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