Delayed Due To Projection Issues - the 2017 ILX Film Poll Results Thread

Welcome, all, glad you could make it, and thanks for your patience.

It was a crowded field this year, with 615 votes cast for 196 films, one television series, and one installation piece.


Amongst 32 voters, seven recipients of first-place ballot positions received no further votes. The film with the most votes did not win. More people voted for Logan than for Logan Lucky, and more people voted for Graduation than for The Graduation.

The lowest score for a film voted on by two people was seven points. Two films tied for this wooden spoon.

Surprisingly few 2016 films received votes, but several have placed. Only one film from 2018 received a vote (unless it was a 2015 film of the same name from a different country), and also only one from 1983 was so honoured.

Two Netflix documentaries received votes, but as far as I can tell, everything that placed saw a cinema release.

More than one sequel has placed in the poll. Only one 8th film in a series received any votes, and that only got one.

A remake of a TV series based on a novel received one vote. A remake of a film based on a novel received 4 votes. More than one adaptation has placed, but neither remake did.

Two films based on comics by British writers received votes, and three adapting works by French cartoonists. 12 votes were cast for five films based on superhero properties not owned by their creators. Two biopics of comics authors got votes.

More than one film recurs from the 2016 poll.

Please, switch your phones off and put them in your bags. We'll be getting started in just a minute.

as long as the installation piece isn't a Twin Peaks costume party

For latecomers, here was the voting thread.

Will this be the gayest poll yet? God’s own country, bpm, ornithologist & of course cmbyn all seem likely to place, and I heard something about a bear movie

A remake of a TV series based on a novel received one vote.

This one's gonna bug me...

The other remake is beguiled right

(unless you mean "a remake of a TV MINIseries based on a novel," in which case I get it)

Oh, that’s it

I did mean miniseries.

https://i.imgur.com/jdRUhCs.jpg

49= Graduation
w/d: Cristian Mungiu
40 points, 2 votes

The new Cristian Mungiu, Graduation, is kinda not good at all, and the first time I've seen a Romanian new wave film where a lot of it seemed like mannerism :(

― Frederik B, 4 May 2017

no #50?

i voted for 20; Graduation likely wd've been in 21-25

I hope there’s a Fred B quote for every movie.

https://i.imgur.com/gaJKw7D.png

49= Double King
w/d: Felix Colgrave
40 points, 2 votes

never heard of it.

whaaa?

^ the votes are coming from inside the same house

Nice, no idea what this is

actually that one didn't have a cinema release, and is under ten minutes long. ban l0u1s jagg3r.

12 million views on youtube so that's more viewings than most films on the list!

https://i.imgur.com/k2BVtdE.jpg

49= Kedi
d: Ceyda Torun (doco)
40 points, 4 votes

Supercute! De mensen vertellen mooie verhalen, de katten doen de schattige dingen. Cute kittehz en cute hoomins in prachtig Istanbul.

― Blaka Skapoe, 9 August 2017

I completely forgot that movie that I was certain would be snubbed in the first round of Oscar doc semifinals.

The Choice of the Cat People

speaking of cat people

https://i.imgur.com/bSOUxxm.jpg

49= The Lego Batman Movie
d: Chris McKay w: Bill Finger
40 points, 2 votes

On a similar note, I recently saw "The Lego Batman Movie." It was good, but left me a bit nonplussed at how "non-canonical" a take it was... almost like "fake Batman," made by folks who are familiar with the basic Batman elements, but not interested at all in staying true to tradition. The movie's characterizations are very far afield; and it presents an alternative history of Batman that alludes to his many familiar incarnations (going back to the beginning), yet retcons Robin out of the history altogether. And while I'm no Batman purist, I found it took me out of the movie. For example - everyone in the Lego world remembers Batman in his swingin' 1960s incarnation, and a brief clip is even shown of Adam West in costume (to drive the point home); but the viewer isn't supposed remember the fact that Robin was also in the series?

I was expecting something more like the direct-to-DVD Lego Batman/Justice League movies, which have lots of humor and in-jokes, but are otherwise "standard" stories that fit well enough within the DC canon (just for a younger audience).

― morrisp, 28 June 2017

lol I’m sure it’s better in context but it’s perfect imo to use such a Comic Book Guy quote for this

criticizing this movie for being non-canonical is p weird. as with it's predecessor it conforms to a "kid plays with toys" logic that has no bearing on continuity or reality.

I watched Double King just now on the basis of this poll and I didn't enjoy it all. It's done in that flash style that I associate with faux-edgy early/mid 2000s animation, and it isn't really any fun. Good for two of you for managing to sneak something so obscure into the year-end countdown, though, I guess.

yeah it was garbage

w: Bill Finger

also lol

https://i.imgur.com/uA6pD8h.jpg

48. Raw
w/d: Julia Ducournau
41 points, 4 votes

look on the bright side: there'll be no tarantino film

xp

damn a four way tie to kick things off?

xxp ah yeah Raw, I liked it, my brother loved it though, saw it 3 or 4 times in theaters I think

Raw is vg, I appreciate that its big punchline is a direct lift from teen wolf

Raw is great

we have the first #1 vote to place coming up next

https://i.imgur.com/qz39gQ4.jpg

47. John Wick: Chapter 2
d: Chad Stahelski w: Derek Kolstad
43 points, 3 votes, 1 #1

also, i finally saw JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 and i didn't love it. but i didn't hate it. but i do kinda get why people like the idea of a fancy world-wide secret society of bad people who follow certain RULES. people are drawn to rules for some reason. and protocol. and ceremony. just ask game of thrones.

― scott seward, 6 February 2018

I've liked every Mungiu film. Graduation least. I removed it from my ballot at the last minute.

I absolutely loved Tales from the Golden Age, wasn't so mad about graduation.

please stop making zombie things.

https://i.imgur.com/XmVUImO.jpg

46. Thor Ragnarok
d: Taika Waititi w: Crusty Bunkers
44 points, 5 votes

https://i.imgur.com/XmVUImO.jpg

gah

This was good, not great. The humor sometimes fought with the stakes of the plot - I thought the GotG movies integrated humor better. This would have been a better movie if they just kept it on the junkyard planet and had more Goldblum, but I say that about every movie

― Vinnie, 26 October 2017

whats fucking right with you people!

let us know when the kiddie shows are done

And the kitty shows.

it's a doggo in John Wick, not a kitty.

pleased to have gotten Double King and Kedi into this

can't fucking stand cats, but it looks a worthwhile film.

Double King esp is some staggering animation (AND sound design) imo and fuiud. there will always be space for an animated short on my ballot as long as it isn't by that hertzfeldt dullard

y'all are lucky i didn't vote. woulda put ragnarok in my top 5

https://i.imgur.com/1dSqzmw.jpg

45. Ingrid Goes West
d: Matt Spicer w: Matt Spicer & David Branson Smith
45 points, 3 votes

Ingrid Goes West over Columbus for best first feature is some bullshit. (Not as much as magically promoting Get Out beyond the category, of course.)

― Dr Morbius, 4 March 2018

Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen gave two of my favorite performances of the year (the movie's okay to pretty good).

Ingrid Goes West wasn’t doing anything particularly unexpected, but I love it when the protagonist of a film is a genuine creep (a role Aubrey Plaza was born to play). It was much funnier than I expected too.

https://i.imgur.com/M4oWbkF.jpg

42= The Levelling
w/d: Hope Dickson Leach
46 points, 3 votes

Ragnarok is the best Marvel movie (low bar)

xp

on pace for a record number of films i've never heard of. at least that one is cuz it's British

https://i.imgur.com/GRW1vB1.png

42= The Disaster Artist
d: James Franco w: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
46 points, 3 votes

I thought "the disaster artist" was disappointing. Wiseau is just far too strange a dude to be portrayed as a loveable eccentric dreamer. Seems like a missed opportunity and the biggest laughs were just stuff taken from the movie itself.

Although I didnt know the guy was so loaded before I saw the movie. Where did all Wiseau's money come from?!

― Michael B, 29 March 2018

this has got to get better soon

"Disaster" indeed

https://i.imgur.com/BTUWyUF.jpg

42= Western
w/d: Valeska Grisebach
46 points, 3 votes

Voting for that next year.

great film, didn't vote for it this year

First of my votes to place :)

Ingrid Goes West wasn’t doing anything particularly unexpected, but I love it when the protagonist of a film is a genuine creep (a role Aubrey Plaza was born to play). It was much funnier than I expected too.

I was curious about that one but at the same time I felt like I'd seen the entire thing in the trailer

xp Although I disagree that it wasn’t doing anything unexpected - so few movies (esp. wide release comedies) feature completely insane and repulsive characters who are given no reprieve.

i have no idea if a good social-media monster movie has been made. trying Unfriended next maybe.

I was curious about that one but at the same time I felt like I'd seen the entire thing in the trailer

Western is currently #1 on my 2018 ballot

The Levelling was understated at the time but has grown on me in retrospect and it feels very Necessary and Of Its Time in a UK spirit-of-the-age way - it has a memorable ambience. Score another one to the imago/tt household

Also, it's a debut feature that's actually good, which is always exciting

was talking to my son and his girlfriend earlier tonight about Unfriended - they didn't think much of it and said it only made visual sense if watch it on a laptop, i'm guessing it's not for you Morbs.

https://i.imgur.com/tqj1Aap.jpg

40= Detroit
d: Kathryn Bigelow w: Mark Boal
49 points, 3 votes

We were going to see Detroit but i read a few things like this http://thegrapevine.theroot.com/i-walked-out-of-detroit-because-wtf-man-1797338083 and we decided not to and then didn't even go to the movies after all.

― El Tomboto, 18 August 2017

I forgot that movie existed.

enjoying these pull quotes sic

Well made, not that well thought out.

And yeah, the quotes are great, lol.

Detroit shook me right up. That and The Levelling the only two I've voted for so far.

Oh, and Western, of course.

what we're gonna do right here is go back

https://i.imgur.com/nnX2osW.jpg

40= Toni Erdmann
w/d: Maren Ade
49 points, 2 votes 1 #1

Placed at #1 in 2016, with 18 votes, 475 points, and 2 #1 votes.

I really need to give it another shot because I do think it has enough going for it that it deserves as much but after all the rapturous acclaim, I found this movie kind of a letdown. Humor-wise, I didn't find it all that funny beside those two scenes (Whitney and nudity), but that being said, those two scenes are the funniest scenes I've seen in movies in years.

― Murgatroid, Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Just realised that all three I've voted for so far are directed by women and I would have probably voted for Toni Erdmann too if it wasn't so old.

The mixed reaction to Detroit is kind of interesting.

Get Out was a horror movie about social commentary; Detroit was the inverse, a social commentary movie shot like a horror movie. I liked em both

It is probably some posters I like who has voted for Erdmann again, but don't do this ffs!

well not again, but for a previous winner.

^ bad opinion

maybe the best film of the decade so i won't begrudge it

p sure unfriended was in my top-5 last yr

Unfriended was 2014 festivals, theatrical 2015. the Channel 4 all-takes-place-in-laptops film Cyberbully w/ Maisie Williams off of the telly was also 2015.

I hope there’s a Fred B quote for every movie.

― devops mom (silby), Tuesday, 24 July 2018 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Some good ones so far

you've been pulled for one placing tomorrow

Back in the PST morning / NYC afternoon / Britishes evening for #39-20 or so.

sure you guys like anybody who doesnt know what year it is

Glad I was able to sneak a quote into this poll in lieu of not submitting a ballot. Tried to compile one but The Last Jedi made my top ten and I realized I saw way too many good-not-great movies

sure you guys like anybody who doesnt know what year it is

^ not going to vote for the bear film until a 2018 poll

voting for bear film again next year. and year after that. we all need a bit of bear film to lighten up our lifes.

Can't vote again for Bear film if the world ends this year.

Vote for bear film, save the world

Tried to compile one but The Last Jedi made my top ten and I realized I saw way too many good-not-great movies

There's always one post like this - please vote next year, ILX needs you to push the waves of ILF back.

In other news, this is a long list of things that are not better than Thor: Ragnarok.

I voted for the thunder god movie. It isn't better than Western or Toni Erdmann.

It's not, no. I would probably put it on my top 50.

lol relax nerd, this poll won’t affect the rotten tomato score

Vinnie is correct. I only saw about 55 eligible releases from last year, and when I drew up a rough list of 25, The Last Jedi got one of the last spots. I said, "OK, obviously I need to cut it off at 20."

Good mourning!

so is the bear movie God's Own Country?

They are all the bear movie

you guys and your injokes

"ragnarok" is the sound i make when i'm tryin to cough something up btw

speaking of snobby-ass highbrow shit about aging and death by long-time auteurs that ppl voted higher than Thor: Ragnarok

https://i.imgur.com/grLn6qN.jpg

39. Logan
d: James Mangold w: James Mangold, Michael Green & Scott Frank
51 points, 5 votes

Logan taken me by surprise, it was quite stirring at points and seeing an adorable little girl brutally murder adults was thrilling. But somehow I can't say I liked it or recommend it that much.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, 28 November 2017

not a terrible movie but not a good one

the idea of Logan is hilarious.

like I have no idea how or why it exists, but someone was like "what if we made a children's movie ... for adults" and they did it. I know it's not the same, but it's almost like making a billion dollar version of a deviantart drawing where woody and buzz lightyear fuck or something

like making a billion dollar version of a deviantart drawing where woody and buzz lightyear fuck or something

This is pretty much the future of cinema.

"logan" oddly reminiscent of "children of men" in a lot of ways

https://i.imgur.com/BKWloJr.jpg

38. Free Fire
d: Ben Wheatley w: Amy Jump & Ben Wheatley
53 points, 4 votes

Free Fire being talked about anywhere? Just watched it, I actually found the first act more intresting than the fire fight, which tested my patience. Appreciated it as an exercise, but I don't think they really pulled it off. Some good lines though.

― chap, Thursday, 17 August 2017

i'm with chap

a concept so uninteresting i might never watch another Wheatley film again

Huh

This was alright, far from their best

cheers for turning into Edgar Wright tho, we really needed two of them

This was great fun. Score ANOTHER to ILX's Charlton massive

This wasn't Edgar Wright, it was Martin McDonagh, and better than most of his stuff

Logan, Ragnarok – I saw them, didn't get the praise, they ran like overlong MU films

living in a world of MU films you're bound to ascribe a bit of gravitas to the extra-long po-faced ones

i guess the genre chaff will continue most of today

https://i.imgur.com/geQUHT8.jpg

37. Happy End
w/d: Michael Haneke
54 points, 5 votes

I kinda forgot about this

I will make sure to vote for his tv show when it comes out tho

That one only premiered in 2018 in Denmark, so nobody should have been allowed to vote for it!!!

got added to my revised ballot due to coming out in the US in 2018

https://i.imgur.com/FiiMRzu.jpg

36. Zama
w/d: Lucrecia Martel
56 points, 3 votes

Zama (Lucretia Martel, 2017) - a very smart adaptation of a not v filmable book where Martel is bringing in her own eye to this skeleton of a story of an utterly ordinary man who cannot go back home. Shades of Apocalypse Now (without the hippie-dom) and Coup de Torchon but its very much its own thing.

― xyzzzz__, 31 May 2018

Fucking loved this, will rank it very highly next year

Saw it at the NYFF last year, gave it a 7/10. Did not open in the US til this spring, so I did not list it.

I loved this loads, only just saw it the other night.

Zama is often inscrutable but beguilingly so.

This year's list is ... just so very strange.

free fire v inferior stuff

In a perfect world Zama is a good 50 places ahead of Free Fire. Potentially Wheatley's most underperforming film given the resources.

https://i.imgur.com/Jq5jqvd.jpg

35. God’s Own Country
w/d: Francis Lee
58 points, 6 votes

God, this Country's toxic now. I had this feeling watching God's Own Country last night which is excellent and very much worth seeing. It's about Brexit and gay sex, so, something for everyone.

― jed_, 6 September 2017

in a perfect world i've seen Zama. fortunately i can go about correcting this thanks to you guys! meantime i make no apologies for wheatley fanboying; free fire was not THAT high on my ballot but i felt the need to include it. think of it as revenge for you all getting high rise wrong

ah here's another one i intend to see

excellent movie, excellent jed quote!

the same leading actor was in an ultraviolent Thai prison/kickboxing movie, that I fell asleep watching on sat night.

Oh man Zama is amazing.

Je suis bear movie

I would love to roll around in the mud with those two actors, but GOC was 'just' a good first film

I liked God's Own Country okay, but I don't think I got as much out of it as others seemed to. I really liked the end credits photo montage of old timey photos of farmers--meant to imply that gays have always been a part of farming, I guess? If that's the point, I think the film would have been more interesting as a period piece (though, to be fair, there is little to distinguish it as belonging to 2017). I also didn't buy the ending at all. The actor who played the Romanian migrant was fantastic though; I would have vastly preferred the film to have been about him instead.

There's a scene in the living room where the mom leaves them alone that is the most erotic moment among last year's crop of LGBT films.

The actor who played the Romanian migrant was fantastic though; I would have vastly preferred the film to have been about him instead him to marry me.

I read grumblings in year-end retrospectives that GOC >>>> Call Me By Your Name because "authentic" and all that, but how so – cuz it has dirt and they speak in thick accents? It's as fantastical in its own way as CMBYN.

I still haven’t seen this but the still is funny

Alfred OTM about GOC and CMBYN both being fantasies.

To be fair, I don't want tragedy from the former; just an acknowledgement that things aren't as simple as the film leaves them at the end.

I didn't get that sense; all the director does is lay out that the mom accepts the relationship cuz she needs the help. It's very much like a William Trevor story.

Does she do a corny speech?

next up, two films that placed last year get their shoulders jammed together trying to get back in the door

Does she do a corny speech?

― jeremy cmbyn (wins),

She has four sentences total in the film so

https://i.imgur.com/2O11wb3.jpg

33= Certain Women
w/d: Kelly Reichardt
59 points, 3 votes

Placed at #9 in 2016, with 8 votes and 223 points.

otm, I think the editing is key to her style. It lets her take those long pauses because her cuts are so good. Sometimes she can get a little on the nose with it, but usually it's surprising and interesting. And she has a good eye for deadpan, which shows up in odd places. The repeated takes of the corgi were hilarious and cute but in a totally naturalistic way -- corgis are hilarious and cute.

― tipsy mothra, Sunday, 6 November 2016

Ah shit I didn’t vote for this in either year for some reason. Easily one of my very faves of whatever year I saw it in and has stayed with me more than some stuff I did vote for

I'm just going to vote for Sherlock Jr. every year.

Alfred otm about GoC, except that old woman is the dude's grandmother. Put the subtitles on.

https://i.imgur.com/MnkPPT4.jpg

33= I Am Not Your Negro
d: Raoul Peck (doco)
59 points, 6 votes

Placed at 18 in 2016, with 7 votes and 163 points.

I Am Not Your Negro was very good. Not a perfect movie - I think the editing of the first 20-30 minutes was trying to hard, like he didn't trust the material - but the last hour was great. I hope people see it.

― EZ Snappin, 18 February 2017

Imagine if everyone had the opportunity to see these in the same year, some of this mid-countdown stuff would be top 10 I reckon

Like zama will def place again next year

She has four sentences total in the film so

Lack of corny speech from accepting parent def a plus 👍

I loved Certain Women, especially for the Stewart/Gladstone segment, and I only saw it this year, so I'm ok with people voting for it.

wait a second Certain Women came out the weekend before the presidential election wtf is it doing here. i mean yeah it is a masterpiece but this thing of movies placing in two different year end lists is extremely off the money

GOC was a debut? I guess it pairs up nicely with The Levelling as much as anything else (families, young ppl, farming, Brexit, drama)

xpost

Probably had different release dates in Europe, etc.

For what it's worth, I see about 98% of the new movies I watch from library rentals, so everything's a good 6 months to a year late for me anyway. But that's why I don't vote in these things.

Voted for CW last year.

flappy bird otm

Flaps I’m not explaining how time works again just search back thru all of my on the money posts in every single one of these threads

don't worry, people still vote for things that screened in exactly two cities in the entire world

https://i.imgur.com/H0MYkJK.jpg

32. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
w/d: Noah Baumbach
63 points, 4 votes

Sandler is a serious hurdle for me

― Οὖτις, 4 October 2017

adam sandler sucks

― marcos, 4 October 2017

Baumbach kinda sucks shit too let's be real

― kurt schwitterz, 4 October 2017

Tried to compile one but The Last Jedi made my top ten and I realized I saw way too many good-not-great movies

There's always one post like this - please vote next year, ILX needs you to push the waves of ILF back.

In other news, this is a long list of things that are not better than Thor: Ragnarok.

― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 25 July 2018 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There is no need to fight it - Poptimism is dead and Brexit is happening.

i also voted for the Baldwin doc last year.

Groundhog Day should win the poll.

had Meyerowitz at #7; v slept-on imho

would have shortlisted Sandler for best actor too, not something i wd've ever envisioned typing

xp If you really don’t want things placing twice the onus was surely on you to wait a year before voting rather than on us to travel back in time from when we could see it to when you were voting

Because of how time works

the same leading actor was in an ultraviolent Thai prison/kickboxing movie, that I fell asleep watching on sat night.

calzino, this one? if so, which leading actor?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4080956/

Really, the solution is to always do the poll in late July so nearly everything that opens on one continent the previous year will have had 7 months to spread, like a social disease.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TRV9i9S27VQ/UVB49vxrCuI/AAAAAAAAK_g/nBHJTYLqiOM/s320/who-gives-a-shit.jpg

xp
I'm wrong, it's Joe Cole in this one, who looks quite similar to Josh O Connor.

Actually rather agree with the late July idea

It's a time of year where I need encouragement and impetus to see more films

lol Whiney, that's a path we don't reckon with

Yeah I was gonna say we should do this in the middle of the year every year to avoid these double placements. I live in a mid-sized city in the USA and often get less than half of the prestige/quality art house films until early the next year, often going all the way into March.

Regarding Certain Women:

Flaps I’m not explaining how time works again just search back thru all of my on the money posts in every single one of these threads

― jeremy cmbyn (wins), Wednesday, July 25, 2018 2:26 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

don't worry, people still vote for things that screened in exactly two cities in the entire world

― 16, 35, DCP, Go! (sic), Wednesday, July 25, 2018 2:27 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Certain Women came out in Europe in March 2017, and was released on home video in June. this could've been avoided & could be in the future by delaying the poll til mid-summer

and in the USA it opened pretty wide for an indie movie in the fall of 2016

like, is Moonlight going to show up next? that was the last movie I saw before the election

hello nerds, I see you funhaters placed John Wick 2 & Thor Ragnarok TOO LOW

sticking around in the hopes that Kong Skull Island cracks the top 10 :D

I mean we can hold the poll in midsummer if the pollrunner agrees, just don’t come the “huhhhh? I saw this last year I don’t understand how this could possibly have happened” shit every fucking year

https://i.imgur.com/50lXXJL.jpg

31. The Shape of Water
d: Guillermo del Toro w: Guillermo del Toro, Daníel Kraus and Vanessa Taylor
68 points, 4 votes

This was ok but there’s such a disconnect between the romantic, fanciful tone the movie aims for and the fact that it’s about a goddamn slimy fish monster.

There’s barely even a buildup to the romance! Sally Hawkins is making fuck eyes almost as soon as she sees the thing. Does she have a fetish for nicitating membranes or something?

Also can you imagine how ungodly this thing must smell?

― latebloomer, 24 December 2017

it stinks

For all of the hullabaloo over the interspecies romance, I thought it was the most underdeveloped aspect of the film. I liked it, but its a better piece of filmmaking than writing, for sure.

It's july and I still haven't seen Zama, so who's laughing now, huh?

Zama would have been my #1 if I'd voted probably

Simon!!

Vote for it next year

Zama was high on my ballot this year but after seeing how low it placed I'm definitely voting for it again next year

I never vote in these cause I only see like 30 movies a year

(I used to see, like, 300)

That’s a poor excuse, mordy sees three a year and even he takes the time to put together a top 3 ffs

Mordy did a top ten and half of them have placed already. this satisfaction could be yours too!

I don't really get the arguments over something like Certain Women (which I liked better the second time and voted for). It played in Toronto at TIFF, and then I'm almost positive opened for a short run in early 2017. I don't go to TIFF. Voting for it seemed perfectly reasonable.

I'm definitely voting in the next ILM album poll as i hear at least two per year these days

after seeing how low it placed I'm definitely voting for it again next year

assuming this poll is roughly based on Pazz & Jop, this should not be permitted

true, but if the poll were based on Pazz & Jop wouldn't we also be adding last year's votes into this year's, with Toni Erdmann would win two years in a row?

*winning

Is it me or is this shit worse than usual this year?

as i remember it, Dan, there was an asterisk for those albums, saying "received (x) votes last year" -- but they were not added

but i could be wrong

the points totals start taking some bigger leaps from here

https://i.imgur.com/z2gJlQZ.jpg

30. The Square
w/d: Ruben Östlund
78 points, 5 votes

a dark satire of the people atop the institutions of high contemporary art that won the palme d'or this year, for some reason. a couple great scenes and some quality dry LOLs, but overall i found it underwhelming and solidly an hour too long. claes bang is extremely handsome.

― flopson, Wednesday, 22 November 2017

wow

The good parts of this are really good tho

didn't like the trailer, reviews were mixed, and i thought Östlund's avalanche comedy was overrated

As someone said on the thread (& I said about I think wiener-dog) there is no surer sign of bankruptcy than going for the low-hanging fruit of “a satire of the contemporary art scene!”

that extended performance art scene at the fancy museum dinner started out feeling embarrassing but by the end was so brutal I had to look away

there is no surer sign of bankruptcy than going for the low-hanging fruit of “a satire of the contemporary art scene!”

tbf it is a satire about a whole lot of things, not just the art world. It's the AK to Force Majeure's pistol

couldn't stand this

most things don't need satires -- most things are bad enough!

TOO LOW!

(shrug) I laughed a lot, but it was easily half an hour too long

number 3 on my ballot, it rocks

Agreed that we should put off voting until at least July for the previous year.

Perhaps not quite as good as his masterpiece Play, but a lot better than Force Majeure. I didn't see it as satirizing the art world as much as class structure in Sweden in general. Modern art being just as much an ostentatious display of societal power as the horse statue that get's broken in the first scene. It's not subtle, but I loved it.

The vagaries and varieties of international film distribution ARE fascinating imho, worth discussing here and elsewhere - geographic patterns of taste and fashion map onto the way we receive/view every film that we see. For myself, I just use this poll - and the x film thread - as a diary of things seen and enjoyed. So if I were to look back at this poll sometime, I would remember that I saw Toni Erdmann for the first (and so far only) time in 2017, and then think back to the 'controversy' about it topping the Sight and Sound poll of 2016 w/out it being released in the UK at the time.

I got bored of Toni Erdmann and missed probably the last half -- should I go back and see the last half?

yes

I rarely watch contemp movies a second time and Toni Erdmann benefited from the second viewing.

the birthday party scene and the scene in the park afterwards were both amazing, and iirc they occur in the second half. plus Plainsong at the end!

https://i.imgur.com/MWalOU6.jpg

29. Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
d: Frederick Wiseman (doco)
86 points, 6 votes

Ex Libris is very much of a piece with At Berkeley and National Gallery: the day-to-day flow of what happens there, mixed with endless meetings where board members try to figure out ways to secure funding and keep the institution operational. I've thought all of Wiseman's recent films with the exception of Boxing Gym were great, and this one is too. I will say, though, that he finds more interest in those meetings than I do.

― clemenza, Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Oh we saw The Square and liked it recently (tt more than me) but couldn't be bothered to adjust our ballots to include it. Doesn't always hit but it is wonderfully disgusted at many of the right things, and it gets pretty weird towards the end too

The only film I added to new list.

for anyone who has a card from a participating library, the public library streaming app Kanopy has what looks like the ENTIRE Wiseman filmography (except Ex Libris) at the moment, I think maybe inspired by current interest in this film

liked it fine, just not quite enough to vote for.

the NYPL also has all the FW DVDs, which they did not 2 years ago.

https://i.imgur.com/eBNgKed.jpg

26= A Ghost Story
w/d: David Lowery
96 points, 8 votes

I thought this was very bad, presumably there is no ILX quote bigging it up?

hi!

saw it exactly a year ago before a week of laying on the beach, so it was ideal prefatory material

All the quotes so far have been ilxors equivocating so maybe everyone loved it

couldn't get past the Peanuts costume image to the box office

what do you mean? Under a sheet is the best way to look at Casey Affleck.

when there are no quotes, it's because I couldn't find anything being said about the film at all (outside of the (x) movies you saw thread)

https://i.imgur.com/FD98t0d.jpg

26= On Body and Soul
w/d: Ildikó Enyedi
96 points, 6 votes

Just watched On Body and Soul. It was completely different to anything I had imagined it would be...sort of a muted, magic realist melodrama. What a bizarre career the director seems to have had.

― tangenttangent, Sunday, 4 March 2018

Thanks for the reminder.

no memory of that, i see it won the top prize in Berlin. my Letterboxd is very lukewarm on it.

also it played a bunch of US fests last year, no distribution til online this year

It was on MUBI

https://i.imgur.com/MjJmauK.jpg

26= The Big Sick
d: Michael Showalter w: Kumail Nanjiani & Emily Gordon
96 points, 7 votes

let's see:
1) completely unlikeable, unctuous lead
2) you expect there to be some tie-in to the healthcare crisis in a movie called THE BIG SICK, but nope, everything is fine! no bills, no loans, no evil insurance companies
3) not funny at all. it's the epitome of contemporary comedy consisting of simply "making good points," bland moralizing & half-baked drama at the expense of jokes
4) vapid navel-gazing autobiography. again, you expect a movie called THE BIG SICK to make some comment on healthcare in America, but it's just the story of how Kumail and Emily met & got married
5) another piece of post-Louis dross that expects us to sympathize with the most loathsome and untalented people on earth - open mic stand ups. fuck off

― flappy bird, Tuesday, July 18, 2017

completely unlikeable, unctuous lead
2) you expect there to be some tie-in to the healthcare crisis in a movie called THE BIG SICK, but nope, everything is fine! no bills, no loans, no evil insurance companies

The Big Sick as directed by Ruben Östlund.

Michael Showalter was in The State, so no, I haven't bothered to see any of his films.

A Ghost Story and On Body and Soul were both similarly subdued and were both very watchable, but I think I preferred the more enigmatic ending of A Ghost Story

I didn't realize films can be nominated for the foreign language academy award before they have a commercial release in the US

in fact, usually that seems to be the case for most of the nominees

https://i.imgur.com/gxi56Gm.jpg

25. Coco
d: Lee Unkrich & Adrian Molina w: Many Trained Story Technicians
100 points, 6 votes

Happy for the universal outrage I saw for the frozen short. Even my 4 yo was like when is the movie with the Skeletons going to start.

― Jeff, 26 November 2017

i loved coco but i don't really get how you could be into this and not into any other pixar movies? but also i don't really care

― NA, 7 March 2018

I agree with flappy that the big sick was kind of a charmless slog, but uh I didn’t find the title as infuriatingly misleading as he seemed to

Coco might be my favourite Pixar AND Disney movie. It's incredible

yeah I think Coco is my favorite Pixar movie too

Coco might be my favourite Pixar AND Disney movie. It's incredible

more than Three Colours: Blue?

thought about watching Coco before voting; too busy watching Twin Peaks

There weren't 24 better films than coco in 2017 (or 2016/18)

https://i.imgur.com/YiBB5Xy.jpg

24. The Death of Louis XIV
d: lbert Serra w: Albert Serra & Thierry Lounas
102 points, 4 votes

Placed at 40 last year, with 3 votes and 81 points.

GODDAMMIT if only we had strict rules that films which previously placed can't be voted for again. Let's hear from one of those feckless 2017 voters though:

Very much liked Serra's The Death of Louis XIV, both Leaud's expiring king of cinema/France and the unexpectedly clinical payoff. "We will do better next time."

― Dr Morbius, October 24, 2017

been meaning to watch a ghost story for easily a year

just saw this, also just saw Jean-Pierre Leaud in La Chinoise. such bookends

ahahahahaha im glad that was my pull quote

re: the title I remember the advertising leaned on the healthcare thing heavy & iirc the movie did too? I don’t remember

Ohh right it wasn’t really dealt with at all in the movie

Yay Coco!

Meh The Big Sick.

BTW, I'm keeping track of the countdown on Letterboxd

Liking this crazy mish-mash '18/'19 poll.

Serra was my no 2, Happy End no 4 (I called it Happy Days lol), Graduation no 3. Also voted for God's Own Country.

i forgot to vote for shape of water, that shd be higher imo

agree with AF

agree with flappy re big sick

wasnt a better movie than shape of water this year that ive seen

Kedi was shit. On Body and Soul appeared on MUBI twice and I could not be arsed. Big Sick sounds like the bollocks I'll catch on ITV 2 in a couple of years time

I'll vote for Zama next year - probably top 3.

siked for birdman placing this year tbh

https://i.imgur.com/A0bfziS.jpg

22= Baby Driver
w/d: Edgar Wright
104 points, 8 votes

the trailer for this made it look so good, but it was so lame. the script sucked, the kevin spacey twist at the end was totally unbelievable and out of place, the romance was lame (hmm yes let's drag this poor woman who you've hung out with exactly twice into your drama without asking her first), the choreography was dumb. the whole thing was just so... try-hard. it was like the director watched john wick and thought he'd try making a super slick, stylish, effortless crime caper too but ended up failing miserably.

― just1n3, Monday, July 24, 2017

re: The Square - like it just doesn't work, not least because it will only ever play at the kind of art centres its taking the piss out of. Did you all know that much art theory is imcomprehensible to ordinary people? That woman off Mad Men was in it haha omg.

Hooray for On Body and Soul! I’m not normally one for sparsity but there was so much to think about in the silence that I didn’t mind.

Ghost Story left me cold until the futuristic bit and I only decided to like it at the very end of the film, at which point it totally wiped me out iirc.

Baby Driver was tight idk why so many ppl violently hated it (Anthony Bourdain perhaps most famously?) Never saw a trailer though, and I caught it in its second week when word of mouth had just started & wasn’t saturated yet.

as nice as it is to watch Ansel Elgort, I thought Baby Driver was kind of obnoxious, but I'm generally not a fan of heist movies

Didn’t get The Square at all and I thought it was incredible. I really think the widely criticised plodding satire was a complete fake-out and it was ultimately a fragmented psychotic breakdown of a film and I liked that the allegiances were never clear. The whole thing reaked of failure, which I hope was inherent in the making process too. That shot of him in the trash was a great moment in 2017 cinema.

did you all know that the highly educated white people that run arts centres and spout Marxist art theory all day long are unable to talk to black people?

https://i.imgur.com/bYgTKTk.jpg

22= The Death Of Stalin
d: Armando Ianucci w: Hellwyn Ballard, Brant, Dave Wickford, Freeform Villager
104 points, 6 votes

Laughing like a dickhead just watching the trailer.

― chap, 11 August 2017

honestly I saw it at TIFF and it was dece but certainly no IN THE LOOP. it feels weirdly slight for what's effectively framed as a huge story, whereas ITL managed to be v funny while also telling a complete story about how modern war legislation is sold. certain awful truths of the characters and period sit awkwardly with the lols. Friend and Isaacs are great and should both do more comedy

― Simon H., Sunday, 22 October 2017

Can we try communism again don't give a shit what a bunch of British comedians say

yeah but dude it condemned millions of people to death or lives of grinding poverty

I didn't live through it man it didn't kill me lets have another go.

just1ne otm

death of stalin was great imagine critiquing it as a critique of communism tho id be mortified

i should go watch this now

I str8 loathe Ianucci these days and can't be trusted to give him a fair hearing, but fwiw I thought this was complete cack.

showreel trial

Simon OTM the movie loses so much momentum after 30 minutes and you’re just left bored and pissed off such a good cast & scenario were wasted

Only Isaacs was good, but that was more ball of energy.

Not really Ianucci's fault - very hard material to make a comedy out of.

not nearly as hard as this made it seem.

not hard at all, they managed it

I laughed so hard throughout Death of Stalin and also shivered and that's exactly what the film was about, in that regard it's a complete success, basically I don't agree with you guys but I love you all nonetheless.

I thought it was very funny and surprisingly moving. I'd have preferred everyone to be British, i guess, it would have made more sense and been funnier. Isaacs was the bomb but Andrea Riseborough's performance was stunning as well.

Kedi was shit

what a strong opinion for that particular film

Baby Driver would've been better if there'd been a scene of Ansel and me making out.

https://www.kedifilm.com/about/

xyzzzz is this thread's Psikopat

<3

i reckon if Buscemi was a bit more shortarsed he'd make a cracking Yezhov. But the only way to improve The Death of Stalin would be to ditch Ianucci and that style of unsubtle, and unrelenting hard pummelling lol-tested zings in a non-stop manner, that makes me want to give up after 10 mins these days.

of all the posters to eschew unrelenting hard pummelling calz!

I know I'm a wanker, but at least attempt to try and keep it polite!

ha im not having a dig but your style once roused is notably uh..'direct' just sayin it struck me as a contrast to yr criticism of the movie (although yeah its a fair stick to beat DoS with, i just happened to enjoy it)

I might have even liked it myself at some earlier point of my life. I find as I get older some internal switches permanently click into the off position (including the switch marked "intelligence" some might say!) and things i used to be able to watch - i just can't tolerate much anymore.

of all the posters to eschew unrelenting hard pummelling calz!

ha ha otm

i can barely even hard pummel a clove of garlic atm fwiw!

Baby Driver would've been better if there'd been a scene of Ansel and me making out.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, July 25, 2018 4:20 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3

Spacey's proprietorial interest in Elgort would make Baby Driver a very difficult rewatch for me today.

Even if you give everyone an extra six months to see the films (and had a 'hype your favourite films' thread at the start of the year), you'd still need to sort out eligibility criteria - 'shown once in NYC on 31/12' would be a little silly.

the future is perpetual polls covering the trailing 12 month period

Spacey's proprietorial interest in Elgort would make Baby Driver a very difficult rewatch for me today.


This was one of the only interesting things in the text of the film originally!


'shown once in NYC on 31/12' would be a little silly.

the rule is plainly "if Morbs went to that one screening it is eligible"

I think that’s as good a rule as any.

Not that I vote in these.

Ansel Elgort is the young Hollywood heartthrob who most makes me feel like Morbs regarding young Hollywood heartthrobs.

i.e. you can't admit in public that you'd make out with him

i.e. give me a baseball player any day of the week

GODDAMMIT if only we had strict rules that films which previously placed can't be voted for again

lol yeah that wd be a stupid rule

how many of you 8 motherfuckers who voted for that smug Baby Driver even saw Death of Louis XIV?

Oscar eligibility should be the marker

usa, usa, usa.... lol

Death of Stalin was just fine, and it's from 2018 in the good ol' USA

you can make comedy out of cancer, AIDS, nuclear war, and my dating history.

i think yer all voting for so many '18 films here so you can put the new actionporn MISSION: UNSPEAKABLE in at least 5 slots next year

https://i.gifer.com/2Axk.gif

"how many of you 8 motherfuckers who voted for that smug Baby Driver even saw Death of Louis XIV?

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 July 2018 02:15 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink"

lazy dialogue etc

what a strong opinion for that particular film

Thanks.

Seriously though playing up the quirkyness is the only thing ever allowed with a film abt cats.

Snakes with fur are just cruel and overrated vermin imo, but I love a good dog movie.

Bet many ppl in Istanbul hate them but its going to a Western market so we gotta respect. Call it 'magical' too and there you go.

Sorry folks, poll's on hold while I retabulate to remove xyzzz's votes. We don't tolerate hate speech in this establishment.

Chris marker is sad and disappointed

“This is all you need in life: a computer, a camera, and a cat.” — Agnès Varda

re: The Square - like it just doesn't work, not least because it will only ever play at the kind of art centres its taking the piss out of

― xyzzzz__, 25. juli 2018 23:55 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Square sold 100.000 + tickets in Denmark, iirc, and I suspect it did just as well in Sweden. Sometimes filmmakers make films for their own context, y'know?

Like Paddington bear?

did big numbers in Peru iirc

http://www.bearonlinestore.com/ibtbdb/thumbs/bernielighterjointf.jpg

amazed at that Varda quote; it seems old ladies like cats!

cats are the enigmatic guards of a sacred cosmic plane of centered self-possession that humans can only reach by befriending felines. kedi was a pleasant afternoon date movie, kinda forgot about it.

i normally love getaway car heist movies, and I like Edgar Wright but my god i did not like Baby Driver at all.
Ok that’s not true. I liked the music. That’s it.
The movie felt like a cross between an Apple commercial and a car commercial. dumb, annoying, stupid. SO annoying.

Bad year for overrated British auteurs beginning with 'W'.

I'm about 90% sure this ends with Phantom Thread first and Twin Peaks second--Twin Peaks simply requires too much of a time investment for it to have been seen by enough people to finish first. 9% that it goes the other way, and 1% I'm forgetting something obvious between them.

Bet many ppl in Istanbul hate them but its going to a Western market so we gotta respect

i feel like they interviewed many ppl in istanbul? like, i watched a documentary where that happened and it was called kedi?

kedi was a pleasant afternoon date movie, kinda forgot about it.

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, July 26, 2018 7:12 AM (fifty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm though

earlier part of your post was also extremely otm karl but i am a horrible cat person

wha's a cat

not much, what's a cat a you?

gonna finish this off today?

I think call me by your name will beat out twin peaks although obv I’m rooting for that not to be the case. Prob other things will too since many ppl won’t vote for it on principle

As ever I would welcome a classic ilx-style upset in the top spot as long as it isn’t star wars

I voted for a number of LGBT movies. Call Me By Your Name wasn't among them.

i think several of the queer voters value BPM higher

Call Me By Your Name was more intoxicating as a Jewish liberal arts fantasy than a romantic fantasy.

whatever floats your peach

voted for both. I was thinking Get Out would win

A quick summary:

49 Graduation 40 points
49 Double King 40 points
49 Kedi 40 points
49 The Lego Batman Movie 40 points
48 Raw 41 points
47 John Wick: Chapter 2 43 points
46 Thor: Ragnarok 44 points
45 Ingrid Goes West 45 points
42 The Levelling 46 points
42 The Disaster Artist 46 points
42 Western 46 points
40 Detroit 49 points
40 Toni Erdmann 49 points
39 Logan 51 points
38 Free Fire 53 points
37 Happy End 54 points
36 Zama 56 points
35 God’s Own Country 58 points
33 Certain Women 59 points
33 I Am Not Your Negro 59 points
32 The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) 63 points
31 The Shape Of Water 68 points
30 The Square 78 points
29 Ex Libris: The New York Public Library 86 points
26 A Ghost Story 96 points
26 On Body And Soul 96 points
26 The Big Sick 96 points
25 Coco 100 points
24 The Death Of Louis XIV 102 points
22 Baby Driver 104 points
22 The Death Of Stalin 104 points

Can we remove the disaster artist

Next up, a very gay bear movie

https://i.imgur.com/KsJe8w5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Q3uvwwa.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bivByVx.jpg

oh, animation. no wonder i never gave it a thought.

21. Paddington 2
d: Paul King w: Paul King, Simon Farnaby, and 30-odd credited punch-up readers
105 points, 6 votes 1 #1

https://i.imgur.com/Ze9CpT4.jpg

Lol is any of that true

Writing credits & number 1 votes I mean

Paddington 2 is wonderful down to the smallest detail. Even the "2" is introduced in a sweet, not-tacky way, on the title screen. I'd say I liked it more than the first one, but maybe I was just riding a Paddington high and ready for more.

― geoffreyess, January 24, 2018

Took a couple of kids from work to see it and laughed so hard at one scene I thought I wasn't going to stop. Stays true to the spirit of the original, too. Everybody in this is perfect.

― Noodle Vague, January 24, 2018

What a charmingly simple, innocent, calming, ridiculous movie this was. A couple of hilariously subtle jokes. My fave was when the inmates introduced themselves and one of them more or less was revealed as a politician, which earned another really subtle "no comment" callback a few beats later. Not sure I got the joke beyond the maybe obvious, but I love how Knuckles had "Knuckle's" (with the erroneous apostrophe) tattooed on his knuckles.

― Josh in Chicago, January 27, 2018

oh, animation.

You might think Noah Taylor was all CGI, but every frame was actually hand-painted.

This is probably less animated than the new Spielberg film

j/k, i might see this... someday

Same

wins - there was a list of ten or so writer & comedian types with "special thanks" or similar in the opening titles, and a massive list buried in the closing credits. I assume the ones at the start chipped in gags that got used, and the others didn't.

apparently it was all from reading and responding to King & Farnaby's script, not a collaborative room, or anyone else writing any drafts.

A Bear Film Wes Anderson Rip

lmao at the reveal sic

This was good and I voted for it

Bad year for overrated British auteurs beginning with 'W'.

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, July 26, 2018 2:46 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

U DDNT

This means that a couple of extremely wonderful and obscure things have made the top 20, btw

What have you done

i am probably going to watch that political-scandal TV series where Hugh Grant licks Ben Whishaw's nipples first

The Banning of Louis XD was in my top 3 btw

lol

I did. A Very English Scandal. Amazon Prime from Friday. https://t.co/6ANoH1kpY3

— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) June 26, 2018

haaa

I saw the beginning of that at my granny’s & it took me several minutes to work out that it was Hugh Grant under all that makeup

maybe he wasn't wearing any for once

https://i.imgur.com/GsDtre6.jpg

20. Dawson City, Frozen Time
d: Bill Morrison (doco)
106 points, 7 votes

You would think a documentary about rediscovered silent-film footage in the Yukon would be a Trump-free safe haven, but no, there's no escape.
I had seen the trailer a couple of weeks ago, so I was looking forward to something dreamy and contemplative. It didn't disappoint on that count--I can imagine it playing Nuit Blanche at three in the morning. Not harboring any protective feelings about silent film in general, the ambient soundtrack helped make that happen, though it did get repetitive after a while.
What came as a surprise was how much history is packed into the film--everything from Grauman's Chinese Theatre to Kenesaw Mountain Landis to Fatty Arbuckle to Robert Service. And fires--there are so many of them in Dawson City it becomes a gruesome joke, like the drummers in Spinal Tap. Towards the end, where the couple who were instrumental in preserving all this film fill in the backstory, the husband says two innocuous words that provided the biggest laugh I've had at the movies this year.

― clemenza, Tuesday, 25 July 2017

The trance-like qualities of Dawson City, Frozen Time worked, which means I was bored by the halfway mark.

my #9, and I never thought that'd be the case for a documentary that opens with Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo

was it the footage of the 1919 World Series that did it?

the doc that featured the brothel owned by Trump's dad or granddad perhaps with typical "the absolute best brothel in the western world, all the rest are shite" type modesty on the advert. I liked this but forgot to vote for it.

granddad... or not?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-grandfather-prostitution/

https://i.imgur.com/ZYg0imm.jpg

19. 120 BPM (Beats per Minute)
d: Robin Campillo w: Robin Campillo & Philippe Mangeot
107 points, 5 votes 1 #1

So it's possible that BPM aka 120 Beats Per Minute is the best thing I've seen all year... and one of the best films in a long time about political activism. I liked Robin Campillo's last, Eastern Boys, but this is tougher, grimmer, sexier.

― Dr Morbius, November 13, 2017

GREAT still.

#6 on my list

"tougher, grimmer, sexier" is my new dating profile

"low" but if it got 5 votes i'm assuming 7 of you saw it

I really wanted to see this but missed the handful of screenings it had here

not found a version of this with ENG subs yet, its on my watchlist.

It’s out on dvd in the us (I think)

https://i.imgur.com/1Bhyj9M.jpg

18. The Ornithologist
d: João Pedro Rodrigues w: João Pedro Rodrigues & Joao Rui Guerra da Mata
114 points, 8 votes

The Ornithologist is everything Staying Vertical should have been, a mishmash of landscapes, myths, times, and places, with identity a big factor, and a lovely sex scene on a sunny beach.

― Frederik B, Monday, 31 October 2016

I'm v keen to see The Ornithologist because of how beautiful the actor is.

― jed_, Wednesday, 28 March 2018

feel a bit bad for only seeing the big obvious gay film last year

I loved Staying Vertical but The Ornithologist was great too

never saw Dawson City because all my friends warned that the schmaltzy music completely ruined it.

wasn't esp keen on The Ornithologist, willing to try again

#3 on my list and a handy manual to buggery on the sand.

BPM and The Ornithologist remain my big gay blindspots of the year.

I'm hesitant to watch Paddington 2 without having seen the first one. I don't recall it getting nearly as much hype or praise, unless I missed something?

what was your favorite queer film of 2017?

xp I didn't see the first Paddington and it didn't matter, I loved Paddington 2 and sobbed the entire time

Ornithologist my #2, now this is beguiling. Loved to die like a man as well

i thought The Ornithologist was a right trip, my no7.

what was your favorite queer film of 2017?

So far, I guess Thelma, but on my Letterboxd watchlist I currently have The Fabulous Allan Carr, Against the Law, 120 Beats Per Minute, The Wound, The Ornithologist, Beach Rats and a handful of shorts, so...ask me again in a couple of months?

Beach Rats was fucking great

how much ornithology is there in this film btw

I'm hesitant to watch Paddington 2 without having seen the first one. I don't recall it getting nearly as much hype or praise, unless I missed something?

#1 is very very good but #2 is something else, and built for adult viewers and film nerds as well as kids and families. you can totally jump in on #2, but the first one's on Netflix and #2 has a two day run back in US Regal cinemas on August 14 & 15.

xp
plenty of hornythology tbf!

Less than last year’s Portuguese hit tbf imago

those portuguese and their avians

i guess an hour and a quarter of chaffinches is enough film ornithology for a decade or so

Beach Rats was fucking great

― flappy bird,

and I didn't like it except for the young lead. Gay!

https://i.imgur.com/ZF9xWdv.jpg

17. mother!
w/d: Darren Aronofsky
120 points, 8 votes

aronofsky sucks imo so im not going to watch this. i didn't know he was dating jennifer lawrence!

― jim in vancouver, 14 September 2017

Visually, sonically, & psychologically, this movie was very compelling. The claustrophobia of the house, the constant closeups on Jennifer Lawrence, the nightmarish feeling of being unable to communicate with those around you & losing control of your environment... the lighting & Gothic atmosphere of the house & all its dust & debris & unfinished mess, all great... otherwise I thought it was pretty fucking daft and thematically shallow. Another movie about creativity and how hard it is to be an artist? Hard pass. So arrogant & uninteresting, & what's frustrating is there are sub-themes & tangents in here - fan/artist relationship; artist as deity & the one-way adulation & love between fan & artist - that are far more interesting than dwelling on how hard it must be to be someone's muse. A CRYSTAL? You must be fucking kidding me. And fwiw I found the violence & verbal abuse to be way over the top, gratuitous, obvious, & misogynist. He's a good technical director, but he should not write his own scripts.

― flappy bird, 16 September 2017

A lot of the criticisms are the opposite of how I felt about it. I thought it was deeply feminist and Christian

― Whiney G. Weingarten, 16 September 2017

I've never minded babies getting eviscerated in the hands of a mob.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, 17 September 2017

first half (with the family who invite themselves in) was a good surreal black comedy, second half (by the time kirsten wiig was instructing a militia to shoot fans of javier bardem's poetry in the face, i mean) was the worst movie i've ever seen. i now think daron aaronovfsky is a deeply stupid person (maybe i should have thought that a long time ago, but it's been a long time since i last saw a film of his). it's actually a feat how much the ending spoils whatever goodwill it had built up in me. sound design was cool (nailed the feel of a creaky echoey old house)

― flopson, Monday, 18 September 2017

I'm now going to see this just so i can complain about how terrible it is

― jim in vancouver, Tuesday, 19 September 2017

Sounds too yucky for me.

Aronofsky is M Kermode's idea of an auteur, say no more.

It's possible watching this the week after Irma affected my response.

How the fuck did that place so high

Good job on “17!”

:)

https://i.imgur.com/7cWBsJL.jpg

16. The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
d: Yorgos Lanthimos w: Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou
124 points, 9 votes

Idk, and I have yet to see it, but I get the feeling that if Lanthimos read your first post here, he'd be nodding in agreement, going "excellent... excellent." He did move you, in a big way, to dig in the trenches and defend a position that this is rubbish and cruel, "torture porn". Again, not seen it (yet), but he can't have done everything wrong, going off of your criticism of it.

― Le Bateau Ivre, November 7, 2017

Excuse me?

What's going on here

LBI was right though, I hated Sacred Deer but am looking forward to The Favourite.

Beach Rats was on the low side of mediocre.

I am getting the scent of Eric H on these last two...

I've had Mother out of the library on twp separate occasions, haven't watched it yet.

Sacred Deer was an entertaining provocation but I didn't vote for it.

Hated those last 2 films

lmao @ mother!

Is this the most lurkeriffic film poll yet

What’s gonna be shut out - I didn’t hate either of the last 2 but if they beat like a quiet passion that just about does it

(Whereas I know only Fred & I liked the Florida project so I’m ok with that snub)

i'm guessing fans of those last 2 saw them primarily as black comedies.

I certainly did

Javi bardem and his giant face playing a character called The Poet, esp the way he played it, cannot be meant to be taken seriously

i'm guessing fans of those last 2 saw them primarily as black comedies.

I can't imagine anyone taking them as anything but.

i would like to see this and have been told i would enjoy it

cannot believe how high a couple of films from the top of my ballot are going to be :)

Is this wrapping today or tomorrow?

https://i.imgur.com/cndd0fs.jpg

15. Faces Places
d: Agnès Varda & JR (doco)
138 points, 10 votes

It's too brief and amiable to give offense, but the reviews I've read that praise her attention to the working class don't mention how touristic the approach

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, October 12, 2017

You don't have to love JR to like the film. I'd probably sleep with him, tho.

― Dr Morbius, May 16, 2018

about right

Counterpoint to July poll advocates: this STILL hasn’t fucking shown here 😡

it's on amazon prime tho

and home video

😜

streaming on Netflix!

mother! ruled sorry if this offends

I boosted Faces Places to my top 20 on second viewing

it's on amazon prime tho

streaming on Netflix!

I just looked it up to add to my queue and the first "More Like This" suggestion was Despicable Me 3

it's deffo available in torrentland, but 95% of you lot don't seem to fuck with that format!

https://i.imgur.com/QoK4IyL.jpg

14. Dunkirk
w/d: Christopher Nolan
154 points, 9 votes

oh my god it's like 3 hours long
― Mordy, 4 August 2016

does chris nolan's insistence on casting tom hardy then covering most of hardy's face with a mask have a basis in sexual fetish y/n

― bizarro gazzara, 21 July 2017

Shame Bobby Gillespie has such a cameo in this but at least he dies a hero.

― Stevolende, 21 August 2017

oh ffs!

first film of Nolan's that I liked, and only after a second viewing

at least Christian Bale wasn't in it

ugh

pleased to give dunkirk the award for... *checks notes*...loudest film of 2017

Very rarely think of this film since I saw it, except for how loud it was.

I feel like this thread title should just be changed to "A list of a bunch of films that came out awhile ago"

P sure I voted for both Mother! and Sacred Deer - and yes, enjoyed as black comedies and as sidewise horror movies.

120 BPM will be high in my 2018 poll - it was on at the Glasgow Film Theatre for a week or so earlier this year, so I'm guessing it got a similar run at most major UK arthouses.

our Joel made a compelling case to me for Dunkirk being the least terrible Nolan film and not without merit. poll scores are fucking silly, obv.

https://i.imgur.com/VspQRGh.jpg

the FUCK outta here

... y'all

this is the fakeout

more like dumbkirk

lol jk

https://i.imgur.com/IVFGp0Z.jpg

13. Nocturama
w/d: Bertrand Bonello
182 points, 11 votes

I didnt dig this.
"Oooh Im so full of ennui, lets blow up a bank!"
Its up on Netflix now btw

― Michael B, 20 September 2017

way too fucking low!