Another mostly very late Film Fight comes to a close for 2017. As per my perennial caveat, Film Fight is done in a knock-out style: it can pick a first place, but everything else is unknown.
First up, the honourable mentions: films that were good but didn’t win their month:
- Jackie
- T2: Trainspotting
- The Lego Batman Movie
- John Wick: Chapter 2
- Moonlight
- The Founder
- I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore
- Imperial Dreams
- Logan
- Burning Sands
- The Discovery
- Win It All
- The Handmaiden
- In The Shadow of Iris
- Wonder Woman
- Spiderman: Homecoming
- To The Bone
- The Incredible Jessica James
- Message From The King
- Logan Lucky
- First They Killed My Father
- The Death of Stalin
- Bomb Scared
- 1922
- Wheelman
- Bright
And the monthly winners:
- January: Manchester By Sea
- February: Fences
- March: Get Out
- April: Free Fire
- May: Colossal
- June: Baby Driver
- July: Dunkirk
- August: Atomic Blonde
- September: mother!
- October: Bladerunner 2049
- November: The Florida Project
- December: The Disaster Artist
I don’t know if it is a reflection of available cinematic fare or just my own mood and inclination, but it feels like I saw fewer dramas this year and far more easy watches. That’s something that I’ll look to counter next year.
Given what I did see, there are some films that made it through in a weak month but enough solid contenders that this is still tricky.
Denzel Washington was fantastic on both sides of the camera in Fences, with a character he really sun his teeth into. Yes, it always feels like a stage adaptation (it is), but that lets the actors focus more on their performance, delivering some excellent dialogue.
Get Out was an incredible piece of work for Jordan Peele’s debut feature. Part horror, part social commentary, and every bit of it smartly done. There are numerous obvious and subtle callbacks running through it that will require multiple viewings to appreciate. Very satisfying.
Both Dunkirk and mother!, in their own ways, delivered visceral experiences; through sound and movement showing what a cinematic overload can do.
Meanwhile Colossal and The Florida Project tackle big issues in very different ways. The former is fantastical, while the latter is grounded, but no less beautiful.
For the winner, I’m torn between two very different films. The Florida Project stuck with me for a long time, and delivers a fantastic message. That said, I think the winner delivers big too, but juggles a message and entertainment perfectly. That is why Get Out is the Film Fight 2017 winner.