Upon picking up my copy of “Entertainment Weekly” and looking at their “Best of 2017” movie list, I thought I’d come up with the real person’s “Best Movies of the Year” list. I mean, who of you has actually heard of “Call Me By Your Name,” or “The Shape of Water,” or “Foxtrot,” or “Molly’s Game”?? Exactly. So here is the officially unofficial “Matt’s Best Movies Of The Year” list:
- Wonder Woman (I had almost forgotten what it felt like to walk out of a movie thinking ‘Wow, I loved that!’ or ‘That was damn awesome!’ Wonder Woman brought that feeling back to me. Sadly, “Justice League”-while it wasn’t terrible, didn’t continue this feeling. DC/Warner Bros. should hire director Patty Jenkins to oversee the rest of their comic book adaptations, to ensure there is actual emotion felt in the stories, rather than just flashy special effects.)
- A Dog’s Purpose (I subscribe to Netflix’s DVD service and this was one of the few movies that my wife and I watched together this year. With a 3 year-old, I’ve found that my “history” of movies watched is much shorter than it was before my son was born. However, we did reserve a Saturday evening to view this one together. My wife had seen the previews and wanted to see it. She watched the whole thing. So it makes my list. She cried as well…which means it’s probably going to be on her ‘worst’ list for the year! I, however, enjoy movies that move you to emotion one way or another. If you’re an animal lover and you haven’t seen this one, check it out.)
- Get Out (This one is actually on many of those other Best Of lists too. Not many horror/thriller movies come up with a new idea we haven’t seen before. This one built up a lot of curiosity, and had me on the edge of my seat. You need to be ready for some political/racial statements and undertones, but in the end, it’s just a movie.)
- Split (Another thriller that presented a bit of a unique perspective, with a kidnapper affected by split personality disorder. And not just 2 personalities, but a bunch. A few are really evil. A few could actually be willing to help his prisoners. Another new idea I had not seen before).
I did buy several movies this year that I have not yet watched…so there could be some glaring omissions here. I also watched a lot from 2016 but was trying to keep this list to movies released this year.
Biggest disappointment: the new Star Wars movie. I was expecting much more.
Highest hopes for 2018: Aquaman. Let’s hope they learned a lesson from Wonder Woman.
Let me know what your favs for the year were! Email me at [email protected], and have a very Happy New Year!!