2016 End of the Year Wrap Up - Sounds of Cinema

Top 10 Films of 2016

What follows are Nathan’s picks of the best films of 2016.

1. Eye in the Sky

Directed by: Gavin Hood

Premise: British and American military forces and political officials coordinate a drone strike in Kenya. When a little girl occupies the kill zone, the soldiers and politicians debate whether or not to go through with the mission.

Why It Made the List: Despite Hollywood’s reputation as a den of liberalism, motion pictures and militarism have frequently gone hand-in-hand. From Objective, Burma! to Top Gun to Black Hawk Down, Hollywood has been the greatest champion of American military might. Eye in the Sky is quite different. For one thing, this movie presents warfare as an act of cooperation and negotiation as American service people in Nevada remote pilot a drone in Kenya while taking orders from British military officers in the UK. This is a different kind of warfare and it requires different rules of engagement. In so many films, violence is a foregone conclusion but Eye in the Sky weighs the legal consequences and the moral and strategic implications of the drone strike. And that leads to another unusual aspect of this film. Whereas many Hollywood war pictures regard civilian input and bureaucracy as an obstruction, Eye in the Sky gives the opinions of politicians and civilian officials equal consideration with those wearing a uniform. The film is a web of contrary opinions and Eye in the Sky raises difficult questions that do not have simplistic answers. But Eye in the Sky doesn’t hide behind the complexity either. Choices must be made and responsibility must be assumed. The filmmakers of Eye in the Sky embrace the complexity of the situation and find the drama in the moral stakes of both action and inaction. Eye in the Sky is a riveting motion picture that redefines the war film and it is an essential entry in the genre of post-9/11 cinema.

2. Hell or High Water

Directed by: David Mackenzie

Premise: A pair of brothers (Ben Foster and Chris Pine) goes on a bank robbing spree while an aging Texas Ranger and his partner (Jeff Bridges and Gil Bermingham) try to anticipate the thieves’ next move.

Why It Made the List: The western may not be as popular as it once was, but the genre’s influence is as pervasive as ever. Hell or High Water is a contemporary western, one that plays on the old genre standby of the bank heist and reimagines it for the America of the Great Recession. In the heyday of the western genre, the west was a wild and untamed place full of possibility and optimism. But the west of Hell or High Water is a decrepit land dotted with small rural towns whose way of life is dying out. That forms the background for a bank-robbing scheme executed by a pair of siblings who intend to save the family farm from foreclosure by robbing the local branches of the bank chain that granted their mother a crooked home loan. The scheme is smart and relevant and Hell or High Water successfully plays on another western convention, the allure of the outlaw. Films that create moral ambiguity between cops and robbers are sometimes lazy but in the case of Hell or High Water there really is such an equivocation and the filmmakers expertly tug at the audience’s sympathies. Both sets of lead characters, played by Ben Foster and Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges and Gil Bermingham, are engaging and sympathetic and the film includes several supporting roles that are equally vivid. The combination of tight plotting with complex ideas, rich atmosphere, and nuanced characterizations makes Hell or High Water a sleek thriller with considerable depth and texture.

3. Moonlight

Directed by: Barry Jenkins

Premise: The story of Chiron, an African American male, told in three parts. As a boy, Chiron lives with his drug addicted mother. As a teenager, he is bullied by his high school classmates for his homosexuality. As an adult, Chiron revisits a friend from his youth.

Why It Made the List: The late film critic Roger Ebert liked to say that cinema was a machine for creating empathy. By that he meant that movies could show us the world from someone else’s point of view and allow us to begin to understand other people’s experiences. Moonlight is a very good example of Ebert’s idea. Moonlight tells the life story of Chiron, a gay African American male, and it gives the audience a look at the forces that shape his identity. The film deliberately plays upon the popular imagery of African American males, which is typically aggressive, stupid, and hypersexualized, and subverts it with nuanced characters. Moonlight is packed with impressive performances, the most notable being the three actors cast as Chiron: Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes. The three actors share an intense consistency and the frustrations of Chiron’s childhood ripple through his teenage and adult lives. Moonlight also has terrific performances by Mahershala Ali as a crack dealer who mentors Chiron and by Naomi Harris as his drug-addicted mother. The filmmakers acknowledge the way narcotics are a part of these people’s lives but there is more to these characters than that. Moonlight is ultimately a movie about the desire for human connection. Chiron and his associates attempt to make those connections but are consistently frustrated and they turn to drugs or repression. But Moonlight is more than a downer. Underneath the action is a vibrant yearning for human connection that crosses racial, economic, and sexual boundaries. The film conveys that longing with beauty and subtlety.

4. Gleason

Directed by: J. Clay Tweel

Premise: A documentary about former professional football player Steve Gleason who was diagnosed with ALS. The film primarily consists of video diaries and other home movie footage shot by Gleason and his wife Michel.

Why It Made the List: Gleason is the kind of documentary that could easily be mawkish or self-aggrandizing. Films about people with terminal or debilitating conditions can fall into a trap of fetishizing the sick and diminishing the patient’s humanity. What is extraordinary about Gleason is the way it finds the dignity in the struggles of an ALS patient and his family without exploiting the subject or glossing over the pain. Shot over the course of several years, Gleason tracks the decline of this former athlete as he gradually loses the use of his arms, legs, and voice. What’s captured in Gleason is the transformation of normality; feeding tubes and ventilation machines become a regular part of home life. Going beyond the physical symptoms, Gleason also explores the psychological and spiritual impacts of ALS on this man and his family. Here too the movie does not give itself over to simplistic or glossy coverage. The attempt to reconcile the illness with a belief in a benevolent god causes tension and the daily grind of constant care wears on everyone. There are moments in this documentary when Gleason and his family lose patience with each other and with the illness. These sequences acknowledge the obvious but unglamorous truth about Gleason’s condition without sentimentalizing it. But in between these moments of pain there are also moments of joy and love. That is why Gleason is such an impactful film. Instead of separating pain from life, it acknowledges that pain is an inextricable part of our existence and finds the humanity in that struggle.

5. Deepwater Horizon

Directed by: Peter Berg

Premise: Based on a true story. An explosion occurs aboard the BP oil platform Deepwater Horizon, putting the entire crew at risk and creating one of the worst oil spills in the history of the petroleum industry.

Why It Made the List: In 2016 director Peter Berg released two terrific films starring Mark Wahlberg. One of them was Patriot’s Day, a drama about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and the other was Deepwater Horizon. This dramatization of the 2010 oilrig disaster is an extraordinary piece of cinema. Like Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity and Gareth Evans’ The Raid: Redemption, this is an example of filmmakers taking full advantage of the cinematic form. Deepwater Horizon was one of the most purely cinematic films of 2016, trusting the viewer to follow the action without contrived explanations. The result is an immediate and powerful film. Deepwater Horizon is aggressive and visceral and its impact is due to the combination of the cinematography and special effects with the human portrait of the oilrig crew. As a true life survival story, Deepwater Horizon could very easily have become a sentimental Hollywood movie in which the characters make big speeches and are filmed in hero shots set to thunderous music. The filmmakers of Deepwater Horizon go the other way. Despite the explosions, the film is actually quite restrained. The lighting and cinematography are naturalistic and the performances are human scaled. Mark Wahlberg gives one of the best performances of his career in Deepwater Horizon and his coworkers on the rig do their best in a desperate situation but everyone is palpably scared for their lives. While there was plenty of destruction in the tentpole movies of 2016, none of those films came close to the intensity or the craftsmanship of Deepwater Horizon.

6. Look Who’s Back

Directed by: David Wnendt

Premise: Based on the book by Timur Vermes. Adolf Hitler miraculously reappears in 2014 Germany. Everyone assumes that he is a method actor playing the role of Hitler and his rants make him an internet sensation which paves the way for a new rise to power.

Why It Made the List: Look Who’s Back was originally released in Germany in 2015 but it finally received an American release in 2016. The movie is a satire and it is an exceptional example of what satire can be and what it can do. Since the end of World War II, philosophers and scholars have wondered if people of today would recognize fascism if they saw it. Look Who’s Back literalizes that question as Hitler walks the streets of Germany and interacts with its citizens. Allegedly, several of these sequences were unscripted and the results are simultaneously comical and frightening. But the satire of Look Who’s Back goes beyond Sacha Baron Cohen-style stunts. Look Who’s Back fits perfectly into this historical moment. The film comes at a time when the white supremacist subculture is enjoying a resurgence and Adolf Hitler has become a caricature. The film lampoons the way mass media organizations will provide a platform for hatemongering so long as it results in ratings and Look Who’s Back skewers the way much of what passes for satire is in fact racist humor taking shelter under the guise of being ironic or edgy. But Look Who’s Back delivers its most subversive punch in the ending. In much the same way Hitler charms and manipulates the media outlets of this story, Look Who’s Back plays the audience, working up to a deliberately jarring transition that reveals a frightening epiphany. Look Who’s Back suggests that what Hitler represents never really went away and contemporary culture might be unequipped to deal with him.

7. La La Land

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Premise: A struggling jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) try to make their way in Hollywood. After a series of false starts, the two of them begin a relationship that is complicated by their careers.

Why It Made the List: La La Land is not the best film of 2016 but it is the most charming. The picture is a nostalgic throwback to the golden age of Hollywood musicals, when studios produced titles such as Singin’ in the Rain and Yankee Doodle Dandy and the affection that the filmmakers have for those movies is infectious. At the center of La La Land’s appeal is Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz pianist and an actress who struggle to establish themselves in Hollywood. The two actors have an adorable rapport and their witty banter makes the couple fun to be around. La La Land is also impressive as a piece of cinema and particularly as a piece of musical filmmaking. It’s well shot with many beautiful looking vistas and the musical sequences are expertly choreographed, shot, and edited together. The look of the film incorporates live locations with the artifice of the backlot, and the filmmakers weave those pieces together in a vibrant backdrop for our characters. As a movie about performers working in and around studios and stages, La La Land inserts some smart ideas about creativity and nostalgia. The pianist, played by Gosling, is obsessed with the history of jazz and the picture gets self-reflexive about its own nostalgia, acknowledging that it can kill the creative possibilities that keep art and music vibrant and relevant. For all of its enthusiasm and optimism, La La Land is tinged with an understated melancholy that complements its charm.

8. 13th

Directed by: Ava DuVernay

Premise: A documentary about America’s prison system. The movie connects the history of racial injustice to the use of mass incarceration.

Why It Made the List: The title of 13th refers to the amendment to the Constitution of the United States that outlawed slavery. This film posits that the systemic enslavement of African American people did not stop with this amendment and that the drug war and mandatory minimum sentencing laws continue to repress people of color. This is a provocative idea and filmmaker Ava DuVernay is not the first to make it. But 13th presents this argument extraordinarily well and the film is a masterful assembly of newsreel footage and interviews. 13th includes a roster of voices including activists and scholars like Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates and Michelle Alexander as well as political figures like Cory Booker, Newt Gingrich, and Charles Rangel. The filmmakers and commentators put mass incarceration in a historical context. This is not a problem that is particular to our own era and 13th draws credible connections between the past and the present. The film breaks out of a predictable, partisan framework. As is clear in 13th, mass incarceration was a bipartisan project and it is astonishing to hear recantations from both Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. 13th is most unsettling in the way that it challenges the idea of America as the “land of the free.” The revelation that the United States has the largest incarceration rate in the world and sustains entire industries through prison labor makes 13th not only an expose of this social and political problem but a movie that makes us reexamine who we are as a people and a nation.

9. Silence

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Premise: Based on the novel by Shûsaku Endô. Catholic missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) travel to seventeenth century Japan where Christianity is outlawed. The priests make contact with Japanese Christians and seek out information about their mentor who is rumored to have apostatized.

Why It Made the List: Among the reoccurring themes in Martin Scorsese’s filmography are references to religion and especially Catholicism and he’s made several pictures about spiritual struggle, namely Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ. Silence is Scorsese’s latest religious meditation and of these films Silence is his most accomplished but also his most challenging work. Scorsese’s religion-themed movies often deal with the tension between the spiritual and the physical. Silence is about persecution and martyrdom but it doesn’t look upon its sacrifices with glee. Instead, the film is thoughtful and even torturous in its own way as it confronts the characters and the audience with a cultural and religious conflict. Silence is not an easy film to watch nor is it accessible in the way we tend to think about mainstream entertainment. This is a slow and pensive film that is acted, shot, and assembled in a way that requires the viewer to study the images and think about their implications. And although it is a persecution narrative, Silence is not given to the simplistic, crowd pleasing conflicts that characterize so many supposedly faith-based movies. Silence is about the struggle of people of faith to hold onto their beliefs in the face of persecution and the film raises interesting and challenging questions about what it means to do so. The movie takes place on the overlap between physical and spiritual suffering as the characters negotiate between their integrity and their pride. For viewers who are willing to persevere through it, Silence is a challenging but rewarding film about the suffering inherent to devotion.

10. Deadpool

Directed by: Tim Miller

Premise: A spinoff of the X-Men films. A smart-mouthed mercenary (Ryan Reynolds) undergoes an experimental procedure that gives him superpowers but disfigures his body.

Why It Made the List: The superhero genre is a crowded field and a lot of 2016’s comic book movies were depressingly self-serious with brooding heroes mixed up in outsized action scenes. The filmmakers of Deadpool responded to that creative inertia with a movie that was exactly what the comic book genre needed. Director Tim Miller and his cast and crew walk a razor’s edge between self-awareness and parody. Their film breaks the fourth wall and references its own place in a larger franchise but in a way that’s charming instead of obnoxious. Much of Deadpool’s success is due to the casting of Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. This is the best casting decision in a superhero picture since Robert Downey Jr. first appeared as Iron Man and Reynolds’ likability and humor drive the movie. But part of Deadpool’s success is knowing when to be funny and when to play it straight. Despite its crude humor and self-awareness, the filmmakers recognized the dramatic core of their film; Deadpool is ultimately about a guy trying to find his way back to the woman he loves (Morena Baccarin). Even though that’s a conventional motivation, the chemistry between the lovers of Deadpool is better than that of many romantic movies. And unlike so many superhero opuses about the end of the world, the finale of Deadpool puts something tangible at stake. That’s what really stands out about Deadpool. Where so many other superhero pictures of 2016 gagged on their own self-importance, Deadpool remembered to have fun.

Honorable Mentions

What follows are films that were either runners up to the Top 10 list or other pictures that came out in 2016 that are worth mentioning.

10 Cloverfield Lane – A claustrophobic and clever sci-fi thriller with a frightening performance by John Goodman.

20th Century Women – This tale of a teenage boy coming of age amid three women was a humorous and intelligent drama about the forces that shape our sense of self. Annette Benning in particular stands out.

All the Way – A fascinating look at the people, political calculations, and socio-political forces at work in the passage of civil rights legislation. The film includes excellent performances by Bryan Cranston, Anthony Mackie, Frank Langella, and Bradley Whitford.

American Honey – This story of destitute youth traveling the country hustling magazine subscriptions was a gritty but lively road film that captured a side of American life rarely seen in motion pictures.

Arrival– A smart sci-fi movie that is unlike virtually anything else Hollywood is putting out at the moment.

A Bigger Splash – A fun rock and roll drama with impressive performances by Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

The Birth of a Nation – A flawed but ambitious debut feature from Nate Parker, who also stars as Nat Turner.

Captain Fantastic – A funny and offbeat family drama that presents interesting and complicated questions about how we live our lives. It also includes great performances by Viggo Mortensen and George McKay.

Denial– The true story of the legal battle between historian Deborah E. Lipstadt and Holocaust denier David Irving had impressive performances by Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall.

Doctor Strange – An unusual entry in the superhero genre. Its story was familiar but Doctor Strange had good humor and a lot of strange imagery.

Don’t Breathe – An excellently made and cleverly written home invasion movie, Don’t Breathe had some unexpected moral complexity.

Edge of Seventeen – Criminally underseen, this story of teenage angst had excellent performances by Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson.

Elle – This complex tale of desire and power and violence defied the conventions of the rape-revenge movie and featured an impressive performance by Isabelle Huppert.

Embrace of the Serpent – A narratively ambitious tale of an Amazonian shaman who works with western scientists in search of a sacred plant.

Equity – A smart financial thriller with terrific performances by Anna Gunn and Sarah Megan Thomas.

Everybody Wants Some!! – Richard Linklater’s companion piece to Dazed and Confused was a nostalgic look back at life on a college baseball team in the 1980s.

Fences – This adaptation of August Wilson’s stage play showcases some terrific performances by Denzel Washington, Jovan Adepo, and Viola Davis.

The Founder – This dramatization about the origins of McDonalds flipped the All-American success story on its head. Michael Keaton is terrific as Ray Kroc.

Goat – This is a tough movie to watch but it is also an honest examination of toxic masculinity.

Green Room – A grim and visceral thriller that was one of the most harrowing movies of 2016.

Hacksaw Ridge – Mel Gibson’s war film outshined other attempts at faith-based entertainment and had a great central performance by Andrew Garfield.

Hello, My Name is Doris – An idiosyncratic romantic comedy in which an older woman lusts after a younger man. The movie is actually more than that and Hello, My Name is Doris includes a great performance by Sally Field in the title role.

Hidden Figures – Based on the true story of African American women who worked at NASA in the early years of the space program, Hidden Figures was a crowd pleaser with solid performances by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – A comedic film from Taika Waititi about a rebellious teenager and his uncle who fled into the New Zealand bush.

Imperium – A thriller about an FBI agent who goes undercover in the white supremacist movement.

Jackie – This portrait of Jackie Kennedy in the aftermath of JFK’s assassination was a thoughtful look at the subtitles of grieving in public and the overlap of celebrity, privacy, and nationalism. Natalie Portman offers one of the year’s best performances in the title role.

The Jungle Book – Jon Favreau’s live action version the Disney animated classic was a terrific piece of family entertainment. It also had some convincing performances by the digitally created animals.

Kubo and the Two Strings – Laika Entertainment’s newest film was another great piece of stop motion animation.

Lion – The true story of Saroo Brierley was an ambitious character study with great performances by Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel in the lead role.

The Lobster – One of the weirdest movies of 2016, The Lobster was darkly funny and a smart story about love and social expectations.

Love & Friendship – Walt Stillman’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s novella “Lady Susan” was a smart romantic comedy with great performances by Kate Beckinsale and Tom Bennett.

Loving – The true story of Richard and Mildred Loving was a vivid portrait of a committed couple with appropriately low-key performances by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga.

Manchester By the Sea – Casey Affleck provides one of the year’s great performances in this story of grief. The film also includes a notable supporting performance by Michelle Williams.

The Mermaid – A Chinese film about a mermaid who falls in love with a real estate mogul. This is a strange film with a lot of humor and creativity.

A Monster Calls – J.A. Bayona’s film was a fantasy drama as powerful as Bridge to Terabithia.

The Nice Guys – The funniest comedy duo of 2016 was Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in this comic spin on the hardboiled detective story.

Nocturnal Animals – This narratively ambitious story-within-a-story was a provocative film about the relationship between reality and art. The film also has several great performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor Johnson.

Ouija: Origin of Evil – A clever sequel that was much better than its predecessor.

Patriot’s Day – 2016’s second collaboration between director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg was an intense dramatization of the Boston Marathon bombing.

The Purge: Election Year – The third Purge movie was easily the best entry in the series and one of the films that best captured the cultural zeitgeist of 2016.

Queen of Katwe – Disney’s latest diversity-themed sports film was the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a chess prodigy from the slums of Katwe, Uganda.

Sausage Party – An absurd and outrageous R-rated comedy whose crude humor partly disguised its smart and subversive ideas.

Sing Street – Another great musical drama from filmmaker John Carney.

Southside with You – A dramatization of Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date. Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter are perfectly cast in the lead roles.

Sully – Clint Eastwood’s drama about US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and the “Miracle on the Hudson” tapped into exactly what made the story resonate so powerfully with the public. In a perfect bit of casting, Tom Hanks plays Sullenberger.

Swiss Army Man – One of the most unusual films of 2016. But among its scatological humor and bizarre set pieces there is something quietly profound about loneness and human relationships.

Tallulah – A drama about a vagrant young woman who abducts a toddler from her neglectful mother. The film is a complex morality play with great performances by Ellen Page, Allison Janney, and Tammy Blanchard.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – Tina Fey stars as a sheltered reporter who is given a field assignment in Afghanistan.

Weiner – A documentary about Anthony Weiner’s failed bid for New York City mayor.

The Witch – A smart and frightening horror picture that mixed supernatural and psychological terror.

Zero Days – Alex Gibney’s documentary about the Stuxnet computer virus plays like a Hollywood cyber thriller that has the advantage of also being true.

Zootopia – While delivering as a piece of family entertainment, Zootopia was also smart and subversive in ways that family movies almost never are.

Good Buzz List

These are films that were released in 2016 and have strong word of mouth, and in some cases award nominations, but Nathan was unable to see them in time for the year end summary, usually because they did not open in southern Minnesota and have not yet been made available for home viewing.

Christine – A drama about Christine Chubbuck, the Florida news anchor who committed suicide on live television in 1974. The film has earned praise for its portrait of mental illness and for Rebecca Hall’s performance in the title role.

The Eagle Huntress – This documentary about a thirteen-year-old Mongolian girl who struggles to become an eagle hunter appeared on several critics’ best of the year lists.

The Handmaiden – A Korean film about a Japanese heiress who is targeted for fraud by a young woman in her employ.

I Am Not Your Negro – A documentary about James Baldwin and his unfinished novel Remember This House featuring narration by Samuel L. Jackson.

I, Daniel Blake – Ken Loach’s film won the top prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Krisha – Won the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards and has been highly praised for the lead performance by Krisha Fairchild.

Neruda – A drama about Chilean poet Pablo Neruda after he joined the Communist Party and became a fugitive in his home country.

Newtown – A documentary about the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Paterson – Jim Jarmusch’s film about a New Jersey bus driver who writes poetry has earned praise for the performance of Adam Driver.

Personal Shopper – Olivier Assayas’ ghost story taking place in the fashion world of Paris has gotten positive reception especially for Kristen Stewart’s performance.

Toni Erdmann – A frequent nominee at film festivals and award shows, this film is about a father attempting to reconnect with his daughter by posing as her CEO’s life coach.

Tower – A documentary that combines testimony, animation, and archival footage to recount the 1966 mass shooting at the University of Texas.

Great Performances

This is a list of some of the great performances in 2016, although not all of them were in great movies.

10 Cloverfield Lane – A claustrophobic and clever sci-fi thriller with a frightening performance by John Goodman.

20th Century Women – This tale of a teenage boy coming of age amid three women included notable performances by Greta Gerwig, Annette Benning, Elle Fanning, and Lucas Jade Zumann.

The Accountant – The movie wasn’t great but Ben Affleck was very good in the title role as a math genius who extends his services to criminal organizations.

All the Way –The film includes excellent performances by Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson, Anthony Mackie as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell, and Bradley Whitford as Senator Hubert Humphrey.

American Honey – The entire cast of this movie was convincing but Sasha Lane stands out in the lead role.

Army of One – Nicolas Cage plays American civilian Gary Faulkner who went to Afghanistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Even for Cage, his performance was turned all the way up to eleven.

A Bigger Splash – A fun rock and roll drama with impressive performances by Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

The Birth of a Nation – A flawed but ambitious debut feature from Nate Parker, who also stars as Nat Turner.

Captain Fantastic – A funny and offbeat family drama with great performances by Viggo Mortensen and George McKay.

Central Intelligence – One of the underseen movies of the year, Central Intelligence had a great comic duo in Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.

Deadpool – The best comic book film of 2016 benefitted from the lead performance by Ryan Reynolds. He was well paired with Morena Baccarin who matched Reynolds’ wit and comic timing.

Denial– The true story of the legal battle between historian Deborah E. Lipstadt and Holocaust denier David Irving had impressive performances by Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall.

Edge of Seventeen – Criminally underseen, this story of teenage angst had excellent performances by Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson.

Elle – This complex tale of desire and power and violence defied the conventions of the rape-revenge movie and featured an impressive performance by Isabelle Huppert.

Equity – A smart financial thriller with terrific performances by Anna Gunn and Sarah Megan Thomas.

Everybody Wants Some!! – The entire cast of this film was a convincing ensemble.

Eye in the Sky – A complex thriller about drone warfare that featured one of the best ensemble casts of 2016 including Aaron Paul, Phoebe Fox, Alan Rickman, Jeremy Northam, and Helen Mirren.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Eddie Redmayne was a great choice to play magical animal wrangler Newt Scamander and Dan Fogler was very funny as the comic sidekick.

Fences – This adaptation of August Wilson’s stage play showcases some terrific performances by Denzel Washington, Jovan Adepo, and Viola Davis.

The Founder – This dramatization about the origins of McDonalds includes a charismatic performance by Michael Keaton is terrific as Ray Kroc.

Free State of Jones – Free State of Jones was a well-intended film whose story went awry but the picture had strong performances by Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Mahershala Ali.

The Girl on the Train – Not a good movie but Emily Blunt was very good in the title role.

Hacksaw Ridge – The extent to which Hacksaw Ridge succeeds as a display of faith and moral fortitude is largely due to the lead performance by Andrew Garfield.

Hail, Caesar! – There were several great performances in the Coen Brothers 2016 film including Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and Alden Ehrenreich.

Hell or High Water – This contemporary western included outstanding performances by Ben Foster, Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, and Gil Bermingham.

Hello, My Name is Doris – An idiosyncratic romantic comedy with a great performance by Sally Field in the title role.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – Julian Dennison and Sam Neill were well paired as a rebellious teenager and his uncle who fled into the New Zealand bush.

Imperium – Daniel Radcliffe was very good as an FBI agent who goes undercover in the white supremacist movement.

Jackie – Natalie Portman offers one of the year’s best performances in her role as Jackie Kennedy.

The Jungle Book – Jon Favreau’s live action version the Disney animated classic had some convincing performances by the digitally created animals, especially Bill Murray as Baloo and Idris Elba and Shere Khan.

La La Land – A charming musical that was held together by the adorableness of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

Lion – The true story of Saroo Brierley was an ambitious character study with great performances by Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel in the lead role.

Look Who’s Back –Oliver Masucci was charismatic and committed as Adolf Hitler.

Love & Friendship – Walt Stillman’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s novella “Lady Susan” was a smart romantic comedy with great performances by Kate Beckinsale and Tom Bennett.

Loving – The true story of Richard and Mildred Loving was a vivid portrait of a committed couple with appropriately low-key performances by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga.

Manchester By the Sea – Casey Affleck provides one of the year’s great performances in this story of grief. The film also includes a notable supporting performance by Michelle Williams.

The Meddler – Susan Sarandon was excellent as an east coast widow who has relocated to Los Angeles.

Miles Ahead – This fictionalized portrait of Miles Davis had a terrific performance by Don Cheadle in the lead role.

Miss Sloane – Jessica Chastain was on point in the title role and Gugu Mbatha-Raw was also impressive in a supporting part in this legal drama. The script of Miss Sloane was another matter entirely.

Moana – Walt Disney Animation’s latest princess story benefitted from the vocal performances by Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson.

Money Monster – Jodie Foster’s drama was two-thirds of a great movie and featured strong performances by George Clooney, Jack O’Connell, and Julia Roberts.

A Monster Calls – Young actor Lewis MacDougal is excellent in the lead and he is complemented by Toby Kebbell and Felicity Jones.

Moonlight– The lead character was played well by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes and Moonlight features impressive supporting performances by Mahershala Ali and Naomi Harris.

The Nice Guys – The funniest comedy duo of 2016 was Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in this comic spin on the hardboiled detective story.

Nocturnal Animals –The film has several great performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor Johnson in the story-within-the-story.

The Shallows – A silly but fun thriller about a surfer stalked by a great white shark. Blake Lively is the only human actor on screen for much of the movie and she carries the film.

Silence – Martin Scorsese’s tale about Catholic missionaries in seventeenth century Japan had extraordinary performances by Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, and Issei Ogata.

Sing Street – Another great musical drama from filmmaker John Carney. The film had strong performances by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Jack Reynor, and Lucy Boynton.

Snowden – This drama about Edward Snowden was not especially remarkable but the performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt captured the whistler blower’s voice and mannerisms.

Southside with You – A dramatization of Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date. Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter are perfectly cast in the lead roles.

Suicide Squad – Mostly unremarkable and terrible in places but Suicide Squad did contain a terrific performance by Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

Sully – Clint Eastwood’s drama about US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and the “Miracle on the Hudson” benefitted from the perfect casting of Tom Hanks plays Sullenberger.

War Dogs – An underwhelming dramedy about the business side of the War on Terror but Jonah Hill was great as an ambitious gun runner.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – Tina Fey stars as a sheltered reporter who is given a field assignment in Afghanistan.

Bottom 10 Films of 2016

What follows are the very bottom of the cinematic heap for 2016.

1. Bad Santa 2

Directed by: Mark Waters

Premise: A sequel to the 2003 film. Alcoholic safe cracker Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) reunites with his partner Marcus (Tony Cox) and his mother (Kathy Bates) to rob the coffers of a children’s charity on Christmas Eve.

Why It Made the List: The year 2016 saw the release of many sequels, a few of them good and several that were terrible. But even in a year of Zoolander 2, London Has Fallen and Independence Day: Resurgence, it’s Bad Santa 2 that represents the bottom of the cinematic barrel. This sequel begins by literally urinating on its predecessor and it only gets worse from there. Bad Santa 2 superficially repeats the premise of the original picture and Billy Bob Thornton looks bored as he and the rest of the cast go through the motions of making racist, homophobic, and sexist jokes. Instead of being outrageous, Bad Santa 2 is just cringe inducing and its attempts to shock are desperate and obnoxious. Worse, Bad Santa 2 ropes in female performers like Octavia Spencer, Christina Hendricks, and Kathy Bates only to waste their talent on this lazy and misogynistic mess. But most despicable of all, Bad Santa 2 shows utter contempt for the audience. This is the kind of lazy sequel that was only greenlit on the basis of title recognition, which it then vandalizes, prostituting the legacy of the original film. This earns Bad Santa 2 a place alongside Grown Ups 2 and A Good Day to Die Hard among the worst sequels of all time and it is the worst film of 2016.

2. London Has Fallen

Directed by: Babak Najafi

Premise: A sequel to 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen. In the midst of a state funeral, a massive terrorist attack is unleashed on London. Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) must get the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) to safety.

Why It Made the List: In a sane and just world we would have been treated to a sequel to White House Down, the fun Die Hard imitation set in Washington D.C. starring Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum. But since life is awful we were instead subjected to a sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, the Die Hard imitation set in Washington D.C. starring Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart. London Has Fallen is an ugly film—cinematically and thematically—that plays like Team America: World Police but with none of the humor or irony.

3. Assassin’s Creed

Directed by: Justin Kurzel

Premise: Adapted from the videogame. A prisoner (Michael Fassbender) is spared from death row to participate in a series of experiments that allow him to relive the life experiences of an ancestor who knew the location of a long lost artifact.

Why It Made the List: Assassin’s Creed vindicates every negative stereotype about video game adaptations. But even in a subgenre that gave us Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Doom, the feature film version of Assassin’s Creed is extraordinarily bad. It is a two-hour feature film without a plot, without characters, and without coherent action. One shot does not lead to the next and there’s no making sense of anything on the screen. This is the rare breed of motion picture in which it’s unclear if the filmmakers actually understand how cinema works. Assassin’s Creed is not really a movie. It’s a two hour cacophony of images.

4. God’s Not Dead 2

Directed by: Harold Cronk

Premise: A sequel to the 2014 film. A high school history teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) answers a student’s question about Jesus. This gets her in trouble with school administration and she must go to court to fight for her job and her religious rights.

Why It Made the List: God’s Not Dead 2 is the kind of polemical film that characterizes much of the faith-based movie market. The film is a strawman argument that appeals to the worst instincts in its audience and it is utterly without style, wit, or intelligence. But as the story proceeds, the filmmakers show their hand. This movie is not really a defense of Christianity or religious freedom. God’s Not Dead 2 is an infomercial for faith-based products and it uses disingenuous arguments and divisive tactics to hawk its goods.

5. Collateral Beauty

Directed by: David Frankel

Premise: An advertising executive (Will Smith) writes letters to Love, Time, and Death after the loss of his daughter. His business colleagues hire three actors to approach the bereaved father as though they were those abstractions and respond to the letters.

Why It Made the List: The term “pretentious” gets used a lot but it is rare to see a film that is so completely pretentious in the true sense of the word. The very title of Collateral Beauty is designed to imply profundity when in fact it means nothing. So it is with the rest of the film. Collateral Beauty toys with the thought of having an important, life altering message but it’s really just ninety-seven minutes of half-baked pseudo-philosophy spouted by stupid characters who are oblivious to their own horribleness.

6. Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party

Directed by: Dinesh D’Souza and Bruce Schooley

Premise: An exposé about the history of the Democratic Party. Author and ex-con Dinesh D’Souza outlines the links between the party and white supremacy from slavery to the Jim Crow era and connects the candidacy of Hillary Clinton to this history of fraud and corruption.

Why It Made the List: Hillary’s America is the latest effort by Dinesh D’Souza to present his campaign finance conviction as political persecution by the Obama Administration. D’Souza’s dishonesty and narcissism are on display with dramatic reenactments of this convicted criminal waxing political from prison even though D’Souza never saw the inside of a cell. Hillary’s America continues D’Souza crimes against cinema. The film looks like a cheap educational video and its arguments reiterate the most hysterical Clinton conspiracy theories while simplifying racism and corruption to a matter of partisanship.

7. Mother’s Day

Directed by: Garry Marshall

Premise: A network of families and friends cope with parenthood in the week leading up to Mother’s Day.

Why It Made the List: Mother’s Day was Garry Marshall’s last film and it was an inauspicious end to what was once an impressive career. In the 1970s and 80s, Marshall created television shows like Mork & Mindy and helmed feature films like Beaches but in his late period, Marshall produced crap like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve. These films were not art or even entertainment. They were industrial products manufactured around a marketing concept. And Mother’s Day is among the stupidest and laziest products of that formula.

8. Cabin Fever

Directed by: Travis Z.

Premise: A remake of the 2003 film. A group of college students spends a weekend at an isolated cabin and gradually become infected with a flesh-eating virus.

Why It Made the List: In the last decade, Hollywood remade virtually every major horror title of the 1970s and 80s. Having cannibalized the back catalogue, visionless producers turned their sights on Cabin Fever, a movie released just thirteen years ago. In this case, “remake” is the operative word. 2016’s Cabin Fever recycles the script from 2003 but there is no effort to improve the material and every innovation is for the worse. The remake of Cabin Fever is a soulless rehash with none of the style, scares, or humor of the original picture.

9. Dirty Grandpa

Directed by: Dan Mazer

Premise: A conservative young man (Zac Efron) drives his grandfather (Robert De Niro) to Florida and along the way they get into naughty misadventures, with the old man leading the charge.

Why It Made the List: Who could have imagined that Robert De Niro would rip off a Johnny Knoxville movie? And who would have guessed that Knoxville would star in the better film? Dirty Grandpa is the equivalent of an old man standing on a street corner yelling racial and homophobic insults. The crude humor is unfunny and astonishingly unoriginal but as a final insult, Dirty Grandpa makes a play for a family-values-affirming conclusion. It is hard to imagine De Niro stooping any lower than this but we probably shouldn’t tempt him.

10. Florence Foster Jenkins

Directed by: Stephen Frears

Premise: Based on a true story. Set in the 1940s, an aging heiress (Meryl Streep) fulfills her dream of being an opera singer. But she has no musical talent and her husband (Hugh Grant) maintains his wife’s illusion by concealing the truth.

Why It Made the List: Florence Foster Jenkins bills itself as a movie about art appreciation but it is nothing of the sort. The title character is a wealthy woman who buys her way onto the stage at Carnegie Hall and we are expected to look past her awful singing because it might hurt her feelings. Worse, the filmmakers spend much of the movie inviting the audience to laugh at Foster Jenkins and then shame us for doing so. Florence Foster Jenkins has the same mean spirited appeal of the American Idol tryouts and then has the audacity to demand applause.

Trends of the Year

Lousy Sequels and Remakes

There were many sequels released in 2016 and quite a few of them were awful. In many cases they limply reiterated the original movie or were transparent cash grabs.

Animated Movies with Talking Animals

Most of the animated movies of 2016 featured casts of talking animals.

Good Horror Films

There weren’t a lot of horror films released in 2016 but this year’s entries in the genre were impressive.

Politically Provocative Movies

For whatever reason, whether it was the election or filmmakers tapping into the zeitgeist, there were several movies of 2016 that made implicit and explicit political points.

Movies with Nazis

Several films of 2016 featured Nazis or white supremacists as the villains. In some cases they were presented in a silly way but quite frequently Nazis were frightening villains.

Nostalgia Films

Movies of 2016 played to the audience’s nostalgia, especially for the 1980s.

Musical Movies

2016 included several films about musicians with several of them biographies of famous people.

Back to Year Index