2017 Potentially Oscar Nominated Movies

Are the Oscars earlier this year or have I just lost track of all time? I have done terribly in terms of watching all the movies I want to see this year within the appropriate time frame. Just yesterday I realized the Oscars were TOMORROW and that I haven't written my yearly round up post yet because I'm not even close to finishing all the 2016 movies on my list. Alas, I have an excuse: graduate school. I have been in grad school non-stop since May of last year. I graduate in early May and if I haven't fully caught up by then, I'll have time but right now I can only speak to what I have seen. As with last year, I'm going to be using the "few words" format because grad student. 

Actually, as I'm looking through my movies, it seems I did see a lot of movies this year but a good portion of them were movies from the last six years that I missed and I had been catching up. I've been on this mission to really clean up my movie list since last year and that was part of the effort I was putting in. Hopefully, I will reach my goal of getting it to 200 films this year.

Also as with last year, I'm going to list movies I don't care to see. In a bit of an update from last year, I did end up watching The Big Short and I actually loved it so, of course, there is always a chance I may see any of these. But probably not.

Movies I Don't Really Care About:

Hacksaw Ridge: I probably would have wanted to see this (I like movies about suffering) had it not been for a very specific set of experiences. I work at a bookstore and for months before this movie came out I had people asking for the book (often by the wrong title or with just a description) and explaining that it was going to be a movie. When I looked it up, I realized that it is supposed to go in the Christian fiction section. My immediate assumption was that the movie was some niche thing that would be in few theaters and not get much recognition. Imagine my surprise. Even if this movie doesn't mention God or Jesus or religion once, I'm still pretty sure it's not how I want to spend my time.

Hell or High Water: I read the description at one time and was just overcome with not caring. Something about a western and bank robbery and I'm asleep. Sorry.

Jackie: I feel like I should want to see this, at least for the costumes, but I just can't bring myself to want to.

O.J.: Made In America: I kind of want to see this and it will probably win Best Documentary but it's eight hours long. I don't have the time. At least not now. Also how can something that long even qualify as a movie. . .

And the movies I haven't seen yet. As I see them, I will move them to the appropriate section.

Movies I Need To See:
After Spring (this doc was directed by a college friend's sister; no clue how I will see it though since it's only in selected cities nowhere near me)
Embrace Of The Serpent (technically last year)
The Handmaiden
The Little Prince
Neruda
Under The Shadow

And now the lists. Movies with a + were ones not nominated for Oscars. 

Previous Years: 2016  2015  2014  2013  2012  2011


Movies I Loved:

Moonlight: The cinematography and music choices made my life. Also, the last 30 minutes.

Hidden Figures: I was completely enthralled by this movie the entire time. And I cried slightly.

Arrival: Science fiction + language studies = I'm a happy camper.

13th: The only movie I gave 5 stars to this year. Didn't even have to think about it.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: I went from really liking this movie to loving it the more I thought about it. Perhaps unfairly, the novelization may have colored my view but whatever.

Moana: The ocean is my life. And I wanted to cry at almost every song. 

Zootopia: I watched this. Then I watched it again two days later.

Sing Street+: This is just such a "me" movie. I'm hopelessly partial.

10 Cloverfield Lane+: Any thriller that makes me genuinely care about the characters and makes them behave like real people is doing something right. This one has layers.

Green Room+: Nazi punks, Nazi punks, Nazi punks, FUCK OFF. Also, see above comment.

Tower+: Really fascinating way to do a powerful documentary.


Movies I Really Liked:

The Lobster: One of the weirdest movies I've seen in a while. Very theater of the absurd.

La La Land: It seems like everyone loved ("it's so fun like a classic movie musical") or hated this ("fuck these boring white people"). I thought it was really good for reasons that no one is discussing but it's not without its flaws.

Fences: Performances: excellent. Direction: needed to be more creative to distance itself from the stage show.

Lion: A well done story but so transparently Oscar-baity if I'm being honest. Spent a lot of time staring at Dev Patel though so there's that. Glad David Wenham is getting work.

Captain Fantastic: I enjoyed the crap out of this. Kind of picked up some parenting ideas.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them: I appreciated this one more the more I thought about it and on a second watch. 

The White Helmets: Man, oh man.

The VVitch+: I'm weak for anything really historical. And witches. And demons.

Ghostbusters+: I laughed a lot. It was also distracting.

Deadpool+: Also laughed a lot. The only superhero movie I even thought to bother with. Well sorta (see far below).

The Neon Demon+: I thought this was better than "Only God Forgives." Still riding the Refn train. Got distracted a lot by Jena Malone until that one scene . . . (Note: I was a real pervert at the movies this year apparently)

The Nice Guys+: Solid Shane Blackness. No "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" but very similar.

A Street Cat Named Bob+: My heart was warmed exactly the right amount.

Eye In The Sky+: Tense. So tense. 

The Edge Of Seventeen+: I have been waiting for a teen movie like "Easy A" to happen again.

Weiner+: More thought provoking than I was expecting. The intersection of politics and personal lives.

Elle+: Verhoven is on his game. Violent and unsettling and engaging.

Paterson+: Quiet. Soft.

Love & Friendship+: Hilarious period drama.

Kubo And The Two Strings: Laika always does good work but never seems to get enough recognition. 

Finding Dory+: This was a fine sequel but I kind of can't remember it (Unlike Moana and Zootopia).


Movies I Liked:

Noctural Animals: I enjoyed this but felt like I missed the point of this film.

Florence Foster Jenkins: Perfectly fine biopic. Nice to see Nina Arianda in movies!

Imperium+: I predicted the end early but I was still on the edge of my seat for most of the film.

Hush+: Unique alteration for a horror film.


Movies I Thought Were Okay:

Nerve+: I watched it because I thought it'd be fun. It was.

Goat+: I like suffering. 

The Purge: Election Year+: I must watch every Purge movie. Such a good concept; Always pooly executed.

Me Before You+: Wanted to understand both why people like the book and why this film was controversial. It was actually better than expected but still kind of shlocky.

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies+: More 'watched because it was fun.' Great combination of things I like: period drama and ladies kicking ass.

Batman: The Killing Joke+: This should have been better. The first 30 minutes were absolutely shameful to Batgirl.


Movies I Thought Were Over-Rated:

Manchester By The Sea: It was okay. No idea why this movie is so praised. Casey Affleck is a bad person.


Movies I Didn't Like:

The Girl On The Train+: Only okay book. Not good movie. Love Emily Blunt though. She always does a good job.

Suicide Squad: What is plot? Why do I develop more than three characters? Can Jared Leto be more of a embarassment?

Pass Thru+: Neil Breen should be going down in history with Tommy Wiseau in the Bad Movie Hall Of Fame. Unfortunately this one wasn't as good delightfully bad as 2013's Fateful Findings. Actually, why did I put this in this category? I really liked this, just in the wrong way.

My Guilty Pleasure Movies

I watch a lot of movies and I have said before that my preferred choices of movies really only fall into two nonspecific categories: very good movies and very bad movies. I don't like to watch movies that aren't well crafted and smart or so bad they're funny. But what happens when I do watch movies that are in between? Those films that are not good but are not bad enough for me to laugh it. There lie my guilty pleasure movies, movies that I actively enjoy but can't really justify my liking of them. Whenever I talk about them with other people I  need to clarify that I KNOW they aren't good but I am going to watch them anyway. This is that list.

Some of these I thought of off the top of my head and for the rest I looked through the movies I had on my hard drive because therein lies the truth. If it's on my hard drive, I saved it for a rewatch. These are all films I can't in good faith rate higher than a 3/5 but there's a place for them in my heart anyway

Albatross (2011)

I doubt many people have seen this one. It's a British indie film starring Felicity Jones and Jessica Brown Findley and it's pretty mediocre. JBF is a bad influence on Felicity Jones because she wears t-shirts with risky slogans, flashes a cashier to buy liquor underage, and has sex with Jones' German author dad. There is a great use of the word "fuck trumpet." Aside from the actresses and the liberal water shots, I think part of what I like about this movie is how it's so middle-of-the-road indie that I die. The bad girl isn't that bad. The girl sleeping with her friend's dad trope is so overdone it's ridiculous. I somehow relate to both girls. I want to go to the sea.

Angels And Demons (2009)

Dan Brown is a garbage writer and this was the first book I read by him. I was in high school and I enjoyed it on a simple adventure mystery fun level while knowing it wasn't actually good so it wasn't too big a surprise when I enjoyed the film too. The plot is super contrived but there are so many things I like about this film. Science vs. religion. Rome and lots of running around Rome looking for historical stuff. Ewan McGregor as a priest making me want to sin. I actually watched this WHILE IN ROME because I am the worst.

Another Gay Movie (2006)

I watched this twice in one week the first time I saw it. It's basically just a gay version of American Pie but I genuinely think it's better than American Pie. Four gay friends want to lose their virginities before they graduation high school. Spoiler: they do. The jock and the nerd fall in love. The awkward one has a three way. The flamboyant other has the Stifler's grandad plotline. The more I think about it, the harder it is to actually distinguish from American Pie which also isn't good but I'd much rather watch this one. Plus this one gave me the word "Aberzombie" and the song "Everything Makes Me Think About Sex." There was a sequel which had ridiculous musical numbers but wasn't good. (I watched a lot of gay romcoms in college including Eating Out and But I'm A Cheerleader which might warrant rewatches)

Halloweentown (1998)

This one might not really count as a guilty pleasure so much as it's nostalgia but still. I just like magic and would want to live somewhere where it's Halloween all the time. 

Live Freaky! Die Freaky! (2003)

This movie was a full on thing with my friends in college and then we started spreading it like an STD to everyone we know. It's a claymation musical about Charles Manson and the Manson Family voiced by people in the rock community. Seriously. Billy Joe Armstrong plays Charles Manson. Davey Havok plays a gay hairdresser. Kelly Osbourne plays Sharon Tate. This movie is just tasteless and I love it so much. It's highly quotable and wildly inappropriate.

The Purge films (2013, 2014, 2016)

Every time a new one comes out I just have to watch it and I hate this about myself. The problem is that the concept of The Purge is so interesting and each movie hints at something more profound about it but each new installment is just another violence-fest pandering to the lowest common denominator. The first movie specifically takes place in a home after a boy lets a homeless man (a veteran at that; both topical now and specifically applicable to the fact that the Purge means no more military) into their house and a bunch of rich college students want him out so they can kill him. This classism is further expanded in the second movie about a bunch of people stuck outside in the city during the Purge. The idea of a resistance group who believes the Purge is meant really to control the poor is established as well as human hunting clubs for the rich. In the third a presidential candidate is running on an anti-Purge platform and her opponent wants to have her dead before the election. The ideas of Purge tourists and Purge-as-a-religion are introduced. Honestly, I will keep watching these if they keep making them but ultimately what I want is for the idea to land in the hands of someone who could make them a cerebral mediation on current issues.

Shock Treatment (1981)

The sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show barely resembles the movie it follows. The town of Denton has been turned into a game show (or something) and Brad and Janet are the contestants although Janet is now played by Jessica Harper and Brad is some guy who isn't Barry Bostwick. I don't know what's happening most of the time but the songs are just as bananas as the ones in Rocky Horror. I especially love Jessica Harper's deep voice and the song "Looking for Trade."

Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991)

I have seen a lot of 90s martial arts movies (my best friend is a martial arts instructor so this is entirely his fault) but most of them are bad movie night quality. This movie, starring my favs who aren't Cynthia Rothrock, Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee, is definitely a dumb 90s martial arts movie but it's trying to also be a buddy cop movie so it manages to be slightly better quality while still being silly as hell. I have seen this movie at least five times and I can't really tell you the plot but I think it has to do with a drug bust in Little Tokyo. Brandon Lee's character is half-Japanese but comically knows nothing about Japanese culture while Dolph Lundgren really knows what's up. It's full of odd lines and odd line reads ("That was nuts!") and it's just delightful.

Sorority Row (2009)

I have seen this movie at least fifteen times. I'm not even sure if I can explain why. It's just so ridiculous. I knew I had to watch it after hearing my junior year college roommate (who was in a sorority, by the way) laughing hysterically at the opening scene. It's pretty much your typical horror movie but I find it hilarious and some of that humor seems to be intentional. It has so many great things. You know who is going to live from the very beginning. The head bitch is practically a sociopath in how she responds to people (and is funny). The pop music score is kind of brutal and badass. Carrie Fisher has a shotgun! RIP.

The Crow (1994)

I feel like some people would argue that this movie is too good to be a guilty pleasure but honestly, it's not that good. It has a lot of style to mask how not good it is. I basically watch this movie like porn because Brandon Lee is so pretty in it. Also for the strangely realistic way he shouts out, "OH FUCK!" when he gets shot in the leg. RIP.

Vampire Academy (2014)

Another movie I watched twice in one week. I think I secretly like some dumb teen girl shit. The plot of this movie is so convoluted but I love the cheesy lines, the weird premise, the totally inappropriate relationships, the fact that it is one of TWO movies that exist where people get into a car accident while listening to "Bad Girls" by MIA, and vampires who are not like your vampires.

Underworld (2003)

Speaking of vampires who aren't like your vampires. What a dumb action movie that is so much fun!

I am horrible.