2017 Year End Report: Best Horror Films

A few things to note – you may well see films like mother! (Darren Aronofsky), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos), Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas) and Colossal (Nacho Vigalondo) on some lists – and if I fully considered them horror films, they would be right near the top of this list (at least, the first three). But I erred on the side of not including them here – as they really aren’t pure horror films. Feel free to disagree.

 

Death Note (Adam Wingard) takes what could have been a good premise, and really screws it up – I cannot believe this is the same director as The Guest and You’re Next. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Paul W.S. Anderson) is more of the same mixture of action and horror, that doesn’t really work for me. Rings (F. Javier Gutierrez) has as its scariest moment, the opening of an umbrella, so that’s not a good sign. The Snowman (Tomas Alfredson) is very nonsensical, which undermines everything about it. The Void (Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski) is dull when it starts, starts to look like it will go somewhere, and then goes wildly wrong. We Are The Flesh (Emiliano Rocha Minter) thinks it is saying something profound about our empty culture – it is not.

 

The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour) really does try to do a lot – only some of it horror – but none of it really works. Dig Two Graves (Hunter Adams) has style to spare – which helps makes up for the underwritten screenplay, but not too much. Jigsaw (Spierig Brothers) has a couple of nifty kills – but not much else in this limp reboot of one of the biggest horror franchises of the 2000s. XX (Jovanka Vockovic/Annie Clark/Roxanne Benjamin/Karyn Kusama) is an omnibus film that goes one for four in terms of effectiveness.

 

A Cure for Wellness (Gore Verbinski) has a ton of style, and it takes guts to make something on this scale – I just wish it all came together better. 47 Meters Down (Johannes Roberts) is admirably low-key and realistic shark/scuba diving film for an hour, before it throws it all away with a terrible ending. The Girl with All the Gifts (Colm McCarthy) wants to twist the zombie genre in knots, and only gets part of it right. 1922 (Zak Hilditch) would have been a great, 1 hour adaptation of a Stephen King story – but stretched into 100 minutes, it’s a little thin.

 

A Dark Song (Liam Gavin) has a great premise, and style to burn – but is perhaps too slow of a burn to be truly great. Gerald’s Game (Mike Flanagan) is as good an adaptation of a nearly unfilmable Stephen King I can imagine – but they should have jettisoned King’s awful ending. Happy Death Day (Christopher Landon) is a lot of fun, even if I wish it took a few more chances. Life (Daniel Espinosa) is stylish and fun – and also incredibly dumb – but if you can accept that, the fun outweighs the dumb. The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczynska) is such an original – a musical, mermaid, horror, sexual film that you have to admire the sheer balls it took to make it – even if I’m not sure it works. Prevenge (Alice Lowe) has such a brilliant premise – a woman kills because her unborn fetus tells her to that it’s enough that the movie doesn’t quite deliver on its promise, because it does to be kind of nuts and insane. Split (M. Night Shyamalan) is a fine film from Shyamalan – an improvement over his The Visit, which was an improvement over most of his most recent films – but it’s still nowhere near as good as his best work.

 

Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott) is a film that I quite like as a stylish horror film, with some delusions of grandeur – but then again, I liked Prometheus, so take my recommendation for whatever its worth. Better Watch Out (Chris Peckover) is a tremendously entertaining, horror comedy about a little psycho tormenting his babysitter, which never crosses the line that would make you feel icky – which is harder than it sounds. Creep 2 (Patrick Brice) makes the original look even better, as this low budget found footage entry is creepy and scary, as it follows its killer into middle age – and sets up the conclusion of the trilogy really well. Hounds of Love (Ben Young) is one of the year’s most disturbing film – about a couple who kidnap and torture a teenage girl, which captures every dirty, grimy detail – without being overly exploitive. Super Dark Times (Kevin Phillips) has tremendous horror movie atmosphere in its story of teenage violence.

 

Top 10

 10. Annabelle: Creation (David F. Sandberg)

I wasn’t much of a fan of the original Annabelle – a spin-off of The Conjuring franchise – but this film, a flashback in time to the dusty, Midwest of the 1940s is superior in every way – and has actually grown in my mind since seeing it – it continues to haunt me. Director Sandberg made an excellent feature debut last year with Lights Out – a film that, like Annabelle: Creation maybe clichéd, but is brilliantly directed. Here, the combination of creepy dolls, little girls, a sick wife and Anthony LaPaglia, combined with great technical merits, makes for one of the most satisfying mainstream horror films of the year.

 

9. The Devil’s Candy (Sean Byrne)

I’ve been waiting for Sean Byrne to make a follow-up to his wonderful The Loved Ones – a demented prom horror film – ever since I saw it at TIFF years ago. While The Devil’s Candy isn’t quite up to that level, it’s still disturbing and horrific, with a great performance by Ethan Embry as a rock loving painter, haunted by visions of dead children. The film’s casting of Pruitt Taylor Vince as a psychopathic child killer is perhaps a little too obvious. Yet, because this film is about a father’s fears about his children – and the imagery that haunts him – the film really did weasel itself into my brain, and wouldn’t leave. Byrne is still a horror filmmaker I want to see more from – I just hope it doesn’t take as long to get his next film.

 

8. The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Oz Perkins)

This is actually Oz Perkins (son of Anthony) first film, even though it is being released a year later than his second – I am the Pretty Thing That Lived in the House – a film that I thought was technically wonderful, but overall hollow. Here, the brilliant technical merits are still there – and it’s paired with a story that actually works (actually, a couple of interconnected stories). In one, a wonderful Kiernan Shipka is stuck at her boarding school over Christmas break – with only one other girl (wonderfully played by Lucy Boynton). This is the stronger of the pair of stories – although the one with Emma Roberts as a hitchhiker has its moments as well. Perkins clearly knows horror, and he gradually ratchets up the tension here in wonderful ways. I wanted to see more from Perkins even after I was underwhelmed by his second film – no, I really want to see more.

 

7. Most Beautiful Island (Ana Asensio)

Most Beautiful Island isn’t only kind of a horror film – it is basically an immigrant drama, about the lengths they have to go to survive in America – that has two absolutely terrifying scenes – the second of which comes at the end of a brilliant 30 minute build-up. So, it’s close enough to horror for me. The film was written, directed by and starring Ana Asensio, who does all three wonderfully (well, the movie is perhaps a little under written) – and has made a brilliant calling card here. I won’t spoil the horrifying scenes – but I will never, ever forget them. Truly scary.

6. The Transfiguration (Michael O’Shea)

I have seen countless vampire films over the years – and yet, the ones that do something truly different and original with the genre are few and far between. But Michael O’Shea’s debut feature – about a young teenage African American teen who believes himself to be a vampire, and occasionally goes out “hunting”. His slow, blossoming relationship with a new neighbor makes him at least reconsider his action. The film is more haunting and spooky than out and out scary – it’s also wonderfully ambiguous, and quietly disturbing. O’Shea does – and tries – to do a lot of things, and I’m not quite sure he sticks all of them – but I cannot help but admire the ambition, on such a small budget.

 

5. The Untamed (Amat Escalante)

How does one describe Amat Escalante’s The Untamed – other than to say it’s a horror film about a tentacle monster that gives women orgasms – but is also capable of inflicting great pain on those it comes in contact with, depending on what they deserve? The film is a strange blend of genres, a critique of macho, homophobic culture, and it pretty much swings for the fences from the first frame to the last. Escalante’s film is inspired by films like Zulawski’s Possession – and even if it doesn’t quite live up to that level, damn if you cannot help but admire it for trying.

4. It Comes at Night (Trey Edward Shults)

Trey Edward Shults’ second film is a dystopian horror film, set in the middle of the forest, as one family tries to stay alive in their home, in a world ravaged by some sort of disease – and what they decide to do when they meet a second family. His first film – last year’s Krishna – was an emotional horror movie of sorts, about a woman who returns to her family for the first time in years, and cannot quite make a go of it – and so he makes an easy transition to the horror genre, gradually building the suspense, right up until a great finale. True, they sold this film as something it isn’t – there is no big monster, or big jump scares, but the horror here is more insidious, and works its way inside in ways that don’t leave. This is a horror film that will last.

 

3. It (Andy Muschetti)

The biggest hit of the year in horror is also one of the best films the genre had to offer. It could not have been easy to adapt Stephen King’s magnum opus – splitting it in two was a good decision (although it worries me a little about the second one). Bill Skarsgaard’s Pennywise the Clown will join the ranks of the all-time great movie monster performances – he is creepy in the extreme. Yet, it’s really the non-horror elements that make It such a great film – the kids, and their relationship between them, hits exactly the right spot – and is one of the best films I have seen in getting the tone of King’s novels correct. Sometimes audiences make horrible movies hit – not with It – this is about as good as mainstream horror films get.

 

2. Raw (Julia Ducournau)

Julia Ducournan’s Raw is the most shocking horror film of the year – a film about a pair of sisters a veterinary school in competition with each other. The film gained legendary status after TIFF 2016, when apparently a member of the audience passed out watching it – and it’s true, the film can be a lot to take as you watch it, with lots of horrific things happening. Yet, the film is far from just shock cinemas – there is a very real undercurrent of sexual awakening and sibling rivalry, and coming of age going through. The brilliant lead performance by Garance Marillier starts out supremely sympathetically – and then challenges us to keep having sympathy for her throughout (one time directly). The film is shocking – but that’s only part of what makes it so great. This is one of the best debuts in horror cinema is years.

 

1. Get Our (Jordan Peele)

Yes, the most talked about horror film of the year is also the best. Jordan Peele’s debut film knows it horror history down cold – brilliantly playing off of the films of the 1960s and 1970s, while also finding its own voice. The film is scary – but not in the way most horror films are, and not in the same way for every audience. I cannot speak as to how African-American audiences reacted to the film (I can certainly guess), but for “good white liberals” like myself, the film made me cringe and want to hide for the entire runtime – making us question each and every interaction we’ve had for years. Horror films are strange – you never really can tell which ones will last – but in the case of Get Out, I think it’s safe to say we’ve see a genre mainstay – a classic that will be studied as long as the genre is still being watched.

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2017 Year End Report: Best Debut Films

Quite a few strong debuts this year – most of them, as you might expect, were more of the “I cannot wait to see what this person does next” rather than the “oh my god, that was brilliant variety. Here are all the debuts O saw this year:

 

Breathe (Andy Serkis) does not prove that Serkis is as good a director as an actor – this is one dull movie, even by British biopic standards. Rough Night (Lucia Aniello) wasn’t a great debut from a veteran TV writer/producer/director – wasting a talented cast, and a premise that should had guaranteed laughs. We Are The Flesh (Emiliano Rocha Minter) is the type of empty provocation that novice directors think are profound – but this one decidedly is not.

 

Dig Two Graves (Hunter Adams) has atmosphere to spare, which makes me want to see the next film Adams directs – but a narrative that doesn’t work, which makes me hope he doesn’t write it. The House (Andrew Jay Cohen) gets a chance to direct after writing a few hit comedies – and does a competent job, but not much more. To the Bone (Marti Noxon) doesn’t show the same smarts that Noxon has so often shown on TV in shows like Unreal – even if the intentions here are good. Woodshock (Kate & Laura Mulleavy) looks great, but is dramatically inert – I want to see what they do next, because the images are so good – but they need work on the screenwriting part.

 

Band Aid (Zoe Lister-Jones) is a kind of quirky romantic comedy/drama about a struggling marriage, which is a little more honest than many of its Sundance brethren. Brigsby Bear (Dave McCary) is a weird, unconventional comedy, that doesn’t quite work, but gets points for sheer originality. A Dark Song (Liam Gavin) is a stylish, thoughtful, religious horror movie – which is unique enough that I really looking forward to see what Gavin does next (come up with a better ending next time though). The Greatest Showman (Michael Gracey) is a charming, big budget musical than is cheesy and earnest – and most of all, fun. Hello Destroyer (Kevan Funk) is a fascinating Canadian character study, which is perhaps too morose, but shows a real flair for location and tone. The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczynska) is pure insanity, combing all sorts of wild genres into one weird package – I’m not sure it works, but I’m very interested to seeing the director’s next film. Manifesto (Julian Rosefeldt) is the type of film you would expect a talented visual artist to make – without Blanchett, who knows if this works, but I’m still curious to see what’s next. Patti Cake$ (Geremy Jasper) is about as clichéd as Sundance debuts can come – and yet, it has winning performances and genuine heart. Prevenge (Alice Lowe) has a brilliant central idea – which Lowe, who also wrote it and stars as the pregnant woman killing because her fetus tells her to, shows that Lowe is a multi-talented director to watch. Werewolf (Ashley Mackenzie) is a very typical junkie film – but done with real style, and observational skills that marks Mackenzie as someone to watch. The Wound (John Trengove) is a fascinating film from South Africa, about toxic masculinity and homophobia.

 

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Oz Perkins) is an intelligent, visually great horror film – I know what he did next, since it actually came out first (and was a little disappointing) – but this is a good sign of a future horror auteur. Donald Cried (Kris Avedisian) is a surprisingly heartfelt comedy about a guy coming back to his hometown – and being stuck with his insufferable former best friend. God’s Own Country (Francis Lee) is a heartfelt drama about a young British farmer who falls in love with the Romanian farm hand they hire – and has to come to grips with his identity. Hounds of Love (Ben Young) is a disturbing, realistic horror film about a couple who kidnap and torture a teenage girl – it’s not for everyone, but it’s very well made. I Don’t Feel At Home in the World Anymore (Macon Blair) is the very promising debut of wonderful actor Blair – with this dark, twisted crime comedy that tries (and doesn’t quite reach) Coen territory. Menashe (Joshua Z. Weinstein) is a sensitive look inside the Hasidic Jewish community – through one widower, who wants to get custody of his son back – but cannot, unless he gets remarried. Most Beautiful Island (Ana Asensio) is a wonderful calling card movie – a slow burn thriller, with two brilliant scenes. Super Dark Times (Kevin Phillips) has some problems with its screenplay – but this Kevin Phillips guy has it – he’ll make a great film as soon as he gets a screenplay worthy of his immense talent.

 

 

Top 10

 10. Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer)

Ingrid Goes West is a bizarre, disturbing black comedy – a kind of King of Comedy for the social media generation – with Aubrey Plaza in a brilliant lead performance, as an internet stalker, who sets her sites on an Instagram star she thinks has the perfect life (Elizabeth Olsen), and then conspires to become a part of it. The sunbaked, beach setting is the perfect visual antidote to just how dark this film runs, as Plaza’s behavior becomes more and more deranged. Some of the observations may be a little pat (Olsen, of course, doesn’t have the perfect life she projects on social media), but the film shows real talent by Spicer – a filmmaker I want to see more from in the future.

 

9. The Transfiguration (Michael O’Shea)

Many first time filmmakers end up making a film that is little more than a collection of their influences in one package – and then, hopefully, those filmmakers mature at some point and make something better the next time. In its best moments, Michael O’Shea’s The Transfiguration is already there. This is a vampire film – and you can see the influence of nearly 100 years of vampire films on it – and yet, he takes it in different directions, connects it to a current political moment (without being so connected that it will grow dated) – and crafted one of the strangest vampire films you will ever see. This film flew too far under the radar this year – and didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved – hopefully, O’Shea’s next film does.

 

8. Molly’s Game (Aaron Sorkin)

Sorkin has for a long time been a great writer of flashy dialogue – and his screenplay for Molly’s Game is no exception. His direction matches that whip smart dialogue as well – it’s flashy, but not overly flashy, and he gets great performances out of Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Kevin Costner. The film is long – at two hours and twenty minutes, but it moves like gangbusters, and is entertaining every single minute of its runtime. Yes, Sorkin is still learning – the film could have been tighter, and someone like Fincher was able to make The Social Network more than the dialogue, which Sorkin hasn’t quite figured out. Still, this is great work for a first time filmmaker, and I want to see if Sorkin keeps directing, and what he does.

 

7. Una (Benedict Andrews)

The play. Blackbird, on which Una is based is (reportedly) just two characters in a room talking for the entire runtime. A part of me wishes that more of Una was like that as well – the playwright, David Harrower, has added characters and locations, and the film features flashbacks all in an attempt to open up the play – some of which works, some doesn’t. Still, it’s hard to argue that most of Una – is a terrific film, featuring top notches performances by Rooney Mara as a woman now in her late 20s, confronting the man she was “in a relationship with” when she was 12 – and he was 40, and Ben Mendelsohn, as that man. And director Benedict Andrews, in his feature film debut (he has been a theater director before – including this play) has stripped much of the dialogue down to its core, and replaced it with haunting scenes of the past, and terrific finale that – like the film as a whole – tests and challenges its audience. I would love to see Blackbird performed on stage one time – I think it would be an entirely different experience than the film – but this film, unto itself, is pretty terrific – and I think Andrews deserves a lot of that credit.

 

6. Novitiate (Margaret Betts)

This drama, about young nuns who commit themselves to a convent, unaware that new rules from Vatican II is going to radically change the lives of Catholic nuns forever. It is also a movie about young women, searching for love and a sense of belonging – and who see that in becoming a Nun. For a first time filmmaker, Betts has bite a lot off for herself here – and at times, it almost does feel like she’s making two different movies – one, a subdued, respectful coming of age story, about girls struggling with many things (including their sexuality) – and one in which Melissa Leo (brilliant as the Reverend Mother) chews the scenery as a cruel disciplinarian – but amazing, she ends up pulling them both off, and bringing them together. Hopefully the start of a great career here.

 

5. Columbus (Kogonada)

Kogonada’ s Columbus is a very strange film – a romantic film, in the way that Lost in Translation is romantic, that is set in the title town in Indiana – which is known the world over as an architects dream. Kogonada lovingly captures all the strange buildings in town – which gives the film much of its visual beauty – but it’s the low-key relationship between the middle aged Korean American (John Cho) in town because his distant, architect father fell into a coma there, and the recent high school graduate (Haley Lu Richardson – in what should be a star making performance) share that makes the film special. It’s not a creepy, sexual vibe they have, but something deeper than that. The film is quiet – perhaps too quiet – but it sneaks up on you, and once inside, you aren’t likely to forget it. A quietly remarkable debut.

 

4. Lady Macbeth (William Oldroyd)

Lady Macbeth is a remarkably assured directorial debut for William Oldroyd – who has already figured out that often, less is more. That isn’t to say that Lady Macbeth isn’t a stylized film – it is incredibly stylized – just that Oldroyd knows enough on when to keep quiet, and when to push. The film is basically a Hitchockian thriller disguised as a costume drama – about a young woman – a remarkable Florence Pugh – forced into marriage, and then doing everything she can to get out of it – including murder. We start out with her, but gradually, the film ratchets up the tension, and her own horrible behavior – until we cannot still be with her. This is an assured debut, a film that sneaks up on you, and a tense thriller. I cannot wait to see what he does next.

 

3. Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)

In many circles, Lucky is seen as little more than a tribute to the late, great Harry Dean Stanton – giving one of the greatest character actors in history one last hurrah – and one of the only lead roles of his career. It is no doubt that – this film joins Stanton’s very best work as what he’ll be remembered for – but I do want to say that I think character actor turned director John Carroll Lynch (who is not like Stanton at all as an actor – except for the fact that no matter what part he plays, you know he’s going to be great in it) does with the film. It isn’t easy to make a film like this, and make it feel genuine – trust me, I watch a couple dozen, small town, quirky comedy dramas a years out of Sundance, and they rarely get it right. What Lynch does here is in no way flashy – but it is perfect for the film he is making. Whether or not Lynch goes on to direct more or not, he was an odd and unexpected choice for this film – but undeniably the right one.

 

2. Raw (Julia Ducournau)

Julia Ducournau’ s Raw is one of the great horror films of the year – and also, a brilliant exploration of female coming of age – sexually, yes, but more than that. Yes, the movie churned stomachs on the festival circuit – someone passed out at TIFF watching it during Midnight Madness – but I think it’s unfortunate that the film has gotten a reputation as a gross out movie, when it’s far more than that. It’s not unlike the great Canadian werewolf film Ginger Snaps – but this one is even better. Docournau’s visual command is great, she gets great performances from all involved, and she keeps what could be an insane premise on the tracks all the way until the end (the final scene may be too much – but just maybe). I have no idea what she’s going to do next – but I cannot wait to see it.

 

1. Get Our (Jordan Peele)

It is not uncommon for director’s debut films to be more about the films that influenced them, than the film they are making – they want to show you that they have good taste in movies when they make theirs. Great filmmakers eventually move on from that – and find ways to take what inspired them and turn it into something altogether original and different. Jordan Peele’s debut film Get Out is already there. Yes, you can see the films that inspired him in there – from Rosemary’s Baby to The Stepford Wives, etc. – but he’s taken that all, and made an entirely original film, about the smiling face of liberal racism – a film that is petrifying to everyone in the audience, in different ways. Yet, Peele isn’t making a treatise here – he isn’t delivering a sermon – the film works on every level he chooses to – as a horror movie, as a social drama, as a satire, etc. It is one of the best debuts in recent memory – and even as it continues a long line of movies hiding their messages in a horror film (that stretches back to the genre’s origins) – he has made something wholly different. I cannot wait to see Peele’s next film.

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2017 Year End Report: Best Animated Films

This year, 26 films were submitted for the animated film Oscar. I have seen 12 of those – as well as four others that were released in theaters this year, but are not among the 26 films submitted – two of those because they were eligible last year (one was nominated), and two who, I guess, didn’t bother to submit. The film that I “missed” (I put that in quotes, because for the most part, these films don’t release – at least not widely – during the year – hoping to sneak into the Oscar race to help its box office) were The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, Cinderella the Cat, Ethel & Ernest, The Girl without Hands, In This Corner of the World, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, Napping Princess, A Silent Voice, Sword Art Online: The Movie - Ordinal Scale and Window Horses The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming. I could have seen several of these films in theaters in Toronto – I think – or some perhaps on VOD – but for whatever reason I didn’t – they are smaller releases, and it’s tougher to see them (if my math and memory is correct, I think I could have seen three of these –In This Corner of the World, A Silent Voice and Window Horses- but not the other 10. The 1 mainstream films I missed and The Star – I have less of an excuse for, except that I didn’t want to. I’m not going to complain too much about that – the reality is the reality of non-studio, perhaps non-kids animated fare – I love them, and try to see what I can, but’s it’s not always easy.

 

Anyway, onto what I did see – starting in the dregs, and getting up to the pretty good. This wasn’t exactly a banner year for animation – and many will probably think I cheated on my number 1 – so be it.

 

The Emoji Movie (Tony Leondis) is slickly produced, cynical crap – the type of film that gives kids animation a bad name – horrible by any standards.

 

Ballerina aka Leap (Eric Summer & Eric Wairn) is an inspiring tale about a young girl following her dreams – my young daughter loved it, but it’s being a lower budgeted film certainly shows. The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (Cal Bruckner) is as forgettable as the original – and a little less fun. Smurfs: The Lost Village (Kelly Asbury) continues a very uninspired cinematic series – that needs to die, or go back to the drawing board once again (hopefully after a long hiatus).

 

The Boss Baby (Tom McGrath) has a great central idea, and fine vocal work to be sure – I just don’t think it ever quite raises to the level that it probably should have been. Despicable Me 3 (Pierre Coffin & Kyle Balba & Eric Guillon) has too many characters, which makes everything – even the few things that work very well – seem rushed – it’s time for this series to end. The Lego Ninjago Movie (Charlie Bean & Paul Fisher & Bob Logan) is fun in fits and starts, but doesn’t come together like the other Lego movies does – it copies the franchise model far too closely. My Little Pony: The Movie (Jayson Thieseen) is candy colored garbage, aimed at young children – who eat it up – but also a little more clever and funny than it needs to be.

 

Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman) is utterly and completely gorgeous – as befits the first ever oil painting animated film, and one dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh – the story doesn’t come close to living up to it though.

 

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (David Soren) really shouldn’t be as fun as it is – since it is essentially a 90 minute fart joke, but it’s a funny 90 minute fart joke. Cars 3 (Brian Fee) is probably my favorite of the Cars movies – which, true, are still lesser Pixar – but this one isn’t quite as lesser as some think. Ferdinand (Carlos Saldanha) is a charming, funny, sweet film about a bull who wants nothing more than to smell the flowers. Your Name. (Makoto Shinkai) was a holdover from last year’s Oscar race (it didn’t get nominated) and was a phenomenon in Japan – and is the best anime film of the film – even if I thought it kind went off the rails near the end, no matter how gorgeous the film looked.

 

Top 5

 

 

5. The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)

Cartoon Saloon’s third feature – following The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea – is just as charming as their first two. This one is about a little girl in Kabul, living under Taliban rule, who has little choice but to disguise herself as a boy, in order to support her family, and hopefully, help get her father out of jail. The film is at times a thrilling adventure, but is also clever and funny – good for older, mature children – but with enough darkness to give it more weight. It is also among the most beautiful animated films of the year. Yes, the narrative is clunky at times – but the film is also a delight to look at, and gets the big things right. Cartoon Saloon is a studio whose every film I look forward to more and more.

 

4. My Life as a Zucchini (Claude Barras)

Nominated at last year’s Oscars (but not released until this year), Claude Barras’ My Life as a Zucchini is a quietly touching film, about a year in the life of a young boy who becomes an orphan. This is a largely plotless, 67 minute film that drifts from one incident to another – and yet oddly, builds an emotional power all its own. The stop motion animation is truly remarkable – I love this style of animation in general, but it’s still excellent. The film is simple and straight forward in many ways – which is one of the reasons why it works so well. A quietly moving film.

 

3. The Lego Batman Movie (Chris McKay)

The Lego Batman Movie would always have been funny – it’s one of those movies that is chalked full of visual gags from start to finish, and has more jokes than you can possibly listen to on one viewing – but it’s even better this year, given just how prevalent superhero movies remain in our film culture. Having this Batman be made of Lego, and essentially be a parody of the self-serious Batman that has become pretty much ridiculous at this point, makes it even better. The film lacks the originality of The Lego Movie (and the third film in the franchise – The Lego Ninjago Movie tries very hard to repeat what works about this film, with far inferior results) – but it’s a model of how this film can work. Will it work for any character other than Batman? I don’t know – but it works wonderfully for him.

 

2. Coco (Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina)

Pixar’s latest film Coco, is a funny, entertaining, delightful film – full of great music, and is also clearly the most beautiful animated film to hit screens in 2017. The story of a young boy, who gets cursed, and has until sundown to get back to the Land of the Living is full of great visuals, and songs. The film is steeped in, and respectful of, Mexican culture. The Land of the Dead is one of the best, most visually dense environments that Pixar has ever created. The characters are almost all skeletons – but amusing, and funny skeletons, so as not to scare kids. Coco is not quite up with the very best of Pixar films – if it were, it would also be on my regular top 10 list – but it’s close, and it is easily the best animated film of this rather lackluster year in animation. If that feels like a backhanded compliment – it isn’t meant to be. Coco is a must see.

 

1. World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts (Don Hertzfeldt)

Don Hertzfeldt’s 16 minute 2015 short World of Tomorrow is one of the greatest animated shorts of all time, and one of the best sci fi films of the century. It was perfect and didn’t require a sequel. And yet, here we are two years later, and Hertzfeldt has made a truly great sequel. I don’t think this one is quite as good as the first one – the shock of Hertzfeldt’s stick figures with the beautiful digital backgrounds helped make the film so good, and this time we expect it. What you may not expect is that while the last film looked outward at the world, this one dives deeper into the individual mind – and the need to get out of your head, and live in the present. It’s a beautiful, 23 minute film that is also hilarious, and quietly profound. It was the best animated film I saw this year – even if it was a short.

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2017 Year End Report: Best Actress

Another year where best actress really was an embarrassment of riches – I could easily make the case for anyone in my top 10 for the year’s best, and any number of runners up higher in a different year.

 

Runners-Up: Jessica Chastain in Molly’s Game handles Sorkin’s dialogue like a pro, and carries the whole movie on her back.  Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman was the perfect Wonder Woman – full of strength and sincerity and humor - the superhero we need right now. Nicole Kidman in The Beguiled keeps herself in control in her role, even as everything gets brilliantly overheated, which makes it more disturbing. Jennifer Lawrence in mother! Basically plays a symbol more than character – and does so brilliantly. Cynthia Nixon in A Quiet Passion is excellent as Emily Dickinson, in a costume drama that doesn’t romanticize the period, or her life. Haley Lu Richardson in Columbus is wonderful as a young woman drifting in her life, not sure what she wants to do next. Debra Winger in The Lovers is excellent, as always, as a wife who is having an affair, and cannot tell her husband about it – before she starts having an affair with her husband.

  

10. Kristen Stewart in Personal Shopper

There are few actors working today who command your attention so fully, while doing nothing, than Kristen Stewart. She spends much of Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper staring at her iPhone, as texts message from, well, someone, come in an horrify her. Yet, just try to look away, as she travels around Paris horrified, or tries on clothes she cannot afford, all the while, grieving for her brother. This is a performance I cannot imagine another actress of Stewart’s age giving – it’s quiet, and subtle and brilliant, and relies on her screen presence, which she carries effortlessly. I never get tired of watching Stewart.

 

9. Meryl Streep in The Post

One of the greatest actresses in history, Streep does have a tendency at times to suck all the air out of a movie and keep it for herself – which is why in many of her recent movies (from The Devil Wears Prada to Julie & Julia to The Iron Lady to Florence Foster Jenkins) are average overall, but great showcases for her. It’s good to see her in something like The Post, where she goes more understated in her performances, playing a powerful woman, who needs to fully except that power, in a world full of men – none of whom really believe in her. Streep makes Kay Graham sympathetic and vulnerable – and that only increases her power. Streep is always good, but she rarely has material this good, or a director this good – and it shows in just how great she is here.

 

8. Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water

Sally Hawkins has long been one of the more interesting actresses’ working- I still cannot believe she didn’t get nominated for Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky – and she’s always a bright shining light in any of her films. Here, director Guillermo Del Toro takes away one of her greatest assets – her voice – and she somehow delivers an even more endearing performance. It’s not easy to play a romance next to a sea creature – but Hawkins does it – not only that, she makes you believe it, and believe that she could enlist so many others to help her. It’s a physical performance yes, but it’s a deeply felt one as well. Hawkins has always been great – let’s hope more people realize it going forward.

 

7. Margot Robbie in I, Tonya

Tonya Harding is the kind of juicy roles that actresses would kill for – and its Robbie’s good luck that this movie wasn’t made years ago, when Amy Adams would have been perfect. Still, it’s hard to think that Adams could have been much better than Robbie is here, who captures the dual sides of Harding brilliantly – she is a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, who just wanted a chance. Had she actually won gold – with no knee bashing – it would be one of the most inspirational sports stories of all time. Here, Robbie is hilarious, but she also does a great job of making Harding sympathetic, and yet also making you understand why everyone hated her so much. Robbie has been a star since her brilliant work in The Wolf of Wall Street – but here, she finds the perfect role for her. The role is a high wire act – and she pulls it off brilliantly.

 

6. Florence Pugh in Lady Macbeth

The key to Florence Pugh’s performance in Lady Macbeth, is that in the first half of the film, she makes you like this woman – makes you feel sorry for her. She is a young woman, sold into marriage, with an older, rough man who doesn’t even like her, let alone love her, and placed on a cold farm, where she’s supposed to stay inside all the time. Her affair with a worker is almost feminist – her freeing herself from bondage. And then, in the second half, she does one monstrous thing after another, and you slowly realize what kind of performance you’ve been rooting for. Newcomer Pugh has to show all of this under a carefully benign expression most of the time – she cannot speak up, or else she will get in trouble. This is one of the great breakthrough performances of the year – I just wish more people realized it.

 

5. Saorise Ronan in Lady Bird

Saorise Ronan is one of the best actresses working today – and has been since her breakout role in Atonement, a decade ago. While I won’t say her work in Lady Bird is the best of her career so far (her work in Brooklyn is one of the very best performances of the decade), it does show another side of her – and just how much range she has. As the title character, she is a high school senior, stuck in Sacramento, thinking the entire world is against her. She can be bratty and entitled – but that’s just par for the course in being a teenager. She is also hard hearted, but open and honest (most of the time), clashes with her mother, but ultimately sees her as more than an enemy. It’s also a hilarious performance, which Ronan absolutely rips into. I’m starting to think there is nothing Ronan cannot do.

 

4. Garance Marillier in Raw

French newcomer Garance Marillier delivers the best performance of the year that will be nominated for no awards, since it was delivered in a foreign language horror film – and a damn bloody one at that. Marillier’s performance is a unique coming-of-age sort, as she has to deal with being on her own for the first time, peer pressure, sex, etc. Oh, and the fact that the vegetarian now hungers for raw meat – particularly human. Marillier has a sweet and open face – which she uses to great effect in the early scenes in the movie, making you feel for her, and win you over. And then, she rips into the scenes later, when she has gone off the deep end – and in the film’s most memorable moment, stares directly into the camera, challenging the audience, confronting them, daring them to still like her. It’s a great performance in a genre that often spawns them – but rarely gets the credit for it.

 

3. Brooklynn Prince in The Florida Project

It’s hard when it comes to child performances to determine just how much is the actor themselves, and how much credit the director should get for drawing that performance out of them – and then editing it in a way to make it look the way it does. But then again, couldn’t the same be said for pretty much any performance? What I do know is that as Moonee, Brooklynn Prince absolutely stole my heart in the film – acting precisely like a child, and showing the audience how a child does navigate that world, which is full of pain and poverty. The ending is a heartbreaker – both because it’s a world that Moonee may never know, and because you cannot help but wonder just what this bright, hilarious child is going to go through once the film ends. Typically, I do stay away from child performances in these sorts of lists – but once in a great while, one nails it. The best thing I can say about Prince’s work here is that for a child this young, the only performance I have ever seen that is better is Brigitte Fossey’s, all the back in 1952’s Forbidden Games. It’s an all timer.

 

2. Vicky Krieps in Phantom Thread

Alma is the character in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread who fascinates me the most – mainly because even at the end of the movie, she is an enigma. While Day-Lewis’ Reynolds is easier to peg from the start, and Manville’s Cyril, snaps into focus as we get to know her – Krieps plays Alma as a character who keeps everything close to her chest, not letting the audience, or those around her, completely in on her actions. She is immediately alluring, and continues to fascinate throughout the film – remaining still and quiet, never really letting things slip. This makes it all the more fascinating that she, in effect, narrates the story. There are some performances (like #1 in this category) that immediately grab you by the throat and won’t let go. Then there are ones like this that creep up on you slowly, but stay with you forever.

 

1. Frances McDormand in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

I cannot help but wonder why it’s taken the brilliant Frances McDormand 21 years to find another role close to as rich and wonderful as her Oscar winning role in Fargo (I say close, because that really is one of the best written roles of all time. She has undeniably done great work in the intervening years, but finally in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, she finds another lead role truly worthy of her talents. Here she plays the bitter and angry mother of a murdered daughter, who wants justice for her child, or else she will (literally) burn the whole damn place to the ground to try and get it. The first half of the film, you feel her righteous anger, you cheer on her profane rants and insults – and she is clearly a hero. The second half of the film deepens this character though – makes her more flawed, and complicated – perhaps not the hero we envisioned. McDormand rips into the role and relishes every delicious line. She truly is one of the greats.

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2017 Year End Report: Best Supporting Actor

Not the deepest category this year, but still a lot of fine work.

 

Runners-Up: Daniel Craig in Logan Lucky is pure, comedic gold as a brilliant/dimwitted redneck safe cracker. Peter Dinklage in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri has only a few scenes in the film, but makes the most of them – especially his final scene, which for me was a turning point in the film. Dustin Hoffman in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) delivers his best performance in years, as the aging father who can be a monster, but still inspires his now grown children – just not in the way he wishes. Jason Mitchell in Mudbound gets best in show in a terrific ensemble as a man who has to deal with the fact that he was treated better in a foreign land than he is at home. Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World is the best thing in the movie – as even capitalism personified. Ben Safdie in Good Time makes the most of his early scenes as the disabled brother who idolizes his brother too much for his own good. Bradley Whitford in Get Out is the perfect white liberal, who doesn’t know how clueless he sounds – and that’s before he turns evil. Steve Zahn in War for the Planet of the Apes as Bad Monkey, Zahn really is terrific – and if critics groups felt the need to give Serkis some noms, why didn’t they recognize him as well?

10. Jean-Louis Trintgnant in Happy End
The French acting legend reteams with Michael Haneke who directed him in a brilliant (career best?) performance in Amour back in 2012. His character here could well be seen as a version of the same character, a few years down the line, dealing with his actions in that film. At first, he seems like a typical old guy with memory loss – but as the film progresses, his desperate acts to try and find a way to die help define his character – and leads to the end of the film. Trintgnant, mow 87 years old, is doing some of the best work of his career with Haneke – and while Happy End doesn’t equal Amour, Trintgnant is nearly as good here. 

9. Tracy Letts in Lady Bird

The women of Lady Bird have gotten all the (much deserved) praise for their performances, but perhaps because I am a father, I have a soft spot for Tracy Letts’ performance as Lady Bird’s dad. Letts, who has become one of my favorite character actors over the last few years, here plays a dad who really wants everyone to be happy. He tries to keep the drama down, tries to hide his own disappointment, all to help his own children. He doesn’t let them know when they hurt his feelings, and the moment he realizes his son is going out for the same job he is, there is a moment so perfect, that it made me cry. Letts continues to be one of the great actors working today, doing greatness in the background.

 

8. Woody Harrelson in War for the Planet of the Apes

There have been some fine performances in these new Planet of the Apes movies – but none of them have been as good as Woody Harrelson here, playing a mad, Colonel Kurtz like character, off the reservation, on his own, ruling over his own private fiefdom. He is the harshest, cruelest character in the series so far – but also one of the most pathetic, trying hard to hold onto something that is already gone. His final scenes – as he lays drunk, and realizes what precisely is going to happen, are great – and marks a high water point for Harrelson – who for a long time, has been one of the most interesting actors around.

 

7. Patrick Stewart in Logan

There is no doubt that having seen Patrick Stewart in a number of X-Men films over the past 17 years really does add to the power of his performance here – as the aging Professor, who has grown senile, lost control of his faculties, and could actually be quite dangerous at this point. He makes a number of mistakes in this film – mistakes that will cost other people their lives, and he is full of regrets on his life. Logan does a lot of great things – things that superhero films have never really done – but one of them is allowing us to see Stewart’s Professor X like this – and Stewart full embracing it, giving the character a brilliant, final act.

 

6. Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name

The only complaint I have about Armie Hammer’s performance in Call Me By Your Name is one that he has no control over – he looks too old to be a 24-year old student. But once you get beyond that, everything else about Hammer’s performance in this movie works pretty much perfectly. At first, he seems like a tall, statuesque pretty boy – a stereotypical American. But gradually, that performance deepens, and his chemistry with Chamalet is the best of any onscreen couple this year. He lets you inside a little bit in the second half, showing the pain he hide throughout the first half, until he could no longer bare it, and lets it all go. Hammer has had an interesting journey since his breakthrough in The Social Network, and his brush his franchise filmmaker. If nothing else, this film certifies just how good he can be, in the right role.

 

5. Michael Stuhlbarg in Call Me By Your Name

One of the great character actors of his generation, Stuhlbarg has been doing great work for years – and getting noticed for it since the lead role in the Coen’s A Serious Man. He is one of those actors that make me think of Roger Ebert’s old Stanton/Walsh rule that stated that any movie featuring Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmett Walsh cannot be all bad. Here, he is in fine form throughout – playing the smart, supportive and seemingly oblivious father throughout the summer his teenage son finds love. And then, late in the film, he delivers one of the great monologues in recent memory – all about love and loss and it quite simply breaks your heart. It is a brilliant monologue, delivered by Stuhlbarg at the height of his powers. Sure, it’s strange to get a nomination for one scene – but for that scene, it’s worthy.

 

4. Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Sam Rockwell had a difficult job in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri – as he basically has to play a character with both revile and yet feel empathy for. I never agreed with the criticism that Rockwell’s character doesn’t deserve redemption – basically because I never thought the film granted him any. He is a character who is sure of himself, who is brought low – almost biblically – and has his whole view of himself shaken. He does this all while delivering a performance that is funny, humane, empathetic, and yet, yes, still hateful. It’s the best performance of Rockwell’s career – as he balances those two things perfectly.

 

3. Barry Keoghan in The Killing of a Sacred Deer

This was a breakout year for Keoghan, who audiences will remember as the doomed, good hearted kid on the boat in Nolan’s Dunkirk – who volunteers to go even when he didn’t have to. Whatever the exact opposite of that is, his work in The Killing of a Sacred Deer is pretty close. Here, he plays an angry young man, who has decided to punish a surgeon (Colin Farrell) because he blames him (not incorrectly) for the death of his father. The game he invents to do that is harsh and brutal – and yet Keoghan remains fairly even keeled throughout – everything is already in motion, you cannot stop it, don’t try. This was the films best performance, in a movie where the likes of Farrell and Nicole Kidman are also at the top of their games. One of the great performances of the year, and one I wish more people talked about.

 

2. Woody Harrelson in Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri

As the Sheriff in Three Billboards, Harrelson delivers perhaps the best performance of his career. He gets to play a lawman of principle, who really does try and keep the peace, and keep everyone happy. That he cannot entirely see the damage that may well do to those in town in undeniable, but he is playing a man everyone in town (who is white, anyway) loves, and you understand why. He is also, perhaps, the funniest character in the movie – in part because he knows what is fate is, and is past the point of caring. Every line delivery Harrelson utters in the film is just about perfect – but perhaps none more so than his various letters, which hit the right spot. His final scene is heartbreaking, and is really when the film kicks into high gear. Rockwell has won more awards – but Harrelson delivers the (slightly) better performance.

 

1. Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project

It isn’t often when an actor like Willem Dafoe – who has been around for more than 30 years now, still gets the opportunity to surprise you – but that is what Dafoe does here. Mainly, Dafoe has made a career of playing various creeps and lowlifes (that is, after an early career as Jesus – or a Jesus like character). In The Florida Project on the other hand, he radiates goodness. I don’t know what led this man to this rundown motel in Florida – it likely wasn’t good (his son doesn’t seem overly happy with him, after all) but now that he’s here, he walks the fine line between running a business, and truly getting to know, and like the tenants. It’s a balance he goes back and forth on – sometimes more on side than the other. Dafoe clearly gets his showcase moments here – confronting the would-be pedophile for instance – but it’s in the quieter scenes, particularly his last one, where he completely wins you over. Dafoe has had a career full of ups and downs – this is clearly an up – one of the best performances in a great career.

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