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

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

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

Your Name

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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?