Recently, here on geekXpop, I discussed and listed my ten favorite films of 2017 as well as my least favorite films of the year; and films like Split, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Logan, The Dark Tower, and The Emoji Movie managed to make it on either list given their overall entertainment value and critical acclaim. But what about the numerous other films that were released over the year that received either critical or commercial acclaim or were derided by the critics and fans?
What about films like Baby Driver, Dunkirk, Kong: Skull Island, or Blade Runner 2049? Films that fans and/or critics all seemed to like but didn’t quite make the list. These are films that, though I enjoyed immensely, didn’t take to personally or emotionally as I was hoping I would. I thought they were all entertaining films, but compared to how I felt while watching Wonder Woman, Coco, or Thor: Ragnarok, films like War for the Planet of the Apes, Molly’s Game, or I, Tonya didn’t quite register with me the same way. And that surprises me because I really thought that Call Me by Your Name was an emotionally powerful film – but after watching the film, it didn’t stay with me the way a film like Atomic Blonde or even The Last Jedi did.
And then you have films that were panned by either the fans and/or critics that I didn’t think were that bad or bad enough that they left an extremely horrible taste in my mouth. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Power Rangers, and Justice League, while certainly not films gems be any means, didn’t scare me away from them the way films like Fifty Shades Darker or Geostorm did. I mean, those two films were atrocious and should be considered crimes against cinema and should forever be burned and deleted from the film archives. While Ghost in the Shell and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales did themselves no favors by delivering little to no entertainment value at all, compared to what Transformers: The Last Knight and The Dark Tower presented on screen, I would consider those screen gems because I was at least partially entertained while watching the former films whereas the latter films had little to no redeeming qualities.
So where does that leave films like Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The LEGO Batman Movie, Alien: Covenant, and others that I enjoyed seeing in theaters but neither felt too strongly about them nor was majorly impressed by them as well. For the most part, when I first see a film, I always look at it from the stand point of being a casual fan first. Only if I have strong feelings about a film – negatively or positively – that I try to dissect it as a critic. That’s why films like My Little Pony: The Movie and The Foreigner, though very entertaining, remain off list like these. And I am a huge fan of both the MLP franchise and of Jackie Chan. But if a film just doesn’t connect the way it should, how is it expected to be memorable. Since they have been released in theaters though, I have purchased most of these films that I have listed here as they have become available, so it’s not to say that I don’t like watching that over again from time to time. However, compared to the films that made my favorites of 2017, I will be viewing them far less than I would those. Of course, at least they’re in a better position than the films is my least favorites list; those films I would never watch again no matter what.
