I love
ranking things. I think that's obvious by now. I do it a lot and I do it
thoroughly. I do it for a lot of reasons but one is chief among them. When I
rank something, it forces me to figure out what I value. I figure out what
things matter and what things don't. For movies, it comes down to being amused
over being amazed or valuing a performance over a visual style. It's a lot of
fun. It's also very personal. My list isn't wrong. I'd love to hear an argument
for one thing or another to change my mind, but whatever I choose is right. I
like that.
2016 is no 2015 when it comes to the movies at
the top of my list. I'd have a hard time fitting more than 2-3 films from 2016 into my
top 10 in 2015, which says more about the strength of 2015 than any sort of
weakness in 2016. In fact, 2016 has been good in its own way. There's a greater
variety of films that I've enjoyed, from musicals to noirs to bureaucratic
thrillers (yeah, it's a thing, and it's wonderful). I was genuinely surprised by
the films at the top of my list. It's probably the lowest grossing top 10 I've ever had,
which either means I'm maturing, I'm becoming a snob, or the major studios
dropped the ball this year. I don't think anyone with Sausage Party so high can
be a snob or maturing though, and I have enough films up high to still consider
myself a populist in my tastes. I do love this list. I'm sure it will change in
time. It always does, but it's a good snapshot of how I feel now.
In terms of numbers, I upped my game in 2016. I
saw 85 new movies*, which blew away my previous record of 74. I also saw more
movies in a theater
(75)
than ever before, by a healthy margin. Two of those movies were collections of
nominated Oscar Short films (Live-Action and Animated). Each collection I only
counted as one film and I didn't add either to my overall list below. They were
too hard to compare. I only saw two movies multiple times in the theater, both
in December. And I only saw three movies from 2015 that bled into the new year. In
short, I spent a lot of time seeing movies.
*Defined as movie with a theatrical release in the U.S. in 2016 or released specifically for a streaming service in 2016.
Before I begin, I'd like to
explain the list real quick. I've ordered everything I saw released in 2016
from best to worst in my own opinion. Mainly, I do this by asking myself
"What would I most regret having not seen?". It's a horrible
rhetorical argument, but it does the trick. I've divided the movies into 4
groups: Top 10, Next Top 10, Bottom 10, and Everything In Between. Try to think
of the middle movies in particular as a relative order, because it's hard to
compare, say Deadpool and Colonia when I didn't feel strongly about either. However, the top and bottom are more
reliable.
Top 10
I loved almost everything about this film. The music, Emma Stone and Ryan
Gosling, the color palette, the dance numbers, the themes, the ending. Oh, the
ending. What a lovely ending. It's a thin story, mostly by design so it can fit in the musical bits.
Stone is so good in this and Gosling is deceptively strong. All the films this high on my list are ones
that I rate highly, so the exact order is about picking from my gut. That's how anyone would
choose. La La Land energized me like no other movie in 2016. It's pretty and
fun to watch. It's joyous and it's bittersweet. It doesn't try to be a deeper
movie than it needs to be. I loved watching it just as much the second time as
the first. I simply can't imagine putting any other film at the top of my list.
This is not a movie I expected to be so high on my list. It looks like a
generic cops and robbers modern Western and little more. That's why it took a while to convince me to see it. Having seen it now, I'd
call it more of a Western-noir. The two pairs of lead characters - Chris Pine
and Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham - have nuanced relationships
with a lot of history. Bridges in particular has a casual brilliance that I've
seen a dozen times before from him but it never fails to amaze me. It's a beautiful film.
Texas landscape is rarely shot with so little judgment. This is a film that I
really can't sell with a description of it. You should just trust me on this
and see it.
I entered the theater with no expectations for this film. I barely knew a
thing about it. I left the theater blown away. I've been calling this a
"bureaucratic thriller" because that's what it is. It's about all the people
involved in a drone air strike - the military officials, the politicians, the
civilians - as they weigh the moral decisions of this action. The way that the
story expands and contracts without ever losing focus impressed the hell out of
me. It's full of great, restrained performances by the likes of Helen Mirren,
Alan Rickman, Aaron Paul, and many others. Such a great command of tone and
story mechanics.
What can I say? I loved this movie. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, much to
my surprise, make an excellent comic duo. I loved the 70's L.A. noir setting.
It's filled will dark, absurd humor. It's the movie in my top 10 that I'll have
the hardest time defending to others. It was perfectly tuned to my frequency
though. I had a blast watching it.
This absolutely won't appeal to everyone. It's a relentlessly raunchy
comedy of wordplay, sex jokes, and stereotypes. If you can get past that, it's
a deceptively smart screenplay with a lot on its mind. No kidding, I'd put this
in the top ten screenplays of the year non-ironically. Maybe evem top 5. It takes smart people to
be this dumb. I was very doubtful about this film despite my love of Seth Rogen
and Evan Goldberg’s previous work together. When I actually sat down to watch
it, it won me over and did so within minutes.
6. Moonlight
This is probably the single best made film of the year. The ensemble
doesn't have a weak link despite relying on some young performers. The
direction is impeccable. Thanks to the unique structure, it has three of the
best endings of any film this year. Even since I started putting this list
together it keeps moving up it. All I can say to explain why it's only fifth is
that I think it tried a little too hard to underline its points at times and
the films above it made me feel something stronger. This deserves all the
accolades it can get.
Without my preexisting Star Wars love, I'm not sure how I'd rate this. It's
an excellent war movie that's distinctly different from the previous films (the
Episodes) while still fitting in that universe. They found interesting ways to
get around the writing in A New Hope to give a new perspective on things that
previously felt like plot contrivances. It's a shame Felicity Jones won't be
able to be in more of these. She fit in well.
Mike Birbiglia's sophomore feature follows the end of an improv troupe and
where everyone goes next. It's a film about friendship, ambition, and when
those two conflict in the comedy world. That's basically catnip for me. On a technical level,
the film isn't all that adventurous, but the characters are incredibly real. I
loved watching them bounce off one another.
9. Jackie
This is not your normal biopic. Natalie Portman gives a career-best
performance as Jackie Kennedy. It's an unsettling movie about legacy-building
and what one's accomplishments really mean. If you are watching for anything
other than Portman though, you're missing the point.
10. Zootopia
Disney Animation really outdid itself with this one. Not only is Zootopia
totally charming, funny, and dense with detail. It's also overflowing with
great messages that aren't delivered in an overly-preachy way. Ginnifer
Goodwin, Jason Bateman, and company make up a superb voice cast. It looks
great. I really have nothing bad to say about it. The fact that it's dropped so
far in my top 10 is probably a healthy dose of recency bias.
Next Top 10
Jeff Nichols resists the urge to play up the big moments in this and ultimately
makes something far more meaningful. Joel Edgerton and especially Ruth Negga do
lovely work. It's a small movie about big things.
12. Lion
This was the last new film I saw in 2016. It's best to end the year with a
little cry. This one is almost reverse-engineered to leave anyone misty-eyed at
the end (if not a blubbering mess). This story of an Indian orphan reuniting with the family he lost
when he was five is lovely. It sags a little toward the middle when it's trying
to make GoogleMaps interesting, but that's the only thing I can knock about it.
13. The VVtch
I was correct when I said the true measure of the movie was how long it
lingered with me. This one lingered for a while and left me more on edge than
any movie I saw in 2016. I always like to have at least one movie that I can't
shake put high on my list. It couldn't manage the top 10 though. Maybe by next
year.
I love that Cloverfield is a brand now. While not tied to the 2008 film at
all, both Vloverfield films represent an experimentation and sense of play that is nice to
see from a major studio. John Goodman gives a great performance that, in a just
world, would have him in the discussion to finally land his first Oscar
nomination. The fewer preconceived expectations you have going into this claustrophobic
thriller the better.
15. Arrival
This film stuck with me more than I guessed it would. Amy Adams gives a
rich performance that's more demanding than it seems. I love when a movie has
an ending that changes how you watched everything before it without cheapening
the earlier events. It's the difference between a twist and getting a new lens to view
a story with.
16. Sing Street
God bless John Carney and everything he does. This is a nice, nostalgic
little movie about the British music of the 80s. The original songs are
wonderful and the young cast is talented. I don't see how someone could come
away from this in a bad mood.
Manchester takes a familiar story type and packs it with fantastic
performances from Kyle Chandler, Michelle Williams, and especially Casey
Affleck, who will rightfully be the frontrunner for any Lead Actor award
you can find in 2016. It has a weird sense of humor and really loves to wallow in
misery at points. If you feel nothing while watching this, you probably need to
talk to your therapist about that.
Richard Linklater meanders better than any other filmmaker. I'm not sure
there's a point to Everybody Wants Some!! and I'm not sure I care. It's a
spiritual prequel to Dazed and Confused and packed with characters who I
enjoyed being around. Sometimes, films don't have to be more complex than that.
19. Fences
This is what you get when you pair a couple great actors (Denzel Washington
and Viola Davis) with big characters and more narrative conflict than you can
shake a stick at. It's true that Washington didn't do much to adapt this play
for the screen, but with performances this good, there's not much need to.
20. Hail, Caesar!
I'm becoming a bigger and bigger Coen brothers fan. This isn't top-tier
Coen brothers, but it's still a lot of fun. It's a nostalgic movie about a messy era in
Hollywood. And what a cast. One day, I may even understand the finer points
about what is going on.
Everything in Between
It's an R-rated teen movie. I'm more fascinated by that than I should be.
Hailee Steinfeld proves that she can carry a film on her own and Woody Harrellson
does some MVP work. I'm a sucker for a good coming of age story and this one
has a clear voice and strong lead.
This combines two of my favorite types of movie lately: movies about people
who do their damn jobs and movies that resist the urge to go bigger than
needed. This is more comfortable as an HBO movie, perhaps. The simple acting
and technical storytelling is more engaging than I would've expected. Of the
films I saw, Bleecker Street was 2 for 2 in 2016.
A completely formulaic movie that works because it doesn't look down on the
formula. Andrew Garfield commits to a goofy performance. If he was any less
earnest about it, it wouldn't work. Mel Gibson puts together some exciting
battle scenes and does a great job selling Desmond Dos' heroism. Even while I
watched it, I felt like more things about the film should be bothering me and
they just didn't.
The Marvel movies can only ever be so good. If anyone is out there looking
for a "prestige" superhero movie from Marvel, you'll be looking for a
while. Given then, I'll happily take an action movie with good set pieces,
entertaining characters, and plenty of jokes instead.
Six months later, I still can't figure out what I like about this film so
much. It's earnest pulp and opts to tell the familiar Tarzan story in a
different way than I've seen before. Much to the studio's chagrin, I doubt this
will ever get a sequel, and I'm ok with that. As is, it's like watching part 2
of a trilogy in which no part 1 or 3 was made.
Ryan Reynolds couldn't be more perfect for the role. I appreciate the
anarchy or the film and the simplicity (and low stakes) of the story, even if
the relentless joking and one-upmanship of the humor exhausted me by the end.
If nothing else, it's nice to see a movie that changes Hollywood logic as
profoundly as this did.
This is a fascinating look inside a cult, told with footage from an actual
former member, collected over decades. There's nothing particularly
"cinematic" about it, but the story it tells makes up for that.
Nate Parker's film about the Nat Turner slave revolt does an excellent job
showing the slave experience in the South and showing why it would inevitably
lead to a revolt. By the time he gets to the slave revolt though, the story
starts going through the motions, which is a shame.
Peter Berg makes a pretty great disaster movie out of real events without
getting preachy about it. This film has no business being as engaging as it is.
None of the performances blew me away. What did was Berg's ground view of a
much larger event and his thorough understanding of the phrase "too big to
fail".
The music is catchy. The animation is beautiful. The characters are
likable. The story is familiar. Disney Animation is on a hot streak right now.
This is a great Paul Feig movie and an adequate Ghostbusters movie. The four
Ghostbusters offer a variety of character types and all get their moments.
Chris Hemsworth almost steals the show. It's such a goofy movie that I hardly
see what all the fuss what about leading up to it.
Perhaps the best example of the whole being greater than the sum of its
parts in a film. Nothing about Jon Favreau's live-action Jungle Book is
exceptional (perhaps until you consider how much of this was shot with green
screen and you can't tell). Everything is good though. The voice cast. The CGI.
The screenplay. And when a movie lacks any obvious weaknesses, it's hard to see
how anyone could fail to enjoy it.
Good luck finding two comedy partners more familiar with each other than
Key & Peele. While the movie often felt like a 90-minute sketch from their
Comedy Central show, it's hard to complain, because they know exactly how to punctuate
the beats of every joke. In an ideal world, those two would come out with a
movie like this every year and build a remarkable catalogue that wouldn't rest
on the strength of any individual installment.
Whit Stillman brings his distinctive wit to a lesser known Jane Austen
work. Kate Beckinsale fits into the world nicely along with the rest of the
cast. It looks like everyone is having a lot of fun.
Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard ably carry the film. The structure -
breaking the movie into halves and telling very different stories - is a
refreshing change from the ordinary. The story resolves in a much less
interesting way than I'd hoped, and the film lacks the kind of stand-out moments
I'd expect from a Robert Zemeckis movie.
It's a great return to form for Pixar after The Good Dinosaur disappointed.
This film was funny and delivered some devastating emotional beats. The story
takes some shortcuts that Pixar normally doesn't rely on. Overall, it's hard to
find much to fault though. It's crazy to think that this is the highest grossing
animated movie of all time.
The movie is half farce (boo) and half raunchy comedy (yay). The main
quartet (Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendrick, Zac Efron, and Adam Devine) look like
they had a blast making this reverse Wedding Crashers.
For a comedy movie, this is probably my favorite cast of the year - Seth
Rogen, Rose Byrne, Chloe Grace Moretz, etc. The story is more forced this time
around, which makes all the difference. There's plenty of jokes and some
interesting commentary on college sexism. I'd still argue that they'd've been
better off stopping after the first movie.
A great example of episodic blockbuster filmmaking. It's a 2-hour episode
of Star Trek with a $100 million budget and stunt and effects crews to match.
It's one of the few big summer movies this year that didn't feel like it was
only there to lay pipe for what's coming next. It feels like this cast has been
together for way more than three movies.
It turns out Oliver Stone with a little restraint is something I enjoy.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt carries the film and does a good enough job that I barely
cared about the odd vocal inflection by the end.
Nicolas Winding Refn decided to tell a nihilistic tale about the modeling
world and managed to piss off a lot of people with it. The visuals are very
distinct, to say the least. I respect Refn's willingness to make something
guaranteed to be this divisive. Elle Fanning is surprisingly good in it. The
film is a little scattered for my tastes, but I had a mostly favorable response
to it.
I really don't think I'll have a proper opinion of this until I see more
Fantastic Beasts films. Too many things are either clever restraint or gaps in
story-telling that I won't be able to determine without a sequel or two. I
think Eddie Redmayne is giving an intentionally unassuming performance and
David Yates/J.K. Rowling have laid a good foundation for future adventures. The
stakes are profoundly lower than in the Harry Potter story and you can feel it.
It's an interconnected horror anthology from many of the people responsible
for the V/H/S movies. It would be hard for me to not find something to like
about it. All the stories are effectively told without any of them lingering
with me the way a good horror movie should.
It's a simple, clever horror movie about a deaf woman battling a home
invader in her remote house in the woods. It's more of an experiment though and feels expectedly
thin. I like the experiment though, so I'll forgive that.
A well-made documentary that clearly lays out its case that the US prison
system is unfairly biased against black people. I prefer Ava DuVernay when she's directing
a feature film, but she's quite good as a documentary filmmaker too.0
As a collection of characters, Suicide Squad is pretty great. As a film,
it's pretty mediocre. Without actors like Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jared
Leto, and Viola Davis really sinking their teeth into their roles, it would
barely function on any level. Thankfully they do have those actors to
legitimize things.
It's a big mess of a superhero movie that I liked well enough. There's too
much going on, but having too many good actors who deserve more screen time is a
good problem to have. Ben Affleck is a surprisingly good Batman. Gal Gadot gets
an excellent introduction to the universe. I'm not the biggest Zack Snyder fan,
but I do love his desire to go as big as possible whenever he can.
This plays to all of Tina Fey's strengths and she carries the movie throughout.
I like that she's trying roles like this. It was hurt by a lack of narrative
propulsion by the end.
Tom Ford assembles an excellent cast (Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael
Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and tells a much more ambitious story for his
2nd feature. The problem is that the dialogue was as stilted as anything I saw
this year Ford fell in love with his own shots a little too much. Adams and
Gyllenhaal are almost good enough to make that not matter.
I appreciated the slow build at this suspicious dinner party. It nicely
built the tension and stayed patient. However, the payoff wasn't quite enough
for all the build.
The stories of teen victims and survivors of sexual assault were
striking. I'm not sure what else the documentary what trying to do other than
getting a couple stories out there. I'd like to get a little more out of the documentary
than I could get from an episode of SVU.
It was an unneeded sequel that did its best to work around and connect to
the first movie. Once it was able to just be a scary movie, it worked well. It's only
when it tried to build up the needless mythology that it faltered.
2/3s interesting science fiction movie. 1/3 action movie that found the
easiest way to write out of a lot of tough narrative corners. Jennifer Lawrence
and Chris Pratt work great together though, which is great, since that's the
majority of the movie.
If you put that many actresses who I like together (Dakota Johnson, Alison
Brie, Leslie Mann, Rebel Wilson), I'm bound to find something to enjoy. Nothing
about the script struck me though.
There's something nice about seeing someone who is good at his job doing a
good thing. That made Sully refreshing to watch. Tom Hanks does great work in
this character study. There just wasn't enough story and conflict to fill the
time.
Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, and Rachel Weisz bring their A-games
to this, which keeps it engaging for long stretches. However, the story
requires setting up way too much and keeping Weisz away for too long.
A nostalgia-driven movie can work if it's committed to the things people
are nostalgic for about it. Out of the Shadows isn't a serious movie. Its only
desire is to appease the fans it already has, and it's a success at that. To
everyone else, it's meh.
Anthony Fuqua assembles an entertaining group of seven - including Denzel Washington
and Chris Pratt - who I enjoy watching together. The climactic defense of the
town was surprisingly impersonal and confusingly staged. With a little polish,
this could've shot up my list.
Marvel couldn't've been less interested in this. Benedict Cumberbatch makes
a good Dr. Strange. They surrounded him with a talented cast (but not for the type of movie they were making). The resolution to
the conflict was nice in how different it was from every other Marvel movie. The
movie was just inert, like Marvel wanted to get it out of the way so
Strange can be in the next Avengers. Well, congratulations. You checked off
that box, Marvel.
It's The Lonely Island as a 90-minute movie. I'm not the biggest fan of
their humor. This is a good version of it though. Andy Samberg is a natural for
this kind of role and style of jokes.
There was too much in Apocalypse to fit all the pieces together
comfortably. Over the last 16 years, the X-Men franchise has stumbled into
quite the cast (J-Law, Jackman, Fassbender, McAvoy). I don't blame them for not
wanting to let anyone go, but it might be time for it so they can reboot and
start proper. As is, the franchise is a mess that has no way to make movies
that are better than a B or B+.
I cannot question anyone's commitment to the movie. Morgan Saylor gives is
everything she's got. Sadly, the film is more concerned with being gritty and
"real" than being interesting.
It got this high on the strength on the strength of the Olympic scenes,
which were impressive. The majority of the film is a cookie-cutter
sports/racism movie. The Olympics were something different and almost made up
for the rest of it.
Horror sequels are hard to do right. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are
great leads and, along with James Wan's direction, sell a lot of the moments.
It's a little too familiar to the first movie and relies on skepticism too
much, given what is presented in the film.
Definitely a case of the Wikipedia article being more interesting than the
film. Emma Watson is solid in it. I liked what Michael Nyqvist was doing as the
despotic leader of the facility. The story was just far too conventionally
told.
It's a fine scary movie with a great premise (a demon woman who can only
move in the dark). Sadly, it relies on too many of the horror tropes that
bother the hell out of me (mainly, characters acting stupid only to further the
plot).
I'd call this a far cry from the original. Really, it's not. The problem is
there's not a good way to make a sequel to ID4. Rolland Emmerich has no interest in
anything other than having aliens attack again. He's good at that part. He
couldn't be less interested in the mythology and world building.
With the core quartet of Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain,
and Chris Hemsworth, there's a floor on how bad the movie can be. Sadly, the
film doesn't rise much about that floor. By any measure, it's one of the most unneeded
sequels you'll ever find and the things that they could really sell the movie
on - Theron vs. Blunt, Chastain and Hemsworth's chemistry - were underutilized.
The joke of the movie is the title. It's a film made with a high degree of
difficulty that almost overcomes it. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a
"target audience" for it. Lily James is fine in the lead role though.
The best action movie of 1997. It was far less pulpy than the first movie,
much to its detriment. It's kind of like Tom Cruise likes making these movioes just so
he can flex those muscles between Mission Impossible movies.
I love Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones to death. They couldn't make me care
about this conspiracy thriller. This ended up being a lazy Da Vinci Code and lacked a proper villain like Angels & Demons had. Ron Howard's
direction wasn't enough to make this interesting.
The film is an entertaining action movie. Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick
work nicely in it. The reliance on twists turned me off by the end, and it
attempts to tell the story of about three different movies. It's a movie that
works best if I turn my brain off, but then it challenges me to solve riddles
the whole way through.
I get the feeling that somewhere in the troubled process to get this made
they lost track of what about it made it worth being made in the first place. The character dynamics weren't interesting enough to make me care about the
climactic shootout between Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton and Ewan McGregor
and his gang.
A good performance by Emily Blunt in the middle couldn't save this from
being a coincidence-filled mystery that pulled too much visually from Gone Girl.
It's hard to knock a movie for being exactly what it promises. Too much of
the humor was exhausted in the trailers and the characters weren't any more
engaging the second time around.
I see why Disney buried this. It's a fairly dull story of a stranded ship
that they tried to turn into an event film. It's nice that Chris Pine and Casey
Affleck have other films this year that are strong that we can talk about
instead.
Bottom 10
This was a mess of a Young Adult dystopia that even Chloe Grace Moretz (and
Maika Monroe) couldn't save. And I don't pan Chloe movies lightly.
This was a completely unneeded movie that turned the Bourne franchise into
Burn Notice, except Matt Damon doesn't have any friends like Bruce Campbell around.
Paul Greengrass shoots the film confidently enough and Damon fits back into the
role naturally. But, it's all for a movie that is running in place and less
about Jason Bourne than ever before.
Warren Beatty's pet project and return to film landed with a thud. It's a
movie about daddy issues and I don't understand why Beatty worked so hard to
get it made. The pairing of Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins isn't used nearly
enough to save the rest of the film.
I don't like that it felt like Christopher Guest wasn't bringing his
A-game to this. It was overly familiar to what he's done before and no one stood out as
particularly engaged. Still some good jokes. Not enough to overcome the
indifference.
A great cast that the movie didn't do anything with. I never cared for the
stakes of the movie or the beats of the story. More forgettable than bad, I
suppose.
Sold as a thriller with a great twist. Instead, it focused more on the
personal lives of the unlikable teens filming their crotchety neighbor and had
a mystery that, never felt threatening.
Something with Miles Teller and Jonah Hill shouldn't be this generically
bad. The screenplay had nothing interesting to say and the two leads somehow
had no chemistry together. It's a movie that I went from looking forward to
counting down the minutes for it to end.
I like Melissa McCarthy as a performer but not as a writer and producer. It
might be as simple as that. The Boss has some fine comedic moments and a
likable cast, but the story is weak. Every scene is in service to a punchline
with little concern about how those scenes fit together to form a narrative. It pains me
to so thoroughly reject something with McCarthy and Kristen Bell in the lead
roles.
I think I summed this up best in the conclusion of my reaction to it:
Money Monster is a movie
that I didn't like that is also just plain badly made. It actually makes George
Clooney look like a bad actor. It wastes Julia Roberts entirely. The story is
rubbish. The screenplay is a mess. The tone is all wrong and/or inconsistent.
The characters are thin and not developed. A couple funny lines and a poorly
thought out corporate conspiracy are not enough to save this. This is a garbage
movie. I can't be any nicer about it.
I can't find a positive angle to talk about this film. The plot is
convoluted. The dialogue is clunky. It wasn't given a budget that fit what they
were trying to do with it. Worst of all, they take the movie away from Shailene
Woodley and make her a nominal lead. You could argue that other movies on my
list were worse on a technical level. This is the only one that felt like
everyone collectively gave up. No one seems engaged by any part of the film and
that comes across loud and clear.
As I said, I also saw the Oscar nominated shorts (Animated andLive-Action). I think my reaction pretty well ranks those already. Leftover
from 2015 that I saw in 2016 is a trio of films that received varying attention
from critics, awards groups, and audiences. The Hateful Eight is my favorite
Tarantino movie in quite a while. At over 3 hours, it's basically Tarantino
playing around for as long as he wants. With a top tier cast, he delights in
keeping the audience guessing with how things will play out and who will
survive. The Revenant was two hours of Leonardo DiCaprio getting his Oscar.
It's a pretty and brutal movie, but it left me cold (no pun intended).
Anomalisa hit me hard in ways that I didn't like. It's a quality movie, but I
never intend to see it again.
Finally, I like to go back and see how my top 10 has changed since last
year. It's sort of my evidence that rankings are fluid and gives me a chance to
include any films with a slow release schedule after the fact. The Hateful
Eight, The Revenant, nor Anomalisa were good enough to break in. In fact,
the top 10 last year is still intact. There's been some movement within it but
that's it. This is not a surprise to me since I was aware at this time last
year that 2015 was an incredibly strong year at the top. So, here you
go...
Top 10 of 2015
3. Inside Out
4. Ex Machina
5. Tomorrowland
7. The Martian
8. Creed
9. Spotlight
10. Room
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