Movies
The Best Movies Of 2017 (So Far)
We are half way through 2017, so what better time than now to look at some of my favorite movies of the year! This list goes to 10 with five honorable mentions!
BABY DRIVER
Shades on, iPod set to shuffle, earbuds in ears. From its opening car chase to its sugary wheelman-meets-waitress romance, Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver hits that movie sweet spot (full review here). Ansel Elgort is the titular protagonist but the cargo he moves doesn’t involve pampers. He’s a wheelman for a nefarious outfit led by Kevin Spacey. Pairing an eclectic songlist that includes Martha & the Vandellas, Queen, Barry White, and David Brubeck among others with notable actors Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm, Baby Driver is one ride you don’t want to stop.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2
Subtly crafting a subculture of hired guns and assassins with 2014’s John Wick, the sequel kicks things up to 11 when our title hero/antihero (Keanu Reeves) must honor a blood oath and kill again. The resulting act makes him the target of many individuals including Common, who is every bit as good with a knife as he is with a gun. John Wick: Chapter 2 improves upon the first movie’s set up (a widow getting vengeance on the man that murdered his dog!) and advances the story as we go further into Wick’s world as the body count rises. Be sure to grab your No. 2 pencils and tally up the headshots.
GET OUT
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut made the term “social thriller” hip again. With Get Out the social topic de jour is race. Peele, though most known for his comedy with collaborator Keegan Michael-Key (Comedy Central’s “Key & Peele”), Get Out offers a smattering of laughs but for the most part is a horror flick. Peele is tact when presenting race relations until things become unhinged during the last act as Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener, playing parents who are more than a little over-accommodating to their daughter’s new boyfriend, Chris, who is a black man.
LOGAN
All good things must come to an end. After seventeen years Hugh Jackman finally retired his signature character, Wolverine. But what a way to go out. Writer/director James Mangold and Jackman deliver the best X-Men movie to date by placing the roguish hero in a western, or at least a superhero movie echoing motifs consistently found in that genre. Gritty and raw, unlike the previous X-Men related movies, Logan channels what it takes to be a caretaker in extreme times. Man is fallible. So are mutants. The end is full of sorrow, but not pity. Still, you’d likely want to say, “Come back, Logan. Come back.”
BEATRIZ AT DINNER
Is Beatriz at Dinner as darkly comic as the advertisements alluded? Not exactly. The central construct involves Beatriz (Salma Hayak), a massage therapist and holistic healer, who gets a friendly offer to stay for a dinner party from a client after her car breaks down. The party is populated with WASPs and blow-hards, the biggest of whom is a boorish billionaire (John Lithgow), whose hotel business makes Beatriz recall her own struggles as an immigrant coming to America. Mike White’s screenplay crackles as the booze flows and the night spirals out of control. Hayak has never been better, and the film makes for a great topic of conversation (maybe over dinner) about those who destroy and those who heal.
WONDER WOMAN
When I wrote my review of Wonder Woman, I opened with a statement exclaiming that the heroine is the hero we need now more than ever. It seems that many echoed my sentiments, as the woman with the golden lasso has become one of the most successful movies of 2017. But it’s more than dollars and cents; it’s what Wonder Woman represents. Gal Gadot as Princess Diana is the embodiment of true womanhood. Women who are strong, not dainty or demure. Thrust from Amazonia, an island nation populated by only women, into No Man’s Land (in the war to end all wars), Diana delivers on her promise to be the best warrior. The film is a reminder that there’s nothing a woman can’t handle.
HOUNDS OF LOVE
There must be something in the water down under because the nation has been churning out some great horror in recent years. 2014’s The Babadook was a breakout success for first-time feature filmmaker Jennifer Kent. Now it is Ben Young’s turn with Hounds of Love. Inspired by true events, the film is an exercise in psychological tension, about a suburban couple — more like serial-killing sociopaths — that kidnaps teenage girls and holds them in captivity. Hounds of Love is not for the weak of heart (or for everyone) but Young’s strong direction and the impressive performances make for an effective piece of cinema. And for those who love The Moody Blues’ “Nights of White Satin,” you’ll never listen to it the same way again.
COLOSSAL
Nacho Vigalondo is a Spanish filmmaker who burst onto the scene with 2007’s Timecrimes. A decade and three films later, Vigalondo delivers Colossal. To chart his maturation as a director, particularly his last feature (Open Windows) to his latest, it is like comparing night to day, black to white. Colossal, which stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, is a gigantic leap for Vigalondo. Gigantic being the opportune word. Gloria (Hathaway), who is out of work and now boyfriend-less, moves back home and reconnects with old friends at an old bar in town. Prone to drinking, however, finds Gloria an unwilling participant as part of a strange phenomenon happening in Seoul, South Korea. To go into more detail would spoil the surprise. Just know that Gloria’s simple existence has a colossal effect on the world outside her own.
GRADUATION
The best intentions can cause conflicting emotions. Such is the case for Romeo Aldea (Adrian Titieni), a father who would go to extreme measures to ensure his daughter have a better life than his own. Cristian Mungui (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) presents a human drama about Romania and teeming corruption in showing that the societal decay that exists also affects our own morality. Using locked-down shots for most of its duration, Mungui crafts a profound drama highlighted by Titieni and Maria Dragus, who plays his daughter Eliza.
KEDI
A documentary about cats. Yep, that’s Kedi (Turkish for Feline). This baby purrs as filmmaker Ceyda Tourun and his cinematographers Alp Korfali and Charlie Wuppermann beautifully capture the poise and grace of the cats that roam the city of Istanbul. While the narrative scope may be about seven cats, upon observing them in their natural habitat you can’t help but see some mirrored traits. Visually arresting and delightful, the cats of Kedi routinely keep to themselves but this documentary is one worth sharing with others.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
The Lost City of Z – James Gray adapts David Grann’s novel about reluctant British officer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) and his increased obsession with finding an ancient lost city in the Amazon. The film may seem out of place in today’s era of movie-making, its lushness and melancholy both poetic and maddening at the same time — much like Fawcett’s own obsessiveness.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – It’s bring your son to work day as Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) meets his father, Ego (Kurt Russell). The rest of the Guardians do their part to save the galaxy again, but it is Yondu (Michael Rooker), making like Mary Poppins, who is the MVG (Most Valuable Guardian) in the GotG sequel.
It Comes at Night – Trey Edward Shults follows Krisha with a thriller about a family that houses another family after some unidentified virus wipes out most of the world’s population.
Personal Shopper – Another pairing with writer/director Olivier Assayas and star Kristen Stewart. This time it is a supernatural drama about a personal shopper for a fashion model who tries to make contact with her own deceased twin brother.
After the Storm – A charming family drama from Hirokazu Koreeda (Like Father, Like Son) about Ryota (Hiroshi Abe), a once successful author now debt-ridden private detective, trying to reconnect with his son. Kirin Kiki is a scene-stealer as Ryota’s mother.