^
Denis Villeneuve
My TOP 8.
“Dunkirk”
“Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves”
“The Square”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
“mother!”
“Downsizing”
“The Beguiled”
Neill Blomkpamp’s Oats Studio Short films
Guillermo del Toro
10. “Brawl in Cell Block 99”
9. “Ingrid Goes West”
8. “Tigersw Are Not Afraid”
7. “Good Time”
6. “The Meyerowitz Stories”
5. “Get Out”
4. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
3. “Dunkirk”
2. “Lady Bird”
1. “A Ghost Story
Adam Wingard (“Blair Witch,” “The Guest”)
1. “Twin Peaks: The Return”
2. “Dunkirk”
3. “Phantom Thread”
4. “The Vietnam War”
5. “Blade Runner 2046”
6. “The Beguiled”
7. “Get Out”
8. “Kong: Skull Island”
9. “Mindhunter”
10. “Kedi”
Hannah Fidell (“6 Years,” “A Teacher”)
1. “The Little Hours”
2. “Narcos”
3. “Tarantula”
4. “Dunkirk”: Technically the most glorious film of the year.
5. “Lady Bird”
6. “Downsizing”
7. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
8. “The Handmaid’s Tale
9. “The Square”
10. “The Florida Project
11. “A Ghost Story”
12. “People Places & Things”
Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”)
Top 20 in alphabetical order:
“A Fantastic Woman,” by Sebastian Leilo
“After the Storm,” by Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Alien Covenant,” by Ridley Scott
“Austerlitz,” by Sergei Loznitsa
“The Big Sick,” by Michael Showalter
“Cinema, Manoel de Oliveira and Me,” by Joao Botelho
“Dunkirk,” by Christopher Nolan
“Eight Hours Are Not a Day” (restored re-release), by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
“Faces Places,” by Agnes Varda
“I Am Not Your Negro,” by Raoul Peck
“Logan,” by James Mangold
“Logan Lucky,” by Steven Soderbergh
“The Lost City of Z,” by James Gray
“Mrs. Fang,” by Wang Bing
“On the Beach at Night Alone,” by Hong Sang-soo
“Paddington 2,” by Paul King
“Split,” by M. Night Shyamalan
“Twin Peaks: The Return,” by David Lynch
“The Venerable W,” by Barbet Schroeder
“War For the Planets of the Apes,” by Matt Reeves
Daniel Kwan (“Swiss Army Man”)
“Dunkirk”: I’ve always appreciated Nolan’s love of the IMAX format as an audience member seeking thrills, but it wasn’t until I saw Dunkirk in all its 70mm glory that I could appreciate it from an artistic standpoint. Every frame was a larger than life fresco, and for a moment, I was at a museum. Soaking up a mural, studying a natural history museum style diorama— I was being hit with the full force of these images. From the first image of young soldiers watching German propaganda float down like snow, to the Tom Hardy cathartically gliding without gas over the city, I was reminded of the way cinefiles affectionately call movie theaters “church”.
Peter Landesman (“Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House”)
Dunkirk”: I’ve never seen a war film so devoid of blood and torn flesh, but so full of anxiety. To me this was a claustrophobic fever dream, almost a tone poem. I loved how few words of dialog there were. When men are facing death or about to die, what they can speak that can top what their eyes say to us?
Alex Ross Perry (“Listen Up Philip”)
1. “Dunkirk”: There’s a Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin’s dad puzzles him with how the inner point of a record and the outer point of the same record can travel different distances but make a full rotation in the same amount of time, even though the inner most part of the record and the outermost part are moving at the same speed. The final panel is Calvin, awake in the dead of night and tortured by the riddle. 25 years after reading it, I still can’t not think of this algebraic conundrum. “Dunkirk” is like that, but as a movie.
Nicolas Pesce (“The Eyes of My Mother”)
Honestly, my list could be “Twin Peaks” 1-10, but…
1. “Twin Peaks: The Return”
2. “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond”
3. “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer”
4. “I, Tonya”
5. “Big Little Lies”
6. “I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore”
7. “Gerald’s Game”
8. “Dunkirk”
9. “Split”
10. “Logan Lucky”
Max Winkler (“Flower”)
“Dunkirk”: Can’t think of another filmmaker out there who could come close in attempting to make this movie and pull it off the way Nolan does who i stlI think doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. I still feel the need to defend Interstellar to people. Tom Hardy is sneaky brilliant as the indecipherable but truly heroic pilot…. Farrier!
Craig Zobel (“Z for Zachariah”)
Dunkirk” and “Darkest Hour”: I was surprised that enjoyed getting to watch both of these films this year. I’m not particularly invested either way in war films, and knew nothing about the Battle of Dunkirk other than its long fluid master in Joe Wright’s “Atonement.” Christopher Nolan’s film seems to be looking at “Atonement” and going, “No, this is more authentic.” While Wright’s film was instead singularly interested in what it takes to become one of history’s best orators. I found both movies great, but more so in their connection to each other: it was fun to see two impressive dudes tackle the same event with completely different perspectives.
Denis Villeneuve
My TOP 8.
“Dunkirk”
“Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves”
“The Square”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
“mother!”
“Downsizing”
“The Beguiled”
Neill Blomkpamp’s Oats Studio Short films
Guillermo del Toro
10. “Brawl in Cell Block 99”
9. “Ingrid Goes West”
8. “Tigersw Are Not Afraid”
7. “Good Time”
6. “The Meyerowitz Stories”
5. “Get Out”
4. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
3. “Dunkirk”
2. “Lady Bird”
1. “A Ghost Story
Adam Wingard (“Blair Witch,” “The Guest”)
1. “Twin Peaks: The Return”
2. “Dunkirk”
3. “Phantom Thread”
4. “The Vietnam War”
5. “Blade Runner 2046”
6. “The Beguiled”
7. “Get Out”
8. “Kong: Skull Island”
9. “Mindhunter”
10. “Kedi”
Hannah Fidell (“6 Years,” “A Teacher”)
1. “The Little Hours”
2. “Narcos”
3. “Tarantula”
4. “Dunkirk”: Technically the most glorious film of the year.
5. “Lady Bird”
6. “Downsizing”
7. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
8. “The Handmaid’s Tale
9. “The Square”
10. “The Florida Project
11. “A Ghost Story”
12. “People Places & Things”
Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”)
Top 20 in alphabetical order:
“A Fantastic Woman,” by Sebastian Leilo
“After the Storm,” by Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Alien Covenant,” by Ridley Scott
“Austerlitz,” by Sergei Loznitsa
“The Big Sick,” by Michael Showalter
“Cinema, Manoel de Oliveira and Me,” by Joao Botelho
“Dunkirk,” by Christopher Nolan
“Eight Hours Are Not a Day” (restored re-release), by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
“Faces Places,” by Agnes Varda
“I Am Not Your Negro,” by Raoul Peck
“Logan,” by James Mangold
“Logan Lucky,” by Steven Soderbergh
“The Lost City of Z,” by James Gray
“Mrs. Fang,” by Wang Bing
“On the Beach at Night Alone,” by Hong Sang-soo
“Paddington 2,” by Paul King
“Split,” by M. Night Shyamalan
“Twin Peaks: The Return,” by David Lynch
“The Venerable W,” by Barbet Schroeder
“War For the Planets of the Apes,” by Matt Reeves
Daniel Kwan (“Swiss Army Man”)
“Dunkirk”: I’ve always appreciated Nolan’s love of the IMAX format as an audience member seeking thrills, but it wasn’t until I saw Dunkirk in all its 70mm glory that I could appreciate it from an artistic standpoint. Every frame was a larger than life fresco, and for a moment, I was at a museum. Soaking up a mural, studying a natural history museum style diorama— I was being hit with the full force of these images. From the first image of young soldiers watching German propaganda float down like snow, to the Tom Hardy cathartically gliding without gas over the city, I was reminded of the way cinefiles affectionately call movie theaters “church”.
Peter Landesman (“Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House”)
Dunkirk”: I’ve never seen a war film so devoid of blood and torn flesh, but so full of anxiety. To me this was a claustrophobic fever dream, almost a tone poem. I loved how few words of dialog there were. When men are facing death or about to die, what they can speak that can top what their eyes say to us?
Alex Ross Perry (“Listen Up Philip”)
1. “Dunkirk”: There’s a Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin’s dad puzzles him with how the inner point of a record and the outer point of the same record can travel different distances but make a full rotation in the same amount of time, even though the inner most part of the record and the outermost part are moving at the same speed. The final panel is Calvin, awake in the dead of night and tortured by the riddle. 25 years after reading it, I still can’t not think of this algebraic conundrum. “Dunkirk” is like that, but as a movie.
Nicolas Pesce (“The Eyes of My Mother”)
Honestly, my list could be “Twin Peaks” 1-10, but…
1. “Twin Peaks: The Return”
2. “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond”
3. “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer”
4. “I, Tonya”
5. “Big Little Lies”
6. “I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore”
7. “Gerald’s Game”
8. “Dunkirk”
9. “Split”
10. “Logan Lucky”
Max Winkler (“Flower”)
“Dunkirk”: Can’t think of another filmmaker out there who could come close in attempting to make this movie and pull it off the way Nolan does who i stlI think doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. I still feel the need to defend Interstellar to people. Tom Hardy is sneaky brilliant as the indecipherable but truly heroic pilot…. Farrier!
Craig Zobel (“Z for Zachariah”)
Dunkirk” and “Darkest Hour”: I was surprised that enjoyed getting to watch both of these films this year. I’m not particularly invested either way in war films, and knew nothing about the Battle of Dunkirk other than its long fluid master in Joe Wright’s “Atonement.” Christopher Nolan’s film seems to be looking at “Atonement” and going, “No, this is more authentic.” While Wright’s film was instead singularly interested in what it takes to become one of history’s best orators. I found both movies great, but more so in their connection to each other: it was fun to see two impressive dudes tackle the same event with completely different perspectives.
