The Best & Worst of 2016
Can you believe it? It’s already time to look back at the year that was in film. Before we dive into my list of the worst films of the year, as I always do, let’s review any trends, successes and failures of the year.
First of all, video game movies… they can’t catch a break! There were four movies based on video games that were released in 2016. This was meant to be the year we finally got a GOOD video game movie! There was Ratchet & Clank, The Angry Birds Movie, Warcraft, and Assassin’s Creed. You’d think that out of four films, one would be guaranteed to be pretty good – especially since two of the films leant so well to the animated form. The awful Angry Birds Movie was the best-reviewed of the bunch, receiving a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ratchet & Clank, which I felt was actually the best video game movie I’d seen in a long time, received the lowest score at 17%. Does next year’s Tomb Raider reboot even stand a chance?
This was quite a franchise-heavy year with no less than 8 sequels, remakes and prequels in the Top 10 Highest-Grossing Films of the year (Zootopia and The Secret Life of Pets were the exceptions). There were a total of 40 sequels, prequels, and remakes in the theater this year – that’s nearly one every week! That’s not even counting all the movies based on previous material.
The summer season was also pretty rough with most films with a budget over $120 million bombing and only half a dozen movies (Bad Moms, Central Intelligence, Suicide Squad, The Secret Life of Pets, Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory) becoming legitimate hits, making more than double their budget (remember, there were well over 100 movies released between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, so 6 hits is not good). That said, 48% of the summer releases earned 70% positive or higher on Rotten Tomatoes, so there were a lot of good movies people were missing.
Race was coincidentally a recurring theme in a year full of racial conflict with Moonlight, Birth of a Nation, Free State of Jones, Race, Loving, O.J.: Made in America, and Hidden Figures all dealing with African American issues. Then there’s Gods of Egypt, which inexcusably whitewashed all its characters.
I could go on and on about box office records and other movie chatter, but let’s get to it.
The Worst
5. X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: First Class was a cracking return to form for the once-abysmal franchise and Bryan Singer only built on top of that with Days of Future Past, the best X-Men sequel since X2. He was riding high and, after hitting the reset button on the seriously problematic continuity (plus the introduction of one of the comic’s biggest bads), expectations were high for X-Men: Apocalypse. What we got wasn’t so much a crushing disappointment like X-Men: The Last Stand, rather a firmly mediocre entry with just enough silliness (Apocalypse designing costumes while Magneto takes a mental phone call from Xavier) and disappointments (Angel is an angry punk!) to be a disappointing follow-up to its predecessor. Also, this was supposed to be the final film with the young Xavier and his new school, which leaves us all a bit bummed. At least we have Deadpool, The New Mutants, and a number of other spin-offs.
4. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan were building a Justice League franchise and it was all starting with a Battle Royale between DC’s most popular characters based on the classic Frank Miller story, The Dark Knight Returns. There were also rumors that Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg were going to make appearances. Expectations couldn’t be higher. No release was more exciting than Batman v Superman’s. It all came crashing down with a 2 ½ hour runtime, mostly about the mystery behind some cargo and a lot of furrowed brows over whether or not Superman is a threat. The final act is 70 minutes long! The first 80 minutes (110 if you go by the Ultimate Edition) should’ve been cut to 50. Would it have made it a great film? No, but it would’ve been a much tighter film and we wouldn’t have to wade through an entire movie’s worth of serious seriousness before the movie lived up to its title! It was not worth it. The climactic battle was so overstuffed and lacked any sense at every turn, even spurning a hundred memes (one word: Martha). Wonder Woman was pretty cool, though.
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
Did anyone really ask for this sequel to a 13 year-old hit comedy? Didn’t we lay it to rest with the short-lived sitcom? It’s not that the film is unwatchable; there are a few enjoyable moments, especially for fans of the original. However, a few callbacks seem forced and the plot is stuffed with five different stories of varying degrees of interest and none getting enough attention. Creator Nina Vardalos should’ve picked two storylines and fleshed them out. Overall, it’s a disappointment to fans. And not a very good rom-com of its own.
2. The Angry Birds Movie
Everyone was playing Angry Birds, the mobile game, about six years ago. It apparently took about that long for Rovia to get a film made. Sure, there really wasn’t much of a story to it: slingshot various birds in various different angles and strategies to kill all the pigs. But if someone creative enough could dream up a reason for those pigs and birds to have a rivalry, it would lend pretty well to animation. And we’d actually get a decent video game movie. That was not to be.
The Angry Birds Movie is obnoxious, with the worst jokes imaginable (an eagle peeing into a lake is an extended joke. No, think about it: An eagle. Peeing.) and an unbearable 90 minutes parents should avoid subjecting their kids to. The year had so many better animated films to offer.
1. Sausage Party
Stoner comedies have been around for decades, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle being one of the best. Animated stoner comedies? That’s something new, especially in America where we expect every drawing (real or digital) to be for kids. An animated stoner comedy that questions whether or not religion is good for society? Alright, I’ll bite. Unfortunately, that intriguing premise is overwhelmed by sex jokes, drug jokes, vulgarity, and half-baked world-building. Seth Rogen and friends Evan Goldberg, Ariel Shaffir, and Kyle Hunter dreamed up this thing and you can practically smell the pot coming from the writer’s room. Avoid this at all costs while sober.
The Best
Before proceeding, I feel compelled to share I have yet to see the following: Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, The Handmaiden, Hell or High Water, Jackie, or Nocturnal Animals. As is often the case, take with a grain of salt the following, because any of those films could be worth adding to the list later.
10. Swiss Army Man
Typically, when someone describes a movie as the “farting corpse movie”, the reaction is going to be divisive: some will jump at the chance for something seemingly ridiculous, others will avoid at all cost. What the directing duo Daniels did was create a “farting corpse movie” for the latter. They managed to intellectualize passing gas as a metaphor for love as something that can open one to embarrassment. What’s more: they didn’t so much make a “farting corpse movie” as a movie about a suicidal man who must convince a corpse that life is worth living. That makes Swiss Army Man one of the most intriguing concepts of 2016. The execution, complete with performances by Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe and an unforgettable score by Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, clinches it.
Swiss Army Man is one of 2016’s most overlooked gems.
9. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
This film is also. From the mind of Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows), Wilderpeople is about a difficult adolescent (Julian Dennison) and his antisocial adopted uncle (Sam Neill) who become outlaws in the wilds of New Zealand. This is probably 2016’s ultimate “make you laugh and cry” movie. It’s also one of the most underseen, scraping together a total $5.2 million in five months (that’s $1 million more than Swiss Army Man, by the way). Sam Neill gives a refreshing performance over 20 years after his “I hate kids” archeologist in Jurassic Park and Waititi solidifies his place as a rising auteur to watch for. He’ll be hard to miss next year when Thor: Ragnorak bows, but be sure to catch this one beforehand.
8. Zootopia
Disney has had its up and downs over the years. Since John Lasseter, he of Pixar fame, took over in 2006, the studio has been gaining creative momentum with the likes of Bolt, Princess & the Frog, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen. With 2016, Disney delivered the one-two-punch of Zootopia and Moana. Both are fantastic and the best the studio has produced in 20 years. I’m ultimately giving this spot to Zootopia, though, because of its degree of cleverness and how Disney did what few other studios do: take a concept to a logical point, but then go further with it. In a year full of divide among races and citizens vs. law enforcement, Zootopia became one of the year’s most relevant films (I won’t spoil how). It also gave us Judy Hopps, a character worthy of just as much praise as Moana. While other recent films from Disney are good, Zootopia is the first that will be considered great.
7. Captain America: Civil War
Superhero films are getting a lot of flak, lately. Too often people in the business are turning their nose up at it, quite snobbishly suggesting nothing of any significance or substance could come from the genre. Often there is whining of having tired of the genre, wondering if it’ll ever go away. It’s been 16 years since the first X-Men movie made over $415 million (adjusted) and jump-started the superhero genre! The Marvel Cinematic Universe began eight years ago! I think at this point, it’s like complaining about the existence of historic dramas or spy movies. Like Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight, and The Avengers, Civil War proves the genre is much more than origin story tropes. Civil War managed to not only bring one of modern comics’ greatest stories to life, not only successfully tore apart beloved friendships on screen, but also proved you can deal in big ideas, have giant spectacle, without being too serious.
Captain America: Civil War was the most fun there was to have at the movies this year until Rogue One came along. It also helped keep the bar really high for superhero films, one that isn’t easy to reach, as evidenced by DC’s failures this year.
6. Kubo & The Two Strings
There were quite a few notable animated films this year. Whereas some were content to have colorful visuals and a few jokes (Angry Birds, Ratchet & Clank), others wanted to also tell a great story (Kung Fu Panda 3, Zootopia, Moana). None accomplished both and were so wonderfully against the American aesthetic as Kubo & The Two Strings. Typically, in American animation, the desire is to make every theme, point, and statement on-the-nose obvious, afraid that audiences under a certain age won’t understand. Kubo, from Portland-based animation studio Laika, has the guts to let its story unfold without spelling everything out. It trusts its audience to be able to take the ride and follow along. That’s typically something found only in indie movies like The Lobster. Kubo also integrates Japanese culture and symbolism, which makes it one of the most culturally-rich animated films of the year (even if some of the cast isn’t Japanese, a misstep easily forgiven given all the film does right).
Kubo & the Two Strings is a rare feat in animation: a stop-motion / CGI film that doesn’t insult the audience’s intelligence with easy jokes or obvious storytelling and is about another culture. It is something worth celebrating.
5. 10 Cloverfield Lane
This film kind of came out of nowhere from first-time director Dan Trachtenberg (co-host of The Totally Rad Show). Was it a sequel to Cloverfield? Was it a tangential story? A prequel? What was it? It turned out to be the year’s best thriller. A woman finds herself injured and locked in a concrete room with an IV drip. What happened? Who is nursing her to health? Is she kidnapped? Do those who put her there mean any harm? The film slowly answers some questions and keeps you guessing at others – all the way to the final 10 minutes. Mary Elisabeth Winstead and John Goodman are fantastic in their roles. She becomes one of the year’s greatest heroines. He at his most unbalanced and cracked.
Produced by J. J. Abrams, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a wonderful mystery box best left unspoiled and relished at every moment for the exceptional directorial debut it is.
4. Arrival
It seems every year there is that one sci-fi film that could be called ‘smart sci-fi’, the kind that appeals less to the visually bombastic and more to the mind.
Arrival is that film this year. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner work with the CIA to figure out how to communicate with an alien race that has arrived in ships hovering above locations all throughout the world. The film carefully examines language and what it would be like learning to communicate with another culture. But what’s most impressive about Arrival is that it is less about the sci-fi and more about the characters. The film asks “Would you choose to do something even though you knew it would bring you a lot of pain over time?” It makes the external personal, something our future leader could benefit from when communicating with other cultures.
Arrival is entertaining sci-fi, but the kind that entertains the mind in very surprising and intriguing ways. It is 2016’s best science fiction film.
3. Manchester by the Sea
Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me) doesn’t make many movies. But when he does it is an emotional experience, a punch to the gut. In Manchester by the Sea we see Casey Affleck play a man dealing with death in his family. It is just as painful as watching a friend deal with death; you ache for the man. This is especially because neither Affleck or Lonergan are interested in melodrama. Everything they do in Manchester by the Sea is understated. Affleck does very little to convey a lot. ‘Less is more’ is the mantra here and they’re right; the film is more potent, because of it. I’m pretty sure the film is even devoid of any score that communicates how you should feel. You just watch what happens and feel. Lonergan trusts his audience to care about his characters without trying to sell the audience. His film is one of the best dramas of the year because of it.
2. Moonlight
I will preface by saying the next two films are of such magnificent quality – but so different, at the same time – that they’re place on this list is interchangeable. I’ll start with Moonlight, a drama unlike any you’ve seen this decade – maybe ever. The film is broken up into three chapters, each one titled a name that the main character goes by and takes place at three different points in the main character’s life, starting with childhood. To describe the plot – a black male is wrestling with who he is as he grows up in the ghetto of Miami – doesn’t do the film justice. Like a couple other films on this list, it’s a film that’s best left unfolding in front of and washing over you. I mention the main character is a black male, because that is an essential part of the story and the character’s identity. Identity is one of the main things he (let’s call him Chiron) struggles with throughout the movie: his real name, his nickname, who he is to his mom, who he is to his friend, his sexual identity, how economic status affects his identity, how it shapes his role models, how his race plays a factor. That subject alone both paralyzes Chiron’s personal growth and makes for an incredible film experience. The film also challenges our perspective of black masculinity and homosexuality and subverts our expectations of black men in film at every turn. It’s no mistake that the film is without any white actors and pretty much features an entirely black cast.
Moonlight offers a sharp look at a particular experience mass audiences (i.e. white, middle American) never see, become aware of, or understand. In turn, among its many subtle touches, it challenges an understanding of crime in black neighborhoods without ever showing a single white police officer on screen, making it one of the most relevant films of 2016.
Moonlight will probably go over some people’s heads, but for those willing to think about what they are seeing, it offers a lot to chew on and discuss after the credits.
1. La La Land
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone stars as two dreamers who fall in love in Los Angeles. Like Moonlight, the film is broken up into chapters with a greater meaning. In La La Land, the film is broken up into seasons of a year, each season acting as a metaphor. It’s a film that gives a big wet kiss to Golden Age musicals and jazz, while being about the struggle of loving something in its purest form and the impossibility of that thing existing forever without evolving over time, sometimes in a water-down version. The film gets its joy from its leads and its musical numbers – yes, unironic, unabashed, song-and-dance musical numbers like Astaire & Rogers, Rogers & Hammerstein, Gene Kelly and the like. Just like those movies, it isn’t so much the story that makes the film great as the musical numbers and performances.
Gosling and Stone have enough charisma and charm to spare and they take on the dance numbers with so much skill it all looks easy. The movie is about doing what makes you happy and pursuing your dreams despite living in a cynical world. “If you care enough about something, so will everyone else,” Stone’s character asserts. It’s a message coated in a lot of sugar that’s much-needed after the rough year 2016 was.
Honorable Mentions:
Moana,
Weiner,
Kung Fu Panda 3,
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,
The Witch,
The Lobster,
Deadpool,
The Nice Guys,
The Shallows,
Sing Street
Those are my picks for the best and the worst of the year. What are your picks? Leave a comment below or on Facebook. Catch you next year!