Top 10 Worst Movies of 2017

Dishonorable Mentions:

Transformers: The Last Knight, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, The Bye Bye Man, The Circle, The Snowman

There also bad movies like Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, Geostorm, The Nut Job 2, Sandy Wexler, and Wish Upon that I didn’t see this year. So if you’re wondering why none of them are on the list, that’s why.

#10: The Mummy: The Mummy is one of those movies I was hoping against hope was going to be good. I wanted to see a cinematic universe based on the Universal movie monsters succeed. Tom Cruise was completely miscast. References to the original movies were just crammed in there carelessly. The one thing that keeps it fairly low on the list for me is the mummy herself. At the very least, I found the title character interesting. Everything else was just kind of a mess.

#9: Baywatch: The movie's three leads have some good chemistry with one another, and occasionally the movie got a laugh out of me. However, Priyanka Chopra (a capable actress) is awful as the film's main villain, and a lot of the comedy just falls flat. This is a case of everything coming together to make a movie that should work, and just plain doesn't.

#8: The Dark Tower: Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are trying. Unfortunately, the story is a mess. The directing is bland. The pacing is terrible. The writing never seems to work. Similar to the previous two movies I mentioned, this should have worked, but didn't.

#7: Rings: This is a movie where a subplot involving Johnny Galecki is far more interesting than the actual main plot of this movie. Part of that easily could be that Johnny Galecki has more talent and charisma in his thumb than the two main leads of the movie. The opening scene is one of the absolute worst I think I have ever seen because it pisses all over the lore of the original Ring movie.

#6: Flatliners: Flatliners is pretty poorly acted by a very talented cast. The direction feels conflicted. I don’t know if this movie wanted to be psychological or popcorn fun, whether or not it wanted to be a horror movie or a sci-fi movie. If anything, Flatliners has one of the most appropriate titles ever.

#5: All Eyez on Me: Most of the bad movies I saw this year were mostly disappointing more than anything else. I am a huge fan of rapper Tupac Shakur. This is a guy who had a fascinating life. A biography based on him deserves far better than the equivolance of a greatest hits album in movie form

#4: Unforgettable: I feel like you get a movie like this every year. Last year, it was When the Bough Breaks. The thing they all seem to have in common is that they are just awful. What sets this one apart for me is that it stars Katherine Heigl. This may just be the most inappropriately titled movie of the year. The one thing this movie has going for it is Rosario Dawson.

#3: CHiPs: I can’t say enough just how much I hated CHiPs. If Baywatch at least had the chemistry between its leads, this movie doesn’t even have that. The comedy doesn’t work. The mystery doesn’t work. The action doesn’t work. CHiPs doesn’t work.

#2: The Emoji Movie: This is nothing more than a corporate sellout with awful jokes, uninteresting characters, and a lazy, played-out story. The only reason this isn’t number one is that I honestly thought the animation was decent

#1: Fifty Shades Darker: This movie is even worse than the first film. Somehow, the two leads are even less likable, and have less chemistry. I know nothing compared to this movie for me this year because it was the only movie this year that I couldn’t even find one redeeming thing in this steaming dumpster fire of dogshit.

Top 15 Best Movies of 2017

At this point, I have seen everything I think I can possibly see this year. There are movies that aren't going to be on my list like War for the Planet of the Apes, Coco, The Shape of Water, All the Money in the World, Molly's Game, and Blade Runner 2049 that aren't on my list because I just didn't get to see them. These are the movies I did see and loved this year. I watched a lot of good movies this year, and couldn't quite whittle it down to a top 10.

Honorable Mentions:

Happy Death Day, John Wick: Chapter 2, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Little Evil

#15: Star Wars: The Last Jedi: This is one of those movies that has really split the fan base. I think there some problems and flaws, but they were very minor for me. The overall experience I had was something that progressed the characters who needed to be progressed. I like that this movie took more chances than The Force Awakens, and because of that, I think I enjoyed this one more.

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#14: Free Fire: Free Fire truly felt like an early 90s Scorsese or Tarantino movie. It was fairly small scale, and dealt with the two groups stuck in a shootout in a warehouse for the whole movie, and had something of a jazz flair to it that I really liked.

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#13: Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman took a very different approach to the DCEU. It was set in a different time period, and didn't worry about trying to set up Justice League or any of the other ten movies yet to come in this universe. It told a story about a hero and her journey, and did it really well.

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#12: Lady Bird: I thought Lady Bird was a great coming-of-age, time capsule sort of movie. The performances were really strong all-around. I have it pretty low on the list for myself just because I don't see it having a lot of replay value for me personally.

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#11: Spider-Man: Homecoming: In my opinion, this is the best Spider-Man movie Spider-Man 2. It felt like a superhero movie told through a John Hughes lens. As far as I'm concerned, Tom Holland is the first actor I truly felt encompassed both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. This also the movie I think truly began to break the MCU movie villains curse. Michael Keaton as the Vulture was somebody you really understood and sympathized with.

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#10: The Lego Batman Movie: I feel like I missed out on a lot of the animated movies this year. Fortunately, this wasn't one of them. This movie truly understood the relationship between Batman and the Joker. It was funny, but had a lot of depth to it, and proved that good satire isn't dead yet.

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#9: It: It is the most recent movie I reviewed, and already I knew it deserved a spot on my best of the year list. The movie had some genuinely good creepy moments, but it didn't solely rely on them. The movie remembered to actually have characters you understood and related to. It also made you feel Pennywise's presence, even when he wasn't onscreen.

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#8: Thor: Ragnarok: Taika Waititi truly put his stamp on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a movie that easily blows the other two Thor films out of the water. The movie had yet another fantastic Marvel villain in Hela, whose motivations were really easy to understand. This is a movie that laced a lot of its comedic elements with heart, but also knew when and where to pump you up for the ride you're going to go on.

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#7: Split: Split makes me happiest because it gave us a really good M. Night Shyamalan movie for the first time in over a decade. It is a movie that has genuine suspense and is carried by two excellent lead performances by James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy. The twist ending is also amazing, and isn't something you'd ever really be able to see coming.

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#6: Get Out: I am amazed that a man who is only really known for comedy can make his directorial debut with a phenomenal horror-suspense film. This is a movie that tackles the idea of racism in America in an incredibly unique and subversive way. The acting, writing, and directing all make this a movie worth talking about.

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#5: Wind River: This is an incredibly heavy movie with the best acting I think I have ever seen from Jeremy Renner. It is a story that is based on true accounts, and actually can be eye-opening for a story you may not have known about.

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#4: Logan: Logan was the perfect send-off for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but it still leaves the potential for more stories to still be told. It's a comic book movie that doesn't feel like a comic book movie. There's actually a sense of heartbreak to Logan, and sense of realism you might not have expected from a movie like this.

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#3: The Disaster Artist: I am a fan of the movie The Room, and this is one of those movies I was excited about from the minute I heard it was happening. From both an acting and directing standpoint, James Franco owns this movie, and gives one of the best performances of his career. The Disaster Artist is a movie that truly is about the American dream, and does in a very unique way.

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#2: Baby Driver: Baby Driver is the most recent movie from Edgar Wright. This is stylish adrenaline rush backed up by an awesome soundtrack.

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#1: I, Tonya: I honestly don't know a ton about Tonya Harding beyond the incident. This was a movie that showed that maybe Tonya Harding wasn't a monster, but was a human being. I don't know how much of this was based in fact, and how much of it was based in fiction. I just know I saw a movie with a great story and fantastic lead performance from Margot Robbie.

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It

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It is a retelling of the Stephen King classic, updating for modern day, in a way. Instead of the kids living in the 50s, they live in the 80s. This makes sense considering this film adaptation is being split in two. This first part focuses solely on the characters as kids, while the upcoming sequel will focus on the characters as adults. I would like to start with the negatives I had towards this movie because they were really just minor nitpicks. I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the slow motion used in the movie. It never really felt like it added to the story, or that it was even all that necessary. Other than that, I think this movie improves on the original just about every way possible. In the original, you only saw one group of bullies target all of these kids. In this one, you actually get a little more on how cruel middle and high school girls can really be in addition to the stereotypical bullies. A lot of the characters feel more fleshed out. You actually see and understand their fears a lot better in this movie. The scares work better because, in a lot of ways, they feel more psychological. It also helps that the kids who make up the Losers’ club genuinely feel like people you know, whether you knew people who were like them, or were a person who was like them. The main bully is done a lot better in this movie as well. They actually show why he is a bully at all, and make him somewhat sympathetic. Pennywise is a fantastic villain in this movie, and is played to perfection by Bill Skarsgard. He doesn’t appear that much throughout the movie in the grand scheme of things, but you can always feel his presence. I loved Tim Curry in the original, but he felt a lot more like a creepy guy dressed up like a clown. Pennywise in this movie feels more like an otherworldly creature that’s pretending to be human. It feels much more off-putting and creepy. Overall, It works because of strong characters and performances despite some minor nitpicks.

9 / 10

Dunkirk

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Dunkirk is directed by Christopher Nolan and features an ensemble cast that includes Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, and Kenneth Branagh, This is a movie that just kind of throws you right into the actual event, which is an intriguing way to go about things. The character development feels pretty thin for the most part. Admittedly, I don’t think this was necessarily important to the movie because the event seemed like the most essential element of the movie more than anything. Most of the character development that actually seemed to be there was involved in the scenes with Mark Rylance and Cillian Murphy. You understand Rylance’s character, a man who isn’t officially part of the military, but is still willing to do what he can to help. You also under Murphy’s character, a man who is traumatized by the events of the war, even if you never actually see exactly what he saw. Because of this, these two stood out to me among a cast that was great all around. Christopher Nolan’s direction is phenomenal, as should be expected. Nowhere is this more evident than in the battle scenes (especially the dogfights). There’s a genuine level of grit and intensity to them. This movie is under two hours, and I think that is the perfect length for this movie. This is due to what they wanted to accomplish with this movie. The pacing didn’t always work for me. There were times where I legitimately felt that it dragged, and moments where I was starting to feel antsy. That could be because there were only two characters who truly felt developed to me, and two characters were only I felt fully invested in. In my opinion, the opening and the climax are fantastic, and they serve as perfect bookends for this movie. Do I think Dunkirk is the masterpiece it’s been built up to be? No. Do I think this movie ranks among Christopher Nolan’s best work? No. Is this movie flawed? Yes. Is this a good movie that is still worth a rent? Yes.

7 / 10       

I, Tonya

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I, Tonya is based off of allegedly true interviews. The basis of the movie is controversial skater Tonya Harding (played by Margot Robbie). This movie could have easily just portayed Tonya Harding as a punchline, or the basis of a cheap joke. They really don’t, and I kind of like that. They actually show that she is a person herself. In a way, they actually make her more sympathetic. That is probably going to be the most controversial thing about this movie. I don’t know necessarily how much of this movie is true. What’s presented in the movie is a woman who seemed to face a lot of physical and emotional abuse from both her mother and her husband. I also kind of appreciate that they don’t necessarily make Tonya the most likable person either. There are several points in this movie where they break the fourth wall. This is something that can easily be off-putting to most people, but it never really bothered me. It adds to the dark sense of humor that is laced throughout the movie. A lot of humor works because there is a tragedy laced underneath a lot of it, and it never detracts from the overall movie or story. The acting in this movie is great. I feel like Sebastian Stan as Tonya Harding’s husband, Jeff Gillooly is going to be heavily overlooked, and I don’t feel that’s fair to his performance. Allison Janney is incredible as Harding’s mother, who pushed her to the brink, trying to make Tonya a better skater. As great as I feel Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney are in this, the movie belongs to Margot Robbie. She feels almost unrecognizable in this, making for what may go down as one of (if not the best) performance of her career. This is one of those rare movies where you see the characters, not the actors playing them.

10 / 10

Lady Bird

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Lady Bird is a film about the relationship between a teenage girl (played by Saoirse Ronan) and her mother (played by Laurie Metcalf). As a character, Lady Bird is actually really relatable and easy to understand. She has a strained relationship with her mother. She wants to go to school in New York, which her mother doesn’t necessarily agree with. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve been through the things Lady Bird has been through. High school has a lot of turbulent moments to it. This movie feels a lot like an image of high school. The dramatic moments feel real. The comedic moments feel real. A lot of the comedy in this movie is very dry and deadpan. It’s done pretty well, and almost always gets a laugh. The heart of this movie truly is the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother. The two actresses do a strong job in this movie. In all honesty, this is Saoirse Ronan’s movie. This is probably one of the best performances she has given in her career so far. Beyond acting opposite Laurie Metcalf as her mother, she does phenomenal acting opposite Lucas Hedges as a guy she has a romantic interest in. Hedges also does a fantastic job as a teenage guy struggling with his own sexuality. The pacing of the movie is fairly slow overall, and it can be generally pretty off-putting for most people. For the most part, it worked pretty well for me. There were points for the movie where I did feel the pacing a touch, but not very often. This doesn’t need to be a fast-paced movie because it’s about a teenage girl and the ups and downs of her senior year of high school. Greta Gerwig’s direction is pretty good too. She really understands how to balance the comedy and drama together. Overall, Lady Bird works as a character piece, telling the story of a teenage girl working her way through life. This is a movie that I really do recommend.

9 / 10