Danielle White’s Top 10 Films of 2017

1) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

A revenge tale that is admittedly a little over the top, yet manages to plumb the depths of misogyny, racism, police brutality, and the ineffectual criminal justice system. Oh, and Frances McDormand is a total badass.

2) The Big Sick

A rom-com on steroids: touching, yet laugh-so-hard-you'll-cry hilarious. And a true story to boot!

3) Shot Caller

I never expected Ric Roman Waugh's prison thriller would be such a tear-jerker and I mean that in a good way.

4) Get Out

Jordan Peele makes a stunning directorial debut with this horror-satire.

5) The Lure

If The Little Mermaid tale had, ahem, more teeth.

6) Columbus

A beautiful story of two broken people, in which architecture plays a supporting role. Also a love letter to hometowns everywhere.

7) Call Me by Your Name

An aching portrait of a boy's nascent sexuality. Timothée Chalamet had a great year; at least 2017 was good to somebody!

8) Lady Bird

A girl's coming-of-age in which the male characters take a more diminutive role. The world needed this.

9) A Ghost Story

Artsy af, and with hardly any dialogue, a poignant meditation on love and loss and time passing.

10) Ingrid Goes West

The very nature of social media saturation means there's a little bit of Ingrid in us all.

Near Misses

Patti Cake$; The Florida Project; I, Tonya; Lady Macbeth; Colossal

Most Overrated

Dunkirk, Baby Driver, Mother!

Most Underrated

Little Evil, The Bad Batch, Lemon

Wild Card

Childhood Disrupted: Beauty and the Beast, The Man Who Invented Christmas, and even (especially?) The Lure delightfully expanded on some of my all-time faves.

Acting Kudos (Male)

Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Joel Edgerton (It Comes at Night), The Franco brothers (The Disaster Artist), Adam Sandler (The Meyerowitz Stories)

Acting Kudos (Female)

Debra Winger (The Lovers), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Tilda Swinton (Okja), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Best Director

David Gordon Green (Stronger), Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049), Kogonada (Columbus)

Best Original Screenplay

Ruben Östlund (The Square), Macon Blair (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore), Noah Baumbach (The Meyerowitz Stories)

Best Adapted Screenplay

James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name), Michael Almereyda (Marjorie Prime), Oren Moverman (The Dinner)

TV series/event:

Tiffany Haddish hosting Saturday Night Live (Nov. 11)

Worst Film

I'm baffled by the positive reviews garnered by The Little Hours. I can't think of a worse idea than adapting a medieval "comedy." I would much rather have seen this cadre of actors in anything else.