Starting this year I began writing movie reviews for the newspaper. With the end of the year approaching, I thought I’d take a moment and reflect on the 21 films that I’ve seen that were released this year and rank them. These are my own personal opinions because I’m sure that we all have differing thoughts on what were the best films of the year.
Ranked from best to worst:
• Logan
• IT
• Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
• Bright
• To the Bone
• Wonder Woman
• Blade Runner 2049
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Spider-Man Homecoming
• War for the Planet of the Apes
• Kong: Skull Island
• The LEGO Batman Movie
• The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
• The Boss Baby
• The Dark Tower
• Power Rangers
• 47 Meters Down
• Life
• Alien: Covenant
• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
***I wanted to quickly note that I only linked the top five movies to their IMDB page and the others that I discuss below.***
I’ll give a few sentences concerning the top five and why I picked them. Logan was by far my favorite film of the year. The tone and setting of the film really suited the fact that this was going to be Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart’s final time reprising their roles as Wolverine and Professor Xavier. The R rating really allowed the creative team to show that savage animalistic side of Wolverine while allowing the excellent acting by Jackman to show the desperate and nothing left to live for human side of his character. The amazing acting of relatively new actress Dafne Keen, who played Laura, matched the acting prowess of both Jackman and Stewart.
As a Stephen King fan, IT was a film that I felt both eagerness and cautiousness in wanting to see. I wasn’t sure how Bill Skarsgard would compare to Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. I also wasn’t sure about the fact that they were going to split the book into two films with the first being strictly from the children’s side of things. The film exceeded my expectations, however, and I can’t wait to see the second half when it comes out, rumored, in 2019.
The next two on my list were films I really didn’t care if I saw them in theaters or not. Thor: Ragnarok is the third in the Thor series and the first two were not my favorite of Marvel’s films. Again, I was surprised. The creators of the movie took a page from Guardians of the Galaxy and infused the film with humor and action which was something that had been mishandled in the prior Thor films. They also rounded out Thor’s character arch nicely and I’m wondering what will happen to him in Infinity Wars.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 I didn’t even see in the theatre. I watched it when it came out on Netflix, but as soon as the opening music started and baby Groot was dancing around as his companions were getting their clocks cleaned, I was hooked and couldn’t keep my eyes away from the screen.
The last one in my Top Five is also from Netflix. In fact, it was never released in theaters and can only be found, currently, on Netflix. That movie stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton in Bright. The film takes place 2,000 years after a great evil is vanquished. Think Lord of the Rings meets Training Day and this is that film. Edgerton plays the first Orcish officer on the LAPD. Smith is his human partner and they respond to a call that throws them in the middle of something bigger. It’s not a big hit with the critics, but to me it’s something new and different and the creators manage to pull it off in my opinion.
I won’t talk about the middle films much simply because for the most part they were all pretty good. I enjoyed them all. Except the last two.
When a long running franchise decides to explain or try to reinvent their origins it can be a complicated matter that most likely will end up in ruins. Alien: Covenant and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter are perfect examples of this. If you are a fan of the Alien or Resident Evil franchise, I would encourage you to steer clear of these.
2018 is almost here and with it brings many more films. Some of them are sequels to the above mentioned list. Some are brand new ideas or apart of a pre-existing cinematic universe. It will be interesting to find out how well they do.
Do you agree with my ranking? What movies did you enjoy or hate? Let me know by heading over to that contact page.
