Favorite Films of 2016

[jellydonut25]

We didn't have one of these yet. I think we had a "so far" thread halfway through the year, but not a year-end thread. I still haven't seen a few movies that I think could crack my top 10-15 (La La Land, Silence, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Don't Breathe) but I feel like it's time to at least throw together a preliminary list.

10.) Tex Montana Will Survive!
9.) Train to Busan
8.) The Witch
7.) Deadpool
6.) Kubo and the Two Strings
5.) Arrival
4.) Hunt for the Wilderpeople
3.) The Nice Guys
2.) The Handmaiden
1.) Swiss Army Man

Honorable mentions for Nina Forever, XMen Apocalypse, Jungle Book, Hell or High Water, and Green Room.

It was DEFINITELY a tough year for blockbusters and overall not a particularly amazing year for movies in general (there's currently nothing outside my top 15 that I feel bad about leaving off/not mentioning, which is pretty rare for me), but the movies that were good to me were REALLY good. If any movie I have left to see gets a 4.5 from me, my entire top ten would be 4.5 or higher movies.

I'm not gonna overstate the poor state of studio films when 2017 promises a bombardment of great sounding studio blockbusters.

I'll just enjoy a year heavy on great indie stuff with several good comedies (Tex Montana, Kubo, Wilderpeople, Nice Guys, Swiss Army Man) and a bunch of great horror as well (Green Room, Nina Forever, Train to Busan, The Witch...whatever Handmaiden is).

I'll be back to update as I close out my 2016 viewings in the next month or two, but what about you? What tickled your fancy this year?

[Dr Kain]

Someone else who remembered The Nice Guys!!!!

My list is here:

[jellydonut25]

Nice Guys was one of my 5/5 movies this year.

[Dr Kain]

[klen7]

Top films:
Train to Busan - This is what World War Z should have been, or at least a series of films like this from all over the world
Shin Godzilla - It was good to see the big back, cant wait to see it again
The Wailing - I really dug this movie
Green Room - Not as good as Blue Ruin, but a solid thriller nonetheless
Arrival - Moving, intellectual, good scifi
Moana - Way better than Finding Dory.
The Nice Guys - Modern noir dark comedy. more please
Gods of Egypt - I'm probably the only one that will put this on a top list, but i love how committed this film was to its concepts, also i loved mythology films as a kid (Harryhausen) and this is the best mythology film i've seen in many years.

Enjoyable:
CA: Civil War - I loved the Captain America stuff, the Avenger aspects kept it from CA:Winter Soldier heights
Rogue One - I loved the last 2/3 of this movie, the first act was a bit rough for me
ST: Beyond - Fun, but still not Star Trekky enough for me.
Zootopia - Fun and kind of makes me want a Blacksad movie



Still need to see: The Witch, Hell or High Water, Nocturnal Animals, Midnight Special, The Handmaiden, Silence, Hail Caesar, A Monster Calls

[Dr Kain]

I wanted to like Gods of Egypt, but everything about was so wrong. There was more white washing in that movie than the day after a clan party. Plus, the horrid effects (I could do better green screen effects), and that everything felt so cookie cutter and convenient that I just couldn't. The fire breathing snakes were cool though.

Isn't A Monster Calls and Silence this year?

[klen7]

^They both have limited opening in December, wide release in 2017. This makes them eligible for 2016 award season

[Dr Kain]

[canofhumdingers]

I always have trouble remembering what films actually came out each year. So I dunno if I can do a top ten (I dunno if I even saw ten new movies this year), but these were the ones I remember liking.

Shin Godzilla - loved it. Saw it two nights in a row and I still want more.

Rogue One - it's not perfect but it's still a solid Star Wars movie and the added force mythology and the third act are totally worth it! I still can't believe in just one year's time the list of good Star Wars movies has almost doubled. So cool!

X-men Apocalypse - had a really fun time watching this and need to see it again.

Captain America: Civil War - another awesome Cap movie. Marvel could just stick to Captain America, Spider-man, and GotG and I'd be happy as a lark.

Sully - I really liked this movie. I mean, yeah it's a good movie, but it also struck a really personal chord. I never thought I'd see my profession represented so accurately in a piece of mass media. No it's not a perfect representation, and they definitely take some creative liberties regarding the investigation and public hearing to spice up the drama. But still, it gets really close to the real thing, and FAR closer than I ever thought Hollywood could manage.

Well, I got 5, that's pretty good. I also took the wife to see Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Its as corny as you'd expect, but it was surprisingly much better than I expected it to be. It was actually kinda funny and not totally groan inducing.


EDIT:
Just remember I also saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was excellent. Possibly my favorite Harry Potter movie to date. The 1920's setting was a real treat and the story was so good!

[Benjamin Haines]

Having finally seen Rogue One earlier this week, I can now put together a top 10 for 2016 consisting of movies I really liked:

Shin Godzilla
X-Men: Apocalypse
Arrival
Deadpool
10 Cloverfield Lane
Don't Breathe
Captain America: Civil War
Rogue One
Doctor Strange
Blair Witch

As usual, the previous year ends with me still not having seen most of the new movies that looked interesting to me. I really want to check out The Jungle Book, Hacksaw Ridge, The Shallows, La La Land, Kubo and the Two Strings, Hail Caesar, The Nice Guys, Green Room, Finding Dory, The Witch, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Lights Out, Zootopia... so many others. A few of those are already on Netflix or Hulu actually so I guess I just need to make time to watch them.

[canofhumdingers]

Oh, 10 Cloverfield Lane. Totally forgot about that, and it was great!

[jellydonut25]