Top 20 Memorable Movie Moments of 2017

My favorite 2017 movies have already been listed.  Now it’s time to list the 2017 movie moments that have been most memorable to me – for being admirable, resonating, uplifting, heartbreaking, shocking, bizarre, insane, horrible, or in whatever way they have made a lasting, striking impression in my mind.

Last year, I only did a “top 10” list.  But this time around, there were so many to choose from that I just had to have twenty spots.

20.)

The Villainess’ POV opening scene.  It was unfortunately unmatched during the rest of the film.

19.)

A lot of disturbing, surreal things happen in the metaphor-heavy film mother!.  But the worst is when mother’s baby is cannibalized by Him’s rabid followers.  Ugh.

18.)

Syncing perfectly with “Bellbottom” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the opening getaway scene kicks off Baby Driver with a bang.  It rarely lets up from then on.

17.)

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has an unremarkable story.  But its science fiction concepts are outstanding.  One of these is the VR marketplace, which is the setting of Valerian and Laureline’s mission near the start of the film.  It’s such an inspired concept, and everything from that sequence is quite amazing.

16.)

King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword is quite a mess of a fantasy film.  But LOTR’s oliphaunts have nothing on the awesomely gigantic siege elephants at the beginning of the movie.

The third act throne room scene involving giant snakes is pretty cool, too.

15.)

In Kung Fu Yoga, Jackie Chan had a high-octane car chase scene involving a lion in his backseat.  Yet that isn’t the craziest moment in the film.  That title belongs to his weird Bollywood production number at the end.

14.)

The appearance of the angel in A Dark Song has such a breath-taking, imposing effect because it’s earned and built-up well by the slow-burn narrative leading toward it.

13.)

The Guardians is such a fun bad movie, largely thanks to the presence of Ursa the werebear.  He does for the film what Hulk did for The Avengers.  In the third act, he even gets to be more badass by wielding a freakin’ Gatling gun!

12.)

The surrogate sex scene in Blade Runner 2049, involving the two characters above.  Nuff’ said.  That is simply one of the intriguing reasons why this masterpiece needs to be seen.

11.)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is packed with terrific moments.  I had to restrain myself from letting this list be dominated with Last Jedi moments.  I settled with just two.  First: General Holdo’s hyperdrive kamikaze toward Snoke’s ship.

10.)

In 2017, there were two emotional film scenes involving John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”  The first was Merlin’s sacrifice in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.  And the other was in Logan Lucky, when Jimmy Logan’s daughter sang it in honor of him.  Both left a lump in my throne that I just have to let these two share the spot.  Coincidentally, both movies star Channing Tatum.

9.)

With all the noteworthy deaths in film last year, the one that was honestly most affecting to me was the death of the snow leopard Dawa in Born in China.  It really floored me.

8.)

Spider-Man: Homecoming referencing Amazing Spider-Man #33, one of Spidey’s most iconic and inspiring comic book moments.

In the climax, after a surprising revelation, he learns that his crush Liz’s father is the Vulture, his adversary.  Instead of enjoying the homecoming dance with Liz, he instead proceeds to go after the Vulture that night.  That is him basically giving up his romantic chances with Liz for the sake of doing the right thing.  A typical Spider-Man theme.  His suit has even been recently confiscated by mentor Iron Man, so he’s not as equipped as before.  Still, he confronts the Vulture, resulting to him initially getting buried under tons of rubble.  Reminding the audience that he’s still technically a kid, he initially panics and cries due to his desperate predicament.  But then he collects himself and slowly lifts the rubble off him, in a show of tenacity, determination, and perseverance – qualities that have always defined the character.  He succeeds in getting himself out, pursues the Vulture, and saves the day.

Though his name has always been Spider-Man, for most of the film he was more of a Spider-Boy.  And that was who he was when he picked up Liz for the homecoming dance.  But before that night ended, he had truly become Spider-Man.

7.)

The second Star Wars: The Last Jedi entry in this list is Rey and Kylo Ren standing side by side against Snoke’s bodyguards.  It’s arguably the most defining scene of the movie.

6.)

Newly-resurrected Superman vs. the Justice League in Justice League, especially the part where the Flash tries to flank him with his super-speed, but then Superman’s eye slowly turns to follow him.  The look of terror on the Flash’s face, after encountering for the first time someone capable of existing in the same realm as him, is priceless.  This also makes the later interactions between Flash and Superman more meaningful.

5.)

Thor: Ragnarok is another film with tons of notable moments.  Among them, my favorite is when Thor realizes he’s the God of Thunder (and lightning), not the God of Hammer, after Hela mockingly asks, “What were you the god of again?”  In response, he begins kicking ass and throwing Mjolnir-less lightning bolts for the first time, while Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” blares in the background.  One of the most badass MCU moments to date.

4.)

A lot of poignant scenes are scattered across The Florida Project.  But, near the end, when Moonee, about to be taken by Child Protective Services, calls on Jancey to say goodbye… that one crushed my heart.

3.)

Everyone who has seen Coco has cried – or, at the very least, been fighting back tears – during its emotionally heavy closing minutes.  Anybody who declares otherwise is either lying or has no heart.

2.)

The greatest eight minutes of the DCEU is found in Wonder Woman.  Defying Steve Trevor, Diana climbs from the trenches to enter “No Man’s Land.”  Braving a barrage of mortar and heavy machine gun fire, she charges.  This inspires Steve and the other soldiers to follow her lead.  They break the enemy line, and then proceed to liberate a persecuted village, in which Diana gets to slay a lot of German soldiers and thrash an armored vehicle

1.)

“This is like that crazy guy in the wheelchair that they put away 15 years ago. And they gave him a funny name, too. What was it?”

“Mr. Glass.”

“Oh, yeah.”

With a brief dialogue and a Bruce Willis cameo at the end of Split, Shyamalan pulls off his greatest twist yet – that all this time, the film that we’ve been watching is set in the same universe as Unbreakable!