The 15 best films of 2017 you should remember
With the year's end about to hit us like the last car of the world's longest freight train, film is now undoubtedly one of the few good things worth remembering about 2017. Here are our picks for the year's best films.
Get Out
A sleekly directed and politically pointed psychological horror-satire film that doesn't lean on cheap jump scares or grotesque imagery, Get Out is a reminder that the horror genre isn't just cheap thrills.
The Shape of Water
The Shape of Water is director Guillermo del Toro's return to the fantasy drama form that made him famous with Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Be sure to watch this intimate and memorable tale of woman and fish-man if you haven't already.
Lady Bird
Lady Bird is receiving critical acclaim for writing, directing and acting that portrays the struggles of adolescent femininity with wit, wisdom and heart. Viewers might be reminded of Juno (2007), but can expect better.
Blade Runner 2049
While far from perfect, Blade Runner 2049 is a cinematic bright spot from 2017, and the best cyberpunk detective film since the original Blade Runner (1982).
Split
Split is twist-master M. Night Shyamalan's much-awaited return to filmmaking competence. In all seriousness, the less you know about this film before you see it, the better.
Raw
This ferocious, flesh-ripping French feminist horror movie had audience members fainting in the aisles at the Toronto Film Festival. But it’s not just shocking – it’s smart, too.
Phantom Thread
As always, the ever auteur pairing of director Paul Thomas Anderson and actor Daniel Day-Lewis means cinematic gold the likes of which we haven't seen since There Will Be Blood (2007). Yes, they made that movie too.
Disaster Artist
A movie based on a book about the making of history's most watchable bad movie The Room. James Franco's first major directorial debut manages to humanise the man, who everyone thinks must be an alien, behind the cult film. That's not to say they soften the true story's jaw-dropping absurdity and gut-busting laughs.
The Handmaiden
Korean author Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy) transplants British author Sarah Waters’s Dickensian novel Fingersmith into post-war Korea, and the results are stunning: a thrillingly convoluted and sensuous thriller.
Lego Batman
The most hectic, gag-packed animated comedy since, well The LEGO Movie, this superhero spoof might also be the best movie piss-take since Airplane. Yep, it's that good.
Personal Shopper
Kristen Stewart proves her chops as an actor in this cold and unnerving drama about a young woman who has an encounter with a supernatural being.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
This pitch black horror comedy is another avatar of director Yorgos Lanthimos' truly unique storytelling that is simultaneously grounded, unsettling, hilarious and harrowing in a way that no other movie can be.
I Am Not Your Negro
A documentary tribute to deceased African American author James Baldwin, drawing on his notes for an unfinished book about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers.
Wind River
Wind River is a modern western that's perfectly paced with drama, tension, thrilling action and tear-jerking emotion.
It
The evil clown still scares in the new Stephen King adaptation that will forever change what you think of when you hear the song '99 Luftballoons'.