Category: Movies

Everything to do with films!

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Matt’s Favourite Dozen Films of 2017

Another year, another list of favourites. 2017 has been a … turbulent year in the real world but a stellar one for film. You may have noticed that I haven’t been writing much lately, VIFF coverage aside, but I have been going to the movies. As of this writing, I watched 323 films in 2017, 70 of which were 2017 releases. Not too shabby, considering that I only go to one festival.

Before we get to my dozen favourites, there are a few things worth sharing. First, here are a few that I haven’t seen yet:

  • Call Me By Your Name (wr. James Ivory, dir. Luca Guadagnino)
  • The Florida Project (wr. Chris Bergoch & Sean Baker, dir. Sean Baker)
  • I, Tonya (wr. Steven Rogers, dir. Craig Gillespie)
  • The Post (wr. Josh Singer & Liz Hannah, dir. Steven Spielberg)
  • Phantom Thread (wr & dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
  • Professor Marston and The Wonder Women (wr. & dir. Angela Robinson)

Some of these were due to scheduling on my part (I have a day job!) and some on the film’s part (Neither The Post nor I, Tonya are out here yet), but all of them seem like precisely the kind of movies that would end up near the top of my list.

Second, these choices are presented alphabetically except my favourite, which will come last. There are various reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to the fact that they are all good movies that I have a hard time grading relative to each other because they are all so different. Consider also that some of them I have seen multiple times and others just once, and that second-viewings are often where I end up solidifying an opinion and you end up with a list that looks like this.

Third, I don’t have any honourable mentions, but I will probably write further thoughts on 2017 in a separate post.

So without any further ado, here are my favourite dozen

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Review: Thor Ragnarok

I really miss the sci-fi movies of my childhood. Big, colourful, often funny, always exhilarating; so much fuel for imaginary spaceship battles around my bedroom. I’m sure much of this comes from older eyes and wearier brains, but I find sci-fi these days to be too bland, too unwilling to risk shapes and ideas. The resurgence of *Star Wars* has taken big steps back to the fantasy side of sci-fi, and *Guardians Of The Galaxy* got close with its amazing ship design and snappy script, but I often felt myself seeking more of the *fun*.

Well, not any more. We’ve known for a while that *Thor Ragnarok* would be colourful and funny – director Taika Waititi’s *What We Do In The Shadows* is one of my all-time favourite comedies – but what I was not prepared for was *Ragnarok* having *so* much more. Far from being all-out comedy, it’s a meaty, gorgeous slice of sci-fi bliss.

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VIFF Review: ‘Wonderstruck’ is a magical, moving tale for all ages

Todd Haynes movies, love ’em or … not? Wait, does anyone not love Todd Haynes movies? Anyway, the point is that the man is a consummate visual storyteller, and in that regard, Wonderstruck might be his magnum opus. There are two main stories, one set in the 1970s and another in the 1920s, each with a child protagonist and each moving in their own ways. If you think that they might be connected, yes, of course, they are both to each other, and a third story told later in the film.

It would have been easy to adapt this story, a kids novel, for kids, but Wonderstruck is a moving tale for all ages.

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VIFF Review: ‘Columbus’ is one of the years best

It’s easy to say that _Columbus_ is architecture porn for one good reason: it _is_ architecture porn. Video essayist Kogonada’s feature film début frames buildings in ways that I can’t recall seeing them framed before: not only in just the right light and at just the right angle, but with just the right context. This is why it’s misleading to say that it is architecture porn: because it’s so much more than that.

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VIFF Review: ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’ is hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful

_Lipstick Under My Burkha_ is a hilarious movie that explores women’s daily lives in India. It’s also a heartbreaking movie that explores the daily lives of women in India. It’s a movie that has to be hilarious because if it weren’t, it would just be heartbreaking, and it’s important that this story ends with some hope.

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VIFF Review: ‘A Fantastic Woman’ is a beautiful, important movie

An older man, Orlando, spends a day at a spa and then heads to a nightclub to see a woman sing. She is his girlfriend Marina, and they are very much in love. After the performance, he takes her to dinner, and later at home, they make love against the floor to ceiling windows of their shared apartment. Later that night, he falls ill, and they rush to a hospital where he dies, and she is immediately treated like a criminal. Not, however, because of the bruises on his torso and the impact wound on his head he obtained from falling down the stairs on their way to the car, but because she is transgender.

The rest of _A Fantastic Woman_ follows Marina as she copes with losing the love of her life and coping with the prejudices of the doctors, the police, and the bulk of her lovers family. It’s not the easiest watch, but it’s a vital one.

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VIFF Review: ‘Borg vs. McEnroe’ is frustratingly not quite good (but Shia LaBeouf is great in it)

The rivalry between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe was one of the ages, and their match at the 1980 Wimbledon Championship is probably one of the greatest matches in tennis history. On track to win his fifth consecutive title, Borg had a reputation as being cool and graceful under pressure. McEnroe, the newcomer at the beginning of his ascendancy, had a reputation as a hothead who regularly threw tantrums on the court and argued with umpires. Even their styles of play were opposite, with Borg playing from the baseline and McEnroe rushing to the net. Literally, everything about this match makes it ripe for a great movie which is why it’s so frustrating that it isn’t one.

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VIFF Review: ‘God’s Own Country’ is quietly great

People are going to compare God’s Own Country to Brokeback Mountain. It’s inevitable because they cover much of the same ground: two men spending time away from the world and looking after a herd of sheep form a relationship. That isn’t completely unfair because the basics are remarkably similar but also because they’re both great movies.

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VIFF Review: ‘The Green Fog’ with Kronos Quartet playing live was something else.

The Green Fog

Guy Maddin makes weird films. This isn’t a complaint; it’s a compliment of the highest order. In a world where studios are making only the safest of choices on a daily basis, weird, experimental film is always some of the most important films around. _The Green Fog_ is no exception: it re-imagines Hitchcock’s Vertigo using clips from other films (new and old) and television from the 70s and 80s –all also shot in San Francisco–, and only one single shot from the film itself.

It’s something else, and the fact that Kronos Quartet were there to play the original score live made it truly a once in a lifetime experience.

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