I normally stop at 30, but I added some at the last
minute. I saw more than normal, so a few extra won’t hurt.
33.
The Disaster Artist (James Franco)
It would have been easy to make a movie that points
and laughs at Tommy Wisseau, and his movie The Room – which has been called the
worst movie of all time. The film really is that bad, and Wisseau is an odd
character, with a strange accent, and you could make a funny – if cruel – movie
at his expense. But James Franco clearly sees something in Wisseau – perhaps a
little bit of himself – in Wisseau’s determination to make his movie, and stick
to his vision, no matter what anyone says. Franco isn’t arguing the movie he
made is good – but his film does make you question what art is, who gets to
define it, and what success means. And it’s all wrapped up in one of the most
entertaining films of the year, with Franco himself giving a great performance
as Wisseau – and the rest of the cast fully committed to making this film as
gloriously fun as it is. Yes, it is extremely entertaining – and will play
alongside The Room forever in midnight screenings – but there’s a little more
here than that, and it is what makes the film special.
32.
Happy End (Michael Haneke)
Sure, Happy End is minor Haneke – I know he
disliked it when people said that the film played like his greatest hit, but it
kind of does – taking elements from films like Benny’s Video, Code Unknown and
Amour (among others). Still, Happy End is pure Haneke – and somewhat more
challenging than some of his other work – he doesn’t judge these characters as
harshly, or punish them in the same way. That doesn’t mean the rich family at
the heart of the movie are good – but they are somewhat more relatable. They
are self-involved, and selfish – acting out of pure self-interest, and not
seeing what should be obvious to them. The youngest and the oldest steal the
show – 13 year old Eve (Fantine Harduin), who does horrible things, and posts
it on social media, and 85 year old Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) – perhaps
a version of his Amour character – who wants nothing more than to die. Haneke
doesn’t connect the dots here – he lets you do that. It may not surprise or
shock as much as his best work – yet even minor Haneke is better than major
almost anyone else. 31. Graduation (Cristian Mungiu)
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation
mainly flew under the radar this year, which is a shame, because the film is a
masterclass in screenwriting and situational ethics. The film is about a
father, whose high school senior daughter is attacked right before she’s going
to take her final exams – which she needs to do well on, in order to get into
school in England, and have a way out of Romania. What he does from there to
ensure her future just gets subtly, and slightly worse, with each passing scene
until he is in over his head. The director behind the Palme D’Or winning 4
Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, has returned with another film that is a portrait
of his country, but grounded in these specific characters. An exceptional
drama.
30.
Wonderstruck (Todd Haynes)
I struggle a little to understand why it seemed
like the whole world ignored a new Todd Haynes film this year – because even if
Wonderstruck is probably near the bottom of his impressive resume, it’s still a
technical stunner – and a film that builds to a stunningly emotional climax.
The film is a duo of stories involving dead children – one in 1920s and the
other 50 years later, both set in New York. Haynes has great fun aping silent
film aesthetics in the 1920s segments, and 1970s tropes in the other segments –
aided, as always, by impressive art direction, costume design, Edward Lachman’s
brilliant cinematography, and one of Carter Burwell’s best scores. The film
perhaps takes a little too long getting to the climax – which, among other
things, takes Haynes back to the style of Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,
and ends the film with a wonderful, emotional climax. No, the film doesn’t live
up to Safe, Far From Heaven, I’m Not There or Carol – then again, few films do.
This one deserved a lot more attention than it got.
29.
Logan Lucky (Steven Soderbergh)
Even if, like me, you never really believed that
Steven Soderbergh was going retire completely, it was still a welcome sign to
see him return with this summer’s Lucky Logan – one of the year’s best, pure
entertainments. No one quite makes a heist film with as much ease as Soderbergh
does – and thankfully this “Ocean’s 7/11” as they call it, in the movie,
actually spends time with the heist, rather than just goofing around like the
second two Ocean’s films. Here, Channing Tatum and Adam Driver played brothers,
who decide to rob a race track – with the help of an eccentric bomb expert
(Daniel Craig), and others. The cast is chock full of interesting actors, doing
interesting work (and Hilary Swank, doing – well, no one’s quite sure, really).
Sure, the film coasts along on its ample charms, but when it’s this much fun,
who is really going to complain?
28.
Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins)
For the most part, I am done with superhero origin
stories – they’re all basically the same, and I just want them to get on with
it already. But Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman is one of the best origin stories
the superhero genre has produced in years. The film takes its time setting up
its heroine – who is portrayed as undeniably a hero, but also unmistakably
female (a flaw sometimes is they think if they just write female characters
like male characters, they will be stronger) – and then puts the hammer down in
the No Man’s Land sequence – one of the best action sequences in recent memory
(it’s so good, it makes the already murky actual climax pale by comparison).
You knew if you saw Batman v. Superman that Gal Gadot would kill it as Wonder
Woman – she did the same in the not very good Justice League as well – but
here, she really gets to shine. It doesn’t reinvent the genre – it’s a fairly
standard edition in most ways – but it still feels fresh. Stop the rest of the
DC Universe to course correct – but let Wonder Woman keep going.
27.
Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello)
One of the most provocative films of the year, is
this French film about a group of young, good looking, multi-ethnic terrorists,
who carry out a series of bombings in Paris, and then hold up overnight in a
closed department store waiting to make their escape. Director Bertrand Bonello
never really identifies the cause they are “fighting” for – but that doesn’t
mean the film lacks specificity. The film is about these young people, who
don’t really know what they are doing or why. The direction in the film glides
through the mall, without judging the characters, but showing them. It is a
disturbing film, but one that will not leave your mind.
26.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)
You have to be a certain kind of genre film lover
to love a called Brawl in Cell Block 99, which runs 132 minutes, and spends
more than 100 of those getting to Cell Block 99, and another 15 before the
brawl begins. Once it does, sweet Jesus, is it worth the wait – it’s one of the
most violent things you will see this year – but it is a slow burn. This is the
kind of thing writer/director S. Craig Zahler does well – I liked his debut,
Bone Tomahawk, a few years ago – but Brawl in Cell Block 99 is next level stuff
– with a terrific performance by Vince Vaughn (who barely speaks in the film),
as a guy who tried to go straight, gets sucked back in, and then gets arrested,
and has to do whatever possible to save his wife. It’s a terrific performance,
in a terrific genre piece that won’t please most audiences – although those who
will like it, will find it. 
25.
I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie)
One of the year’s great entertainments is I, Tonya
– a film that plays as part media satire, part GoodFellas, and all energy. As
Tonya Harding, Margot Robbie gives her best performance so far – a woman who
you feel sorry for, even as we watch her do bad things. The film doesn’t shy
away from its depiction of domestic abuse – at the hands of both her mother (a
brilliant Allison Janney) and her husband (Sebastian Stan). The film wants to
be an entertaining portrait of Harding’s life that reels you in with the
tabloid headlines and gossip, than packs a bigger wallop than you expect it to.
The film has a few rough spots here and there – but the three great central
performances pull it through, as does Craig Gillespie’s direction – which is a
wonderful example of tone management. Your mind on Tonya Harding won’t likely
change after seeing I, Tonya – but your feelings may be more complicated.
24.
War of the Planet of the Apes (Matt Reeves)
The final installment of the new – and great –
Planet of the Apes trilogy is probably not quite as good as the middle chapter
(Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) – although it comes surprisingly close, and
does feature the best human performance in the series by Woody Harrelson, as a
crazed, Colonel Kurtz like madman ruling over his own private fiefdom. The film
is intense from the start, and really does become a war movie of sorts – one
that completes the natural transition into the humans being the all-out bad
guys. The arch of this series has really been quite remarkable – the complexity
of Andy Serkis’ performance as Caesar is his career best work, and comes to a
fitting conclusion here. I am often hard on franchise films – but this was one
franchise done right.
23.
Lady Macbeth (William Oldroyd)
In Lady Macbeth, we start out in complete sympathy
with Florence Pugh’s Katherine – who, after all, is a young woman, married off
against her will to a rich, cold man who leaves her for long stretches so he
can go away on business, and barely pays her any attention when he is home –
and his family is worse. So when she starts to have an affair, we understand.
But through the course of the film, Katherine will keeping taking things
farther and farther and farther – and you keep on her side we past the point where
you should. Newcomer Pugh is fantastic in the lead role, and first time
filmmaker William Oldroyd shows great promise – the film reminds you of the
Daphne Du Maurier adaptations directed by Hitchcock. An under the radar film –
but one that deserves more love.
22.
The Post (Steven Spielberg)
The Post shows just how effortless Steven Spielberg
can make this kind of prestige drama look. The film clocks in at just under two
hours, and is never less than gripping, even though it’s essentially a film
about a group of people talking in rooms to each other, and we already know the
ending. Meryl Streep gives one her best performances as Kay Graham – publisher
of the Washington Post – who has to decide whether to risk everything to publish
the Pentagon Papers, after the New York Times is shut down. The film shows
Spielberg, Streep, Tom Hanks – as Ben Bradlee – and the entire cast in top
form, showing everyone else how to do this kind of mainstream, intelligent,
prestige film for adults – and making it look simple in the process. 
21.
The Shape of Water (Guillermo Del Toro)
In many ways, it feels like The Shape of Water is
the film that Guillermo Del Toro has been building towards his entire career.
It isn’t his best film (that would Pan’s Labyrinth, with The Devil’s Backbone
as runner-up), but the film that brings his various obsessions together, and
wraps it all up in a package that is scary and romantic and funny, often at the
same time. Sally Hawkins anchors it all, with a mute performance, in which she
really does convince you that she would fall in love – and feel lust for – a monstrous
fish man. The filmmaking is impeccable – the costume, art direction,
cinematography and score are easily among the best of the year, and whole thing
weaves a weird spell over you. A fairy tale for adults, that actually works.
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