My 2017 Movies

The Grandstander took himself out to the movie theaters - not renting, not streaming (although I did that, too) but honest-to-God movie theaters - twenty-six (26) times in 2017, slightly over twice a month.  Not sure how that ranks on a "national average" scale, but I was happy with that, and hope to do so at least as many times in this new year of 2018.

I am not going to give you a "Ten Best" list, but here are some of the movies that I really liked, and in some cases, loved, in 2017.  I wrote about all of them in this blog and you can find what I had to say at the time by simply typing the name of the movie in the search box in the top left part of the screen.  These are the ones that, if you haven't seen them, I highly recommend that you do.  In the order in which I saw them....

• Hidden Figures - About a group of female African-American scientists and mathematicians working for NASA in the early days of America's manned space program when segregation was still a thing down south.  The fact that it's a true story makes this movie all the better.
• Beauty and the Beast - Live action version of Disney's animated classic.  Beautiful to look at and just a wonderful story.  Emma Watson just delightful as Belle.
• Wonder Woman - Yes, a comic book super hero movie makes my list.  Why?  The completely charismatic performance by the beautiful Gal Gadot in the title role.
• The Big Sick - Not your typical RomCom, this one involves a young woman being placed in a  forced coma while her loved ones try to cope with what has happened.  Like I said, not your typical RomCom.  It is both funny and sad and touching all at once.  An Oscar worthy performance by Holly Hunter as the young woman's mother makes this one worth seeing, but it was so much more.  In the end, this may be the best movie that we saw all year.
• OBIT. and Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story - Two documentaries make the list.  If you still read newspapers, or even if you just used to read them, see OBIT.  If you love the movies, see Harold and Lillian.
• Wind River - A modern day western, this one is violent and can be disturbing, but compelling nonetheless.  Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, who did "Hell or High Water", and an Oscar nomination worthy performance by Jeremy Renner make this one worth seeing.
• Wonder - Wonderful movie about a facially disfigured young boy making his way in middle school.  Uplifting story about acceptance.  Terrific performance by Julia Roberts as Augie's, the little boy, Mom.
• Murder on the Orient Express - This remake of the 1974 version of this Agatha Christie classic is stylishly done, beautiful to look at, has the proverbial all-star cast and is great fun.  What's not to like about it?
• Lady Bird - A coming of age story of a young girl in California as she deals with the struggles of teen-aged life as she goes through her senior year in high school and prepares for college. Saoirse Ronan (of "Brooklyn") as Lady Bird and Laurie Metcalfe as her Mom will no doubt be receiving Oscar consideration for this one.
• Darkest Hour - A biopic of Winston Churchill covering his first month as Prime Minister of wartime Great Britain.  Terrific movie and a performance from Gary Oldman that will probably win him an Oscar.

Okay, that's eleven movies, but I am not so pretentious as to call it a Top Ten list.  I didn't see all the movies out there that would allow me to make such a comprehensive listing.  Still, I saw the movies that I wanted to see, and these are were the best of that bunch.

I should also mention that we went to the theater six different times to see, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events, the following "classics" on the Big Screen in a movie theater setting:

• Singin' in the Rain
• All About Eve
• The Graduate
• Some Like It Hot
• E.T. The Extraterrestrial
• Casablanca

I didn't include them among my "favorites" of the year, because, well, it goes without saying that movies like this, if they weren't great and worth seeing, they wouldn't be included in the TCM series in the first place.  If you haven't seen any of them, or if it has been some time since you have seen them, you should make it a point to see each of them in 2018.  As New Year's resolutions go, you could do a lot worse.

And one final recommendation to movie fans out there: A weekly podcast called "At The Movies with Arch and Anne" featuring Washington DC movie critics Arch Campbell and Ann Hornaday.  It is informative and entertaining and well worth your time.

Looking forward to lots of great movies in 2018.  See you at the multi-plex!