The Best of 2017, Part One

2017 was a very backloaded year as far as quality cinema goes...or so I thought. But in compiling this year's Top 25, I realized just how many gems there were, so many that I almost made this a Top 30! Consider these my recommendations - if you've missed out on any, correct that immediately!

What follows are the first 15 entries in my Top 25. For the full list of the 127 films that qualified, click here.

Let's begin with.....

25. God of War

dir: Gordon Chan

scr: Frankie Tam, Maria Wong, MengZhang Wu

cin: Takuro Ishizaka

seen: AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, Monterey Park, CA

A historical war epic in which the tattered forces of the Ming army go up against Japanese pirates. A great showcase for the martial artists at the core of its ensemble and a fascinating pulling-back of the curtain on military strategy. Deep character work, with its surprising admiration for the Japanese tacticians and its feminist portrayal of the main character's wife: not a mere general's bride, she is her husband's equal in strength and cunning, even leading a co-ed army of villagers against invaders.

24-11, after the jump...

2017: We're Halfway There

So now the year is officially half-over, and I have seen but 37 films so far. The movies I'm saddest to have missed before the end of June? Battle of Memories (dir. Leste Chen), Raw (dir. Julia Ducournau), and Prevenge (dir. Alice Lowe), and I'm hoping to catch up with Okja (dir. Bong Joon Ho) and The Bad Batch (dir. Ana Lily Amirpour) in early July.

That said...here are the 38 movies I saw, broken up into several categories.

Barely Remember
But what I do remember is...

• Burning Sands (dir. Gerard McMurray) - The chick who plays the Whataburger employee the pledges run a train on is the standout.
• Fifty Shades Darker (dir. James Foley) - That Zayn/Swifty song is oddly placed

If You Can't Say Anything Nice...
Zip ze lips, as my French teacher would say.

• All Eyez on Me (dir. Benny Boom)
• The Devotion of Suspect X (dir. Alec Su)
• It Comes at Night (dir. Trey Edward Shults)
• New Trial (dir. Kim Tae-yun)
• XXX: Return of Xander Cage (dir. D.J. Caruso)

The rest of the 31, after the jump...