As we close the books on 2017, I’ve given the site staff a reprieve from doing a new Roundtable this week. Instead, I’ll leave our readers with a question: What was your favorite blockbuster movie of 2017?
For the purposes of this poll, I have a rather simplistic definition of “blockbuster.” I’ve compiled a list of any movie that grossed at least $100 million domestically. Admittedly, this is an imperfect criterion. Some of these movies may have actually been considered box office disappointments relative to their inflated budgets (e.g. ‘Justice League’). Other, smaller-budgeted movies may have been very successful despite not crossing the $100 million mark. (‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ did quite well with $75 million domestic from a $30 million budget.) And still more movies may have earned the majority of their money overseas while American audiences ignored them (‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’). Nonetheless, as far as completely arbitrary rules go, I think this is good enough to get a conversation started. $100 million is still a lot of tickets sold and butts in seats.
I’m going to force you to choose just one favorite from the list. There will be no voting for multiple titles this time.
Loading ...Of the options, I’ve seen ‘Baby Driver’, ‘Cars 3’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’, ‘Kong: Skull Island’, and ‘The Lego Batman Movie’. I enjoyed them all to some degree, but I laughed my ass off from start to finish during ‘Lego Batman’ and still feel that I only caught about half of the rapid-fire jokes. That one gets my vote.
I still need to catch up with several major titles on this list.
NJScorpio
I wish I could have voted for ‘Blade Runner 2049’.
Ryan
Agreed. But I ended up voting for Logan. I loved that movie.
To those that voted for The Last Jedi…..WHY!!?!?
Buntcake74
Exactly Ryan…obviously well written, logically plotted films mean nothing to those giving Star Wars a pass.
Breaks my heart so many accept that train wreck as “a great movie”. It’s not, it’s an abomination that pisses all over the legacy.
Ray
Agreed! It’s a horrible movie. As poorly executed as the prequels were, at least they didn’t destroy the Star Wars legacy like “The Last Jedi” did.
theHDphantom
Yeah, I too am very surprised that The Last Jedi is in the top spot right now. Very strange. The film was lazily executed, illogically written, and waaaay to overly long for a simplistic script like this. But, I guess people found something entertaining about it.
Although, when I asked some of my friends (the couple of them that actually DID like it) what they in fact liked about it, they couldn’t give me a clear answer, which I thought was strange. It wasn’t until I started telling them about all the plot holes and illogical/nonsensical writing and ideas that I had them changing their minds about it lol.
I’m starting to think that Disney put in some sort of Jedi mind trick in the film, forcing the weak minded to like it. That would explain why the critics are generally raving about it and the majority of audiences hated it.
eric
100% true! LOGAN is the best on this list. I wanted to vote for Blade Runner as well.
I look at this list and ask my self which films I will watch over and over and I only see a couple that will get more than 2 or 3 viewings ever from me.
These were the ones that really shook up how a movie can be made. Changed their genre forever:
LOGAN
GET OUT
DUNKIRK
Lots good films on this list, BABY DRIVER was good, but I will never watch it as many times as I have seen SHAUN OF THE DEAD.
SPLIT was really good, but we have seen this before in other movies. I will watch this again.
NJScorpio
From this list, I have to go with ‘Logan’. It showed that an “R-Rated” superhero movie can be artistically justified, as opposed to the “OMG-I’m-R-Rated!” Deadpool (which I still love). I wanted to see action, and I got it, but I also got a ton of feels. Oh, poor Charles. ‘Logan’ makes all of the other X-Men movies worth watching.
Ryan
I also voted for Logan. Just a perfect end to one of the greatest comic characters ever put on screen. His movies may have been hit or miss, but I couldn’t imagine a better final performance
eric
Time for LOGAN LEGO MOVIE with an R-Rating. Lets make this happen.
William Henley
That is a fantastic argument, and I totally agree. Great movie
Csm101
I voted for It. I saw it in theaters three times. I never do that. Kong: Skull Island and Baby Driver would be the next closest.
Jason
How did you forget thor3?
Josh Zyber
AuthorThat’s a very good question. How did I miss that? I’ve added it to the bottom of the poll now, sorry.
EM
I picked Cars 3, which I loved. Of the other choices, I’ve seen only three (Dunkirk, Get Out, and It), which were all enjoyable enough. I should see The Lego Batman Movie, though.
Elizabeth
I tried to watch Cars 3 yesterday and found it deadly dull. I dozed off, woke up to some just as deadly dull scene of Lightning training on a beach before turning it off.
Dax Riggs
Lol….it cracks me up when grown adults watch kids movies and then complain about how the movie didn’t cater to them.
Pedram
Most Pixar movies are enjoyed by plenty of adults.
I cannot say that Cars 3 was one of them for me. Easily the worst Cars movie. Yes, worst that Cars 2.
Dax Riggs
That’s fine, but it wasn’t geared towards adults. That’s like a 7 year old saying GlenGarry Glen Ross was “deadly dull”…….
Josh Zyber
AuthorCars 3 was a huge improvement over Cars 2, IMO.
Shannon Nutt
Logan for me…a “popcorn” movie with some real heft and emotion to it. Sadly, many have forgotten just what a great comic book movie this one was – right up there with “The Dark Knight” in terms of genre significance.
NJScorpio
I’d say the top 5 most significant comic book movies would be ‘Logan’, ‘The Dark Knight’, Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’, ‘X-Men’, and of course ‘Iron Man’.
Julian
I haven’t seen ‘Logan’, but do you really think ‘many’ have already forgotten what a great movie it was? It’s not even one year old! Short memory span, then?
Shannon Nutt
Well, WE may not have forgotten it – but Hollywood certainly has. It’s on very few year-end “best” lists and has been ignored by the awards-givers.
Julian
Tragic, tragic. I remember a lot of ‘Best (Supporting) Actor’ whispers doing the rounds when ‘Logan’ was released.
Buntcake74
Seeing as how Star Wars is tops in the poll..yep. How pathetic, shame on you people who liked that awful knife to the heart of Star Wars over the brilliance of Logan or even The LEGO Batman flick!
Plissken99
For my money, Spider-Man Homecoming really knocked it out of the park. Due to circumstance, I’ve already seen it 4 times this year, and it never feels it’s healthy length.
Bolo
Hands down it’s ‘War For The Planet of the Apes’ for me. A blockbuster that delivers big spectacle, and manages to do so with dramatic weight but without resorting to the heavy-handed one-note Nolan brand of preaching. Great use of effects to create engaging characters. A truly satisfying conclusion to a great trilogy.
Shannon Nutt
Great effects and well-made to be sure, but the story seemed “small” to me for the third and final movie of a trilogy. It wasn’t nearly as good as the second film.
Buntcake74
Agreed, the setup was brilliant…the third act was silly.
Elizabeth
The third act was really hurt by the music and directing. The prison break sequence was played as this comedic sequence that didn’t fit with the heavier tone of the rest of the movie. It was a pretty jarring tonal shift.
The movie also didn’t do itself any favors by calling itself “War for the Planet of the Apes.” The advertising sold a very different movie than what was actually on the screen. As Shannon said, it was a really small story but “War” implies bigness.
Bolo
I find a lot of trilogy cappers that try to go big end up just feeling bloated and hollow. They often feel like one action sequence dragged out to fill most of a movie and I get a little bored by endless battlefield action (‘Return of the Jedi’, ‘The Matrix Revolutions’). I liked that this one was still story-driven with several factors all coming together to bring an end to human civilization.
I understand why people liked the second one the best. It had one thing to say and so I can’t argue that it wasn’t more focussed. I’m still not sure which one is my favourite in this series.
Judas Cradle
Certainly NOT Last Jedi. I don’t know what that was, but it certainly wasn’t a Star Wars movie.
Julian
Is there a template for ‘Star Wars’ movies? Are they forbidden to break the mold? 🙂
Buntcake74
Breaking the mold…fine. Not gutting it with illogical plotting and pacing. Along with a complete lack or disregard to the legacy of seven films before it. One need not look fat to find WHY the movie was so awful.
If you actually liked that movie, then you must’ve thought Transformers was Citizen Kane.
Julian
I like ‘The Last Jedi’, ‘Transformers’ (only the first one) and ‘Citizen Kane’. It’s possible 🙂
Ray
I don’t even think they broke the mold since the movie repeated elements of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” (and poorly at that). Then they decided to gut the Star Wars legacy as you described. I hated, hated, hated this horrible film. It was just plain awful.
William Henley
Complete disregard for legacy? I think you saw the wrong movie.
It was far from my favorite, but it was far from the worst as well. I would place this around number 5 of the 9 theatrical movies. It was loads better than that awful Force Awakens and lightyears better than Phantom Menace (let’s try spining, thats a good trick) or Attack of the Clones (sand is rough, not like you)
Jimmy McNulty
Other: Blade Runner 2049. Brilliant movie.
Josh
Get Out is still my #1 movie of the year, so I voted for that.
Enjoyed Baby Driver, Logan, Dunkirk, GotG2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and Thor
NJScorpio
What blew me away about ‘Get Out’ was how damn well it was made.
William Henley
This was a tough poll. There were several movies I loved, and was thinking Beauty and the Beast all the way until I got to the Ls and saw Logan and Lego Batman. It was a tough call, but in the end, I had to go with Lego Batman. I would say it is not only the best movie of 2017, but very possibly the best movie of the last decade (I would have to go in and see what all was released in the past decade before I can make a definate statement on that, but yeah, I LOVED Lego Batman).
photogdave
Dunkirk for sure. One of the greatest theatrical experiences I’ve ever had.
Logan is an excellent movie but doesn’t have a “blockbuster” feel, despite what its earnings may be.
I just saw Last Jedi today and it was flawed but enjoyable, but not as great an experience as previous Star Wars films.
theHDphantom
I went with Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2. Just as good (if not better) than the first one. I really hope James Gunn stays on to write and direct the third one.
eric
My absolute favorite movie of the year was BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, brilliant. Not enough people will see this and many will be turned off by the over the top gruesome violence and others won’t be able to get past Vince Vaughn as the lead in this. I felt like I was watching a foreign film that is edgier than American films. Brilliant and straight forward.
The next film I want to see is “RAID in a hallway” with Vince Vaughn as the lead. Take the hallway and a hammer scene from OLD BOY and turn it into a full length feature film and sell me a ticket.