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I found "Dunkirk" to be a visually stunning movie that left me largely cold. But perhaps I am not the target audience.

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Get Out was amusingly satirical about white liberalism towards black people, which isn't something horror does too often.

Erica Ambler wrote:

The most interesting aspect of Dunkirk is the way it plays with time. Just like Memento all those years ago.

Salomé wrote:

I found "Dunkirk" to be a visually stunning movie that left me largely cold. But perhaps I am not the target audience.

I can understand why a Europhile would prefer to forget that Britain repeatedly saved Europe from itself given her current pariah status.

I found the structure to be relatively simple. Just three different timelines, each of a different length, interspersed and occasionally meeting up with each other as the story progressed.

The second half of your post is a bit odd. It's not that the subject matter left me cold, just the way in which it was presented.

I found the short segment that covered the same event in "Atonement" far more riveting.



It's so much more poetic and lyrical. The argument that Nolan went for a more realistic approach doesn't work either in my estimation, since, as you said, the image of the pilot watching his burning spitfire is almost a cliché.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Get Out was amusingly satirical about white liberalism towards black people, which isn't something horror does too often.  

"We would have voted for Obama a third time, if we could have."

Imperfect movies that were (somewhat) enjoyable:

"Logan Lucky"
"Wind River" (still the weakest film of Taylor Sheridan's supposed trilogy)
"Atomic Blonde"
"It Comes at Night"
"The Big Sick"

Adding those to "Wonder Woman", "The Lost City of Z" and "Kong: Skull Island".

"Wonder Woman" was the best superhero movie of the year.
"The Lost City of Z" was a wonderful surprise, both in its writing and the performances. I'm not a great fan of Charlie Hunnam but this was wonderful work. Robert Pattinson still played him off the screen in the scenes they shared.
"Kong: Skull Island" lived up to its modest ambition, which was to create an entertaining monster movie. It would have been even better had two of the roles not been so ridiculously miscast. The role played by Tom Hiddlestone (basically an experienced, grizzled tracker/guide) obviously needed a salt of the earth type actor instead. But even he was still better than Brie Larson, who obviously believed her role (essentially the 'hottie tottie' archetype from the monster genre) was somehow beneath her (so why did you sign on, darling?).

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

The second half of your post is a bit odd.

If it made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable I apologise. Please don't send me to jail.

I think you probably rate Nolan higher than I do in general? I admire "Inception", "The Prestige" and "Memento", but his Batman trilogy is overrated and "Interstellar" was a big letdown.
He also did not improve upon the original "Insomnia" with his remake.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

I found the structure to be relatively simple. Just three different timelines, each of a different length, interspersed and occasionally meeting up with each other as the story progressed.

Hmmm. Well, I thought it was brave of Nolan to demand audiences to deal with events moving at different speeds. How many experimental films do that, let alone mainstream?

Salomé wrote:

The argument that Nolan went for a more realistic approach doesn't work either in my estimation, since, as you said, the image of the pilot watching his burning spitfire is almost a cliché.

I think that is the downside of avoiding CGI. Nolan was unable to show the sheer scale of the Miracle of Dunkirk.

Any opinion on the Frog reaction in terms of the total omission of the delaying action in Lille?

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He attracts a lot of fanboys regardless of what he makes.
"Inception" took WB totally by surprise with its box office clout, they had actually calculated a loss on that and they had more or less agreed to let him make it primarily because his Batman movies had made them so much money. Then they ended up making a big profit on that movie too.

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Of those mentioned, I'd probably say Dunkirk.

I liked Get Out, but ultimately I'm unsure what the message was. All white people, including liberals, are racist?

Erica Ambler wrote:

Den of Geek began its 2017 'best of' today. I predict BR2049 is its number one.

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/2017-movies/54210/the-den-of-geek-top-20-films-of-2017-20-to-11

Of the ones I've seen on that list, I liked "Brawl in Cell Block 99" (though if you didn't like the gratuitous violence in "Drive" you probably won't like that movie either).
"Baby Driver" was the most overrated movie of the year. One gimmick does not make a movie.
I definitely want to see "Call me by your name".

CJB wrote:

Of those mentioned, I'd probably say Dunkirk.

I liked Get Out, but ultimately I'm unsure what the message was. All white people, including liberals, are racist?

I don't think that was the point of the movie.
I think it was more about an exaggeration of micro-aggressions through the spectrum of a horror film.
e.g. the party during which prospective buyers are appraising his body was meant as an analogy to a less extreme form of that which black people supposedly have to endure.
One common example is black women being asked if their hair can be touched.

I did enjoy "Get Out" but at the same time I think it was overrated somewhat because the message was very friendly to the politics of the majority of reviewers.

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Last Jedi was the best of the worst sequels for 2017.

Leia's Superman moment in outer space was garbage. I yelled BULLSHIT!

Strikes me all I've really seen so far are Dunkirk and Kingsman, hoping to see Star Wars tomorrow. Dunkirk I wasn't too swayed by but not the worst film there is.

Beauty and the Beast aside (didn't really want to see it, either), I haven't seen any of the 10 highest grossing films of 2017. Says a lot about my interest these days.

For those who are interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_in_film

What I have seen:

Alone in Berlin: Solid, I thought, but perhaps there wasn't much interest in anti-Nazi Germans, hence the mixed reviews?
Beauty and the Beast: Miscast lead with auto-tuned vocals. Otherwise decent I suppose. 
War Machine: Forgettable.
Baby Driver: There was an edginess to the film I hadn't seen for a while, which I appreciated. And good car stunts. And great tracking shots, even in the non-action sequences. I liked it. Best film of the year so far.
Atomic Blonde: I'm looking forward to watching it again. Love the style, the era, the genre. Let down by the writing. Had the script been tidied it would have been excellent. Still, given what's come before, it's the best of the bunch for me. 
The Only Living Boy In New York: I loved this also, but was slammed by critics and mixed reactions from audiences, supposedly. The audience in my cinema seemed to enjoy it. 
Kingsman: The Golden Circle: Had more fun than Baby Driver, but gaping plot holes, unexplored characters and character arcs stop this from being everything it should. 
Battle of the Sexes. Horrible film. 
American Made: Serviceable but with a seen-it-before vibe to it. Like Goodfellas, just not as good. Far from it. 
The Foreigner: Had a blast! Preferable to taken because the political arena it takes place in. 
Murder on the Orient Express: A little disappointing, but that might have more to do with how I remembered the story. Beautiful art direction and great cast, though. 
Wonder Wheel: A few awkward scenes aside at the beginning, engrossing in a way only Allen can. 

So, my top 5 films for the year are probably:

5. Baby Driver
4. Atomic Blonde
3. The Foreigner
2. The Only Living Boy in New York
1. Wonder Wheel

Still to see: 
A United Kingdom
Lady Bird
Call Me By Your Name
The Post
Darkest Hour
Molly's Game
Phantom Thread
Suburbicon
Downsizing

I see they (Den of Geek) also added "Colossal", which I did like, but I wouldn't necessarily put it on my list of favorite movies. It was an occasionally clever fable about alcoholism with two good performances by Hathaway and Sudeikis, but I'm not sure I will even remember the film ten years from now (evidenced by the fact that I didn't even cross my mind when trying to compile a top ten list of my own).

MOONLIGHT, LA LA LAND, Scorsese's SILENCE and Park Chan-Wook's THE HANDMAIDEN all had their UK release this year. I liked them all immensely and seeing the Director's Cut of THE HANDMAIDEN in cinemas was a treat. LA LA LAND was a real surprise as I usually detest that kind of thing.

Of the actual 2017 releases, BLADE RUNNER 2049 is the obvious standout.

MOTHER! affected me greatly. Excruciatingly frustrating and yet, in being so, extremely compelling. Thinking about it, I should probably give STRAW DOGS another chance.

DUNKIRK was impressive technically but, oddly, hollow.

ALIEN: COVENANT was a case of so bad it's good, whilst T2 TRAINSPOTTING was a poignant follow-up to the original.

After showing Kubrickian promise with HIGH-RISE, Ben Wheatley let himself down with the childish FREE FIRE.

GET OUT was also disappointing. A great premise which slowly unravelled to a generic, violent and cold climax. I remember feeling the same about BLUE RUIN in 2013, although the first three-quarters of that film are masterful. IT COMES AT NIGHT is the superior horror flick of the year.


There's still a number of this year's films yet I want to see but haven't due to limited release.  Martel's ZAMA, Lanthimos' THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, Hong Sang-soo's ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE, the Estonian chiller NOVEMBER and Korean spy-drama THE AGE OF SHADOWS all look like they might be worthwhile to me.

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