What are your top/favorite films from 2016?

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2015
thread/18694/Top-films-of-2015/
2014
thread/17091/Top-films-of-2014/
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2013
thread/15658/Top-10-Films-of-2013/


All the films I saw...
6 = Exceptionally Incredible
5 = Amazing / Superb
4 = Great
3 = Good
2 = Ok/Meh
1 = Bad
0 = Horrible

Captain America - Civil War = 5
Rogue One - A Star Wars Story = 5
Batman v Superman (ultimate cut) = 4
The Conjuring 2 = 4
Shin-Godzilla = 4
X-Men - Apocalypse = 4
Star Trek - Beyond = 4 maybe low 4
Batman v Superman (theatrical) = high 3
Suicide Squad = high 3
London Has Fallen = 3 maybe high 3
The Siege of Jadotville = 3
Only saw 2 films in theaters which is honestly depressing.
Will update once I have seen Arrival.

I didn't see that many movies...but from what I did see..

1: 13th: I liked Selma, but this showed me that Ava Duverany has got her career head of her. It's a frightning documentary about how the 13th amendment has been abused, as well as showing how much this country has held black people back.

2: Deadpool: No explanation needed.

3: Arrival: This confirmed for me that sci-fi in the modern age is striking up gold (With movies like The Martian being a surprise success and Ex Machina still being my favorite movie of the decade. But even without comparisons to others, Arrival is great.

As for others (+ and - mean what you think they mean; equal sign means meh):
Edge of Seventeen (=)
Green Room (+)
Nocturnal Animals (-)
Wiener (+)
Midnight Special (+)
Rogue One (+)

I might add movies like Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, 20th Century Woman, The Handmaiden, Silence, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Zootopia when I get around to them.

simple +/0/- scale for woo!, meh!, and booo!

Batman v. Superman -
Civil War +
Deadpool +
Dr. Strange +
Rouge One +
Star Trek Beyond 0
The Lobster +
Zootopia +

So pretty decent overall, but I didn't see all that many movies this past year.

Forgot to add Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping to the list. If it weren't for the shitty marketing and/or lack of promotion, this movie could've been a small hit.

I saw a bunch of movie in 2016 but actually most of them are not from this year, did they count?

Civil War: I didn't like it, it had tonal issues, no clear direction and I didn't care most of the time. Honestly I'm tired of the whole MCU, every year the same movies, the same characters.
Dottor Strange: After bashing Marvel I must say that I liked this one. It wasn't anything special by any means but like Ant Man it was different enough and "small scaled", so it was okay.
Batman V Superman: while it was better than Civil War having at least a constant tone and a Batman performance that I really liked it was a bit of a mess and I honestly won't re watch it in the near future.
Deadpool: I'm realising I saw too many superhero movies this year. I liked it but I won't see a sequel, it was fresh and new once.
The Hateful Eight: It came out in January here in Italy so I think it counts. I liked it and while it was not as good as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, my favorite Tarantino movies, it had some good visual, great characters and a fantastic score by Ennio Morricone. My expectations were met so I was happy with it.
Revenant: Like the previous movie it come out in January here in Italy and I personally saw it after the Oscars. There's really not too much to say about this movie: Inarritu and Lubezki made the movie pretty much flawless from a technical point of view. I think I've never seen something as good looking and natural as this. Was the movie something I'll remember forever? No. The actual plot it's forgettable and Di Caprio did a fantastic yet "meh" interpretation. I think Tom Hardy outshined him and Domhnall Gleeson too was really good in it.
They Call Me Jeeg: Probably my favorite movie of 2016. Its original name is "Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot" and it was an huge success here. It's very difficult to explain this movie but it's basically a dark superhero movie focusing on three characters. Enzo is the protagonist, he's an antihero, he lives alone in Tor Bella Monica, the worst part of Rome, and he's a thief and occasionally is involed in stuff like drug smuggling (in one of the first scene he's in an abandoned building with some "negri", niggers in english, that have cocain inside their stomach and have to "push it out". Alessia is a young lady with mental issues that for some reasons that I won't spoil is forced to live with Enzo. She lives in her own fantasy world watching "Steel Jeeg" all day and fusing the fantasy with reality. She's basically the only hopeful and cheerish character in the movie. Enzo and Alessia have "an hard time" living together and that's will lead to some fucked up scenes. The antagonist is The Gipsy, "lo Zingaro" in Italian. He's pretty much a twisted Joker, so he's pretty twisted, and is obsessed with italian pop culture* and has a strong will to make it too the top. It's well directed, well acted with one of the best villain I've ever seen, it has a good score. It's a great comicbook movie mixed with all the elements that make a typical good italian movie. I can't recommand it enough.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blZ56rekW4c here's an iconic performace remade in the movie by him.
Café Society: Oh god Wody what have you become. The movie is tasteless, it just lacks in all the aspect that make a great Allen movie. I could remember just one dialogue on the way to home and now I forgot it. The story had potential but it never deliver.

Surely I saw other movies this year made this year but now I can't remember them, plus a bunch of older stuff, maybe I'll add them later if it's not OT.

I'll just list the films I saw in theaters in 2016 with a quick opinion.

THE HATEFUL EIGHT: Glorious.
THE BIG SHORT: Excellent cinematic journalism.
THE REVENANT: Overrated pretension. Emmnauel Lubezki's cinematography is glorious but all "look-at-me". Tom Hardy almost saves it.
STAR WARS EPISODE VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS: A weak story saved by a talented cast giving it their all.
CAROL: Solid.
JOY: Forgettable. I remember it was well-shot.
ANOMALISA: A masterpiece that cuts deep.
13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI: Probably Michael Bay's best film in a decade.... which isn't saying much.
JANE GOT A GUN: Dull. Want a documentary about the insane behind the scenes trials.
HAIL, CAESAR! : Great Coens. Underappreciated. Has two of the best scenes of the year - Channing Tatum sailor dance + "Would that it t'were so simple"
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN: A classic. Even better on 35mm.
DEADPOOL: Bad. Great opening scene. Blows its load 10 minutes in then drags on for another 90.
THE WITCH: Spooky as hell.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (BLACK & CHROME EDITION): Only the best Hollywood movie of the past decade. Perfection. Got a chance to screen this with peers months before the Black & White edition was released to public.
THE BOY & THE BEAST: Really bad. Nice animation but Mamoru Hosada's story & characters blew.
ONLY YESTERDAY: One of the best Ghibli films finally got to play in the US. Wonderful!
KNIGHT OF CUPS: Terrence Malick makes a solid if slight entry in his body of work. Based on how the film is shot Malick is clearly an ass man.
10 CLOVERFIELD LAND: Works like gangbusters until the final 10 minutes.
BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE : Trash. Fuck this movie.
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: Everything Stranger Things tried to be. Of course nobody saw it.
EYE IN THE SKY: Truly powerful political filmmaking. Alan Rickman's final scene (RIP) is an all-timer.
EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!: Most hilarious movie of 2016. Pure love!
THE JUNGLE BOOK 2016: Calling it live action is a joke. But a visual splendor.
GREEN ROOM: Effective. But over hyped.
A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING: The good Tom Hanks movie this year. Nobody saw it.
ELVIS & NIXON: A cute HBO movie that somehow played in theaters.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR: Another average Marvel movie that everyone worships because of one great scene. It's alright. Like TV.
THE LOBSTER: Wow! Wonderful!
MONEY MONSTER: I don't remember a thing about this...
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE: So bad it made me wish I was watching a lesser Marvel movie.
THE NICE GUYS: So nice!
NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND: You don't pass up a chance to screen a 35mm print of Miyazaki + Anno with fellow filmmakers. Inspiring!
MAGGIE'S PLAN: A better than average Woody Allen knock-off.
WARCRAFT: Over-hated. Not a bad movie. Just lost & unfocused.
THE CONJURING 2: So much fun! I would be very happy if James Wan made every other film a Conjuring sequel.
FINDING DORY: Has it's moments but is a very empty movie. Strictly a case of Andrew Stanton saving his career after John Carter.
THE SHALLOWS: Fun 80 minute shark movie. Should be an all-timer. Instead is just fun.
INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE : Super dumb. Charming in how dumb it is.
KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE : Another chance to see Miyazki on 35mm & another timeless time at the movies.
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE: Pure magic.
SWISS ARMY MAN: A lot of fun farts & thoughts!
THE BFG: Lesser Spielberg for sure but still full of wonder.
GHOSTBUSTERS 2016: A solid movie that was over hated by misogynists. Can't equal the original but better than Ghostbusters II.
CAFE SOCIETY: Later Woody Allen. One of the good ones.
JASON BOURNE: Weak Bourne. Has it's moments.
STAR TREK BEYOND: Might have been my favorite movie of the summer. Surprisingly effective after the trash of Star Trek Into Darkness.
SUICIDE SQUAD: A movie so bad it made me wish I was watching Batman V. Superman. Zero hope for David Ayer's Three Sexy Bitches (Gotham City Sirens).
SAUSAGE PARTY: Okay. People give it too much praise.
KUBO & THE TWO STRINGS: Best American animation film of 2016. As per the course, no one went to see it.
WAR DOGS: Solid Todd Phillips.
THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS: Very pretty but my love affair with Derek Cianfrance has ended.
HELL OR HIGH WATER: A true surprise. Excellent.
SULLY: Garbage. Ugly to boot.
SNOWDEN: Late Oliver Stone that is actually objectionably good.
BLAIR WITCH: Okay. Just an average found footage horror really.
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN 2016: A story structure so perfect that it can't be ruined.
MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN: Tim Burton's most forgettable film. It's just meh.
DEEPWATER HORIZON: Very good. Kurt Russell is his usual perfect self.
QUEEN OF KATWE: The best movie Disney released in 2016. OF COURSE no one saw it.
SHIN GODZILLA: Might be my favorite film of the year. Saw it 4 times in theaters.
THE BIRTH OF A NATION: A dud. Even when removed from the Nate Parker controversies it's an empty film.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN: Bad movie. Solid date.
JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK : One of Tom Cruise's weakest movies. It's still kinda cute in it's 90sness.
VOYAGE OF TIME (IMAX): Terrence Malick magic. Must be seen on the biggest screen possible to believe!
MOONLIGHT: My favorite surprise of the year. Touched me deep.
HACKSAW RIDGE: Terrible first act. Okay second act. Very good third act.
DOCTOR STRANGE: Marvel's first movie since Guardians of the Galaxy that doesn't blow. Really good actually. Best superhero movie of 2016.
LOVING: Very well done & admirable it it's refusal to go grand or theatrical.
ARRIVAL: Denis Villeneuve's best movie. He's the real deal.
ELLE: Paul Verhoeven still has it.
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS: Visually stimulating. Solid story. Enjoyable.
FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM: Okay. It's setting up a franchise. Colin Farrell is best thing in it.
ALLIED: Robert Zemeckis' least film.
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA: Sticks with you. A masterpiece on grief.
JACKIE: Pretty to look at. Very empty. 2016's Empty Oscar Love entry. It's a seductive film though. I enjoyed it at the time but upon reflection there isn't much there. Very easy to get wooed by the sexy 16mm photography.
MISS SLOANE: Decent political thriller. No body saw it.
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY : Mediocre. Wakes up in the final act. Last three minutes purely pander to fans. Best thing in it is the diversification of cast.
LA LA LAND: Super enjoyable. Fluffy. Will win all the Oscars because it's a movie about success in Hollywood. Will be forgotten in six months.
LIVE BY NIGHT: Ben Affleck has a directing Martha moment.

Still waiting to see SILENCE, PATRIOT'S DAY, FENCES & A MONSTER CALLS

Got to see a lot of movies due to the perk of my job. Plus I'm just a damn movie buff. 2016 was a solid year but a failure on the big mass appeal side of things. Lots of great indies came out this year. But following a year that brought out MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, INSIDE OUT & THE MARTIAN of course 2016 felt like a regression. 2017 looks very positive for film though. I'm happy I'm getting to kick off my cinematic year with a filmmakers screening of Martin Scorsese's SILENCE this evening.

Saw a lot of good and a lot of bad this year, but since most everything I've seen has already been mentioned, I'll just let everyone know that the best movie I saw this year was Headshot, which is basically The Raid 2.5 (and a perfect hold-over until The Raid 3).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe0nQ0TeZjU

The Hunt for the Wilder People, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Hail Caesar, and that's about it in terms of actually good films I saw that came out this year. Granted most of the films I watched were older ones, and the good ones I did see were REALLY good...but considering this was the year that shat out Sausage Party, Fauxbusters, and a billion generic superhero movies, I think it's safe to say this was not a good year for cinema.

Films I saw:

Arrival: Lives up to the hype, but it bugged the biologist in me something fierce. My inner linguist wasn't thrilled, either.
Batman v Superman: Absolutely terrible. This was a nonsensical mess, and while the Director's Cut helped it wasn't enough to save it. That said, the movie's existence is completely justified by Wonder Woman's presence in the final act.
Captain America - Civil War: A fun film, but as with the comic story that inspired it it was marred by Cap being an idiot. Even Bucky recognized the problem there. Saved by the best version of Spidey we've ever seen onscreen.
Deadpool: The opening scene was great, as was Wade's relationship with Vanessa. Colossus and Negasonic Teenaged Warhead were great support, too, even if the rights issues there were a bit awkward. But the bad guy was terrible. Stories live or die based on the strength of their villains, and this movie's villain sucked eggs.
Dr. Strange: Better than expected, though it needed some training montages to explain Strange's powerups. Cumberbatch just doesn't do it for me, though; I didn't hate him here, but the movie overall felt kinda sterile. His GF was pretty great though, as was most of the supporting cast. Also, I wanted magic, not Inception + sigils.
Ghostbusters: Really fun movie that, once nostalgia goggles are removed, compares quite favorably to the original. I have no idea how I'd feel about the film if Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones weren't in it, though; they were the parts that really worked for me (well, them and Hemsworth once he went and got possessed; that dance sequence at the end is phenomenal).
The Jungle Book: Better than it had any right to be. Really good CG, and great fun overall. The fight at the end was particularly well-done.
Kubo and the Two Strings: Fantastic movie, and that cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps during the end credits was just staggeringly good. Anyone who hasn't seen it should go watch it on YouTube now.
Shin-Godzilla: I had no idea one could both celebrate and lampoon bureaucracy in the same breath, but Anno did it. Fantastic film. Godzilla himself was kinda pants though.
Rogue One: Much better than expected. I would put it on par with ESB if not for the Vader scenes, which felt pointless.
The Shallows: I only half saw this, since someone was watching it on the plane. I really hate animal monster movies, since they rely on animals that don't act like animals. It's even worse when they're given human motivations and do stupid shit like ignoring their primary food source which is right there. But hey, lots of Blake Lively skin, so i guess it's all good.
Warcraft: I'm a Warcraft mark, so I gave this flick as much slack as I could, but it wasn't very good. The story needed to be tightened up a lot, and the orc designs just didn't look right onscreen.
X-Men - Apocalypse: Fox goes to the DC school of directing. Just bad.
Your Name: The gimmick in the first half seemed random and the switch in the middle was weird, but it was an enjoyable enough movie. Not clear on why everyone went apeshit about it though.
Zootopia: A really nice surprise. The metaphor got a bit tortured at times, but for the most part it worked great.

Suicide Squad: Honorable mention. I didn't see it, but watching the takedowns is just painful. This thing's an editing nightmare.

Overall, lots of enjoyable films, some that were truly awful, but none I would call truly great. IOW a typical year.

I dunno, the only one I can think of this year is Shin Godzilla.

I know I've seen a lot of movies this year, and had a lot of opinions about them, but this whole year's been kind of a fog for me. A job I had at the beginning of the year kinda depressed me a bit after it stayed its welcome. I got verbally harassed and physically threatened, and felt "out of it" for a long time after that. I'm out of the job now and I'm doing better things in and with my life, but it took me a solid couple of months to get my creativity back and start planning ahead. But I hardly remember watching a lot of these movies because I was too damn distracted by a very stressful and overbearing situation.

But let's see what I can remember, other than Anno's amazing movie...

The Coen Brothers film I remember being very good. The dance sequences were great. Now that I think back on Hail, Caesar! I'm reminded of just how much I loved it.

I like Beyond a lot.

Civil War was passable.

Now You See Me 2 was whatever.

Zootopia was adorable. It makes me want to buy all of the plush animals.

Deadpool was fun and all, but the best part of the theatrical experience was still watching the strap-on scene shocking every unsuspecting parent or guardian bringing the kids to see that movie. I mean, I feel bad, but I also don't. In a world with internet access parents should have known better.

Suicide Squad was a tire fire that was set by BvS. Both were less than stellar, though I might admit that BvS is Snyder's best live-action film to date. (Sorry, fans of 300 and The Watchman.)

Rogue One was fun towards the end. The whole film felt like Battlefront: The Movie, which, in that case, it's the best video-game film adaptation ever!

Ummmmm.........

Oh! The Frame (a 2014 movie, but I didn't see it until this year, so what the heck) was a spectacular indy film that made nobody's radar the year it came out, and everyone needs to see it. I honestly spent a whole week wondering if it had become my favorite film of all time. Certainly a late-comer to my top 2014 list. It helped me get my ambition and love for film back this year after an awful job situation. Must see!

...and, I think that's it for me. Like I said, I kinda didn't engage much with film for the majority of last year. This year will be better.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Doctor Strange was really fun.

Batman Vs. Superman: legitimately good movie, nice to see a comic book movie that isn't just a sitcom with some action in between jokes.
The Revenant: Great camera work, story was kind of boring.
Deadpool: Tried too hard to be edgy.
10 Cloverfield Lane: Really great movie until the end, should've just cut it off 15 minutes early.
The Jungle Book: A really well done retelling of a Disney classic, highly recommend.
Captain America: Civil War: Fanservice: The movie, not worth it.
Finding Dory: ANOTHER MASTERPIECE BY PIXAR!!!!
Ghostbusters 2016: Shit. Don't waste your time or money. Sony needs to learn to not double down on their shitty objectively false opinions.
The Secret Life of Pets: Surprisingly very good, wasn't expecting it to be as enjoyable as it was.
Star Trek Beyond: Good, just wished the main bad guy wasn't like the last two. Into Darkness was better though.
Suicide Squad: "It's okay when Marvel does an edgy movie!" It's good, it's not great, or fantastic, just good.
Kingsglaive FFXV: Good. But it's not gonna appear that way if you don't intend on playing the game.
Gone With The Wind: uh, why are people nostalgic for this again?
Shin Godzilla: Obviously good.
Rogue One: Pretty good, it's Star Wars doing something different. Films and critics really need to stop politicizing shit though.

^ My family watched Gone Woth the Wind over the holidays. Is there a suddenly interest in this film in our culture?

It's the highest grossing American film ever made, so there's a lot of reasons why it's popular, even to this day. The only other movie to come close to making that kind of money was James Cameron's Avatar.

FreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:^ My family watched Gone Woth the Wind over the holidays. Is there a suddenly interest in this film in our culture?

It's the highest grossing American film ever made, so there's a lot of reasons why it's popular, even to this day. The only other movie to come close to making that kind of money was James Cameron's Avatar.

I personally had a hard time dealing with Scarlett throughout the entire movie. I feel like the movie wants me to sympathize with her but God she is so unjustifiably bitchy throughout most of the first half. She gets better by the second, but not by much.

TheFriskyIan wrote:I personally had a hard time dealing with Scarlett throughout the entire movie. I feel like the movie wants me to sympathize with her but God she is so unjustifiably bitchy throughout most of the first half. She gets better by the second, but not by much.

And her bitchiness is how we got the most famous movie quotation of all time, which in 1939 was laced with profanity.



I can say this, as it was voted so by the AFI

TheFriskyIan wrote:I personally had a hard time dealing with Scarlett throughout the entire movie. I feel like the movie wants me to sympathize with her but God she is so unjustifiably bitchy throughout most of the first half. She gets better by the second, but not by much.

I've voiced similar feelings about this film on these forums before.

Rhett is Best Girl.

OT:

Deadpool - Liked

Civil War - Liked

Batman v. Superman - Hated

Suicide Squad - Meh

Star Trek Beyond - Meh (I simply cannot get into the Abramsverse. The fact that the film is the FOURTH CONSECUTIVELY in the series with a "bad guy wants revenge" plot is probably the biggest mark against it that isn't the cringe-inducing use of Sabotage.

La La Land - Loved, and will win Best Picture.

Arrival - Loved

Shin Godzilla - Liked (the overuse of onscreen text and identifiers was the main drawback and didn't have time to read all the subtitles and follow everything efficiently, everything save for the design of the very first appearance of Godzilla was very well done)

Independence Day: Resurgence - Hated. Dumbest movie I saw this year.

Inferno - Hated

Green Room - Liked

Dr. Strange - Liked

Moonlight - Liked

Xmen: Apocalypse - Liked

10 Cloverfield Lane - Loved, except for the final 10 minutes.

Sausage Party - Liked

Rogue One - Liked