Best films of 2017

2017 was dominated by headlines detailing how movie attendance was generally down. However, the trend of releasing films based on comic books continued. As streaming and new distribution channels come into play, it's interesting to assess how films and how we consume them is rapidly changing. My ten best list, includes films produced and released during 2017. I also included two new TV shows that debuted in 2017, that are worth checking out.

Lady Bird

Director: Greta Gerwig

Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalfe, Lucas Hedges, Tracy Letts, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Jake McDorman, Jordan Rodrigues, Odeya Rush, Andy Buckley, Marielle Scott

Call Me By Your Name

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Stars: Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel, Victoire Du Bois, Vanda Capriolo, Antonio Rimoldi, Peter Spears

The Shape of Water

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Stars: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Hewlett, Nick Searcy, Stewart Arnott, Nigel Bennett, Lauren Lee Smith, Martin Roach, Allegra Fulton, John Kapelos, Morgan Kelly

Dunkirk

Director: Christopher Nolan

Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, James D'Arcy, Harry Styles, Barry Keoghan, Matthew Marsh 

The Post

Director: Steven Spielberg

Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Cross, Zach Woods, Pat Healy, John Rue, Rick Holmes, Philip Casnoff, Jessie Mueller, Stark Sands, Will Denton, Jennifer Dundas, Christopher Innvar, Coral Pena

Phantom Thread

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Stars: Daniel Day Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville, Gina McKee, Camilla Rutherford, Brian Gleeson, Julia Davis, Harriet Sansom Harris, Lujza Richter

Blade Runner 2049

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Dave Bautista, Sylvia Hoeks, Jared Leto, Carla Juri, Edward James Olmos, Mackenzie Davis, Hiam Abbass, Lennie James, Barkhad Abdi, Sean Young

Marjorie Prime

Director: Michael Almereyda

Stars: Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Lois Smith, Tim Robbins, Hannah Gross, Stephanie Andujar, Azumi Tsutsui

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Director: Martin McDonagh

Stars: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Zeljko Ivanek, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage, Kerry Condon, Amanda Warren, Clarke Peters, Nick Searcy, Sandy Martin, Samara Weaving

I, Tonya

Director: Craig Gillespie

Stars: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janey, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Cannavale, Bojana Novakovic, McKenna Grace, Jason Davis, Caitlin Carver

TV shows worth investigating include the David Fincher produced and directed Mindhunter and Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Special highlights should go to the following films that were equally impressive: Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled, Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father, Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky,  Mike Flanagan's Gerald's Game and Darren Aronofsky's divisive Mother!. The films that simply failed on multiple levels include Zack Snyder's Justice League, Alex Kurtzman's The Mummy, James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 and David Ayer's Bright.