Behind the scenes it has been a topsy turvy year for movies.
Not only have box office numbers dwindled alarmingly, but audiences have increasingly turned to the likes of Netflix and Amazon for home entertainment instead of heading out to the cinema, especially as their output has become more and more impressive.
And that’s before we even get to the most recent purchase of 20th Century Fox, which suggests that we’re growing closer and closer to the entire country being renamed The United States Of Disney sooner rather than later.
But while the above is certainly cause for concern, we can at least take solace in the fact that studios have continued to churn out stellar movie after stellar movie after stellar movie over the course of the last 12 months.
While there were the usual blockbusters disasters, failed franchise launches, and disappointing sequels, we have also been privy to new films from the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Edgar Wright, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg, Martin McDonagh, and Rian Johnson, while the latest installments to the DCEU and Star Wars franchises provoked a healthy debate, too.
At the same time the political and social upheaval, not just across the United States Of America, but the rest of the world, too, clearly made an impact on the way audiences watched and processed films.
Films on the freedom of the press (“The Post”), homosexual romances (“Call Me By Your Name”), police brutality (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), and the physical abuse of women (“I, Tonya”) have been embraced by audiences and critics alike, proving that cinema can connect people in a profound and impactful manner. Especially in comparison to the rage riddled ramblings of the world wide web.
But which have been the cream of the crop, and the films that will stick longest in the memory for decades to come? Without further ado, here are the 20 best films of 2017. According to me, anyway. Obviously.
