Since 2011, I have been pulling together a list of the best movies of the year according to the Brisbane-based critics who I run into regularly at preview screenings.  Those films to have topped prior year lists have been Drive in 2011, Argo in 2012, Gravity in 2013, Boyhood in 2014, Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015 and La La Land in 2016.

To come up with an overall top 10, I’ve used a simple points system and applied it to the list of each critic. It is as follows:
 - 3 points for the top film on each list.
 - 2 points for the films ranked between 2nd and 5th on each list.
 - 1 point for the films ranked between 6th and 10th on each list.

If two films finished on the same score, the film that appeared on the most number of top 10 lists is ranked higher (as an indication of wider approval).

This year's #1 film was Get Out.  Of the 10 critics surveyed, 7 had it as one of their top 5 movies of the year.  Released in Australia back in May, it could be a serious Oscars contender when the nominees are announced in a few weeks.

Call Me by Your Name finished 2nd in this year's poll with last year's Oscar winner, Moonlight, rounding out the places in 3rd.  Three other films appeared on at least half of the critics' respective top 10 lists - Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk and The Florida Project

On that note, here are the top 10 movies of 2017 according to Brisbane critics…

Brisbane Film Critics - Top 10 of 2017
1.  Get Out
2.  Call Me by Your Name
3.  Moonlight
4.  Blade Runner 2049
5.  Dunkirk
6.  The Florida Project
7.  Jackie
8.  Baby Driver
9.  The Big Sick
10. mother!
 
You can view a table of all the votes and final scores by clicking here.

A big thanks to all the critics who were able to contribute. Hopefully we'll do it again next year!

You can check out information on all the Brisbane critics (along with their choices for the best and worst of 2017) below.
 

 

Matthew ToomeyMatthew Toomey

Born in Brisbane, Matt Toomey was introduced to the world of cinema when he landed a job at a video store fresh out of high school in 1995. A few years later, he started his own website and reviewed movies regularly on a community radio station. In 2005, he joined the team at 612ABC and can be heard reviewing the latest releases every Thursday morning. He can also be heard weekly on regional ABC throughout Queensland.

Website: www.thefilmpie.com
Twitter: @ToomeyMatt

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Call Me by Your Name
2. 20th Century Women
3. A Monster Calls
4. Manchester by the Sea
5. Get Out
6. Moonlight
7. Toni Erdmann
8. Coco
9. Dunkirk
10. Land of Mine
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Lion
Best Animated Film:
Coco
Best Documentary:
I Am Not Your Negro
Best Performance:
Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)
Worst Film:
Transformers: The Last Knight
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Call Me by Your Name

 

Sarah WardSarah Ward

Sarah Ward is a freelance film critic, arts writer, and film festival organiser. She is the Australia-based critic for Screen International, a film reviewer and feature writer for ArtsHub, the weekend editor and a senior writer for Concrete Playground, a writer for the Goethe-Institut Australien's Kino in Oz, and a contributor to SBS and SBS Movies, Metro Magazine and Screen Education. Her work has been published by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Junkee, Lumina, Senses of Cinema, Birth.Movies.Death, Broadsheet, Televised Revolution, and the World Film Locations book series. Sarah is also the editor of Trespass Magazine, and a film and TV critic for ABC radio Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast.

Websites: www.artshub.com.au
www.concreteplayground.com
www.screendaily.com/sarah-ward/1100859.contributor
www.goethe.de/ins/au/en/kul/sup/kio.html
www.sbs.com.au/guide/person/sarah-ward
www.sbs.com.au/movies/person/sarah-ward
www.trespassmag.com
Twitter: @swardplay

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Call Me By Your Name
2. The Florida Project
3. Moonlight
4. Raw
5. Get Out
6. Toni Erdmann
7. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
8. Jackie
9. Good Time
10. mother!
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. The Shape of Water
2. Nocturama
3. Sweet Country
4. Zama
5. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Hounds of Love
Best Animated Film:
Coco
Best Documentary:
I Am Not Your Negro
Best Performance:
Harry Dean Stanton (Lucky)
Worst Film:
A Few Less Men
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Happy Death Day
Call Me by Your Name

 

Garry WilliamsGarry Williams

Garry Williams is a reviewer for Film Club, a radio program broadcast on 4ZZZ-FM (102.1FM) each Thursday from 6-7pm.

Website: www.4zzzfm.org.au
Twitter: @thegeegenie

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Wind River
2. Miss Sloane
3. Get Out
4. Blade of the Immortal
5. Ingrid Goes West
6. Denial
7. Manchester by the Sea
8. Thor: Ragnarok
9. Baby Driver
10. Blade Runner 2049
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. The Shape of Water
2. Sweet Country
3. Manifesto
4. Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
5. The Last Goldfish
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Australia Day
Best Animated Film:
The LEGO Batman Movie
Best Documentary:
Right Here: The Go Betweens
Best Performance:
Cate Blanchett (Manifesto)
Worst Film:
A Few Less Men
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Only The Brave
Wind River

 

Peter GrayPeter Gray

Peter Gray is a Brisbane based freelance entertainment writer specialising in film. Currently the entertainment reporter/film reviewer for QNews, Queensland’s largest LGBT publication, and regular contributor to Hush Hush Biz, The Iris and This is Film.

Website: hushhushbiz.com
qnews.com.au
theiris.com.au
Twitter: @ratedPDG

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. mother!
2. Dunkirk
3. Moonlight
4. Call Me by Your Name
5. Get Out
6. Blade Runner 2049
7. Miss Sloane
8. The Disaster Artist
9. Paddington 2
10. Lady Macbeth
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2. Darkest Hour
3. Mudbound
4. Lady Bird
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Berlin Syndrome
Best Animated Film:
Coco
Best Documentary:
Whitney: Can I Be Me
Best Performance:
Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
Worst Film:
A Few Less Men
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
47 Metres Down
mother!

 

Ella DonaldElla Donald

Ella Donald is a student and freelance journalist and film critic. You can read her work in places like Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Vice, Little White Lies and various Fairfax outlets.

Website: elladonaldwriter.wordpress.com
Twitter: @ellafdonald

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. 20th Century Women
2. Moonlight
3. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
4. Call Me by Your Name
5. Baby Driver
6. The Florida Project
7. Jackie
8. The Big Sick
9. Blade Runner 2049
10. The Greatest Showman
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Lady Bird
2. Wonderstruck
3. Step
4. Columbus
5. Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Jasper Jones
Best Animated Film:
Coco
Best Documentary:
I Am Not Your Negro
Best Performance:
Ensemble (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women) and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)
Worst Film:
A Cure for Wellness
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Gifted
20th Century Women

 

David EdwardsDavid Edwards

David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb Magazine and writes about film and television.

Website: www.theblurb.com.au
Twitter: @TheBlurbMag

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Personal Shopper
2. Get Out
3. Jackie
4. The Big Sick
5. Blade Runner 2049
6. Dunkirk
7. Manchester by the Sea
8. Logan Lucky
9. Final Portrait
10. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Lady Bird
2. The Death of Stalin
3. The Exception
4. Dave Made a Maze
5. The Square
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Ali's Wedding
Best Animated Film:
Loving Vincent
Best Documentary:
Chasing Trane
Best Performance:
Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper)
Worst Film:
Free Fire
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Personal Shopper

 

Dave CreweDave Crewe

Freelance film critic with a fondness for arthouse and grindhouse films in roughly equal measure. Obsessed with David Lynch. Founding editor of ccpopculture, and freelances for SBS Movies, Junkee, The Brag, Metro Magazine and Screen Education, amongst others.

Website: ccpopculture.com
Twitter: @dacrewe

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Personal Shopper
2. Moonlight
3. Call Me by Your Name
4. Song to Song
5. Paddington 2
6. Good Time
7. Logan
8. Alien: Covenant
9. Raw
10. Jackie
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Nocturama
2. Lady Bird
3. Mudbound
4. Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
5. How to Talk to Girls at Parties
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Hounds of Love
Best Animated Film:
Coco
Best Documentary:
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
Best Performance:
Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper)
Worst Film:
The Snowman
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Only the Brave
Personal Shopper

 

Michael DaltonMichael Dalton

Former “screens” editor for m/c reviews, now contributor at TOM.

Websites: http://www.tommagazine.com.au/

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Dunkirk
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Moonlight
4. The Florida Project
5. Logan
6. God's Own Country
7. Jackie
8. It
9. Hidden Figures
10. Paddington 2
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2. The Shape of Water
3. The Party
4. All the Money in the World
5. Wonderstruck
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Don't Tell
Best Animated Film:
The LEGO Batman Movie
Best Documentary:
I Am Not Your Negro
Best Performance:
Steve Carell (Battle of the Sexes)
Worst Film:
mother!
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Logan
Dunkirk

 

Baz McAlisterBaz McAlister

Baz McAlister is a writer and deputy night editor at The Courier-Mail and co-hosts 'Force Material', a podcast about the secrets, history and influences of Star Wars.

Website: bazmcalister.wordpress.com
www.forcematerial.com
Twitter: @bazmcalister

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
3. Baby Driver
4. Get Out
5. The Big Sick
6. Thor: Ragnarok
7. Brigsby Bear
8. Blade Runner 2049
9. Dunkirk
10. Logan
 
 
Best Australian Film:
That's Not Me
Best Animated Film:
Coco
Best Documentary:
Kedi
Best Performance:
Mark Hamill (Star Wars: The Last Jedi)
Worst Film:
Justice League
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Happy Death Day
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

Adam RabocziAdam Roboczi

Adam Raboczi is a reviewer for 4ZZZ’s Film Club (Thursdays @ 6pm) and manages the show’s Facebook page.  He occasionally makes overcomplicated music videos.

Website: 4zzzfm.org.au/program/film-club
facebook.com/4zzzFilmClub/
Twitter: n/a

 
 
Top 10 Released Films:
1. Good Time
2. mother!
3. Get Out
4. Blade Runner 2049
5. The Florida Project
6. Dunkirk
7. Baby Driver
8. Ingrid Goes West
9. The Disaster Artist
10. The Big Sick
 
 
Top Unreleased Films:
1. Okja
2. The Endless
3. Brawl in Cell Block 99
4. Antiporno
5. Nocturama
 
 
Best Australian Film:
Hounds of Love
Best Animated Film:
The LEGO Batman Movie (or Valerian of you ignore the humans)
Best Documentary:
Becoming Bond
Best Performance:
Terry Notary (The Square)
Worst Film:
Collateral Beauty
Most Surprised To Enjoy:
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (surprised by how I enjoyed it)
Good Time