Father Figures, the best and worst of 2017

Each day a new "year in review" piece. Here's Ben Miller...

I’ve been a father since 2012.  It’s one of the great joys in my life.  If you classified me as a person, father would be near the top of how I would want to be described.  I want to be a good father and I strive to be. 

But, generally, I don’t look to film for guidance.

Terrible fathers are a touchtone of cinema.  From Jack Torrance to Daniel Plainview, movie dads rarely get the chance to show how great they can be for their children.  2017 surprisingly provided us with a bevy of complex relationships between parents and their progeny, and the dads actually got a chance to shine.  Check out the top ten great dads in 2017 films.  (I also included five terrible fathers, because 2017 gotta 2017.)

TOP TEN GREAT DADS IN 2017 MOVIES
Spoilers for all of these films are included

01 Larry McPherson, Lady Bird (Played by Tracy Letts)
Lady Bird and her mother, the central figures in the film, aren't the only ones to benefit from Larry's warmth (we previously discussed this characterization here). Even when faced with a fruitless job interview, he smiles in the face of adversity, opting for a big bag of Doritos.  When his son comes in for the next interview, there is no animosity.  Larry straightens his tie, pats him on the shoulder and tells him to go get ‘em.  He does this while losing his job, providing for an extra person in his house, losing his daughter to college and suffering from years of depression.  God bless Larry McPherson. 

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100 Biggest Foreign Language Hits of 2017

Our year in review party begins. A different list each day. Here's Nathaniel R...

In the Fade didnt risk release in 2017 after all, hoping for Oscar favor to buoy its release in 2018Time for an annual look back at subtitled fare in cinemas. As with last year's list India, China, Mexico, and South Korea dominate with a smattering of other countries faring much less well in the American marketplace. Much of that is due, we think, to dedicated distributors focusing specifically on one market like FIP, China Lion and WellGo. Some of the movies we though might be big deals this year like Chile's Oscar nominee A Fantastic Woman opted for Oscar qualifying release only and Germany's Oscar finalist In the Fade starring Diane Kruger (pictured left) opted to sneak out at the last second to qualify for all Oscars though it did not receive nominations, buried in that post Christmas glut of tiny releases.

For the purposes of this list we skipped documentaries and animated films to keep the list more focused (and avoid arguments about dubbed versions or whatnot) but please to know that had we kept them in the wonderful Turkish street cat documentary Kedi would be in the top ten right here. This list is otherwise, as carefully as we could manage, accurate though we're happy to take corrections should we have missed something.

TOP 100 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS FOR 2017
Listed By US Box Office Gross only  - FINAL TOTALS | Title links to reviews

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November It's a Wrap

November wrapped so quickly with such excited via the NYFCC Awards and Oscar chart revamping that we didn't even realize that December has just begin. Here are two handfuls of highlights from the month that was in case you missed 'em:

• Get Out Party Kaluuya and Peele chat favorite moviegoing experiences
• 25 Youngest Actors Ever Oscar Nominated Marlon, Heath, Monty, Mickey and more. Timothée will be 3rd youngest if he pulls it off
• Call Me With Kindess the controversy over sex scenes in Call Me By Your Name
• Yes No Maybe So: Avengers Infinity War so many heroes. so much running and punching
• The Furniture takes a spooky train back to Bram Stoker's Dracula for its 25th
• Honorary Beauty gazing at the legendary stars at this year's Governor's Awards
• Best of 1972 and 1956 just for fun!
• Soundtracking Frances Ha since Greta Gerwig is all the rage again
• Smackdown 1944: Gaslight, Dragon Seed, and Since You Went Away
• FYC Tiffany Haddish inspired hilarity in Girls Trip
• Specificity and Universality on Coco and Call Me By Your Name

COMING IN DECEMBER: More year end hoopla, top ten lists. Interviews with Octavia Spencer, Lois Smith, Greta Gerwig, Jamie Bell, James Ivory, and more...

September/October. It's a Wrap

Since the bulk of September and October are given over to festival life each year (here's all that business wrapped up for you) there's less time for randomness which is in some ways our favorite thing about blogging about the cinema. But since we haven't done an ICYMI best of since August, here are 16 things you might have missed that you should check out:

• This is Halloween Salim's cinematic evocation of the season
• The Furniture: The Beguiled Daniel gazes into the plaster haze
• Elizabeth Debicki as Virginia Woolf Murtada takes a first look
• Martyr Mothers of Aronofsky Jorge wonders if the director has mommy issues?
• Two for the Road (1967) Tim's fiftieth anniversary revisit
• Podcast 9.9 Battle of the Sexes, Beach Rats and mother! discussed
• Academy Expels Weinstein Nathaniel sees the end of an era
• Smackdown 85 The Color Purple, Agnes of God, and more
• 5 Takeaways from the Success of It Spencer lists it out
• 15 Oscar Hopeful Documentaries Glenn surveys the DOC NYC list
• Black Swan (2010) Visuals Ilich looks back at the balletic madness
• Joan Fontaine in Rebecca (1940) Eric sees it for the first time!
• Karen Allen Jose talks to the Raiders of the Lost Ark star
• Soundtracking: Rocky Horror Picture Show Chris does the "Time Warp" again

and Best Ofs...

• Fav Actresses of 2017 (thus far) excluding the Oct-Dec women
• Fav Actors of 2017 (thus far) excluding the Oct-Dec men
• Fav Films of 2017 (thus far) excluding the Oct-Dec releases

COMING IN NOVEMBER
The 1944 Smackdown, Call Me By Your Name, Coco, James Ivory interview, Greta Gerwig interview, Lois Smith interview, Thor: Ragnarok fun, Nathaniel in Los Angeles for AFI festivities, Lady Bird, Donald Sutherland and Agnes Varda's Honorary Oscars, Murder on the Orient Express, Three Billboards, and of course lots of Oscar talk as the race heats up while the temperature cools down. 

TIFF & NYFF & Middleburg Wrap-Ups

Another autumn whizzes by and with it a look back on the festivals we've covered. Here's everything we reviewed from TIFF and NYFF and Middleburg this year in case you missed it. Reviews from Jason Adams, Manuel Betancourt, Nick Davis, Sean Donovan, Murtada Elfaldl, John Guerin, Chris Feil, and Nathaniel R

TIFF 2017

the films 
The Breadwinner •  Darkest Hour • 
Death of Stalin • Disaster • Downsizing • 
Euphoria • Film Stars Dont Die in Liverpool • 
First They Killed My Father • 
The Florida Project • Happy End • I, Tonya • 
The Killing of a Sacred Deer • Kings • 

Lady Bird • Lodgers • Mademoiselle Paradis • 
Mary Shelley • mother! • 
Never Steady Never Still • On Body and Soul • 
The Racer and the Jailbird • Revenge • 

The Seen and Unseen • The Shape of Water • 
Sheikh Jackson • Thelma • 
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri • 
Tigre • Western • The Wife • Zama

parties, events, randomness
greatest party photo ever • "I'm Armie" • 
Helena Bonham-Carter • mother! moods • 
portraits from the fest • PODCAST FINALE

NYFF 2017

the films 
Arthur Miller: Writer • BPM (Beats Per Minute) • Before We Vanish • 
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat • 
Faces Places • Félicité • First Reformed • The Florida Project • 

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold • Lady Bird • Let the Sunshine In • 
The Meyerowitz Stories • Mrs Hyde • Mudbound • The Rider • Spielberg •
Thelma

 parties, events, randomness 
red carpet prayer • PODCAST FINALE

MIDDLEBURG 2017

the films
Darkest Hour • A Fantastic Woman • Last Flag Flying • Mudbound •
Novitiate • Wonderstruck

parties, events, randomness
James Ivory talk • Nicholas Britell in concert