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Popcorns, credits and standing ovation

By Fatima Zakir
Fri, 12, 17

First things first, this piece of writing is not about the movies that made most bucks....

CINE-TALK

First things first, this piece of writing is not about the movies that made most bucks but it’s about the great cinematic works that also generated money and most of all earned fans’ respect. While compiling the list, one would realize that this was yet again a Disney-Marvel year with a touch of one superhero here and one there.

Hope you enjoy the list...

I heard a lot of people saying the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was better than the second outing but I have a simple answer to it: we were not expecting it to be that good. Yes, Guardians of the Galaxy was amazing because we were surprised by the characters, their comic timings and the soundtrack.

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the expectations were already high and meeting those expectations was actually tough. Yet, the movie was highly entertaining. This outing gave us a deeper connection amongst the characters and helped the storyline go further. And of course, the movie gave us the most lovable character of 2017 - Baby Groot!

Disney-Marvel gets its second hit of the year with much anticipated Thor: Ragnarok. This was the third movie from the Thor franchise and was different from the first two. Where the previous movies were more serious and set the stage for the future movie by introducing characters and developing the storyline, this movie looked inspired by the Guardians of the Galaxy because of its comic element and satire. It was also the first time that a fellow Avenger - Hulk - was incorporated in the franchise which made the movie more thrilling.

Thor: Ragnarok with all its amazing visuals, chemistry between Thor-Loki and Thor-Hulk, and great comic timing, won us over. Although, we will have to watch out for the next movie since Asgard has been destroyed and the Asgardians will be making a new homeland, maybe on Earth. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

It may not be amongst the Top 10 highest grossers on the year yet the final installment of the stand alone Wolverine film, Logan, was an instant success. All praises for Hugh Jackman for carrying the character of ageing Logan so gracefully. The second honourable mention will be Dafne Keen, the 11-year old kid who was made from Logan’s DNA, thus has his powers, and her superb acting makes one wonder if she has adopted those from Logan, too.

High on emotions and action, Logan is one of the must watch movies of the year. Way to go, Marvel.

All right, enough of the superheroes, let’s talk about some ‘real stuff’. If you have missed Christopher Nolan after The Dark Knight, and still haven’t watched Dunkirk, it’s a shame.

 This movie is a real story from World War II that focused on the evacuation of Allied troops from the French city of Dunkirk before Nazi forces can take hold. Featuring Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, etc, the two-hour movie doesn’t have a dull moment and will keep you glued to your screens.

Phew! Finally something from DC made it to the list of favourites. Where both Batman and Superman combined couldn’t save DC, Wonder Woman did it with her first movie very effortlessly.

 As soon as it hit the theatres, the Amazonian warrior became every moviegoer’s favourite. Her innocence, her passion for helping humanity, her fighting skills and her power makes her stand out from the rest. To top it all, our Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot, is simply beautiful!

She definitely saved DC from falling and got it on its feet to compete against the Marvel Universe.

Starring Tom Holland in and as Spider-Man, gave Marvel another successful movie of the year. Though Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man was better than Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland is unexpectedly better than the previous one.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is about the character getting to know its power and responsibilities that entails/accompany or go with this power. We see another Marvel superhero, Iron Man, in the flick helping Spider-Man realize his true potential and how to make use of it effectively.

The best part about this movie was not the magnificence of the main lead but how he tries, fails, and matures with every incident in his life. So relatable!

Guess what, this is the highest grossing movie of the year 2017. Yes, it’s Beauty and the Beast, yes, its nostalgic, yes, it has Emma Watson as Belle, what more can one ask for? But honestly, it was a very ‘ok’ movie. You will like it for the sentimental value attached with it but, if we talk about the movie in totality, it was plain good. Probably, the animated movie had us expecting something out of this world. So, although, it’s the highest grossing flick, the animated version is still recommended in comparison.

This piece is going over my allotted word count hence here are some honourable mentions from the year 2017. The Fate of the Furious and Despicable Me 3 were the second and the third highest grossers of the year but honestly the Fast series brought nothing new to the table while Despicable Me had better movies in the past.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales, It, Transformers: The Last Knight, War for the Planet of the Apes did business only for their franchises. Justice League was passable and Boss Baby deserves applause.