Collin Elwyn's Top 40 Movies of 2017

39. *tie* Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor Ragnarok 
        The Marvel machine keeps on humming, and while neither the new Spider-Man or Thor flicks reached the heights of their canon, they both serve as further proof as to the viability of their house formula, as well as their impeccable casting.

38. Mudbound
        A tale of woe set in the yesteryear south, Mudbound is a throwback to an old school style of grand, emotional filmmaking with a great performance from Jason Mitchell.

37. Wonderstruck
        I can't really see many children vibing with this Todd Haynes 'kid flick,' but the story of two deaf children divided by decades in an ever-changing New York tugs at heartstrings while its director remains as formally inventive as ever.

36. It
        More of a roller coaster than a standard movie, this September smash was perhaps the most fun film to watch in a packed theater of the entire year, going for a scare about every two minutes while the audience laps it up through their screams.

35. Song to Song
        Terrance Malick's latest was largely panned coming out of the festival circuit, and while I can understand how all the waxing poetic, rolling around of the ground, and sleeping with everyone in sight might turn off some viewers, I for one was taken with the sheer movie-star charisma of Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, and Natalie Portman, as well as cinematographer Emmanuel Lubeski's electric trip through the Austin music scene.

34. Logan Lucky
        Steven Soderberg's return, nicknamed 'Ocean's 7-11,' is a silly, funny, and stylish tale of a perpetually unlucky pair of brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) attempting to pull off a big heist in the shadow of a local NASCAR event.

33. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
        American self-righteousness walks through a hall of fun-house mirrors in writer-director Martin Mcdonagh's latest dark comedy, featuring fiery performance from Frances McDormand as a mother who wants justice for her murdered daughter at any cost.

32. The Beguiled
        Another entry into Sophia Coppala's ongoing exploration of privilege, this remake stars Colin Farrell as a wounded Union soldier who is taken in by an all-female boarding house in the deep south, deriving both delight and intrigue from just how the likes of Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning react to his presence.

31. War for the Planet of the Apes
        Another Apes movie, another giant leap in special effects grandeur. Entirely straight-faced, and more of a prison movie than its explosive-sounding title might suggest, it's a somber capper to one of the better trilogies in recent times, and another stunning motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis.

30. Personal Shopper
        How's this for a movie premise; a young woman (Kristen Stewart) takes on the film's titular role for a famous model so that she can remain near to the place of her twin brother's recent death, waiting for a sign he promised to send from beyond. Kooky as the set-up may be, the film's of writer/director Oscar Assayas remain ever enigmatic, tucking secrets away in quite corners of rooms, and filling the screen with faux-gothic atmosphere.

29. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
         No one loves a sick joke more than writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, and with the help of an ancient greek tragedy, he dreams up a hell of one to tell here. After befriending the doctor (Colin Farrell) who performed the surgery that his father never woke up from, a teenage boy (Barry Keoghan) casts a spell of sorts on his family, promising deterioration and death for all unless the MD kills one himself. It's darkly hilarious, gorgeously shot, and features a coming-out party of a performance from Keoghan.

28. The Post
         Another Oscar season, another Steven Spielberg politically-themed time capsule that's as sturdy as a wall. The Post does nothing to reinvent the wheel, but confidently tells the engrossing story of the Washington Post's decision to print the Pentagon Papers amid an avalanche of pressure coming from all sides, and features the rare Meryl Streep performance where we watch her become a lion, instead of just starting out that way.

27. Split
        M. Night Shyamalan's name hasn't exactly been synonymous with quality in the recent years, but he finally gets his mojo back with Split, a thriller about three young girls kidnapped and held hostage by Kevin (James McAvoy), a man who takes split personality disorder to a completely new level. It's tremendously trashy popcorn theater, and McAvoy bites into the challenge of playing 23 different people like he's an attack dog.

26. The Lego Batman Movie
        Up-ending the dichotomy established by The Dark Knight, this toy-told tale of the caped crusader features a Joker (Zach Galifianakis) hell-bent on evil-doing not as a means to torment Batman (Will Arnett), but rather to simply gain his respect as a peer. A sequel of sorts to 2014's The Lego Movie, this superhero-infused, blisteringly-paced edition features almost as many dazzling visuals and gut-busting punchlines as its predecessor.

25. The Shape of Water
        I still can't truly get behind the story of a mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) falling in love with a mutant man-fish in 1960's Baltimore, but it's every other element on hand that has the Academy singing this movie's praises. Director Guillermo del Toro oversees this ravishing spectacle, featuring incredible set design, gorgeous camera work, and songs and sounds that never fail to massage the ears.

24. The Big Sick
        Written by the couple upon which the film is based, The Big Sick tells the story of a comedian from Pakistan (Kumail Nanjiani, playing himself) who falls for an American girl named Emily (Zoe Kazan) while failing to tell her that his parents will only accept an arranged marriage. His plan to let her down easy implodes when Emily winds up in the hospital and put under a coma, forcing him to both grow and re-evaluate his choices. Sweet, smart, funny, and filled with great performances, it's the rare romantic comedy that has no problem dealing with issues greater than white people problems.

23. John Wick Chapter 2
        A complete and utter triumph of style over substance, John Wick Chapter 2 outdoes the original not by diverting from the formula, but rather by blowing it out to completely absurd extremes. After failing to make good on a marker that was given to him by... oh who cares? We're all just here to watch Keanu Reeves kick some ass and shoot some guns, captured with sleek, stylish mayhem shot, edited, and directed to pulse-pounding perfection.

22. A Ghost Story
        Floating along in near silence like the bed-sheet spirit that this movie calls a protagonist, A Ghost Story sees a young couple's romance ripped away by untimely death, resulting in the dead man's post-life presence quietly haunting the home of his former lover (Rooney Mara) even long after she's gone. A meditation on time, space, death, loneliness, and grief, writer/director David Lowry's film says a whole lot with the utmost minimum of words, and leaves a whole slew of mysteries in its wake.

21. I, Tonya
        Some have described I, Tonya as the Goodfellas of figure skating movies, and while that simply has to be true given the genre's limited canon, it gives entirely too much credit to the film's goons, and no where near enough sympathy to its protagonists. Intercut with reenactments of real interviews given by most of the key players in Tonya Harding's life story, the movie takes us on a journey through childhood to victory and eventually down into disgrace, relaying a whale of a (likely un-true) true story while affording Margot Robbie the role of a lifetime.

20. The Lovers
        The long-awaited feature film return of wildly underrated writer/director Azezel Jacobs, The Lovers tells the story of a husband (Tracy Letts) and wife (Debra Winger) both engaged in affairs and heading toward divorce when their affection for one another suddenly reappears, complicating matters for everyone. Brilliantly acted and cleverly constructed, it's a movie about the difficulty and pain of letting go of a long-time partner, no matter how toxic the relationship has become.

19. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
        Somehow most people's third favorite Marvel movie of the year, Guardians 2 is a ruckus time at the flicks, and might be every bit as beloved as the first were it not for lacking the original's freshness. It might as well have been renamed Daddy Issues: The Movie, but the cast is still winsome, the jokes still work, the soundtrack still kicks, and there are more than a few visual feats that have embedded themselves in my head for good.

18. Star Wars-The Last Jedi
        Many people's problem (including mine) with The Force Awakens was its complete and utter lack of originality, so leave it to the internet to take a hatchet to Rain Johnson's latest for trying something new. In a last ditch attempt to save the Resistance, our heros all go their separate ways and experience lively, eyeball-pleasing adventures that further their characters, but none more so than Rey (Daisey Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a battle of wills that's quickly become the best in all of franchise film-making.

17. Call Me By Your Name
        In the sun-soaked Italian summer of 1983, a Jewish-American teenager named Elio (Timothée Chalamet) meets Oliver (Armie Hammer), a graduate student brought in by Elio's professor father (Michael Stuhlbarg) to study for a few months. A romance blossoms, sumptuously captured by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who forgoes all forms of camera trickery in favor if immaculate lensing and pitch-perfect lighting. Sensual and almost tactile, Call Me By Your Name has a visceral way of awakening your senses.

16. Baby Driver
        "What if you could turn a Fast & Furious movie into a musical?" wondered no one ever... that is besides writer/director/visual genius Edgar Wright. The tale of Baby (Ansel Elgort), a getaway driver forced to constantly listen to his earbuds in order to drown out a case of tinnitus (and whose musical selections shape just about every second of the film) and his attempts to exit the game. It's not exactly the deepest flick in the known universe, but Baby Driver is an absolute blast, clarifying, once again, that no one else on earth can make a movie quite like Wright.

15. Kong: Skull Island
        First off, let me just admit personal bias; Big Monster is among the cinematic itches I most frequently find myself in need of scratching, but the new Kong joint has a spirit all its own to admire. In a not-so-subtle Apocalypse Now-themed 1973, a tracker (Samuel L. Jackson) and a crew he assembles set forth to map out an island in the Pacific Ocean, only to find themselves prey to 1933's favorite giant ape. A mega-budget remake that treats itself like the goofiest of B-movies, the new Kong is big, gaudy fun from start to finish, and honestly gave me two or three of the biggest laughs I had all year.

14. mother! 
        While we're on the subject of me taking up for films that most cinephiles regard as poison, let's talk about mother! Darren Aronofsky's much-maligned horror/biblical allegory stars Jennifer Lawrence as the wife of a famous poet (Javier Bardem) who's suffering from writer's block until a pair of visitors (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) show up to their largely isolated estate and shake things up. Yes, mother! is not as smart as it thinks it is, and no, this certainly isn't a movie for everyone, but I gobbled up almost every minute of it, from the stressful first passages to the spooky goings-on, and the utter madness of the climax.

13. Wonder Woman
        It's simple and rather small-minded to cherish Wonder Woman because it's the first superhero flick of the modern era with a female in the title role; the movie's sense of feminism is more philosophical and ethical than it is merely practical. Gal Gadot plays our hero, who travels from her mythical homeland of Themyscira to help vanquish evil in World War I. In many ways a throwback to the Superman movies of yore in its avoidance of either the darkness or tongue-in-cheek sarcasm that define modern superhero movies, Patty Jenkins' film takes time to explore both the ideological differences between men and women, and the manner in which a female who had never grown up in the shadow of patriarchy might greet the world. And then it also kicks some ass.

12. Last Flag Flying
        Richard Linklater's entire filmography has one unmissable theme running through it like life blood: time. Last Flag Flying tells the story of three Vietnam veterans (Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Lawrence Fishburne) who, after decades apart, reunite in order to attend the burial of one of their sons, who was killed over in Iraq. While this synopsis might make the movie sound as straight-faced as possible, Linklater's script (co-written with Darryl Ponicsan) makes time for just about everything; reminiscence, laughter, pain, distrust, release, and even bawdy humor. Time has changed all these men, but some bonds (and resentments) can resurface in a heartbeat.

11. Good Time
        Some movies are defined by plot; the way all the information matters, characters are built up and fleshed out, and everything clicks together in the end. Good Time is that rare example of the complete opposite, a movie with all the sudden appearances and occurrences and departures that make up life. Not to say that the time we spend with Connie Nikas (Robert Pattinson) is exactly normal; after a failed bank robbery lands his mentally handicapped brother (Benny Safdie, who also co-directs) in jail, Nikas sets out on a nightlong quest through the underbelly of New York to find the money to set him free, abusing the trust of everyone he can find along the way. Splattered with neon amazement by cinematographer Sean Price Williams and featuring a career re-shaping performance by Pattinson, this is the 'feel bad' movie of the year, complete with queasy-making thoughts on race that linger just below the surface.

10. Colombus
        One of the year's smallest movies is also among its very best, a decade-and-a-half later spiritual sequel to Lost in Translation with all that movie's silence and mystery and life. In the surprising architectural wonderland of Columbus, Indiana, a young woman named Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) is giving up on her dreams to stay with her recovering addict mother. Into her life walks Jin, (John Cho) a Korean-born business type who proceeds to question her life choices while she inspects his. Stunning in its still compositions by cinematographer Elisha Christian, Columbus is a soft-spoken, emotional marvel, a sign of good things to come from first time writer/director Kogonada.

9. Lady Bird
        If you haven't let Lady Bird into your heart by now, I'm not exactly sure how you made it this far down the list. Marking Greta Gerwig's first foray into directing, the movie stars Saoirse Ronan as the titular teen, tracking her final year at a Sacramento Catholic school, and all the happenings therein. Loosely based on her real-life experiences, Gerwig fleshes out her characters with patient insight and wheel-deep empathy, from the boys that cross through Lady Bird's life (Lucas Hudges and Timothée Chalamet) to the friends, family, and faculty that inevitably shape a young person. But no one proves as important as her mother (Laurie Metcalf), the relationship between the two ringing true in a way we hardly ever get to see mothers and daughters on screen. Sharp, funny, poignant, and honest in its every move.

8. The Square
        You'd be forgiven for hearing that there is a two-and-a-half-hour long movie from Sweden about the art-house business, and expecting a rather dull affair, but in the hands of mischievous writer/director Ruben Östlund, this couldn't be further from the truth. Christian (Claes Bang) is the curator of a prestigious museum in Stockholm preparing to launch his next big exhibit when a thief pickpockets him, setting him on a quest for revenge with plenty of consequences, both personal and professional. More a collection of scenes than a proper narrative, The Square is strange, unsettling, thought-provoking, but above all absolutely hilarious. Playing out like an episode of Saturday Night Live as written and directed by the folks at the Criterion Collection, this is a blast of fresh air and oddity that I can't wait to see again.

7. Coco
        The gold standard that Pixar has established for themselves has put them in a bit of an undesirable situation, where even their good films are seen as lesser, and their bad ones are met with scorn. I have to tell you, the abominable, endless Frozen short that opens the film, paired with Coco's chaotic opening passages, had me worried as well, but I'm here to tell you that this one goes in the vault. Young Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) lives with his extended family of she-makers in Santa Cecilia, Mexico, but dreams of being a famous musician. After abandoning his family on Dia de los Muertos, Miguel suddenly finds himself in the ravishingly-animated land of the dead, and embarks on a journey to return home, learning more about his family lineage along the way. Heartening for its representation of both cultures and faces that animation so often ignores, Coco is a massage for both your eyes and ears, and has the most emotional conclusion of any movie I saw last year.

6. The Florida Project
        An ode to finding the beauty within the grim, writer/director Sean Baker's The Florida Project balances whimsy with despair in a way the feels completely original. Set in the economically devastated shadow of Orlando's Disney World, the near-plotless, utterly lifelike movie follows six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince), a firecracker who stirs up all hell with her similarly aged and impoverished friends, her trouble-making largely supported by her rebellious young mother (Bria Viniate). Pitched as a modern day Little Rascals, Baker uses almost all untrained actors (with the notable exception of a fantastic Willem Defoe), causing his depiction of the lower class to seem less judgmental or condescending than it is celebratory and matter of fact. What might look like rundown apartments to our eyes become a candy-colored wonderland in Moonee's, all the bright shades of cheap paint telling lies of mirth and ease. Though not always easy to watch, The Florida Project is an essay in empathy, and a tribute to the troublemaker in all of us.

5. Phantom Thread 
        For writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, considered by many to be the defining American cinematic voice of his generation, the most obvious way of looking at a thing is always the least interesting. Masquerading as a proper English period drama, Phantom Thread tells the story of Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), a London-based dressmaker in the 1950's with a fussy sensibility and an eye for detail. A chance encounter with a waitress named Alma (Vicky Krieps) blossoms into a romance, but their dynamic becomes a push-pull of wills, each demanding something that the other is reticent to provide. A think-piece on the chasm between the way that men and women think and yearn, Phantom Thread also manages to be ravishingly beautiful in both sights and sounds, as well a laugh-out-loud funny. Much has been made about this being Day-Lewis' reported final performance, but his greatness is matched by both Krieps and Lesley Manville, forming a three-pronged power dynamic that never proves less than fascinating.

4. Blade Runner 2049
        It's certainly not difficult to see why Blade Runner 2049 flopped in early October, with its elongated runtime, molasses pacing, and over-reliance on pent-up demand for a sequel to a movie that came out more than three decades earlier. Don't let the naysayers fool you; the long-belated follow up to 1982's sci-fi classic is a towering achievement of aesthetics, mood, and spectacle. Tasked with hunting down and disposing of an older class of replicants in a future Los Angeles, 'K' (Ryan Gosling) discovers evidence that the cyborgs might have been able to reproduce, sending him on a quest for answers. Clocking in at 164 minutes, 2049 is an exercise in audience domination, director Denis Villeneuve employing languid pacing and moral quandary to force viewers into submission, where our brains become more alert, and our senses more enlivened. And while the plot twists and philosophical ruminations are more than worthy of praise, it's the world-building that sets this one apart, from immaculate production design, awe-inspiring special effects, and yet another masterclass from cinematography legend Roger Deakins, who might just finally win his long deserved Oscar tomorrow night.

3. The Lost City of Z
        Having banked only a meager 8.5 million at the US box office before seeming to fade into oblivion, the average movie-goer would be forgiven for having never heard of The Lost City of Z; it is, in every conceivable way, a movie out of its time. Set in the 1920's and based on real life events, the film follows Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), a British explorer sent on a mission to map the Amazons who comes across proof that civilized culture might exist within the enormous expanse, and dedicates his life to its discovery. Writer/director James Grey's movie is not only set in a time and interested in a subject that sees precious little exposure on modern day screens, but also carries itself like a David Lean epic from a time long since passed. This stayed nature and yesteryear paradigm might well have kept modern audiences away, but anyone with a love for the grandly mounted, unapologetically enormous adventures of olden cinema ought not miss this foray into the jungle, and all the softly whispered, gorgeously captured mysteries therein.

2. Get Out
        I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie trailer cause quite as much confusion as Get Out's did at the very start of 2017, prompting people to wonder whether this was a comedy, a horror flick, a social commentary, or if it was even a real movie. The answer, it turns out, is all of the above, especially the last one. A demented twist on the 60's classic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, a young black man named Chris (an extraordinary Daniel Kaluuya) sets out for a weekend trip to meet his white girlfriend's affluent parents, and while things start out on an awkward foot, there's no predicting the length to which they descend. In his feature debut, writer/director Jordan Peele is already in complete command of the form, his movie proving ruthlessly efficient in the pacing of its story, and the building of its tension. The cast come up all aces as well, but the biggest takeaway here is one of the most brilliant, confounding scripts you've ever seen put to film, cramming all sorts of different mismatched genres into a blender and somehow never missing a step. Humorous, terrifying, and thought-provoking, Get Out is that rarest of things; a bonafide instant classic.

1. Dunkirk
        In a world where the film medium is increasingly relegated to comfortable home viewings with HD TVs and the ever-present temptation of the pause button, Dunkirk proved to be a monument to the magic of a theater-going experience. Stranded on the beach of the film's namesake, allied forces from Belgium, England, and France attempt an evacuation that involves the aid of soldiers and citizens alike. Many have decried writer/director Christopher Nolan's film for its near-complete avoidance of character development, but don't we have enough war movies where our heros are just 'fighting to get back home to my girl?' Dunkirk is a mercilessly visceral experience, putting viewers right on the front line as chaos abounds from all sides, an assault on the senses that quickens your pulse like you just ran a marathon. It's a film that finds the heroism in merely trying to survive and do your part, all while being sumptuously shot, exactingly edited, and intense enough to make your heart pop out of your chest. No, Dunkirk is not the thinking-man's movie of the year, but it is undoubtably the most cinematic experience of 2017, as well as Christopher Nolan's masterpiece.

Hype Starts Here's Top 40 Movies of 2016 (10-1)

10. Green Room
        Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier is not a man of mercy; he is a furious god of wrath who spews hellfire upon his audiences the second the lights go down. His third feature operates with a remarkably simple premise; after electing to play a show at a known White Supremacist hangout, punk band the Ain't Rights witness an act of violence, and are held hostage by its perpetrators in the four walls of the movie's title. To say that Green Room earns its R rating is the ultimate understatement, Saulnier ratcheting up the tension to almost unbearable levels before lashing out into spurts of stunning, stinging violence. Besides being an expert craftsman of sweat-inducing anticipation and mania, the 40-year-old auteur also has tremendous rapport with his actors, each member of the band and the staffers that hold them captive fully realized and believable, while Patrick Stewart stalks the sidelines with the soft-spoken menace of movie-bad-guy legend. Losing Anton Yelchin at such a young age is a tragedy that still stings from the middle of last year, so lets be grateful that he went out in a blaze of glory, face paint on and guns blasting.

9. The Nice Guys 
        Even if you haven't seen The Nice Guys, you really have. Writer/director Shane Black is not only completely disinterested in remaking the wheel, he'd prefer if we'd stopped messing with it way back in the 80's. His latest buddy cop comedy stars Ryan Gosling as Holland March, a Private Investigator tasked with finding a missing pornstar in 1970's Los Angeles, at first deterred and then joined on his mission by the burly, battered Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe). The Nice Guys is all fun all the time, from Black's slick direction and gut-busting script, to the immediate and irresistible chemistry between its leads. Gosling, in particular, gives a performance for the ages, reaching a level of physical comedy genius that we usually only associate with the silent film era. This one goes straight to the One-Liners Hall of Fame, and if there's any justice in the world, the inevitable TNT reruns that it feels destined for will turn more people on to its many charms.

8. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
        And now to the part where I try to explain how I could possibly have an SNL spinoff movie in my top 10 of the year. After years of digital shorts and even a few full-length albums, The Lonely Island finally have their own movie, chronicling the meteoric rise and seemingly endless fall of band leader Conner4Real (Andy Samberg). There is nothing of sustenance in Popstar, only utterly delicious empty calories that manage to never fill you up, and continuously replenish themselves. Clocking in at 87 minutes, the movie would probably collapse under the weight of another 5 minutes, but it would be equally damaged by slimming down by that same number, nearly each and every single gag and cameo completely obliterating its target. What's more, first-time directors Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone (the other two members of The Lonely Island beside Samberg) turn the concert sequences into actual spectacle, shooting an editing them as if they were the real thing while the absurd lyrics coming out of Samberg's mouth work overtime to convince you that they're not. Impressive drama's come out and impress every year, but I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed as consistently as I did through Popstar and its expert skewering of celebrity culture. It's a 'turn your brain off' classic.

7. Hail, Caesar!
        I suppose when you've made as much amazing art over the years as the Coen Brothers have, a few of your winners will sort of slip through the cracks, but I still can't help but wonder if everyone saw the same Hail, Caesar! that I did. Set in 1950's Hollywood, the film follows a couple days in the life of famous fixer Eddie Mannox (Josh Brolin) as he juggles egos, unexpected pregnancies, surly directors, missing persons, and communist blackmailers. The delights of the movie are too numerous to list them all here, but the lavish, note-perfect costumes and production design deserve special attention, as does the outrageously talented cast of household names, all here and ready to make a mockery of themselves. Despite being headlined by the likes of George Clooney and Scarlett Johansson, its newcomer (and impending young Han Solo) Alden Ehrenreich who steals the movie as a stuntman turned most unfortunate actor, though Channing Tatum's 10 minutes of screen time will not be forgotten anytime soon. As much as the movie works as a simple excuse to play in the sandbox of film's yesteryear, it also weaves in a theme of loyalty and faith, equating political and religious beliefs with the all-mighty power of the silver screen. When the Coen Brothers have fun, we all win.

6. 20th Century Women
        In 2011, writer/director Mike Mills gave us the deeply-moving Beginners, a film about the last several years of his late father's life, and the ways that they impacted his worldview. Six years later, he's back with that movie's spiritual sequel 20th Century Women, focusing in on his complicated relationship with his mother (Annette Benning) and the other women who shaped his teenaged paradigm during the 1970's. Mills is the least antagonistic director working today; no one cares as deeply for his characters and wants them to succeed as much as he does. It's this level of warmth and generosity that defines the movie, an overt exploration of feminism through the eyes of a young heterosexual male, and a celebration of the ideas and songs and people that shape a person in the early-goings of life. Benning has never been better, easy-going and nonchalant until pushed out of her relatively small comfort zone, her eyes and face rendering every thought and emotion through the smallest of gestures. There were more impressively made movies released in 2016, but none with a bigger heart.

5. Moonlight
        The dark horse to come in and steal La La Land's Best Picture statue at Sunday's Oscars, Moonlight is undoubtably the most adored film of last year, and it's not hard to see why. Adapted from the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, the film tells the story of Chiron, a young black kid who grows from boy to man in three distinct passages, each chronicling an important moment in his life. Director Barry Jenkins is an avowed Wong Kar Wai disciple, a fact that is evident in every frame of Moonlight, a film made of eye-popping color, sensual undertones, and repressed passions. James Laxton's cinematography is gorgeous and intimate, just like the story itself, which feels personal to the point of being autobiographical. It brings you in close, declining to make bold declarations, preferring to whisper gently in your ear.

4. Manchester By the Sea
        Manchester By the Sea is like many moody, depressed adult dramas in the sense that it walks right up to the pit of despair. What separates it is that instead of simply gazing down, it does a full-on nose dive straight in. Casey Affleck stars as Lee Chandler, a silent, prickly type spending his days doing custodial work until a phone call beckons him back home to take care of his nephew (Lucas Hedges) whose father (Kyle Chandler) has just passed due to cancer. If that doesn't exactly sound like the easiest premise in the world, you couldn't possibly prepare for the places Kenneth Lonergan's masterpiece of a script decides to go, presenting tragedy in a matter of fact way that strips them of the schmaltz most directors would apply. It's somehow one of last year's funniest films as well, drawing you close with sly humor before leveling you with hard-earned pain. Affleck is a marvel in the role, playing a man who is rudderless and all out of feeling, a zombie forced to deal with the issues of the living. Manchester asks what a person's responsibility is to the rest of the hopeful world after they've completely given up on themselves, and its exploration of the idea is just as fascinating as it is heart-breaking.

3. La La Land
        Tomorrow's all-but-certain Best Picture winner has already and will continue to receive an avalanche of backlash, detractors accurately pointing out its self-congratulatory air, underwhelming vocalists, and white appropriation of black art. I see those things too, but I'll come clean; this one had me at hello. After a couple of chance meetings start to resemble fate, jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) fall in love as they follow their dreams out in the city of stars. No really, that's the whole story, but La La Land harkens back to a simpler way of storytelling, one driven by movie star performances, and broad, sweeping emotion. Writer/director Damien Chazelle has obviously studied his classics, every idea and element of his latest film owing their life-blood to the musical boom of the 1950's, from the rich, over-saturated colors to a climax that openly steals from An American in Paris. But the movie's greatest accomplishment is in its approximation of the feeling of falling in love, with its all-powerful pull and invigorating, fool-making sweep. Yes, La La Land has just as many flaws as the next movie, but its ambition and charm are entirely too much for me to resist. Sometimes you're just a sucker.

2. The Witch
        We all know that ghosts and monsters and sorcerers have the capacity to frighten, but that's all surface level stuff. The Witch deals with a much more terrifying notion; what if everything you ever believed in crumbled right before your eyes, and holding fast only made it worse? Set in New England of the 1630's, the movie tells the story of a Puritan family who is forced out of their society and onto the edge of a forest wherein a titular evil-doer might just be lurking. First-time writer/director Robert Eggers is largely disinterested in the jump scares and gory killings that define many modern horror movies, preferring to create a deep-seeded, omnipresent feeling of dread and anxiousness. Awash in ashen shades, the film explores the limits of faith, and just how far a person will go to preserve said beliefs even as their errors present themselves openly. The cast of largely unknowns is powerful and memorable, reciting olde english dialogue as though it was their everyday speech, believable descending into madness. There is a wicked darkness at the heart of The Witch, and enough unsettling questions and ideas to unpack for years.

1. Arrival
        No 2016 film took on more, accomplished more, or meant more than director Denis Villeneuve's latest masterpiece. Trying to talk people into an alien invasion movie as some sort of life-affirming classic isn't exactly the easiest task, but this story of a linguistic expert's (Amy Adams) effort to bridge the communication gap between humans and an extra-terrestrial race that descended on earth with no warning is more than worth your effort. After all, this is a film's whose primary moral is the virtue of patience, and the ways that understanding can emerge from simply withholding judgements. Amy Adams gives what might be the best performance of her already-awe-inspiring career, under-playing every scene in a manner than belies her incredible intelligence, and open-minded curiosity about the ever-expanding universe. The technical accomplishments on hand present an embarrassment of riches, from Bradford Young's sleek, pristine cinematography to Jóhann Jóhannsson's leering, unsettling score, but the main attraction is Eric Heisserer utterly unparalleled script, which balances not only the story described above, but pulls off a twist whose fall out is emotional in nature, rather than a mere plot mechanism. Arrival doesn't suggest that we abandon our fear of the unknown, but rather embrace it, understand it, and make the difficult decision to move past it. Given the present state of the world, I couldn't possibly think of a more timely message.

Hype Starts Here's Top 40 Movies of 2016 (25-11)

25. Hell or High Water
        Despite being as old as time itself, the Western genre still manages to crank out at least an offering or two per year, but seldom do they take place in the present moment, with characters suffering from modern problems. A pair of brothers (played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster) take to bank robbery as a means to save the family's West Texas ranch, with both a pair of police officers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) and legalistic entanglements hot on their tail. Taylor Sheridan's script is almost laughably awesome, cranking out one 'man's man' dialogue exchange after another while building tension as the forces at play near their collision. Playing out like a less obvious, less stylish version of Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly, Hell or High Water pits man against the modern American system, resulting in one juicy scene after another.

24. A Monster Calls
        Following the time-honored tradition of movies that are about both cancer and giant tree demons, A Monster Calls stars newcomer Lewis MacDougall as a young boy who is periodically visited by a Groot-like behemoth while his mother (Felicity Jones) struggles with an increasing sickness. Rather than preach about the powers of love and human decency, Monster's ultimate lesson is uniquely inclusive, suggesting that there are a multitude of ways to look at any situation, and that an individual is capable of both good and evil without completely siding with one or the other. MacDougall is remarkable in the role, his pain and confusion completely believable from first frame to last, his suffering palpable. Director J.A. Bayona has been one to watch for a while, and if this heartfelt, beautifully-rendered slice of gothic folklore is any indication, his upcoming Jurassic World sequel will be one to watch out for.

23. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
        A Harry Potter spin-off series (arriving after the eight films already in existence) is a pretty tough sell to non-obsessives, which makes it all the more impressive just how quickly Beasts does away with your skepticism. Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander, a magical Zoologist who travels from Britain to New York in the 1920's with a very simple mission that experiences a myriad of setbacks. Director David Yates, back from helming the final four HP installments, has a deft ability to zig zag between breezy brightness and startling darkness without giving you whiplash, and experiencing J.K. Rowlings world exclusively through the eyes of adults gives the flick an entirely different hue than any before it. Fantastic lives up to its name with brilliant effects, likable characters, and a sweet, sensitive performance from Dan Fogler.

22. The Lobster
        If you haven't already heard the premise of The Lobster, here it is; in a bizarro present day, single people are rounded up like cattle and booked into a resort where they have less than a month to find a new mate, or they will be turned into an animal of their choosing. Now... stay with me here. The latest from writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos is as darkly savage in its humor and paradigm as anything he's made before, creating an entire world of rules for our poor rube of a hero (Colin Farrell) to stumble through, only occasionally making the right decision. The film is split evenly into two halves, and while I understand the turn it takes, and genuinely enjoy most of its second act, the first hour is essentially peerless, as beautifully orchestrated and bleakly hilarious as anything I saw last year. 60 minutes in, The Lobster is a masterpiece. After two hours, it's one of the best movies of 2016.

21. Captain America: Civil War
        The latest Marvel team-up movie seems to be made as a response to all the criticisms the studio's output most commonly faces: the bad guys are lame, the action is limp, the consequences aren't dire enough, and there's always a glowing macguffin to fight over. Civil War certainly has a bad guy, but he mostly lurks in the shadows, allowing the central conflict between Earth's Mightiest Heros to occupy the space usually allotted to someone in silly face makeup. The Russo brothers, back from their first comic book joint Captain America: The Winter Soldier, concoct the best action sequences the brand has ever seen, both dizzyingly fun and imaginative. And look, no glowing rock to chase after! Just a group of people on two sides of a thorny issue, including newly-minted and expertly woven-in newcomers Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). By brushing up against real consequences without skimping on their signature rollicking vibe, Marvel Studios made one of their very best to date.

20. Silence
        Never in my life has a Martin Scorsese movie been released to such little fan fare, but I suppose that might have something to do with the grueling endurance test that is Silence. Set in the 17th century, a pair of Jesuit priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) travel to Japan to rescue their long lost mentor (Liam Neeson), finding the region to be less than hospitable to their chosen faith. A passion project that Scorsese has been trying to get off the ground for years, Silence is a beautiful, brutal exploration the intersection between religion and colonialism. Featuring stunning camera work from Rodrigo Prieto and a slew of great performances from the Japanese cast whose position as antagonizers somehow becomes easier to understand as their methods of resistance become harder to watch, the latest Marty Party stays in your head long after the lights come up.

19. Midnight Special
        The ultimate superhero movie for people who are sick of superhero movies, Jeff Nichols' first film of 2016 follows a young boy (Jaeden Lieberher) who is taken from a cult-like commune by a mysterious pair of men (Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton) hellbent on delivering him to an undisclosed location. Midnight Special's greatest asset is coolness, from the way it looks to the fashion in which it tells its story to the intricate details of individual scenes. But the film also packs and emotional punch once it reveals its hand, and the motivations of each character come into focus and gain your empathy. It's one of the only movies since the post-90's superhero boom to think outside the box in terms of what it would actually mean for an advanced human to walk among us, and having this great of an ensemble (Adam Driver, Kirsten Dunst, and Bill Camp round out the cast) doesn't exactly hurt either.

18. The Neon Demon
        Oh boy. No film in 2016 was harder to evaluate or earnestly recommend than The Neon Demon, an utterly amazing experience that sometimes amazes in ways you... might not want to be amazed. Aspiring model Jesse (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles and experiences little-to-no setbacks within the industry itself, but the jealousy of her older, more experienced rivals threatens to derail her at every turn. The All About Eve-like premise might sound quaint and passive, but that couldn't be further from the truth; the latest from writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn makes his most famous film to date, Drive, look like kittens and rainbows. The visuals and the sound design are absolutely incredible, and the knotty themes and ideas lurking just under the surface are enough to keep your wheels turning for days. But, my god, is this thing grisly, and anyone with even a slightly soft stomach might be wise to stay away. Its peaks are preposterously high; just don't say I didn't warm you when it all starts going down.

17. Lion
        What the hell is Lion? exclaimed everyone on Oscar nomination morning, and I have a simple and succinct answer for you: one of the best movies of the year. Saroo (played first by Sunny Pawar), a five-year-old Indian boy, is suddenly and randomly separated from his mother and brother in 1986, first arriving in Calcutta before being adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) whose loving parenting isn't enough to completely expunge the memories of his biological family. The true story is a weepy in the most traditional and best of ways, with characters we care about and empathize with, and a screenplay structure that turns Saroo's life into a modern epic. First time feature director Garth Davis takes an awfully big bite and chews it well, sending us across continents and decades without ever losing sight of the task at hand. As well-crafted as it is inspiring and life-affirming.

16. Paterson
        And to think that Jim Jarmusch's last movie was about vampires. Adam Driver takes on the title role in the legendary director's latest, playing a bus driver in New Jersey with an interest in poetry, both in its written and readily-observable forms. One would be hard-pressed to think of a movie wherein less 'happens'; Paterson wakes up every morning next to his beloved, eccentric girlfriend (Golshifteh Farahani), goes to work, comes home, takes the dog on a walk, hits his favorite bar, then comes to bed and starts it all over again. But Paterson isn't interested in events so much as the dignity of repetition, and an openness to the world that makes each moment special and worthy of acute observation. Driver is a revelation in the role, all show and no tell, emotions and thoughts passing quickly and gracefully across his face in a manner more effective than any dialogue could hope to be. Many independent films patiently observe the normal lives of normal people; Paterson celebrates them.

15. Captain Fantastic
        Like an updated Swiss Family Robinson for the learned, book-smart type, Captain Fantastic introduces us to the Cash family, whose father and figure-head (Viggo Mortensen) has opted to raise his children in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, only properly introducing them to the real world when their mother's funeral beckons. The movie has a merry time challenging each and every aspect of parenting, calling into question both the protective, stunting tutelage of modern society, and the aggressive, rigidly constant self-improvement preferred by the Cash clan. Mortensen lives up to the billing of the title, warm and philosophical despite the grief that's constantly simmering just below the surface. Fun and confrontational in equal measure, Captain Fantastic argues that no one is perfect, but that's no excuse for not trying to be.

14. Nocturnal Animals
        In only his second film, fashion designer Tom Ford already has a firmer grasp on both visuals and story-telling than directors with three times his experience. Adapted from Austin Wright's novel of the same name, Nocturnal Animals follows a wealthy art gallery owner (Amy Adams) who's sent a manuscript of her ex-husband's (Jake Gyllenhaal) upcoming novel, a piece of violent fiction that bares some marked similarities to their failed romance. Combining the slow-drip madness of David Lynch with the salacious 80's bombast of Brian De Palma, Ford's latest is pulpy as all get-out, and could correctly be accused of misappropriating real-world trauma for the sake of entertainment if it wasn't so damn entertaining. The Adams portion of the movie is largely an afterthought, swallowed up by her dramatic imaginings of what's on page, a revenge saga featuring stellar performances from Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. It's exhilarating stuff... if you can bare it.

13. 10 Cloverfield Lane
        An out-of-nowhere revelation from early in the year, 10 Cloverfield Lane proves to only be a sort of spiritual sequel to the 2008 film referenced in its title, but once this thing gets moving, that'll be the last thing on your mind. After packing her things and fleeing her life in a largely silent opening passage, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is knocked unconscious in a car accident and wakes up in a the basement of a stranger (John Goodman) who claims to have saved her from an on-going chemical attack. The clever script gives both the viewer and Michelle just enough information to unlock certain mysteries while keeping others tantalizingly out of reach, all as first-time director Dan Trachtenberg tightens the screws on this game of cat and mouse. John Gallagher Jr. gives a strong performance to round out the cast, but its Winstead and Goodman who easily win the day, the former relaying a clever, observant resourcefulness with the most minor a facial movements, while Goodman returns to a level of titanic mania we haven't seen since Barton Fink. My heart was still racing for an hour after the credits rolled.

12. Wiener-Dog
        Part heart-breaking exploration of loss and loneliness, part cosmic, black-hearted prank, Wiener-Dog has a lot in common with the previous films of its writer/director Todd Solondz, and nothing with anything else in 2016. Operating like War Horse with a sense of humor and a fondness for the macabre, the movie follows the titular pooch as she's passed from one owner to the next, sometimes directly, others without any discernible exchange beyond simple fate. Featuring a spectacular cast including Julie Delpy, Greta Gerwig, Kieran Culkin, and especially fine work from Danny DeVito and Ellen Burstyn, Solondz's latest will have you laughing out loud as the forces of the universe bare down and crush your soul. If that doesn't sound like a great night out at the flicks, you'll at least get to see the intermission, one of the most jarring, goofy, and wonderful things that happened on film in years.

11. Moana
        For a movie that's racked up over 575 million bucks since its release last November, Moana still feels strangely slept-on, and I couldn't begin to understand why. The latest from Disney animation is yet another entry into their long line of princess movies, though our titular heroine here has precious little in common with other members of the lineage. When the crops on her gorgeous Hawaiian home mysteriously begin to rot, it's up to Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) to set sail for help, imploring the mischievous demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) for his services. There's simply no over-stating just how beautiful the animation is here, the tropical rays of sun almost palpable on your back, the water pristine and inviting. And don't tell Oscar, but the slew of original songs on hand, composed by Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda, easily best those featured in La La Land, their shimmering sumptuous rhythms (not to mention the spectacular voices that sing them) rattling around in your brian long after the credits roll. Much has been made of the fact that Moana is the first princess to not even broach the subject of a prince, but the movie's progressive streak reaches far wider than just that, deeply steeped in a decidedly non-white culture and folklore. A massage for the eyes and ears that never stops entertaining, Moana is the best non-Pixar computer animated Disney release to date.