My Top Ten Movies of 2017

This year was a fantastic time for movies, as films from every conceivable genre delivered thrills, laughs, chills, and every other emotion on the spectrum. Now, with 2017 drawing
to a close, it's time to look at all of the movies that debuted and pull out the favorites.

I have compiled a list of my top ten favorite films of the year, as well as some rationale for why they resonated with me as deeply as they did. On that note, let's dive into my first movie, and its ability to give us a more comedic look at one of our favorite brooding anti-heroes.

10. John Wick: Chapter 2

There's something to be said about a movie that embraces practical effects and solid stuntwork in an era that's very much defined by CGI and high-tech visual effects. In that regard, John Wick: Chapter 2 stands out as the film from 2017 that reminded us what a handful of talented people could do in-camera. Between the gunfights, the hand-to-hand choreography, and the opening car chase, the second installment in the John Wick franchise epitomized why action movie aficionados love the genre so much.It also doesn't hurt that the film (despite not being based on a pre-existing IP) continued to flesh out the world of John Wick in a fascinating way. The ecosystem and economy of The Continental have turned into one of the most fascinating fictional landscapes in all of pop culture, and out hope remains high that John Wick: Chapter 3 can maintain that fantastic sense of immersion going forward.

9. Logan

The Wolverine solo movies have thus far ranged from downright awful (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) to pretty good (The Wolverine). However, when Hugh Jackman decided to hang up his claws for good, he also decided to go all out with director James Mangold in the form of Logan. The result? A comic book movie that's pretty much a masterpiece, skewing closer to Unforgiven than anything from the X-Men franchise.The line between blockbuster and a legitimately great artistic film has always existed, but Logan stands out because it is one of the few movies ever really to blur that distinction. Wolverine's final silver screen adventure isn't just a bloody and violent journey into a comic book universe (although it indeed is that), it's also a heartwrenching story about an adopted father, son, and daughter that caps off a 17-year arc with one of the best movie endings that we have ever seen.

8. The LEGO Batman Movie

Following the success of The LEGO Movie was always going to represent a daunting challenge for the folks at Warner Bros., and despite his popularity, LEGO Batman seemed like an odd choice because of his relatively one-note personality. That said, Chris McKay pulled off something amazing with The LEGO Batman Movie: he delivered a heartwarming and hilarious sequel that honors the source material and maintains an effective emotional core that works for audiences of all ages.

It also doesn't hurt that The LEGO Batman Movie is a feast for anyone with an affinity for DC lore. Chris McKay very clearly understands the mythology of The Caped Crusader, and the film itself is a love letter to any and every adventure that Batman has been on since he first hit the pages of DC Comics back in the 1930s. A discerning comic book fan can tell when a lot of love goes into a movie, and The LEGO Batman Movie is full of love.

7.Wonder Woman

Many fans weren't sure what to expect from Diana Prince's solo movie following the lackluster releases of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad in 2016, but the DCEU's first female-centric superhero movie worked by combining the hallmarks of classic adventure movies like Raiders of the Lost Arkand Romancing the Stone with fresh ideas, settings and an iconic superheroine who has never fronted a solo film in live-action.

The success of Wonder Woman (both financially and critically) already seems to have had massive implications for the comic book movie genre as a whole, and it's something worth getting excited about. We have seen that non-white male heroes can lead this genre to strong box office results, which means Diana has paved the way for an army of diverse and eclectic heroes to enter the fray within the next few years.

6. The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water is the movie we needed in 2017. An act of healing, a display of great humanity, and a journey from “them” to “us” that cherishes the odd, the other, and the queer with profound warmth, and above all, love. Guillermo Del Torodelivers the best work of his career with the stunning tale of a mute woman who falls in love with a fish god; a love story that unfolds through aesthetic splendor and a rich emotional journey. Every technical element of The Shape of Water is on point — Alexandre Desplat’s score enchants, Dan Lausten’s cinematography leaps off the screen, the sets and costumes make a middling budget look like millions more, and Del Toro unites arguably the ensemble of the year with Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, and 2017 supporting MVP Michael Stuhlbarg — every element works in concert to create one of the most cathartic experiences of the year with sequences so elegantly constructed I was moved to tears by the sheer beauty of them.

5. Baby Driver

Before watching Edgar Wright's Baby Driver, I never would've assumed that the musical and heist genres could blend in a way that would highlight the best of both styles of film. Alas, the movie debuted this summer and took the moviegoing community by storm. Not only is Baby Driver a masterclass in action filmmaking in the way that Edgar Wright shot many of the sequences (particularly the opening car chase), but the inclusion of one of the year's most stylish soundtracks helped elevate it to the status of an instant classic. Think about it; how often do you see a movie that syncs gunshots up with rock and roll songs?

It's also worth mentioning that Baby Driver is anchored by one of the most charismatic ensembles of actors in recent memory. From Ansel Elgort to Jon Hamm and even Jon Bernthal, everyone brings their A-game in this movie, and we have our fingers firmly crossed that this will be the movie that finally gets a sequel out of Edgar Wright.

4. The Disaster Artist

I am a longtime devotee of the cult created by Tommy Wiseau when The Room first premiered, so naturally was interested to see what a movie chronicling its creation could look like. Luckily, the film pulls little to no punches in its depiction of the lives of Tommy and Greg Sestero, and the result is a masterpiece that's almost too bizarre to believe in the form of The Disaster Artist.

Quite a fuss has been made about James Franco's performance as Tommy Wiseau, and while he is excellent (and well worth the awards recognition that he's receiving), that almost doesn't give credit to the other great aspects of the film. Dave Franco is brilliant, and most of the cameos are brilliantly cast. All in all, it's The Disaster Artistis the type of movie that Tommy Wiseau promised us The Room would be before it debuted in theaters almost 15 years ago.

3. Get Out

Arguably no movie that debuted in theaters this year feels more relevant or timely than Jordan Peele's Get Out. An obviously personal and intimate horror story about systemic racism and oppression, the film blends well-worn tropes of the horror genre with the laugh-out-loud comedy that the director honed in his work on Key & Peele, and it works in ways that other horror-comedies often fail achieve -- using an original property not based on any preexisting material, no less.

It also doesn't hurt that Get Out is a legitimately inventive and fun scary movie that doesn't resort to cheap tricks to deliver its terror. It's a film that relies on old-school creepiness, and it is evident from the opening scene that Jordan Peele understands the horror genre in a way that makes him ideally suited for this type of story. The biting satire is just icing on the cake.

2. IT

Few individual authors had a better year than Stephen King, whose work was faithfully adapted into some great projects like Gerald's Game and 1922. That said, no movie to debut in 2017 captured the spirit of King's work quite like Andy Muschietti's IT -- a film that honored the nature of the source material while also putting a unique and nostalgic spin on the original story.

Quite a bit of credit can be attributed to Andy Muschietti for his expert handling of the film's scares, but it's also worth pointing out how damn-good the cast is in this movie. Bill Skarsgard is an obvious standout for his ability to take the baton from Tim Curry and create an entirely new (yet arguably just as iconic) version of Pennywise, but we also need to point out the strength of the casting for The Losers Club. With IT: Chapter 2 slated for a September 2019 release, our hope remains high that this masterful horror movie can deliver the same amount of terror and heart as the original did this year.

1. The Killing of a Sacred Deer

To be blunt, what the fuck? What is this movie? And why did it completely mess me up? Yorgos Lanthimos has a weird little world of upsetting wonders in his head, that’s for sure. The Killing of a Sacred Deer stars Colin Farell as a Steven Murphy, a brilliant surgeon, who lives an idyllic life with his beautiful wife (Nicole Kidman) and their two children, teenaged daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and young son Bob (Sunny Suljic). That is, until he grows close to Martin (Barry Keoghan), the son of a man who died on his operating table. Martin lingers around like an unswattable fly until he presents Steven with an ultimatum so horrifying it recalls the unflinching, merciless demands of the old gods. Sacrifice, punishment, and expiation. Farell and Kidman do great work as a chilly, affluent couple faced with an impossibly upsetting predicament, but it’s newcomer Keoghan (also seen in Dunkirk) who will make you squirm in your seat with his bravura embrace of the weird. Never has a plate of pasta been so damn distressing. Between Keoghan’s performance and Lanthimos’ piano-wire tight tension, Killing of a Sacred Deer is inexplicably nauseous from the get-go, but about halfway through the discomfort and dread boils over into a mythic, haunting fever dream of punishment and perversity. The Killing of a Sacred Deer starts with a needling presence, scratching and probing in intensely uncomfortable ways, and before you know it, the film becomes a full-on opiate drip, lodged deep, that transforms Lanthimos’ signature surreality into a nightmarescape that feels too real and too intimate. I just can’t shake it.