2016 is a weird year at the movies. A lot of the big studios produced big disappointments, no one more so than DC Comics, who really tried to prove itself against Marvel this year, with really, astoundingly bad results. MARTHA!!!!!!!!
But not all is lost. Marvel Studios delivered two of its best films to date, and a host of great smaller flicks about baseball, thievery, the New Wave, and blindness fill in the rest of a really fun list.
John Carney is the best director around at translating making music to the big screen today. This one goes back to his 80s Irish roots, with Ferdia Walsh Pinto creating his New Wave boy band. Yes of course this is to impress a girl (Lucy Boynton), but along the way Carney taps into those beautiful moments when a singer or a band member finds a burst of creativity. Drive it like you stole it, boys!
One of the tensest films of the year. Jane Levy, desperate to escape a terrible life, tries to rob a blind ex marine (Stephen Lang) whom she believes has money. What she ends up finding is one of Dante’s circles of hell, as the blind but still effective military killer has all sorts of tricks and horrors up his sleeve that will leave Jane, and the audience, holding their breath the entire runtime.
Ryan Reynolds himself would acknowledge that his career as a smartass leading man was dead and buried at this point. But Van Wilder was just waiting for the right moment to unleash the merc with a mouth on audiences, and apparently that moment was this year. Reynolds nails Wade Wilson’s above it all meta commenting on being a superhero in a superhero movie, actively mocking the genre he’s in while making a great superhero movie in that genre. It also proves that R Rated superheroes can be even more fun as profane, violent, and sexually active people who also happen to save the world. Cue the George Michael song!
Those first few days of college are as exciting as any in a person’s lifetime. Richard Linklater, like always, puts a pensive spin on a bunch of 80s baseball bro’s and the excitement of those new beginnings. Plus its insanely rewatchable, and makes stars out of Zoey Deutch, Blake Jenner, and Glen Powell.
How the hell do you tell people you are gay if you live in a place where alpha male tendencies rule the streets? Barry Jenkins draws from personal experience to tell an emotionally powerful tale of a black man realizing himself in the Miami projects, playing like a beautiful movie version of poetry, and totally deserving of that Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Lurid, twisty, well acted, and well directed tale of deceit, power, and gender dynamics. Chan-wook Park continues to create fascinating movies, and hopefully will become more of a household name in the US as he already is in Korea.
Independence Day and a host of other movies postulate we will have to immediately fight our Alien counterparts. Arrival replaces the The Day the Earth Stood still as the best representation of what would actually happen were aliens to land on Earth. Denis Villeneuve and Amy Adams, along with a stellar script, dive into the role of language into shaping the way we think, act, and speak when encountered with someone we cannot understand.
Another win for Marvel in the superhero movie games. The Russo brothers easily incorporate old, new, and referenced characters, a twisty plot, insanely awesome action, emotionally wrenching stakes for the Avengers. Try harder, DC. Movies this dense with stuff shouldn’t be this entertaining: a great example of how to make a summer blockbuster.
Disney Animation has officially usurped Pixar for prestige animation because of this film. A multilayered tale that is equal parts adventure, mystery, and study of racism? One of those rare films that everyone will love and enjoy and learn a little something. Plus its got a killer Shakira song.
A Texas outlaw movie doubling as a Robin Hood fable? Inspired writing and acting helps make this movie a poignant take on how the financial crisis affect every part of the world, including freedom loving West Texas, which looks like a deserted dystopia post 2008. Most inspired? Using open carry as a crucial plot point.
