Updated Two Favorite Films for Every Year List

Updated my list of two favorite films per year. There are certain years where I don't think I have a strong enough pool to draw from and I researched some films from those years that might be worth checking out. This will guide my viewing next time I have a classic film to pick:

2019 Two Popes (Fernando Meirelles)/Knives Out (Riann Johnson)

2018 Green Book (Peter Farrelly)/First Reformed (Paul Schrader)

2017 Florida Project (Sean Baker)/Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MO (Martin McDonagh)

2016 Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood)/La La Land (Damien Chazelle)

2015 Martian (Ridley Scott)/Spotlight (Thomas McCarthy)

2014 Gone Girl (David Fincher)/Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

2013 Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)/American Hustle (David O Russell)

2012 Dark Knight Rises (Chris Nolan)/Flight (Rob Zemeckis)

2011 Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)/Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)

2010 Inception (Chris Nolan)/Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Edgar Wright)

2009 Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)/Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

2008 Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood)/FrostNixon (Ron Howard)

2007 3:10 to Yuma (James Mangold)/Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie)

2006 Little Miss Sunshine (Jonothan Dayton and Valerie Harris)/Departed (Marty Scorsese)

2005 The New World (Terrence Malick)/Junebug (Phil Morrison)

2004 The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)/Life Aquatic (Wes Anderson)

2003 Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella)/Last Samurai (Edward Zwick)

2002 City of God (Fernando Meirelles)/Chicago (Rob Marshall)

2001 Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)/Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)

2000 Gladiator (Ridley Scott)/Wonderboys (Curtis Hanson)

1999 Three Kings (David O Russell)/Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen)

1998 Truman Show (Peter Weir)/Enemy of the State (Tony Scott)

1997 Titanic (James Cameron)/Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant)*.................................. Lolita, Full Monty, Devil’s Advocate

1996 Independence Day (Roland Emmerich)/Evita (Alan Parker)

1995 Apollo 13 (Ron Howard)/Batman Forever (Joel Schumacher)

1994 Ed Wood (Tim Burton)/Quiz Show (Robert Redford)

1993 Fugitive (Andrew Davis)/Pelican Brief (Alan Pakula)*….True Romance, Short Cuts

1992 The Player (Robert Altman)/A League of their Own (Penny Marshall)

1991 Terminator 2 (James Cameron)/Fisher King (Terry Gilliam)

1990 Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)/Misery (Rob Reiner)

1989 Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir)/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Stephen Spielberg)

1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Rob Zemeckis)/School Daze (Spike Lee)

1987 Good Morning Vietnam (Peter Weir)/Princess Bride (Rob Reiner)

1986 Children of a Lesser God (Randa Haines)/Star Trek IV (Leonard Nimoy) *…Highlander, Labyrinth, Stand By Me, Space Camp

1985 Back to the Future (Rob Zemeckis)/Witness (Peer Weir)

1984 Amadeus (Milos Forman)/Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Stephen Spielberg)

1983 Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir)/Return of the Jedi (George Lucas)* …Outsiders, Local Hero, Silkwood Meaning of Life, Blue Thunder

1982 Verdict (Sidney Lumet) /ET (Stephen Spielberg)*….Tron, Fanny and Alexander, King of Comedy

1981 On Golden Pond (Mark Rydell)/Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson)

1980 Gods Must be Crazy (Jamie Uys)/Shining (Stanley Kubrick)*…Urban Cowboy, Xanadu, Flash Gordon

1979 Being There (Hal Ashby)/China Syndrome (Jeff Bridges)

1978 Badlands (Terrence Malick)/Every Which Way But Loose (Hal Ashby)*….Deer Hunter, The Boys from Brazil

1977 Star Wars (George Lucas)/High Anxiety (Mel Brooks) *…Smokey and the Bandit, Turning Point, Close Encounters

1976 Network (Sidney Lumet)/All the President’s Men (Alan J Pakula)

1975 The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston)/Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel)*…Nashville, Three Days in the Condor

1974 Chinatown (Roman Polanski)/Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet)

1973 American Graffiti (George Lucas)/Three Musketeers (Richard Lester)

1972 Poseidon Adventure (Roland Neame)/Cabaret (Bob Fossee)*…Slueth, Deliverance, Discreet Cham of the Burgoisee

1971 McCabe & Mrs Miller (Rob Altman)/Live and Let Die (Terrence Young)*….Andromeda Strain, Straw Dogs, Klute

1970 MASH (Rob Altman)/Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)

1969 Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)/They Shoot Horses Don’t They (Sydney Pollock)

1968 Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey)/Odd Couple (Gene Saks)

1967 In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)/Wait Until Dark (Terrence Young)

1966 Our Man Flint (Daniel Mann)/Walk Don’t Run (Charles Walters)

1965 Great Race (Blake Edwards)/Cat Ballou (Elliot Silverstein)

1964 Beckett (Peter Glenville)/Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton)

1963 It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Stanley Kramer)/Great Escape (John Sturges)

1962 Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer)/To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert  Mulligan)

1961 West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins)/Judgment at Nuremberg (Stanley Kramer)

1960 The Apartment (Billy Wilder)/Magnificent Seven (John Sturges)

1959 North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)/Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder)

1958 Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)/Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)

1957 Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean)/12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)

1956 Searchers (John Ford)/Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock)

1955 East of Eden (Elia Kazan)/Kismet (Vincente Minnelli)*….Blackboard Jungle, Desperate Choirs

1954 Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk)/Salt of the Earth (Herbert Biberman)

1953 From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann)/Roman Holiday (William Wyler)

1952 Singing in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)/High Noon (Fred Zinnemann)

1951 African Queen (John Huston)/Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise)

1950 All About Eve (Joseph L Mankiewicz)/Harvey (Henry Koster)

1949 The Third Man (Carol Reed)/Pinky (Elia Kazan)

1948 Key Largo (John Huston)/Treasure of the Seirra Madre (John Huston)

1947 Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles)/Bishop’s Wife (Henry Koster)*…Ghost and Mrs Muir,  Odd Man Out, Secret Life of Walter Mitty

1946 Big Sleep (Howard Hawks)/It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)

1945 Detour (Edgar Ullmer)/Scarlett Street (Fritz Lang)*…Along Came Jones, Mildred Pierce, Blithe Spirit

1944 Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra)/Meet me in Saint Louis (Vincente Minnelli)

1943 Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock)/Miracle at Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges)*…Song of Bernadette, The More the Merrier, Five Graces to Cairo

1942 Sabetour (Alfred Hitchcock)/Major and the Minor (Billy Wilder)*... Ox-Bow Incident, Tortilla Flat, Talk of the Town, Now Voyager

1941 Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks)/Meet John Doe (Frank Capra)

1940 His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)/Go West (Leo McCarey) *…Great McGinty, Phantom of Chinatown, Great Dictator

1939 Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)/Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)

25 Best Performances of 2017

Loosely written  post to recap of the year that was in film now that the Oscars are upon us. This is out of the 35 films I saw:
1. Gary Oldman, The Darkest Hour-This gives me no pleasure to actually write this. It's like proclaiming the sun the brightest object in the sky and giving an award for it. He's playing Winston Churchill; he put on a fat suit, of course, he's going to get an award for it. But objectively, he's the best
2. Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Rockwell has oscillated wildly between mainstream and indie fare and, like Johnny Depp's career, has generally waited for the right film to come to him. This film has rightfully launched him into the stratosphere and it turned me into a Sam Rockwell convert. The charges that the handling of the character is haphazardly racist are made by a few people whose voices are being amplified too highly and are indicative that Martin McDonagh did something right by being provocative in the first place. This is a challenging role, but more than that, a challenging character.
3. Tom Cruise, American Made-Either the best Tom Cruise performance ever or the the best that exists in my memory banks  It's been a while since Cruise has sunk his teeth into a role like this and reflects his maturity. Since Oprah-gate and the website Tomcruiseisnuts.com got launched, Cruise retreated from being an actual actor into a standard action star, and this time, it's astounding that he's really going for it and this is pretty much all that and a bag of chips. He's present the entire film, he has a subtle arc, he's outlandish and larger-than-life, he does accent work, he does his own stunts (duh!), he's tragic
4. Holly Hunter, The Big Sick-A fearless performance that mines humor out of idiosyncracy while veering away from stereotype. Her snub was tragic.
5. Bria Vinaite, Florida Project-A tour de force. She's loud and even a little fear-inducing.
6. Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri-Rightfully awarded a second Oscar. McDormand traditionally traffics in equal parts fear and empathy.
7. Jason Mitchell, Mudbound-Mitchell portrays the chip on his shoulder, the sense of nearly unshakeable self-pride, and the quiet dignity in making do with his circumstances. The look in his eyes as he stares down a threatening mob is harrowing.
8. Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water-Giles is an endearing wet mess of emotion. He wears his heart on his sleeve, his relation with Eliza is heartwarming and his relationship with the pie owner is just as heartbreaking. Jenkins finds just the right tinge of camp to let the character's identity known to the audience without it coming across as a cariciature.
9. Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World-Plummer's presence.as Paul Getty is helped by the regal grandiostiy of the surroundings that puts anyone in his castle at a disadvantage. But scenerey aside, Plummer plays Getty with a steady aloofness characteristic of what one would imagine the world's dumbest millionaire is.
10. Jason Clarke, Mudbound-The underrated actor portrays a character who is both an instrument of oppression and an honest man who's resigned himself to the fact that his misfortune at being born in the wrong station in life will never go away. To make both facets of this character appealing isn't something that's easy to do.
11. Margot Robbie, I Tonya-This sympathetic portrayal of Tonya Harding is fun, subversive and requires the actress to react to the bizarrest of circumstances over a decade-long arc. Bonus points for momy issues.
12. Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver-His air guitar in the opening number and the way he dons those sunglasses establishes just how cool he is within the first two minutes. Everything from making a sandwich to doing laundry is a display of sleek acrobatism in his hands, but Elgort also portrays the vulnerability, the emotional attachment to his deaf guardian, the fear of riding along with dangerous men, and he sells us on the love story.
13. Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project-The performance absolutely deserves its Oscar despite its low placement here. His steadfast authoritative demeanor with a hint of gentility underneath makes him a strong presence. It was just that good of a year.
14. John Lithgow, Beatriz at Dinner-Supremely relatable as the man we often meet at many a cocktail party who is powerful enough to go unchecked in his lack of natural charisma. He makes a tasteless or bland joke and people laugh because they know it will position him closer to power. He's grown so accustomed to power his whole life that his moral compass has been withered to a shard. Lithgow plays Doug as a man who's malicious from an outsider's perspective but also unaware of just how bad he is.
15. Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water-A performance that was a ttad too cutesy to really feel like the best part of an excellent piece of film making. To be fair, I'm not sure what the right way to handle the awkwardness of human-fish sex or the even more awkward subsequent scene of explaining the anatomy of human-fish sex to your coworker using sign language.
16. Selma Hayek, Beatriz at Dinner-Just as Lithgow is oblivious to his own maliciousness, Hayek's character is wonderfully oblivious to the finer points of dinner etiquette even if she is almost saint-like in her moral character. Is it wrong? Not necessarily, but it's awkward as hell and that's the cringe that drives the whole movie.
17. Colin Farrell, The Beguiled-Farrell plays a wounded Civil War soldier recovering in a women's boarding school who turns sinister on a dime during the film's second act. It's a fine belanacing act and Farrrell can do period extremely well. He's as gentlemanly and lovelorn as a character in a Jane Austen novel as Mr. Hyde and while his transition to  Dr. Jekyll isn't particularly well-foreshadowed, it's still Farrell at or near his best.
18. Ben Mendelsohn, The Darkest Hour-Colin Firth, shove a fork in it! Seriously, this understated performance was just the right amount of King George VI to last me for one movie outing. No need to treat a stuttering king as the entirety of the whole movie.
19. Aubrey Plaza, Ingrid Goes West-Aubrey Plaza's presence is still a solid reason to watch a movie, but despite the range of roles she picks, her limitations in accent work still holds her back. Her ability to deadpan is still hard to top and it gives her a great screen persona but that's why I bump her a little down on the list for an otherwise great performance.
20. Laura Dern, Wilson-Probably my least conventional choice. Laura Dern is great at playing hot messes and this is a white poverty version of Amy Jellicoe in "Enlightened".
21. Kirsten Dunst, The Beguiled-The chemistry between Dunst and Farrell that turns from innocent curiosity to what seems to be a mature romance to dread and back again to lust draws out a lot of colors in Dunst. When Dunst and Farrell finally *SPOILER ALERT* get it on, it's hotter than that upside down kiss in "Spider-Man"
22. Lily James, Darkest Hour-A complete 180 from her gregarious waitress in "Baby Driver," James's character is a study in reactions in observations. Joe Wright said in interviews that James's character is the heart and soul of the movie. A female audience surrogate to provide contrast against the largely male climate of the film.
23. Robert Pattinson, Lost City of Z-Who would have thought the actors from "Twilight" would have some of the greatest success in the following decade. As the sidekick to one of the Amazon's greatest explorers, Pattinson embodies the "stiff upper lip" English attitude in the face of horrific insects and humidity that's almost tragi-comic. He forms a visible  emotional bond with the protagonist in short order on screen and he plays the role with admirable physicalilty.
24. Rooney Mara, Discovery-She's a manic pixie dream girl with a goth streak and has some of the hottest. This was an awful film but she really stuck out in a room
25. Jon Hamm, Baby Driver-A bit thin on pathos but it's a stylized film and Hamm's Buddy is a creation that cherry-picks the traits of a dangerous villain and hides them under a layer of grandiose theatricality. Hamm has a lot of fun with the part.

Themes of all 2017 Films I've Seen To Date

All films, even schlock, have thematic messages. In that spirit, I'm challenging myself to see if I can draw out three themes from every film I've watched in 2017. Incidentally, this is also my ranking of these films from best to worst.

1.       Florida Project-Invisibility of the lower class; lower class stretches across color lines; incredible and unexpected capability of children to maintain innocence

2.       Baby Driver-Possibility of redemption; neither criminals nor life in general can be trusted rendering future planning pointless; nature vs nurture (Baby’s influenced by being raised by a deaf man and having no parents, yet has natural ability)

3.       Big Sick-Religious tradition vs. decisions about marriage are never easy; effect of family/parents is inescapable; power of camaraderie/comedy to combat suffering

4.       Dinner with Beatriz-Capitalism as inevitable enemy of good; complicitness vs obedience of social mores; female intuition vs. male capitalist-based thought 

5.       American Made-The universality and thinness of the American Dream (Seal's life is so exciting because everyone can envy what he has), draconian nature of American bureaucracy; opportunity favors the bold (and perhaps a better chance at fortune as the original proverb states)

6.       Beguiled-Sexuality as a legitimate danger to youthful development; underlying violence behind sexuality; emasculation

7.       Lost City of Z-The pursuit of new knowledge can be worth even more than human life; challenging the Euro-centric view of the third world; sacrifice of greatness (in this case, the protagonist is an absent husband and father)

8.       Murder on the Orient Express-Illegal isn’t always wrong; the ripple effect of an evil act (one man’s kidnapping plot has destroyed so many lives); Inevitability of being caught for a crime (more of a fictional trope than something that happens in real life)

9.       Logan Lucky-Creating your own luck in the face of socio-economic expectations;  Karma/morally relative universe; challenging red-state stereotypes (the idea that the family is cursed fits in with our idea of how red staters are disadvantaged)

10.   Mudbound-Prejudice is cyclic and inherited like poverty; war buddies as a metaphor of understanding through shared experience; the scarring effect of racial hostility (in this case, the metaphor is enforced literally)

11.   Wind River-Invisibility of Native Americans; the danger of male sexual aggression when left unchecked; Community can be adopted and that can be good

12.   Dunkirk-War makes human life fragile; war as a time and place that creates heroes for those who step up; honoring the greatness of those who fought and contributed to the war effort (if these themes don’t strike you as very complex, it also should be noted, I didn’t think Dunkirk had much to say outside of special effects)

13.   Circle-Beware of utopia; the costs to emotional connection in living your life online; the addictive nature of sharing yourself and the dangerous consequences 

14.   Wonder Wheel-Love and morality are two different spheres (taken to its logical conclusion, Allen argues in favor of wronging someone if you’re following your heart); the promise of a better future as a driving force to get one through the day (it worked positively for Humpty and Carolina and led to Carolina’s downfall); love and jealousy being intertwined

15.   Cars III-How a heroic figure deals with aging; self-determination vs corporate interests; power of self-belief in victory

16.   Wonder Woman-Women as keepers of security; fruitlessness of war; maturation through the classic odyssey (as in leaving your homeland and going into the unknown a la Homer’s epic)

17.   Deidra and Laney Rob a Train-The increase in pressure to succeed when you’re in poverty; the cyclical nature of poverty vs the power of family (in this film, sticking together as a family and being supportive helps them fight poverty); legally wrong vs morally wrong

18.   The House-Legally wrong vs morally wrong; the stifling financial burden placed on the American middle class; the thrill of illegality

19.   Colossal-He who brings peace to himself brings peace to all the universe (this comes from a Hebrew prayer); cross-culture cultural consumption as an alien force; redemption

20.   Little Hours-Destructive libido can appear in women as well as men; questioning whether human sexual suppression has matured throughout history; be careful what you wish for  

21.   Get Out-The limits of white allies to the black rights movement; the reduction of blacks in the genre; the American black experience being fundamentally different than the white experience through perception of others

22.   Kong Skull Island-The dangers of the militaristic mindset; the essential goodness of nature (even though, in this case, it’s presented through laughable means); human inclination to fear nature when it’s large and foreboding

23.   Atomic Blonde-The capability of the female as action hero; betrayal as part of human nature; war begets cynicism

24.   How to be a Latin Lover-Valuing love for your family (of birth) over romantic goals; value of sincerity in courting; don’t be defined by age

25.   The Great Wall-Challenging history from a Euro-centric view; contributions of both genders in war; positive power of cultural assimilation (the Matt Damon hero is empowered in war through learning Chinese ways of warfare)

26.   The Discovery-Dark side of scientific progress; possibility of love in dark times; genius is blind (the man who invented the afterlife couldn’t foresee the effects)