Decisions
decisions. With 2017 on it's last legs and we look to a wild
2018 in cinema, we can do nothing else but reflect on what was a
diverse and overall successful year for movies. We were graced
with a new Spider-Man franchise, another trip to a far off galaxy,
Vin Diesel faught all his Fast and Furious friends both on and off
camera, The Rock rebooted Jumanji and Baby Groot stole our hearts.
For all this, we had ten standout films that stole the screen.
These elite films of 2017 were unique and masterfully crafted by the
genius teams behind each. Some have bottomless heart, other gut
busting laughs, quick draw action and sprawling colorscapes, but one
thing they all have in common...they made our top ten.
First, the
following films have been omitted from this list as I haven't had a
chance to see them yet. I can tell you right now, The Disaster
Artist, The Phantom Thread and Ladybird should probably all make this
list, but to be fair, I want to see them first . Here's what is
omitted:
The
Disaster Artist
Ladybird
The Phantom Thread
Star Wars: The
Last Jedi
Call Me by Your Name
Three Billboards Outside of
Ebbing, Missouri
I, Tonya
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Ingrid
Goes West
Detroit
With
that MovieMercs.com presents:
The
Top 10 Films of 2017
This
was my most anticipated movie of 2017. I have been a GIANT
James Gunn fan since Slither found it's way into my dvd player all
those years back and I have been following his career since.
When he was announced as the director of a Marvel movie, I told
everyone for two years it was going to be epic. Then they cast
Chris Pratt, my favorite idiot from TV (Andy from Parks and Rec)
and I really wouldn't shut up. Enter into the frey, Guardians
of The Galaxy, which played like a space installed version of Indiana
Jones and both stole our hearts and our walking around money.
It was inevitable that Gunn would get the team back together.
What
he does in the sequel is continue the good times and catchy
soundtrack from the 1970's, but adds Kurt Russell as Star Lord's
father, Ego the Living Planet. Russell is perfect for the role
and brings his kind of cool all the way through.
Gunn's
use of spectacular is on display from the opening scene all the way
to the post credit scenes and we are blessed with one of the most
stunning and funny films of the year. Was it as good as the
first? Not exactly, but it does build on it properly and relies
on the characters to bond with the crowd like before. Rocket is
prickly as ever and Baby Groot is a riot, but Yondu (Michael Rooker)
finally gets his moment to shine and boy does he. The action is
fast and funny but with a dark mortality surrounding it.
As Guardians 1 is known as the film with the most deaths on
screen EVER, it seems Gunn wanted to challenge that in a more viseral
way. What he sets up for the future of Marvel and it's
cinematic universe, however, will be a wonder to behold for sure.
The
Big Sick was getting stellar reviews around the film festival
circuit early in the year. That is a sure sign of a strong
indie film. The story revolves around the true story of Kumail
Nanjiani (Silicon Valley's Dinesh) and his wife (then girlfriend),
who contracts a mysterious and serious illness and Kumail's
interaction with her family and her during this process.
Knowing the outcome in real life made this more of a love song to
co-writer Emily V Gordon (who is the girlfriend character played by
Zoe Kazan) told through the eyes of Nanjiani. The result is a
carefully sweet confession of learning life's lessons the hard way,
but that learning these lessons can lead to unexpected things.
Director,
Michael Showalter, who until now has relied on his slapstick mastery
in such projects as Wet Hot American Summer and The
Baxter, finally found an outlet for his chipper charmed sense of
humor and it blends quietly into the film as if it were baked in
perfectly. There is no room in this for silly jokes about butts
or big hammers hitting heads, this is a sophisticated, love story
with the real world of comedy allowing the trouble drama scenes feel
as real as our own. With amazing performances from Holly Hunter
and Ray Romano (who continues to show range after CBS), this is a
beautiful story of sad pieces put together. The Big
Sick is a must watch.
John
Wick shot onto the scene with one of the silliest premises of
all time. An ex-assassin nicknamed "The Boogeyman" is
forced to exact revenge on the men who steal his car and murder the
dog his dead wife left for him. The rest is glorious, bloody
history. Keanu Reeves dominated the screen with double taps and
quick reloads, all the while delivering havoc in horror measures.
With Chapter 2, they shed co-director David Leitch (who
directed Atomic Blonde this year and Deadpool
2 next). They also shed all of John Wick's dead weight as
the sequel blasted onto screens earlier this year to resounding
reviews and a $171.5 million worldwide gross (off a $40 million
budget).
What
made it so good? Simple, Keanu. Here, Reeves is unhinged,
not so much about revenge this time, this time it's survival.
When the whole world around him falls down, it is Reeves who shows
incredible range physically while driving home the meticulous,
calculated and stylish John Wick persona in every scene. He is
quicker than before, more awakened and incorporates so many judo
throws and improvised action that this film was like a ballroom blitz
(literally). The story was better than the first and it forced
John Wick into a corner, which is exactly where fans want him.
With great effort by Common,as Wick's enemy counterpart, the action
had the perfect places to excel and overcome the first and did at
every turn. From the set designs, the use of colors and space
to the unrelenting cat and mouse between Reeves and Common, John
Wick : Chapter 2 could go down as my second favorite film of
2017.
We
were able to review this one, so please check out our review HERE.
The
film has a strong sense of grandeur and stays close to historical
accuracy. The distribution of storytelling by land, air and sea
develops an interesting narrative that collects in pools of intense
survival scenes cut between air battles and the calm limbo on land.
This is a love letter from one of the best visual directors ever born
and everything about it proves willing to go outside of what a
conventional war film would. They don't rely on the fog aspect,
where body limbs blow off and blood spills onto screen, instead,
Nolan allows the environment to be the main character and the actors
are simply moving through it. With huge highlights in ever air
battle with Tom Hardy, who is a madman in the sky, there is this
sense of urgency and survival while building a beautifully visual and
striking film overall.
This
is another film we were lucky enough to see in 3D and review.
READ IT HERE!
Of
all superhero films this year, in a year where comics shined
dramatically and thematically, there was only one true winner of them
all...THOR RAGNAROK! From start to finish, this film was both a
visual and comical blast of entertainment. Equal measures
beautiful and brutally hilarious, director Taika Waititi revamps and
reboots the Thor franchise without breaking the Marvel Cinematic
Universe cycle. How? He strips Thor of all the pieces we
identify him with and then builds him up as more of the comic version
of the hero than ever before. With amazing performances from
the entire cast, especially Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi himself
(Korg) and an action packed fight between Thor and Hulk midway, this
colorful, insane film is arguably the biggest surprise of the
year. When it beat out Justice League in the box office,
however, it became a beacon for quality superhero films that take
risks and try to do things right and how that formula is much better
than Zack Snyder's dark, slow and boring one.
There
were two films this year with the title character of "Logan"
in it. This is the better one by a long mile. Yes, I
liked Logan with Hugh Jackman, but that movie would have
been the perfect ending to a real Wolverine trilogy, not two shoddy
movies and an old man at the end. In Logan Lucky, Channing
Tatum and Adam Driver plan to rob a NASCAR track vault to break their
family's bad luck streak. It is an incredibly clever and
comical film, one of the funniest this year and has all of the
regular Steven Soderbergh madness in it, but with little use of drama
to the movie's benefit. The acting is point blank, all the way
down to Daniel Craig's idiot brothers. A perfect popcorn flick
but one with enough heart and head to stand out against a sea of
caper genre films.
What
really makes Logan Lucky go is the way the actors engage
within this goofy, broken down world. All the oddities of
the film, like Adam Driver's fake arm fiascos and Sebastian
Stan's NASCAR driver character on a Tom Brady level detox, all play
well to bond the shenanigans of the heist. Great
supporting characters and a genuine enjoyment from all involve
that oozed through the screen makes this one of the best, most
original and enjoyable films of the year.
When
Edgar Wright dropped out of Antman just before shooting
started, I told everyone Marvel was going to regret driving him off a
project he had worked on since before Iron Man. While they
may not have felt it when Antman came out, the proof was in
the picture and Peyton Reed's lack of experience with action and big
budget productions bleed through the quick cut, close up heavy film
that should of been just over two hours but Reed rushed so rapidly
from scene to scene it ended up being somewhere around an hour and
forty minutes. Wright walked though, all the way over to SONY
and was able to get the budget and freedom he wanted to direct a
movie about a young driver who had to listen to earbuds to drown out
the "hum in his drum". The result is Baby
Driver,
a far superior film than anything Peyton Reed ever did (Yes
Man and Bring
it On,
please).
What
makes this movie great is the incredible intricacies and awareness of
Wright. Wright is the type of person to build around an idea
with such passion that the people who are around him during this time
often excel and shine as well. This time, the actors all came
with their A game in play and like an All-Star home run derby,
everyone was swinging for the fences. The acting, however,
couldn't compete with Wright's keen style and ability to blend his
amazing soundtrack of self selected songs with every inch of motion
on screen. When our driver, "Baby", dances his way
around town to his ipod, we watch as Wright syncs up every movement
perfectly with the beat...all the while holding the shoot to make it
a single take and force the film crew to really work in unison to
succeed. The results are obvious and wondrous and Wright's
continued progression as a filmmaker was rewarded with rave reviews
and a personal best $226.9 million worldwide ($107.8 million in
America alone) off a tiny $34 million budget. With award season
around the corner, Baby Driver is on the radar to clean
house in the original script, directing categories. Hard to top
this driver.
3. Get
Out (10 of 10)
Director
& Writer: Jordan Peele
Starring:
Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradly Whitford
Very few
films attempt what Jordan Peele has with the horror/thriller/comedy
that is Get Out. This is a film that hinges on mystery in
the same flavor that Hitchcock would savor, but with a much deeper
meaning than anything else made this year. This is the story of
a black man visiting his white girlfriend's parents for the first
time...only to find things aren't exactly as they appear on the
surface. Add in a whole slew of tense, quiet moments expertly
maneuvered by Peele and you have yourself a bonifide nail biter.
At
it's core, Get Out is a story of social commentary in a
time where the call for equality is a battle cry. Peele knows
this and executes his story first, with keen thought behind it and
then worries about the boarders of race and perception of culture.
As a result, the audience is captivated by the nerve-racking tension
and unspoken spook, but learning a lesson about how white and black
cultures differ (even if the white culture depicted is exaggerated to
a thriller level degree). Constantly, Peele displays adapt
ability to curve the mood of the picture to benefit the tone.
His insert of comedy is perfectly placed and without needless props
or simple humor, but baked into the bigger picture. With a
perfect twisting ending that pays off everything Peele winds up and
stellar acting from Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams (and everyone
really), this is a strong thriller film with true purpose and actual
meaning. Something original to learn from and enjoy, which is
rare in the world of remakes and half cocked studio franchises.
One day in the future, we will hail Get Out as a film for
the time, that was entirely needed.
2. Wind
River (10 of 10)
Director
& Writer: Taylor Sheridan
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth
Olsen, Jon Bernthal
We reviewed Wind River late last year.
Check it out HERE.
Taylor
Sheridan was an actor on the first season of Sons of Anarchy,
playing Deputy Hale, who was eventually killed off for some pointless
reason. Since then, he has produced more influential and
critically praised films than everyone on the entire show
(seriously). As a writer, Sheridan wrote the stellar Sicario,
then followed it up with Hell or High Water, and then took on
directing with this year's Wind River. While the script may not
have been as cutthroat and ruthless as Sicario, the story was
more important. The plot revolves around a young native
american girl who is found dead in the winter mountains of a
Wyoming reservation. As Elizabeth Olsen arrives as an FBI
agent, she works with tracker, Jeremy Renner, to solve the death and
prove it to be a murder. From there, the film is quick,
precise and brutally heartbreaking. Sheridan shows a real
knack for being behind the camera, leading the film exactly how it
should to maintain the tense pace.
The
acting is truly on display in this one and not nominating Renner
for an Oscar will be a tragedy. Blending his ability to display
deep rooted pain with Sheridan's sharp writing makes the most out of
a character we learn small chunks of along the way. By the end,
Renner is utterly captivating to watch. With great supporting
acting and a willingness to speak out against the social injustice
for native american women, who are the only gender and race of people
in America who the police do not file missing person reports for,
Sheridan allows the dark corners of his story to bond with the white
cold of the winter as a lesson to us all. I was so amerced in
this film, which moves quick, that I often yelled at the screen in
overreaction to the lingering tension built. While this film
has already seemed to been blackballed by the Golden Globes because
of it was originally produced by The Weinstein Company, the company
agreed to cut their ties with the film, giving it back to Sheridan
and the other producers and donate the entire proceeds of the film's
gross to native american female victims. Still, the name holds
a black cloud over the film and has led to it being overlooked.
1.
Blade Runner 2049 (10 of 10)
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer:
Hampton Fancher, Michael Green
Starring:
Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas
First off, FUCK
EVERYONE WHO DID NOT SEE THIS MOVIE! You were all killing me
last year, a year where Vin Diesel grossed the most money by any
actor due to a Groot technicality. A year where you all poured hundreds of millions of dollars into IT, even though it was laughable rather than frightening and
championed Wonder Woman for being "amazing" even
though it stole the plot to Captain America: First Soldier (it
was still very enjoyable). Instead, of going to the film event
of the decade, more people watched Bright on Netflix (11 millon people and growing).
With that, here's why this film is #1.
Blade
Runner 2049 picks up where the original Harrison Ford/Ridley Scott
film left off, but with a 30 year age gap. In that time, things
in this futuristic world has changed, but one thing hasn't, Blade
Runners be hunting replicates, the humanoid clones developed by
Tyrell Corp. Enlisting Denis Villeneuve, arguably the best
director currently alive, who stole our minds with Prisoners and
brought us to the dark side of the world with Sicario, then bent
time and space with Arrival, came into Blade Runner with a
perfect respect for the source material. His strong suit is his
vision, which wallows in the shadows when it isn't sprawling with
widescreen scenic shots of a displaced future. When you include
the fact that this film has THE BEST SOUND MIXING of any film EVER
and stunning, colorful visuals, it is no wonder why Villeneuve was
given over $100 million to make the film.
The
story might not be the most original, but it beckons all fans of the
original to go on another run and with a solid and emotionally deep
performance from Ryan Gosling, the film can follow his Agent K to all
the dark spots of his journey properly and with perfect justice.
That is what Villeneuve does, blends the old guard with the new and
builds on it. He doesn't try to reboot the technology Ridley
Scott developed in the 80's, he takes it all and ages it thirty years
to make it all seem logical and proper. He pays heavy tribute
to the original, infusing Scott's neon city steampunk into every shot
of technological glory. This is a display of directorial force
and a crash coarse in how to use sound to drive a movie to new
levels. I couldn't get over how visually amazing and real
everything was, but then when the music took over, it stole the
scenes. Harrison Ford was sharp and so well versed in his
craft, we almost forgot he could do drama, but here, it's on full
display. Add in high target action, a thoughtful purpose, one
of the best villain monologues since Blade Runner and
an enduring story with years of care put in it, this is the best film
of the year, the best film of the decade and maybe the best sequel
ever. You need to see this, do yourself a favor, even if you
never saw the original, this is a MUST WATCH FILM and the new bible
to true filmmaking.
Tyler
Baker
