C O N S I D E R - Favorites of 2017, 3rd Qtr
Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 12:19PM
NATHANIEL R in Atomic Blonde, Battle of the Sexes, Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk, Girls Trip, Mother!, Oscars (17), Planet of the Apes, The Florida Project, Year in Review

by Nathaniel R

Blade Runner 2049 is our current prediction for "Most Nominations Without Best Picture" though maybe it'll snag that, too.Here at The Film Experience I like to keep track of favorites all year long for two reasons. The first is to not to be unduly influenced by the studio shenanigans of backloading the film year with their intended Oscar hopefuls. The second is to prevent forgetfullness when it comes time to give out the Film Bitch Awards, my own virtual awards fest to close out each film year.  When I don't keep careful track it's much harder to wrap things up at year's end.

Being a bit late this quarter, here are Best ofs per Oscar category from films released from July through October 6th (an extra week added on because we're running late). This list does not include films with known release dates from now until the end of the year. We'll save those films till we get there. Unreleased films without a future date are marked with an asterisk. Got it?

Key movies I missed this quarter  (that I'll try and catch up with on screeners hopefully): It, Valerian, Logan Lucky, Patti Cake$, Tulip Fever, Good Time, Lady MacBeth, and A Ghost Story

PICTURE and/or DIRECTOR and/or SCREENPLAY
(i couldn't decide which to cut so this first grouped selection is 8 wide)

     released
ATOMIC BLONDE (David Leitch) The lack of audience turn out for this uber-stylish, inventive actioner, with Charlize Theron showing all the other movie stars how to do action hero performances  (again!) was one of the bummers of summer '17.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Jonathan Drayton & Valerie Faris) Such a surprisingly strong history lesson and funny resonant drama, too
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Denis Villeneuve) Hypnotic if already overrated (calm down! If you're claiming that it's better than the original if it's not your #1 of 2017 with ease you'll have to explain why you've dissed one of the greatest and most influential movies ever made)
DUNKIRK (Christopher Nolan)
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) The new criticism that I keep seeing online that this film romanticizes poverty is a head-scratcher as it's an exceedingly dark movie that merely looks like candy (due to all that color). The imagined future of virtually all the characters is outstandingly bleak and politically aware for those who are willing to see it. Sean Baker's recent (also terrific) movies Starlet and Tangerine are similarly focused / staged / and tonally nimble with gallows humor, character specificity, and socioeconomic concerns. If having this much empathy for marginalized people is romanticizing poverty, I say bring it on!
mother! (Darren Aronofsky) Sorry not sorry.

more after the jump including best unreleased pics, highlights in cinematography, costumes, and the like...


      unreleased
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY (Francis Lee)* This was earmarked for late October and hopefully that will come to pass. Together with Battle of the Sexes and Call Me By Your Name and BPM this year is shaping up to be a rather grand year for quality LGBT cinema. 
MADEMOISELLE PARADIS (Barbara Albert)*
ON BODY AND SOUL (Ildikó Enyedi)* Hungary's Oscar submission
THE SEEN AND UNSEEN (Kamila Andini)* This Indonesia film, which we raved about at TIFF, was just nominated for Best Youth Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Congratulations. We hope its reputation continues to grow since so few people have yet heard of it.

Previous Bests from 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Linus Sandgren)
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Roger Deakins) If Roger Deakins loses the Oscar again, they'll just need to hand him an Honorary because it will be clear that he cannot win no matter how extravagantly many of his movies are essentially Star Vehicles for Their Cinematographer.
BEACH RATS (Helene Louvart) Beautiful and ugly simultaneously, which is a nice thematically correct feat.
DUNKIRK (Hoyt Van Hoytema)
ON BODY AND SOUL (Maté Herbai)*

Previous bests from 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

COSTUME DESIGN

ATOMIC BLONDE (Cindy Evans)
BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Mary Zophres)
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Renee April)
GIRLS TRIP (Dahielle Hollowell)
MARY SHELLEY (Caroline Koener)*
VICTORIA & ABDUL (Consolate Boyle)

Previous bests from 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN 

BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Dennis Gassner)
DETROIT (Jeremy Hindle)
GLASS CASTLE (Sharon Seymour)
WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (James Chinlund)
WIND RIVER (Neil Spisak)

Previous bests from 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

VISUAL EFFECTS 

BLADE RUNNER 2049
DUNKIRK
SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING
WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Previously in 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

MAKEUP AND HAIR 

ATOMIC BLONDE
BATTLE OF THE SEXES
BLADE RUNNER 2049
GIRL'S TRIP
VICTORIA & ABDUL

Previously in 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

SOUND 

ATOMIC BLONDE
BLADE RUNNER 2049
DUNKIRK
mother!
WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Previously in 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

EDITING 

ATOMIC BLONDE (Elisabet Ronaldsdottir)
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Joe Walker)
DUNKIRK (Lee Smith)
GOD'S OWN COUNTRY (Chris Wyatt)
mother! (Andrew Weisblum)
WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (William Hoy & Stan Salfas)

Previously in 1st & 2nd Qtr 

 

ORIGINAL SCORE 

BATTLE OF THE SEXES (Nicholas Britell) Britell will be honored at the upcoming Middleburg Film Festival. He was recently Oscar nominated for scoring Moonlight.
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Benjamin Wallfisch & Hans Zimmer)
DETROIT (James Newton Howard)
DUNKIRK (Hans Zimmer)
WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (Michael Giacchino)

Previously in 1st & 2nd Qtr

 

Do you have any favorite visuals or film music from the past three months? Do you think any of your favorites from the year's first half will make your top ten at year's end? 

LIST OF FILMS SCREENED FOR THOSE WHO ARE CURIOUS 

 

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
See website for complete article licensing information.