Year-End Lists

Daniel Kasman: Top 20 Films of 2017, as submitted to the annual Senses of Cinema World Poll, limited to films that were “new in cinemas.” See also his lists of older films and films not yet released.

[see also 2018]

• On the Beach at Night Alone
  Hong Sang-soo
• Brawl in Cell Block 99
  S. Craig Zahler
• The Challenge
  Yuri Ancarani
• Ex Libris: New York Public Library
  Frederick Wiseman
• Get Out
  Jordan Peele
• Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back
  Tsui Hark
• In This Corner of the World
  Sunao Katabuchi
• The Lost City of Z
  James Gray
• The Death of Louis XIV
  Albert Serra
• Our Time Will Come
  Ann Hui
• Nocturama
  Bertrand Bonello
• Personal Shopper
  Olivier Assayas
• Princess Cyd
  Stephen Cone
• A Quiet Passion
  Terence Davies
• Rat Film
  Theo Anthony
• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
  Paul W.S. Anderson
• Song to Song
  Terrence Malick
• Split
  M. Night Shyamalan
• Ta’ang
  Wang Bing
• Tempestad
  Tatiana Huezo

Brian Darr: Top Ten Feature Films of 2017 of commercial US releases, as submitted to the annual Senses of Cinema World Poll, listed alphabetically by original-language title.

See also his “Top Five features undistributed in the USA and first screened in San Francisco in 2017,” “Top Twenty single-channel film and video works of less than feature length,” and “Top ten expanded cinema presentations of 2017.”

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013]

• Graduation
  Cristian Mungiu
• By the Time It Gets Dark
  Anocha Suwichakornpong
• Dunkirk
  Christopher Nolan
• Ex Libris: New York Public Library
  Frederick Wiseman
• Good Time
  Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
• Wet Woman in the Wind
  Akihiko Shiota
• Kedi
  Ceyda Torun
• Lady Bird
  Greta Gerwig
• Nocturama
  Bertrand Bonello
• Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present
  Tyler Hubby

Jim Fusilli: Best Albums of 2017, as published by The Wall Street Journal

• Hot Thoughts
  Spoon
• Prisoner
  Ryan Adams
• The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone
  Lee Ann Womack
• Painted Ruins
  Grizzly Bear
• The Temple of I & I
  Thievery Corporation
• The Iceberg
  Oddisee
• Black Origami
  Jlin
• Aromanticism
  Moses Sumney
• I See You
  The xx
• Slowdive
  Slowdive
• Fake Sugar
  Beth Ditto
• Reflections of a Floating World
  Elder

David Wiegand: 10 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by The San Francisco Chronicle. This year it “includes only shows that premiered in 2017.”

[see also 2016]

• The Long Road Home
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• The Deuce
• I Love Dick
• Ozark
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• The Vietnam War
• GLOW
• Legion
• One Day at a Time

Scout Tafoya: Favorite Films of 2017, with a capsule review of each one

[see also 2021 • 2018 • 2016]

1. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
2. Twin Peaks: The Return
   David Lynch
3. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
4. The Rider
   Chloé Zhao
5. Zama
   Lucrecia Martel
6. A Cure for Wellness
   Gore Verbinski
7. Call Me by Your Name
   Luca Guadagnino
8. The Young Karl Marx
   Raoul Peck
9. Éternité
   Tran Anh Hung
10. Contemporary Color
    Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
11. Behemoth
    Zhao Liang
12. My Happy Family
    Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß
13. Wormwood
    Errol Morris
14. Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey
    Terrence Malick
14. Song to Song
    Terrence Malick
15. Faces Places
    Agnès Varda and JR
16. Alias Grace
    Mary Harron
17. Coco
    Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
18. Beach Rats
    Eliza Hittman
19. The Rape of Recy Taylor
    Nancy Buirski
20. Marjorie Prime
    Michael Almereyda
21. Tour de Pharmacy
    Jake Szymanski
22. Sleep Has Her House
    Scott Barley
23. Dawson City: Frozen Time
    Bill Morrison
24. Mimosas
    Oliver Laxe
25. Slack Bay
    Bruno Dumont
26. I Called Him Morgan
    Kasper Collin
27. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
    Noah Baumbach
28. Let the Sunshine In
    Claire Denis
29. The Untamed
    Amat Escalante
30. Good Luck
    Ben Russell
31. In the Fade
    Fatih Akin
32. Blade of the Immortal
    Takashi Miike
33. Stronger
    David Gordon Green
34. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
    Martin McDonagh
35. Pilgrimage
    Brendan Muldowney
36. The Beguiled
    Sofia Coppola
37. Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
    John Ridley
38. Lady Macbeth
    William Oldroyd
39. Operation Avalanche
    Matt Johnson
40. On the Beach at Night Alone
    Hong Sang-soo
41. Loveless
    Andrey Zvyagintsev
42. Endless Poetry
    Alejandro Jodorowsky
43. Dark Night
    Tim Sutton
44. The Other Side of Hope
    Aki Kaurismäki
45. Whose Streets?
    Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis
46. Strong Island
    Yance Ford
47. Good Time
    Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
48. Landline
    Gillian Robespierre
49. The Square
    Ruben Östlund
50. Split
    M. Night Shyamalan
51. Hello Destroyer
    Kevan Funk
52. Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
    Joseph Cedar
53. Afterimage
    Andrzej Wajda
54. Godless
    Scott Frank
55. Guerrilla
    John Ridley and Sam Miller
56. Ex Libris: New York Public Library
    Frederick Wiseman
57. Princess Cyd
    Stephen Cone
58. Thelma
    Joachim Trier
59. Jungle
    Greg McLean
60. Before We Vanish
    Kiyoshi Kurosawa
61. Wasteland No.1 – Ardent, Verdant
    Jodie Mack
62. BPM (Beats Per Minute)
    Robin Campillo
63. The Labyrinth
    Bram Ruiter
64. See You Yesterday
    Stefon Bristol
65. Alien: Covenant
    Ridley Scott
66. The Salesman
    Asghar Farhadi
67. The Assignment
    Walter Hill
68. Top of the Lake: China Girl
    Jane Campion and Ariel Kleiman
69. Berlin Syndrome
    Cate Shortland
70. Ismael’s Ghosts
    Arnaud Desplechin
71. T2 Trainspotting
    Danny Boyle
72. Lucky
    John Carroll Lynch
73. Paint It Black
    Amber Tamblyn
74. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
    Rian Johnson
75. Gunpowder
    J Blakeson
76. It
    Andy Muschietti
77. All the Money in the World
    Ridley Scott
78. The Big Sick
    Michael Showalter
79. Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
    Griffin Dunne
80. Logan
    James Mangold
81. Get Out
    Jordan Peele
82. Logan Lucky
    Steven Soderbergh
83. Wind River
    Taylor Sheridan
84. Patton Oswalt: Annihilation
    Bobcat Goldthwait
85. The Wall
    Doug Liman
86. Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot
    Barbara McCullough
87. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
    Angela Robinson
88. Nathan for You: Finding Frances
    Nathan Fielder
89. Girls Trip
    Malcolm D. Lee
90. Okja
    Bong Joon-ho
91. American Fable
    Anne Hamilton
92. Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo
    Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau
93. Kojo
    Michael Fequiere
94. The Event
    Sergei Loznitsa
95. Pumpkin Movie
    Sophy Romvari
95. It’s Him
    Sophy Romvari
96. The Daughter
    Simon Stone
97. The Great Wall
    Zhang Yimou
98. First They Killed My Father
    Angelina Jolie
99. Annabelle: Creation
    David F. Sandberg
100. The Commune
     Thomas Vinterberg

Emily St. James: 18 Best TV Shows of 2017, “an 18-way tie,” as published by Vox

[see also 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018]

• Better Call Saul
• Better Things
• BoJack Horseman
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• The Deuce
• The Good Place
• Halt and Catch Fire
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• Insecure
• The Leftovers
• The Magicians
• Master of None
• Mr. Robot
• Nathan for You
• One Day at a Time
• Search Party
• Twin Peaks: The Return
• The Vietnam War

The second tier: 27 more shows I loved, in alphabetical order

• 12 Monkeys
• American Vandal
• The Americans
• Bates Motel
• Big Mouth
• Binging With Babish
• Black-ish
• The Bold Type
• The Carmichael Show
• Channel Zero: No End House
• The Chris Gethard Show
• The Crown
• Dear White People
• The Exorcist
• The Expanse
• Fargo
• Girls
• GLOW
• I Love Dick
• Samurai Jack
• Sense8
• She’s Gotta Have It
• Speechless
• Superstore
• Sweet/Vicious
• Vice Principals
• The Young Pope

Keith Phipps: Top 16 Films of 2017, as posted to Twitter

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2018 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
2. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
3. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
4. Call Me by Your Name
   Luca Guadagnino
5. The Florida Project
   Sean Baker
6. The Shape of Water
   Guillermo del Toro
7. Dunkirk
   Christopher Nolan
8. Baby Driver
   Edgar Wright
9. Mudbound
   Dee Rees
10. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
    Rian Johnson
11. The Post
    Steven Spielberg
12. Coco
    Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
13. Faces Places
    Agnès Varda and JR
14. Personal Shopper
    Olivier Assayas
15. Dawson City: Frozen Time
    Bill Morrison
16. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
    Noah Baumbach

Charles Bramesco: 25 Best Films of 2017, as posted to Letterboxd

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Call Me by Your Name
   Luca Guadagnino
2. A Ghost Story
   David Lowery
3. Baby Driver
   Edgar Wright
4. Personal Shopper
   Olivier Assayas
5. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
6. The Shape of Water
   Guillermo del Toro
7. Manifesto
   Julian Rosefeldt
8. The Disaster Artist
   James Franco
9. Good Time
   Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
10. The Florida Project
    Sean Baker
11. The Lure
    Agnieszka Smoczynska
12. The Square
    Ruben Östlund
13. Lady Bird
    Greta Gerwig
14. The Beguiled
    Sofia Coppola
15. Okja
    Bong Joon-ho
16. Logan Lucky
    Steven Soderbergh
17. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
    Yorgos Lanthimos
18. Graduation
    Cristian Mungiu
19. Valerian
    Luc Besson
20. A Cure for Wellness
    Gore Verbinski
21. Faces Places
    Agnès Varda and JR
22. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
    Noah Baumbach
23. Nocturama
    Bertrand Bonello
24. Wonderstruck
    Todd Haynes
25. Song to Song
    Terrence Malick

Andy Greenwald: Top Ten TV Shows of 2017, as posted to Twitter

1. Twin Peaks: The Return
2. The Young Pope
3. The Leftovers
4. The Deuce
5. Glow
6. Mindhunter
7. Top of the Lake: China Girl
8. Insecure
9. The Good Place
10. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Joseph Salvatore: Best 50 Books of 2017, as published by The Brooklyn Rail

Nonfiction

1. China Lake

   A Journey into the Contradicted Heart of a Global Climate Catastrophe
   Barret Baumgart
2. The Best We Could Do

   An Illustrated Memoir
   Thi Bui
3. Cornell ’77

   The Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead’s Concert at Barton Hall
   Peter Conners
4. Je Suis L’Autre

   Essays & Interrogations
   Kristina Marie Darling
5. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
   Reni Eddo-Lodge
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
   Dan Egan
7. The Doubles
   Scott Esposito
8. Do I Make Myself Clear?

   Why Writing Well Matters
   Harold Evans
9. Abandon Me
   Melissa Febos
10. World Without Mind

    The Existential Threat of Big Tech
    Franklin Foer
11. Shirley Jackson

    A Rather Haunted Life
    Ruth Franklin
12. Hunger

    A Memoir of (My) Body
    Roxane Gay
13. Sunshine State
    Sarah Gerard
14. Killers of the Flower Moon

    The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
    David Grann
15. Knowing Knott

    Essays on an American Poet
    Edited by Steven Huff
16. Question Like a Face
    Christine Hume and Jeff Clark
17. Literary Witches

    A Celebration of Magical Women Writers
    Taisia Kitaiskaia
18. After Kathy Acker
    Chris Kraus
19. Tell Me How It Ends

    An Essay in 40 Questions
    Valeria Luiselli
20. Draft No. 4

    On the Writing Process
    John McPhee
21. After the Eclipse

    A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Search
    Sarah Perry
22. The Mother of All Questions
    Rebecca Solnit
23. The Blood of Emmett Till
    Timothy B. Tyson
24. Among the Living and the Dead

    A Tale of Exile and Homecoming on the War Roads of Europe
    Inara Verzemnieks
25. The Show That Never Ends

    The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock
    David Weigel

Fiction

1. The Power
   Naomi Alderman
2. The Hunger Saint
   Olivia Kate Cerrone
3. So Many Olympic Exertions
   Anelise Chen
4. American War
   Omar El Akkad
5. Future Home of the Living God
   Louise Erdrich
6. The Gypsy Moth Summer
   Julia Fierro
7. The Iliac Crest
   Cristina Rivera Garza
8. The Epiphany Machine
   David Burr Gerrard
9. The Gargoyle Hunters
   John Freeman Gill
10. Bad Dreams and Other Stories
    Tessa Hadley
11. Exit West
    Mohsin Hamid
12. A Separation
    Katie Kitamura
13. The Leavers
    Lisa Ko
14. Stranger, Father, Beloved
    Taylor Larsen
15. Pachinko
    Min Jin Lee
16. Dear Cyborgs
    Eugene Lim
17. Her Body and Other Parties
    Carmen Maria Machado
18. The Ninth Hour
    Alice McDermott
19. My Heart Hemmed In
    Marie NDiaye
20. Little Fires Everywhere
    Celeste Ng
21. The Standard Grand
    Jay Baron Nicorvo
22. Heritage of Smoke
    Josip Novakovich
23. Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman
    Aimee Parkison
24. Wait Till You See Me Dance
    Deb Olin Unferth
25. Sour Heart
    Jenny Zhang