As we are presently nearing the end of February and my annual round-up posts are meant to be in reference to the previous year's movies, I was about to apologize for not writing this until now. I then went to check what I wrote for last year's round-up, where I was all like "So what if it's February?" and then I was like, "Aw, thanks AGAIN past me! Nice job taking the pressure off present me."
So screw apologizing. At least I'm doing the thing. And what better day on which to share my thoughts about the previous year's films than the day of the Academy Awards?
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| Definitely perfect. Not that that's what we're striving for. |
I'm excited to share this year's movies with you, because as we know by now...
...wait for it...
...this is:
Without further ado!
The PsychoCinematic Year in Movies
2016 Edition
1. Timbuktu (5)
2. Ex Machina (4.5)
3. The Propaganda Game (4)
4. The Revenant (4)
5. Love & Mercy (2)
6. The Wolfpack (3.5)
7. Hail, Caesar! (2)
8. Steve Jobs (3.5)
9. Spotlight (3)
10. The Witch (5)
11. Legend (4.5)
12. Amy (4)
13. Valkyrie (3)
14. City of Gold (5)
15. Inside Job (5)
16. Westworld (3)
17. We Were Here (5)
19. Ida (4.5)
20. April and the Extraordinary World (Avril et Le Monde Truqué) (3)
21. The Defiant Ones (3)
22. The Invitation (4)
23. Blow Out (1)
24. Autism in Love (3.5)
25. Captain America: Civil War (4)
26. Kill Your Darlings (3)
27. Weiner (4)
28. The Lobster (5)
29. Germans & Jews (3)
30. Tickled (3)
31. Swiss Army Man (4.5)
32. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (4.5)
33. Project Nim (4)
34. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2)
35. Dope (3.5)
36. Anthropoid (4)
37. Hell Or High Water (4.5)
38. Don't Think Twice (2)
39. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (3.5)
40. In Order of Disappearance (3)
41. Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years (4.5)
42. Pawn Sacrifice (2.5)
43. Cartel Land (5)
44. Amanda Knox (4)
45. The Big Short (3.5)
46. We Are Legion (4)
47. Mascots (2)
48. Moonlight (5)
49. Denial (5)
50. The Witness (4)
51. Doctor Strange (2)
52. All the Way (4.5)
53. Nocturnal Animals (3.5)
54. Team Foxcatcher (4)
55. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (3.5)
56. Moana (5)
To begin with the less-than-stellar films viewed in 2016, the entries in the low end of the quality spectrum were:
For trying to be impressionistic but really just kind of
lacking in content in what's probably a really interesting story:
Love & Mercy (2014)
For being yet another self-indulgent film-about-making-films
from directors we know with absolute certainty can do (much) better:
Hail, Caesar! (2016)*
For being misogynist and the worst:
Blow Out (1981)
For being poorly written and vapid
(as being a romantic comedy isn't an excuse for these offenses)
and insufficiently diverting me while I watched it on a plane:
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
For overall character-driven gag factor:
Don't Think Twice (2016)
For being yet another tired-feeling film from a director
we know with absolute certainty can do (much) better:
Mascots (2016)
For the capital offense of misusing Benedict Cumberbatch
(Is he trying to be Magic Tony Stark or not??
His facial hair and four random jokes say yes but his generally morose demeanor says no?):
Doctor Strange (2016)
I sadly watched a few more clunkers in 2016 than I did the previous year. A major theme in 2016's disappointments was the "come on, guys" factor of movies that had no business being bad yet nevertheless persevered in being so.
For example, the Coens are goddamned geniuses. Christopher Guest is a delight who significantly contributed to the formation of one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions ever: watching the Westminster Dog Show because THOSE PEOPLE ARE TOTALLY REAL. I somehow have not managed to talk about this on this blog, I think, but Benedict Cumberbatch is basically my favorite.
Fast forward to 3:19 for Exhibit 1: Why he is my favorite.
So what the hell was this crap, everyone??
However, the dubious honor of being my least favorite movie of 2016 must go to a movie I probably should have expected to be bad. I am nevertheless still angry I even saw it. Last year's worst movie was:
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| Ugh I HATE IT. |
Yeah this movie was super annoying. I guess John Lithgow was good at being a super-creep? But no ugh I just can't.
Moving on!
The major upside of 2016 was that I saw SO MANY really good movies!! They are:
Timbuktu (2014)
The Witch (2015)
Legend (2015)
City of Gold (2016)
Inside Job (2010)
We Were Here (2010)
Ida (2013)
The Lobster (2016)
Swiss Army Man (2016)
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Hell Or High Water (2016)
Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years (2016)
Cartel Land (2015)
Moonlight (2016)
Denial (2016)
All the Way (2016)
Moana (2016)
I am so gratified to see so many new movies on this list. This illustrates that I've been able to go to movies in theaters more often this year, which is a change absolutely facilitated by my move to New City and an emerging routine of going to movies with Husband on Friday nights. It also means that SO MANY GOOD MOVIES were made this past year, and hopefully there are more to come!
Some of the films I saw this year were exhilarating for their pure, courageous inventiveness. Say what you will about "The Lobster," that shit was bonkers, bizarre, creatively cray. And "Swiss Army Man"!!! It was such a weird, joyful, thrilling and moving mess of a fantasy. It's so exciting that movies like that are being made!
As always, I so value films that allow viewers a glimpse of lives and places we might otherwise have no access to. I started the year with "Timbuktu," a competitor for the Palme d'Or at Cannes telling the story of villagers whose lives are intruded upon by Jihadists. "We Were Here" walks the viewer through the devastating and terrifying era of the AIDS crisis that ultimately decimated the gay population. "Cartel Land" shows us how Mexican civilians desperately try to push back the tide of cartel violence when the government fails to protect them. "City of Gold" introduces us to LA restaurants and neighborhoods we might otherwise have no idea how to find and honors them with a deep-seated love of food.
Then: as I began the movie-watching year auspiciously, so I ended it. With a Disney movie!!
I have made no secret of how much I dislike Disney movies. To be fair, they've generally been kind of terrible. And yet, "Moana"! I went with predictably not-great expectations and was so pleasantly surprised. The animation is absolutely gorgeous, Lin-Manuel Miranda's lyrics are powerful and exuberant, and they FINALLY figured out that a children's movie doesn't need sexual tension and/or annoying rigid gender roles AND that it's possible to cast parts well without whitewashing!!
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| SHOCKING, I know!! |
Plus the story was wonderful. I was enrapt for every moment of that wonderful treat of a movie.
However, despite the denseness and quality of the field of competitors this year, there's absolutely no question in my mind about the best film I saw in 2016. It is an exquisite film. It's emotionally and visually rich, complex and subtle, deftly written, acted, and captured. And it damn well better clean up at the Oscars later this evening.
My choice couldn't be anything other than:
Come on, Academy! In the words of of last year's best film: do the right thing!
{Heart}
* = "Hail, Caesar!" may have been pretty terrible, but I have to give the Coens credit for every moment of Channing Tatum in that movie.
I mean...
...so maybe the movie wasn't...
...completely terrible.
...
