I know, I know. The awards season is already over. The Oscars had their fun a couple weeks ago. But I'll be up front. Besides being an avid movie fan, I also enjoy watching sports--and March Madness snuck up on me. I did not plan ahead for this week and I am left with barely any time in the mornings before the games start to actually watch something. So therefore, something completely different this week.
And these aren't gonna be average "best of the year" awards either. I do not watch hardly any of the independent drama material that the Academy--among other award organizations--pushes forth. Full disclosure: I have only seen one of the movies that was nominated for Best Picture (Dunkirk) and I have little interest in any of the others. No, the films you will see here are of the sort that I actually do watch--mostly action/adventure and sci-fi, with a light sprinkling of animation and drama included. Stuff that in a time when cinema is heavily saturated with the action genre, some critics are predisposed to not give these films much of a chance--or if they do, it won't be making their Top 10 list. This will be oriented to the more casual moviegoer... with what I can only hope is a more objective lens than normal.
So, here is how this is going to go: first, I will do a basic Top 5 list of my favorites from 2017. Then there will be a few other one-off categories: Most Underrated, Most Underwhelming, Most Overrated, and so on. Some of the more prolific movies here you have probably already seen, but ones you haven't... well, you could still get some insight on those. I won't be going too in-depth with stuff like Best Actor, Best Visuals, etc... just including random categories I feel like including.
Disclaimer: There are still a couple of 2017 films on my list I haven't been able to see yet (Coco and Justice League, specifically), so those will not appear on this post. Fortunately, they were quite unlikely to appear on the Top 5 anyway.
Top 5 Movies of the Year
5. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
This is a bit of a strange one. It's quite a fun trip with a few of the most hilarious scenes of the year and is also a visual treat. But as a whole it's still not as memorable as its predecessor and is also the least memorable on this Top 5 list. I kind of struggled with this fifth spot and almost put in Dunkirk--but for pure entertainment's sake, this film is more enjoyable. Dunkirk might be more well-made in other facets... but this list is still subject to personal opinion. I know. Crazy, right?
4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
I enjoyed The Force Awakens, but I was also underwhelmed by it due in part to often rehashing the original Star Wars--complete with Death Star III. The Last Jedi was more of a twist and turned filled journey and was ultimately closer to what I was hoping for out of new Star Wars movies in the first place. There are definitely a handful of headscratching issues here, but the important thing is this: do not dismiss this movie simply because some hardcore fans think it's too different or whatever they're complaining about. If anything, that's what makes this movie work.
3. Wonder Woman
Well, if I was gonna include any superhero movies here I had to include this one right? Seriously though, Wonder Woman is pretty much the best thing about the DC Extended Universe. Her own movie gets off to a bit of a slow start, but rectifies that pretty much the rest of the way. People have been waiting for a superheroine to carry a movie like this and they got one. It's no gimmick, either. This is a pretty doggone good movie.
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
The last two entries here fall into the somewhat more intellectual category--particularly this one, if only because there aren't a lot of actual action scenes here. Yet the movie is still quite compelling. Probably the worst thing about this movie is the misleading title--there isn't much of a war here. And the ending is a little underwhelming. But you know what? This is still an insanely well directed movie and Andy Serkis really outdoes himself. If this is the last entry in the series, I blame Spider-Man for eating up so much of the Apes' box office money.
1. Logan
Not only this is ultimately my favorite movie of the year, it's also the biggest surprise. Unlike most, I was skeptical of an R-rated Wolverine movie--I was worried that they would just go for a gorefest without regard to story. Shocker: this movie is actually really, really good. It is also brutal to watch on multiple levels. It is not recommended for the faint of heart. But this is arguably about as good a conclusion to Hugh Jackman's career as Wolverine as we could have asked for.
Most Underrated Movie: The Circle. I do not understand for the life of me how this got trashed as badly as it did. It's got some direction and script issues, but it's an alarming cautionary tale that might make you apprehensive about Facebook, among other things.
Most Overrated Movie: Thor - Ragnarok. First off, I did enjoy this movie quite a bit--it was one of the funnier ones of the year. But there is no way it's the best Marvel movie. It cannot decide whether it wants to take itself seriously or not, and the cop-out ending (where a serious event is made to mean basically nothing) is ridiculous. Still a fun movie, but a bit overrated.
Most Underwhelming Movie: The LEGO Ninjago Movie. Yikes. This movie had some funny moments, but it was so far off from the other LEGO movies that it's hard to believe they approved this final cut.
Funniest Movie: The LEGO Batman Movie. This movie is basically a parody for the two-thirds of it or so. And even after that, it's still hilarious. Much like the first LEGO Movie, it has a weirdly different tone in the climactic act but that doesn't stop it from being a fun experience.
Biggest Surprise (besides Logan): Spider-Man - Homecoming. This is still a lower tier MCU movie. But the fact that this didn't feel like a tired rehash and that the latest rendition of Spider-Man actually worked despite being the third one in the last 10 years is a doggone miracle.
Worst Movie: The Emoji Movie. Okay, okay. I didn't actually see this. But come on, we all know this is the worst.
Worst Movie That I Actually Saw: The Boss Baby. How this abomination ever got nominated for a Best Animated Feature, I'll never know. It's with garbage like this where parents need to draw the line and not listen to their kids begging to see it. It does not help that films like this are only delaying the release of How to Train Your Dragon 3.
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