My Filmyear: 2017

Filmjaar 2017 top 10 films beste

Another year is behind us, so it’s time to look back, also at my own movie year. Have I achieved the goals I’ve set for myself? Which titles received a perfect score? What were the worst ones? And of course…what were my top 10 movies of 2017?

Goals

Every year I think of some movie related goals which I want to achieve before the end of the year. This year those were:

1. Watch all the 2017 Blindspot films

2017 Blindspot films
There is always a big list of movies I feel I still have to see, often classics which I didn’t watch and also for this past year I picked out twelve titles. In the end I ended up watching eleven of them, which I don’t mind as much as the last one was a tv show instead of a movie.

2. Organising a second “Filmblog get together”


After the success of the first get together for Dutch movie bloggers and the energy it gave me, I had to organise a second one. It took place in may in KINO Rotterdam and was a lot of fun. I met some new bloggers who were also very enthusiastic and were already suggesting new locations for a new edition. A new one might be in the works for this year…

3. Grow Filmblogs.nl


Last year proved that new moviebloggers are still appearing on the scene, who also were interested in joining the platform I’ve created where the latest posts of them all can be found. I was also approached by TV- and radioprograms asking if I could help finding someone to talk to for their programs. Because of the number of blogs (over 50) it was easy to help them.

4. Start a new blogathon

15 Filmvragen Blogathon Filmkijker
This year I started a relay race to find out the ten best Christmas movies. It was fun following it as quite a few bloggers managed to get their entries in before Christmas.

Other highlights

2017 also meant some other highlights. The interview I did with Paul Verhoeven a few years ago, got published in a book. I also was interviewed by Bol.com (which is kind of like the Dutch version of Amazon) for their Christmas special. Two other Dutch blogs interviewed me as well.

My Filmviews tens

It doesn’t happen often that I give a movie a perfect score. That was also the case this past year. There were only three titles which left me with a “wow” feeling. Those were:

Coco

Recensie Coco

Your Name

Recensie Your Name

The Wailing

Recensie The Wailing

The statistics


Not everyone thinks they are important, but I always enjoy checking out my statistics at the end of the year to see how much time I spent on movies and series.

For 2017 these were the statistics:
I watched 305 movies (and shows), of which 7,4% were rewatches. That amounts to a total of 35485 minutes, which comes down to 591,4 hours or 24,6 days of non-stop movie watching.

The above image shows almost all the movies I saw in 2017. What were the worst ones and what were my favourites?

Worst movies

I’ve seen quite a lot of bad films and if I would write about all of them the list probably would be too long. These were the ones which got the lowest scores:

Descendants

Descendants

Of course I’m not part of the target audience for this Disney movie, which looks at the adventures of the children of various Disney villains. But it was a challenge to finish it.

The story of 90 coins


A short which was visually nice and made me think of a commercial for perfume or watches, but which tried to tell too much story in too little time. The end result was a film which lacked emotional impact.

The Legend of Hercules

Recensie The Legend of Hercules
Although I’ve written a review of it, I really can’t remember anything about this action movie.

Killing Gunther

Killing Gunther
I can’t help but check out Schwarzenegger movies, but this film was really bad. A movie which doesn’t take itself seriously, but still didn’t manage to entertain me enough.

The Circle

Recensie The Circle
This movie looked promising, starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanx, Bill Paxton and John Boyega in various roles. The concept reminded me of The Social Network, the execution was anything but. A messy film which tries to juggle way to many balls and lacks a clear message.

Assassin’s Creed

Recensie Assassin's creed
Movies based on games often fail and unfortunately Assassins Creed joined to films. The fact that it quickly becomes clear that the protagonist isn’t able to change anything results in an experience which lacks any excitement.

Top 10

No overview would be complete with the most important list, the top 10. What were the movies I most enjoyed in 2017? I have to say that it was really hard to pick only 10 as I had written down more than ten titles. I ended up with these:

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10. Atomic Blonde

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Review Atomic Blonde[/mlprx]
This spot could have easily had films like Spider-Man: Homecoming, Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk, Good Time or The Killing of a Sacred Deer. But it was the action fan in me which decided to pick this title in which Charlize Theron kicks ass in some awesome action scenes.

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9. The Founder

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Bespreking The Founder[/mlprx]
In advance I wasn’t expecting this movie, which is about the founder of McDonalds, to move me as much. An unbelievable story which shows that even successful companies sometimes have a dark side to their origin story. Michael Keaton was always a great actor and it’s cool to see he’s still able to show it with roles like this.

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8. Split

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Review Split[/mlprx]
M. Night Shyamalan seemed to had slowly lost his magic. The director who was famous for his twist endings has made some disappointing movies (The Last Airbender, The Happening) and had something to prove. And prove it he did! This movie was a very pleasant surprise which immediately makes me think of the /Film podcast, in which Jeff Cannata praises the film in such an energetic way. And he’s completely right.

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7. Manchester by the Sea

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Recensie Manchester by the Sea[/mlprx]
Casey Affleck shines in this drama about a man who struggles with his past, while also having to take responsibility for his teenage nephew, in a place he rather wouldn’t be. No surprise Affleck received an Oscar for his role.

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6. American Honey

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Recensie American Honey[/mlprx]
A film which isn’t flashy, but which realistically tells a story about a young woman who decides to join a group of teenagers and young adult selling magazines in order to pay for their costs. An emotional movie which shows a side of America you don’t see much on the big screen.

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5. Get Out

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Recensie Get Out[/mlprx]
A film which I watched three times and wouldn’t hesitate to watch again. A great film which might be called a horror, but which is so much more. It has a lot of humour and deals with issues of race. The scene in which actress Betty Gabriel manages to show various emotions so convincing in one scene is my favourite acting moment of the year.

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4. mother!

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Recensie Mother![/mlprx]
A title which I watched just before the end of the year, but which claimed a spot in my top 10 immediately. Aranosfky has made a divisive movie, which I loved. Not an easy watch, but which will make you feel something.

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3. You Were Never Really Here

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Recensie You Were Never Really Here[/mlprx]
Joaquin Phoenix impressed and transforms himself into a monster of a man. A movie which grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Not for those who can’t watch extreme violence and blood.

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2. Coco

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Review Coco[/mlprx]
When you manage as a studio to make an animated movie which manages to make you feel so much and wrap that inside a great story and visually impressive world, than you deserve a spot in my top three.

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1. Your Name

[/mlprx][mlprx effect=”fadeInRight” delay=”450″]Review Your Name[/mlprx]
The movie was a hit in Japan, where it earned 190 million dollar and was the most visited movie. But also in the rest of the world the film reached the cinema. Director Makoto Shinkai tells an impressive story about two teenagers who have a strange connection and keep waking up in each others bodies. What starts out as a simple body switch comedy turns out to be so much more, with a couple of unexpected twists. Visually it’s also beautiful.

What was your filmyear like and what were you favorites?

10 thoughts on “My Filmyear: 2017

  1. It was pretty good. Way better than the year before and my favorite film of 2017 so far is Dunkirk while I think the best first-timers I saw were Hoop Dreams and Rocco and His Brothers.

  2. I’m impressed to see mother! make your list…that one just didn’t mesh well with me, although it was great filmmaking.

    I definitely need to re-watch Get Out. I’ve only seen it once, but I loved it. I’m slowly putting my top 10 together, and that one will easily be in the top 5 🙂

    • It really was a movie I watched at the last moment and just couldn’t leave out. I understand if it’s not your thing…there really isn’t any middleground although good to see you did appreciate the filmmaking. Interested in your top 10!

  3. nice to see love for American Honey, Get Out, and Mother! which I also enjoyed.
    I keep hearing praise in the blogosphere for Your Name , I should check it out, thanks for the heads-up! Was blown away by the visuals in Shinkai’s previous film 5 Centimeters per Second

    • Good to hear!

      Try to check it out if you can. Yeah, the visuals in 5 Centimeters per Second were great. Which is also the case here, but the story is just as good.

  4. Great post! Man when you break down the hours we spend watching movies it kind of takes your breath away. As for your Top 10, I love these things. We actually do not share a single movie on our lists and I think it’s great. I love how different movies resonate with different people. Plus it always gives me some movies I still need to see.

    Happy 2018!

    • Thanks Keith, really appreciate you taking the time to read it. Yeah, once you calculate it, you do wonder a bit if you should spend all your time on them 😉

      Yeah, the fact that we don’t share one says something about the quality of the past year I think. There were tons which I considered.

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