The 5 Best Films of 2016

[Marter]

The 5 Best Films of 2016

It's end-of-the-year list time! First up, the best movies of 2016.

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[09philj]

At the end of 2016, I had When Marnie Was There in as my number one film of the year. It's an lovely little film, with a very sweet story and enchanting visuals. However, last weekend I went to my local indie cinema to see Your Name, which has retrospectively taken the top spot, since it opened in UK cinemas in 2016. It's delightful on every level. The animation is absolutely astounding. The score is a perfect selection of J-pop and J-rock tracks. The story is uplifting and poignant in equal measure, and is also impressively tense in the third act. It's an unhinged blend of

Spoiler: Technical plot spoilers within

Whisper of the Heart, Freaky Friday, and Donnie Darko

that you wouldn't expect to be great, but is.

In 2016, I also saw:
- Doctor Strange. It's fine. Nice visuals, so-so story.
- Hell or High Water. Great performances all round, but Jeff Bridges steals the show as always.
- Zootopia. It's good. I was actually much more arrested by the lavish art style than the story.
- Hail Caeser! The Coen Brothers fuck about for 106 minutes, but find plenty of amusing things to do in the time.
- Arrival. A good Sci-Fi ideas movie. Denis Villeneuve may not work with the most original material, but he always polishes it to a mirror shine. One of the most technically proficient directors in cinema right now, and from whom I expect great things.
- Deadpool. Fun. That's it.
- Star Trek Beyond. Still not up to the standard of the 2009 film, but unabashed fun nonetheless.

Side Note: I love my local indie cinema. It's a great place to see movies, and there's almost always something interesting on there. I got to see Hell or High Water there this year, as well as two revivals: Brazilian gangland epic City of God, and David Lynch's masterwork Blue Velvet, both of which I enjoyed greatly.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I agree with two of the five movies that you mentioned.(Zootopia and Hell or High Water) To be fair, I haven't seen the other three movies. I watched the trailer to Moonlight the other day to see why it won a Golden Globe award. I can safely say that Moonlight doesn't appeal to me at all.

Also, I disagree with you about Zootopia's message about racism and sexism. It was the perfect allegory about tolerance. Even though every animal have assumptions about other creatures. It is about overcoming those assumptions and getting to know each animal as it's own person. So to speak.

 

[hentropy]

I'd like to give a shout-out to a South Korean movie called The Handmaiden, it's a movie that snuck up a little on everyone but it's gotten more deserved attention in the last month or so. Like The Neon Demon saying too much would be a betrayal, but it's certainly one worth checking out. It's probably my #1 of the year, though I addmittedly slacked off on seeing movies this year, only seeing The Neon Demon from the list.

At the end of 2016, I had When Marnie Was There in as my number one film of the year.

It is great movie, but it also "technically" (as in, recognized by Hollywood) came out in 2015 (released in Japan in 2014) and got an Oscar nomination for 2015. So you shouldn't feel too bad about bumping it off your 2016 list.

 

[09philj]

I'd like to give a shout-out to a South Korean movie called The Handmaiden, it's a movie that snuck up a little on everyone but it's gotten more deserved attention in the last month or so. Like The Neon Demon saying too much would be a betrayal, but it's certainly one worth checking out. It's probably my #1 of the year, though I addmittedly slacked off on seeing movies this year, only seeing The Neon Demon from the list.

At the end of 2016, I had When Marnie Was There in as my number one film of the year.

It is great movie, but it also "technically" (as in, recognized by Hollywood) came out in 2015 (released in Japan in 2014) and got an Oscar nomination for 2015. So you shouldn't feel too bad about bumping it off your 2016 list.

I go by UK releases since that's where I live. It's still my second favourite movie of the year, but Your Name edged it out.

 

[Hawki]

Well, can't really disagree with this list. Of the lot, only seen Hell and High Water and Zootopia, which took the #8 and #2 positions for me. I mean, okay, that's two out of 5, but I can't "disagree" with the other movies as I haven't seen them, and can only agree with the comments on the two I've seen, so, um, yeah.

I guess if we're playing the top five game, then my top five are:

5) The Revenant
4) Eye in the Sky
3) Hacksaw Ridge
2) Zootopia
1) The Fencer

Some of those would be 2015 movies depending on where you live I guess, but they didn't come out round here until 2016.

Now quick, get round to that "worst of" list.

 

[JemothSkarii]

Man I loved Hell or High Water, and Zootopia was nice. I'd like to give some shout outs to The Trust and Nocturnal Animals.

The Trust was a hidden (albeit flawed) gem. It was a wonderfully black comedy with surprisingly amazing chemistry between Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood. I found it well written and shot well, though I would have liked another 5 or 10 minutes towards the end as some... questionable decisions were made. Still, for a directorial debut it was an absolute blast.

Nocturnal Animals is my favourite film of 2016, and I have a hard time pointing out a fault with it. Well, there was a couple of scenes where the conversation stooped to just 'shot-reverse shot' and I felt that something more interesting could have been done there. BUT it was wonderfully shot, well written, I adore the themes it works with and the score is carefully used and absolutely gorgeous. It also does a great job at making you feel trapped.
... For the life of me I have no idea why people need to explain the ending though, I thought it was pretty straightforward.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Now quick, get round to that "worst of" list.

I think we all know that Minions is going to top that list.

 

[Hawki]

Now quick, get round to that "worst of" list.

I think we all know that Minions is going to top that list.

Wasn't that reviewed in 2015?

Even if it wasn't, my bet's still on Norm of the North.

 

[KissingSunlight]

Man I loved Hell or High Water, and Zootopia was nice. I'd like to give some shout outs to The Trust and Nocturnal Animals.

The Trust was a hidden (albeit flawed) gem. It was a wonderfully black comedy with surprisingly amazing chemistry between Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood. I found it well written and shot well, though I would have liked another 5 or 10 minutes towards the end as some... questionable decisions were made. Still, for a directorial debut it was an absolute blast.

Nocturnal Animals is my favourite film of 2016, and I have a hard time pointing out a fault with it. Well, there was a couple of scenes where the conversation stooped to just 'shot-reverse shot' and I felt that something more interesting could have been done there. BUT it was wonderfully shot, well written, I adore the themes it works with and the score is carefully used and absolutely gorgeous. It also does a great job at making you feel trapped.
... For the life of me I have no idea why people need to explain the ending though, I thought it was pretty straightforward.

I thought Nocturnal Animals was one of the most disappointing movies this year. I had a hard time caring about Amy Adams's character. The best part of the movie was the novel storyline. Overall, I thought the revelation of the betrayal and the ending was anti-climatic. It looked good. It was well-acted. However, the stories in the movie didn't gel very well with each other.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Now quick, get round to that "worst of" list.

I think we all know that Minions is going to top that list.

Wasn't that reviewed in 2015?

Even if it wasn't, my bet's still on Norm of the North.

...was it? Well, cripes, that shows how loose my sense of time is these days.