The best movies I watched in 2017 that didn’t come out in 2017

If you’re looking for my list of the best movies that came out this year, I wrote an extended one up over at INSIDER. I pretty much stand by it, except I’d add Phantom Thread, which I didn’t get to see by deadline. Here, too, you can read a list of great movies too many people missed.

This is something different. I watched 135 movies this year, and here are the outstanding ones that came out before 2017. I’m omitting the 2016 releases, which I wrote about here.

I would also like to note that the best thing I’ve seen all year is Twin Peaks: The Return.

A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957) — 1/7

To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) — 1/22

The Frisco Kid (Robert Aldrich, 1979) — 1/23

Taxi (Jafar Panahi, 2015) — 2/4

Offside (Jafar Panahi, 2006) — 2/5

The Negro Soldier (Stuart Heisler, 1944) — 4/16

Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) — 6/3

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Les Blank, 1980) — 6/3

Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989) — 6/12

Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty, 1978) — 7/30

Michael Clayton (Tiny Gilroy, 2007) — 8/3

The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980) — 8/13

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989) — 9/9

Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984) — 9/23

The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme, 2004) — 10/7