Hi friends!

Some of you might know that I moonlight (pun not intended) as a movie critic for several online film entertainment magazines. I'm not telling you to trust my opinion - I'll leave that up to you - what I am telling you that I see a lot of movies, and I want to draw attention to my favorites of 2017, which for me was the best year for film in recent memory. I'd love to hear what you thought of these films, too!

Top Ten (which is naturally eleven movies)

1. Blade Runner 2049

I could write a book about how satisfying this was. As a fan of the original, I was so ready for this, but it completely surpassed my expectations. I think it is damned near perfect and I hope that we get a similarly visionary sequel thirty years from now.

Here's what I wrote about it for Spectrum Culture: "If Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi film was a cyberpunk vision of what America would look like three decades beyond the ‘80s, then Denis Villeneuve’s brilliant, beautiful Blade Runner 2049 is what Scott’s futuristic world might evolve into in another 30 years. It’s not a premonition of our own future, but the imagined future of Scott’s distinctly ‘80s, brutalist Los Angeles. This complicated timeline, combined with the film’s cold, noir tone and its cyborg protagonist, can put the film at arm’s length, which perhaps contributed to the film’s disappointing box office returns. But if the viewer can take the leap and suspend disbelief, its rewards are abundant."

2. Call Me By Your Name

I've never seen a film that so accurately captured how I felt about love as a teenager. This finally felt like a gay film romance that, in terms of quality, can sit up there with the great film love stories (most of which have been very straight and very white). I see a lot of people comparing this to Moonlight, and I understand why - a major, gay theme film following a Best Picture winner a year later, but now lily-white - but I would caution against that. Moonlight is, without a doubt, the better and more important film in that comparison. It also felt like more than a love story to me, though it had a really good one in it, whereas Call Me By Your Name was really focused in on first love for me. But - and I'd love to discuss this and hope to write about it further - I don't want to pit queer movies against one another. We need more of them. I'm just so happy they both exist.

3. Coco

This was the movie I needed at this point in my life. A celebration of family - both living and dead - as well as a celebration of music and memory. I laughed, I cried, and then I cried some more. The way that Pixar manages to capture universality through specific, and in this case, culturally focused storytelling, is just astonishing.

4. Get Out

Read my original review here , but know that my love of this movie only grew after a second viewing. It is smart, funny, and scary, and it is also the kind of film that we need more of. Jordan Peele must be one of the very smartest filmmakers out there, as he brilliantly referenced so many other films while creating something completely original.

5. Wonder Woman

This is the superhero movie we needed! Wonder Woman's big, bright heart was a ray of sunshine in a genre that has been becoming increasingly dark and drab. I loved how female-forward the entire film was. You could really feel Patty Jenkins' brilliant eye behind the camera and she followed Wonder Woman out onto the battlefield. And she allowed Wonder Woman to believe in humanity and believe in herself. So often, male heroes in film are allowed to have superhuman self-belief while even the strongest of heroines are subjected to plots revolving around romance, motherhood, or some kind of crippling crisis of self. Wonder Woman is confident, focused, and allowed to be both mentally and physically strong.

6. God's Own Country

Not enough people saw this beautiful romance (read my review here). Set in the Welsh countryside, it revolves around a young gay farmer who is destined to inherit his family's farm and a Romanian farmhand who comes to help out during lambing season. Comparisons will inevitably be made to Brokeback Mountain, but this isn't a tragedy. It's an all-out romance, and one that doesn't pull any punches when it comes to showing the physical side of that romance.

7. The Shape of Water

I just loved this movie so much. It's a simple story (yes, even though it's about a mute woman and a fish monster), but that simplicity allows the visuals, the music, and - most importantly - the exceptional cast to shine. And that ending! What an ending.

8. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This is what high quality blockbuster filmmaking should look like. I know that many were disappointed that it didn't meet their expectations, but for me that was the wonderful part about this movie. So many things happened that genuinely surprised me. Yes, I wanted more Rey and I wanted a definitive Poe/Finn romance, but I know there will be more of both in Episode 9.

Here's what I wrote about it for Spectrum Culture: "In this age of copycat sequels and insanely faithful remakes and adaptations, director Rian Johnson has done the impossible: he’s made an entry in film’s most famous universe that is surprising, fresh and melancholy. The long anticipated return of original trilogy goodie-two-shoes Luke Skywalker is tinged with darkness, regret and even malice, while his ever-spritely sister Leia (dearly departed Carrie Fisher, perfect in her final role) finally appears tired of fighting the endless battle against evil. And none of the plucky new trio returning from 2015’s excellent The Force Awakens have the expected heroic arcs we’ve come to expect from Star Wars. New trilogy nucleus Rey is deeply connected to bad boy Kylo Ren while sidekick Finn faces down interstellar capitalism and flyboy Poe is firmly put in his place by Leia’s second-in-command Holdo (Laura Dern, making the absolute most of limited screen time). Some fans complain about this film’s quick resolutions to several of The Force Awakens’ biggest mysteries. Yet by answering the question of Rey’s parentage and cutting big bad Supreme Leader Snoke out of the picture, Johnson makes this Star Wars, and these characters, his own. In Johnson’s galaxy far, far away, Daisy Ridley’s compelling Rey is more than a Luke re-tread: she’s a hero because she can see the good in people, not because of the good people see in her. Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren is a more complicated villain than Darth Vader was because we’re allowed to hope that he can still be saved. In addition to stunning new planets, space beasties (crystal foxes! Porgs!), characters (Rose Tico!) and welcome, surprising returns from many old favorites, this is one of the best Star Wars films and one of the best films of the year."

9. A Dark Song

Go watch this woefully underrated and underseen gem right now. Watch it with the lights off and your expectations shoved in the cupboard. It's scary, devastating, but also weirdly, wonderfully hopeful. You can read my review here, though I would recommend watching it without knowing anything. I love it more now after months of thinking about it.

10(tie). Mudbound

You can read my review here. This is a perfectly-made movie, and my only criticism at the time of my first viewing was that it was almost too perfect. I had director/co-writer Dee Rees' excellent debut Pariah on my mind, and I wanted her to add a bit of that film's sensibility to Mudbound. Now that I've had more time to reflect, what stuck with me about this movie was the way it shines a light on under-told history while still focusing on its characters. It is historical, and strongly so, but before that it is a tale of friendship and family.

10 (tie). Dunkirk

If Mudbound is a perfectly made war-time movie on a slim budget, Dunkirk is a perfectly made war-time movie on a giant budget. I know some war buffs will go wild for the story, but what got me was the sheer beauty of the cinematography, the ominous score, and the breathless tension that never once lets up.

Honorable Mention: Lady Bird, Girls Trip, Rough Night, mother!, Ghost Story, BPM, A Fantastic Woman, Faces Places, Logan, Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Ornithologist, Battle of the Sexes

Underrated or Underseen

1. God's Own Country

2. A Dark Song

3. Rough Night

4. mother!

5. Most Beautiful Island

Best Performances

1. Tiffany Haddish, Girls Trip

2. Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer,, Call Me By Your Name

3. Robin Wright, Wonder Woman and Blade Runner 2049

4. Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu, God's Own Country

5. Catherine Walker and Steve Oram, A Dark Song

6. Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman

7. Daniela Vega, A Fantastic Woman

8. Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats

9. Paul Hamy, The Ornithologist

10. Mary J. Blige, Mudbound

10 (tie). Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes

Best Cast

1. Get Out

2. Shape of Water

3. Blade Runner 2049

4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

5. Lady Bird

Best Scenes

1. The Last Scene, The Shape of Water

2. First Kiss, Call Me By Your Name

3 (tie). The Land of the Dead, Coco

3 (tie). Remember Me, Coco

4. Deer Head, Get Out

5. Vice Admiral Holdo's Big Moment, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

6. Leia's Weird Space Resurrection, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

7. The Last Scene, A Dark Song

8. Lambing Season, God's Own Country

9 (tie). Grapefruit!, Girls Trip

9 (tie). Absinthe, Girls Trip

9 (tie). Zipline, Girls Trip

10. The Pie, Ghost Story

11. Lesbian Love Hair Cut, Battle of the Sexes

Other Favorite Things

Best Gay Movie: Call Me By Your Name

Sexiest Gay Movie: God's Own Country

Hottest Gay Character: Fernando (Paul Hamy), The Ornithologist

Weirdest Movie (tie): mother! and The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Scariest Movie: A Dark Song

Best Music: Coco

Best Musical Score: Dunkirk

Best Cinematography (Big Budget): Blade Runner 2049

Best Cinematography (Smaller Budget): Mudbound

Best Cinematography (Low Budget): God's Own Country