COLUMN: The 10 Best Films of 2017

The end of the year brings grading and reflection points for both the school teacher in me and the film critic. Looking at the online Trapper Keeper portfolio called Every Movie has a Lesson, I published 126 full film reviews in 2017, topping last year’s 114 and setting a new high mark. Here’s my definitive list of the "10 Best" films of 2017. True to this website’s specialty, each film will be paired with its best life lesson. Enjoy!

MOVIE REVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin McDonagh’s new film puts prickly in the pastoral glazing its country charm with absolute acid every chance it gets. Part stern crime drama and part small-town chicanery, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri displays the next level of McDonagh’s talent and potential. Always the sharp storyteller since his roots on the Irish stage, McDonagh’s writing prowess elevates a premise that would fall flat as pure farce in other hands

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Discussing July and the top films of 2017 on the "Reel Talker" podcast

Fellow CIFCC critic and director Jim Alexander of Reel Talker extended the invitation for me to co-host a new episode of his podcast. On this installment of the Reel Talker podcast, Jim and I discuss the July movie releases and which we consider hits or flops. Also, he and I disclose our Top 10 movie lists through the halfway point of 2017. Jim and I had very different picks, chock full of surprises!

MOVIE CLASSROOM: War for the Planet of the Apes

It's time to call the prequel trilogy of Planet of the Apes one of the best movie trilogies of all-time. It's time to give serious Oscar consideration to Andy Serkis as Caeser. It's time to see what is, so far, the best film of 2017. Hear those thoughts and more in my "Movie Classroom" interactive whiteboard video review for War for the Planet of the Apes as it appears published on the Every Movie Has a Lesson YouTube channel. See this film immediately.

EDITORIAL: The Best of 2017 (so far)

I'm beginning to love making this annual halfway point list. For me, 2017 has been a year for immense volume. Since January, I've reviewed 64 films, 58 of which were 2017 releases and not carryovers from a late 2016 awards season. Thanks to some film festival and advance press access, you can add 16 short films and four more feature films pending the windows to publish reviews. True to my website's hook, I present each film with its best life lesson from my review.

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MOVIE REVIEW: War for the Planet of the Apes

A significant shift in attention and investment has occurred in this series. Our hearts and allegiances swayed from rooting for the madness of our own mankind to the superior traits of humanity exhibited by Caesar and his ape brethren. A transformation of empathy like that is downright miraculous. War for the Planet of Apes is a full-bodied epic of glory and pain that matches and then exceeds the moving importance and heart this rebooted franchise has established in two previous knockout films.