Best & Worst of 2017 - Cinematography

When it comes to talking about movies, the cinematography is my favorite subject. As a cinematographer myself, I love examining lighting technique, camera technology, and color style. In my opinion, these are the things that truly make a movie. When you’ve got excellent cinematography, you’ve got a beautiful movie. But when you’ve got lousy cinematography, you’ve got nothing but ugly. 2017 had some gorgeously shot films as well as some abysmally shot ones. These are my picks for best and worst cinematography of 2017. 

Best Cinematography of 2017: 

Logan

Despite how much I didn’t like the movie itself, I was awestruck by the cinematography. In my video review, I proclaimed that I could frame almost every shot in this film and I stand by that assessment. Photographed by John Mathieson, who previously shot Gladiator and X-Men: First Class, this movie is a beautiful example of an all natural light aesthetic. Regardless of where a scene is taking place, it all looks gorgeously natural. At no point did I find myself asking “where is that light coming from?”. The movement of the camera, especially during action scenes, is smooth and almost effortless like it should be. Even some of the essential special effects in the film are created by using traditional in-camera techniques rather than CGI, which is always a plus for me. And, of course, let’s not forget the color style, as it manages to look stylized yet subtle. It’s subdued enough to fit the bleak tone of the film, but still bright enough to be easy on the eyes. If you must watch Logan, just watch it for the cinematography. It is probably the best looking film of 2017. Although, if Blade Runner 2049 gets the Oscar this year, and Logan doesn’t, I won’t cry over it. 

Worst Cinematography of 2017: 

Alien: Covenant 

I never thought I would live to see another film with cinematography that was on par with the likes of Fant4stick. Alien: Covenant has got to be the ugliest major studio budget film I have ever seen on the big screen. Photographed by Dariusz Wolski, best know for Crimson Tide, The Martian, and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, this film has all of the hallmarks of lazy and wrong-headed cinematography. Let’s run down the list: 

Shaky cam - Check 

Non-sensical shot composition - Check 

Improper and insufficient lighting - Check 

Ugly grey color palette - Check 

Underexposed to the point of incomprehensibility - Check 

I fail to understand how a film that cost so much money to make, and had such an experienced DP on board, could look so cheap and ugly. Worst yet, this film was shot on the Arri Alexa. Arguably the best digital cinema camera on the market, capable of delivering gorgeous colors and textures. For that reason alone, this film should have at least looked decent. Instead, this whole movie looks like it was shot on an old standard definition video camera from the early 2000’s, sent to be color graded by an intern from Technicolor, who merely over-cranked the “Bleach Bypass” setting on his recently acquired copy of Adobe Premiere Pro. A movie with this much pedigree should not look like a film school students senior project. Let’s hope that Mr. Wolski does better in the future. Although, I honestly kind of doubt it. 

Coming Soon: 

Best & Worst Editing 

Ladies and gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you all for reading.