It’s January 2018, which means it’s time for 2017 wrap-up lists! I know it’s tempting to just put that dumpster fire of a year behind us and never look back, but I think we can find one facet of 2017 that didn’t let us down: Song of the Summer “Despacito ” featuring Justin Bieber. Just kidding (kind of). I’m actually talking about the incredible films released this year. Even with all the horrific scandals coming out of Hollywood in the last half of the year, the film industry still managed to deliver. What better way to distract from the world than to sit in a dark theatre, munch on some popcorn, and be thoroughly entertained for 2+ hours? I’ve compiled a list of my personal favourites from the year, which was actually pretty hard to do—there were so many great ones this year, and I haven’t seen all of them! So without further ado, here are my personal picks!

1. Get Out

This low-key sleeper hit from first time director Jordan Peele somehow ended up being the best movie of the year. I’ve seen it three times now, and I swear it gets better each time. Originally sold word of mouth as “the racist horror movie”, Get Out ended up being much more than a horror film, and while racism is the main theme, it doesn’t play out in the way you expect. Peele describes the film as a “social thriller”, where the villain is actually society. This isn’t uncommon in horror movies (see: George A. Romero’s zombie films), but it’s the first modern film to use the trope to explore the African American experience. “When there’s too many white people, I get nervous, you know?” main character Chris admits at one point—a sentiment shared with me by more than one non-white friend, but not one I’ve seen mentioned on screen before. The movie presents an unfiltered and unashamedly African American point of view. So I’d argue that Get Out is the most important movie of the year, as well as the most entertaining. Daniel Kaluuya’s performance as Chris is a perfect slow boil, and Milton “Lil Rel” Howery provides the comedic relief as Chris’s paranoid friend Rod. And the whole “sunken place” thing is a visually arresting, unexpected treat. Get Out is whip smart, funny, scary, timely, and perfectly plotted.

2. Lady Bird

Caught this one at TIFF by chance, and I’m ecstatic about all the praise it’s getting. Greta Gerwig’s debut film as a director could have easily been insufferable. A queen of the mumblecore scene, her particular brand of hipsterness can be grating if you’re not a fan. But Lady Bird is nothing like Frances Ha. It’s a coming-of-age tale of a high school girl in Sacramento, who desperately longs for something cooler than her suburban town and Catholic school. The “Lady Bird” in question is Christine, our loud and slightly know-it-all protagonist—not the typical teenage girl we’re used to seeing on screen. Of her character, Gerwig says “I felt like I kind of put into her the sheer confidence and the id I find in 8- or 9-year-old girls. They’re just brash, and they don’t know that they should feel anything but great about themselves.” This, plus the character’s strained relationship with her well-meaning but passive-aggressive mother, is what sets Lady Bird apart from other high school stories. The acting is phenomenal, both from 23 year old Saoirse Ronan (who has been consistently great since Atonement) and Laurie Metcalf as her mom. There’s also a small part played by newcomer Timothée Chalamet, who I will rave about further down the page, as exactly the sort of pretentious jerk I would’ve crushed on in high school. It all just rings so true.

3. Dunkirk

Chris Nolan movies are such an anomaly because they play with conventional story structure, often bordering on abstract, and yet they still pull in massive audiences. From the outside, Dunkirk seems like Oscar-bait; we all know how much the Academy loves WWII movies. But in typical Nolan fashion, Dunkirk doesn’t play out like the usual suspects. There is no introduction to the story or the characters; instead the entire movie feels like you caught it on TV at the half-way mark. It’s an exercise in minimalism, and it works. Three interwoven storylines, each with their own time frame, build incredible tension to the point where I basically stopped breathing. The theatre I saw it in was silent, the guy beside me watched the whole movie with his elbows on his knees and his hands over his mouth. It’s so well done that even the presence of boy band superstar Harry Styles doesn’t distract (he was good! Who would’ve thought?). Damien Chazelle (director of La La Land) calls it a “giant middle finger to all the claims that there’s no place for big risks on the big screen anymore.” It’s not so much a movie as it is an experience—try and watch it on a big screen!

4. Call Me By Your Name

Adapted from André Aciman’s book of the same name (good luck getting a copy!), this gorgeous movie just feels like a languid Italian summer. Another coming-of-age story, this time of teen boy Elio who falls in love with visiting grad student Oliver. Everyone is using words like “romantic”, “intellectual”, and “overwhelmingly sensual” to describe it—and yes, it’s all of those things. But while beautiful, it has its flaws: it’s overly long, and Armie Hammer looks a little too old for the role of Oliver. It’s Timothée Chalamet’s stunning work as Elio that struck me the most. Listen, there were a lot of great actors this year, and I’m sure Gary Oldman is fine as Winston Churchill, but Chalamet turned in the year’s best (male) performance, and I won’t hear a word otherwise. He navigates Elio’s precocity and boyish immaturity with equal dexterity, as well as his journey from clumsy flirtation to obsessive desire. He slides between English, French, and Italian within the same conversation, plays piano and guitar. There’s not a false note in his performance, for which he is receiving rave, rhapsodic reviews. Much has been made of the film’s final scene, but the way he says “Elio, Elio, Elio, Elio…” in the scene just before deserves an Oscar alone. Look, I could talk about this kid all day, but I’ll spare you. Just watch the film (read the book first?) and experience it for yourself.

5. It

I can’t believe my top 5 has two horror movies on it, but that’s the kind of year it was. I don’t need to introduce this adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel; we all know Pennywise the Dancing Clown and the group of kids set to take him down. Unabashedly 80s, this movie filled the gap between seasons of Stranger Things, and Bill Skarsgård absolutely kills (hah) as Pennywise.  I love a good horror movie, and I love when movies become part of the pop culture landscape. It accomplished both. Just take a look at all the memes the movie spawned to get an idea of it’s cultural impact (at a concert a few weeks ago, a lone red balloon found its way on stage, and my friend just silently looked at me in horror). It is the rare horror movie that actually knows what it’s doing from beginning to end; it balances a silly premise (killer clown in a sewer) with hints of something darker (the kids’ garbage parents), and it never loses its entertainment value. This movie also holds the esteem of being my favourite movie trailer of the year (a high honour, to be sure), and is one of the few movies in recent memory that both has an incredible trailer and lives up to its hype (looking at you, Godzilla). Now I’m just waiting for Chapter 2….

What movies did you see in 2017 that you absolutely loved? Let me know in the comments! Remember, you can always find the newest movies on our online catalogue!