Movie review: I had a great time at the ‘El Royale’

After a career writing for twisty — and frequently Abrams-ian — projects like Alias, Lost and Cloverfield, Drew Goddard made his directorial debut with 2012’s The Cabin in the Woods. Equal parts homage and satire, “Cabin” was the perfect vehicle for Goddard’s particular blend of genre appreciation and experimental tomfoolery.

In his feature follow-up, Goddard doesn’t put away his bag of tricks, but he draws from it considerably less. Much like how “Cabin” explored the conventions of teen slasher flicks, “Bad Times at the El Royale” plays with the classic Dark and Stormy Night setup, with seven strangers colliding at a once-swanky hotel that straddles the Nevada-California border. In many ways it feels like the spiritual offspring of “Clue,” or perhaps its violent younger sibling.

We arrive at the El Royale with Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), a singer en route to a gig in Reno, and are quickly introduced to Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), traveling salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm), Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson) and bellhop Miles (Lews Pullman). A couple other characters are ultimately introduced (including a Charles Manson-esque Chris Hemsworth) and it goes without saying that no one is quite the person they appear to be.

In bits and pieces, Goddard reveals the true agendas behind each guest’s stay at the El Royale, and in no time at those agendas to collide with revelatory and occasionally fatal results. There are many surprises at the “Royale,” but several plot beats are a little too easy to track from minute one.

A big element in “Royale” is mood, which Goddard uses to maximum result, but the atmosphere can only get you so far before you have to deal with an actual story, and that’s where the seams begin to show. Once all the cards are on the table, the film starts to run out of steam.

The cast is clearly enjoying the opportunity to play against type, with Hamm and Hemsworth in particular chewing a bit of scenery in their respective roles. And Erivo, as the audience surrogate, is superb as the closest thing to a “normal” person in a cartoonishly chaotic film.

But the gimmickry is half the fun. The style and the amount of talent on screen makes up for the film’s weaknesses, resulting in something akin to a magician’s act. You’ll know you’re being tricked, but you won’t mind at all.

Grade: B+

Bad Times at the El Royale opens nationwide on Friday, October 12.

 

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Movie Review: ‘A Star is Born’ builds beautifully into a roaring crescendo

To begin with a disclosure: I’ve never seen any of the prior iterations of “A Star is Born.” I was aware that the film, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, was remade from earlier source material, but not the larger contours of the plot.

No matter. At every point the movie feels fresh, and comfortable in itself. It’s so effortlessly adapted to the modern era by first-time director Cooper, and so confidently led by Lady Gaga, that it has almost a fairy tale quality. If the new film is any indication of the previous works, then “A Star is Born” seems like just the kind of story destined to be retold by each new generation.

Cooper and Lady Gaga star as Jack and Ally, respectively. When we meet them, Jack is a world-famous and hard-drinking country musician at the height of his career, while Ally moonlights as a singer struggling to make inroads in the industry. They meet in the kind of starstruck coincidence that feels like it could maybe happen, but only seems to in the movies. Ally is then catapulted into the spotlight, first on tour with Jack and later through her own solo career.

That’s the setup, and it takes some time to get there, helped along by understated performances, light-touch narrative work and a killer soundtrack. But the real muscle of the movie is the implicit: watching how fame and fortune can consume individuals and the people in their orbit; and the way a couple can alternately support and injure each other as they collide throughout their shared lives.

Casting Lady Gaga in her acting debut adds an inspired meta element to Ally’s story of a woman trying to maintain authenticity in the whirlwind of explosive fame. And her pairing with Cooper produces an unexpected chemistry, with the actors easily selling the romance of two flawed individuals who try to, and occasionally succeed at, bringing out the best in each other.

For Cooper, who pulls double duty as star and director, the role is another successful test of his range, building on his dramatic turns in films like “Silver Linings Playbook” and “American Sniper.” The central pairing does the heavy lifting, but the movie gets helpful assists from a supporting cast featuring Sam Elliot, Andrew Dice Clay and a refreshingly dramatic Dave Chappelle.

It’s a moving film, that starts quiet and builds to a powerful finish. Several of the attendees at my screening were left in tears, and the end credits were met with an ovation that practically begged for an encore.

Grade: A-

“A Star is Born” opens nationwide on Friday, October 5.

Wood’s Stock Oscar Picks 2018

I don’t always publish my Oscar predictions, mostly because I have a lengthy track record of being very, very wrong about who takes home the statuettes. I go with my heart, not my head, and over the years the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has demonstrated that while it and I have a *similar* taste in film, we do not fully overlap.

All the same, I love the Oscars and since I’m blogging less and less these days I thought it would be nice to make my picks.

Also, if you want a less-subjective, data-driven prediction, I recommend this analysis by Five Thirty Eight, which looks at the history of winners and assigns point values to the Oscar-predictive awards ceremonies like the SAG and BAFTA awards. I’ll note their selections in this post, but you really should check out their methodology and explanations.

Best Picture: It’s important to remember that the Oscars is not a objective body. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes politics, lobbying, favor-trading and the bulk of the membership (even after recent pushes for increased diversity) or older, white men. Why do I bring this up? Because I think last year’s history-making win by Moonlight diminishes the chances of Call Me By Your Name winning on March 4. (The same is possibly true, but to a lesser extent, of The Post’s odds after Spotlight’s win two years ago.)

The number-crunchers say Shape of Water and Three Billboards are the frontrunners, but both have their vocal detractors among the critical community. Shape of water is visually stunning with excellent period details, and three billboard has a flyover-state quality that speaks to whatever it is that is going on in the country right now. I’m already on the record saying Dunkirk if my favorite move of the year, so pop goes my heart. But to defend myself somewhat, Dunkirk is a challenging film, relying on large-scale set pieces  and the “based on a true story” allure that Academies of old have gobbled up. Of all the major categories, this one is the hardest to predict. (It’s also THE category, so go figure).

“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk” — Should win
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water” — 538 pick
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — Will win

 

Lead Actress: The controversy around Three Billboards aside, there’s no denying the quality of Frances McDormand’s performance. As a stubborn, grief-stricken mother of a murdered child, she walks a very fine line between righteous crusader and self-serving malcontent. In a different year, without the competition, I would love to see Margo Robbie or Saoirse (rhymes with “inertia”) Ronan claim the win for their tragicomic turns in Lady Bird and I, Tonya, but those film’s best odds are in other categories.

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — 538 pick — Should Win — Will Win
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post”

Lead Actor: This would be a one-man race, for Gary Oldman’s bravura turn as Winston Churchill, except for the spoiler that Daniel Day-Lewis is also nominated for his final film, Phantom Thread. The Oscar voters are prone to ceremonial votes, and DDL will certainly be boosted as a going-away display, but he has already one 3 times while Oldman has been twice-nominated but never victorious. Sure, covering yourself in prosthetic to play wartime Churchill is the epitome of Oscar bait, but it’s also some of the best prosthetics I’ve ever seen, letting Oldman deliver a performance worth the price of admission in an otherwise ho-hum film.

Oh, and apparently Denzel Washington is nominated? For some film I’ve quite literally heard nothing about.

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” — 538 pick — Should win — Will win
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

Director: There’s a correlation between Best Picture and Best Director, but it’s not airtight. As I said earlier, the number-crunchers say Shape of Water and Three Billboards are the films to beat this year, and in an interesting turn of events Martin McDonagh (Billboards) isn’t included in the category. That gives the Oscar voters a chance to split their vote (hence the predicted BP win for billboards) and give GDT his first win. While I have my nits to pick with Shape Of Water, it’s unquestionably a well-directed film that benefits from the singular vision of a truly talented, and frequently underrated, filmmaker.

Also, while they won’t win, kudos to the academy for including first-time directors Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig, who *might* seem like token diversity picks if not for the quality of their entries. They may not win, but that definitely deserve their place in the nominations and I, like many, can’t wait to see what comes next from them both.

“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan
“Get Out,” Jordan Peele
“Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig
“Phantom Thread,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro — 538 pick — Should win — Will win

Supporting Actress: According to 538, it’s beyond unlikely that Laurie Metcalf wins, as Allison Janney has the category in the bag. Now, Imma Let Janney finish, but Metcalf had one of the best performances of all time! Besides, if there’s anything we’ve learned from 538, it’s that “unlikely” is a long walk from “impossible”. 

Jannie is great, no doubt, fantastic even. But Metcalf is straight-up heartbreaking as the struggling-to-get-by mother of Lady Bird who, in hoping for better opportunities for her daughter is forced to confront the quiet disappointments of her own life. It’s a master class of under-performing, and the moments of interplay between Metcalf of Ronan are the film’s strongest moments.

There’s clearly some love among the Oscar voters for Lady Bird, evidenced by the underdog film’s inclusion in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories. I’m counting on that sub-group (and ranked-choice voting) to deliver the win.

Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” — 538 pick
Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird” — Should win — Will win
Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”

Supporting Actor: This is the category that makes or breaks your Oscar pool, as it’s the most wide-open race. Florida Project is the least-known, and even Oscar voters haven’t seen everything, but there’s a strong whisper campaign going on about the movie and Dafoe in particular. Jenkins is the workhorse, a consistent, reliable actor who can drop into nearly any movie and make his scenes sizzle. Plummer is the statesman, who stepped in at the 11th hour to save a movie from implosion and who delivers, quite honestly, an exceptional and seamless performance, albeit in a movie that isn’t otherwise Oscar caliber.

Then there’s the presumed frontrunner, Sam Rockwell, who is very good in three billboards but who also plays *the* character at the center of the films controversy. An unrepentant cop with a widely-known but unpunished reputation for assaulting people of color is a tough note to strike in 2018, and he’s up against his co-star Woody Harrelson which potentially splits the 3 billboards vote to let someone else jump ahead. .

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project” — Will win
Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water” — Should win
Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — 538 pick

Animated Feature: It’s Coco. I haven’t even seen it (yet) and I can tell you it’s going to be Coco.

“The Boss Baby”
“The Breadwinner”
“Coco” — 538 Pick — Will win
“Ferdinand”
“Loving Vincent”

Best Documentary Feature: Have you seen any of these movies? Yes? Good for you…bet on that one. I’ve seen Icarus. It was great (and currently on Netflix, FYI). 

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Faces Places” — 538 pick (tie)
“Icarus” — 538 pick (tie)
“Last Men in Aleppo”
“Strong Island”

 

A few last picks.

The rest of the Oscars is a real guessing game (538 didn’t bother to keep going). I love that Logan got a nomination for Adapted Screenplay, and I’m on the record saying its the best superhero movie of the year. It’s also a no-qualifiers-needed great film, that nearly cracked my top 10.

But while Logan *should win*, Call Me By Your Name will take the adapted screenplay win after getting passed over in the major awards.

Similarly, Get Out will see its recognition in the Original Screenplay category. I’m fine with that, even though my personal pick would be The Big Sick, about which I’ve already gushed about ad nauseam on my Top 10 list.

And there’s also a really important nomination in an otherwise “minor” category that everyone needs to be aware of. Roger Deakins, the cinematographer behind some of the most gorgeous scenes in all of cinema has been nominated for his FOURTEENTH!!!! Oscar. 14 nomination but no wins, a crime against film that *will* be rectified next month when he gets the Statuette for his stunning work on Blade Runner 2049.

To be honest, I really don’t care who wins in any of this year’s categories except this one. Either Deakins wins or I riot (not really….but kinda).

 

Best of 2017: Top 10

Finally, FINALLY!, I’ve seen all the films I needed to see to put together the Top 10 list for *last* year. Living in a flyover state is such a burden for the recreational cinephile (#FirstWorldProblems).

I’ll keep the intro brief, but wanted to comment on the year that was. I already noted in my post for the Number 11 film about how great movies were spread out through the calendar year instead of being clustered only in the November-December holiday season. But what also stands out to me about 2017 was the level of humor in the best films of the year; not necessarily as outright comedies but as film’s that didn’t feel forced to cram themselves strictly into the typical binary of serious vs. silly.

It made for richer movie-going experiences, IMHO. And besides, in 2017 I think we could all use a few extra laughs.

Without further ado, here’s the 10 best movies that came out 2017. It was an agonizing process to select them, as always, and I’ll add a few extra shout-outs to good movies that didn’t quite make the cut at the end.

10. Phantom Thread

Say it ain’t so DDL!!!!  Daniel Day-Lewis, currently the greatest living male actor (come at me!) claims that his latest collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson is his last film — as in, ever. As tragic as the thought is, it’s at least comforting to know that he’s going out on a great note.

Day-Lewis stars as Reynolds Woodcock, a renowned dressmaker and unyielding perfectionist who finds his latest muse in Alma (Vicky Krieps). Their relationship is toxic and one-sided, by Woodcock’s design, except that Alma isn’t content to wither and fade as the dressmaker’s former lovers did.

The movie takes a bit too long getting to its deeper machinations, which in the hands of a lesser filmmaker and cast would doom the film. But the combination of DDL’s customarily immersive performance and PTA’s ethereal direction make every minute on a hypnotic delight, even if their combined weight causes the film to drag slightly.

Watch it on: Currently in theaters

9. Nobody Speak: Trials of a Free Press

Whoulda thunk one of the most troubling and potentially detrimental challenges to the First Amendment would involve a Hulk Hogan sex tape, but here we are. Terry Bollea (the man behind the do-rag) quite literally sued the pants off of Gawker after the site posted excerpts of Bollea’s sex tape, arguing that while *Hogan* was a public figure and subject to additional scrutiny by the press, the man behind the character, Bollea, was a wholly separate individual who deserved his privacy.

Much like the infamous McDonald’s hot coffee case, there’s a lot more going on here than one might immediately suppose, and director Brian Knappenberger does a superb job at peeling back the layers of this particularly rotten onion. In a time when the media is under concerted attack by public figures (“FAKE NEWS!”) and reality TV stars and tabloid provocateurs have their hands on the highest levers of governmental power (again, “FAKE NEWS!”) the ability of someone like Bollea, backed by the personal fortune of a vendetta-driven billionaire (in this case, Peter Thiel), to sue a media outlet into oblivion over objections to its content is, quite simply, terrifying. (Yowza, how’s *that* for a run-on sentence?).

Watch it on: Netflix

8. The Disaster Artist

There have been many movies about making movies, and even a few movies about making bad movies (See: Ed Wood). But there’s never been anything quite like The Disaster Artist, which dramatizes the true and truly bizarre story of the making of The Room.

Part biopic for the notoriously terrible film’s director/writer/star Tommy Wisaue, part love-letter to film itself and part tribute to the fruits of indefatigable optimist. Centered around the all-in performance by James Franco, himself an occasionally out there multi-hyphenate, The Disaster Artist is the funniest film I saw this year. Between the abundant laughs, it’s also succeeds, somewhat unexpectedly, at making a sympathetic character out of its wackadoodle protagonist, who managed to achieve his goal of being an all-American Hollywood star (and maybe vampire?) through the most unlikeliest of routes.  (Bonus: Make sure to see “The Room” if you haven’t, but not necessarily *before* you watch The Disaster Artist. It works in either order).

Watch it on: Currently in theaters

7. The Big Sick

Directed by Michael Showalter and written by the real-life couple whose story is dramatized on screen, The Big Sick is the charming millennial love story none of us knew we were waiting for. Kumail Nanjiani (playing a version of himself) and Zoe Kazan (as Emily) are dynamite as the central couple. And when Kazan is sidelined by the titular physical ailment of her character, the movie pops to a whole new level with the arrival of Emily’s parents, played on-the-money by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano.

On its face it’s a love story, but the smart and unfussy script folds in themes of religion and family ties for a rom-dramedy that truly shouldn’t be missed.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime video

6. Logan Lucky

After the 2013 movie “Side Effects,” Steven Soderbergh claimed he was done directing movies. He focused on television, churning out some great work in projects like The Knick and Behind the Candelabra, but maintained that he was retired from the big screen.

*Lucky* for us (see what I did there?) he changed his mind.

Going back to the heist format that launched him into the upper-Hollywood stratosphere with Ocean’s Eleven, Soderbergh bottles lightning with “Logan Lucky” a madcap, freewheeling story about misfit toys who come together to rip off a NASCAR event. It’s anchored by the oddly soulful performances of Channing Tatum and Adam Driver, the latter sporting a comically rudimentary prosthetic arm, and bolstered by an A-plus ensemble cast that includes the indescribably joyous casting of Daniel Craig as the redneck bomb-maker “Joe Bang.”

If there’s one weak point, it’s Seth McFarland as an obnoxious NASCAR driver, but it’s a minor complaint in an otherwise inventive and refreshingly clever smash-and-grab job.

Watch it on: Available for rent or purchase on streaming services

5. The Post

Not only is Steven Spielberg’s latest very good, it’s also very necessary, arriving at a moment when the free press and First Amendment are under more scrutiny and pressure than they’ve been since…well…since the Nixon Administration depicted in the film’s plot.

The cast is stellar and the plotting is taught, diving into the emotions at play as the leadership of the Washington Post (then a second-tier paper behind the behemoths like the New York Times) wrestles with whether and how to publish the Pentagon Papers. At the center of it all is Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, waxing journalistic as the Post’s publisher and editor respectively. For newsy folk like myself, it’s the cinema equivalent of catnip, but for those outside the industry it’s a reverential and informative peak behind the curtain of one of our nations most essential democratic institutions.

Watch it on: Currently in theaters

4. A Ghost Story

No film that I saw this year stuck with me the way A Ghost Story did. If you’ll pardon the pun, I was haunted by it.

There’s nothing conventional about this movie: it’s a bold and enigmatic story of a couple separated by mortality in which the protagonists spends the bulk of the running time obscured by a sheet like a child’s simplistic Halloween costume. You literally could not do less to show a ghost on screen, but the effect works wonders as the character (unnamed and played by Casey Affleck) looms outside the perception of his grieving wife (Rooney Mara) before becoming lost in time through a series of ponderous vignettes, all paired to precision with the single best soundtrack of any film this year.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime video

3. Lady Bird

Few films feel as effortlessly alive as “Lady Bird,” the impressive directorial debut of indie darling Greta Gerwig. Starring Saoirse Ronan (it rhymes with “inertia”) in her funniest role to date, Lady Bird is a coming-of-age-tell that shrugs off expectations to tell a story that is at times universal (awkward first loves, parental embarrassment, dreams of adulthood in the big city) and at times wholly individual (to whit, the incredible mother-daughter pairing with a never-been-better Laurie Metcalf).

Watch it on: Available for rent or purchase on streaming services

2. Get Out

Speaking of directorial debuts, from the mind of Jodan Peele comes the biggest talker of the 2017 year in film. Released in February, “Get Out” landed with a bang so loud the ground was still shaking by December. Not quite a horror movie, not quite a comedy and not quite sane, the movie leaned hard into America’s racial tensions, taking a textbook “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” setup and spinning it around until the wheels fall off.

Most impressive, the film doesn’t fall apart without the element of surprise. By the time most people saw it (myself included), word-of-mouth and buzzy reactions had made even the most diligently spoiler-averse audience member aware that strange things were afoot at the Circle K. You may not know exactly what is in store, but you know going in (or very shortly afterward) that things are going to be a little odd.

No matter, because Peele’s twisty concept and in-your-face constructions are simply that good. In a way, “Get Out” is spoiler proof, because what it has to say is louder than plot.

Watch it on: HBO Go/Now

1. Dunkirk

I had a hard time choosing the image for this entry, since every option seemed so small compared to the experience of actually watching Christopher Nolan’s epic film in the theater (if you missed the large-screen format, you should still watch Dunkirk but know that you’re missing out on it’s most impressive effect: size.)

Dunkirk is a film at odds with itself. Everything about its imagery is big, from the wide-angle aerial shots to the endless horizon of a sea boiling with hulking warships toppled under billowing clouds of smoke and fire. But it’s individual moments are small, and largely wordless, as we follow various groups of soldiers, pilots and civilians engaged in the most straightforward of tasks made daunting by circumstance: getting from one side of the English channel to the other.

The contradictions in tone are made all the better by the film’s format, which weaves together three narratives that take place in different windows of time (one week on land, one day at seat and one hour in flight). It is at first disorienting, until you embrace the disorientation and look past chronology. Every scene is its own story of survival, so it doesn’t quite matter which order they occur in.

The Battle of Dunkirk has been depicted on film before, most notably in the excellent film Atonement. But while those stories made pit stops at the beach, Nolan’s story is lazer-focused on the plight of the English and French forces trapped between the German invaders on one side and the treacherous waters on the other. A straightforward telling would have made for a straightforward movie, something Nolan has shown he has little interest in, and one that may have been fine but wouldn’t stick with you the way “Dunkirk” does.

Watch it on: Available for rent or purchase on streaming services

And a few more:

As always, there’s more than 10 movies that deserve recognition. I mentioned a few already with my Honorable Mentions, but most of those weren’t ever under consideration for my end-of-year Top 10.

Because movies come late to Utah, I end up making a Top 10 and then bumping titles off as late releases outrank them, which is heartbreaking. This was particularly the case with I, Tonya, with which I went back and forth for a few days deciding between it and Phantom Thread for the final spot.

Similarly, it killed me to not include Blade Runner 2049. I’m a huge fan of director Denis Villeneuve and really enjoyed his gorgeous sequel to the Ridley Scott classic. But I can also see where its detractors are coming from, and while I recommend it wholeheartedly there are few little nit-picky things that kept me from ranking it.

Battle of the Sexes, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell is very good, and Stone *in it* is particularly excellent. I was going to mention it as Best Indie but I just couldn’t get over It Comes at Night. Similarly Wonder Woman deserves every inch of its success and I look forward to what Patti Jenkins does with the franchise (still the only corner of DC’s cinematic universe worth paying attention to.)

I was surprised by how much I liked Murder on the Orient Express. I knew nothing about the story which probably added to my enjoyment (your mileage may vary if you already know the big reveal) and I’m pleased that a sequel is reportedly in development, especially since this time it *won’t* include Johnny Depp.

Also Wind River is another worthwhile directorial debut, this time by Taylor Sheridan who has written some of the best crime-related films in recent years (Hell or High Water, Sicario). His skills in the director’s chair aren’t quite to the level of his writing ability, but it’s a strong first film that suggests even better things on the horizon (Sicario, you may recall, was directed by Denis Villeneuve, which ties this list together in an interesting way. And its sequel “Soldado” comes out this summer. I am, to put it mildly, excited.).

Last but not least, The Greatest Showman is a darn good musical. Sure, I would have liked a less sanitized version of P.T. Barnum — a complicated man, to say the least — but the music is great, the choreography pops, and its quite successful at what it sets out to do.

**Addendum*** This morning’s Oscar Nominations reminded me that I forgot to include The Shape Of Water in my post-list shoutouts. GDT is a visionary director, and his latest has the feel of a moving painting. Great performances by the cast (most notably Sally Hawkins is a near-silent role) and a great fantasy creation. It was a contender for the Top 10 but got bumped in the final weeks.

Best of 2017: Number 11

With any luck, I’ll have the Top 10 completed by mid-January. “The Post” hits Salt Lake City on the 12th and, let’s be honest, I’m going to love it. How *much* I love it remains to be seen, but I can hardly put a list together without seeing the latest Spielberg film.

One thing I’ve already noticed from my shortlist is that 2017 did a great job of spreading the love throughout the year. Instead of the usual November-December cluster of quality, this year’s shortlist includes several early-summer releases and at least one that premiered back in February (hint, hint).

The popcorn fare was also better than usual. I already wrote in my honorable mentions how we got five legitimately great superhero flicks this year. Add to that a risky (read: polarizing) entry into the Star Wars franchise, another you’re-lying-if-you-say-you-didn’t-like-it Fast and Furious film, and a remake of “It” that, IMHO, outdoes the original.

But when looking back at the slate of mainstream, pair-it-with-a-coke, studio fare, there was one film that stood out for it’s thrills and chills. While not the best movie of the year, in an academic sense, it was definitely the most fun I had at the movies and that’s why this year’s Number 11 film is:

Baby Driver

Click on that embedded video, right now. Even if you’ve already seen the movie and especially if you haven’t, do yourself a favor and watch that clip, which is the 6-minute bank heist and car chase that cold opens Edgar Wright’s fantastic movie.

Wright, director of similar genre-blending pop culture staples like Shaun of The Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World puts his signature editing style to its maximum effect in Baby Driver. The film stars Ansel Elgort as Baby, a getaway criminal with tinnitus who relies on a steady soundtrack of music to drown out the ringing in his ears and who is forced to take less-than-legal jobs to pay down a debt. He meets a girl near the end of his indentured servitude, setting up the kind of “one last job” scenario familiar to heist movies, but deployed in a way that marries sound, sight and action choreography in a way that only Wright can.

The chase scenes are, quite simply, unparalleled and matched with a dynamite soundtrack and joyful performances by a crew of A-list actors (including Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal and Jamie Foxx) playing both into and against their stereotypes.

The one sour note, cosmic in nature, is the inclusion of Kevin Spacey as Baby’s puppet master. It’s a supporting role in the film’s goings-on, but nonetheless harder to stomach now that Spacey’s decades of predatory behavior off-screen has come to light. Perhaps future releases will swap Spacey out, George Lucas style, and I suppose some consolation can be found in that fact that [Spoiler Alert] Spacey’s character need not return for the sequel. I defer to everyone their own calculus on whether or not to watch films that feature terrible people, but for me, the talent and effort of the many other individuals involved in Baby Driver deserve to be celebrated.

Best of 2017: Honorable Mentions

I’m still a few weeks out from completing the due diligence for this year’s list. Living in Salt Lake City doesn’t help things, as several of the big December titles won’t make it to Wasatch Front theaters until January (sigh).

But the end (of the year) is near, and inevitably there are more films warranting recognition than fit onto a Top 10 list. Sure, I could write a longer list, but ain’t nobody got time for that.

Here’s a few favorites from the year that you should check out if you haven’t already.

Best January Surprise: “Split”

Welcome back M. Night Shyamalan. The pop culture world had rightfully written off the erstwhile-wunderkind behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable after a lengthy string of mediocre to downright awful films.

Wisely, Shyamalan gave up on trying to be blockbuster director (remember After Earth? Ugh) and went back to his smaller-scale roots, crafting a low-frills, eerie thriller about a man with multiple personalities, some of whom like to kidnap young girls as offerings to “The Beast.” James McAvoy anchors the film with his playful and committed performance, and the signature twist at the end is a whopper for fans of Shymalan’s filmography, setting up ever more exciting things to come.

Stream it on: HBO Now/Go

Best Box-Office Flop: “Free Fire”

“Free Fire” to put it mildly, was not a successful film. It had a limited, art house run and while not an expensive film to produce (online reports say roughly $7 million) it made decidedly less than that in ticket sales.

And that’s a shame. It takes a fairly traditional set up — a gathering of criminals erupts in violence after a deal goes bad — and churns out a funny, exciting and entertaining-as-hell bottle episode of a movie as the various characters (played by Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson and Sharlto Copley  try to gun their way out of a bad spot, shifting alliances and betraying hidden motivations as they go.

Stream it on: Amazon Prime Video

Best Binge: “Okja”

Netflix is inching closer and closer to having it first bonafide film smash. It’s original television shows have already broken through, but it’s original films have yet to cross that Rubicon. In 2015, Beast of No Nation was a critical success, but wasn’t exactly a water cooler conversation, and the streaming giant is putting a lot of weight behind next week’s “Bright,” starring Will Smith in a more traditional (and likely underwhelming) fantasy-adventure role.

But all of that makes Netflix’s acquisition of “Okja” all the more interesting, and commendable. In no world was a surreal drama about a South Korean girl trying to save her pet giant pig from the slaughterhouse, and directed by the guy behind “Snowpiercer,” going to achieve mass appeal.

Okja is like nothing else you’ll watch this year. It’s got both Jake Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton in roles that almost seem to be competing to out-crazy the other and a legitimately hard-to-watch scene of forced animal reproduction, all in service of a larger allegory on the meat processing industry. It’s out there, like *way* out there, and it’s great.

Stream it on: Netflix

Best Foreign: “Raw”

Written and directed by Julia Ducournau, “Raw” is a French film about a vegetarian woman at veterinary school who develops a compulsion for raw meat after a new-student hazing ritual. That compulsion becomes intense, to put it mildly, eventually leading to fatal results.

It’s a dressed-down approach to what could have been a campy, neo-Zombie/Vampire retread. If there is anything supernatural at play, Ducournau only hints at it, instead preferring to tell a human story of addiction, which just happens to involve the consumption of human flesh. The movie is also deft in its use of gore and practical effects, making quiet scenes hang in the air with apprehension — a particular sequence involving the main character’s sister, a botched bikini wax and a pair of scissors stands out.

Best to watch it on an empty stomach.

Stream it on: Netflix

Best Superhero: “Logan”

As far as superhero films go, 2017 was an embarrassment of riches. Warner Brothers, which has little to show for its DC efforts so far, scored a major victory with Wonder Woman, the long-overdue superheroine movie we’ve all been waiting for. Marvel had two successes by embracing the weird in Guardians 2 and Thor: Ragnarok. And even Sony got into the game with it’s Spider-man: Homecoming, which put Peter Parker back in high school where he belongs.

(The less said about 2017 *other* big superhero movie, the better).

But the biggest risk, and subsequently greatest reward, was Fox letting writer-director James Mangold go out on a limb with the studio’s marquee character, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. In “Logan,” Wolverine is nearing the end of his long life, his healing powers of near-immortality waning, and is living off the grid as a limousine driver in a post-mutant world while caring for an ailing Professor Charles Xavier.

For long stretches of the movie, you might forget you’re watching a superhero film. It has little of the computer-generated phantasmagoria that have come to define the genre, instead putting its characters in actual dirt, covered in blood and sweat. It also does what most of these mega-franchises are too afraid to do: it ends.

Stream it on: HBO Now/Go

Best Documentary: “Chasing Coral”

Climate change is no longer something that can be safely ignored (in fact, it never was) and yet the nonsensically controversial and unnecessarily partisan “debate” drags on. Meanwhile, the Earth’s oceans get hotter and hotter, literally cooking the plant and animal life that make up a largely-unseen but crucially important ecosystem beneath the waves.

That effect, happening in real time, is what “Chasing Coral” captures, by sending a team of divers with underwater cameras to document the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef. The footage is striking, showing the decimation of once-vibrant areas over a matter of weeks, and making it abundantly and undeniably clear that our oceans are burning we all fiddle with the politics.

Stream it on: Netflix

Best Horror: “It”

The horror genre took a decidedly indie-dominated turn a few years back, with films like “The Babadook,” “The Witch,” and “It Follows” generating buzz while mainstream fare puttered along with diminishing returns.

But there’s no denying the particular alchemy of “It,” which managed to take one of the biggest titles in horror history and update it. With all deference to the great work by Tim Curry, the old “It” doesn’t hold up very well, and it was high time somebody take another stab at adapting Stephen King’s signature work for the big screen.

Enter director Andy Muschiett, working off great writing by multiple screenwriters and equipped with a cast of capable child actors (including Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard). The script moves the action up a couple decades to capitalize on peak-80s nostalgia and wisely trims some of King’s more problematic impulses. And deserved credit to Bill Skarsgård, who is faced with the task of filling Curry’s shoes while making the character of Pennywise his own. He succeeds.

Stream it on: N/A

Best Indie: “It Comes At Night”

Few films stuck with me after I left the theater the way “It Comes at Night” did. Set in a thinly-defined post apocalyptic world, ICAN is focused on a family who live in solitary isolation in a boarded-up cabin, barricaded to keep out the unspoken menaces of a communicable ailment and the people who might bring it with them. After a man invades their home, ostensibly in search of supplies, the family is forced to weigh their safety over the risk of exposing themselves to other people.

It’s a quiet, dark and moody film with an omnipresent air of menace. So much is left abstract, with blurred lines between nocturnal dream sequences and diurnal reality, and only whispers on the wind and the fear on the characters faces communicating the stakes. The conclusion is haunting and begging for interpretation and it left me shook like few films can.

Stream it on: Amazon Prime Video

The 2017 Wood’s Stock Balls-To-The-Wall Award: “Mother!”

The saying is “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” and by God, did “Mother!” venture. A challenging and provocative film by Darren Aronofsky, operating as an allegory on religion and the creation story (I guess?) “Mother!” would likely have been best served as a limited art house release, but distributor Paramount decided instead to go all-in on a nationwide roll-out.

That meant a lot of surprised and frustrated audiences, earning a rare “F” grade from CinemaScore (akin to exit polling, but for theaters) and a lot of “What were they thinking?” from the entertainment press.

But all of that noise distracts from the actual movie, which is bonkers and beautiful and dangerous and confusing and incredible. A synopsis would be pointless, suffice it to say that an artist and his wife find their country home increasingly invaded by strangers who adore the man’s work, culminating in a hypnotically gonzo sequence that follows Jennifer Lawrence through an escalating hellscape of violence and destruction. It’s a boldly executed, jarring film, the sheer ambition of which left my jaw on the floor.

Stream it on: N/A

Movie Review: Del Toro forms a beautiful fairy tale in ‘Shape of Water’

A common thread in the filmography of director Guillermo del Toro is the focus on underdogs and outsiders. Think of Hellboy, with the titular hero longing for inclusion in the human world. Or in in the seminal Pan’s Labrynth, with the young Ofelia as a modern Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. It’s there again in Crimson Peak, Blade II and, to a lesser-but-still-present-extent, in Pacific Rim.

While those films make subtext of the outsider’s plight, it’s the driving force of del Toro’s latest film, the beautifully-shot and endearingly-romantic “The Shape of Water,” which sees a mute janitorial worker fall for an aquatic, non-human creature. It’s a relatively standard plot of star-crossed lovers, but infused with Del Toro’s penchant for fantasy storytelling and a delightful Cold War backdrop that combines like alchemy.

Sally Hawkins stars as Elisa, who was rendered voiceless by an ambiguous childhood trauma and whose quiet life largely consists of spending her days socializing with a closeted neighbor (the always incredible Richard Jenkins) and her nights working the graveyard sanitation shift at a government research facility. It’s the latter setting where she, along with her coworker and confidant Zelda (Octavia Spencer) encounter “the asset,” a nameless, amphibious being kept in captivity for study by the scientists and forced to bear the hostilities of a sadistic government officer (Michael Shannon) tasked with overseeing the operation.

Elisa sees a kindred spirit in the misunderstood creature, finding time to slip into his confines for the occasional lunch break that eventually blossoms into mutual affection. Of an there’s a subplot involving Russian spies, naturally, and a thrilling heist, but I don’t want to give too much away.

Not enough can be said about Doug Jones, a prodigious but often unseen character actor who plays the creature under what can only be an ungodly amount of prosthetics. Jones is a frequent collaborator of Del Toro’s, the unseen puppeteer behind the director’s most memorable creations, and the emotion and feeling that he is able to squeeze out of a wordless and heavily-obscured performance in the film is remarkable.

As is the similarly wordless acting of Hawkins, who communicates only through sign language and defines her character largely by listening and physical communication. That the central couple in the film never share a single spoken conversation is a feat unto itself, deftly handled by the actors and their director.

Where the film lacks is in the big picture. There’s a certain convenience to the plot as characters make prescribed decisions in service of the story. Certain inevitabilities arrive on cue, and the characters are pulled together in the final moments as if by gravity.

It’s a minor complaint, as the world Del Toro creates and the story he tells is rich enough to not be forced to rely on twists and gimmicks. The fairy tale aesthetic works to the films benefits, resulting in a refreshingly sincere film for a cynical age.

Grade: A-

*The Shape of Water opens in Salt Lake City on Friday, December 15.