Top 10 of 2017

We have passed another year of movies, with some being memorable and will stand the test of time moving forward. However, the list of top 10 of the year will be different for each one. My list is what I consider my 10 personal favorites, these are ones that impacted me throughout the year. So I am going to set a guideline for myself, these are ones that came out during the year in the US.

Also, in case you didn’t know this month marks the 10 year anniversary for the blog. I may not have been as consistent with it as I would have liked, especially these last few years, but I have tried my best to maintain it and keep it going, well anyway, without further adeu, here is my top 10 of the year, starting off with…..

10. A Silent Voice

I debated which movie I wanted to start off with, but I decided to go with this. This was a movie that had a very limited release, I saw a little spot on the internet and decided to try to go see it, I drove about 45 minutes away from where I live, and through insane traffic, but this was a movie that was worth it. This is a story about a deaf girl in the sixth grade who is transferred to a new school and is bullied by a boy, very severely I may add. She transfers out months later. Years pass and the boy experiences years of being shunned and bullied himself, so he tries to find her and make amends with her, and they start to build a friendship and they start to connect with many individuals. This movie focuses on the boy and it makes it a more interesting story. This is suppose to get another limited release soon, so I recommend checking this one out.

9. Logan

After 17 years of playing a very iconic character, Hugh Jackman gives his final performance as the Wolverine, I was hoping he would consider joining the Avengers with the whole Disney and Fox combining forces, but it sounds like that’s not the case. Anyway, we get a very fitting farewell to the character. While I am sure many of you have already seen this, I still won’t go into spoiler details here. I can say this for sure, this is the first X-Men trilogy where the last film is the best, I certainly couldn’t say this for the original X-Men movies at all, I couldn’t say that for the prequel X-Men trilogy, but I can for sure say this for the Wolverine trilogy. Oh yeah, Patrick Stewart’s performance as Charles Xavier is excellent here as well.

8. Only The Brave

A movie I didn’t hear much about beforehand, but it snuck up and unfortunately didn’t do very well at the box office, but for those that saw it, I believe were affected by it. It gave me an appreciation for the firefighters that give their time for the less desirable job, and sometimes even their lives, and even it shows the struggles their families go through. This is very well shot, and just the elements come together to give us a very well done film, with an emotional punch, and the director of the movie giving us something like this, I was blown away. Plus I think the score in the movie was great as well. This movie should be hitting Blu-Ray soon, and I think digital streaming services tomorrow, I strongly recommend checking this one out when it arrives, it’s worth it.

7. Thor Ragnarok

This was another good year for Marvel movies, and it was hard to choose which one I would go on this list, I almost considered Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which is a strong honorable mention), but if I had to go with one that surprised me, it would be this. I am going to admit this, out of the solo movies for the Marvel superheroes, Thor has been my least favorite. I enjoyed the first one, though it wasn’t as good as many of the other ones in my opinion, and I consider Thor The Dark World one of my least favorite Marvel movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So when I heard about this, I wasn’t really looking forward to it, throughout the year I caught trailers and my interest grew, and one of the trailers in July got me excited, which I wasn’t anticipating. I just had a blast watching this when I saw it in theaters, and it was just one of those movies that you could watch and just have a fun time watching, everything about this movie just felt fresh. And yes, this became my favorite Thor movie in the Thor trilogy.

6. Coco

The one thing I really like about Pixar is that they don’t need the power of celebrities to sell a move and get people to come, they can rely on a good story and people will come. There were probably a couple of actors that I recognized but I didn’t think were ones that you would recognize, but it was about the characters and it was about the environment, and the environment was spectacular, and the actors were of the Mexican ethnic, which made it great. Anyway, while this was all great, the reason this made it onto my top 10 is because of the theme, which is about families, and connecting with ancestors. I really got invested as the last third was happening, the reveals just got me invested in what was going to happen, I enjoyed the world and the journey, but once those reveals came into play, I just sat at the edge of my seat just hoping everything would turn out great, and that is what helped drive the emotion for me when the ending occurred.

5. Wonder Woman

Yes, that’s right, a movie in the DC Cinematic Universe that is actually great, who would have thought. This character was just likable, the situations she was put in were very inspiring and how she rose to conquer the challenges that came to her had an impact, yes I am talking about the part at No Man’s Land, just how she was willing to go out and fight off the enemies when there was no hope in that situation, and just how everyone else followed, it was a very inspiring moment. This movie actually had color (let me rephrase that, it had good use of color) and had humor, genuine humor, and really good music as well. Honestly, I remember seeing both the trailer for this and Justice League in 2016 after they were shown at Comic Con, and the one for Justice League stood out to me more, and yet this became the one I enjoyed a lot more, and left more of the mark. As well, I feel they got the casting just right, especially for the role of Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot, she just fits the part very well. Please check this movie out, it is worth your time, even f you wrote off the DC Cinematic Universe after Batman V Superman.

4. War For Planet of the Apes

Talk about a finale to a trilogy that many probably didn’t think was going to be that great. I liked the first one (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), but it was one of those that needed to grow on me, it wasn’t one that I loved from the first frame. The second blew me away completely, which really raised my expectations here. At this point, I really cared about the characters, the ape characters to be exact, and I wanted to see where they would all go. At this point, I still don’t know which one I would put as the best, this one or the second one, I am still in debate, a part of me wants to put this one because of how spectacular much of it was. Also, just a warning, this isn’t a movie with very many battles, I think that’s why this one didn’t perform very well at the box office, even though I think it should have. Another thing I will add, the performance by Steve Zhan was great, it is a performance that could have been a little too goofy and detract from the experience, but yet his humor was done in a good way, and helped to lighten the mood at the right moments when it was needed and did not overdue it. Check this one out if you haven’t, along with the first two, I now consider this a great trilogy, and a trilogy that I think will be viewed for ages.

3. Your Name

Before it hit the US in April, it had shattered many box office records in Japan, and I think in surrounding countries. When I finally got to see it in April, I could see why. The animation was stunning, one of the most gorgeous animated movies I have seen in a long time, which I was sort of expecting based on the trailers and images I saw, however the thing I was not expecting was a good and intriguing story. The main plot of the movie is about a boy and a girl that swap bodies on various days (like Freaky Friday), and they learn about one another. There were twists in the movie that really surprised me and I was not anticipating, and near the end I was sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen and how it was going to be resolved. I also found myself getting invested in the two main characters, and just sitting there hoping that the two would end up together in the end. This is one of those movies I am glad more and more people are discovering as it is a very special movie and I think anyone could enjoy. It’s out now on Blu-Ray and DVD and I strongly recommend looking for it, I even think it will be available on Digital HD soon as well, so seek this one out.

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The 8^th Star Wars movie in the Skywalker saga, and if you count Rogue One, it is the 9^th Star Wars film altogether, unless you want to count the movie The Clone Wars back in 2008 or the TV Ewok movies and……….you know what, let’s just leave it at 8 or 9. The phrase “this is not going to go the way you think” could be any truer than here. I will not include any spoilers here, in case you have made it this far without seeing it and are waiting for theater crowds to die down, which should be good at this point. Anyway, I had ideas of how this would go when we got to Episode 9, and now that book of theories and ideas going into Episode 9 in how I think things would play out, I literally chucked out that book and burned it to ashes, I am still thinking of possible theories, but they are entirely different now. I will say this, before making a judgment call on this movie after one viewing, I strongly recommend giving it another viewing, let it settle a bit and then go see it again and then form your opinion, yes I am aware not very many members of the audience praised this movie, but honestly I bet many didn’t praise Empire Strikes Back when it came out, and now it’s hailed as one of the greatest movies in cinema history. I am very glad Rian Johnson took the movies in the direction he did, yes this is a very different movie than the last one, but the last one needed to be that nostalgic ride, this one needed to take us to new territory, and I felt this one did exactly what it needed to. I feel I can’t go into much more without putting a spoiler warning, in fact, I feel I need to do a full review of this one to talk about different aspects. I am still deciding if I like this one or The Force Awakens more, and more importantly, where I would place this in terms of favorite Star Wars movies.

1. Dunkirk

When I see Christopher Nolan’s name attached to a movie, I am in. Whatever the situation, whatever the setting, whoever the actors, the moment it says it’s a film by Christopher Nolan, I will see it. He is a director that has actually made going to the movies a worthwhile experience, that will enhance it and make it your money’s worth. While many movies can be enjoyed at home as well as the movies, this one is probably best appreciated if seen on the biggest screen possible, preferably the IMAX. I saw this opening night and I was just immersed by the experience. With the first shot going off, I realized right then and there that I was going to be in quite possibly the intense movie going experience. I felt I was in the same situation they were in and it felt very hard to breathe or calm down. From the way it was shot to the way the sound was designed (including Hans Zimmer’s score), it was created to help us feel the intensity of the situation they were in. I was thankful for those moments where they would cut away to something slightly less intense like the characters that were traveling by boat to rescue many of the people stuck on the beach. PS, in case you didn’t know, Michael Caine made an uncredited appearance, as the person over the radio for the fighter pilots. Also another interesting note, we also saw the release of The Darkest Hour which showed the point of view of Winston Churchhill trying to make the administrative decisions in terms of the events of Dunkirk, so when you put the two movies together, while made by completely different companies and crew and cast and all, they help fill in different aspects of the situation. Regardless, this was one of the greatest experiences in an IMAX theater I had in a very long time.