It's been a pretty good year. I know there will be those that say movies just aren't what they used to be and, if you're talking about Hollywood cinema, I would somewhat agree with you, but there is so much to choose from these days that It'd be a sin to miss out. My list of 40 very good to great movies is mostly composed of indies and foreign-language films. What did make it from the Hollywood studio system? "Arrival," "Zootopia," "10 Cloverfield Lane," "Silence" and "Hacksaw Ridge." That's 5 out of 40. Pathetic. Look outside the box, see the greatness of the smaller studio fare that is breaking the rules and making cinema great again.
1) La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
2) Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
3) Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
4) OJ: Made in America (Ezra Edelman)
5) Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
6) Krisha (Trey Schultz)
8) A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnino)
10) 10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
10) Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)
12) Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie)
13) Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier)
15) Right Now, Wrong Then (Sang-Soo Hong)
16) Weiner (J. Kriegman and Steinberg)
17) Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
18) Gleason (Clay Tweel)
19) Miss Sloane (John Madden)
21) Aquarius (Kleber Mendonza Filho)
22) Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig)
23) The Wailing (Hong-Jin Na)
24) Newtown (Kim A. Snyder)
25) Hush (Mike Flanagan)
25) Hush (Mike Flanagan)
26) Lo and Behold (Werner Herzog)
27) Loving (Jeff Nichols)
28) Don't Breathe (Fede Alvarez)
28) Don't Breathe (Fede Alvarez)
29) Equity (Meera Menon)
30) American Honey (Andrea Arnold)
31) Hacksaw Ridge (Mel Gibson)
32) In a Valley of Violence (Ti West)
33) Sing Street (John Carney)
33) Sing Street (John Carney)
34) Everybody Wants Some (Richard Linklater)
35) Lights Out (David Sandberg, Jose Ramos)
36) Don't Think Twice (Mike Birbiglia)
35) Lights Out (David Sandberg, Jose Ramos)
36) Don't Think Twice (Mike Birbiglia)
37) 20th Century Women (Mike Mills)
38) The Nice Guys (Shane Black)
38) The Nice Guys (Shane Black)
39) The Eyes of My Mother (Nicolas Pesce)
40) From Afar (Lorenzo Vigas)
41) The Eyes of My Mother (Nicolas Pesce)
42) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards)
43) The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
44) Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
The Handmaiden
41) The Eyes of My Mother (Nicolas Pesce)
42) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards)
43) The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
44) Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
45) Patriots Day (Peter Berg)
46) Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)
46) Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)
47) Blood Father (Jean-Francois Richet)
48) The Accountant (Gavin O'Connor)
49) Deadpool (Tim Miller)
50) Born to Be Blue (Rober Budreau)
The Handmaiden
Jackie
Marvel's "Ghost Rider" just hired one of the best cinematographers working today. Linus Sandgren will serve as DP on Shawn Levy's MCU flick, and, most notably, the project will be shot on film.