OK, it's not so much a movie as a bull session that filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow conduct on camera with contentious, no-filter director Brian De Palma.

Craig and Steinfeld shoot down coming-of-age cliches on sight.

Hailee Steinfeld, already an Oscar nominee for True Grit, is a volcanic, hormonal wonder as a pain in the ass named Nadine, an angry teen who gives hell to everyone around her – except for a teacher (a terrific Woody Harrelson) who won't take her shit. Did I mention that Ade's film is comedy? It is, with laughs that stick in the throat, the kind that's so funny it hurts.īox-office has been quiet for Kelly Fremon Craig's debut film, which means some of you are missing out on the year's most hilarious and heartfelt rager. Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller are superb as a divorced piano teacher and his ambitious corporate daughter, united in depression and mutual disgust. The year's best and most brilliant foreign-language film – sorry, Elle, Julieta and The Handmaiden – is this fierce flamethrower from the great German writer-director Maren Ade. But for me, the most explosive is Ava DuVernay's incendiary take on the 13th amendment, the one enacted in 1865 that supposedly guaranteed racial equality and outlawed involuntary servitude in the U.S. There were powerful documentaries this year, including O.J.: Made in America, Weiner, Tower, Cameraperson and I Am Not Your Negro. But grownups may find that the resulting rush of politics, prejudice, persecution and wall building resonate disturbingly for the Trump era. The kids will love the cute bunny and the fox. But none took fuller measure of the possibilities of the form than this look at an animal kingdom where predators, who once lived in peace, revert to attack mode. Animation was on a roll in 2016 – this was the year of Finding Dory, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Secret Life of Pets, Sausage Party and Sing.

Best movies 2017