Movies in 2017

In any event, the list of movies watched has 175 entries and 173 distinct movies. (Not rewatching more than two is certainly unusual for me.) Because I use Movie Lens I have ratings on their 5 star scale for each film I watched. The movies I had seen before averaged about 3.6 out of 5 and the new movies were 2.8 out of 5. This fits pretty well; folks would be less inclined to watch a movie again if they didn’t like it well the first time and watching new movies can be hit or miss. Herewith, some thoughts on the movies.

Four of the old movies were ones that I had rated 5 stars: Late Spring, The Hidden Blade, and Branagh’s versions of Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing. The worst rewatch was a nostalgia-driven viewing of Escape From L.A. (1.5 of 5)

The best new movie was the last-minute Coco (4.5 of 5) that edged out the 15 movies tied at 4 of 5. the opposite end consists of a trio of one-star films: Now You See Me 2 (expected bad, was execrable), Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (didn’t expect much, but it really underperformed), and Her (very disappointing since I’d heard it was good from a lot of people and…it was not).

13 new movies were in foreign languages; 6 in Japanese, 4 in French and 1 each in Spanish, German, and Hindi. Only four of the rewatched films was in another language (but 2 were 5 stars!), 3 Japanese and 1 French.

A number of movies surprised me in different ways. Coco was better than I thought it would be. Pixar movies command high expectations and Coco exceeded them by a significant margin. It’s one of their five best, maybe even in the top three. The message is deep and nuanced, and while I’m sure some folks will read it as supporting certain things which I would find abhorrent, the core is sound even if the application is frequently amiss.

I laughed at War On Everyone at lot harder and more often than I expected that I would. Scott Pilgrim was much funnier than it had any right to be based on the silly premise. Arrival and Mud both lived up to their hype, though each suffered from weak endings that kept them from the peak of perfection. The Guard, Mr. Right, and The In-Laws were all darkly humorous in proper measure, though in different ways. Cold Souls and All About Eve were suitably creepy fun, though very dissimilar otherwise.

The Last Jedi might have been the biggest, pleasant surprise. It was a return to the classic Star Wars. When choosing between oohs and ahs and the strict coherence of the plot, the decision was correctly made to plump for the former every time. (I can’t help but think that many critics are trying to read their adult movie conventions and expectations onto what is still a space opera franchise for 10 year olds.) This was definitely the best of the last six SW releases. To everyone who is whining about minor plot holes and such: Lighten up, Francis!

At the other end of the spectrum, I Live In Fear was the first Kurosawa film that I straight up didn’t like. Volver‘s twist was disappointing more than surprising. Allied was both bleak and predictable. Birdman was entertainment industry fan-fiction (onanism). Tracker and Demolition had a great deal of potential, but each squandered it and ended up limp and disappointing. Perhaps the most surprising disappointment was that Lego Batman apparently can’t really support a full-length movie. Full list below, movies seen for first time in bold. Onward to 2018!

1. She’s All That
2. America’s Sweethearts
3. Legally Blonde
4. Escape from L.A.
5. Mission: Impossible
6. Sicario
7. Learning to Drive
8. Christmas Eve
9. The Ox-Bow Incident
10. Kubo and the Two Strings
11. Ship of Fools
12. Spellbound
13. Seven Psychopaths
14. Thief
15. Kiss Me Deadly
16. The Italian Job (1969)
17. The Narrow Margin
18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
19. His Kind of Woman
20. True Grit (2010)
21. Macao
22. The Paleface
23. Cold Souls
24. The Public Enemy
25. The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek
26. Stage Door
27. The Egg and I
28. The Outlaw
29. Inception
30. Catch Me If You Can
31. In Time
32. Man On a Ledge
33. Sunset Boulevard
34. Ghost Town
35. Danny Collins
36. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
37. The Voices
38. No Country for Old Men
39. The In-Laws
40. The Guard
41. Late Spring
42. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
43. The Grand Budapest Hotel
44. Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
45. The Killer (1989)
46. Passengers
47. Sympathy for the Underdog
48. La La Land
49. Demolition
50. The Thin Man
51. Hamlet (1996)
52. Arrival
53. Star Wars
54. A Hologram for the King
55. Moana
56. Soundless
57. What If
58. Tracker
59. The Art of the Steal
60. Paterson
61. Seven Psychopaths
62. The Bourne Identity
63. The Bourne Supremacy
64. Stripped
65. Mifune
66. All About Eve
67. Star Trek: Beyond
68. Analyze This
69. Two Weeks Notice
70. The Accountant
71. Galaxy Quest
72. Her
73. Foreign Correspondent
74. Mr. Right
75. Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
76. Raising Arizona
77. Henry V
78. The Hidden Blade
79. The Passion of Joan of Arc
80. Marauders
81. Bull Durham
82. Beauty and the Beast (2017)
83. Sanshiro Sugata
84. Criminal
85. Joe Versus the Volcano
86. I Live in Fear
87. Sanshiro Sugata Part II
88. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
89. The Tale of Princess Kaguya
90. Conagher
91. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail
92. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
93. Disorder
94. There Will Be Blood
95. The Gambler
96. A Man For All Seasons
97. A Letter to Three Wives
98. The Magnificent Seven (2016)
99. The Librarian: Quest for the Spear
100. Bad Words
101. Hudson Hawk
102. Hollywood Homicide
103. Pi
104. Monsters University
105. Ashby
106. The Artist
107. A Damsel in Distress
108. The Lego Batman Movie
109. Mud
110. Everything is Illuminated
111. Blade Runner 2049
112. Volver
113. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
114. War on Everyone
115. The Lake House
116. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
117. The Italian Job (2003)
118. The Holiday
119. Three Colors: Blue
120. Wasabi
121. Birdman
122. The Phenom
123. Real Genius
124. Predestination
125. Now, Voyager
126. Without Reservation
127. They Were Expendable
128. Time Cop
129. Three Colors: White
130. Three Godfathers
131. The Station Agent
132. Up In the Air
133. Operation Pacific
134. Four Daughters
135. Following
136. The Departed
137. Big Jim McLain
138. You Can’t Take It With You
139. Self/less
140. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
141. Allied
142. 42
143. Hidden Figures
144. The Women
145. Central Intelligence
146. Winter’s Tale
147. Now You See Me 2
148. Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara!
149. Hail, Caesar!
150. Get the Gringo
151. Reunion in France
152. Upstream Color
153. Jason Bourne
154. The Intern
155. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
156. Stray Dog
157. Dead Reckoning
158. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
159. The Thief of Bagdad
160. Tokyo Joe
161. White Christmas
162. Knock on Any Door
163. Dance, Girl, Dance
164. Hamlet (2009)
165. Heaven Can Wait (1943)
166. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
167. Out of Time
168. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
169. The Sea Hawk
170. Unfaithfully Yours
171. The Thirteenth Floor
172. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
173. The Illusionist (2006)
174. Coco
175. Star Wars: The Last Jedi