As I look back at 2017 and its year in film, I would say that it was a mostly solid year. I say this because amidst the substantial, there were some not-so-solid movies. Nonetheless, 2017 was packed with movies involving inspiring action heroines (Wonder Woman), clowns scaring the living daylights out of everyone (It), deeply-crafted horror films made by comedians (Get Out), and Disney basically conquering the world (Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars: The Last Jedi etc). So let’s get cracking on a look back of 2017. For this, I’ll by listing off five movies, directors, and actors of a category and determine the best of the chosen.

BEST MOVIE:

• Baby Driver
• Detroit
• The Disaster Artist
• Dunkirk
• It

THE BEST: I felt like the overall best movie of 2017 would have to be ‘Baby Driver.’ It’s a fast-paced, music-fueled, fun crime film that has a lot of heart from its action scenes to the groovy soundtrack. What makes ‘Baby Driver’ music-fueled is because it uses music to set the mood for certain scenes. Whether it’d be an action scene with a heavy rock song or a romantic moment with a slow-paced groove, ‘Baby Driver’ had some of the best highlights of the year in its 113 minute runtime.

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit)
• Andy Muschietti (It)
• Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)
• Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049)
• Edgar Wright (Baby Driver)

THE BEST: I am back-and-forth on this category, primarily between Edgar Wright and Christopher Nolan. I have become a sucker for both of their directing styles and their movies, and both were at the top of their games this year. Nolan making a World War II epic sounded like a fun time, and turned out to be just that. As for Wright, I got familiar with his filming style and became drawn into adoring. In conclusion, this personally is a tough category and cannot choose one. Instead, I’ll say that both Nolan and Wright were equally outstanding with their films.

BEST ACTOR:

• James Franco (The Disaster Artist)
• Jake Gyllenhaal (Stronger)
• Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick)
• Algee Smith (Detroit)
• Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk)

THE BEST: Now I am fully aware that James Franco is having sexual allegations come forward about him, so I will just leave him alone and only say that he is amazing in his performance in ‘The Disaster Artist,’ nothing more and nothing less. Franco aside, I think the best performance by an actor this year is another tough one. Nanjiani seemed natural and heartfelt playing himself in ‘The Big Sick,’ Smith and Whitehead became breakout stars and made names for themselves in ‘Detroit’ and ‘Dunkirk,’ and lastly Gyllenhaal was just flawless in ‘Stronger.’ I honestly don’t know what to say here, so I’ll just have to let you decide.

BEST ACTRESS:

• Seo-Hyeon Ahn (Okja)
• Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
• Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick)
• Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
• Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

THE BEST: So far this award season, it has been back and forth between McDormand and Ronan. McDormand plays a revenge-thirsty mother in ‘Three Billboards’ and Ronan perfectly portrays a complicated teenager trying to better herself in ‘Lady Bird.’ Both have been grabbing W’s all award season, and I personally believe they both deserve their hard-earned wins. I guess if it comes down to one winner I’d say McDormand. If you watch ‘Three Billboards,’ she’s cold, ruthless, and just executes so beautifully.

So to conclude this, I’ll just say some opinions I’ve had over movies. The horror phenomenon ‘Get Out’ was too confusing for me, and ‘It’ was the only decent movie in the horror genre. The western-superhero flick ‘Logan’ was the most overrated movie of the year and ‘Detroit’ was the most underrated. ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Wonder Woman’ were the only solid superhero films. ‘Coco’ was the only upside to a flat year for animation, the culprit to this so called “flat year” was the infamous ‘Emoji Movie.’ Finally, the worst movie I saw this year would have to be the Netflix satirical war snoozer ‘War Machine.’  So that’s 2017 for me, hope your 2017 in film was a good year and I also hope for the best in 2018.