Josh Kupecki’s Top 10 Films of 2017

1) I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Confession time: I've watched Macon Blair's debut feature more than any other film this year. Melanie Lynskey's Ruth is my spirit animal.

2) Lady Bird

Not just a heartfelt and hilarious spin on the coming-of-age story, but a film that has teeth, as well.

3) Ex-Libris: The New York Public Library

Frederick Wiseman's epic doc on the venerable institution is a kaleidoscope of humanity that builds to a deeper understanding of tolerance.

4) Jane

The rediscovered footage, by future-husband Hugo van Lawick, not only shows Goodall in her natural element in the Gombe, but captures two people falling in love.

5) I, Tonya

Forget the Nancy Kerrigan incident that comprises the Fargo-esque second half, the film is a tough-as-nails look at poverty, and the lengths people will go to get out of it.

6) Faces Places

In the best artistic collaboration of the year, filmmaker Agnes Varda and artist JR roam French villages hearing stories, telling their own, and making beautiful murals together.

7) Ingrid Goes West

A caustic comedy on millennials is too reductive a phrase for this take on self-delusion, obsession, and grief.

8) Thelma

Director Joachim Trier keeps you on your toes as he unfolds a seemingly boilerplate "teenage girl gets psychic powers" with wonder, oddness, and redemption.

9) Call Me by Your Name

A sun-drenched romance playful, languorous, and poignant. Who knew I like Armie Hammer? And why pay for a ticket to Italy?

10) Columbus

A spell of architecture and conversation is cast over the viewers. The film's compositions are sublime, but the heart is in the interplay between the two leads.

Near Misses

Brawl in Cell Block 99, Okja, The Square

Most Overrated

Baby Driver; Dunkirk; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Most Underrated

The Dinner, It Comes at Night, Lemon

Wild Card

The Year the Film Festival Came to Your Living Room. This was an unprecedented year for streaming services picking up (often in bulk) films on the festival circuit that in years past, you may have had to wait years for.

Acting Kudos (Male)

Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Vince Vaughn (Brawl in Cell Block 99)

Acting Kudos (Female)

Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird), Melanie Lynskey (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird), Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper)

Best Director

Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name)

Best Original Screenplay

Jordan Peele (Get Out), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Steven Rogers (I, Tonya)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name), Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (The Disaster Artist)

TV series/event:

Twin Peaks: The Return

Worst Film

The Book of Henry