The Best Films of 2017
A shitty year with some excellent movies.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
McDonagh’s radical sympathy creates his film’s best scenes, while undercutting any kind of coherent thesis.
Hail, Caesar! Writes its Love Letter to Hollywood with a Poison Pen
If there’s one constant across the Coens’ intimidating filmography, it’s the brothers’ affection for cinema in all its forms. Right from their debut, Blood Simple – an intricately-plotted neo-noir – they’ve paid homage to Hollywood history, whether aping noir aesthetics (in both Blood Simple and The Man Who Wasn’t There) or gently parodying noir conventions…
Fargo (1996)
“Say, Lou, didya hear the one about the guy who couldn’t afford personalised plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L2404?” “Yah, that’s a good one.” Fargo concerns a convoluted kidnapping plot filled with misunderstandings, mayhem and the occasional murder, and the film tells its story simply, without bold flourishes, letting the story…
