The Whovian Avenger's Best (and Worst) of 2017

It's the most wonderful time of the year - the annual TWA film celebration! For those new or unfamiliar with the blog, this is where I take the films I've seen this year and nominate and potentially award them with categories mostly taken from the Oscars, save for areas which I have less awareness on (such as documentary and foreign film). This time though, with the acting categories I've opted not to nominate those who were nominated at this year's Oscars for the sake of some differences. So as great as the likes of Emma Stone and Mahershala Ali were, they won't be included here. Again, I've not seen quite as many films as I did in 2016 so the diversity in the nominations won't be as vast this time around, but nevertheless, let's proceed!

Best Original Screenplay
And the nominees are...

• Baby Driver
• Get Out
• La La Land
• Manchester By The Sea
• The Big Sick

And the winner is...

An early win for this exceptional horror film, with its inventive and satirical screenplay proving not only that audiences are willing to experience something new from a once-disappointing genre but that inserting modern politics to the mix won't ruin a production. It scares, it amuses, and all ties together to make a great movie.

Best Adapted Screenplay

And the nominees are...

• Blade Runner 2049
• Logan
• Molly's Game
• Paddington 2
• The LEGO Batman Movie

And the winner is...

A near-perfect farewell to one of the most iconic superheroes to grace the silver screen, Logan succeeds by going in a different direction and tieing everything together with ease. And while it's not a flawless script, it's nevertheless a significant one - and perhaps one of the last we'll get from a Fox-run X-Men universe.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

And the nominees are...

• Ana de Armas - Blade Runner 2049
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Miss Sloane
• Holly Hunter - The Big Sick
• Janelle Monae - Hidden Figures
• Michelle Pfieffer - Murder on the Orient Express

And the winner is...

Holly Hunter has time and time again proven herself to be an extraordinary actress, but it's perhaps with this smaller role that she brings out her best performance. Between her superb rapport with her co-stars to even the smaller moments in the film where she looks back on her family's life, it all cements an amazing performance.

Best Costume Design

And the nominees are...

• Baby Driver
• Beauty and the Beast
• Blade Runner 2049
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• La La Land

And the winner is...

I won't lie, I'm hardly an expert on this sort of thing, but beautiful dresses and top-notch suits and shirts are giving this film an early win in these awards.

Best Production Design

And the nominees are...

• A Monster Calls
• Beauty and the Beast
• Blade Runner 2049
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• Wonder Woman

And the winner is...

Something of a love letter to the 1991 original, Beauty and the Beast really showed itself in its production design in trying to perfectly recreate many people's childhood classics. While the film itself is a debatable affair, at least the production design is faithful and solid.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

And the nominees are...

• Atomic Blonde
• Beauty and the Beast
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• It
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi

And the winner is...

Star Wars has always been great when it comes to its character designs, but The Last Jedi may have topped it for its massive cast of strange looking creatures and heroes. The casino scene, while dragged far too long and being rather unnecessary in the final product, features dozens of great designs and really cemented the great work the production team put into them. 

Best Cinematography

And the nominees are...

• Baby Driver
• Blade Runner 2049
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• La La Land
• Moonlight

And the winner is...

Roger Deakins, man. Need I say more about the guy?

Best Film Editing

And the nominees are...

• Baby Driver
• Get Out
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Moonlight

And the winner is...

A film expertly choreographed to the vast and widespread soundtrack is one thing that can be done during filming, but it all comes together in the edit. Baby Driver is like a 100-minute music video masterfully crafted from a plethora of individual clips and scenes, and it all comes together in the edit.

Best Sound Mixing/Editing

And the nominees are...

• Baby Driver
• Beauty and the Beast
• Dunkirk
• Fast and Furious 8
• La La Land

And the winner is...

War... war never changes. And yet, the sound team behind Christopher Nolan's most recent epic managed to construct a sublime-sounding movie that makes you feel every bullet that's being fired. While I wasn't quite as enamoured by the film itself, the sound effects work was alone worth going to the cinema for.

Best Visual Effects

And the nominees are...

• A Monster Calls
• Baby Driver
• Blade Runner 2049
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• War for the Planet of the Apes

And the winner is...

The original Blade Runner was a revolutionary movie back in 1982 with its grand visuals, and 35 years later they've managed to keep up the solid work. Melded together with Roger Deakins' beautiful cinematography and Denis Villeneuve's direction, you have a gorgeous film, and the visual effects work - both practical and digital - show a truly real future.

Most Underrated Film of 2017

And the nominees are...

• Colossal
• Detroit
• Gifted
• Miss Sloane
• The Death of Stalin
• The LEGO Ninjago Movie

And the winner is...

No one has even seen this, and it's a damn shame because it's a solid and incredibly creative idea. Need I say more?

Most Overrated Film of 2017

And the nominees are...

• Despicable Me 3
• Dunkirk
• Moonlight
• Okja
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Wonder Woman

And the winner is...

Hear me out here - Wonder Woman has every right to be an influential superhero movie and to inspire millions of young girls around the world, and who am I to stop them from loving this film? But with story problems and with it still displaying a lot of the problems that the DC Cinematic Universe just can't seem to get rid of, I'm fearful that people are admiring more the idea of a better-than-bad female superhero movie rather than the ide of an actual great one.

Best Animated Feature

And the nominees are...

• Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
• Cars 3
• Smurfs: The Lost Village
• The LEGO Batman Movie
• The LEGO Ninjago Movie

And the winner is...

If it weren't for the fact that Coco came out in the majority of countries this year, it could easily be said that 2017 was a weak one for animation. Between the mediocrity of the likes of Cars 3 to the disappointing interpretations of Captain Underpants and the Smurfs, we'd have a tricky situation here. Luckily though, LEGO Batman swooped in early on and ensured the victory was his, with an outright hilarious and excellent spin-off movie that proved that The LEGO Movie wasn't a fluke.

Best Supporting Actor

And the nominees are...

• Bill Skarsgård - It
• Hugh Grant - Paddington 2
• Patrick Stewart - Logan
• Ray Romano - The Big Sick
• Taika Waititi - Thor: Ragnarok

And the winner is...

Patrick Stewart has proven time and time again that he is a phenomenal actor, but with this farewell feature from arguably his most beloved cinematic role, he brings his all as a broken man who's but a shell of his former self. Logan was heartbreaking for a number of reasons, and Stewart's performance is easily one of them.

Biggest Surprise of 2017

And the nominees are...

• Blade Runner 2049
• Get Out
• It
• The Big Sick
• The Death of Stalin

And the winner is...

A comedian taking on horror should be bad, right? Like, no one other than Jordan Peele could possibly make this sort of magic happen, surely? Anyway, while the trailers did look promising, the final product of Get Out was such a monumental success that people are still talking about it nearly a year on. And it deserves to be.

Biggest Disappointment of 2017

And the nominees are...

• Alien: Covenant
• Beauty and the Beast
• Smurfs: The Lost Village
• The Mummy
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

And the winner is...

Valerian should have been amazing. Its opening five minutes are gorgeous and are a good look at a version of humanity that's driven by peace and diversity, while a segment with Rihanna of all people is actually a little bit fun. But the rest was just dull, and lead by a miscast Dane DeHaan who's just a bit creepy with his "love" for co-star Cara Delevingne. At least the CGI was alright though.

Best Orignal Song

And the nominees are...

• Another Day of Sun - La La Land cast (La La Land)
• City of Stars - Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone (La La Land)
• Guardians United - The Sneepers ft. David Hasselhoff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
• Who's the (Bat)Man - Patrick Stump (The LEGO Batman Movie)

And the winner is...

This year has arguably been a little weak when it comes to original songs (at least, the ones I can remember), so bless La La Land for coming to us in January and presenting us with an onslaught of great show tunes. 'City of Stars' wins out overall though because it's a quieter story, and one that's a lot more personal to the two lead characters.

Best Original Score

And the nominees are...

• Benjamin Wallfish and Hans Zimmer - Blade Runner 2049
• Justin Hurwitz - La La Land
• Lorne Balfe - The LEGO Batman Movie
• Mark Mothersbaugh - Thor: Ragnarok
• Michael Giacchino - War for the Planet of the Apes

And the winner is...

Again, movie scores have been a bit disappointing, with some only having a couple of good tracks, and Spider-Man: Homecoming blowing its load early with its stellar redo of the classic theme tune, which is why La La Land once again takes the win. It's full of heart and joy yet sadness and sorrow when needed, and alongside the original songs really drives this film home.

Best Director

And the nominees are...

• Damien Chazelle - La La Land
• Denis Villeneuve - Blade Runner 2049
• Edgar Wright - Baby Driver
• Jordan Peele - Get Out
• Taika Waititi - Thor: Ragnarok

And the winner is...

Edgar Wright is undeniably one of the best directors working in the industry today, and with him finally getting all the Hollywood toys to play with after a solid trilogy and a great comic book adaptation, his true might is presented on screen and it is glorious. Long may we look out for his films and adore them.

Best Actress (Mainstream)

And the nominees are...

• Charlize Theron - Atomic Blonde
• Dafne Keen - Logan
• Daisy Ridley - Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman
• Karin Konoval - War for the Planet of the Apes

And the winner is...

Karin Konoval is something of an unsung hero in the Apes franchise. While co-star Andy Serkis gets all the praise (and rightly so) and Toby Kebbell got plenty of attention for his role as Koba in the previous film, Konoval has gone through all three films and goes largely forgotten. So this potential final turn as Maurice, it's time she got her dues and becomes more recognised. Besides, she's so good in this.

Best Actress (Dramatic)

And the nominees are...

• Anne Hathaway - Colossal
• Felicity Jones - A Monster Calls
• Jessica Chastain - Miss Sloane/Molly's Game
• Taraji P. Henson - Hidden Figures
• Zoe Kazan - The Big Sick

And the winner is...

It was far too difficult to separate between these two Chastain performances, as they are a bit similar and she clearly gives her all. Hence, she's double nominated, and in turn double wins, here with good reason. With Miss Sloane she's absolutely ruthless and goes head first into a major subject matter with gun control in America; whereas Molly's Game is more within the gambling industry and the fall of a strong woman so determined to have control that when the game goes the wrong way she falls so hard. 

Best Actor (Mainstream)

And the nominees are...

• Andy Serkis - War for the Planet of the Apes
• Ansel Elgort - Baby Driver
• Chris Hemsworth - Thor: Ragnarok
• Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out
• Hugh Jackman - Logan

And the winner is...

It was a true fight between Andy Serkis and Hugh Jackman this year. Both are saying goodbye to characters and franchises that have made them iconic, and both give their all in amazing roles. However, Jackman cinches it not only because he's been this character for longer, but also because you can just tell how much this last movie means to him. His heartfelt farewell to one of the saving graces of the Fox comic book line is one that all his contemporaries will be looking to for decades to come, as he truly raises the bar high for a genre that's in danger of stagnation.

Plus, Andy Serkis won for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, so let's share.

Best Actor (Dramatic)

And the nominees are...

• Chris Evans - Gifted
• James Franco - The Disaster Artist
• John Boyega - Detroit
• Kumail Nanjiani - The Big Sick
• Lewis MacDougall - A Monster Calls

And the winner is...

I know what you're thinking - this is a film based on Kumail Nanjiani's actual life. How can basically playing yourself in your own life story amount to a Best Actor win? Well, for that exact reason: because he's playing a version of himself in a film about himself and he aces it. It's clear that this is something close to his heart and the factor that he puts his all into his performance nails the exact nature of what makes a great actor.

Worst Picture

And the nominees are...

• Despicable Me 3
• Ghost in the Shell
• Justice League
• mother!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge
• Power Rangers
• The Dark Tower
• The Emoji Movie
• The Mummy
• Transformers: The Last Knight

And the winner is...

While the likes of Justice League and Transformers: The Last Knight are genuinely bad from a filmmaking standard, The Emoji Movie succeeds over the rest because it's so mismanaged, so irritating and so unnecessary that, together with an outright screenplay and a disinterested voice cast, it makes me the absolute worst thing to come out of this year. At least, worst thing cinematically.

Best Picture

And the nominees are...

• Baby Driver
• Get Out
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
• It
• La La Land
• Logan
• Manchester by the Sea
• The Big Sick
• The LEGO Batman Movie
• Thor: Ragnarok

And the winner is...

Yes, it does have its flaws - as so many people have explained to me - but this old-school Hollywood musical still remains my favourite film of the entire year. Now here's hoping 2018 doesn't repeat the past two years and releasing the best of the year at the very beginning.

Top 10 Films for 2018

2018 starts in a matter of days, and with it brings a whole new slew of exciting, thought-provoking and maybe even good movies. However, to make things a little bit different this time around, I've elected to not include holdovers from last year i.e the Oscar contenders that the UK is getting across the first quarter of the year. So a moment of silence for the following films that unfortunately couldn't make the cut:

• All the Money in the World
• Coco
• Darkest Hour
• I, Tonya
• Lady Bird
• The Breadwinner
• The Post
• The Shape of Water
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

That being said, on we go!

Honourable Mention: Ocean's 8

Look, say what you will about the recent onslaught of female-driven remakes such as Ghostbusters, but giving women the power is something that the film industry has been desperately been needing to do for years, and as proven by the massive success of Wonder Woman (regardless of what you actually made of the film) there's clearly a calling for more of these films. This is where Ocean's 8 comes in, with a change to the usual formula for this series by shrinking the group down from 11 to 8 (is this a commentary on the female page wage being less than men's or because they can do more with less? We can only wait and see) and with a solid looking first trailer a few weeks back. Why honourable? Because while it looks solid, I'm not too excited about it yet. Yet.

#10: Early Man

Last year this slot went to the brilliant Paddington 2, and this year it's another British children's staple with Aardman Animations and Nick Park, the brains behind Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit. You don't get many Stone Age-based movies, but this children's comedy about cavemen going against a new age is a solid premise, and with Eddie Redmayne and a strange-sounding Tom Hiddleston in lead roles, this could be a big hit and yet another win for the little stop-motion company that could.

#9: A Wrinkle in Time

Ava DuVernay has proven herself to be one of the most aspirational directors out there, with both Selma and Netflix documentary 13th garnering massive critical reviews and growing in importance consistently, so Disney giving not only one of the more complex-looking movies but also one of the inventive makes this adaptation all the more stimulating. Plus she seems to have full control over what's going on, and from a mega-corporation like Disney, that's excellent.

#8: First Man

Every year I've done this look ahead of the next year, a Damien Chazelle film has made the cut. Largely because I've only done this twice before and La La Land was pushed back to 2017 in the UK, but I digress: the guy's clearly a talent, as between that and Whiplash he's made a name for himself that few have managed to do before so quickly. And with this Neil Armstrong biopic, he may finally shut people up who complain that he only makes films about jazz. Plus it's Ryan Gosling, who is really at a career high right now between La La Land, Blade Runner 2049, and The Nice Guys.

#7: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Surely we should be suffering from Spider-Man fatigue by this point? I mean, this will be his ninth cinematic venture after Avengers: Infinity War, which puts in right on par for when Batman got his own animated mov- ohhhhh, I see you Sony! Following in the footsteps of LEGO Batman and releasing an animated movie that takes the character in a new way, and even bringing in LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller to helm this new iteration. Luckily for the often terrible Sony Animation division (*cough* The Emoji Movie *cough*), this does look to be a genuinely good movie, with the recent teaser looking gorgeous and presenting an interesting aesthetic to it all. Plus, we're finally getting Miles Morales in a movie, and that's taken far too long. 

#6: Ready Player One

Ignoring the hilarity that is Tye Sheridan's abnormally long leg in the recent poster, this Spielberg-helmed nerdfest is set to be a massive deal, and the trailers have been really honing it in with all the pop culture references that this adaptation is filled with. But overlooking the exciting thoughts of the Iron Giant and Freddy Krueger being in the same movie, this is nonetheless looking to be a solid blockbuster. Plus Olivia Cooke is in, so bonus points there.

#5: Black Panther

Black Panther is Marvel Studios' first non-white male-led movie and they're truly going all out with it. Already cementing the titular character's popularity with an origin within Captain America: Civil War and clearly set to be an important aspect of Infinity War, Marvel is basing a lot of the attention of this new-looking movie in their rich and somewhat formulaic universe and giving it some true diversity. February can't come soon enough.

#4: Isle of Dogs

In recent years, it appears that Wes Anderson can do no wrong. Between his massive awards success with The Grand Budapest Hotel and the charming Moonrise Kingdom (plus that one H&M advert with Adrien Brody), he's only growing in popularity. But here he returns to a previously successful venture (Fantastic Mr Fox) and bringing in an original story with yet another all-star cast of prestige actors. The story is intriguing, the animation beautiful, and the very idea of sitting down to a new Anderson film is enough to get me excited.

#3: Deadpool 2

Deadpool was somehow one of the biggest hits of 2016, something that could never have been expected back when that first little bit of test footage leaked online. And here we are, highly anticipating the next entry in an unlikely franchise. And with John Wick director David Leitch taking over this film does look a lot better, not to mention really going in with the jokes (that Bob Ross teaser was utter hilarity), this looks to be an improvement on the last one. Let's just hope it delivers.

#2: Incredibles 2

The Incredibles is my second favourite Pixar movie and possibly second favourite movie period, beaten only by Pixar's previous entry Finding Nemo. Everyone has been wanting a sequel from the original for the past decade and I'm glad Brad Bird waited until he had an actual story in mind before he pulled the trigger and started production, and I'm beyond excited to see what's next for the best superhero family out there. My only gripe is the change in character designs, but considering the large gap between movies and the growth of the medium (hell, I've praised how much better belated sequels Finding Dory. Cars 3 and Monsters University look against their predecessors) it's natural that they'll look a bit weird to start with. It's showtime.

#1: Avengers: Infinity War

This is a film 10 years and 18 movies in the making, and what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to. Of course it was going to be number one. Amidst fears of overcrowding and Scarlett Johansson's new blonde look, this is set to be one of the biggest films in years, and the fact that this may still be only part one of a massive arc conclusion is all the more tantalising.

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.

Editorial: The Best of 2017

So... hello there.

2017 is practically at a close, and it's been a bit of a quiet one here on this blog. Largely my own fault, thanks to seeing fewer movies than in 2016 and putting more of my efforts into university than into, well, watching and reviewing what I see. To those who you genuinely are interested in what I have to say, I apologise for my absence, and if you are interested in what I thought of each and every one of the films I've seen this year, you can find short individual reviews on my Letterboxd account. However, a year without many reviews doesn't mean I can't go through the usual end of year celebrations, so let's start with the big one.

Honourable Mention - War for the Planet of the Apes

The Planet of the Apes franchise was hit with a major blow when this third and potentially final entry grossed a surprisingly low amount at the US box office, which is a big loss on their part as they missed out on a solid conclusion to the Caesar arc. Andy Serkis continues to impress as the world gets even darker, and while the film isn't without its major flaws, it nevertheless helps preserve itself as being one of the best blockbusters trilogies we've ever seen. This is how you do a rebooted franchise.

10. It

2017 was amazing for horror - so amazing that even I went out to watch them. It was a film that should have been doomed: a version of the complete novel had already been done with an iconic Tim Curry as Pennywise; it went through multiple screenwriters and directors across its 8-year production process, and it came out a year after Stranger Things had seemingly cornered the 80s sci-fi horror market. And yet, it worked. With genuine frights, some intentionally hilarious moments and a great cast of kids, this first instalment became perhaps the first great Stephen King adaptation since The Green Mile. Bring on Chapter 2 in 2019.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Yeah, I liked it more than Spider-Man: Homecoming, come at me then. While the first is superior, this highly-anticipated sequel still hit some major laughs and some heartfelt moments, and with the incredibly colourful direction from returning director/screenwriter James Gunn adding new life to the previously darker-looking film, this was a really fun film. But next time, perhaps hire more than one screenwriter to tidy things up a bit more.

8. Thor: Ragnarok

AHHHHHHHHHHHH-AHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHH-AHHHH! This film was an absolute blast, finally striking the right bolt of lightning this franchise needed after the dull Dark World. Taika Waititi proves that a small-time director playing with the toys of major players doesn't mean he loses his touch as he brings his typical comedic chops in and creates what may have been the most fun movie experience of the year. Add a Hulk gladiator fight and a number of Led Zepplin fight sequences and what you have is a great entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the best one this year.

7. Logan

I write this about a week after the world-shattering news that Disney bought 20th Century Fox, and while the potential of the X-Men and Fantastic Four joining the MCU is a nice enough one on paper, I'm honestly quite disheartened by it. Not just because of the ramifications of the whole process on the entirety of Hollywood, but also because Fox had finally got an understanding of what to do with their X-Men brand at long last. Deadpool is looking to be a great and rude comedy franchise, The New Mutants looks to be an enticing horror mash-up, and Logan was a gritty Western and the best last hurrah a long-standing character like Wolverine could have hoped for. While it is perhaps a little too predictable (mention a bullet early on? You know it'll be involved later) and the villains are a rather small part of it all, that isn't the point - it's setting up a new generation of multi-cultural heroes while paying tribute to the great that came before, with both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart being absolutely sublime.

6. The Big Sick

On paper, The Big Sick isn't much. A true story retelling of how lead Kumail Nanjiani met his wife and what happened after should be a standard thing with nothing new to add, and yet here it is in my top ten of the year. Why? Because it's genuine. Because it's full of heart and humour and clearly with a lot of love put into it. Because the performances from the core group are amazing and you leave feeling good. It's one of the best original films to come out this year, and I'm glad that many on the awards circuit are giving it the love it deserves.

5. Get Out

A horror film written and directed by a comedian? That should be awful. And yet here's Get Out - an excellent first film by Jordan Peele that somehow has ended up being one of the best of the year. With a great set-up and being a great depiction of racism in a time that's grown all the more scary, there's not a lot to say that people haven't already said - it's the reason so many have commended horror movies this year and proved so many things wrong just by merely existing. 

4. The LEGO Batman Movie

While the DC Extended Universe continues to struggle in 2017 with an okay Wonder Woman and the nigh-unwatchable Justice League, the LEGO brand was the glimmer hope that'll keep the Batman brand going for a good while longer. The perfect parody of the character's long history while creating a great new story that actually takes the character somewhere, The LEGO Batman Movie was a hilarious joy-ride that opens strong and only continue to make laugh, smile and maybe even tear up. And while the second half goes maybe a little too mad with more than a few special appearances, that doesn't stop the fun from growing. Not bad for a film starring a guy who apparently doesn't even pay his taxes.

3. Manchester by the Sea

On one hand, Casey Affleck is a bit of a controversial actor, with the majority of people disliking the guy for things I'd rather not go into on here (let's just say I'm in agreement with them). On the other hand, though, he shows off his acting chops in full force here, as together with a dark screenplay by Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan he leads the way in a great movie with real characters and real emotion. Don't let the artist ruin the art; appreciate it for what you can.

2. Baby Driver

Likewise, Baby Driver was hit hard by the Kevin Spacey revelations. Thankfully, this Edgar Wright tale succeeds in more ways than just his performance, as this thrilling musical comedy is a riot throughout. From its Bellbottoms-based opening sequence to a rock 'n' roll showdown, Baby Driver was so much better than it had any right to be and continues to be one I return to whenever I feel like it.

1. La La Land

For me, this was the Best Picture of the year. This brand new romantic musical by Whiplash director Damien Chazelle had it all and then some: charm, heart, toe-tapping tunes and a great duo performance by repeat on-screen couple Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll fall in love all at the same time, and was by a good distance the best film released in the UK this year.