Our Critics' Picks for the Best Movies of Fall 2017

New Times Film Critics November 1, 2017 8:00AM

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The Florida Project: Sean Baker is one of the few filmmakers working today who gets that it's possible to find joy in small, difficult corners of the world. His film Tangerine, about two transwomen and their hilarious exploits across Los Angeles, doesn't bow to typical expectations of media featuring transpeople, where their gender identity is always a tragedy and the focus of the story. Sure, Tangerine's characters are poor, and one's fresh out of jail. But the small pleasures of a delicious doughnut can give them the energy to power through any day. With The Florida Project, his follow-up to Tangerine, Baker again grants both humanity and humor to his down-on-their-luck subjects. Little Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) lives with her smack-talking, tatted young mom, Halley (Bria Vinaite), in the Magic Kingdom Motel, walking distance from the throngs of crowds that flock to Disney World year-round. Moonee romps around the "neighborhood" (really just a motel-dotted track of interstate) with her little pals, Scooty (Christopher Rivera) and Jancey (Valeria Cotto), getting into trouble wherever they can, while motel manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe) plays the Mr. Wilson to their collective Dennis the Menace. We know that Halley's nights out drinking and her unemployment may not be building toward a happy ending, but this is a story seen through Moonee's eyes. She believes that as long as you're clever and cute enough, you can scheme your way out of anything.

Watching movies for a living is a tough job, but somebody's got to do it, and our film critics are up to the task. While they see plenty of stellar movies, they see some not-so-great ones, too. They've weeded through them all to give you their picks for some of the best films released this fall. If a few haven’t opened in a theater near you just yet, don’t fret: There’s always a chance you’ll be able to stream them on your small screen, or they may go into wider release before the end of 2017.