As 2017 draws to a close, the writers at our sister publication Total Film magazine have voted for their favourite films of the year, and the results are in, with Christopher Nolan’s World War 2 epic Dunkirk topping the list.
Also scoring highly are a huge sci-fi sequel, comic book movies, coming-of-age stories, a breakout horror hit, a musical (or should that be two musicals?), and a German comedy that’s nearly three hours long (no, really).
Total Film's Top Movies of the Year
1. Dunkirk
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. La La Land
4. Moonlight
5. Wonder Woman
6. Get Out
7. Call Me by Your Name
8. Toni Erdmann
9. Thor: Ragnarok
10. Baby Driver
Dunkirk – the IMAX-scaled, suspense-filled take on the war movie – was a clear winner when the votes were counted. Boasting huge spectacle and intense emotional engagement, and thoroughly immersing you in another time and place, it was a cinema experience like no other in 2017.
Charting the fate of Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), a British soldier trapped – alongside 400,000 others – on the beaches of Dunkirk, awaiting salvation, the film has a multilayered timeline that sounds dizzyingly complex on paper, but on screen seems like the ideal way to tell a story that encompasses perspectives from land, sea, and air.
Blade Runner 2049 may not have set the box-office alight, but it remains a firm favourite in the TF office, a thoughtful, moody sci-fi sequel that somehow managed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the original 1982 classic.
Wonder Woman is the highest-placed comic-book movie at number 5, but funnily Justice League didn’t make the cut… Thor: Ragnarok, however, did.
Musicals both classical (La La Land) and ultra-modern (Baby Driver) had a resurgence. Get Out proved to be the horror hit of the year, trouncing box-office smash It.
Coming-of-age stories Moonlight and Call Me by Your Name also made a big impact, and Toni Erdmann was the only foreign-language film to crack the top 10 (seriously, check it out if you can).
For Total Film’s full 2017 Review of the Year, look out for the next issue, which is on sale December 22. It features even more of this year’s must-see movies, plus a breakdown of the 2017's biggest action scenes, memorable trends, risings stars, and much more besides. Subscribe now.
Note: Total Film’s list is based on UK release dates. Star Wars: The Last Jedi was not screened in time for consideration.
