Editorial: Celebrating the Underrated Films of 2017

Last Christmas, I gave a little love to the more underappreciated and lesser-seen films of the year that deserved at least a bit more attention than they had, and while I've seen a lot fewer movies, that doesn't mean there can't be some additional love shared out.

A Monster Calls

Coming out here in the UK all the way at the beginning of January, A Monster Calls doesn't quite fit all the criteria for an underrated film. It got a large amount of praise and plenty of awards nominations, and yet nearly a year has gone and it's practically been forgotten (not to mention it was a box office failure). It's a real shame though, as while it does have a standard premise and is clearly one designed to pull at the heartstrings, it really works from a visual standpoint as well as from an acting one. Each story the Monster tells is gorgeously animated, and the cast is top-notch - even a sudden Toby Kebbell appearance can't wear this film down.


Cars 3

Hear me out here - yes, Cars 3 is far from Pixar's best film. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that Coco doesn't come out in the UK until January it probably wouldn't even be the best Pixar film of 2017. However, it was more than it had any right to be - a proper sequel to the 2006 original that, while taking very few chances, did at least give a satisfying conclusion to the McQueen era of the franchise, alongside making great use of archive recordings to give Paul Newman one last great performance.

Colossal

I think the fact that I could barely find a high-quality image from this film really says a lot about how well-known it is, which is a true shame as it's one of the more inventive and creative ideas to come out of the year. Pairing a character piece about a life well-wasted and coming home to escape with a Korean monster movie is something that shouldn't work on paper, and yet this Anne Hathaway movie makes it work really well, with Jason Sudeikis stealing the show as an overzealous best friend and wannabe boyfriend. It's a unique little film and it deserves a second life.

Gifted

A film about an over-intelligent child usually would be a standard run-of-the-mill feature that wouldn't need any attention and can easily join the large pantheon of predecessors that'll occasionally play as an afternoon movie on a weekday, but Gifted is somehow a little bit different. Maybe it's the castings of Chris Evans, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer that rise this from mediocrity; maybe it's director Marc Webb returning to his roots after the messy Amazing Spider-Man films, or maybe it's a well-written screenplay with actual heart. Who knows? Except that this was a surprisingly good film.

Logan Lucky

I won't lie: upon viewing Logan Lucky I was a tad underwhelmed. Maybe it was the great trailers, or maybe it was the reviews, but I was expecting something a bit more. That being said though, it's still a solid Southern heist film, with career highlights for Adam Driver, Daniel Craig and Channing Tatum. My only major gripe was that it did keep going for a good 10-20 minutes longer than it ought to, but if that's it than it must be a worthwhile viewing, at the very least for the prison riot scenes.

Miss Sloane

For whatever reason, the UK got Miss Sloane in May, long after hopes for a Jessica Chastain Oscar nomination had been dashed and just a bit before the Molly's Game hype train started running. While both do bear striking resemblance to one another - largely because of Chastain - that shouldn't make this commentary on gun legislation less important, as in a year filled with terrorist attacks and shootings it instead becomes all the more imperative to watch for a solid argument on the matter.

The Death of Stalin

A biting political satire about the beginning of the end of the USSR with cutthroat jokes and a solid batch of characters and actors? It could only be a new film by Armando Iannucci, the brains behind The Thick of It, Veep and In the Loop. A rich script is what truly makes this film, although the likes of Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin, Simon Russel Beale and Jason Isaacs elevates it further.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie

By this point, it's grown obvious that there's a certain story arc that must be told in these LEGO movies, and The LEGO Ninjago Movie may have been the straw to break the audience's backs by going three-for-three on a kid with daddy's issues. And with weaker gags and a wasted supporting cast, this is easily the weakest of what's otherwise been a strong franchise. However, that doesn't make this a bad film, just that it was a harder thing to adapt (it being based on an ongoing TV series but only really borrowing character names and personalities). It still has a great father-son story at its helm and Justin Theroux is having an absolute blast as the evil Garmadon, it's just disappointing against its predecessors.