Top Ten Movies of
2016
2016 sucked in a lot of ways, not the least of which was when
it came to new movies. I know not everything that came out was bad, but there
sure were plenty of disappointments. I could do a whole top ten list of 2016
movies that were disappointing, but that’s too pessimistic. Instead, here are
the ten movies I enjoyed the most.
Right away, you are going to notice huge absences (“What? No
Sing Street? No Zootopia? The Nice Guys? La
La Land?”), and that’s because I didn’t actually see that many new movies
this year. In fact, I saw less new movies this year than I have in over five
years. That’s just how it goes, but next year will make up for this year (as
you’ll see in my upcoming most-anticipated movies of 2017).
Here is a list of all 2016 releases I’ve seen (so far),
roughly in order of release dates:
-The Witch
-Deadpool
-10 Cloverfield Lane
-Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice
-Captain America:
Civil War
-The Jungle Book
-Hush
-The Nice Guys
-X-Men: Apocalypse
-The Conjuring 2
-Warcraft
-Finding Dory
-The Shallows
-Star Trek Beyond
-Jason Bourne
-Bad Moms
-Suicide Squad
-Don’t Breathe
-Blair Witch
-Shin Godzilla
-Doctor Strange
-Arrival
-The Beatles: Eight
Days a Week
-Rogue One
And now, here are my top ten.
10. The Beatles: Eight Days a Week
Coming in at number ten is this music documentary that first
came on my radar in the early fall, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it
on TV a couple months later. It has some pretty incredible footage of The
Beatles playing in their heyday, and I liked that it maintained a focus on
their touring years only. Not that I wasn’t interested in any other facet of
the band, it was just nice to see such a tight focus, and yet still so much
comes out of this stretch of time from one of the greatest bands ever. Well-paced,
insightful, and of course full of awesome music, this is one of the best music
docs I’ve seen in recent years.
9. Don’t Breathe
I was really surprised when this little horror film came out
in late summer, made a killing at the box office, and achieved an impressive
score on Rotten Tomatoes, especially after seeing a trailer for it at The Shallows and thinking it looked
terrible. I still stand by that, I think the trailer showed too much and was
poorly cut, but the movie itself? Pretty damn creepy. It feels like a grungy
throwback to exploitative grindhouse-style horror flicks of the 1970’s, and
seems like a straight-forward home invasion movie at first, but goes in some
surprising and exciting directions. The acting all-around is convincing, the
tension is palpable, and without spoiling it, the last part of the film is
seriously terrifying. With the 2013 remake of Evil Dead, which I really enjoyed, and now Don’t Breathe, writer-director Fede Alvarez is definitely on my
radar.
8. Hush
Even more surprising for me than Don’t Breathe was Hush,
which is similar to Don’t Breathe in
some ways (mainly the home invasion aspect), but I found it even more effective,
mainly for its simplicity. There are only four characters in the whole movie
and it takes place entirely at a secluded house in the woods, which might sound
boring, but is far from it. The main character, a deaf woman, is very likable
and unique, and the killer is very detestable and disturbing. Watching her
evade him and make intelligent decisions instead of act like a dumb, cliché
horror movie character felt refreshing, and it keeps the story interesting with
inventive twists. A simple, but effectively-executed horror film (and a Netflix
exclusive, to boot).
7. Doctor Strange
Just like in 2014, both releases from Marvel made their way
into my top ten of the year. I really didn’t expect too much from Doctor Strange—perhaps tertiary-level
Marvel, like Ant-Man or Iron Man 3, if that—but I ended up
really enjoying it, and would say it ranks up there with some of the best
Marvel movies to date. Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character was great,
as was the rest of the cast, and the mind-bending visual effects served the
story well. As far as origin stories go, it does have some familiar elements,
but it still worked for me, and I’m looking forward to seeing Strange pop up in
future Marvel adventures (maybe Thor Ragnarok
next?)
6. Shin Godzilla
To think, at the beginning of this year, I wasn’t even sure
I’d be able to see Toho’s reboot to the Godzilla
franchise until 2017, let alone see it in theaters in 2016. But, thanks to fans
like me pleading for a North American release, Shin Godzilla (A.K.A Godzilla
Resurgence) came out in October, and while I was a little bit disappointed but
still happy with it at first, upon a second viewing, I loved it, and the more I
thought about it, the better it became. Unlike 2014’s American Godzilla reboot, which I thought was fun
the first couple times but has since lost some of the re-watchability, Shin Godzilla does a terrific job of
retooling the Godzilla lore and making it new while still paying tribute to the
original. Definitely not a giant monster movie for everyone, but for big Godzilla fans, it was a real treat.
5. The Witch
2016 might not be remembered for many good things, but one
good thing it can be remembered for is a resurgence in the horror genre. Some
of the most-profitable movies this year were horror movies, including The Conjuring 2, Lights Out, and the aforementioned Don’t Breathe. But without a doubt, the horror movie that had me
the most-captivated and most frightened was The
Witch. This isn’t a pure horror film, it’s also a psychological thriller, a
family drama, and a period piece, about a family in New England in the 17th
century terrorized by supernatural entities from the woods. Beautifully shot,
incredibly well-acted, especially from some of the younger cast members, and
unbelievably unsettling at points, The
Witch isn’t just one of the best horror movies in years, but one of the
best movies in general in years.
4. Deadpool
I’ve gone back and forth on Deadpool since seeing it way back in February. At first I
absolutely loved it and thought it was one of the best superhero movies ever
made, but then I saw it a second time and found it lost some of the magic without
a huge audience to watch it with and after all the hype had settled down, but
then I saw it a third time, and realized it really is a terrific comic book
movie. The way it so effortlessly moves from crass comedy to slam-bang action
to dramatic scenes you actually care about to scenes that are like something
out of a horror movie and swings back around to jokes again is a feat in
itself, but it also did what no other superhero movie (for me) has been able to
do since the first Iron Man: take a
comic book character general audiences don’t know about and make him an instant
icon. Deadpool did this exceedingly
well. In addition to delivering hilarity and action in great amount, it just
has so many memorable moments, and a high re-watchability factor as a result.
3. Captain America: Civil War
I feel like I’ve been talking about this movie ever since it
came out in May, and I think we’ll keep talking about it for years to come,
because Captain America: Civil War is
one of the best superhero movies ever, and achieved a number of things I
thought would be impossible. If you just pitch some of the ideas aloud, they
sound awful. Introducing Black Panther in this movie instead of in his own
origin story? Introducing a new Spider-Man,
even though the last Spider-Man movie was only two years ago? Have all the
heroes fight each other at an airport? It sounds insane, yet I’ve watched the
movie multiple times and every time it gets better. There’s so much to take in
and digest, but it works. It weaves many characters and storylines together
nearly seamlessly, delivers some of the best superhero action ever put on
screen (two words: airport battle), and is still a lot of fun.
2. The Jungle Book
While I may have enjoyed The
Jungle Book a tiny bit less than Civil War, I’m putting it one spot
higher, simply for being so technically flawless. As far as remakes go, The Jungle Book has to be one of the
best ever. I loved the animated movie as a kid, and I still appreciate it
today, but obviously it doesn’t hold up quite as well. This remake isn’t designed
just for people who grew up with the original, but those people in particular
should adore it the most, because it retells the story in the most effective
way possible, by beefing up the plot, retaining all the essentials from the
original, and having the perfect voice cast (and near-perfect Mowgli with
newcomer Neel Sethi). But visually, it is absolutely astounding, and truly is ground-breaking
in those regards. I really can’t think of anything I didn’t like about it,
beyond a couple nitpicky things, it’s just that good.
1. Arrival
There’s no doubt about it, Arrival is the best movie I saw in theaters in 2016, for a number
of reasons. First off, it’s wholly original. I’ve never seen an alien invasion
film quite like it—sure there have been similar ones like Contact or Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, but Arrival has
so much more going on than just being about aliens arriving on earth. Without
spoiling too much, I’ll say it deals with a distortion of time in a
one-of-a-kind way, but it also takes a very grounded and realistic approach to
what people would do or act like if aliens such as these really did show up,
and has subtle commentary on our world as it is today. No other movie this year
stuck with me like Arrival did; it
made me think about high-concepts long after I saw it, and I was absolutely captivated
while watching it. Being an avid sci-fi fan, I couldn’t help but love Arrival, and I can’t recommend it
enough, even if you aren’t big into sci-fi.
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