Roller-Coaster of a List

By Clare Sladden

A disclaimer: living in Australia means many Oscar contenders released late in the year in the US don't hit our cinemas until the New Year – so a bunch of films I'm sure’d be on this list don’t exist for us yet. With that said, here’s my list.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 2: I watched this film with my Mum, in an almost empty cinema: I laughed all the way through, and then literally sobbed at the end. I wasn't sure if maybe I was being overly dramatic with the sobbing, so I just rewatched the last scene on YouTube, and sobbed again, so... 

WONDER WOMAN: I walked away from Wonder Woman thinking, WOW, so this is what's it's like for men every time they go watch a super hero movie! I was elated! Ready to take on the world! I've only ever felt that way after one other film, which was the Ghostbusters reboot, but this was something else!

ALIEN: COVENANT: it's well known within my family that my Dad took my Mum to see Alien on their first date (she is neither a fan of horror nor sci-fi, and they're still together), so the franchise holds a special place in my heart. I loved Katherine Waterston as Daniels, and my only complaint was the (arguably) obvious twist at the end (also, I wanted more James Franco, because I love him).

JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2: so slick, so unbelievable, but yet SO GOOD. The fact that Keanu Reeves is like, THE BEST HUMAN BEING TO EVER HAVE EXISTED makes me love this franchise even more. 

ROUGH NIGHT: the fact that Rough Night showcased Ilana Glazer, Kate McKinnon and Jillian Bell (three of my favourite comedic actors) in the same film, made it one of my favourites.  

LOGAN: I love me some Hugh Jackman, and I loved this movie. Such a perfect, gritty end to an X-Men chapter. 

GET OUT: I feel as though Get Out was spoilt a little for me by all the hype (as well as trailers that gave away WAY too much information) but I can't deny it was a game-changer, and I'm looking forward to a second viewing. 

SPLIT: James McAvoy's performance was so nuanced that moments that could have been unintentionally funny in the hands of a lesser actor were powerful and frightening. 

THE BIG SICK: I am a romantic comedy tragic from way back, and I really enjoyed The Big Sick. Ray Romano was a highlight for me. 

I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE: quirky, strange, depressing and hopeful. This film went straight to Netflix after its festival run, and I found it oddly compelling. 

Clare is a 2017 alum of Stowe Story Labs, where she workshopped her feature script BROKEN HEAD. She was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Academy Nicholl Fellowship with the screenplay, which also won the inaugural Byron Bay Film Festival International Screenplay Competition. Among Clare’s current projects, she is completing a short film, DOLLS, and has wrapped production on a webseries, FREUDIAN SLIP, and has been awarded a place in the 'Inside the writers room' program, where she'll sit in with Goalpost Pictures during one of their writers rooms in 2018.