2017 Movie List -- The Top 180 Films of the Year

THE STANDOUTS (21) - This should go without saying, but these are all must-sees.

Stronger ****
The Big Sick ****
Call Me by Your Name ****
Patti Cake$ ***1/2
Logan ***1/2
Spielberg (HBO) ***1/2
War for the Planet of the Apes ***1/2
The Disaster Artist ***
I, Tonya ***
The Killing of a Sacred Deer ***
The Florida Project ***
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ***
Shot Caller ***
In the Fade ***
Girls Trip ***
Get Out ***
The Ardennes ***
Ingrid Goes West ***
Dunkirk ***
Beach Rats ***
Score: A Film Music Documentary ***


THE GOOD (48) - These represent quality filmmaking all-around.

The Shape of Water ***
Phantom Thread ***
Last Flag Flying ***
Borg/McEnroe ***
All the Money in the World ***
Lady Bird ***
Molly's Game ***
Mudbound ***
First They Killed My Father ***
Wind River ***
Brad's Status ***
Super Dark Times ***
Disgraced (Showtime) ***
John Wick: Chapter 2 ***
Bodied ***
Brawl in Cell Block 99 ***
Oklahoma City ***
Crown Heights ***
Aftermath ***
Logan Lucky ***
Alien: Covenant ***
Spider-Man: Homecoming ***
Wonder Woman ***
The Survivalist ***
Killing Ground ***
The Trip to Spain ***
The Meyerowitz Stories ***
My Friend Dahmer ***
Better Watch Out ***
The Beguiled ***
Sweet Virginia ***
The Girl With All the Gifts ***
Chuck ***
Tramps ***
Icarus ***
Nobody Speak: Trials of a Free Press ***
Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond ***
The Work ***
Mean Dreams ***
Tilt ***
American Assassin **1/2
Win It All **1/2
Handsome: A Netflix Murder Mystery **1/2
Burning Sands **1/2
Downrange **1/2
Creep 2 **1/2
Voyeur **1/2
Casting JonBenet **1/2

THE GOOD... BUT SHOULD'VE BEEN BETTERS (35) - Why weren't these good movies better? I don't really know. But they should've been. Hence, the name of this section.

The Post ***
Coco ***
Only the Brave ***
Darkest Hour ***
American Made ***
Chappaquiddick ***
Baby Driver ***
Good Time ***
The Wall ***
Life ***
The Wizard of Lies (HBO) ***
Lady Macbeth ***
Brigsby Bear ***
The Lost City of Z ***
Hostiles ***
Battle of the Sexes ***
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer ***
Okja **1/2
Thoroughbreds **1/2
Star Wars: The Last Jedi **1/2
Marshall **1/2
Roman J. Israel, Esq. **1/2
Atomic Blonde **1/2
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 **1/2
Thor: Ragnarok **1/2
Ghost In the Shell **1/2
Hounds of Love **1/2
Thank You for Your Service **1/2
T2: Trainspotting **1/2
Sweet Virginia **1/2
Wilson **1/2
Landline **1/2
I Love You, Daddy **1/2
Table 19 **1/2
Beatriz at Dinner **


THE GUILTY PLEASURES (20) - These are movies that I shouldn't like but I do, for one reason or another. I only feel ashamed because the Internet tells me I'm supposed to.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ***
What Happened to Monday? ***
Rough Night ***
Sleepless **1/2
Vincent N Roxxy **1/2
Snatched **1/2
Baywatch **1/2
Fist Fight **1/2
The House **1/2
CHiPS **1/2
All Nighter **1/2
Wolves **1/2
The Babysitter **1/2
Leatherface **1/2
Cult of Chucky **1/2
Shimmer Lake **1/2
5-25-77 **1/2
Vengeance: A Love Story **1/2
Stray Bullets **1/2
Sandy Wexler **


THE UNDERWHELMING DISAPPOINTMENTS (40) - Chalk it up to expectations but these movies just didn't cut it for me.

It **1/2
The Square **1/2
Blade Runner 2049 **1/2
Valerian **1/2
Kingsman: The Golden Circle **1/2
The Greatest Showman **1/2
Gemini **1/2
Wheelman **1/2
Jigsaw **1/2
It Comes at Night **1/2
Thelma **1/2
Sand Castle **1/2
Personal Shopper **
Suburbicon **
Kong: Skull Island **
Bright **
The Fate of the Furious **
A Ghost Story **
Unforgettable **
Detour **
War on Everyone **
Death Note **
Happy Death Day **
Mindhorn **
Downsizing **
Small Crimes **
I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore **
Let Me Make You a Martyr **
Take Me **
The Assignment **
The Void **
Murder on the Orient Express **
Daddy's Home 2 **
Geostorm *1/2
Transformers: The Last Knight *1/2
Justice League *1/2
Nerdland *1/2
Rupture *1/2
Hangman *1/2
Stratton *1/2


THE BAD (16) - For better or worse, I just don't know what these movies were thinking.


Detroit *1/2
Nocturama *1/2
mother! *1/2
The Bad Batch *1/2
A Cure for Wellness *1/2
War Machine *1/2
The Snowman *
The Mummy *
The Dinner *
The Circle *
Mine *
XX *
Girlfriend's Day *
The Bye Bye Man 1/2*
The Endless 1/2*
Killing Gunther 1/2*

IN PROGRESS (4) - I started watching these but I never quite finished. Make of that what you will.

The Hitman's Bodyguard (45 minutes)
Mom and Dad (45 minutes)
Little Evil (45 minutes)
Fifty Shades Darker (20 minutes)

EMBARGOED (1) - Silence is golden... for now.

Midnighters


OOPS, I MISSED (152): 2:22, 3 Generations, 6 Days, 9/11, 1922, 24 Hours to Live, 47 Meters Down, 68 Kill, 78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene, Abattoir, Abundant Acreage Available, All Eyez on Me, All I See Is You, American Anarchist, Amityville: The Awakening, Annabelle: Creation, The Bachelors, A Bad Moms Christmas, Band Aid, Battlecreek, Beauty and the Beast, Before I Fall, Berlin Syndrome, Birth of the Dragon, Bitch, Blind, The Book of Henry, Born in China, The Boss Baby, BPM (Beats Per Minute), Breathe, Brimstone and Glory, Burden, Bushwick, Buster's Mal Heart, California Typewriter, Captain Underpants, Cars 3, Catfight, Churchill, City of Ghosts, Collide, Columbus, The Dark Tower, Dealt, Dean, Deidra and Laney Rob a Train, Despicable Me 3, A Dog's Purpose, Donald Cried, The Drowning, The Emoji Movie, The Exception, Everything Everything, Faces Places, A Fantastic Woman, Father Figures, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Flatliners, Folk Hero and Funny Guy, The Force, The Foreigner, Frank Serpico, Friend Request, Fun Mom Dinner, Gifted, The Glass Castle, Going in Style, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Gook, Graduation, The Great Wall, Happy End, The Hero, Hollow In the Land, How to Be a Latin Lover, The Hunter's Prayer, I Am Heath Ledger, I Daniel Blake, I Do... Until I Don't, The Institute, Jackals, Jungle, Just Getting Started, Keep Watching, Kidnap, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, The Last Word, Lavender, The Layover, LBJ, The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Lemon, The Limehouse Golem, The Little Hours, Long Strange Trip, Loveless, The Lovers, Lovesong, Lowriders, Lucky, The Lure, Man Down, Marjorie Prime, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, Maudie, Mayhem, Megan Leavey, Menashe, The Most Hated Woman in America, The Mountain Between Us, My Cousin Rachel, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, November Criminals, Novitiate, The Only Living Boy in New York, Opening Night, Person to Person, Phoenix Forgotten, Pilgrimage, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Pitch Perfect 3, Power Rangers, A Quiet Passion, Rebel in the Rye, Rings, The Salesman, The Secret Scripture, The Shack, Some Freaks, Song to Song, The Space Between Us, Temple, Their Finest, The Ticket, Tragedy Girls, Transfiguration, Trespass Against Us, Tribes of Palos Verdes, Trophy, Tulip Fever, Una, A United Kingdom, The Vault, Victoria and Abdul, The Villainess, Wakefield, The Wilde Wedding, Wish Upon, Wonder, Wonderstruck, Wonder Wheel, Woodshock, You Get Me


COMING SOON (0):

The InSneider's Annual Last-Minute Oscar Nomination Predictions

It has become an annual tradition here at The InSneider, so this should sound familiar: T-minus 4 hours, yada yada yada. It's now or never, baby! I'd better get these on the record, pronto! 

I haven't played The Alternate Game the last few years so I decided against it again this year, despite the temptation with such a wide-open Best Picture field. There are 3-5 acting slots that are really tough to call this year and yet the trickiest question remains, as always, not which films will be nominated for Best Picture, but how many?

Thanks to all the bloggers I've enjoyed reading this awards season, including but certainly not limited to: Scott Feinberg, Kris Tapley, Jeff Wells, Kyle Buchanan, Gregory Ellwood, Anne Thompson, David Poland, Tom O'Neil, Pete Hammond and Peter Bart. I'd call this a work-in-progress but fortunately, we've run out of time and these will have to do. Good luck to all the contenders! And now, on to Phase Two...

BEST PICTURE

1. La La Land

2. Moonlight

3. Manchester by the Sea

4. Arrival

5. Hidden Figures
6. Hell or High Water

7. Lion

8. Fences

9. O.J.: Made in America

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Damien Chazelle, La La Land

2. Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

3. Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

4. Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

5. David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water

BEST ACTOR

1. Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

2. Denzel Washington, Fences

3. Ryan Gosling, La La Land

4. Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

5. Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge

BEST ACTRESS

1. Emma Stone, La La Land

2. Natalie Portman, Jackie

3. Amy Adams, Arrival

4. Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

5. Taraji P. Henson, Hidden Figures

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

2. Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

3. Dev Patel, Lion

4. Kevin Costner, Hidden Figures

5. Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Viola Davis, Fences

2. Naomie Harris, Moonlight

3. Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

4. Nicole Kidman, Lion

5. Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

2. Damien Chazelle, La La Land

3. Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water

4. Jared Bush & Phil Johnston, Zootopia

5. Matt Ross, Captain Fantastic

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 

1. Barry Jenkins, Moonlight

2. Eric Heisserer, Arrival

3. Luke Davies, Lion

4. Allison Schroeder & Ted Melfi, Hidden Figures

5. August Wilson, Fences