Although I saw only 32 new theatrical releases in 2017 and I still have a ways to go before awards season kicks into high gear – I have to make time for All the Money in the World, Battle of the Sexes, Call Me by Your Name, Darkest Hour, The Disaster Artist, Downsizing, Faces Places, The Florida Project, In the Fade, Lady Bird, Molly’s Game, Mudbound, Phantom Thread, The Post and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, among others – each film left a definite impression on me. I will republish this list during the week leading up to the Oscars, a revised edition to reflect everything else watched between now and then.
1. Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer)
2. I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie)
3. Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan)
4. Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi)
5. Maudie (Aisling Walsh)
6. Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)
7. Beatriz at Dinner (Miguel Arteta)
8. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)
9. Kedi (Ceyda Torun)
10. The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro)
11. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
12. Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins)
13. Mean Dreams (Nathan Morlando)
14. Casting JonBenét (Kitty Green)
15. Everything, Everything (Stella Meghie)
16. Step (Amanda Lipitz)
17. Pottersville (Seth Henrikson)
18. Salt and Fire (Werner Herzog)
19. M.F.A. (Natalia Leite)
20. Unforgettable (Denise Di Novi)
21. Spider-Man: Homecoming (Jon Watts)
22. Band Aid (Zoe Lister-Jones)
23. Kong: Skull Island (Jordan Vogt-Roberts)
24. Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve)
25. Baywatch (Seth Gordon)
26. Wind River (Taylor Sheridan)
27. The Big Sick (Michael Showalter)
28. Snatched (Jonathan Levine)
29. A Woman, a Part (Elisabeth Subrin)
30. Fifty Shades Darker (James Foley)
31. Once Upon a Time in Venice (Mark Cullen)
32. The Mountain Between Us (Hany Abu-Assad)
