All scores in this article are from January 3, 2018. Although scores have been rounded to the nearest whole number, movies are ranked prior to rounding. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)įor this and all tables in this article, only movies with seven or more reviews and released in at least one theater (or on a streaming service) in the United States between Januand Decemwere considered. The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Total number of films scoring at least 90, by yearīelow are 2017's highest-scoring overall films regardless of genre, followed by separate lists of the year's best movies in a variety of categories. (It probably helps that only four 2017 releases scored lower than 20, compared to seven such horrendous films in both 20 and 14 in 2014.) Either we just experienced a boom year in terms of cinematic quality, or grade inflation is on the rise. And the average Metascore for all film crept up from 60.3 in 2016 to 62.3 in 2017. That is also significantly higher than the number for 2016. That's an almost shocking 59% approval rate, well up from 2016's figure of 53%.Ī total of 69 of those films received a Metascore of 81 or higher, the cutoff we use to indicate 'universal acclaim' from reviewers. Of those, 357 received positive reviews (scoring 61 or higher). In all, 603 films released during 2017 received at least seven reviews from top professional critics. There were 11 such films in the past year, down just slightly from a record-high 12 in 2016. That said, 2017 marked the third consecutive year that the number of truly outstanding films-marked by Metascores of 90 or higher-was in the double digits.

And the year's highest-scoring, English-language narrative film, Dunkirk, scored 'only' 94. It's the first time in five years that no film has exceeded a score of 95. For the first time in the 21st century, a documentary has taken the title of Metacritic's highest-scoring movie of the year.įaces Places, which finds 89-year-old director Agnes Varda roaming the French countryside with 33-year-old photo-muralist J.R., outscored all other releases in 2017.

10 best movies 2017