10 best scenes in 2017

Here we go! It's time to start my best of lists. I i still have few movies left to see before I finish my epic Best and Worst list - I think there are nearly 70 categories there this year,  including The Post and Phantom Thread, but since it's almost the time for Academy Award nominations and most bloggers are publishing their best of 2017 lists already, I decided to start with mine too, especially that I doubt any of the films I have left to watch from 2017 could get into top 10 here.

17. Stairway fight, Atomic Blonde 16. Jimmy's daughter sings, Logan Lucky 15. Chris-R scene, The Disaster Artist 14. Triple Axel, I, Tonya 13. The ending, Logan 12. Gloria vs Robot, Colossal 11. Willoughby's letter to his wife, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

10. Jaffey's rant, Molly's Game
While Aaron Sorkin's debut as a director ended up being disappointing because of the script and the fact Sorkin's ambition as director isn't matched by his skill, there was one scene that made the whole movie worth seeing. In it, Molly Bloom's lawyer, wonderfully played by Idris Elba, finally loses it and delivers passionate rant to the two prosecutors questioning Molly. Elba has tremendous screen presence and charisma and he says each word with such conviction, he steals the whole movie right there and then.

9. The courthouse scene, I, Tonya
Margot Robbie has several outstanding moments in I, Tonya but the finest one comes when judge reads the verdict and punishment for her involvement in the incident. She is banned for life from competing in skating. Tonya breaks down pointing out that the others just got jail time and starts pleading for the judge to send her to jail instead. Robbie is absolutely heartbreaking here and Tonya, for a moment, is again that little girl who just wanted to skate..

8. Farrier saves the day, Dunkirk
When the stakes are even higher, as now there are civilians involved, helping the soldiers, Commander Bolton sees incoming enemy plane. As he closes his eyes, preparing himself for the worst, Farrier's plane, in spite of running out of the fuel, comes back and takes the enemy down. It's such an incredible and triumphant moment, one of the many in this film that render the "the film was not moving" complaint some are voicing utterly ridiculous.

7. Casino scene, Logan
This is the most unique action sequence of 2017, maybe even of the last few years. The scene features Logan attempting to get to professor Xavier and Laura as Xavier is experiencing one of his seizures - so powerful that it affects everyone in the building. The way this scene was done is fascinating and it's incredible to behold, it's filled with so much tension and emotion thanks to Jackman's incredible performance.

6. The premiere, The Disaster Artist

That sequence is the most moving moment of James Franco's entertaining, funny and ultimately very heartfelt film. It's the masterful mixture of moving and hilarious. Franco brings in the laughs with the characters reacting to what is on the screen but also manages to portray artist's heartbreak when his vision is met with ridicule and the reception that is completely different to what he wanted.

5.The flashback scene, Wind River
Taylor Sheridan opens the eight minute long harrowing  sequence that defines this movie with Jon Bernthal, our Punisher, who respects and protects women, playing a character who is visited by his girlfriend. The sequence starts off sweet but quickly turns into a nightmare. I was not only disturbed by this movie because of how realistically this scene was written. How quickly things can escalate in the world where men think they OWN women. How the girl who is being raped is just lying there, knowing that if she fights, she will escalate the violence. But this casting. You watch those things, these movies, these TV series. You see these wonderful, protective men.  And then even someone who you saw in another role always managing to protect the innocent, cannot do this again here. That scene is pure nightmare and when Jeremy Renner is taking down these pigs one by one, it makes the sense of justice can be delivered so palpable even if it's just the illusion created by this movie.

4. The phone call near the end, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Who would have thought that one of the most moving and uplifting moments for women, when it comes to the films in 2017, would be delivered by a brutal, racist cop? Jason Dixon is not a good guy. He is violent, he is homophobic, he is racist. So the fact that even someone like him understands that rape is something that justice simply MUST be delivered for is even more powerful than watching good people in Wind River punishing those responsible. Even someone like Dixon understands the gravity and heinousness of the act. And Sam Rockwell owns every single scene he is in, portraying incredibly interesting character. Yes, he is a racist but he also shows such tremendous empathy for the victims, when he is risking his life to get DNA sample and when he simply understands that even just based on his hunch (which I think given Willoughby's insistence Dixon can be a good cop means that Dixon is right here) he must act and he is prepared to do whatever it takes to deliver justice for a victim he doesn't even know.

3. "Home", Dunkirk

I am so baffled at the claims Dunkirk is not "moving" because I was a total mess during this scene. When Bolton is looking through binoculars and the fellow soldier asks "what do you see?" and he lowers the binoculars with tears in his eyes, and simply says "home" and we see dozens of boats, filled with civilians, bravely sailing into the war zone to rescue the soldiers. And this is where Hans Zimmer's tense, incredible score finally lets go. It's a masterful scene.

2. The van argument, Logan

In the film's funniest scene and one of the funniest moments of 2017 it is revealed that Laura, little girl accompanying Logan who did not say the word until that moment, actually speaks. Logan is outraged and Laura finally erupts with anger screaming at him in Spanish and pleading for him to help her get to her friends. Jackman had huge difficulty shooting the scene having to yell and swear at little child but Keen was a real trooper. The scene is also incredibly moving with Laura's face lighting up when Logan says "Eden" and Logan admitting to her that he cannot help her because he is too broken. But in the end, the hero that he is, he starts that engine, determined to get Laura to safety.

1. No Man's Land, Wonder Woman
This is the single most moving, important and incredible scene of 2017. Hell, maybe even of the decade. Boys and men have been witnessing inspiring superheroes on screen, in the main role, for years and now it's finally our turn. And it's such a symbolic and lovely moment - Diana, so sweet, kind and profoundly good steps into No Man's Land because she has to. She has to help the people on the other side. She bounces the bullets off her bracelets as the crude and relentless violence of men is directed at her - guns, cannons, deadly weapons. She doesn't kill anyone, she just keeps going. Because she has to. Because this is who she is. Because she won't let anyone stop her. Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins showed all the little girls out there and reminded all of us grown up women that there is nothing that should stop us and that we can do whatever we want in this world. And we all so needed to be reminded of that. In 2017 the women started to fight back on an enormous scale so it's only fitting that this also happened to be a year that gave us this beautiful scene.