Doug's Favorite Movies of 2017

Get Out
The Shape of Water
Blade Runner: 2049
The Big Sick
Dunkirk

Honorable Mention:

John Wick Chapter 2
Thor: Ragnarok
Logan

The Disaster Artist

I think this was supposed to be funny, but I actually found it sad. Because it revels in a hacky filmmaker who believes in his dream, but never realizes how hacky he is. And I can’t help but worry that I, too, might be a filmmaker that’s THAT hacky. The acting and directing by James Franco is on-point, as is the delivery by brother Dave. I’ve seen The Room a few times, and it’s truly terrible. But not really funny/terrible, just terrible. Again, I think I dislike artistic train-wrecks because I’m always thinking: that could be ME! Be that as it may, this is a strong and passionate offering from the Freaks and Geeks kids. I think they’ve got a future in this business.

Obey Giant

Interesting and worthwhile doc on Hulu about Shepard Fairey – from the Andre the Giant “Obey” stickers to the Barack Obama “Hope” campaign. Lots of insight from Fairy himself about his art and purpose.

Downsizing

This is like 3 movies crammed into one. A sci-fi move, a upstairs-downstairs class satire, and a travelogue. I’m sorry, Alexander Payne and company, but there’s too much stuff in the pie. Swing and a miss. The silver lining here is a great, funny, human performance from Hong Chau, who might get some nominations.

Lady Bird

Greta Gerwig took a page out of the Noah Baumbach playbook for this; a episodic and uniquely female portrait about a senior in high school. It’s not super plot-heavy, but it’s clear what “Lady Bird” wants: to get into a college across the country and "get out of Dodge." It’s honest, awkward, and funny. Saoirse Ronan, who’s always been good, navigates friends, family, and Catholic school, but she never really resolves or copes with any of her unresolved issues. She just moves-on from them. Change occurs when she accepts who she is and what she wants. It’s an accomplished debut by Gerwig.

The Post

All of the necessary, newspapery tropes are here, and welcome. Reporters are sticking to their story, never revealing their sources, and putting their ass on the line. And it’s all about that very important democratic thing: holding the government accountable for their actions. If you were Vladamir Putin and you were trying to undermine a democracy, how would you do it? Make people distrust the news by contaminating the newsfeed with misinformation, right? Sounds like a plan. A vital and necessary movie, full of great acting, brains, and constitutional truths. So it will inevitably be accused of being liberal propaganda.

The Shape of Water

Lovingly derivative, Guillermo refers to  mythology, 1950’s cold-war, b-movies, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet in this very adept and sweet “beauty and the beast” love story. Some of Del Toro’s dark and twisted sensibilities find their way in, but it’s mostly a love letter. All of the performances are SUPERB (and nomination-worthy), including Doug Jones as the slimy creature with the heart of gold. There’s an acceptable level of schmaltz in this, too, which makes you feel all warm and squishy and goopy inside, a lot like that sensitive swamp creature, I suppose. A must-sea. (Ha!)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This is the “trials and tribulations” chapter of the saga, where nothing works out, nobody trusts anybody, and everybody generally gets their ass kicked. If you find yourself liking something a character is doing, it will eventually backfire. If you find yourself expecting a character will do something, brace yourself – they will do the opposite. The problem with the whole saga now (the brand) is that the movies will never end; they will always require sequels. That means that the dramatic effect is watered down. How do you author surprises in a movie that never ends?? With soap opera plotting, and shattering expectations.

It’s always a thrill to see a Star Wars movie in the theater. The effects are amazing and the music is beautiful. But if the corporation is going to be releasing chapters once a year, the chapters themselves need to have a little bit of resolution. Not “Death Star blowing up, applause in the theater” resolution, but something conclusive.

Phantom Thread

Let’s ruminate about dresses. For them to be exquisite, they must be built by an army of women and one obnoxious asshole. The Phantom Thread is about that asshole. There’s a subgenre of dramas about misunderstood geniuses and artists who get to be assholes to everybody because they’re so gifted and talented that they aren’t held accountable for their assholey behavior. They must be allowed to work in silence. (see also Mother!) Only an artist who feels misunderstood would make a movie about an artist who’s unappreciated or misunderstood. But it’s kind of hard to feel any sympathy for the asshole in this, which makes the experience kind of distant and unemotional. But the dresses are pretty and the teapots are grand.

As for the character we the audience are asked to feel something about, she gets swept up rather easily by the asshole from a life we know nothing about. She doesn’t really exist before he (the asshole) asks her to move in to his house. How can we know if she’s able to restore sanity or normalcy to her life if we never know who she was before she met the asshole? Be that as it may, the dresses are pretty and the teapots are grand. It finally gets a little bit Hitchcockian in the final third when filmmakers weave in some thrillerish threads. You might find yourself wishing that the opening minutes of this yarn would have started out as taut.

Justice League

I kind of didn’t hate this as much as I thought I would. It’s analogous to eating one (1) Cheeto™. It’s bad, it’s unfulfilling, but you want more. So it’s a calorically empty, but not terribly painful chapter of the DC universe. The villains are baffling. Zach Snyder is obsessed with fire, glowing, molten lava, flying demons, and all things gladiator. (Remember the weird flying creatures on Krypton in Man of Steel?) But you never really understand what these weird, flying aliens want from Earth, except: to conquer it. The WB Animation movies from the DC Universe have richer plots than this! But there are a few charming moments, too. And the cast, all 6 of the superfriends, are game and up to the challenge, even though they’re only given short vignettes throughout the story to reveal their character. The Danny Elfman music is noteworthy. Not only did he nail the original score, but he also functions as a kind of D.J., weaving-in nostalgic snippets from his own Batman score and John Williams’ score from Superman: The Movie. I would never advise anyone to eat just one Cheeto. It would be frustrating and unfulfilling. But it also wouldn’t kill you either -- you would want more. Welcome to the WB/DC universe.