You probably saw all the big superhero films this year. You probably also sawStar Wars. And that’s great! There’s nothing wrong with seeing the biggest films of the year. But there were plenty of smaller gems that somehow fell by the wayside this year whether it was due to a lack of marketing, bad buzz, or just being unable to breakthrough next to bigger movies. But it would be a shame for these movies to get lost in the shuffle.
Although there are probably still some big movies you’re still aiming to see, be sure to add these great 2017 titles to your watchlist.
Brigsby Bear
Brigsby Bearis an absolute delight even though the premise is ridiculously dark.Kyle Mooney (who also co-wrote the script) stars as a man who was kidnapped as a boy and raised to believe A) the outside world was irradiated so he couldn’t leave his family’s bunker; and B) there was a TV show called ‘Brigsby Bear’. When he learns that he was kidnapped and that Brigsby Bear was just for him, he sets out to cope with the trauma by making a Brigsby Bear movie. Rather than succumb to darkness, the film shows creativity as a refuge and an escape. –Matt Goldberg
Alcoholics can be real monsters. Delightfully goofy but ever anchored by fearless emotional truth,ColossalstarsAnne Hathawayas an unemployedalcoholicforced to return to her hometown where reunites with a childhood friend (Jason Sudeikisin a hell of an underrated performance) and she realizes she shares an inexplicable connection with a giant monster terrorizing Seoul, Korea.TimecrimesdirectorNachoVigalondoshakes up the Kaiju genre with this gleefully offbeat entry, which defies easy categorization as a comedy/drama/thriller/monster movie/empowerment tale.Colossal’s clever investigation of addiction is matched by an unexpected, equally unusual spin on toxic masculinity, and the film tackles touchy subjects with a cheeky grin that sometimes transitions into a knowing survivor’s grimace. It’s a strange, stirring brew that goes down like a shot of sincerity with an irony chaser. —Haleigh Foutch
Dawson City: Frozen Time
The directorBill Morrisonutilized a treasure trove of footage at the Dawson City Film Fund to create this wondrous experimental documentary. The glut of the movie is made up of passages from films we will likely never seen in full, only rescued in snippets after poor storage and preservation standards led to them being essentially destroyed. Others burned up, as is the inherent danger of shooting anything on nitrate. The volatility of the format itself informs Morrison’s view of history, which he traces from the Gold Rush to the early 1930s. The filmmaker delights in plumbing the historical and geographical details of Dawson’s rise and financial downturn, strewn with a bevy of stories that lay the bedrock of Hollywood’s salad days in the 1920s, butDawson City: Frozen Timepushes further. In assembling footage of these thought-lost movies, some by early female filmmakers, Morrison suggests an alternative history in which these people influenced early Hollywood and were discussed with similar fervor as early silent American masterpieces. He also, perhaps inadvertently, presents a striking argument for cinema being an all-too-important reflection of society and political structures that can themselves help shape and influence culture. Few movies this year felt so sensationally alluring, even hours after the movie itself finished. —Chris Cabin
We takeJake Gyllenhaalfor granted. From toZodiactoNightcrawlertoEnemy, the guy is clearly one of the best performers of his generation, but he also takes ambitious swings. On the surface,Strongermay seem like a pretty by-the-numbers true story drama. Gyllenhaal plays Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman, who was attending the race in support of his on-again/off-again girlfriend, and whose life was forever changed. In practice,Strongeris anything but predictable. DirectorDavid Gordon Greencrafts a film that forces us to consider what ittrulymeans to be labeled a hero simply for surviving a horrific event, which leads to a permanent and debilitating change to your way of life. The film never preaches, never strikes a false note, and while it confronts uncomfortable truths it’s also extremely respectful to its real-life subjects. Moreover, Gyllenhaal delivers one of the best performances of his career, andTatiana Maslanyis terrific in the emotionally complex role of Jeff’s girlfriend. If you dismissed this one as cliché or rote, please know it’s anything but. –Adam Chitwood
Logan Lucky
I’m still kind of baffled this movie didn’t do better. It’s firmly in the vein of theOcean’smovies—it’s hilarious, it’s fun, and it’s clever. It’s one of the easiest recommendations I made all year, and it’s a movie I intend to keep in constant rotation in the same way I do withOcean’s Eleven. The cast is outstanding,Daniel Craiggets the rare great movie where he isn’t playing James Bond, and it never panders to its characters. It also features the bestGame of Thronesjoke of all time. —Matt Goldberg
The Survivalist
Visions of the post-apocalypse are a dime a dozen these days, but few tend to their characters so intimately and honestly asStephen Fingleton’s quiet dramaThe Survivalist.Martin McCannstars as the titular survivalist, who fights tooth and nail to carve out a remote piece of land for hiamself in a world gone off the rails. Vulnerable to man’s cruelty and nature’s whims, the nameless survivor barely has a grip on his life of solitude when a starving, cunning mother-daughter duo (played byMia Gothand a strikingOlwenFouere) arrive at his doorstep begging for food and shelter. The dance of desperation, distrust, and betrayal that follows dire but utterly fascinating as the trio forms uneasy alliances, growing together and breakingapartas circumstance dictates.The Survivalistis dire and stripped down to its very bones, but the slow-burn pacing pays off in spades with gripping interpersonal drama andunyielding uneasy tension, strung tight like a piano wireuntilthe end credits finally give you permission to breathe. —Haleigh Foutch
The grizzled and sublime rejoinder toSouthland Talesthat we never thought we’d get,Ana Lily Amirpour’sThe Bad Batchimmediately takes its place in the upper echelons of the swelling subgenre of dystopia films. At the center of Amirpour’s maelstrom is Arien (Suki Waterhouse), who is processed out of society and dropped into the wastelands of fenced-off Texas, tattooed with a government-collected number and effectively left for dead. She comes close when she is kidnapped and dismembered for nourishing meat by a pack of cannibals, anchored by a group of muscle men, most prominently represented by Miami Man (Jason Momoa). From there, Arien finds a home in Comfort, a community run around a sex cult, led by the gloriously mustached The Dream (Keanu Reeves), and to say anything else would to ruin the visceral thrill of seeing Amirpour’s vision unfold. The script takes us from the brutal images of captives being cleaved for a good protein source to a cosmic trip that brings Miami Man and Arien together, and Amirpour indulges a daring and dark sense of humor, such as when Momoa chugs down a can of Jizzy Fizz or whenJim Carrey’s wise hobo demands a portrait from Miami Man.
There are plenty of risky moments and not all of them land, but what comes through consistently is Amirpour’s bold and confident vision of a not-so-unimaginable Hellworld, stylishly and confidently building on what she boasted in her stunning debut,A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Much likeRichard Kelly’s aforementioned criminally misunderstood sophomore feature,The Bad Batchhas already been dismissed as a lesser work compared to such an auspicious breakout, but it’s a far more skeptical and unsettling work than its predecessor. That it’s also a major advancement in Amirpour’s style seems like a minor accomplishment when one considers just how enthrallingThe Bad Batchis minute-to-minute. —Chris Cabin
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Eff all y’all, this movie is a blast. I’ll be honest, I was not looking forward toKing Arthur: Legend of the Sword. It looked gritty and self-serious, but I lovedGuy Ritchie’s sexy, delightful spin onThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.so I was willing to giveKing Arthura shot and I’m glad I did. The film itself is anything but serious—it literally opens withEric Banapulling a Yoshi jump with a horse and murdering a warlock. The whole film moves at a thrilling pace, covering traditional exposition in unique ways and buoyed byDaniel Pemberton’s pulsing, rousing score.Charlie Hunnamplays Arthur with swagger, andJude Lawchews the scenery as the tortured Vortigern. IsKing Arthurhigh cinema? Not really. But in an era where blockbusters suffer from stale sameness, following well-worn paths,King Arthur: Legend of the Swordis more than a breath of fresh air—it’s a swift punch in the face. –Adam Chitwood
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
I’m also a little surprised this didn’t do better considering the popularity ofWonder Woman. Perhaps it was a failure of marketing to try and coast solely onWonder Woman, and they should have played up the kink and sexiness even thoughAngela Robinson’s film never feels exploitative. It’s a movie about sex, but without the ickiness of the male gaze, and that makes for a more thoughtful, powerful experience. Also, if this movie had found the success it deserved,Rebecca Hallwould be a lock for an Oscar nomination. –Matt Goldberg
The Transfiguration
The Transfigurationproves that self-aware horror doesn’t have to be snarky – it can use the tropes and traditions of the genre to unfurl a tragic tale that takes itself completely seriously. The feature debut from writer/directorMichael O’Sheafollows a troubled teen, Milo (Eric Ruffin), who is fascinated with vampire lore and discovers a deadly thirst inside himself. Trapped in the projects with only his depression paralyzed older brother to care for him, Milo escapes into his world of dark desires. O’Shea lays Milo’s violence bare for all its horror, but carefully sidesteps judgement or definitive answers. Is this a boy driven to violent deeds by circumstance or an ungodly paranormal bloodlust? O’Shea lays enough track for you to decide, but wherever you fall, Milo’s tale is a striking tragedy about cyclical violence and discarded youth that rattles the spirit with brutality and honesty in equal measure. —Haleigh Foutch
