017 at 09:31
I agree with your TV list! Well, I haven't seen The Punisher or The Defenders, but after Legion it didn't seem like I needed to. If you haven't seen that, you should. It's
exactly what you'd expect if the showrunner for Fargo went and made a Marvel show. There's also a bit of Wes Anderson to it in the stylistic choices and pastel tones that's fun if that floats your boat.
Master of None S2 was definitely something I wasn't expecting - Aziz isn't a fantastic actor, and some of the writing choices for both S1 and especially part of S2 made the show a bit lumpen, but it has so much goddamn
heart and warmth that it's hard not to root for it anyway. The New York episode especially was a dose of absolute generosity I was not expecting.
As for movies... man, I can't remember anything this year that really stood out, but that's also because I haven't seen many of the movies from 2017. I guess the good ones are:
Dunkirk - Nolan doing what Nolan does best
War for the Planet of the Apes - a surprisingly tight closer that actually
does hinge on serious dramatic tragedy,
The Last Jedi and of course,
Logan
Which are all good for obvious reasons that I'm sure everyone's already spoken about.
Making my enh list:
Baby Driver - fun if inessential with a pretty 'whuh?' back half; also, Ansel Elgort seems to be channelling Toby Maguire and oh my god please do not do that ever.
Detroit - did this stuff actually happen as it did in this movie, I do not know, but what I do know is: it's been a long time since I've seen a performance on the lines of Will Poulter's Philip Krauss. It's a note-perfect portrayal of a man whose face I would immediately want to put my fist through if I ever met him. That's amazing acting, but also probably helped by the (
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/07/21/02/42829A3000000578-4716558-image-a-37_1500599247300.jpg) eyebrows.
Trainspotting 2 - good to see Spud again. Everything else was a mildly funny mid-life crime crisis in Leith, so like T1 but... lesser. Going through the motions by reliving past glories, which is part of what it wanted to say, but who wants to hear
that message? Boyle should have just pulled together stuff from Porno and the other books.
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - also fun if inessential. As much of a treat as the first movie, but it's no longer new, and does nothing new either, plus some pretty on the nose eulogising with the whole 'Brandy' speech that made me go, 'dude, I love these songs as much as you do, but let's not get too carried away, yeah?' Kudos for putting the instrumental bridge from
The Chain in during the climactic fight, but it seemed a bit unearned considering Fleetwood Mac was essentially fragmenting to bits while they were fucking each other and everyone else while that album was made AND had the balls to get their ex-lovers sing backup on not very veiled 'fuck-you's about themselves, but GotG 2's splintering family dynamic doesn't have that chemistry or impact yet.
Get Out - interesting and well-crafted, but also really, really weird and a bit distant but not distant enough to be either a) a horror movie, or b) a comedy, so is c) an uneven blend of both. Evil Dead 2, this is not. But it
is a movie about racism laced with a whole lotta... black humour.
Okay, yeah, I'll get my coat. o/
EDIT: Wait, hold my coat. Alien: Covenant was this year? Dude:
fuck that noise so hard. That is all. Byeeeee.
henke on 21/12/2017 at 11:37
Quote Posted by Sulphur
If you haven't seen [Legion], you should. It's
exactly what you'd expect if the showrunner for Fargo went and made a Marvel show. There's also a bit of Wes Anderson to it in the stylistic choices and pastel tones that's fun if that floats your boat.
Oooooh, that
does sound like it might float my boat!
*adding Dunkirk and Apes to my "Still to watch" list*I've enjoyed every Nolan movie
and the previous Apes movies, so not sure why I haven't watched either of those.
demagogue on 21/12/2017 at 13:55
I just took the trans-Pacific flight so had plenty of time to look over recent movies. Dunkirk was the only really great one that I'd watched. It was a bit over-romanticized, but telling a big story in a small and almost intimate way like that did the trick. I liked Get Out & The Big Sick, but I wouldn't say they were great. Haven't seen Ladybird yet.
TV on the other hand has really outdone itself these last few years.
As for this year:
1 Halt & Catch Fire S4 (final)
2 Handmaid's Tale
3 Genius
4 Godless
5 Stranger Things S2
6 Better Call Saul S3
7 Rick and Morty S3
8 Game of Thrones S7
9 Black Sails S4
10 Silicon Valley S4
On my list to watch: Twin Peaks, Master of None, The Americans S5, The Get Down, Glow, The Leftovers, Narcos S3, The Crown S2, Orphan Black, Victoria, Electric Dreams, Reign, Fleabag, The Young Pope, back to Fargo, The Deuce, Person of Interest, Big Little Lies, The Expanse...
Interestingly a lot of great shows skipped over 2017: Man in the High Castle S3, Westworld S2, Black Mirror S3, Occupied S2, Atlanta S2...
Sulphur on 21/12/2017 at 15:28
Yeah. Just more stuff to look forward to in 2018, I guess!
Speaking of television, I have to agree, 2017 really was a fantastic year for televised drama. Looking purely at character drama, we've had three benchmark shows:
-The Handmaid's Tale
-Halt and Catch Fire S4
-The Leftovers S3
out of which none is perfect, but each is great at doing its own extremely specific thing. Halt and Catch Fire's finale was a beautiful and bittersweet send-off for two of the more sensitively written female roles I've seen on TV; The Handmaid's Tale is a timely cautionary story for a certain flavour of patriarchal, fascist dystopia we should be steering the hell away from instead of barrelling towards; and The Leftovers S3 is an incredibly self-assured close to what's legitimately one of the best dramas of the decade, and I say this even though I absolutely cannot stand 99% of Damon Lindelof's oeuvre - yes, it is actually so good that I have to grudgingly accept its place in the ranks of the shows I've seen, and that includes Deadwood and The Wire.
I've yet to see Alias Grace and a whole bunch of others, but it's going to take a lot to shake those three for the year's contender of finest drama series.
Also: someone needs to mention The Expanse S2, because while I thought S1 was pretty so-so, S2 was fantastic. It's been a while since we've had sci-fi this good.
Craeftig on 21/12/2017 at 16:57
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Trainspotting 2 - good to see Spud again. Everything else was a mildly funny mid-life crime crisis in Leith, so like T1 but... lesser. Going through the motions by reliving past glories, which is part of what it wanted to say, but who wants to hear
that message? Boyle should have just pulled together stuff from Porno and the other books.
You know I was a youtube clip of the original where Begbie starts a fight in the pub, and it struck how stupid in retrospect this film is really is. I mean, if that happened in a real life situation the guys in the pub would behave like white knights and pile in the guy who just basically admitted to serious assault on a woman in a pub.
[video=youtube;SUZyNLZZjMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUZyNLZZjMs[/video]
henke on 21/12/2017 at 17:23
Does he admit it? I must confess I've never been able to 100% decipher what Begbie means by "aaaaa lassie got blasted no cunt leaves ere till we find out who cuntara!", but I'm guessing it means "nobody leaves until we find out who hurt the girl"?
Craeftig on 21/12/2017 at 17:27
I'd have thought the kick in the balls would've clinched it.