There were quite a few movies in 2017. Movies ranging from Justice League to Star Wars, with all kinds of reactions from fans. If you don’t believe us, just take a look at the comment section on any article regarding the two. Only one of those two films managed to make our list, and you’ll just have to take a look for yourselves to see which one it was.
We’ll start with the movies we here at ScreenGeek enjoyed the most.
The Best
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
With every recent year comes a new Star Wars film like Christmas movies around the holiday. Many were expecting a typical story of good versus evil and the battle for peace across a galaxy far, far, away. What was released in theaters was so much more and became so much bigger. Star Wars: The Last Jedi became a very entertaining film featuring the Force and spaceships but would also would become a bit of a controversy.
Many fans say that they hated the film, while the other half would go on to say that it’s possibly the best film in the franchise. One thing that is sure about the film is that it’s different and gave the audience amazing scenes that have never been done in the franchise’s history. Despite all the controversy, the film is expected to reach $1 Billion dollars worldwide and plans for more Star Wars films are still in motion. So, suck it up folks, we’re in it for the long haul. – Mark Salcido
Logan
Many fans were wondering when they’d finally get an comic accurate movie adaptation of Wolverine – until Logan came out. Sure, Hugh Jackman is 6’2 and not 5’3 like in the comics, but Jackman really gave it his all in this movie and it showed. With great performances from Dafne Keen and Patrick Stewart as well, the movie is one that no comic fan should miss, and the perfect send-off for Jackman’s time playing the character. Many thought he could return in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the Disney Fox deal, but he’s said he’s done.
It’s also not your typical X-Men movie, sporting an R-Rating and featuring some brutal bloody violence, so if you haven’t seen it yet, hide the kids. – Frank Palmer
Baby Driver
Baby Driver is the long-awaited fifth film from the writer/director that was a surprised hit for some, but was expected from his fanbase. The heist film came out in theaters during the summer that was already filled with the typical sequels, prequels, and remake and was a much-deserved breath of fresh air. True, the story of a car chase film wasn’t exactly original, but what made the movie stand out the most was the way the story was told.
What Edgar Wright did is pushed himself to explore a territory that his had been secretly toying with since his early days on Spaced…musicals. The killer soundtrack for the film was one of the selling points in the movies and car chases were just an added bonus. Every beat and step in the movie had a purpose with the background music and worked perfectly in synced. This film was an amazing feat for any director and finally gave Edgar Wright the notice that he deserved. – Mark Salcido
Dunkirk
Christopher Nolan could direct absolutely anything, and has spent his entire career producing feature films from pretty much every kind of genre on the market just to prove this point. He remains the benchmark of the movie-making business, notable for his memorable and breath-taking visuals, combined with the depths of human tragedy and emotion he is able to evoke. Nowhere are these two skills better demonstrated than in his interpretation of a war movie, this year’s ‘Dunkirk’.
Although it’s easy to classify Dunkirk as a war movie, there’s little in the way of an actual fight going on here. Aside from Tom Hardy’s limited efforts up in the skies, the rest of the cast spend the duration of the movie being mercilessly shot, bombed and torpedoed into oblivion. So sustained and invasive are these attacks that by the movie’s midpoint, you find yourself flinching and moving away from the incoming threats alongside the retreating soldiers.
The imagery is as beautiful as it is haunting. Cillian Murphy sat alone on the exposed stern of a sunken ship. A destroyer slowly slipping below the waves as Sir Ken Branagh watches impassively nearby. Tom Hardy’s Spitfire coming in for its graceful yet final landing. It’s thrilling. It’s upsetting. It’s a wonder to behold. – Simon Andrews
Get Out
You want to talk about a movie that came out of nowhere, Get Out was it. Writer/Comedian Jordan Peele was best known for his work on Key and Peele with co-host Keegan-Michael Key. Once the show had ended, many had thought that Jordan Peele would stay mainly in the genre of comedy, but he decided to go against what was expected of him and show the world what he can really do.
Get Out—Peele’s directorial debut—was released in February of this year and would let the world know that the writer, now director, was a force to reckoned with. The film was not only a box-office smash, but it was had critical acclaim, got itself a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and started up serious discussions in our society about race and equalities that continue to plague this nation. Other than being a commentary on today’s world, the film was one hell of a thriller that kept audience on the edge of their seats until the very end of the film. This is one of those movies that will be talked about and taught in class for years to come. – Mark Salcido
Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner 2049 is an American neo-noir science fiction film and a sequel to Blade Runner, which released in 1982 and has a cult following. The story takes place 30 years in the future, and follows K (Ryan Gosling) who is a replicant and a blade runner. He makes decisions that would seem to go against his own kind in the beginning, but the modern replicants are newly created by the Wallace Corporation and have no ability to go against directives given by their human peers. As such, he really has no say in the tasks he is given.
An attempt at a complete rundown of what makes this film so amazing wouldn’t begin to do it justice. One big reason it was so well made is Ridley Scott had nothing to do with it. Add to that the visual effects, musical score, and how well each little detail was written and translated to the screen, and you have a film that will not be overcome in any of those aspects for years to come. It humanizes these “replicants” in a way other films of this kind fail to, and you will wonder by the end who was a replicant and who wasn’t. – Kelsey Mejiarodarte
Life
A thriller that mashes up the DNA of Event Horizon and the Aliens movies, this is one of the most enjoyable and engaging sci-fi offerings of recent times. Both Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal tone down their trademark leading-men performances, playing second fiddle to the creature of this feature, a pissed off extraterrestrial organism by the name of Calvin that doesn’t react too well to a ‘first contact’ situation.
When the crew of the International Space Station find traces of life in soil samples from Mars, they respond in stereotypical fashion by trying to help it help it to grow up, which turns out to be a predictably bad move. The microscopic being soon develops into something far more substantial, and makes the decision to scythe through the unfortunate astronauts in a series of increasingly gruesome encounters.
The rapid evolution of said alien beastie produces a thrilling ride, resulting in some refreshingly tense stand-offs as the humans try to combat their guest’s uncanny ability to adapt to their improvised defenses. Everything builds up to a rewardingly desperate last stand, culminating in a truly masterful final end sequence. – Simon Andrews
The Handmaiden
If South Korea is even 5% as bleak as the depictions of their society that make it onto the big screen, then it’s certainly not a place that should be anywhere near your top 10 list of ‘places to visit before you die’. Every woman you will encounter will be an unfortunate murder victim in the making, or a violently vengeful harpy. Every man you meet will either be a grief-stricken alcoholic, or a serial killer. Every inanimate object you pick up, most likely the item that will shortly be used to kill you. Yes, working for the South Korean tourist board is a pretty thankless task.
Somehow though, amidst all the misogyny and horrendously gory violence, Korean cinema manages to simultaneously contain a grace and beauty that also highlights the best that humanity has to offer. It has produced works that are more engaging and thrilling than existing Western alternatives, and this year’s The Handmaiden is just such an offering. Containing sex scenes that verge on full-blown pornography, and operating on a number of levels that make The Usual Suspects look like an episode of CSI, it’s as seductive as it is completely cerebral.
In turn of the century Korea, two con-artists arrive at a country estate. One is pretending to be the titular Handmaiden to a wealthy heiress, the other a potential suitor. But as the film develops, so too does the detail of their target, leading to a series of mind-boggling narrative rug-pulls, that completely redefine everything that has already happened. It will make you love and hate the same characters in equal measure, and cry out in both joy and pain as the story unfolds. Quite simply, it’s a work of art. – Simon Andrews
Other Good 2017 Films: Thor: Ragnarok, John Wick Chapter 2, Wonder Woman
The Worst
Alien: Covenant
Ridley Scott, what the hell happened? Dude, you gave the world Alien and Blade Runner. Now, all you’re doing is making this franchise a laughing stock. Anyways, Alien: Covenant came out this year and—for the lack of a better film—the movie was garbage. The story almost followed the same plot of its predecessor almost to a “T” and came with it was all the bad shit as well. The acting was well done, and the effects weren’t bad, but the characters action and the feel of the story were so misplaced, that it made the film like a schlock copy of better films in the Alien franchise.
It’s sad to know that this film was made instead of Neill Blomkamp’s version that the director had been working on for some time and seemed very promising. Luckily, Fox is reportedly done with making these films for the time being. Hopefully this will allow a little time to pass until someone more capable can take hold of the directing wheel and give us a proper Alien film.
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
Vin Diesel is rapidly turning into the undisputed king of the franchise. As his adventures in the Fast/Furious brand look set to continue on and on into the endless future, he also uses his newfound seat at the top of the Hollywood table to fund sequels for his other two favourite projects, the Riddick and XXX franchises. But whilst each Richard Riddick movie examines a sprawling universe with exciting back and side-stories, the Xander Cage movies only sink deeper into lazy and more tedious depths of lazy film-making.
This year’s third installment set a new benchmark on how low an action franchise can sink. Which is impressive, considering it was up against Transformers: The Last Knight. The threequel somehow managed to achieve the highly unique combination of being thoroughly boring, desperate and downright nasty at the same time. In addition to the chronically pointless celebrity cameos and the ludicrously unbelievable set-pieces, it also featured a truly nasty manner in the way it treated female characters – which is not a good combination. – Simon Andrews
Geostorm
With a poster and a pair of teaser trailers that harked back to the excitement and scale of big-budget 90’s summer blockbusters, Geostorm promised so much, and gave so damned little. The joke is, it didn’t even manage to deliver a bloody Geostorm, although the concept did get mentioned quite a lot by the main characters via an endless string of tedious phone calls. In truth, ‘People Skyping About A Geostorm’ would have been a more accurate title, with pretty much 90% of the movie’s runtime being devoted to video conferencing between the inept heroes on Earth and their equally inept counterparts orbiting the planet.
The movie was like some kind of Frankenstein’s monster of plot elements and special effects that had been stolen from other projects, and then hastily mashed together under some loose theme about weather-terrorism. Gerry Butler’s superhero astronaut frowned and grimaced as he orbited the globe, with some cities randomly combusting and a handful of people mysteriously flash-freezing. Insert a couple of obviously nasty government types, some perilous spacewalk sequences, and yet more video conference calling, and 90 minutes later everything had been messily blown to shit, only to be pointlessly rebuilt again. Yawn… – Simon Andrews
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Atomic Blonde is an action/mystery/thriller film about a female assassin, Lorraine (Charlize Theron), at the end of Cold War who is tasked with finding the whereabouts of a very important list of spies and their true identities. It has fallen into the wrong hands and she has lost a colleague over it already before she travels to Berlin to attempt its retrieval. This film is meant to be so much more than just spies and espionage, as we follow Lorraine through a blast from the past with style, attitude, and historical content.
If you want to know what the plot is about, spoilers and all, this isn’t the place to get that. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who even knows what they’ve just seen if they came right out of the theater from seeing it. Charlize was amazing as a female lead in a spy film. No surprises there as she is amazing in everything she is in (barring Prometheus). The camera crew and anyone who worked on this in any visual way did a stupendous job. Too bad it was wasted on this story. Leave this film in the past, where it belongs. It is nothing more than a pretty film with talented people lost on a confusing and needlessly convoluted plot. – Kelsey Mejiarodarte
The Mummy
For the majority of his career, Tom Cruise has been the guy who sells a movie purely by being attached to it. No matter what protagonist he was playing, or what time period he was in, as long as the poster had a stern looking Tom located right in the thick of the action, the makers had a hit on their hands. So what safer pair of hands could there be to launch Universal’s new Monsterverse? Alas, as we depart 2017, it looks increasingly likely that any hopes of said Monsterverse prospering depart with it, with The Mummy being one of the undisputed biggest stinkers of the last year.
Say what you like about the Brendan Fraser movies, at least they had some humorous moments in them (intentionally or otherwise). This year’s reboot was just a huge fun-vacuum, punctuated only by a cockney Russell Crowe chewing the scenery as quickly as he was punching it. The special effects were decidedly less than special. The plot was utterly non-existent, and the characters were as disposable as the hordes of reanimated corpses that Sofia Boutella dispatched to fight her battles. – Simon Andrews
Other terrible movies: The Emoji Movie, The Snowman, Downsizing
So there you have it. 2017 was a great year for movies, and hopefully, 2018 will be just as great.
What did you think of the list? Did you agree or disagree with our choices for the best and worst of 2017? Be sure to tell us all of your thoughts in the comments!