2016 - The Year in Review
Get comfortable...
* marks films that are technically 2015 releases according to IMDb but did not see wide release until 2016, so I'm going to go ahead and count them anyway.
#1 - Paterson: I'd call this tale of ordinary creativity a return to form for Jarmusch, but that would be implying that he ever truly lost his form. This is the kind of magnificence I always hope to find at the cinema.
#2 - Everybody Wants Some!!: If there's any filmmaker who's got the right to recapture former glories in 2016, it's got to be Richard Linklater. His charmingly lackadaisical yet intelligent sensibilities more than justify this tale of party-hearty jocks living it up on campus.
#3 - Green Room*: An admittedly straightforward take on the siege movie, sure, but one that blends in enough grit and polish to make for one of 2016's most brilliantly visceral cinematic experiences.
#4 - Your Name: What starts out like a familiar (if above-average) body-swap comedy soon morphs into something completely different and makes for the kind of emotionally earnest drama that I usually end up resisting but don't in this rather exceptional case.
#5 - Elle: Putting Isabelle Huppert in a twisted psychosexual drama directed by none other than Paul Verhoeven is an ingenious combination and is definitely borne out by the resulting film being unpredictable and evocative.
#6 - 13th: Essential viewing in a way that few other films I've seen this past year have felt like. Though it's hard to say if it's liable to change or sway any minds with its pointed yet not especially partisan rhetoric, it's still a strong cinematic primer for a plethora of relevant socio-political issues.
#7 - Kubo and the Two Strings: Probably my favourite film Laika has done yet as it backs up its arresting fable about the power of storytelling with characteristically lavish stop-motion visuals.
#8 - The Nice Guys: Shane Black has always been one of those creators that I like more in theory than in practice, but this gaudy '70s throwback definitely skews more towards the latter with its goofy characters and sharp action.
#9 - Swiss Army Man: What could have been nothing more than a gross-out novelty ends up being a surprisingly remarkable film because of how sincerely it commits to its bizarre premise. Not only is it weirdly funny, but it also builds a strong emotional core thanks to its remarkable leading duo.
#10 - Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Though its reputation as a must-see instant classic definitely put me off it at first, I can't really deny that this off-beat tale of two scrappy Kiwis has charm to spare.
#11 - One More Time With Feeling: You don't have to be a fan of Nick Cave's formidably mercurial discography to appreciate this documentary about him dealing with personal tragedy as both an artist and a human being.
#12 - The Salesman: Asghar Farhadi is back at it again with another devastatingly low-key approach to domestic crisis that mines age-old concepts - revenge, victimhood, art, performance - for one darkly compelling film.
#13 - The Age of Shadows: Kim Jee-woon delivers the goods with a double-agent drama that once again sees the director take an outwardly straightforward concept and apply his own distinctive stamp to the proceedings.
#14 - Zootopia: A buddy cop comedy about talking animals isn't necessarily the most promising high concept on paper but Disney actually pulls it off not just as an enjoyably colourful and humourous diversion but also one that dares to lean into the nuance lurking beneath your average cartoon's advocating of tolerance.
#15 - I, Daniel Blake: About time I got around to watching a Ken Loach film. If this darkly humanistic kitchen-sink drama is what I can expect from this guy when he's in his eighties, then I clearly need to check out what he's done in his prime.
#16 - Hail, Caesar!: The Coens are strong enough filmmakers that even their lesser efforts at least tend to be interesting instead of just being weak. This is definitely true of a film that plays less like a love letter to Hollywood than one of extreme ambivalence, yet it somehow manages to prove a charmer.
#17 - Weiner: Definitely a political documentary that has aged a little
too well within the space of a few months (the Trump Vine featured in this film still haunts me, to say nothing of the eponymous subject's subsequent antics), but taken on its own terms it's still a weirdly tragic account of scandal-packed buffoonery.
#18 - The VVitch*: I wonder if this is possibly
too easy a choice for the best horror movie of the year, but very few of these films have gotten under my skin quite like this one. It's pointedly archaic, relentlessly grim, and genuinely horrifying.
#19 -Toni Erdmann: Another film that took a while to grow on me, but its strangely protracted and unorthodox take on an outwardly broad comedic premise is definitely the kind of thing that will stick with you long after the film is over.
#20 - Tickled: This may not be the best film of 2016, but it certainly feels like the
most 2016 film in how it sees a laughably absurd curiosity quickly degenerate into a truly unsettling microcosm of abuse and paranoia.
#21 - The Neon Demon: Even though Refn is one of those filmmakers whose work encourages you to expect the unexpected (and also have a
lot of patience), his latest work about the twisted underbelly of the fashion industry seems him pushing even further in these regards for better
and for worse.
#22 - Arrival: I wasn't quite as blown away by this as so many other people were, but I definitely consider it another solid entry into Denis Villeneuve's rather respectable filmography.
#23 - Blood Father: Underneath the many pointed references to Mel Gibson's off-screen persona, this is a genuinely enjoyable B-movie that makes good use of its leading man.
#24 - Moana: Between this and
Zootopia, I'm glad that Disney can still turn out films that are able to flesh out their familiar narratives with verve and personality.
#25 - Hell or High Water: Kind of an odd duck, this one. A peculiar mix of crime thriller, Coen-esque black comedy, and socio-economic commentary that nevertheless manages to hang together well enough (if not necessarily at the level I'd expected).
#26 - Into the Inferno: Herzog and volcanoes, together at last. What else do I need to say?
#27 - Star Trek Beyond: It may still be prone to the shiny acts of derring-do that have come to define nu-
Trek for the worse, but at least in Justin Lin's hands there's a better balance between characterisation and action.
#28 - Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping: I've never quite managed to gravitate towards the Lonely Island's particular brand of musical comedy, but this star-studded take on the mockumentary proves that they've still got it where it counts.
#29 - Doctor Strange: Complain about the formulaic narrative all you want (I know I did), but this one has grown on me quite a bit. The remarkable visuals are a given, of course, but they are more than backed up by the moments of nuance within its familiar hero's-journey plot.
#30 - Captain America: Civil War: Though I'll concede that it Marvels things up a bit too much for it to be a truly great movie, it's still a solid and reasonably fun demonstration of the MCU recognising and working towards rectifying its flaws.
#31 - High-Rise*: "What if class struggle but too much?" This film doesn't exactly break much new ground (if any) with its retro-dystopian tale, but the execution has enough gusto to result in a genuinely indelible experience.
#32 - Down Under: Australia gets its own answer to
Four Lions with this tale of bumbling bigots that really is the film this country and others like it deserve. I can only dream of how Pauline Hanson would react to watching it.
#33 - Midnight Special: Though I imagine I'll keep giving Jeff Nichols chance after chance to win me over, his foray into straight sci-fi joins the other films of I've seen as a work that I can't bring myself to either love or hate.
#34 - Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids: Three decades after making the best concert film ever, Jonathan Demme is still capable of bringing the proverbial heat when it comes to capturing one of the world's biggest pop stars at his peak.
#35 - La La Land: Part of me is hoping that I'll warm up to it, but such an impression seems to fly in the face of it being constructed to serve as an immediate cinematic experience.
#36 - The Purge: Election Year: The slow and steady improvement of this pulpy death-sport franchise continues with a third installment that may owe a lot of its goodwill to its predecesssor but still shows enought strength to make me really hope that the fourth one truly takes the franchise up another couple of notches.
#37 - Hush: "Naa, na-na-naa, na-na-naa, na-na-naaa..." But seriously, this is a solid take on the home invasion thriller that knows which aspects of the genre to emphasise or downplay for optimal effect.
#38 - Ghostbusters: After all is said and done, what matters is that I actually got some laughs and enjoyment out of it. That's about as much as I could ask it to provide and it certainly proves to be enough.
#39 - Sing Street: John Carney delivers yet another low-key crowd-pleaser about ordinary people coming together to make music against the odds with all the goodness and badness that that implies.
#40 - Eye in the Sky*: A simplistic but taut exercise in combining time-bomb suspense with a severe ethical quandary that isn't 100% dependent on high tension but does a good job of achieving it anyway.
#41 - Hacksaw Ridge: Distractingly self-contradictory denouement aside, I actually did like Gibson's heavy-handed but earnest dramatisation of a pacifist war hero refusing to compromise his devout principles.
#42 - Captain Fantastic: Though it does traffic in recognisable indie clichés by telling the tale of a band of social misfits barreling their way across America, this film actually does have enough of a heart to make its somewhat familiar quirkiness feel functional.
#43 - Sully: Finally, an Eastwood-helmed biopic that I actually kind of like thanks to how the man's no-nonsense sensibilities complement its simple tale of everyday heroism.
#44 - Goldstone: At its heart a fairly simple blend of neo-
noir and neo-Western, the distinctly Australian variation on this genre mashup still proves a dusty yet tantalising watch.
#45 - Piper: A decent little Pixar short that's got some nicely-rendered graphics and a cute little story about the eponymous bird.
#46 - For the Love of Spock: A respectable labour of love that definitely succeeds in paying tribute to an iconic character and (more importantly) the man who gave him life.
#47 - Imperium: An uncomplicated take on the "undercover cop" sub-genre that's buoyed by a good lead performance by Daniel Radcliffe and an insight into modern white supremacist movements that feels all too relevant.
#48 - Divines: I figure that if you're going to do yet another coming-of-age film (especially as a debut feature), then you'd better bring something interesting to the table - and it's just as well that this film does that with its tale of two Muslim girls being drawn to drug-running as an escape from poverty.
#49 - My Scientology Movie*: It's not about to usurp
Going Clear as
the Scientology documentary, but Louis Theroux brings enough of his own distinctive personality to the table to make this worth watching in its own right.
#50 - Finding Dory: Pixar may not accomplish anything especially inventive with this much-belated (and arguably unnecessary) sequel to one of their earlier hits, but they manage to find some decent ways to wring another tale out of a seemingly one-and-done set-up.
#51 - The Light Between Oceans: Much like Jeff Nichols, Derek Cianfrance is another filmmaker where I'm still waiting for their output to strike me as anything more than decent, but it's not for lack of trying with this Australian period drama.
#52 - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: As much as I liked the idea of a men-on-a-mission film set within the
Star Wars universe, too often the resulting film felt a little too compromised between its artistic potential and the greater demands of the franchise.
#53 - 10 Cloverfield Lane: I didn't really feel the hype on this one like so many others did, but I can't deny that it's a rather decent pressure-cooker kind of movie that makes good use of its minimal cast.
#54 - Victoria*: The concept of an entire heist movie being pulled in a single uninterrupted take is an intriguing one, but the resulting work defies expectations in manners both good
and bad.
#55 - Other People: I do wonder if I'm being too skeptical when it comes to the various mid-indie films that pop up all over my list, but I'll give this one credit for being the interesting kind of average.
#56 - Barry: Admittedly, it's a fairly standard coming-of-age story that just so happens to be about young Obama, but it's still got its moments that make it an intermittently interesting watch.
#57 - Gods of Egypt: Though this did deserve the backlash it received over using a predominantly white cast in a movie about ancient Egypt, I give it at least a little credit for being a halfway-entertaining mess of a period fantasy.
#58 - The Magnificent Seven: This actually isn't too bad considering its copy-of-a-copy origin and journeyman approach to everything. If nothing else, it makes enough little tweaks to make sure that it can't automatically be written off as an uninspired and inessential remake.
#59 - 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi: Michael Bay manages to keep his worst indulgences in check as he offers a depiction of courage under fire that might very well be one of the best films he's ever made.
#60 - The Invitation*: Suffers quite a bit from "go-in-cold" hype backlash that doesn't do its "horrible dinner party" set-up too many favours, but it still manages to serve as a mildly acceptable tale of one's ability to handle grief (or lack thereof)
#61 - Indignation: The worst thing I can say about this tale of collegiate impropriety is that it's quite dull, and while that's not the worst thing a film can be it does work against its attempts to be interesting.
#62 - Free State of Jones: A passable Civil War drama that does touch upon some solid concepts and features some good actors but is marred by some haphazard execution.
#63 - Jason Bourne: Maybe it's because I never actually held the
Bourne series in particularly high regard, but I didn't feel like this was an especially huge let-down compared to its predecessors. Still doesn't make it particularly good, though.
#64 - War Dogs: Todd Phillips takes his own stab at the American Dream and makes what might be my favourite film of his yet, though that speaks more to the weakness of his other works than this one's rather limited strengths.
#65 - Top Knot Detective: Anything that deliberately tries to be "so bad it's good" has a very high bar to clear in order to be, well, good. At least this homegrown telemovie takes the
Darkplace route by framing its Z-grade lunacy within a retrospective mockumentary format that does a decent job of playing up the drama.
#66 - Inner Workings: In case you ever wanted a shorter, more visceral, and generally weaker version of
Inside Out. Passable enough as an opening short, but you're not missing much if you don't see it at all.
#67 - A Bigger Splash: I feel like there should be shorthand for these European dramas about the idle rich having mildly engaging conflicts in some picturesque location. It's not completely without merit, though.
#68 - Deadpool: While there's actually a fairly competent mid-budget action movie in here somewhere, this is still a movie that lives and (more importantly) dies by its obnoxious sense of humour that never truly manages to justify its execution.
#69 - The Fundamentals of Caring: Just take what I wrote about
Captain Fantastic and make it a little less conciliatory.
#70 - The Founder: It's not like the story of McDonald's isn't fascinating in its own right, but that doesn't stop this particular film from being rather dull as far as "twisted American Dream" biopics go.
#71 - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: I have to give it at least a little credit for being what may just be the most genuinely out-there and artistically-driven superhero movie of the year, but that doesn't go far enough in compensating for its many other flaws. I still wouldn't rule out giving it a second chance, though.
#72 - Nocturnal Animals: An arthouse film with a capital A-R-T that juggles two intertwined narratives taking place at the nexus between high and low art. However, it's never as clever or well-executed as you'd think. This is not the kind of film that should make me think "okay, that was a thing that happened" and yet it did.
#73 - Love & Friendship: Maybe this is the kind of thing where you have to be in the mood for it in order to truly appreciate it, but I really couldn't get into this acerbic comedy of manners even though it sounds like something I should like.
#74 - Hardcore Henry*: While it doesn't totally squander the filmmaking potential offered by having an action movie take place entirely through the eyes of its protagonist, it gets too caught up in indulging some rather reprehensible gamer-bro sensibilities that only add to its already-numbing effect.
#75 - Warcraft: This is sort of like
Gods of Egypt in that it builds off an intricate mythology in order to create a two-hour tentpole blockbuster. However, the difference lies in the fact that this is not absurdly misguided camp so much as elaborately polished tedium.
#76 - Don't Breathe: What should have been the horror movie of the year is undone by a wonky sense of character-based morality that results in rapidly diminishing returns on its potentially brilliant subversion of the home-invasion genre.
#77 - X-Men: Apocalypse: Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure why I've gone out of my way to watch all eight entries in a film franchise where the best ones top out at two-and-a-half popcorns. In any case, this is most definitely not one of the best ones.
#78 - I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In Your House: What starts as a rather promising little ghost story struggles to build up any atmosphere or even any compelling reason to push on with it.
#79 - The BFG: Another one of those films that just does nothing for me. It's not aggressively awful or completely charmless but there's nothing I feel like I can hold onto with it.
#80 - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: While there was always a chance that the
Harry Potter world was rich enough to sustain an almost completely stand-alone spin-off or five, this initial attempt to capitalise on that potential proves a plodding mess.
#81 - The Jungle Book: Damn, is
this really what I can expect from Disney's current wave of live-action remakes? The visual polish and heavily-stacked cast definitely doesn't count for much here.
#82 - Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie: Hey, if
Kung Fury is fair game, then so is this. Unfortunately, even without the spectre of subsequent events hanging over both its subject and leading man, it's just not funny enough to justify being a 45-minute viral video.
#83 - Blair Witch: Of all the films that could've gotten a 2010s rebootquel,
The Blair Witch Project is definitely one of the unlikelier prospects. Watching this attempt to revitalise a film that really didn't need (or even warrant) revitalising might just be a greater demonstration of the problem with reboots than your average blockbuster.
#84 - The Shallows: Uh...Blake Lively is stuck on a rock and there's a shark. That's about all I really care to say about this barely-memorable small-scale horror.
#85 - Bullets for the Dead*: As much as I hate to poke and prod at local low-budget productions, I can't help but feel like this didn't make especially good use of its zombie/Western premise.
#86 - Triple 9: I used to think that even John Hillcoat's most flawed movies were at least flawed in interesting ways, but sadly that's been proven wrong with this aggressively dull excuse for a sprawling crime drama.
#87 - Jack Reacher: Never Go Back: Though the first movie was a fairly enjoyable little pot-boiler, this follow-up is almost completely lacking in any of its predecessor's charm as it provides another instance of Tom Cruise getting paid to let people make a film around his cardio workout.
#88 - Suicide Squad: "This bird...is baked."
#89 - Tale of Tales*: I had rather high hopes for this colourful-looking anthology of adult fairytales but the end result proves far too inane in ways that more than cancel out its few positives.
#90 - Sausage Party: The way I see it, the worst thing that a parody can do is be just as insipid as the material it's based upon (if not more so).
Sausage Party is no exception to this rule as its twisted take on kids' movies often feels as excruciatingly unfunny as any gutter-level piece of family-friendly pablum.
This list has officially gone to the dogs.