2017 in Movies

2017 was a decent year for movies. Certainly not as impressive as 2016 (the popular Arrival, Zootopia... and the critically acclaimed bunch that included Manchester By The Sea, La La Land, Moonlight, and Hacksaw Ridge), but sprinkled with gems. 2017 seemed more like the year of the blockbuster sequels: new chapters in the franchises of Alien, King Kong, John Wick, Spidey, Logan, Guardians, and more from the comic book franchises. The trouble was that some of these failed to meet expectations. Like the Alien and Kong installments (though I enjoyed them at a low level) and John Wick 2 met with some criticism (I liked it just fine). 

Greta Gerwig added directing to her resume with Lady Bird

(pictured is Saoirse Ronan)

But a few Oscar-worthy entries found their place in the year's cinematic output. Lady Bird is at the top of the heap for me... first time director Greta Gerwig showed us she is more than just a Frances Ha kinda gal. It Comes At Night is a cool, low-key creeper. Baby Driver is a fun, stylish crime thriller. Logan thoroughly impressed this non-fan of the comic book movie deluge... fine dramatic acting and a taut, engaging story. Wonder Woman brought a more restrained and tasteful superhero interpretation to the big screen... again, I was pleasantly surprised by this sort of genre picture. 

A strong year for the ladies... including Wonder Woman director

Patty Jenkins, and actress Gal Gadot as Diana Prince

Seeing as I rarely attend theatrical screenings anymore, I always find myself playing catch-up. If it's a movie I'm very interested in, I'll rent it online as soon as it's available. If I'm content to wait for it "free" on Netflix, then I'll do that. Here's a list of all the 2017 releases that I watched. Believe me, I saw a lot more films than this, but the rest were not recent releases. I've even listed these - roughly - in order of best to worst (well, favourite to least favourite):

2017 Movies:

Lady Bird
Baby Driver
John Wick: Chapter 2
Logan
Wonder Woman
Gerald's Game
Shimmer Lake
Ghost in the Shell
Alien: Covenant
The Babysitter
Kong: Skull Island
It Comes At Night
Aftermath
1922
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Running Wild
Band Aid 
Security
The Meyerwitz Stories (New and Selected)


Gotta Catch Up (2017 Movies to See):

The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Get Out
Blade Runner 2049
War for the Planet of the Apes
The Shape of Water
Mother!
The Beguiled
Life

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Addendum: 

2017 Movies I Finally Saw:

The Killing of a Sacred Deer - okay, but too weird for me... meh
Blade Runner 2049 - really really cool, and I need to re-watch it to fully appreciate it
Life - I think I kinda love this Alien-meets-2001 hybrid... beautifully frightful