Best Movies of 2017 (May - August)

With so many good movies in the first third of the year, I had my doubts that summer could measure up. But while there are fewer really great movies on this list (or maybe I just didn't see as many really great movies), I was still pleasantly surprised by how many quality films opened during the cinematic junk food season. It's shaping up to a very good year at the movies. Again, these aren't top 10s or countdowns, just alphabetical lists of great movies I recommend.

Now on with the list,



Atomic Blonde

Not quite the female John Wick or James Bond the advertising promised, Atomic Blonde was still a kick-ass flick. Slickly shot, Charlize Theron is the reason to see this. Her performance as an ever-shifting secret agent in 1980s Berlin is just as hard to pin down as the plot itself. She's equal parts witheringly seductive, stoic as ice, and in the action scenes, brutal to a fault. Those action scenes, including a oner through an apartment building that's going to go down in history, are the other highlight. Not quite up to par with the John Wick movies the filmmakers made before, but still a joy to watch if you love a good fight scene. The story is somewhat convoluted and doesn't make complete sense, but with a great supporting cast of character actors, including James McAvoy in his second great performance of the year, and an awesome New Wave soundtrack, it's still a real winner.

Baby Driver

If Atomic Blonde had fight scenes, Baby Driver had car stunts. This movie had some of the most impressive stunt driving that's been on screen in forever and the main character's red Subaru deserves to be among the iconic movie cars. But as great as those stunts are, they wouldn't matter as much if the movie they were in wasn't up to snuff either. Thankfully, it is. Leave it to Edgar Wright to take the familiar story of "soft-hearted criminal does one last job to go straight" and add in so much heart and character. The cast are all great, Ansel Elgort especially as the lead makes a character that could have been insufferable very charming, and the dialogue is as sharp and funny as we expect from Wright. Throw in the second best soundtrack of the summer, and you've got a heck of a movie.

Dunkirk

Full disclosure: I was prepared to hate Dunkirk. After Interstellar sucked (Don't try to argue with me, it sucked) and his legion of obnoxious fanboys prepared to canonize him as "The savior of cinema", my opinion of Christopher Nolan soured. But damn if Dunkirk didn't remind me why we thought this guy was hot shit in the first place. A war film with barely any war in it, Dunkirk broke with many of the conventions of WW2 movies and was the better for it. With naturalistic performances focused more on the anxieties and traumas involved with the evacuation, combined with Nolan's as usual excellent cinematography, it's a harrowing but engrossing watch. The split timelines are used very effectively, helping the dread and tension build until it's finally released at the end. I also liked how not a single German soldier, plane, or piece of Nazi iconography is shown at all, letting the encroaching threat seem more like an impersonal force of nature. A very different kind of war movie, but excellently made.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

And here's the movie with the best soundtrack of the summer. There was a question of whether this sequel could measure up to the originality of the first Guardians, but in hindsight that was a silly question. Of course it wasn't going to have the same sheen of newness, but director James Gunn made up for that by digging deeper into the characters. He brought character development and paying off the emotional arcs to the forefront over humor and space stuff, making it a smaller and more intimate affair that really tugged at a lot of people's heartstrings. Not that it isn't still hilarious with cool high-concept space weirdness. Kurt Russell plays a living planet after all. Another home-run for Marvel and one of those rare sequels that might be better than the original. Who'd have thought Michael Rooker in blue make-up would be one of the most emotionally affecting characters of the year?

War for the Planet of the Apes

The title's a little bit of a misnomer, there's not much of a war really, but damn if this wasn't a good movie. The rebooted Planet of the Apes series has been flying under the radar mostly, showing up every couple of years to remind everyone how good they are. This third installment continues in that tradition, bringing a fitting end to the story of Ape revolutionary Caesar. The highlight is of course Andy Serkis as Caesar and his mo-cap performance is as great as it's ever been. We really ought to just give him an Oscar already. Woody Harrelson also puts in a surprisingly intimidating performance as the human villain. But like all the good Planet of the Apes movies, it's the allegorical science fiction storytelling that elevates it. Digging right into the anxieties of our current political climate, it's timely in a way that doesn't feel preachy. This may be Serkis' last bow with the series, but I hope the filmmakers find a way to keep going and remind us how good movies about super-intelligent apes are in another couple of years.

Wonder Woman

Warner Brothers and DC finally made a good movie and thankfully, it was the one they had to get right. Wonder Woman surprised everyone not just by not sucking, but by being a good movie in its own right. Gal Gadot gave an instantly iconic performance in the title role and, along with the script and filmmakers, showed people why this character stands up there with Batman and Superman. It was a movie that really understood this character and focused on the things that made her heroic. Along with some pretty kickass action, who didn't get pumped when Diana strode across no man's land like a BAMF, Wonder Woman delivered all the basics of a good superhero movie in a way we hadn't seen before. Yeah the final fight against the villain was pretty meh, but I'm willing to forgive it because everything that came before was so good and the main character wasn't an angsty dude. Shout out to Chris Pine as well for a fun turn as the male sidekick. Now let's watch DC piss all this good will away when Justice League sucks.

Honorable Mentions:

Logan Lucky: A good blue-collar twist on the heist movie with fine performances but not quite funny or clever enough to be great. Worth seeing just for Daniel Craig's performance as Joe Bang. It's as far from James Bond as you can get but Craig is amazing in the role.

Rough Night: A hilarious movie filled with hilarious ladies. If you've ever wondered what a gender-swapped version of The Hangover might be like, this wouldn't be a bad guess. A little too lightweight to make the full list, but how can you hate a movie with the line "We performed what is known in Florida state law as a 'good murder'".

Spider-Man: Homecoming: It's nice to have Spider-Man back in the MCU, but his solo outing was only pretty average. Not really bad in any way but the film wasn't trying hard enough to be truly great either. Still worth a watch, Tom Holland is an excellent high-school age Peter Parker and Michael Keaton's Vulture is undoubtedly one of the best Marvel movie villains. Not that there's much competition.