More than a little late, but I love end-of-the-year lists. I shall hold off on posting my Best Of until I see Phantom Thread this Thursday. Indeed, I take these way too seriously. In the meantime, might as well get the ball rolling.

Worst:

Alien: Covenant

Dishonorable Mention:

Dave Made A Maze
Girls Trip
The Meyerowitz Stories

Random films I enjoyed/more or less enjoyed that were not among my favorites:

1922
Baby Driver
The Big Sick
Good Time
Ingrid Goes West
Kedi
mother!
Okja
T2 Trainspotting
War on Everyone

Biggest Surprise: Super Dark Times

Biggest Disappointment: Gerald's Game (would've made my top 10 if it weren't for the ending)

Did not see:

Lady Bird
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes
Most superhero movies

--

Thoughts on 2017, anyone?

Worst (in random disorder, with my most hated in bold)
Transformers (big surprise there!)
Rings
Resident Evil Final Chapter
Snowman
The Mummy
American Made
Baywatch
Justice League
King Arthur Legend Of The Sword
Atomic Blonde

Dishonorable mentions:
CHipS
XXX Return Of Xander Cage
Valarian

Disappointing (meaning not horrible but not great/loss of potential)
The Dark Tower
Ghost In The Shell
Pirates 5

The Best
(in no order, best in bold)
Blase Runner 2049
Shape Of Water
Logan
IT
Dunkirk
Wind River
The Big Sick
Wonder Woman
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
The Darkest Hour
The Last Jedi

Still need to see
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Post
Hostiles
I Tonya
Disaster Artist

Honorable mentions
Thor 3
Spider-Man Homecoming
Alien Covenant

This is preliminary since there are about a dozen more I plan to see before Oscar night. Although, I'm actually wondering if this phenomenon is happening to anybody else here. Do you guys find yourselves not interested in watching movies anymore? I just don't have the urge to watch movies anymore, with the exception of for research. I don't get any enjoyment from it and it's actually starting to feel like a chore. Is that happening to anyone else here? Anyway, I'm rambling:

1. Dunkirk
2. Logan
3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
4. Baby Driver
5. Free Fire
6. John Wick: Chapter 2
7. Suburbicon
8. Downsizing
9. The Belko Experiment
10. Detroit
11. It Comes at Night
12. 47 Meters Down
13. The Hitman's Bodyguard
14. A Cure For Wellness
15. Alien: Covenant

Quoted from Mr. Blonde Do you guys find yourselves not interested in watching movies anymore? I just don't have the urge to watch movies anymore, with the exception of for research. I don't get any enjoyment from it and it's actually starting to feel like a chore. Is that happening to anyone else here?

Yes, for a variety of reasons. It makes me sad. That said, I still make a concerted effort to watch films, and watching a great film is a special experience. I've always felt if you want to get the most out of a given artform (as a consumer), you need to be a little studious. That can be tough sometimes, and unfortunately, the payoff was a little low for me this year.

That said, my all-time favorite films haven't lost their effectiveness at all. I've revisited a lot of them over the past few years. It's been a good reminder as to why I got into writing in the first place.

I try to watch only good film. I don't jump on everything that comes out and instead, wait a year or more at times before watching something. This helps me keep my enjoyment. I think if I lost my love of stories then I wouldn't be able to write anymore.

As for my best and worst, I really can't remember. For me, stories are devoured and enjoyed for what they are then forgotten about. I'm so bad that a line that often comes from my mouth is, 'what was that great film we watched last night?' ... 'Oh, yeah, now I remember.' Only to then promptly forget about it again. I have a better memory of films I watched in the 80s than I do films I watched last week.

Just thought about how many Liam Neeson contained thrillers they have thrown out in the last years. Those seem one of the safest, indeed, "products" that are pushed constantly. Boring. The other stuff is animation, kids SF adaptations or the whole buddy comedy/cop comedy/mommy comedy trash.

Then there is independent film :-), home.

Perhaps cinema needs another revolution more than ever - possibly the first honest virtual reality movie will set something new. We might be just dinosaurs and the new filmmmakers will have a revolutionary 3D form of telling with the audience in between the story…

I'm not good with lists. Someone needs to mention a movie for it to pop in my head. So, I'll miss out on a ton of movies cause I can't remember them quick enough.

So, I'll take some of the movies you guys listed that I've seen and list them.

Movies I didn't like:
- Mother!
- Free Fire.
- Alien: Covenant.
- The Big Sick.
- War for Planet of the Apes.
- A Cure for Wellness.
- Spider-man Homecoming.
- Valerian.
- Shape of Water.
- Baby Driver.
- It.
- Wonder Woman.
- The Belko Experiment.
- King Arthur.
- Baywatch.
- Justice League.
- Florida Project. (ahh... it was Okay)
- Stronger.
- Bright.
- Columbus.
- Battle of the Sexes.
- Logan Lucky.
- The Foreigner.
- Happy Death Day.
- The Mountain Between Us.
- Snowman.
- American Assassin (absolutely horrible).

Movies that were Okay:
- Florida Project.
- A Ghost Story.
- The Meyerowitz Stories
- Disaster Artist.
- The Killing of the Sacred Deer.
- Logan.
- Dunkirk.
- Okja.
- Ingrid Goes West.
- I, Tonya (for the fat guy that was in it, the bodyguard).
- 1922.
- Lady Bird.
- Brigsby Bear.

Movies that were GOOD:
- Blade Runner 2049
- Wind River
- Good Time.
- Three Billboards.
- Brawl in Cell Block 99
- Brad's Status.

Out of all these, probably my favorite was Blade Runner (had it ended 7-8 min earlier) and Good Time.

I watched 401 movies from start to finish in 2017 -- an all-time high. Had a lot of research to do. I don't think I could do that again any time soon, but it was fun and interesting.

New movies really are a bit of a chore to watch. Everything below the top tier has started to feel quite boring sometimes. But I thought there was plenty to like in 2017 -- I would happily recommend many more movies than I've listed here. This was also the first year that I put my boycott into place for theatre-going -- no movies that are part of a franchise/series/universe that already has another feature film greenlit. No Marvel, no DC, no Star Wars, no Transformers, etc. etc. I'm a happier man for it.


Profoundly bad:

Flatliners
The Mountain Between Us (one of the only movies this year I actually gave up on)
The Circle
F the Prom
Geostorm
Home Again
A Bad Moms Christmas
Baywatch
Literally, Right Before Aaron


Enjoyably bad, lesser discussed:

Inconceivable
Girls Trip
Beyond Skyline
The Assignment
Mindhorn
The Tribes of Palos Verdes (Garner's genuinely good, though)
A Bad Idea Gone Wrong
Jeepers Creepers 3
Black Butterfly
The Carmilla Movie
Diamond Cartel (streaming on Netflix now, in Canada anyway -- bafflingly terrible and an absolute trainwreck but weirdly entertaining)


Enjoyably good, lesser discussed:

Don't Kill It (best B movie of the year)
Punching Henry
The Devil's Candy
The Little Hours
Fist Fight (a coherent comedy with a clear vision and consistent characters -- seems kinda rare with U.S. comedy now)
Beatriz at Dinner
Lemon
Bright (much maligned, but I thought it was pretty darn good)
War on Everyone
Raw
The Lure
A Dark Song
American Fable
The Lost City of Z
It Comes at Night
The Bad Batch
68 Kill
Ingrid Goes West
Paradox/SPL 3
What Happened to Monday?/Seven Sisters
Brad's Status
Vengeance: A Love Story
Happy Hunting
The Babysitter
Wind River


Best in no particular order:

Call of Heroes
Catfight
The Beguiled
Okja
A Ghost Story
Lady Macbeth
Most Beautiful Island
Good Time
mother!
Brawl in Cell Block 99
The Square


And, of course, film of the year:

Mayhem

Ah, Mayhem! I watched it and Christmas Crime Story on vacation over the holidays. Wanted to watch Warning Shot too, but was unable to find it.  :)

Quoted from PrussianMosby We might be just dinosaurs and the new filmmmakers will have a revolutionary 3D form of telling with the audience in between the story…

I think we'll be around to see this. I've been playing with my kids' VR and it's pretty epic stuff. I can imagine games and movies of the future either having us as flies on the wall or participating ourselves as actual characters.

Also, this was the year of John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads!

It was a major feature of three wide-release movies that I saw: Kingsman 2 (Merlin's big scene), Logan Lucky (the talent show performance) and Alien: Covenant (Shaw singing). Weird. But hey, it's a great song.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde This is preliminary since there are about a dozen more I plan to see before Oscar night. Although, I'm actually wondering if this phenomenon is happening to anybody else here. Do you guys find yourselves not interested in watching movies anymore?

Yes.

I don't know if it's because I'm older or that too many times films are just crap. It is certainly a matter of interest.

- I don't like horror.
- I like original sci-fi, but 95% of what is done now is retread, the stories suck and are so filled with logic holes they are unwatchable. The only thing that becomes of interest is the special effects. And that's kind of like fireworks - once you've seen them a few times, you lose your excitement.
- Bored to death with Superheroes/anything that transforms/fast cars, etc. etc.

So me and the wife pretty much re-watch a lot of older films we loved from the past. That turns out to be a far better experience then watching current releases (other than documentaries - love a good one).

Did see the Big Sick - thought it was solid bu today's standards.
Battle of the Sexes - over rated. Just okay
Planet of the Apes (really, no one owned an airplane that just could have flown over the fort and bombed the shit out of it, sprayed poison on the apes? ) - hated it with a tip of the hat for special effects.
Logan Lucky - should have been an A - instead it was a C-/D.

THe best things I saw this year were on Netflix/HBO.

Quoted from Heretic I watched 401 movies from start to finish in 2017 -- an all-time high.

Damn, dude. Just to clarify... 401 2017 releases or movies total?

Planet of the Apes was a huge let down for me. Little better than a filler for the real story to come.

And, Guy Ritchie should be hung, drawn and quartered for what he did to King Arthur. I only stuck with it until the end because I wanted to see what he'd done to Merlin. He should have changed the title to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Dragon Breath Balls... or something. utter, utter, tosser.

Quoted from eldave1 Yes. I don't know if it's because I'm older or that too many times films are just crap. It is certainly a matter of interest. - I don't like horror. - I like original sci-fi, but 95% of what is done now is retread, the stories suck and are so filled with logic holes they are unwatchable. The only thing that becomes of interest is the special effects. And that's kind of like fireworks - once you've seen them a few times, you lose your excitement. - Bored to death with Superheroes/anything that transforms/fast cars, etc. etc. So me and the wife pretty much re-watch a lot of older films we loved from the past. That turns out to be a far better experience then watching current releases (other than documentaries - love a good one). Did see the Big Sick - thought it was solid bu today's standards. Battle of the Sexes - over rated. Just okay Planet of the Apes (really, no one owned an airplane that just could have flown over the fort and bombed the shit out of it, sprayed poison on the apes? ) - hated it with a tip of the hat for special effects. Logan Lucky - should have been an A - instead it was a C-/D. THe best things I saw this year were on Netflix/HBO.

I agree with you on everything here, except for the horror part. I do like a good horror.

Many years ago, I used to go see two films every week at the theater. Then over the years, I have just lost interest. Lots of reasons probably. I feel the main reason might be that I feel they try to wow me with the visuals rather than with story.

I have gone to the movies four times in the last four months though. That's more than I've seen in the last five years! None of them were brilliant, but at least I didn't feel let down, like it was a complete waste of time and money, so who knows, I might venture out there again soon.  :)

Quoted from Grandma Bear I agree with you on everything here, except for the horror part. I do like a good horror. Many years ago, I used to go see two films every week at the theater. Then over the years, I have just lost interest. Lots of reasons probably. I feel the main reason might be that I feel they try to wow me with the visuals rather than with story. I have gone to the movies four times in the last four months though. That's more than I've seen in the last five years! None of them were brilliant, but at least I didn't feel let down, like it was a complete waste of time and money, so who knows, I might venture out there again soon.  :)

Yep - use to go to the theater at least once a week. Now maybe twice a year and that is only for a social engagement.

My movie theater going has also slowed way down lately.  Like Dave, I used to go pretty much every single week, but now, it's more like every month or so.

I do watch alot on HBO, Cinemax, Netflix, and Amazon TV, but I agree newer movies are poorer movies.

Quoted from James McClung Damn, dude. Just to clarify... 401 2017 releases or movies total?

i only watched a quarter of that.... but only 17 of those films were from 2017 - cause most new movies are steaming hot pieces of shit.

Wind River and Shotcaller were the best of that crop.

Kong, Star Wars, It, and Alien Covenant all ranged from below average to pure garbage.

Logan and Sand Castle were good.

I found Dunkirk to be just OKAY. I love Chris Nolan's work but this was among his weaker efforts. It felt more like a collection of scenes than an actual movie.

Best (in order):

1. The Shape of Water
2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3. Killing of a Sacred Deer
4. My Friend Dahmer
5. Phantom Thread
6. Super Dark Times
7. Free Fire
8. Logan
9. Blade Runner 2049
10. It Comes at Night

Honorable Mention (alphabetical):

Colossal
Get Out
I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore
I, Tonya
It
Raw
The Transfiguration

--

Expect I have a few films here and there to catch up on in the near future, but at this point, all my 2017 must-sees are in the bag.

I saw quite a few in the theater this year but, until I read everyone's list, couldn't remember many. So many disappointing movies that I'm not even going to list the bad. Except for the Great Wall. Total crap. Oh, and The Mummy.

Winners:
Action - John Wick 2
Horror - Conjuring 2 (scared the crap out of me)
SciFi - Blade Runner 2049 (although 'The Expanse' season 1&2 were a great surprise)
Drama - Big Little Lies (just finished binge watching that last night. What a train wreck)
Western - Wind River & Godless
War - Dunkirk (loved the production/direction more than anything. And the score too)
Superhero - Logan & Thor: Rag (was Dr. Strange this year? Close 2nd, if so)

Great year for movies!

Best:
1. Call Me By Your Name
2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3. Lady Bird
4. The Florida Project
5. The Big Sick
6. Personal Shopper
7. Creep 2
8. mother!
9. Ingrid Goes West
10. It Comes At Night

Honorable Mentions: Patti Cake$, It, The Shape of Water, Catfight, Colossal, All These Sleepless Nights

Worst:
Table 19
Life
The Layover
Woodshock

Quoted from kev Great year for movies! Best: 1. Call Me By Your Name 2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 3. Lady Bird 4. The Florida Project 5. The Big Sick 6. Personal Shopper 7. Creep 2 8. mother! 9. Ingrid Goes West 10. It Comes At Night Honorable Mentions: Patti Cake$, It, The Shape of Water, Catfight, Colossal, All These Sleepless Nights Worst: Table 19 Life The Layover Woodshock

Have not seen your 1-4 yet. Saw Big sick and thought it was top notch