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Your ratings of movies from 2017 (1 Viewer)

benbess

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My rating for The Greatest Showman: B

The music and lyrics were mostly good enough for me, but being so 21st century it seemed quite disconnected from the era.

More than that, I felt that most of the characters were underdeveloped. It felt like it was once a longer movie, but that a lot of it got left on the cutting room floor.

Still, a movie musical is a rare thing these days, and I felt that it's basic message was good. Enjoyed it.
 

Jake Lipson

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Downsizing: B-
The Shape of Water: A
Molly's Game: A+
All the Money in the World: B

Upon further reflection, I'm also going to lower my grade for Greatest Showman to a D, because it really didn't work for me on any level and further reflection on it has only made it seem worse. But something like this is likely to depend on my mood in relation to the film at any given time.

It's also important to note that I'm not grading these films in relation to each other, but individually in relation to their own potential.
 
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benbess

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Revised and updated list, now in order from my favorites to my least favorites.

I only had MoviePass for the last 3 months of this year, but I think I saw about twice as many movies in the theater as usual. In 2018, if mp lasts the whole year, I might see 3-4 times as many movies in the theater.

The Last Jedi: A+
The Man Who Invented Christmas: A
The Shape of Water: A-
Marshall: A-
Battle of the Sexes: A-
Dunkirk: A-
Murder on the Orient Express: A-
Wind River: A-
Goodbye Christopher Robin: A-
Wonder Woman: A-
IT: A-
Coco: A-
Beauty and the Beast: A-
Only the Brave: B+
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women: B+
Their Finest: B+
Detroit: B+
My Cousin Rachel: B+
Wonder: B+
Victoria and Abdul: B+
Loving Vincent: B+
Bladerunner 2049: B+
Lady Bird: B+
Novitiate: B+
Wonderstruck: B
Thor Ragnarok: B
Annabelle Creation: B
The Big Sick: B
All the Money in the World: B
The Greatest Showman: B
Happy Death Day: B
The Lost City of Z: B
Spiderman Homecoming: B
Stronger: B
Rebel in the Rye: B
Mark Felt, The Man Who Brought Down the White House: B
All I See Is You: B-
Roman J. Israel, Esq.: B-
War for the Planet of the Apes: B-
Baby Driver: C+
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri: C+
The Mountain Between Us: C
Alien Covenant: C-
Justice League: C-
Mother!: C-
 
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Edwin-S

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The Last Jedi: C
Dunkirk: B in standard/ A- in 15/70 IMAX
Murder on the Orient Express: Need to see
Wind River: Need to see
Wonder Woman: B+
Coco: A-
Their Finest: Need to see
Bladerunner 2049: B
Thor Ragnarok: A-
The Lost City of Z: B
Spiderman Homecoming: B
Baby Driver: B+
Atomic Blonde: B
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: C+
Lego Batman: B-
CARS 3: B
 
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JohnRice

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I'll just name my favorite movie I saw for the first time this year.

A Monster Calls

An extremely close second goes to Arrival. I really thought it would be my favorite, and while it can be argued it's the more significant movie, I can't get over how much I love A Monster Calls.

Favorite movie I saw this year, but missed when it originally came out, Perfect Sense (2011). Definitely not for everyone, but, WOW.
 

benbess

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I'll just name my favorite movie I saw for the first time this year.

A Monster Calls

An extremely close second goes to Arrival. I really thought it would be my favorite, and while it can be argued it's the more significant movie, I can't get over how much I love A Monster Calls.

Favorite movie I saw this year, but missed when it originally came out, Perfect Sense (2011). Definitely not for everyone, but, WOW.

Thanks for your ratings/recommends. Doesn't matter much, but Arrival and A Monster calls are both movies from 2016, not 2017.
 

AshJW

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I'm not familiar enough with your school ratings, so I rated these at per cent.

These are the film I saw this year:
La La Land = 95% (I know this is from 2016, this is my MOVIE OF THE YEAR 2016! btw ;))
Hacksaw Ridge = 85%
Logan = 90%
(The Evil Dead = 90%)
Free Fire
= 85%
Ghost in the Shell = 80%
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 = 85%
Kundschafter des Friedens = 85%
Wonder Woman = 85%
(The Fifth Element = 100%)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
= 85%
Dunkirk = 80%
Atomic Blonde = 85%
Blade Runner 2049 = 90% -> my MOVIE OF THE YEAR 2017!
Star Wars - The Last Jedi (twice) = 90%
 

Jake Lipson

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Happy New Year everyone.

I did a double feature yesterday to close the book on 2017, and I have now seen every major film that I want to see which is currently available in wide release. (Other films like The Post, Call Me By Your Name and Phantom Thread are from 2017 but haven't opened near me yet.)

Anyway, my new grades are:

Darkest Hour - F
Pitch Perfect 3 - A

and I'm going to lower Downsizing to a D, because it didn't really work and I think I was too generous with it the first time I saw it.

I should also reiterate that I grade things in relation to what I think each project's individual potential is, not in relation to each other. So Pitch Perfect 3 gets an A because it exceeded my expectations and did something new and different for that franchise, and I don't think that a substantially better version of Pitch Perfect 3 than what we got is possible. It fulfilled its greatest potential, so that's an A. But that doesn't necessarily mean I think it's on the same level as The Shape of Water or Molly's Game which I previously gave A grades to. But judged only against itself, it delivers what it promises.

And yes, I went there with Darkest Hour, which I absolutely hated. Nothing happens in this film. It was technically proficient, but nothing happens in that film. It's two hours of watching Churchill debate whether or not to engage in peace talks with Hitler, and if you want anything of substance to happen based on it, you have to go watch Dunkirk, which is an entirely different movie from a different creative team. I've seen worse movies in 2017, but I haven't seen a more boring waste of time one. At least the ones that are actually worse were kind of interesting in a trainwreck sort of way, but this didn't even have that. The only reason I didn't leave in the middle and go see something else across the hall is because Darkest Hour's out time left me with just enough time to get re-seated for Pitch Perfect, and I was afraid that if I went into something else I would miss when to leave for that.
 
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benbess

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I still think that Darkest Hour is a good movie overall, but, unfortunately, after watching it I found out that a few key things in it are completely made up. I know that almost all movies based on history are a mix of fact and fiction, but the proportions are important. Darkest Hour, with its tight historical focus on just about a month in May of 1940, and with a calendar prominently switching dates, gives the impression of historical accuracy. But it is only that—an impression. The subway section of the film, which is rather key, was completely invented for the film. Didn't happen. And in fact Churchill's wavering also seems to be mostly invented. Finally, the secretary who was fictionalized for the film didn't even start working for him until 1941. Anyway, I felt let down by those invented elements in the film. I think the real story is dramatic enough without inventing things right and left.

I prefer it when movies based on history mostly stick to the facts as known, but then invent plausible behind-the-scenes elements for what we need to speculate on. For the most part, I think The Crown hits that balance. James Cameron's Titanic did too. But Argo a few years ago, with its totally invented ending, similarly made me feel like Darkest Hour—like the carpet had been pulled from beneath my feet. All the Money in the World is also as much fiction as it is fact.

Anyway, I re-rate Darkest Hour a "B".

And here's an article that talks about the fact and fiction in Darkest Hour:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/12/08/what_s_fact_and_what_s_fiction_in_darkest_hour.html
 
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benbess

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Revising my ratings for a few things, as I've now probably seen almost everything I feel I need to see from 2017, except for Phantom Thread and maybe a couple of others....Strange that I seemed to be the only person I know of (aside from my wife) who fell in love with The Man Who Invented Christmas.


The Last Jedi: A+
The Man Who Invented Christmas: A
The Post: A-
The Shape of Water: A-
Marshall: A-
Battle of the Sexes: A-
Dunkirk: A-
Murder on the Orient Express: A-
Wind River: A-
Goodbye Christopher Robin: A-
Wonder Woman: A-
IT: A-
Coco: A-
Beauty and the Beast: A-
Only the Brave: B+
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women: B+
Their Finest: B+
Detroit: B+
My Cousin Rachel: B+
Wonder: B+
Victoria and Abdul: B+
The Greatest Showman: B+
Loving Vincent: B+
Bladerunner 2049: B+
Lady Bird: B+
Novitiate: B+
Wonderstruck: B+
Thor Ragnarok: B+
Annabelle Creation: B+
The Big Sick: B
All the Money in the World: B
Darkest Hour: B
Happy Death Day: B
The Lost City of Z: B
Spiderman Homecoming: B
Stronger: B
Rebel in the Rye: B
Mark Felt, The Man Who Brought Down the White House: B
All I See Is You: B-
Roman J. Israel, Esq.: B-
War for the Planet of the Apes: B-
Baby Driver: C+
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri: C+
The Mountain Between Us: C
Alien Covenant: C-
Justice League: C-
Mother!: C-
 

TravisR

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Here's my list of favorites from 2017 (alphabetically):

The Big Sick
Coco
Dunkirk
Good Time
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
Star Wars: Episode VIII- The Last Jedi
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Wind River

Being a huge Star Wars fan, The Last Jedi was easily my favorite movie of the year and I've already seen it probably more times than I'll see any other of these movies for the rest of my life.

And a dozen honorable mentions (alphabetically): Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me By Your Name, Colossal, Detroit, The Disaster Artist, Get Out, Logan Lucky, Molly’s Game, mother!, The Shape Of Water and Wonderstruck.

EDIT: It's a TV show but the return of Twin Peaks was incredible and was the best thing I saw last year.
 
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