At long last ... here's my top 10 favorite movies of 2017

Get Out

In my humble opinion, 2017 was a terrific year for movies. When the Oscar nominations were announced this week there was a huge number of performances and films that were allegedly snubbed, even when only five films can be recognized in most categories, in other words, some movies just miss the cut.

I definitely had a hell of time coming up with a definitive top 10 list -- I really loved a lot of movies this year -- and unlike many years, great stuff started coming out relatively early in the year, in fact my favorite film of 2017 came out almost exactly one year ago.

I worry to some extent that films I've seen more recently have started to diminish work that I saw earlier that was great but has just faded from memory a bit. Still, I feel confident about this list. These were the movies that really stuck with me and if I were forced to just recommend ten movies to someone this past year without caveats, these would be the ten.

Dunkirk

But I wanna give honorable mentions to some fantastic superhero vehicles (Logan, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Wonder Woman, Thor: Ragnarok), some off-kilter dark comedies with some social commentary (The Disaster Artist, Ingrid Goes West and I, Tonya), action thrillers (John Wick 2, War for the Planet of the Apes, Brawl in Cell Block 99, even Baby Driver) and many more that hover just outside my top 10 like The Shape of Water, which I now think is the front-runner to win Best Picture and Director.

Also, I gotta give some shout outs to It, The Beguiled, Raw, Detroit and the unfairly maligned and misunderstood Mother! 

But enough stalling ...

10) Call Me By Your Name - A deeply moving, occasionally uncomfortable, but emotionally authentic romance that is beautiful to look at and impeccably acted by Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg and especially Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet in a breakthrough, star-making performance. While the trailer spoils much of the suspense of the film's first act, once it settles into its story it becomes very involving and sublime. One of the best films in recent years about first love and longing. It deserves a wider audience than it's getting. It's a lovely valentine of a movie.

9) Dunkirk - Virtuoso director Christopher Nolan managed to both make his most emotionally fulfilling movie without sacrificing his precision or bombast, which is really impressive. An immersive war film unlike any I've seen -- Nolan's portrayal of the bombing and rescue of stranded British soldiers is both harrowing and inspiring. A visceral filmgoing experience that earns its hero worship without being even a little bit sappy about it.

8) Lady Bird - I didn't expect to be as touched by Lady Bird as I was. I didn't think I'd be able to relate to it. But as it unfolded I couldn't help but be swept up by its modest charms. It's not a movie with very high stakes, but it features a terrific, believable mother-daughter relationship, hilariously brought to life by a never better Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf (who both earned well-deserved Oscar noms for their work). A sweet coming-of-age fable that actually earns its pathos and suggests that writer-director Greta Gerwig can become an interesting director in the future.

7) Phantom Thread - Another off-the-wall slam dunk from one of my all-time favorite directors -- Paul Thomas Anderson. On the surface its a stuffy period piece about a perfectionist clothes designer (Daniel Day-Lewis in his supposedly final role) and his muse (a brilliant Vicky Krieps) but scratch right below the surface and you get a laugh-out-loud funny black comedy about a particularly strange love affair. This one isn't for everyone, and might strike some as wee bit too male in its mindset, but it hit my sweet spot.

6) The Post - Steven Spielberg does not shy away from weighty, historically vital issues in this riveting recreation of the fight to publish the Pentagon Papers in the early 70s, and his sense of urgency really propels what could have been a corny, disposable movie, and makes it feel like a truly important one. This Meryl Streep-Tom Hanks two-hander makes salient points about women in the workplace, the importance of the press and the need to never stop fighting for what is right. In another time and place that might feel hokey, but today, we need films like this.

5) The Last Jedi - The rare giant blockbuster that got penalized for -- god forbid -- trying something new and not being predictable. This new Star Wars film was unburdened by fan service, fan theories and trite preoccupations with the past. It was a Star Wars film about the future for future audiences, that was also fun, resonant and incredible to look at. Kudos to director Rian Johnson for taking some chances with the formula. I trust that with some time and distance fans who balked at his ambition will come to appreciate how great an entry this one was and is.

4) The Florida Project - It blows my mind that this film didn't become more of a phenomenon. It really made me rethink my own life and approach to the world. An ode to the childlike sense of wonder we all have and eventually lose, director Sean Baker takes an almost documentary like approach to this episodic tale of a precocious little girl (a luminous Brooklynn Prince), her troubled mother and the landlord of the motel they live in, who functions like a surrogate dad (a never-better Willem Dafoe). This is a movie where even the trailer made me cry. If you can't feel something watching this, you might want to check your pulse.

3) Good Time - The best movie this year that inexplicably nobody saw. It felt like a rush -- like a great lost, early Martin Scorsese movie. Robert Pattison gave an electric performance in this unpredictable, intense crime thriller which has a great ear for Queens-bred characters and dialogue. This movie, directed by the Safdie brothers, deserves to become a major cult classic -- it was  another criminally underrated and really worth a watch.

2) Blade Runner 2049 - A rare perfect sequel that not only expounds upon but enhances the power of the original. Director Denis Villeneuve does some smart (and gorgeous) world building here, with a complex mystery narrative that includes the noir homages of the original with some new wrinkles which offer subtle commentaries to our modern tech world. Ryan Gosling is perfectly cast and a soulful Harrison Ford is pure dynamite. This movie was unfortunately dismissed because it wasn't enough of a blockbuster, but $92 million for a somber meditation on the nature of humanity ain't bad. This is a stone cold classic.

1) Get Out - When I saw this movie for the first time in theaters I had an inkling that it would not just be my favorite film of the year, but quite possibly one of my favorite films ever. Its commercial success was both surprising and gratifying for me, since this satirical horror film spoke to experiences and feelings that I've personally had in a way like no movie ever has. It really captured something unique and powerful about the black experience, spoke to the pitfalls of white liberalism and so much more. The fact that it still holds up and that its now being embraced by the Academy Awards literally gives me hope in humanity's feature, even if the film itself paints a fairly bleak portrait of man.