Favorite Movies of 2017

What I saw this year that really impressed me, I liked a lot, or are significant in some way. As I like to do, some qualifiers I ask you consider while you read this and maybe think about before you judge me.

First – my two favorite genres of movies are war movies and horror movies. Even then I have preference to specific sub-genres that are better discussed face to face. Let’s just say I don’t like ALL horror or war movies… some are dumb as shit-covered hammers but a good non-American-centric-based historical war movie or a horror movie that usurps tropes? I’m down with those like a cat likes cat nip. Mix the two and you’ve got my money!

Second - Gretchen and I are members at the Hollywood Theater. Obviously we are also movie fans. She is a bigger one than me but as a couple we are known to be at movies a lot. We see a movie there at least once a month, more than likely 2-3 times a month.

Third – I belong to a movie club. Cinema Babylon is not serious or anything but the core of the club is comprised of people I find to be smart and whose opinions I respect. We get together about two times a month and watch, mostly horror, many movies in various levels of bad-good. To get more details there you can go to Peter’s blog Universal Dork.

Due to modern technology and my ability to view so many movie in so many formats I did break it down into 3 different categories.

My Favorite New Releases 2017:

1) Dunkirk – An epic movie (PG-13) that had an interesting story-telling arc. It also did away with the modern war movie tropes that Saving Private Ryan ushered in – detailed shots of the horror of battle field wounds and carnage. Not every guy that gets near an explosion gets blown in half and lives long enough to be cognizant his legs are “over there”. That trope was effective in it’s time but now every war movie is like that. Also, not a whole lot mentioned about “Jenny” waiting for some soldier back at home.*

*Not all of us had a significant other back at home to give emotional weight to our horrific loss when we get blowed in half and live long enough to see our legs are 10 yards “over there”.

In Dunkirk you just get what’s going on in the moment – British troops got stuck and weren’t sure how they were getting home. Then you get the non-linear flow of the story that I really love when done right. You only see Nazis at the end for about 30 seconds too. In my opinion I think WW2 Nazis get way too much attention (in all aspects of WW2).

2) The Void – Fuggin straight-up Lovecraftian horror without the official Lovecraft name; just like The Thing. You’ve got creepy cultists, protagonists in siege-mode in a rural hospital, creepy 5 leg tentacle human faces monster that changes shape after getting summoned in some fell ritual… all that good stuff. I Loved The Void.

3) Get Out – Evolved my view of race-relations in America. Horror with a perfect amount of humor thrown in to lighten it up some. Big plot twist – it ‘aint slave-wanting-to-own right-wing nuts being the racists in this one!

*SPOILER ALERT*

…and the hot white girl is the worst one!!

Cinema Babylon Movie Nights:

1) The Wild Hunt – LARPers go nuts and get real. The majority of the movie was decent and interesting, mainly because of my own connection to SCA and re-enactment and some of the themes in the movie I witnessed in real life. The last 5 minutes hit a home run though – like I was all “this movie is good” to “Holy Shit!! This movie is now AWESOME!!”

Amazon/Netflix Exclusives:

1) Bone Tomahawk – came out last year but I caught it twice in 2017. I was thoroughly impressed with this western horror movie about a lost Neolithic cannibal tribe. Good but basic story and some truly cringe-worthy gore. The script touched on “Deadwood” style language, not the cussing but the prose. Kurt Russel is always good to me.

2) Siege of Jadotville – a fictional film depiction of a modern historical event. I never heard of this before and afterwards I looked it up and was, once again, reminded how stupid things like this can get. Irish peacekeepers are sent to the Congo in 1961 via UN. They get attacked by secessionist locals, Dutch settlers, and Rhodesian mercenaries and receive no aid as said aid (Swedes, more Irish, and Gurkhas) got caught up in some other shit.

I’m actually thinking about wargaming this one if I can find 1961-era miniatures befitting this scenario.

3) Babysitter – just caught this one last month. Fuck, that was good and funny.

BTW - I just re-watched Rogue One last night after watching it in theaters last year. That is one damn fine Star Wars movie. It might be my favorite one so far.