There are no superpowers or fist fights in The Post, but the scene where Meryl Streep’s Kay Graham makes the choice to publish a report on the Pentagon Papers is one of the most suspenseful and extraordinary set-pieces of the year. In the process, the legendary auteur finds a way to both extol the virtue of the fourth estate and to create a grippingly prescient drama that might as well be ripped from our current headlines.

Steven Spielberg’s thinly veiled communion with our national conscience uses the not-so-distant historical past to envision a press under siege by an overreaching White House. More importantly still though, many of the movies are good. Whatever issues the biggest franchises and blockbusters might’ve faced in 2017, smaller and more intelligent fare has been rewarded at the speciality box office-and by breaking into the mainstream like a thunder crack. And within the confines of entertainment alone, we’ve witnessed a series of phenomenal films. As the #MeTo movement cleanses industries from coast to coast, and of every economic background, already 2017 is offering a promise for a better tomorrow. For instance, the revolt at the monstrosities committed in the shadows of the entertainment industry has given way to a therapeutic and cultural purge heard around the world. However, things were never quite so bleak as they first appear. With social upheaval cropping up in everything from the long bloodied arena of politics to the supposedly saintlier realm of sports, it has left many bitter and warily despondent toward their neighbors. It’s was a 12-month march marked by historic division and acrimony in the West, and more stories of a beleaguering quality than any amount of Ridley Scott techno-dystopia.

Best movies 2017 released