2017 Movie Round-Up

I can't believe it's been a year since last year's round up, this year has been a big year for me in regards to film watching as I somehow reached 700 films watched this year! It wasn't exactly easy and I watched A LOT of stinkers along the way but it was a personal goal I can now put to bed and concentrate on another goal now.

The blog has been pretty quiet this year, that's because I also promised I would write a review for every film I watched this year, which I did on my letterboxd, and which took up basically all my non-existent writing effort anyway.

Best Movies of 2017

I got to the cinema a lot more than I did in 2016 but also I still didn't go as much as I would have liked! This is half down to me being lazy and half down to Gloucester still not really showing a lot of films I wanted to see, I never got to see Raw or Good Time, etc. Still, I had a lot of fun this year! Here's my top five of this year (UK release dates).

Get Out

No list this year is complete without the phenomenon of Get Out, it's so rare in this day and age to experience a worldwide frenzy over a new movie and this one was it. It's box office triumph can attest to this, as can the all important memes it spawned.

I ended up seeing Get Out twice and it's one of those films that just gets better and better on a rewatch, I reckon I could easily watch it for years to come and still pick up new things that'll make me go HOLY SHIT.

Beauty and the Beast

I LOVE A MUSICAL. This harks back to an old school, pompous musical and it couldn't have been played better. I'm convinced Luke Evans was born specifically to play Gaston. I got chills watching this in the cinema, a film so unafraid of fan service, ripping open its open lore and delving deeper and singing basically the whole thing.

Death Note

I am so totally serious about this, I have no idea why Death Note captivated me so much, I watched the original live action and the anime and both left me with more questions than answers but I was always charmed by how silly it was. 

Turning Light into a fuck boy and giving L a personality resonated with me and also I thought the soundtrack was absolutely incredible (I still listen to it now, months on). The ferris wheel scene was breathtaking in that gaudy way that only Wingard can pull off, and I'm sure next year I'll be like "I'm so sick of Wingard's synths and neon" but for now I am still FULLY ON BOARD.

Thor Ragnarok

This is what happens when you steal away a talented director, throw them a budget and then don't interfere with them. Possibly the best superhero film to come out since Batman Returns, an actual fun adventure through space with Watiti's mark firmly stamped all over it.

I'd forgotten that comics could be fun, but this has set the bar so up high for Marvel now that I'm sure they won't be able to reach it again.

It

Cementing Finn Wolfhard as the savoir poster boy of horror, It lived up to it's impossible hype and brought Stand By Me for a new generation. This has been an excellent, rejuvenating kick in the arse for horror this year and I hope it can only do good for a genre I love and hate in equal measure.

For next year I have only one film I'm probably frothing to watch and that's I, Tonya. I'm so ready to watch Margot Robbie get a vehicle to show how fucking good she is!

Personally my film goal for 2018 is to watch a lot of old classics (pre 70s) that I've not watched before. Here is my list I'll loosely be following, I've already started dipping in and I am now in love with Gene Kelly and James Stewart, so. I'm already predicting a success for myself.