The year in movies
In a strange year for movies, see which ones stood out to our reviewers.
It was a strange year for movies. I can't even start to put a finger on a clear awards' season narrative, but my wonderful co-worker Brandy McDonnell and I can tell you what we enjoyed in 2017. We dug into our favorite scenes of the year, which might help make sense of our five favorite movies of the year.
Fun fact:BAM'spickseither centered on women’s stories, were directed by women, or both. A lot of the movies do a good job of exploring otherness. It's been a year offilms that allowfresh voices to control bigger narratives. Start digging in with our most memorable scenes and get to a theater or your nearest streaming device if the picks sound interesting.
— Nathan Poppe, The Oklahoman
Crossing No Man's Land
There comes a moment in “Wonder Woman” when Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) is done taking “no” for an answer.
Having been informed that she can’t walk down the street in her armor, carry her sword in public or even enter a war room because she’s a woman, after days of being reminded by men that she has to stay on mission, that she has to think of the big picture, and most of all, that she can’t save everyone, the Amazon princess decides she’s had enough. She will do something to save a tiny village cut off behind enemy lines, even if that means stepping out alone into the deadly territory between the trenches in World War I.
“This is No Man’s Land, Diana. It means that no man can cross it,” soldier and spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) impatiently tells her. “This is not something you can cross. It’s not possible. … This is not what we came here to do.”
“No, but it’s what I’m going to do,” she replies. After all, Diana is no man. With that, she strips off her disguise, takes up her sword and shield and climbs out into a literal war zone with her arms open wide. She doesn’t really do anything we haven’t already seen her do in the first hour or so of the film— deflects bullets with her indestructible bracelets, deploys her shield to knock down a mortar shell, uses her super strength to hold her ground behind that shield against a barrage of machine gunfire. Director Patty Jenkins has said in interviews that even her own crew wasn’t sure why she was so determined to have Diana cross No Man’s Land instead of just skipping to the cool action scenes ahead.
But that moment is vital, because with that moment, with that decision, with that crossing, Diana Prince becomes Wonder Woman.
I didn’t cry like so many other women when Diana traversed No Man’s Land, but I think I held my breath. I know I felt like cheering. It’s truly a rare thing in cinema to see a woman embrace her power, her purpose and her beliefs with such confidence, capability and determination. By the time she emerges on the other side of the trenches to liberate the tiny town of Veld and the iconic “Wonder Woman” theme begins to thunder out, Diana has made believers of her allies and her audience.
What follows is a series of incredible action sequences in which Wonder Woman uses her lasso to take out more than a dozen men, flips an armored vehicle with her bare hands and makes a magnificent leap to destroy a sniper’s bell tower nest. After a decade of watching Iron Man, Captain America, Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and many, many other superpowered men punch and kick and smash their way through unnumbered foes, it was thrilling and gratifying to finally watch a woman do battle for more than a few quick supporting-character moments.
But it’s the crossing at No Man’s Land, the decision to do what she knows is right even if no one else agrees or understands, that makes it all possible and worthwhile.
Into the Sunken Place
Oh, you don’t “do scary movies.” Well, what if they’re slyly funny, engaging and smart like “Get Out?”
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut does a lot of things right, but no scene is more chilling than when his protagonist Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) gets hypnotized by his girlfriend’s mom (Catherine Keener) and drawn into the Sunken Place. It’s like the Upside Down in “Stranger Things” if you replace Demogorgons with deathly solitude. Chris’ “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”inspired weekend goes from weird to downright horrifying during this scene because he’s starting to figure out who’s actually on the menu.
Keener’s character draws Chris into her trap in the middle of the night when he tries to sneak a cigarette. The two sit down in the living room. She starts asking prying questions while slowly twirling a spoon in a teacup. Her therapy session swirls up more than just secrets. I see it as a scene that talks about racialism in a quieter way than a lot of the movie’s other scenes.
Like Chris’ dark past, discussions about race are something a lot of us would rather just keep to ourselves. Hidden in our own Sunken Place. The scene says, “Don’t bury things just because they’re difficult.” The scene evokes that same helplessness from “Rear Window” when Jimmy Stewart knows something is wrong but can’t do much to act on it himself.
I hear this movie described as “woke.” It’s a fun spin on the term “wake up,” which you’ll hear all throughout Spike Lee’s work. I think “Get Out” is very much a wake up call to backward thinking and proof that there’s still a lot of work to be done to overcome racial divides. On the surface, “Get Out” is a great time at the movies and a sleeper hit of the year. But underneath, it’s also one of the boldest works of 2017. Great horror makes us think. Unlike “IT,” this movie reminds us that keeping quiet is scarier than anything lurking in the shadows.