2017 was perhaps the best year of the 2010s for movies. Not only did the year include many of the decade’s best movies, there was a depth to the amount of releases that were quality. This “best of” list was harder than nearly any year surrounding it – consisting of a healthy mix of auteur projects and blockbusters. A few of my favorite directors (Sean Baker, Luca Guadagnino, Greta Gerwig to name a few) released their best movies in 2017. It was a year of discovery, and these are my 25 favorite movie discoveries of 2017:
25. Thelma
24. Baby Driver
23. The Beguiled
22. The Post
21. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
20. The Other Side of Hope
19. The Shape of Water
18. John Wick: Chapter 2
17. The Meyerowitz Stories
16. The Lego Batman Movie
15. Nathan for You: Finding Frances
14. The Death of Stalin
13. Columbus
12. Logan Lucky
11. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
10. The Trip to Spain
9. Phantom Thread
8. Good Time
7. A Ghost Story
6. Get Out
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut was an instant cultural and cinematic phenomenon—one of those rare films that completely redefines its genre while achieving both critical and commercial success. It was a movie that not only announced Peele as one of the most exciting new filmmakers of the decade but also proved that horror could be both socially charged and immensely entertaining. While Us confirmed that Get Out was no fluke, and Nope showcased Peele’s ability to handle blockbuster-scale storytelling, it all started with this razor-sharp psychological thriller that remains just as effective years later.
Read our review of Get Out.
5. Lady Bird
4. Only the Brave
3. Dunkirk
Dunkirk may just be Christopher Nolan’s most improbable and precise movie. A technical revelation that feels like the stretched out third act of a war epic. All this time later, nothing has aged poorly in this cinematic achievement.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Dunkirk
2. Call Me By Your Name
1. The Florida Project
The Florida Project isn’t just one of Sean Baker’s best films—it’s a modern indie masterpiece that has solidified itself as one of the defining movies of the 2010s. Released by A24 in 2017, it’s a stunningly poignant slice-of-life drama that immerses the audience in the sun-drenched but deeply flawed world of its characters. For me, this movie came at the perfect time, when I was just beginning to see film as more than entertainment and started engaging with it as an art form. It wasn’t just a gateway into Sean Baker’s career; it was a revelation that reshaped how I thought about storytelling on screen.
Read our review of The Florida Project.
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