When I first heard that Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic, was getting a sequel, I felt pretty uneasy. Blade Runner was never designed to be a franchise, and it seemed like any addendum would spoil what made the original so special. But Director Denis Villeneuve turned what could’ve looked like a cynical cash grab into an intelligent, visually stunning, overlooked classic in its own right—one that asks what makes us human and feels—to me, at least—strangely pro-life. Lots of content issues here, of course, but this very adult Pinocchio story—all about what might make a replicant a “real boy,” offers plenty of intellectual and emotional heft.
“It’s about stray cats in Istanbul! And it’s a documentary!” This, I have discovered, is not a great lead-in to get folks excited about this little film. But while my salesmanship may lack something, this touching, strangely spiritual movie by director Ceyda Torun has all the heart and craftsmanship you could ask for. This story about the stray cats of Istanbul is really a story about all of us—and about the place that grace has (or should have) in our real, cynical world. (It’s also the most family friendly movie on this list, by the way.)
- Darkest Hour: Think 2017’s been a troubling year? Travel back to London in the spring of 1940 and see how dark things can really get. The Nazis are gobbling up whole countries in Europe like bite-size pretzels. Britain’s attempt to appease Adolph Hitler has failed miserably. Clearly the island nation needs a change of leadership. But is Winston Churchill—a heavy-drinking, heavy-smoking, eloquent but irascible politician well past his apparent prime—really the answer? Turns out he was, of course, but Churchill had plenty of doubters, including himself at times. Powered by a superlative performance by a nearly unrecognizable Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour shows us Britain in one of its bleakest moments—and finds how its leader and its people found a thread of hope.
For one shining movie, D.C. got it right. Director Patty Jenkins and actress Gal Gadot joined talents to give us a truly heroic superhero powered by idealism, strength, tenacity and love. No wonder it’s the second highest-grossing film of the year (trailing only Beauty and the Beast) and a dark horse for a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Oh, and for all its roots in Greek mythology, Wonder Woman feels strangely Christian, too.
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