{"id":27299,"date":"2018-01-04T02:12:48","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T07:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=27299"},"modified":"2018-01-05T01:56:55","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T06:56:55","slug":"the-10-best-films-of-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/04\/the-10-best-films-of-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Best Films of 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>2017 was a great year for movies, especially if you were a horror buff. While the media downplayed it immensely, horror movies kicked major ass in theaters and streaming services, and a few of the highest grossing an most acclaimed films were horror, including a new adaptation of a Stephen King novel, which broke all records. While America wondered if there would be nuclear war tomorrow, Hollywood kept us entertained and laughing, with great superhero cinema, and of course some cathartic genre films of the horror, fantasy, and science fiction variety.<\/p>\n

Without further ado: my top 10 of 2017.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>10. The Disaster Artist
\n<\/strong>Directed by James Franco<\/strong>
\nA24 Films
\nRelease Date: December 1st
\n<\/strong>The Tommy Wiseau we meet in the funny and surprisingly satisfying \u201cThe Disaster Artist\u201d isn\u2019t so much a hack movie maker, but someone trying to prove something to himself. James Franco is brilliant in portraying Tommy Wiseau as a man who likely had been told he was ugly his entire life, and convinced himself he had what it took to become a humongous Hollywood legend if he just threw money at it. \u201cThe Disaster Artist\u201d depicts Wiseau and Greg Sestero as Hollywood upstarts looking for their big break, and the Wiseau fears will be placed as Sestero begins to form minor fame. With a great sense of humor and some genuinely funny one-liners, The Franco brothers disappear in their roles, including James who makes Tommy a genuine individual rather than simply parodying him as everyone else had.<\/p>\n

Watch With:<\/strong> Ed Wood (1994)\u00a0\"\"<\/a>9. <\/strong>Sleight
\n<\/strong>Directed by Justin Dillard<\/strong>
\nBlumhouse Tilt
\nRelease Date: April 28th
\n<\/sup><\/strong>The storyteller in me loved the tale of crime, love, redemption and the tale of two tortured souls coming together to form a tight bond in the face of violence. The comic book geek in me loved how \u201cSleight\u201d is also the origin story of one damn good superhero. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll ever see a sequel where \u201cSleight\u201d has to fight crime again, but I loved the implications in the final scenes of \u201cSleight.\u201d Dark, violent, and unflinching in its depiction of spiraling in to a world of crime, \u201cSleight\u201d is a superhero movie dressed as a coming of age drama and I loved it right until the very end. The performances are sincere, the writing is subtle, and the finale is touching. I hope we see more from Justin Dillard and Jacob Latimore very soon.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>F\/X (1986)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>8. <\/strong>Atomic Blonde
\n<\/strong>Directed by David Leitch<\/strong>
\nFocus Features
\nRelease Date: July 28thth
\n<\/sup><\/strong>Despite the somewhat convoluted premise, I fell for \u201cAtomic Blonde\u201d anyway, as a vicious, stone cold action film filled with an amazing cast, and top notch choreography. Many movies of the action genre try to stage raw one on one fights, but fail big time. \u201cAtomic Blonde\u201d brings it\u2019s a game with some knock down drag outs that left me gasping and clutching my seat. I was also seriously engaged in the mystery involving the binder, as well as the potential traitor in heroine Lorraine\u2019s organization. Charlize Theron also brings her A game in a raw and demanding performance that turns her in to a bonafide action star who can knock heads with folks like Jason Bourne and John Wick anyday.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>Haywire (2011)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>7.\u00a0 The Autopsy of Jane Doe
\n<\/strong>Directed by Andr\u00e9 Ovredal<\/strong>
\nIFC Films
\nRelease Date: December 21st<\/sup> 2016 Streaming June 27 th<\/sup> 2017
\n<\/strong>I cheated with this entry since while \u201cThe Autopsy of Jane Doe\u201d technically came out in 2016, it didn\u2019t arrive until well in to December of 2016 unless you saw it at a festival. So this is an in between pick and one I think deserves a spot on my top ten list, period. Though it\u2019s a film confined to one setting, \u201cThe Autopsy of Jane Doe\u201d also presents one of the most unlikely nightmarish settings you could ever imagine. When we meet our main characters they\u2019re a pair of men comfortably housed in their morgue, tending to their jobs, but as it becomes apparent the Jane Doe corpse they bring in one day is harboring all kinds of evil, they fight to make it back up to civilization. Andr\u00e9 Ovredal\u2019s film is effectively ghoulish, fucking creepy and left me sleeping with one eye open for a few nights.<\/p>\n

Watch With:<\/strong> The Conjuring (2013)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>6. My Life as a Zucchini
\n<\/strong>Directed by Claude Barras<\/strong>
\nRita Productions
\nRelease Date: February 24th
\n<\/strong>This could also fall in to my Overlooked in 2017 category, as it\u2019s a film that was nominated in last year\u2019s Oscars but was released in 2017 in very limited runs. \u201cMy Life as a Zucchini\u201d is counted by me, since it was technically a 2017 release in theaters. It\u2019s touching, gut wrenching and amazing tale of innocence lost, a brutal world and how families can be formed anywhere and everywhere. With wonderful stop motion animation and great voice work, this is a simple but remarkable family film about a young boy named Zucchini who finds his first home at an orphanage, and comes of age within its walls. I loved his movie.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>Pinocchio (1940)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>5. Split
\n<\/strong>Directed by M. Night Shyamalan<\/strong>
\nUniversal Pictures
\nRelease Date: May 6th
\n<\/sup><\/strong>Having been an M. Night apologist and fan for years, it\u2019s great to finally see the director return to critical favor with two fairly simple but brilliant thrillers. After the wonderful \u201cThe Visit,\u201d his horror film \u201cSplit\u201d is a fantastic look in to a psychological monster who wreaks havoc on three girls when he kidnaps in a parking lot one afternoon. James MacAvoy and Anya Taylor Joy are stellar in their performances while Shyamalan manages to build a very haunting and terrifying film that\u2019s not just a fight for survival, but one girl\u2019s re-visiting of her childhood trauma involving sexual abuse in the face of a true predator. With a great book end of a final scene, I look forward to more from Shyamalan.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>Unbreakable (2000)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>4. Get Out
\n<\/strong>Directed by Jordan Peele<\/strong>
\nUniversal Pictures
\nRelease Date: February 24th
\n<\/sup><\/strong>I\u2019ve always enjoyed Jordan Peele\u2019s brand of off beat and bold humor, and he brings much of that dark sensibility in to a wonderful horror drama that subverts every single horror convention in the book. \u201cGet Out\u201d has never been so socially relevant before and will be lumped in with greats like \u201cThe Stepford Wives\u201d and \u201cRosemary\u2019s Baby\u201d as the tale of an individual lured in to a web of imminent danger that they can\u2019t calculate until it\u2019s much too late. \u201cGet Out\u201d feels much like a nightmarish Ira Levin novel, touching upon racial equality, left wing extremism, and the way the situation flips on its head the moment the protagonist turns from a virginal final girl to a very capable African American man. The performances are brilliant and Jordan Peele\u2019s direction is mesmerizing as \u201cGet Out\u201d promises to become a classic.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>The Stepford Wives (1975)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>3. The Florida Project
\n<\/strong>Directed by Sean Baker<\/strong>
\nA24 Films
\nRelease Date: October 6th<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known people like Moonee. I\u2019ve grown up around people like Moonee, and as someone who has found his own corners of the world to hide in, \u201cThe Florida Project\u201d sucked me in from minute one. It then tore me to shreds in the final ten minutes, leaving me bawling like a baby. What\u2019s so crushing about \u201cThe Florida Project\u201d is that innocence has to end, and inevitably reality comes crashing down around you. \u201cThe Florida Project\u201d paints its main protagonists in an unflattering and despicable light at first, but as the narrative progresses, it asks us to empathize and at least see what they\u2019re enduring in their lives. \u201cThe Florida Project\u201d is one of the most gut wrenching and compelling dramas I\u2019ve seen in years, and after \u201cTangerine,\u201d I intend to follow Sean Baker and see where in America he takes us next.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>2. <\/strong>Baby Driver
\n<\/strong>Directed by Edgar Wright<\/strong>
\nSony Pictures
\nRelease Date: October 10th
\n<\/strong>Edgar Wright\u2019s crime thriller isn\u2019t just an action movie, but a symphony of bullets, and perhaps one of the first and only action musicals. Packed with amazing editing and brilliant choreography, director Wright shows once again how music tends to fuel life, and can work as a form of physical therapy more than most things. Wright has proven skilled in directing anyone and compiles a wonderful American cast of folks like Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey, Jon Bernthal and even allows a star turning role to Anson Elgort, whose look will become a cosplay favorite for the next twenty years, guaranteed. I\u2019ve always been a fan of pulp action cinema, and \u201cBaby Driver\u201d has that right touch of action, gangster drama, and tragic romance that allows for the perfect course of crime cinema.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>True Romance (1993)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong>1. IT (It: Chapter One)
\n<\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Andr\u00e9s Muschietti<\/strong>
\nWritten by: <\/strong>Chase Palmer & Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman<\/strong>
\nStarring: <\/strong>Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/strong>
\nWarner Bros. Pictures
\nRelease Date: September 8th
\n<\/sup><\/strong>I really loved what Andr\u00e9s Muschietti brought to the table with \u201cMama,\u201d back in 2013 as it was one of my top ten of the year. \u201cIt\u201d is on the same footing with \u201cMama\u201d being a rich, and often brilliant horror film about childhood, innocence, and how innocence is fleeting in a dark world ruled by selfish and violent adults. I will always have a place in my heart for Tim Curry and his depiction of Pennywise the Clown (I remember watching the original mini-series back in 1990), but Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd is, and will always be Pennywise the Clown to me.<\/p>\n

As Pennywise, he\u2019s a slobbering, vicious predator with a cunning that makes him the object of every kids nightmares. While \u201cIt\u201d is a wonderful horror film, it\u2019s also a brutally compelling and tragic tale about family neglect, child abuse, hatred, and the darkness that seemingly Rockwellian small towns harbor. I must have seen \u201cIt\u201d at least four times since its release and I still can\u2019t seem to stop thinking about it, from its terrifying scenes, to rich characterization, right down to the stunning performances from its young cast. I had such low expectations going in to \u201cIt\u201d and it may be one of the best horror films I\u2019ve seen in a while.<\/p>\n

Watch With: <\/strong>Stephen King\u2019s It (1990)<\/p>\n

Other Great Movies:<\/strong> Lady Bird, John Wick 2, The Void, The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, 24×36: A Movie About Movie Posters, Batman & Bill, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Brawl in Cell Block 99, The Shape of Water, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, 78\/52, It Comes At Night, A Ghost Story, Star Wars: The Last Jedi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2017 was a great year for movies, especially if you were a horror buff. While the media downplayed it immensely, horror movies kicked major ass in theaters and streaming services, and a few of the highest grossing an most acclaimed films were horror, including a new adaptation of a Stephen King novel, which broke all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[64,99,111,302,367,477,982],"class_list":["post-27299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-year-enders","tag-adaptation","tag-animation","tag-arthouse","tag-drama","tag-foreign","tag-horror","tag-stephen-king"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27314,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27299\/revisions\/27314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}