By Ezra Stead

By Ezra Stead
By Ezra Stead
These choices don’t get any easier to make year after year, but I do become increasingly more aware of just how inconsequential they really are. I certainly hope no one reading this takes my opinions any more seriously than I do. Anyway, this year I managed to see 125 new releases, so this top ten plus the 20 constitutes roughly the top 25% of all that I saw. Just know that I really liked even more movies than that, which might account for all the superhero and/or “space battle” movies you might be shaking your fist at me for not including. I’ve also included my three least favorite movies of 2017 at the end, because life’s too short to not make fun of bad movies. Let’s do this thing! Read More
By Scott Martin
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, USA / United Arab Emirates, 2011
Directed by Brad Bird
It’s worth noting that Tom Cruise performed all of his stunts in this film, as well as the other three Mission: Impossible films. Sure, there are bits of CGI, though seamless, and I’m sure a large team of medics and nets and other things were around to make sure he was alive at the end of the day, but that’s really the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, it really is the tallest building in the world, and that really is Tom Cruise dangling off its side, thousands of feet in the air. And that’s not even the most impressive set piece in the film.
You don’t necessarily have to see the first three M:I films to get this one and enjoy it, but it can’t hurt. Here’s a brief recap just in case you missed them:
Mission: Impossible – they make the hero from the TV show the bad guy in the film.
Mission: Impossible 2 – they do some stuff with motorcycles and Thandie Newton.
Mission: Impossible 3 – There’s an actual story involving Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his now late wife, involving her death, and a couple other intricate missions. Probably the only important story of the three, even if it’s not the best film at that point. Up until now, the first adventure remained the most startlingly well-made of the series, but, with the inclusion of Ghost Protocol into the canon, those three seem a mite irrelevant in the world of filmmaking. Read More
By Scott Martin
Tangled, USA, 2010
Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard
Tangled achieves something exemplary for Disney on two levels: it’s both a return to form and, hopefully, the birth of a new magical touch. They’ve lacked it for quite some time now. At the very least, this can be seen as an apology for last year’s abysmal The Princess and the Frog. No pointless updates to be found here, no ulterior motives, or subtle race cards being played. It’s Disney giving their unique breath to a classic fairy tale, and doing the best job they’ve done in years. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this is their understanding of what they’re doing. Shades of acknowledgment are paid to Disney classics – Cinderella (1950), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) – in fact, elements of all the “vaulted” Disney films can be found, in some shape or form. Perhaps that’s where the film gets its name from? Catching the references is almost as much fun as the film itself. All at once, Tangled is sharply funny, extremely touching, and visually breathtaking. We even have a couple of silent animals to make us laugh, and be moving in their own ways, along the journey. Read More
By Corey Birkhofer
Summer Wars, Japan, 2009
Directed by Mamoru Hosada
With the rampant popularity and ubiquitous prevalence of social networking phenomenon including FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and so many other copycats, Summer Wars could not have hit the screens at a more timely point in the evolution of mankind’s obsession with recreating reality in a virtually controlled world. Other films, stories, animations, comics and forms of media distribution have all hinted at our dangerous courtship in relying too heavily upon technology to make our lives easier and more connected, but Summer Wars, which is being submitted for an Oscar nomination by Funimation, has its finger on the pulse of the inner fear we all share – the “Terminator”-phobia, if you will – that our heavily depended upon technology will turn on us.
“A spokesperson for Funimation Entertainment told TheWrap this week that it is currently filling out Academy paperwork for the Japanese anime release Summer Wars, directed by Mamoru Hosada, and will complete a qualifying run in Los Angeles before the end of the year. Barring any disqualifications for the kind of eligibility issues that can always arise with the Academy, or any unexpected decisions not to submit, Summer Wars will bring the field only two shy of the needed total.”
–TheWrap.com’s Steve Pond