The "Unofficial" Films of 2017 (Take One)

Another year has come to an end yet 2017, despite a lot of shit that happened, was a good year for cinema as well as a good year for me personally. Like all years before, there were a lot of films that I didn't get to see so here are the following 2017 releases that I hope to see in the near future: The Shape of Water, Call Me By Your Name, You Were Never Really Here, The Phantom Thread, The Disaster Artist, I, Tonya, The Big Sick, Atomic Blonde, The Square, Good Time, Song to Song, 120 Beats Per Minute, In the Fade, The Florida Project, Okja, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Detroit, 24 Frames, Milla, Novitiate, Mom and Dad, Most Beautiful Island, Like Me, Sweet Virginia, A Ghost Story, Wonderstruck, Faces Places, The Little Hours, A Fantastic Woman, Coco, The Other Side of Hope, On Body and Soul, Loving Vincent, Foxtrot, The Villainess, Jim & Andy, The Vietnam War, Mudbound, Zama, Based on a True Story, Woodshock, Thelma, It Comes at Night, Ingrid Goes West, Landline, The Death of Stalin, Last Flag Flying, First Reformed, A Worthy Companion, Logan Lucky, The Trip to Spain, Columbus, My Friend Dahmer, Band Aid, Happy End, Lover for a Day, A Gentle Creature, L'Amant Double, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, On the Beach at Night Alone, and Loveless. Here are the best films of 2017 that I've seen so far...

1. Dunkirk

2. Blade Runner 2049

3. The Beguiled

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

5. Wonder Woman

6. Logan

7. Get Out

8. The Last Jedi

9. Lady Bird

10. Baby Driver

11. Thor: Ragnarok

12. Spider-Man: Homecoming

13. Wind River

14. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

15. T2 Trainspotting

16. Blade Runner 2022: Black Out

17. The Lego Batman Movie

18. John Wick Chapter 2

19. David Bowie: The Last Five Years

20. mother!

21. Tour de Pharmacy

22. Spielberg

23. George Michael: Freedom

24. 2048: Nowhere to Run

25. 2036: Nexus Dawn

26. Dante's Lunch

27. Whitney: Can I Be Me

28. The Defiant Ones

Honorable Mentions: R.E.M.-Automatic Unearthed, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, Descendants 2, The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds, & Eagles of Death Metal: Non Amis (Our Friends). Worst Film of 2017 (so far): Fifty Shades Darker

© thevoid99 2018

The Year-End Reflections of 2017

Well, this has been a really fucked-up year for anyone still alive in a country that calls itself the United States of America yet it feels like it’s another country at this point. 2017 is insane in a lot of ways as we saw a shift from this idea of feeling free, secure, and content despite the fact that there were still problems to now feeling none of that and dealing with a shitload of problems. Being an American in 2017 is now filled with a sense of unease and uncertainty. You can’t really trust anyone. You’re filled with news that probably have no sense of truth. Everything feels off and chaotic. Plus, there is that sense that we’re all getting dumber as everything that happened in Mike Judge’s 2006 satire comedy Idiocracy is coming true and I think the ultimate question to all of this is…. How the fuck all of this bullshit happened?

For all of the shit that’s been happening, cinema has been a good escape in some ways though it also reflect of the things that are happening and what they predicted. In the year of 2017, I saw a total of 435 films in 280 first-timers and 155 re-watches. Definitely an improvement over the past 2 years, especially the year before which was horrible due to a lot that was happening as I’m glad that this year personally as far as film-watching is concerned was much better. Even as I was able to relax a bit more and take my time while I saw a total of 15 films in the theaters which was also a major improvement in comparison to the previous year. The highlights of course had been my Blind Spot choices for 2017 as here is how I rank them:

1. Hoop Dreams

2. A Brighter Summer Day

3. Rear Window

4. Akira

5. The Big Red One

6. Swing Time

7. World on a Wire

8. Rio Bravo

9. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life (The Decameron) – (The Canterbury Tales) – (Arabian Nights)

10. The Lady Eve

11. Ninotchka

12. How Green Was My Valley

2017 was a showcase of so many great movies that I had never seen before as this list represents fifty of the best films that I have seen this year, pre-2010 as the list of films of the 2010s will be part of a future list. So here are the 50 best first-timers that I saw this year:

1. Rocco and His Brothers

2. Until the End of the World

3. Onibaba

4. Stroszek

5. Super Fly

6. Le Cercle Rouge

7. The Young Girls of Rochefort

8. Godzilla

9. Picnic at Hanging Rock

10. Stalag 17

11. Zabriskie Point

12. Dirty Harry

13. Son of Rambow

14. Lady Snowblood & Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance

15. Paper Moon

16. Blithe Spirit

17. Nanook of the North

18. Hobson's Choice

19. Samurai Rebellion

20. Hour of the Wolf

21. God's Country

22. And the Ship Sails On

23. The Flowers of St. Francis

24. Wings

25. Dream of Light

26. Umberto D.

27. Identification of a Woman

28. Fantastic Planet

29. The Holy Girl

30. Ballad of a Soldier

31. La Ronde

32. Harakiri

33. You Can Count on Me

34. Une chambre en ville

35. The Small Back Room

36. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

37. The Big Boss

38. Fist of Fury

39. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

40. The Confession

41. Island of Lost Souls

42. The King of Comedy

43. Rope

44. Jigoku

45. After Hours

46. The Burmese Harp

47. Chimes at Midnight

48. The Battle of Chile film series (Pt. 1) – (Pt. 2) – (Pt. 3) & Chile, the Obstinate Memory

49. Tokyo Twilight

50. Master of the House

There wasn’t much in 2017 that really stood out other than New Japan Pro Wrestling and any kind of association with the Bullet Club who are the hottest thing in professional wrestling for anyone that is paying attention to the world outside of WWE. The only other thing in 2017 that was good is Atlanta United as it was a joy to watch them on TV as I’m just glad that Atlanta has a soccer team and a team that is fun to watch. So in closing, let’s just hope we can survive the New Year and let’s make sure we embrace a new philosophy that we will need more than ever. The philosophy of…. DELETION!

© thevoid99 2017

Blog News: Blog Plans for 2017

2016 is coming to a close (thank God) and it's time to look ahead in what is likely to be a very chaotic year coming. This was overwhelming to say as I was barely able to get things done as 2017 will have not just scaling back a bit more but also slow things down a bit immensely. It's just me getting older and not wanting to overdo things but I also had the unfortunate of starting on projects where either I don't finish them or just scrapping it for good as some of it will never see the light of day. The only big project I have in mind at this point is for my music blog in the form of a special tribute to David Bowie for what would've been his 70th birthday on January 8. That is pretty much the only thing in the world of music that I'm likely going to write about as that blog will stay on but now only on rare occasions as I just don't have the desire to write about music anymore. I thought I did but circumstances beyond my control and waning enthusiasm has made the decision to just have the blog used rarely at this point.

In the world of film, that will still happen as it's the one thing I still care about and I probably want to surround myself with that more often considering the world we're about to embark in. Having fulfilled my 2016 Blind Spot Series and getting ready for the 2017 Blind Spot Series. I will definitely devote time to watching other films based on my DVR list which grows quite often lately. Along with films based on last year's edition of 1001 Films to See Before You Die, here is what I hope to do in 2017:

Watch more old-school films from filmmakers such as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, William Wyler, and several others of the classic Hollywood period.

Watch more films from emerging or recently-hot filmmakers such as Denis Villeneuve, Kelly Reichardt, Damian Chazelle, and several others.

Participate in Wandering Through the Shelves weekly Thursday Movie Picks as a break from film reviewing.

Devote time to horror, westerns, and musicals as a way to get a more balanced view on genres.

Watch more B-movies and anything that isn't heavy or high-brow entertainment.

Finish long-gestating projects such as Twin Peaks and The Story of Film series.

That is all I'm going to do as I'm also going to do another Cannes marathon this coming May as well as take some time to watch more films on TV as I've become less comfortable watching movies on my laptop as it's getting older though still working despite a few issues. Then there's the Auteurs series as it will go on hiatus for much of 2017. It got overwhelming in the past few months as I was barely able to finish them as trying to find and watch the films from the filmmakers I wanted to do became a struggle. It took longer than it did as I was just barely able to get them done. I don't think I will ever do that again. From now on, I'll just take the time to watch a filmmaker's body of work and if I have the chance to finish that person's body of work. I'll just do the films and then write an Auteurs essay on them. For now, it's going on a break. That is pretty much all to say for what will happen in 2017 and let's just hope we all get through it.

© thevoid99 2016

2017 Blind Spot Series

With the year that is 2016 coming to a close (thank God) with one more film in the Blind Spot Series left for the year that will be Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot. The time has come to look into what is ahead for the next Blind Spot Series which has been something I've enjoyed as it gives me the chance to not only see films that I had never seen before. It also shows me all kind of different films and filmmakers as the choices for the 2017 series doesn't just reflect the many different genre of films that I wanted to see but also to shake things up. Some of which are based on filmmakers I've recently discovered or know very little about. Even as a lot of these films are old classics as it's something I want to rectify more and more over the years. Especially the films the pre-World War II era and everything else before the 1960s while I also made the decision not to choose films from the 21st Century. Having done two trilogies this year, I decide to just do one as a way to not overwhelm myself. Here are the 11 films and one trilogy of films that I will watch for 2017:

Rio Bravo

How Green Was My Valley

The Big Red One

A Brighter Summer Day

World on a Wire

The Lady Eve

Akira

Hoop Dreams

Swing Time

Ninotchka

Rear Window

& Pier Paolo Pasolini's Trilogy of Life (The Decameron - The Canterbury Tales - Arabian Nights)

© thevoid99 2016