The Best Films of 2017
10. Wonder: Stephen Chbosky's followup to the superb The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder contains several stellar performances and a number of heartwrenching moments.
9. Stronger: Anchored by a career-best performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, Stronger stands out as more than just a run-of-the-mill biopic.
8. Brad's Status: Mike White overcomes the sophomore slump with this relatable, engaging drama.
7. War for the Planet of the Apes: The new Apes trilogy comes to a smashing close with this grim and often engrossing entry.
6. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri: Though perhaps a little too quirky, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri boasts several stellar performances and an irresistible undercurrent of emotional resonance.
5. The Shape of Water: Guillermo del Toro delivers a mashup of various genres that really shouldn't work yet totally does.
4. Paterson: A seriously moving little character study, Paterson features one of Adam Driver's very best performances.
3. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi: Though perhaps not quite as good as its immediate predecessor, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi is nevertheless a fun (albeit slightly overlong) space epic that upends the viewer's expectations at every turn.
2. It Comes at Night: One of the best horror movies to come around in years, It Comes at Night boasts an increasingly engrossing feel that only grows more suspenseful and hypnotic as time progresses.
1. A Ghost Story: David Lowery overcomes a somewhat gimmicky premise to deliver a haunting, emotionally devastating, and impressively trenchant meditation on grief.
The Worst Films of 2017
10. Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House: A complete disaster that wastes the efforts of a fine cast and a seemingly impossible-to-screw-up premise.
9. Free Fire: Ben Wheatley delivers yet another in a long line of misbegotten endeavors, with the movie's failure especially disappointing given its roster of performers and promising setup.
8. The Snowman: This incoherent thriller only grows less and less interesting (and comprehensible) as it progresses.
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Johnny Depp's aggressively one-note performance is the tip of the iceberg in terms of this film's many, many problems.
6. The Florida Project: An astonishingly interminable misfire, The Florida Project's Sean Baker delivers a handful of reprehensible characters and expects the viewer to work up interest in and sympathy for their aimless exploits.
5. Transformers: The Last Knight: Just when you think these movies can't get any worse, Michael Bay somehow manages to top himself.
4. The Glass Castle: This misbegotten adaptation of Jeannette Walls' memoir is about as far away from Destin Daniel Cretton's masterful previous film, Short Term 12, as one could possibly imagine.
3. The Recall: A terrible, low-rent thriller made all-the-worse by an astonishingly terrible cinematic gimmick called Barco Escape.
2. Okja: Joon-ho Bong hits rock bottom with this pointless and heavy-handed drama revolving around a genetically-enhanced superpig.
1. The Cure for Wellness: Saddled with an interminable 146 minute running time, The Cure for Wellness comes off as a truly wretched piece of work that suffers from an almost total lack of positive attributes. A seriously infuriating bomb.
