Your favorite movies of 2016

I think this was a better movie year than 2015. My top two, at least, are better than anything from last year. IMO, of course.

1. La La Land
2. Hell or High Water
3. Manchester by the Sea
4. Hacksaw Ridge
5. Arrival
6. The Witch
7. Loving
8. Captain America: Civil War

I'm keeping two spots open for movies I haven't seen yet.

Your favorites?

 

My favorite movie is Rogue One - A Star Wars Story.

I will confirm this tomorrow after I have seen it.

 

No matter what, no other 2016 movie can top that one for you, huh?

 

01. Son Of Saul (Laszlo Nemes)
02. The Assassin (Hsiao-Hsien Hou)
03. High Rise (Ben Wheatley)
04. The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
05. Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)
06. The Revenant (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
07. Under The Shadow (Babak Anvari)
08. Victoria (Sebastian Schipper)
09. Julieta (Pedro Almodovar)
10. Embrace Of The Serpent (Ciro Guerra)

 

I stand by my initial post! May the force be with you

 

Movies of my neighborhood in the late 60's, shot on 16MM and in pristine condition, that a friend dug up when his dad died. Incredible, too busy being kids to realize we were being filmed. Like looking at your childhood through a time machine. Haven't seen a bottle of Fresca like that since 1969!

sorry Hollywood, you can't beat that.

 

None...I didn't see any this year!

 

My 10 favorites of 2016 (not in order except top 2):

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (I had no problem with CGI Tarkin and CGI Leia. I love this movie and fits in nicely with ANH. As for lack of character development of some of the characters, I had no problem with that either. I look at this movie as the means to the beginning of the end, if you know what I mean. The players in this movie were just pawns. The overall big picture of what happens is the important part, not character studies.)

2. Hacksaw Ridge (Outstanding war movie. I rank it up there with one of the best. One of the most realistic war movies I've ever seen. Mel Gibson did a great directing job and Vince Vaughan, Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington and Hugo Weaving did outstanding acting jobs.)

3. Deadpool (Loved it. I was the last person in my family to go see it. I ended up seeing it a few months later at discount theater after it left the first run theaters. Wish I went with the family during the first run.)

4. Doctor Strange (Very trippy and a departure from the usual Marvel movies. Some of the people I saw it with didn't like it though.)

5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Yes, I liked the movie. I thought the story was good, Wonder Woman was awesome and Ben Affleck played a very good Batman/Bruce Wayne. My only complaint was how dark it looked and maybe the final monster they had to fight was a little over-the-top.)

6. X-Men: Apocalypse (It had some flaws, but overall I liked it. It didn't feel bloated like Captain America: Civil War did.)

7. The Legend of Tarzan (Except for a couple CGI animals, I thought the special effects were outstanding, especially with Tarzan swinging on the vines in the jungle. Margot Robbie as a different type of Jane was nice.)

8. Ben-Hur (Yes, I liked it, even though it's the 4th remake and changed some plot points and trimmed out a lot of stuff from the Charlton Heston version. The CGI-infested chariot race at the end was well done, IMO. Sure, the Charlton Heston version is a classic/masterpiece, but I thought this new one was a good homage.)

9. The Accountant (Not much to say, but it was a different take on the action/thriller genre. Anyone who likes action/thriller and knows someone in real life who has high-functioning autism should like this movie.)

10. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (If you liked the first one, you should like this one too. I thought it was just as good as the first one. Since I never read the books, I didn't have any preset idea of what Jack Reacher should look like. Hence, I have no problem of Tom Cruise portraying the character. )


Just on the outside:

Captain America: Civil War (Could've been much better if they didn't have so many characters in it. It was too bloated in that aspect. Other than that, Spider-man being too silly, childish, cartoonish, etc. was my biggest complaint. I did like the action scenes.)

Fantastic Beasts (This one got much better in the 2nd half of the movie. The setup in the first half drug on too long with them trying to wow the crowd with the CGI of all the beasts. But once all that and the backstory and introduction of certain characters were over, the action picked up. Hopefully the remaining movies/books in this series grow into something worthy. Don't know if they will become as beloved as Harry Potter series, but it has potential.)

Inferno (Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones were good in their parts and the story was a departure from the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. If you like Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series, you should like this.)


Two Notable Disappointments:

1. Independence Day: Resurgence (Probably the biggest piece of crap of the year that I saw. Huge, huge letdown. Was so hyped about it, leading up to its release. Loved the first one, hated this one.)

2. Arrival (I made my feelings known in the Arrival thread. I didn't hate it like the other 3 people who saw it with me, but it didn't live up to what I thought it was going to be. I thought it got too cute with all the time displacement with the linear vs. non-linear time. I just can't brush away the big paradox, like some people apparently have.)


Other 2016 movies I saw aren't worth mentioning, including Star Trek Beyond. I didn't hate it as much as many people here did, but I didn't love it either. It was a middle-of-the-road movie for me this year. Not near the best and not near the worst.


Some more 2016 movies I still want to see before the end of the Year:

Office Christmas Party (Well, I have this week to see it, if I want. Don't know if I can fit it in my schedule. Trailers look funny. Don't know about the rest of the movie.)

Assassin's Creed (Will probably see this on Friday or Christmas Eve. Curious to see how this one plays out. Looks interesting with Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Irons, and Marion Cotillard. I never played the video game, so I really don't know the story except what is in the trailers.)

Passengers (Will probably see this one during the week between Christmas and New Years. Trailers look interesting. Early reviews, though, haven't been as high as I'd hoped. Still going to see it since I like Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Larry Fishburne and Andy Garcia.)


Other 2016 movies I planned on seeing but changed my mind after reading bad/mixed reviews, hearing about them from people who saw them, etc.:

Suicide Squad: I wanted to see it but then when all the stuff came out about re-writes/re-shoots/re-edits, I started to have my doubts. But I still planned on seeing it, regardless. Then when it was released and I started reading reviews, I changed my mind. The nail in the coffin was when my brother and his family saw it. They all hated it, except my brother. He thought it was "pretty good". I decided to just wait for it to come on cable movie channels.

Ghostbusters: Original movies are good enough and I had no desire to see it after reading the initial reviews, despite 4 women leads instead of 4 men leads.

Bad Santa 2: I was so pumped about this when I found out about it (I started the thread for it here.) But after I found out that all the behind-the-scenes people were different, I started to have reservations. Then when it was released and I read all the reviews and it bombed, I knew I wasn't going to waste my money on it.

Warcraft: The rest of my family saw this and a couple of them liked it, while a couple others hated it. The reason I didn't go with them was because I had an appointment at that time. I planned on seeing it later, but after I started to read more about it, I decided to save my money and catch it at a later time at my convenience when it is on cable TV.

Gods of Egypt: Again, like Warcraft, the family went and saw it without me. I will catch it later.

The Magnificent Seven: Bad reviews were one of the deciding factors for me not seeing this. The hip-hop sountrack in the trailers was another turn-off. Originally, I was pumped up about seeing it since it had a great cast with Denzel, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ethan Hawke and Peter Sarsgaard. My brother and his family went and saw it at the 2nd run theater, but I don't know what he thought about it. I'll just catch this one on cable.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: When I originally saw the trailers, I thought it might be an interesting war film. Also, can't go wrong with Vin Disel, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker. But once I started to read what it was about, I decided it wasn't for me. And it bombed too, which didn't help.

Allied: This Brad Pitt/Marion Cotillard WWII thriller looked interesting when I first saw the trailers. The reviews were mixed but that didn't affect my decision to not see it. Basically, there were other movies out that had a higher priority to see. If I can fit it in before it leaves, I might still see it. Or I might wait until it hits second run theaters. But, if I do miss it, it's no big loss on my part. I imagine I will see it eventually.



NOTE: I am not counting The Revenant even though it didn't come to my theaters until early 2016. It is actually considered a 2015 film. If I were to include it, it would definitely be in my top 10, near the top.

 

Rouge One is taking some heat for the 'lack of character development' but I agree that the overall story and how it unfolded was all that movie needed; that story is the movie. I feel they went into more than enough backstory between Jyn and her father to engage the viewer and move the real story ahead. Their paths were tragic and sad, and I felt enough of a connection to empathize with them. I thought her last scene was touching, bringing home the stark reality that lives/personal histories don't matter in the terrible, desperate situations as depicted in this movie. Pawns indeed, making the ultimate sacrifice...makes that all the more tragic since you never really knew their story, and that knowing the story won't continue for them. She would never have a happy ending to a troubled, sad, rough past.

 

The Love Witch was my favorite. Then again, I like movies like House of the Devil and Black Dynamite.