The State Of The Year: 2017

2017 will be remembered in the history books as one of the greatest years in film history, and not just because it was the first full year of The Sacred Wall’s existence. Out of the 135 films watched (including a whopping 15 documentaries), it’s not until the 80s you find films I wouldn’t want to watch again, and it’s not until 101 you find the start of the unequivocally bad films. That’s uniquely impressive. And that’s without mentioning how truly wonderful that Top 40 or so are. Really, any year when you have three A+ films duking it out for #1, including Call Me By Your Name, Blade Runner 2049, and especially Lady Bird, you are looking at something special. 2017 was the year where The Shape of Water became the first original fantasy Best Picture winner (and kept the Travis Rule alive), where horror made a BIG return with mother!, Happy Death Day, It, and especially Get Out. Romance was big thanks to Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, The Big Sick, and Phantom Thread. High-concept blockbusters returned to the big screen with Baby Driver, Dunkirk, Logan Lucky, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Atomic Blonde. And the superhero movie finally came into its own as an art form (even if it peaked in 2018) thanks to Wonder Woman, Logan, The LEGO Batman Movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Colossal, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. My biggest regret is the fact that Phantom Thread isn’t in my Top Ten, because it really deserves to be. However, if I were to make room for it, what would I take out? If I had to make a decision, gun to my head, of a swap I would make, I guess I, Tonya would drop down, but that’s only if a gun were literally against my temple. You can see the full list of films that I watched, listed, and reviewed between January 1^st, 2017 and March 4^th, 2018 below. I would recommend anything in that Top 50 or so with general ease, and would easily recommend most of those documentaries to you – there’s some interesting stuff down there.

Any colored bold name can be clicked on for a link to the original review

You can see my Worst of 2017 list right here

You can see the Sacred Wall Awards list right here

And you can see my Top Ten Films of 2017 list right here

1. Lady Bird
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Call Me By Your Name
4. Baby Driver
5. Get Out
6. The Shape of Water
7. Dunkirk
8. The Big Sick
9. I, Tonya
10. Brigsby Bear
11. Phantom Thread
12. The Disaster Artist
13. Hostiles
14. Logan Lucky
15. Darkest Hour
16. Battle of the Sexes
17. Coco
18. Ingrid Goes West
19. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
20. A Ghost Story
21. Atomic Blonde
22. The Florida Project
23. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
24. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
25. Wonder
26. Detroit
27. The Beguiled
28. Mudbound
29. mother!
30. Wind River
31. Stronger
32. The Lego Batman Movie
33. John Wick: Chapter 2
34. War on Everyone
35. Okja
36. Spider-Man: Homecoming
37. Thor: Ragnarok
38. Colossal
39. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
40. The Breadwinner
41. The Post
42. Wonder Woman
43. Gifted
44. Happy Death Day
45. A Fantastic Woman
46. Loving Vincent
47. It Comes At Night
48. Their Finest
49. Logan
50. The Insult
51. The Greatest Showman
52. War for the Planet of the Apes
53. The Square
54. Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman
55. Murder on the Orient Express
56. I don’t feel at home in this world anymore.
57. It
58. Suburbicon
59. Beauty and the Beast
60. Loveless
61. Good Time
62. T2: Trainspotting
63. Fate of the Furious
64. Personal Shopper
65. Novitiate
66. A United Kingdom
67. Girls Trip
68. Molly’s Game
69. Victoria & Abdul
70. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
71. Roman J. Israel, Esq.
72. The Little Hours
73. Table 19
74. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
75. On Body and Soul
76. A Dog’s Purpose
77. All The Money In The World
78. Free Fire
79. Split
80. Before I Fall
81. The Boss Baby
82. Ferdinand
83. Downsizing
84. The Lost City of Z
85. Gerald’s Game
86. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
87. Unforgettable
88. Sleepless
89. The Shack
90. Rock Dog
91. The Cure For Wellness
92. Beach Rats
93. Beatriz At Dinner
94. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
95. Snatched
96. Kong: Skull Island
97. Baywatch
98. Fist Fight
99. The Great Wall
100. Alien: Covenant
101. Going In Style
102. The Bye Bye Man
103. Cult of Chucky
104. The Dark Tower
105. CHIPs
106. The Circle
107. Ghost in the Shell
108. Tulip Fever
109. Power Rangers
110. Geostorm
111. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
112. Fifty Shades Darker
113. The Snowman
114. The House
115. The Space Between Us
116. The Mummy
117. Rings
118. The Book Of Henry
119. Transformers: The Last Knight
120. The Emoji Movie

DOCUMENTARIES

1. Finding Frances
2. Faces Places
3. Jane
4. Strong Island
5. Last Men In Aleppo
6. Icarus
7. Risk
8. Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring A Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
9. Abacus: Small Enough To Jail
10. Kedi
11. Whose Streets?
12. 11/8/16
13. Get Me Roger Stone
14. I Am Heath Ledger
15. The Reagan Show