2017 is in full-swing, and with a new year comes new cinematic experiences. However, the first three months of the new year have been surprisingly sparse with knockout blockbusters, give or take a few thriller films.

Though I’m sure the rest of 2017 will yield some strong popcorn flicks – Marvel Studios is coming out with three more films this year – these early months have delivered a few gems, namely James Mangold’s “Logan” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out.” 

It could be said, originally, horror films were made to represent the deep, dark, uncomfortable thoughts that society is too polite to provide discourse about. Classic horror films, such as “The Thing,” focus on paranoia; “Psycho” harkens to Freud’s Oedipus complex. Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” focuses on liberal racism – the thing seemingly progressive people do to invalidate people of color.

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The film stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, who is invited to meet his white girlfriend’s parents at their estate. Within the first forty minutes of the film, Chris is constantly confronted with characters pointing out – in not-so-subtle ways – he is black. Several of the scenes with this dynamic made me uncomfortable; not in a cinematic way, as if the movie is bad, but uneasy to be put into Chris’s situation.

While I thought Peele was being too heavy-handed with these scenes initially, I understand now that it was necessary to portray liberal racism in not only an easy-to-understand manner, but in a way that would make the audience uncomfortable, too.

Coming from a writer whose focus has been predominantly comedic, Peele defies any expectations we could have had before seeing this film. His direction with casting also paid off. Kaluuya kills it as Chris, who is an instantly likable character who could have easily been played as the straight man.

Although “Get Out” isn’t a particularly frightening movie, it’s not meant to be. In fact, Peele’s film stands as a horror film made, specifically, to highlight fears and issues we still have in our modern society. For that reason alone, “Get Out” is a highly unique movie that is definitely worth a watch.

If social commentary laced in with horror themes isn’t your jam, and if action movies are your jam, I’d implore you to go watch “Logan” while it’s still showing. Not only is “Logan” an R-rated Wolverine film – I mean, come on, that alone sells the movie – it also concludes the story of the characters played by Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, as Wolverine and Professor X, respectively.

In Mangold’s film, the year is 2029, no mutants have been born in 25 years, Professor X has a degenerative brain disease and Logan is losing his healing factor. Oh, and there’s a little kid! It’s a good old family-fun type film. Especially if you consider seeing Wolverine literally impale people with his claws. Grandma will love that part.

Jokes aside, “Logan” is an interesting film. I won’t give away any spoilers, because I’m a decent human being, but it’s pretty common knowledge among moviegoers this will be Jackman’s last outing as Wolverine, and it is a fine send-off. One of the aspects of “Logan” I enjoy most is the realism it is grounded in.

While Jackman and Stewart have played these characters several times before, this film shows real development and offers an extremely satisfying conclusion to their arcs. Just like “Get Out,” this movie defies genre expectations. “Logan” could’ve hammed it up like any other superhero film we’ve seen, but it didn’t. It took a chance, and it payed off in spades.