It’s been a great year for culture (if nothing else), a year where even the bigger-budget, occasionally-franchised films, have offered something solid for a change. Added to this, we’ve seen a further blurring of the Film/TV/Online content boundaries thanks to online subscription services churning out more content than we can keep up with – also of a very high standard. One thing that’s been hard to ignore is A24 – a company excelling at producing middle-budget films (a big portion of the films included in every best of the year list) – an area of filmmaking long thought lost, where artists flourish, and money is still made.
Key themes at present, for better (‘The Leftovers’) or worse (‘Stranger Things’) seem to be nostalgia, oblivion, and time. One thing to be thankful for this year though, is quite how many films and shows opted to push forward with originality, instead of succumbing to the easy route of repeating the past, all the more refreshing for not being such – most true, of course, with the exceptional ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ which has not only redefined TV, but Art/Film/Life itself (yes, it’s that important).
I’m yet to see ‘Phantom Thread’, ‘Toni Erdmann’ or ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as of writing this, so excuse their absence. Anyway, like every year, what you see below is what I’ve seen or heard this year so there may be a couple of pieces from 2016 in there. Without further ado, here’s the list:
FILM
1. Moonlight
2. Mother!
3. Call Me By Your Name
4. Get Out
5. Manchester by the Sea
6. The Death of Stalin
7. Casting JonBenet
8. A Ghost Story
9. Okja
10. The Other Side of Hope
Honourable Mentions
Blade Runner 2049, Raw, Dunkirk, Loveless, La la Land, 20th Century Women, Elle, Logan, Killing of a Sacred Deer, War for the Planet of the Apes, The Big Sick, My Life as a Courgette
Overrated
Baby Driver, T2 Trainspotting, Justice League, The Circle, Silence, Personal Shopper, I Daniel Blake, Cameraperson, Free Fire, Lion
TV
1. Twin Peaks: The Return
2. The Leftovers
3. Halt and Catch Fire
4. The Deuce
5. The Girlfriend Experience
6. Master of None
7. Rick and Morty
8. The Trip to Spain
9. Mindhunter
10. Transparent
Honourable Mentions
Search Party, Godless, Catastrophe, Game of Thrones, Inside No. 9
Overrated
Stranger Things 2, Mr Robot, House of Cards, Fargo, Glow, Bojack Horseman, Taboo, Legion
MUSIC (Albums)
1. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
2. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
3. Slowdive – Slowdive
4. The National – Sleep Well Beast
5. Protomartyr – Relatives in Descent
6. Fever Ray – Plunge
7. Liars – TFCF
8. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me
9. Thundercat – Drunk
10. St. Vincent – Masseduction
Honourable Mentions
Kendrick, Fever Ray, King Krule, Daniele Luppi/Parquet Courts, Destroyer, Bjork, Godspeed, Spoon, Kevin Morby, Broken Social Scene, Grizzly Bear, Soulwax, War on Drugs, Nick Hakim
Overrated
Arcade Fire, Alt-J, Stormzy, The XX, The Killers, Haim, Lorde, Gorillaz, Liam Gallagher, The Horrors, Fleet Foxes
MUSIC (Singles)
1. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream
2. Kamasi Washington – Truth
3. Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
4. Matt Maltese – As the World Caves In
5. Protomartyr – A Private Understanding
6. DNA – Kendrick Lamar
7. The National – Day I Die
8. King Rule – Dum Surfer
9. Slowdive – No Longer Making Time
10. Frank Ocean – Chanel