2017 was a good year for originality in cinema. Films like Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver and Chris Nolan’s Dunkirk took two familiar genres, action films and war films, and made them feel new again.
Superhero films will never get old for me, but the threat of fatigue is real for a lot of people. Thankfully the subgenre is still evolving with Logan, Wonder Woman and Thor: Ragnarok. Even Spider-Man: Homecoming managed to be interesting despite it being the millionth Spidey film.
Representation of minorities is important in a medium with an increasing audience of non-whites, and the box office numbers for Get Out, The Big Sick, Girls Trip and Coco prove that the public wants to see itself on the big screen. I’m still waiting for Asian actors to have more prominent roles, though, because they have been short-changed the most.
Amalgamated from Rotten Tomatoes, trusted news sources, friends’ opinions, and my own ratings, these are the movies from 2017 that are most likely the best of the year.*
*Does not include documentaries or foreign-language films.
January
Split
The Founder
February
The Lego Batman Movie
John Wick: Chapter 2
A United Kingdom
Get Out
The Girl with All the Gifts
Imperial Dreams (Netflix)
I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore (Netflix)
March
Logan
Raw
Personal Shopper
Prevenge
Burning Sands (Netflix)
April
Their Finest
The Lost City of Z
Tramps (Netflix)
May
The Lovers
Mindhorn (Netflix)
June
Wonder Woman
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
It Comes at Night
Megan Leavey
The Big Sick
Baby Driver
Okja (Netflix)
July
Spider-Man: Homecoming
A Ghost Story
War For the Planet of the Apes
Dunkirk
Girls Trip
Brigsby Bear
Detroit
Tour de Pharmacy (HBO)
August
Wind River
Ingrid Goes West
Good Time
Logan Lucky
Beach Rats
All Saints
September
It
Brad’s Status
Stronger
Battle of the Sexes
Lucky
American Made
October
Blade Runner 2049
The Florida Project
Marshall
Only the Brave
Brawl in Cell Block 99
Novitiate
The Meyerowitz Stories (Now and Selected) (Netflix)
November
Thor: Ragnarok
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Mayhem
Wonder
Mr. Roosevelt
Coco
Darkest Hour
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Call Me By Your Name
December
The Disaster Artist
The Shape of Water
I, Tonya
Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
The Post
Molly’s Game
Phantom Thread
All the Money in the World