Top 15 Movies of 2016

After such a long ride of ups and downs, it's hard to believe that 2016 is nearly over.  Before we head to 2017, it's time to look back at the best movies of 2016.  This year  has been stuffed with blockbusters, but it also has some big surprises, so I've decided to break this down into a top 15 list, with some honorable mentions to kick it off.  

Honorable Mentions

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Harry Potter is my all-time favorite franchise, from reading the books as a child to eagerly awaiting the release of each movie.  After 5 years, the Harry Potter world returned with a disconnected prequel in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, following Newt Scamander on a trip to 1920's New York City.  While it suffered from pacing issues at the start and a brutal Deus Ex Machina at the end, it was still a fun dive back into the world of Harry Potter and set up strong potential for a future franchise with characters I am excited to get back to in 2018. 

10 Cloverfield Lane

I thoroughly enjoy Cloverfield, so when the trailer for this movie was surprise dropped last year, I was instantly excited, diving in to the deep-rooted online ad campaign and ARG marketing.  The movie followed Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winsted) who, after getting in a car crash, is kidnapped by a man named Howard (Jon Goodman) and held in an underground bunker, being told that the world ended after her crash.  It is an intensely claustrophobic  movie with questions and mystery in every direction, topped off with great performances from the small, confined cast.  While the Cloverfield connections are loose at best, it does lead to a fantastic finale and makes me very interested in seeing where this newly-relaunched franchise will go next year in the rumored tie in, The God Particle.

Don't Breathe

I have never been a huge fan of horror films, but don't Breathe managed to feel fresh and intense while still remaining simple and entertaining.  It follows three burglars who break into the house of a blind man (played ferociously by Stephen Lang).  The routine robbery turns into an insane cat and mouse game when the blind man turns out to be much more protective than expected.  Director Fede Alvarez took a premise that could have felt worn and boring and made it truly intense with some shots and scenes that will stick with you even after walking out.  While it does not manage to anything truly new or remarkable with the genre, it plays within horror's limitations very well and should be watched by horror fans everywhere.

TOP 15 MOVIES 2016

15:
 Finding Dory

The first animated movie on my list is Finding Dory, the sequel to Pixar's Finding Nemo, which now follows the story of Dory, gone missing in search of her lost family as Nemo and his father attempt to search for her.  While it could have (and sometimes is) a retread of the original, Finding Dory still found moments of originality and fun within itself on top of callbacks to the original.  Pixar's style is as beautiful as ever, with the colorful deep seat world helping to lend even more room for Pixar to stretch their devotion to detail and thoughtful worlds.  It's flaws fall on some of the aforementioned retreading as well as some pacing issues that make the film feel somewhat long.  It may not rank among Pixar's best with Toy Story and Inside Out, but Finding Dory is a valuable sequel to the original, using the old characters and new characters well.

14:
Deadpool

After Wolverine Origins truly trashed and destroyed the character of Deadpool, most comic fans assumed the Merc With a Mouth had wasted his chance at life on the big screen.  But after leaked test footage showed the Deadpool movie that would have been, fans began to clamor for hope on a faithful adaptation of the character.  We got that adaptation in Deadpool, which released in February and stared Ryan Reynolds as the self-aware and self-involved mutant Deadpool on an origin story revenge adventure.  The movie was incredibly fun and risky, entirely unsuitable for the young audience that often fills the seats in front of superhero movies.  A particular moment early on where Deadpool and his love interest, Vanessa, finally (ahem) connected, got the biggest reaction from a crowd I've seen in a superhero movie, from fans applauding the absurdity of it to parents angrily rushing their confused children out of the theater. 

Deadpool embraced what made the character fun by not only mocking superhero movies in general, but by mocking themselves and pointing at past failures of the character and franchise.  It is lower on my list simply because the story itself could have been more unique and interesting and there were moments where I feel the humor could have been pushed even further.  But I now wait with optimistic anticipation to see where Deadpool can go from here.

13:
Edge of Seventeen

Edge of Seventeen stars Hailee Steinfeld as 17-year old Nadine, vainly attempting to fit in socially while dealing with self-shattering anxiety and depression, reaching out to her teacher (Woody Harrelson).  The trailers teased a cliche teen comedy, but the movie delivered an honest and heartfelt story with characters whose sheer reliability provides the fuel for fantastic comedy.  This movie is tragically underappreciated and highly recommended.  Teenagers can watch this movie and relate to the anxieties and tribulations of the characters and discover the reality that high school does not last forever and that better times almost always hide ahead.  Those of us who are thankfully out of the  terror of teendom can look back with a hindsight fondness for the days gone by, remembering what those feelings of desperation were like and maybe coming to a deeper understanding of the struggles that kids today are facing.  

12:
The Jungle Book

"Remake" is often a dirty word among fans and critics alike, with many examples coming to mind of remakes that rely entirely on nostalgia and lack originality (Ghostbusters) on top of movies that are so unlike the original property that you wonder why they even called it that at all (Point Break).  Jungle Book manages to be a rare exception that, while it doesn't surpass the original, it walks the balance of standing on its own while still feeling faithful, all while diving head first into groundbreaking technology and new age storytelling.  You all know the story of Mowgli meeting Baloo, Bagheera, Shere Khan and a slew of other iconic characters.  This movie still tells that story, but it tells it in a modern and exciting way, using entirely CG world and characters to seamlessly integrate reality with fantasy in a way that has not been done so well before.  It's visual effect strides alone make this movie a must see, but the timeless story, characters and music make it even more than a spectacle.  As Disney continues their live action remakes next with Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book could be the turning point where these remakes are viewed not only as enjoyable, but welcomed and anticipated.  

 11:
Captain America Civil War

2016 saw Marvel release it's 13th and 14th movies within its cinematic universe, which functions almost as a franchise itself.  At the 13th film in the MCU, Captain America Civil War had every possibility of feeling worn and fatigued.  The Russo Brothers return to direct Captain America (Chris Evans) as his ideological differences with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) lead to a mass splitting of the Avengers and a superhero clash to go down in the Geekdom History Books for decades to come.  This movie is incredibly fun from start to finish and features the best superhero action since the first Avengers.  The movie doesn't just rely on the action, however, with a strong focus on both Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark as characters with past sins and regrets, both wanting to deal with their mistakes and problems in their own way.  Where other comic book movies this year can fall into the trap of overly-convoluted storytelling and forced connections, Civil War felt natural in both its conflict between characters and its connections to the larger universe.  

It's largest problem comes from its villain who is not only bland and forgettable but can also slightly weaken the plot overall.  He does provide the mechanism for movie's biggest reveal and twist, but Marvel's constant disinterest in making driving villains shines strong here.  This movie makes a better Avengers sequel than Age of Ultron ever will and features two of the best action scenes superhero movies could ever strive for.  A special battle scene between the two teams of heroes is filled with pure awe and entertainment, leaving you to simply sit back in joy at how far superhero movies have come and that we are truly seeing childhood dreams alive.

10:
Sing Street

Director John Carney continues his skillful run through the natural modern musical genre with Sing Street, which follows a group of teenage friends in the 1980's who form a rock-pop group together all to impress a girl.  John Carney directed one of my favorite movies in Once and he continues to impress in Sing Street.  This movie has the childish joy of youthful optimism as well as examines the impact and importance of music in growing up and discovering yourself.  Like Once and Begin Again before it, this movie features original music from the masterminds of Gary Clark, Glenn Hansard and even Adam Levine.  The soundtrack is the standout of the movie and will instantly teleport you back to the moments of the movies, all while feeling natural and timely, as if it were some 80's hit that you missed out on until now. This movie mixes happiness with sorrow seamlessly and shows a level of musical understanding that many full-time musicians could only dream of.  Sing Street is a must watch for music fans but also for people looking to dive back in time and embrace the timeless struggles of friendship, love, and untapped potential.  

9:
Kubo and the Two Strings

Animation had a strong year in 2016 and their dominance continues with Kubo and the Two Strings.  This fantasy adventure film follows a young boy named Kubo who travels the mystical world to defeat his ancient ancestors, content on destroying him and his mother for their disobedience and independence.  This movie is truly beautiful and artistic, with unforgettable visual moments and a unique animation style.  While it boasts an all-star castlist of Matthew, Charlize Theron and Rooney Mara, this movie will be mostly remembered for it's heartfelt examination of character and family, exploring themes of self-expression and independence as well as the importance of love in life.  It's fun adventure aspects and deeper themes makes it fit seamlessly within the fairy tale adventures of old.  It can teach valuable lessons to children while also managing to be genuinely engaging and even scary at points, even for adults.  I think this is one of the many movies on 2016 that has gone somewhat under the radar and deserves more attention than it has gotten.  

 8:
The Nice Guys

It is hard to transition from an animated family film to a raunchy comedy, but the scatterbrained 2016 demands it.  The Nice Guys stars Ryan Gossling and Russel Crowe as a troubled pair of investigators taking on the case of a missing girl and a dead porn star in wild 1970's Los Angeles.  The mismatched pair come together for a mystery adventure has been done as long as stories have been told, but Nice Guys is a fresh and simply hilarious take on the genre, parodying the 1970's without feeling too self-aware and mocking mystery stories while still managing to make the mystery itself interesting.  While the story is fun, the two lead characters are what we remember and their banter and misadventure turns the movie up to a new level of fun and humor to deliver by far and beyond the best comedy movie in years.  Sadly this bombed at the box office despite acclaim, so the prospects for a sequel are in danger.  But perhaps it's post-release praise will help raise the movie to a higher success level and raise the confidence in this movie to inspire a reunion of the cast and director.  Nice Guys is the must watch comedy of the year and can be highly recommended for just about anybody looking for a good time with fun characters. 

7:
The Witch

I mentioned before that I'm not a huge fan of horror movies, but The Witch managed to be something else entirely.  It follows a puritan family in the 1600's who are excommunicated from their town due to disagreements over religious practice and forced to live alone.  When their crops begin to rot and their hunting begins to fail, they begin to question if they are cursed, haunted by a witch that lurks just within the shadows of a large forest surrounding their home.  This movie is deeply terrifying, from the opening scene to the incredible finale.  The music only adds to the tension, providing a constant feeling of dread and disease throughout the film.  As the mystery unfolds and the truth of the film begins to unveil, we see not just a horror movie, but a deep family drama about people torn apart through grief, guilt, and desperation.  The movie examines the meaning of religion, sexual oppression, and the potential of uncapped fear pouring over the edges of people already stressed in their normal lives.  

This movie is not for everyone and many fans of modern horror film may find themselves bored or lost, waiting for a jump scare or a brutal slaughter.  But those who can buy in to a slow build a deeper themes will meet an ultimate payoff in one of the most memorable finales I've seen this year.  

6:
Swiss Army Man

If there is one way to lighten up this list, it's with a farting corpse of Daniel Radcliffe. Swiss Army Man follows a man played by Paul Dano who find a mysterious corpse while he is lost and starving in the forest.  This corpse, played with surprising dedication by Daniel Radcliffe, becomes the only friend of the main character.  They hold conversations about what it means to be alive and what friendship truly is.  From the absurdist comedy of explaining to an animated corpse why you shouldn't fart in public to the truly emotional moments of examining the sorrowful realities of society and social standards, this movie is a fantastic and unique ride throughout.  As we learn more about the characters and their past, we become more and more attached to their relationship, quickly forgetting the nature of their realities at the start of the film.  

Deeply heartfelt and dedicated to its storytelling, Swiss Army Man had an emotional impact on me more than any other movie this year, managing to be inspirational, hilarious, absurd and sad all at once and striking multiple chords perfectly.  Not everyone will enjoy this film, but if you can embrace the strangeness of its premise, Swiss Army Man promises to take you on a ride unlike many movies ever could.  

5:  

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

As the title of this blog may reveal, I am a huge Star Wars fan, but even I was nervous when Disney revealed their plans of spin-off films (originally titled Anthologies) to be released between the episodic main entries.  Rogue One proved my fears wrong by  making a movie that was not only fun and exciting but also added to the lore and overall universe of Star Wars.  Rogue One follows Jyn Erso (Felecity Jones) as she forms a team to uncover the truth beyond the Empire's rumored new super-weapon, The Death Star.  The adventure of this film is fantastic, with action that feels grounded and real despite it's space fantasy setting.  While the characters may not be as memorable or engaging as Star Wars is used to, they serve their purposes well in feeding the story and giving significance not only to the action of this movie, but to the action of A New Hope, which takes place very soon after this film concludes.  

Perhaps what this movie will be remembered for the most is it's risk use of CG.  Not just for action or effect, but to produce entirely an CG character that is heavily involved in the plot of the movie.  This could have been a disaster, but that risk is what has defined Star Wars in the past, from the practical effects of New Hope to the push for digital filmmaking in the prequels. Star Wars has always been about breaking new ground, something that was missing from last years entirety, and Rogue One does that with not only the CG work but with the intense and gritty action.  This is a realistic Star Wars movie with real loss and tragedy across the board.  It pushed the franchise in new directions and significantly increased my excitement for not only Episode 8, but the future spin-offs that Star Wars will deliver.

4:
Zootopia

The final animated movie on my list is Zootopia, a Disney film that follows Police Officer Juddy Hobbs, a rabbit who moves from the farm life to the metropolis of Zootopia to become the first rabbit police officer.  She partners with Nick, a con artist fox, to uncover the mystery of sudden outbursts of violence in predator species, all while raising against the clock as society begins to move further and further towards the total segregation of so-called predator species from their prey.  Zootopia is the best Disney animated movie in decades, with mind-blowing world building, lovable and developed characters, and deeper themes that feel tragically timely with today's culture of hate and prejudice.  Starting with the visuals and world building, Zootopia is a breathtakingly beautiful film.  As we travel to the different parts of the city, they all feel distinctly different and every single one of them left me wishing we could spend hours just there.  Every time we left an area I expected a downgrade but the level of detail and dedication to each setting continued to grow.  The characters also stand out with Juddy being the new-blood optimist trying to see the best in every animal and Nick being the worn-down pessimist, content to live in an even embrace the prejudices that society has forced on them.  We also see great additional characters from Edris Alba as the buffalo police captain to J.K. Simmons as the two-faced lion and mayor of Zootopia.  

However what makes this movie truly important and memorable are the themes and lessons it teaches, not only to young people just discovering a world larger than their back yard, but to the adults who have become apathetically disinterested in believing in change.  We come off a unprecedentedly heated election and several years of increasing racial tensions and prejudice.  Our society is reflected in Zootopia as a society that is willing to discriminate against the innocent just because of the violent actions of a few.  It is easy to forget that people are more than what they look like or what the news may show them to be and while Zootopia may not change the minds of those who are warped and worn by hate it may be enough to inspire kids to look beyond the shallow differences of belief or appearance and it may be enough to light a fire in the cob-webbed heart of those who feel the change cannot be possible.  Everyone should watch Zootopia, young or old,  black or white, and everyone can learn something from it.

3:
Arrival

Alien sci-fi is a mixed genre.  For every action-obsessed Independence Day, there is a smart and thoughtful District 9.  However Arrival managed to push the genre to something even more than it has been before in a smart and inventive character drama surrounded by aliens and sci-fi.  Amy Adams plays a genius linguist named Louise who is recruited by the government when mysterious alien ships land throughout the major countries of the world.    Louise must use her understanding of language to attempt and communicate with the aliens and discover why they came the Earth, all while the various world leaders vainly attempt to work together against the mysterious new species.  This movie is very deliberately paced, with a slow plot focused mostly on Louise's character and her personal loneliness and isolation, all being triggered by the high-stress environment of aliens and potential world war.  This is a hard Sci-Fi closer to the works of Issac Assimov than it is to most Sci-Fi movies. It dives deeply into the meaning of language and the potential of human understanding beyond our current limitations.  It has a significant plot twist towards the ends that reshapes everything we've seen previously and lends to increased enjoyment and understanding on rewatch.  With such huge box office success and critical acclaim, Arrival very well could help usher in the new age of sci-fi (with a little help on the small screen from Westworld).

2:
Manchester by the Sea

In a year filled with lightsabers, aliens and farting corpses, it seems fitting that we will begin the close-out of this list with a movie that is profoundly grounded and real.  Manchester by the Sea stars Cassey Affleck as a distant uncle named Lee who must return to his home town to raise his nephew after his father dies.  Lee's return home is deeply honest as he meets with past friends and family, slowly being reminded of the demons in his past and skeletons in his closet.  Through flashbacks, we learn more about Lee and his past, especially about his relationship with his ex-wife (played by Michelle Williams) and his three daughters.  As the past is revealed, the often frustratingly distant character of Lee comes into a deeper focus and the tragedy of his life becomes all the more clear.  

This movie felt real to the point of being almost uncomfortable.  It felt like we were peeking in nosily on the lives of our neighbors, seeing things we probably had no business knowing.   But like any curious person, we can't help but keep looking, wanting to know more and discover more about the people who could easily be walking beside on us on the street or staying in our apartment buildings.  This movie plays beautifully with expectations of Oscar season and what a viewer thinks a so-called Oscar bait movie should include.  This movie actively decides to avoid those cliches to keep a sense of profound and moving realism throughout, which helps the bigger moments have even more impact when the story itself is so small.  Cassey Affleck will win for Best Lead Actor if the Oscar gods are good, and Manchester by the Sea stands a very strong chance to walk away with Best Picture as well.  

1:
La La Land

La La Land is a musical which tells the story of Emma Stone's Mia and Ryan Gosling's Sebastian as they both desperately pursue entertainment careers in LA.  Mia wants to be an actress where Sebastian wants to be a true jazz musician.  Their often fruitless struggles bring them together as they grow closer in their simultaneous pursuits of greatness in a city where just about everyone is there to do the same exact thing.  There simply are not movies like this made today.  La La Land is entirely beautiful in practically every shot, from explosive long shots containing entire musical numbers to small single shots with deep detail, everything in La La Land feels deliberate and crafted.  

Starting with the story, it examines themes of idealism and holding on to hope despite the odds against you.  It looks at old ideals of heading West to Hollywood in search of a new life all while ingraining wake up calls of reality that life is not what Hollywood films make it out to be.   The visuals are utterly fantastic and several scenes leave you breathless with just how well done they truly are.  As a musical, the soundtrack is heavily important and perfectly balanced between authentic jazz, throwback ensemble pieces, and intimate solo performances. Ryan Gossling and Emma Stone both turn in the performances of their careers and their relationships walks the line of intentionally Hollywood to genuine and honest.

Any single element of this movie is done well enough to to earn this film a place on this list, but all of them done together in such a truly fantastic way makes La La Land not only the best movie of the year, but one of the best I have seen in years.  It is the must-watch movie of the year and serves as a bitter-sweet reminder of what movies have become compared to the ideal of what movies could become again.  

It has been a great year in 2016.  I started this blog and posted reviews not expecting anyone to read them, but seeing that anyone other than myself has been viewing this site is truly inspiring.  I'm excited to look forward to 2017, including weekly posts, many more reviews, and the rebirth of the Film Fan Awakens YouTube Channel.  If you would like to keep up with me or my work you can follow me on Facebook or subscribe to the soon-to-be-active YouTube Channel.  

Thanks for a great year and here's to an even better 2017.

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