'Popcorn With Peter Travers' special edition: 14 best and worst movies of 2017

— -- It’s that time of year to check off your list of movies. What did you miss? What should you still see? It’s not too late to get caught up before awards season kicks into high gear. Film critic Peter Travers has screened hundreds of movies this year and put together his list of the best and worst of 2017 in this special edition of “Popcorn With Peter Travers.”

BEST MOVIES OF 2017 - the lucky seven

7. “The Post”

“You have so many good performances in this movie, but in Meryl Streep playing the publisher of The Washington Post, Katherine Graham, you have that performance that speaks to this time. Here is a woman who is basically silenced by men. Men were making all the decisions. She got to say nothing,” said Travers. “Finally she says I’m going to make this decision. I’m going to speak out for myself. This is maybe not only one of the best movies of 2017, but the most topical.”

6. “The Shape of Water”

“This is one of the most romantic movies you’ll see anywhere,” Travers said. “It’s Guillermo del Toro at his best. You’ve got to see it.”

5. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MO”

“Here’s a movie, which is written and directed by the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh that captures this feeling that we all have today of helplessness and anger,” said Travers. “Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell as the police officer who drives her insane are both going to be high up on the Academy Award nominees (list) this year.”

4. “Lady Bird”

“It sounds like, ‘Well haven’t I seen this a hundred times before?' You have not,” Travers said, “because (director) Greta Gerwig has carved this screenplay out of her own life, growing up in Sacramento. And because Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalfe are giving performances so good that you take it to heart. You feel that everything they’re saying is about your own growing up.”

3. “Call Me by Your Name”

“This is a movie that captures that feeling that only happens once in all our lives,” Travers said, "when you look at the other person and say, 'This is the one for me'."

2. “Get Out”

"What we see is a horror movie/black comedy about the co-opting of black culture,” Travers said. “This is a really complex theme. And Jordan Peele has tackled it and made something brilliant out of it.”

1. “Dunkirk”

“You see Dunkirk on land. You see it on sea. And you see it in the air. And you are definitely there. And you are feeling something so scary that releates to right now.”

“I would declare this one of the best years for movies in a long, long time,” said Travers. Unfortunately, however, all did not make the mark and may not be worthy of your time and money.

WORST MOVIES OF 2017 – the unlucky seven

7. “The Emoji Movie”

“It should have actually been funny. Instead we get nothing,” Travers said. “Nothing happens. It just sits there on the screen and dies. Can’t you think of something better animated to do for kids than this? You did not.”

6. “Daddy’s Home 2”

“John Lithgow plays the super sweet daddy of Will Ferrell. And Mel Gibson comes in as the mean-spirited sexist father of Mark Wahlberg. How did a movie so toxic manage to get into theaters for the holidays and be so awful,” Travers said. “I just don’t get it.”

5. “The Mountain Between Us”

Travers said, “I did not believe one second of this romance. I never believed in their attraction. I just wanted to throw my popcorn at the screen when I was seeing it, so bad.”

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4. “The Mummy”

“This was another nail in the coffin in the career of Tom Cruise,” said Travers. “To see Tom Cruise who used to know how to do this movie so well be trapped in a movie that doesn’t work on any level, is just tremendously sad.”

3. “Fifty Shades Darker”

“Here we just see two awkward actors who look like they want to fire their agents for trapping them in a movie that just puts them in awkward situations,” Travers said.

2. “The Dark Tower ”

“This is basically a 95-minute movie that feels like it’s 95 hours to sit there and watch. Nothing makes sense. Nothing works,” said Travers.

1. “Transformers: The Last Knight”

“If only ‘The Last Night’ was the last transformers movie. It’s the fifth,” said Travers. “This is the worst. I think we as audiences need to say we won’t pay money and watch it again. And that is a way to end a year and keep bad movies out of our lives.”

Be sure to watch this full special edition of “Popcorn With Peter Travers in the video above.