Thoughts On's 50 Best Films Of 2017 Pt. 1



We are nearing the end of the year, and so this is the time in which a plethora of videos and blog posts go up listing the top ten, or the best, films of the past year. I can't say that I don't like these lists, and I often use them around January to begin catching up on the films I miss. However, I have no interest in compiling a top ten of films that have come out this year; I simply haven't seen enough movies to feel confident in putting a list down. What we are going to do, however, is list some of the best films that we covered on the blog this year - and one or two may be from 2017.

So far this year, we've put out 362 posts, and most of these would have been on movies (a fair few would have been blog news, etc.). Added to this, however, we have covered 329 films for the End Of The Week Shorts. These will form two separate lists: this one for longer form reviews and another for the shorts. I won't be listing every single movie that I think is brilliant as to keep things somewhat brief, and I won't be listing movies that were first covered on the blog in 2016. Instead, I will be listing some of the films I personally found/find to be great and that I covered this year as a Quick Thoughts or Thoughts On post. The titles are merely listed earliest to latest and this is largely an opportunity for you to maybe read a few posts that you may have missed throughout the year.

For an interactive version of this list on letterboxd, click here. If you remember a film we covered during the year that should be on the list, comment below. That said, let's jump into things...



One of my absolute favourite Lanthimos films that most explicitly captures his cerebrally absurd world and character building.


A brilliant blend of gut-wrenching drama and surreal comedy, Boogie Nights is probably Wahlberg's best film and certainly one of the best films about the porn industry ever made.


A musical done well captures the true magic of Hollywood cinema, and despite a weak opening and only satisfactory dance numbers, La La Land, with the musical, exudes some of the purest Hollywood magic conceivable.


One of the best alternative contemporary Indian films I've seen, The Lunchbox is a beautifully subdued drama that I won't be forgetting for a long time.


Devastatingly powerful, Kes struck many chords deep within me; truly one of the best coming-of-age dramas out there.


Possibly my favourite Bergman picture, Cries and Whispers is as haunting as it is intimate and as powerful as it is mesmerising.


Probably my first contact with stand-up comedy, Eddie Murphy's Raw had an immense impact on me and still has me in painful fits of laughter.


Editing doesn't come much more visceral or awe-inspiring than what is on display in Tscherkassky's experimental found footage horror show; it's just about as thought provoking as the name Tscherkassky is difficult to read (CHER-KASS-KEY... I think).


I still stand by it: my favourite superhero movie.


To me, Rocky is a romantic drama before anything else, and that is why I love this movie. ADRIAAAAAAN!!


I still feel as if I can remember every single scene; brilliantly dark and masterfully structured, The Handmaiden is one of the best designed mysteries I've seen in an awful long time.


So often heralded as one of the all-time great documentaries, Crumb in no way fails to impress. The only way I could imagine this being any more precise would be if Herzog directed it.


A visual masterpiece from one of the greatest silent filmmakers, The Last Laugh is a silent film that has you wonder what could have been if sound came in just a decade or two later.


Jane is way up there as one of my all-time favourite Disney characters. As musically energetic and powerful and taut as animated films get, I buzz at the thought of Tarzan.


A short that makes you love film history and inspires you to continue searching its crevices: A film from Austria's first movie studio that solely produced erotic pictures.


When you hear 'pre-code', it's all to easy to think of subdued horrors and cheeky romances; Her Man wears its liberties on its sleeve and certainly delivers.


I have to take a breath when thinking of this film. A quintessential contemporary European drama that hits hard... very hard.


Transcendent of words, Au Hasard Balthazar is truly one of the best film's ever made: simply staggering.


I won't say I love Tarkovsky yet another time on the blog...


Devilish in its layering of subtext, Onibaba is a precise allegorical dissection of a post-WWII society like one you've probably never seen before.


A film that sucks the air out of the room and leaves you gasping in a vacuum of conflict and dissonance, A Woman Under The Influence is an overwhelming character study that leaves you writhing in discomfort and melancholy.


Questioning religion is difficult, as is handling dire familial tragedy, but, with genuity and maturity, The Broken Circle Breakdown brilliantly manages theme and character like few other films like it.


Like Bresson, Dreyer makes films that are simply transcendent of explanation. Day Of Wrath is palpable, austere and a rare example of a period-drama that doesn't scream 'period-drama', rather embodies its world to only tell a story - and a great one at that.

    

This is how contemporary Hollywood should be remembered--will be remembered. Collectively, this is a masterpiece and a new touchstone of film history.


Taking the term 'talking picture' to its extremes, Linklater provides liquid gold with few impurities; a film I can never imagine tiring of.


That is the first 25 of the 50 best films that we covered on this blog in 2017. Click here for part two.






Previous post:

End Of The Week Shorts #36

Next post:

Thoughts On's 50 Best Films Of 2017 Pt. 2

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