2017 was an amazing year for movies. Looking back these were TheGenericNerd’s top ten picks of the year 2017!
- A Ghost Story
A Ghost Story plays with conventions in many ways. It’s a heartrending story of a person who died way ahead of his time and now his ghost is not able to let go of the house that he and his wife used to live in. The subtle element of science-fiction makes this movie a standout. It has very less dialog, but the screenplay is so peculiar that it keeps you thinking for days.
Sadly, even with extremely engaging performances by Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, this movie flew under many people’s radar.
- Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
It is a story of a mother whose daughter falls prey to sexual harassment and eventually gets murdered. When no arrests are made even after a year since the incident happened, she decides to make use of the three big billboards outside her city to contend for justice.
This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. The dialog is excellently written and Frances McDormand’s performance is gut-wrenching. It gives enough substance to the heart-breaking anguish of losing someone or of knowing that a person is going to die soon that it becomes awfully hard not to care about their story.
- I, Tonya
It’s a biopic based on the life of infamous figure-skater Tonya Harding who allegedly planned an attack on one of her team-mates Nancy Kerrigan along with her then husband Jeff Gillooly and former bodyguard Shawn Eckhart. Director Craig Gillespie focussed on bringing out the challenging life that Tonya Harding must have experienced, and he made the audience feel for her even though she was knowingly or unknowingly associated with a horrible incident. The intertwining aspects of contradictory statements make the film very different and stylistic.
Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding shows her A-game, but the true superstar of this movie was Allison Janney as Tonya’s abusive, intimidating and outrageous mother.
- Split
He had delivered so many flops that everyone had ceased to expect anything good from writer and director M. Night Shyamalan, who was mostly famous for his twist endings. But defying everyone’s expectations in 2017, Split amazed the hell out of all the audiences.
It’s a thrilling story of a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder with 23 distinct personalities, one of which is responsible for the abduction of three teenage girls. This movie is extremely riveting, and James McAvoy gives the performance of his career. He played all the personalities so authentically that it became frightening. A truly underrated performance which deserves to be talked about more.
Dunkirk is undoubtedly a technical masterpiece. It’s the true tale of Dunkirk evacuation, during the time of World War II, told with minimalistic dialog. This movie is enthralling from start to finish. The sense of urgency keeps you holding your breath throughout the 2 hours run time.
An exceptional screenplay by Christopher Nolan when combined with Hans Zimmer’s astounding musical score, induces an impact that is bound to stay with the audience for a very long time.
- Get Out
As an audience, we tend to think of ghosts and zombies when talking about horror, but first-time director Jordan Peele made us a movie which is beyond frightening without much blood or gore.
This movie is a funny, terrifying and at times very creepy satire on color discrimination. When a black guy goes to meet his white girlfriend’s parents, things go bizarre and what follows is an ultimate horror adventure.
- Call me by your name
It is a heartfelt love story of Elio and Oliver. It is spellbinding to watch young Elio figure out his own identity. It is one of the sweetest movies ever made. With Oscar-worthy performances by Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer, it makes one of the greatest coming-of-age love stories of all time.
The chemistry between both the lead actors is so breath-taking that it touches the soul compelling you to want to know more and more about the characters.
This movie is everything a sequel to highly acclaimed sci-fi classic should be and more. Without putting anything, which the original Blade Runner stood for, in jeopardy, this movie added so much more to the franchise.
It’s a shame that this movie was overlooked by many and turned out to be a box-office failure because from performances to the minute technicalities, this movie has all that it takes to be a blockbuster. The cinematography by Roger Deakins especially deserves all the appreciation as this is one of the most gorgeous looking movies ever.
- Logan
Hugh Jackman bids adieu to the role of Wolverine, which he had been playing for 17 years, with Logan and did he nail it to the ground! It is without any doubt, the most human and arguably the best X-men movie ever made.
This movie proved to be an emotional roller-coaster for all the X-men fans. The unfathomable love, that drives a person to go to any extent so as to protect his/her family, is depicted so authentically that you just can’t stop the tears dripping down your eyes.
Honourable Mentions
- The Big Sick
- The Disaster Artist
- Wonder Woman
- It
- Wind River
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Lady Bird is director Greta Gerwig’s love letter to her town Sacramento as well as all the teenagers who are terrified to make mistakes. Unlike most coming-of-age movies, it portrays the situations with incredible honesty and with zero clichés. The ending to this movie is highly satisfying and blissful.
Its significant re-watchability and unconventional approach to the story makes Lady Bird a modern day classic and TheGenericNerd’s top pick!
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