Ciro’s Five Favorite Films Of 2017

The award season hype is upon us, filling our social media timelines with predictions, hashtags and so many debates. Of course with every new year, there are films that had an impact.

With that, I’ve prepared my favorites of the last year. These are the films that made me laugh, cry and sit in awe at the events presented to me on a massive screen. Films like Dunkirk, Get Out, Wonder Woman, Baby Driver and Coco were all phenomenal, yet did not make the cut. There were also films I have not seen like The Disaster Artist, Lady Bird, Call Me By Your Name and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. In a world of deadlines and commitments to life, watching everything gets a little difficult.

So, in my own opinion, here are the very best movies of the year.

5. Brigsby Bear

This was one film I knew nothing about when I first saw it. It had a great cast (Kyle Mooney, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear) and that’s what pulled me in at first. What made me stay was its story and execution. Few films capture the feeling of loving something like a movie or TV show as well as Brigsby Bear. In our obsessive lives, we each have that one thing we hold on to. Whether it’s Star Wars, the latest superhero film dominating theaters or an album that speaks to us on another level—pop culture is a driving force in our lives. This film explores the influence it can have on both artists and the common person. All of this is done with a sentimental and sometimes hilarious tone, something sorely lacking in our ever-cynical world.  

4. John Wick: Chapter 2

While Mad Max: Fury Road probably claimed the title of greatest action film ever, John Wick: Chapter 2 might be a close second. Stylish, beautifully choreographed and edited perfectly, it provides the action movie fans have been waiting for. If there was one movie I regret not being able to see in theaters, it was definitely this one. Keanu Reeves’ renaissance with these John Wick films has been great and it’s going to be interesting to see where he takes the character from here.

3. Logan

No film has impacted me more this year than James Mangold’s Logan. It elevates the superhero genre past the overblown status it has built. It gave X-Men fans a movie that they deserve and it gave film fans a reason to see a comic book movie.This was the end of a 17-year journey, one that leaves the future wide open for a new generation of hopeful audiences. Hugh Jackman’s final performance as the iconic Wolverine  is one for the books, and Dafne Keen gives a great performance that can jumpstart a proud career. Logan is a near-perfect film, breaking the mold of the overstuffed superhero genre. It’s one of the greatest, bloodiest and most sentimental comic book movies  to be released, echoing everything from The Dark Knight to Mangold’s own 3:10 to Yuma.

2. Blade Runner 2049

No sane person should have ever attempted to make a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Thankfully, Denis Villeneuve was crazy enough to do it. Blade Runner 2049 is the most beautiful film I’ve seen all of 2017, taking a science-fiction world created in the ‘80s and bringing it to the 21st century. Every shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins feels like a piece of art, one that deserves to occupy the walls of any cinephile. Its heavy themes of humanity and mortality still feel as relevant today as they did more than 30 years ago—only this time they are fully realized by an auteur like Villeneuve. Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford are in top form, giving two drastically different performances wrapped in brilliant science-fiction filmmaking. In our current, world where every film needs a reboot or thousands of sequels, it took this noir sequel to inject life (and neon lights) into the creative wasteland known as Hollywood. A near three-hour runtime may seem daunting, but it has given one of the best modern day directors his chance to flesh out an ambitious vision.

1. The Shape of Water

Guillermo Del Toro has a knack for world-building and creating imaginative creatures. His latest, The Shape of Water, blends those elements into a beautiful art deco fantasy and a (literal) fish out of water love story. Sally Hawkins gives her best performance as Elisa Esposito, a mute woman who finds herself in the middle of a large, living government conspiracy—one that she happens to fall in love with. The usual Del Toro-isms are present, with the fairy-tale elements completely unhinged. Hawkins’ performance, without the use of words, is easily the best of 2017, using a combination of sign language and body language. Del Toro’s love of film is also present throughout, paying homage to old epics and romantic musicals. It’s a love story, a monster movie and a nostalgia bomb all rolled into one, representing what unabashed creativity and pure heart can do behind the camera.