I know we've got polls like this all the time around here, but I figure this one will be a little more comprehensive and perhaps even informative.

This thread will be for your pick for best film released during 1997 (think Oscar considerations for what's eligible). I'm not making it a poll because whether you like it or not, that would influence some people's choice.

Results will be posted in this thread, and all subsequent threads for each year, and they will be ongoing... so you can still vote here even weeks after other year's polls have begun.


Please start your post with your #1 film from 1997 (try to limit it to one - after all, that's the point - two at the most (I'll split the vote)), and yes, discussions are more than welcome!

Current Leader -- L.A. Confidential

All Years:
2001 -- (currently) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2000 -- Requiem For a Dream*
1999 -- Fight Club*
1998 -- (currently) Rushmore
1997 -- L.A. Confidential*
1996 -- Fargo*
1995 -- (currently) Braveheart
1994 -- Pulp Fiction*
1993 -- Schindler's List*
1992 -- Unforgiven*
1991 -- Silence of the Lambs*
1990 -- Goodfellas*
1989 -- Do the Right Thing*
1988 -- Die Hard*
1987 -- Full Metal Jacket*
1986 -- (currently) Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1985 -- Back to the Future*
1984 -- Ghostbusters*
1983 -- Return of the Jedi*
1982 -- (currently) Blade Runner
1981 -- Raiders of the Lost Ark*
1980 -- (currently) Empire Strikes Back
1979 -- Apocalypse Now*
1978 -- (currently) The Deer Hunter
1977 -- Star Wars*
1976 -- Taxi Driver*
1975 -- Jaws*
1974 -- The Godfather: Part II*
1973 -- (currently) The Exorcist
1972 -- The Godfather*
1971 -- A Clockwork Orange*
1970 -- Patton*
1969 -- (currently) The Wild Bunch
1968 -- 2001: A Space Odyssey*
1967 -- (currently) The Graduate
1966 -- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly*
1965

If you haven't voted on the previous years, feel free to go back and do so.

*Poll closed, winner declared.

The Sweet Hereafter

...with Boogie Nights and L.A. Confidential at #2 and #3

What Jon said.

1) The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
2) Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
3) L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)
4) Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith)
5) Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest)
6) Titanic (James Cameron)
7) In the Company of Men (Neil LaBute)
8) Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson)
9) The Game (David Fincher)
10) The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)

Wow... with that, I might as well give you the rest of my list, where, not surprisingly, we differ greatly.

4) Contact
5) In the Company of Men
6) The Apostle
7) Donnie Brasco
8) Eve's Bayou
9) The Ice Storm
10) Good Will Hunting
11) The Boxer
12) Chasing Amy
13) Amistad
14) Hard Eight

Waiting For Guffman's the only one on your list I haven't seen... I've been meaning to seek out the DVD for a long time, so I'll definitely get to it soon.

This one's going to get ugly, I can tell already.

What the hell ... I'm going to say Contact. That's sure to be unpopular, but oh well. It sounds good now. Probably won't in the morning.

das

#1 Jackie Brown (quentin tarantino)

1997 was a great year in film. Overall, I would rate The Sweet Hereafter as the best I have seen from that year.

Honorable mentions to Kolya, L.A. Confidential, Welcome to Sarajevo, Mrs. Brown, and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (doco).

Best film of 1997: Fruit Chan's outstanding "Made in Hong Kong" - never released in the US, unfortunately.

A second runner-up is "Happy Together" by Wong Kar-Wai.

The House of Yes

Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights

L.A. Confidential

Gattaca

Boogie Nights

Same here

i have a tie. I love both of these films and can't choose between the two. Most people have given the name of one or the other already.

The Sweet Hereafter and Boogie Nights.

My top 3:
1.L.A Confidential
2.Donnie Brasco
3.Chasing Amy

Donnie Brasco

I have not seen Boogie Nights, Affliction, The Apostle, Amistad, Eve's Bayou, In the Company of Men, Kundun or The Spanish Prisoner, so this may be a little misinformed, but my favorite was Chasing Amy. While not probably as great of a "film" as L.A. Confidential, I'll give it my vote.

My movies rated 9 or higher.

9.5
Chasing Amy
L.A. Confidential

9
Contact
Jackie Brown

I also enjoyed Cop Land, The Game, As Good as It Gets, Gattaca, Good Will Hunting, The Sweet Hereafter (well, didn't "enjoy"), and Wag the Dog among others.

Worst flicks? Mimic, Volcano, Speed 2 and Anaconda were horrible.

Barry

Definitely Contact.

-matt

L.A. Confidential

Grosse Pointe Blank

1. L.A. Confidential
2. Boogie Nights
3. As Good as it Gets

The Ice Storm

Imagine you and me... and me and you...

...Happy Together...