Best Movies of 2016

Just in time for the Academy Awards.

Once again I can't rank them, so I've separated them by genre, and that was hard enough. Check the sidebar for my best of lists for previous years!


Best Heart-Tugger

La La Land

A fantastic musical about love, life, and sacrifice. It's real and it dares us to dream big in life, while reminding us how hard it can be to achieve our dreams, and all the things we may need to sacrifice for them. The songs are great, and the story is great. When I first came out of the film I didn't think it was the best of the year, but after some time thinking about it, listening to its songs, and rewatching Arrival, I have to say that it really was the best of the year. And any movie that makes me get up and play the piano for an hour a day deserves all the awards.


Best Sci-Fi

Arrival

This film was such a pleasant surprise because as you go in expecting a movie about aliens, and a crazy alien invasion, instead you get a great and unique story about humanity, and what it means to be a human, and how human nature works. It's hard to say how a movie about an alien invasion is getting so much attention without actually spoiling it, but after my brother watched it he said he finally understood why so many people liked it.


Best Fantasy

Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)

This was also a great and very pleasant surprise. I don't really watch any anime but I was blown away by how complex and engaging this anime was. It's a really great love story about two teenagers switching bodies at random, and it starts off as something so absurd and surreal and cute, but it turns into something very emotional and complex, and I really loved it. I still have not gotten around to watching any of Makoto Shinkai's other works, but I'm very excited to begin watching them after this film.


Best True Story

Hidden Figures

An important film that needs to be seen if only to show us the dangers of dividing humanity on the basis of race. This was such a breath of fresh air when I didn't need to cry (as much) in the midst of all these sad Oscar movies. It was such a feel-good film, and sure maybe it was just because of the sheer volume of black sass, but it was also great knowing that this was a true story. These three women were real women who managed to overcome both racial and gender stereotypes of their time, to achieve something amazing in the Space Race. And it sends a great message especially in these days, that we as a nation, and as a world, are better off standing united rather than divided.


Lion

Yeah, yeah, I couldn't just pick one. This was also a great film about a man who was lost and separated from his family in India at the young age of 5 years old. This 5 year old is played by Sunny Pawar, who did an amazing job carrying the entire first half of the film in India, and these scenes were the best of the movie. Dev Patel was also fantastic and he has completely transformed himself from the lanky dweeb in Slumdog Millionaire (like seriously, he is so hot right now, when did this happen??). He gives an amazing performance at the end of the movie, and I was bawling like a baby. Really hope he takes the Oscar.


Best Drama

Manchester by the Sea

Talking about crying, this film was so terrible sad. Casey Affleck gives a great performance here as an irritable loner with a terribly dull life who is just thrown into this situation he doesn't want to be in, because he's still coming to grips with his tragic past. His performance is so subtle in this, I am really rooting for him to take the Oscar. Michelle Williams is also great in one scene, and Lucas Hedges is a fantastic supporting actor. The film was also structured really well, and it slowly breaks your heart bit by bit as it slowly reveals the story to you.



Hell or Highwater

I remember loving this film and thinking it was the best film of the year, then suddenly all these Oscar movies came out and I sort of forgot about this film. Nevertheless, it's still a really great modern Western drama. It's not all cowboy shootouts and things like that, as it takes a more "drama"-esque point of view, but Chris Pine and Ben Foster were great as brothers, I really bought their relationship. Jeff Bridges was great as well, but this guy really needs to come with subtitles. Overall, this was a pretty tense film that I don't think too many people have seen, but it really is worth a watch!


Moonlight

Yes, sorry, there are a lot of dramas and I couldn't pick! This film utilises quite a unique way of storytelling that looks at three stages of one man's life. I loved the way this film was done because it was almost like peeking into someone's most treasured and precious memories of his life, and all the events that shaped him into who he was. Naomie Harris was really great in here, and all three of the actors who played Chiron were great. This was also the first I saw of Janelle Monáe, and she was a huge reason I wanted to see Hidden Figures.


Best Comedy
The Edge of Seventeen

A refreshing coming-of-age story where it's okay to laugh at someone joking about suicide, and where you kind of hate the main character. Hailee Steinfeld is really great in this as someone so annoying and hateful, yet quite relatable as well, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her in a lot more things. Woody Harrelson is also pretty hilarious here and the two have great chemistry. Apart from that it's just an overall entertaining and quirky film about surviving one's teen years.


Best Franchise Film

Captain America: Civil War

This film seems like a lifetime ago but I still really love it. Hard to believe it only came out in 2016 though. The fight sequences were fantastic, and I felt like they built up each character and their reasons really well. The airport scene and the 2v1 fight were done fantastically, and I am also very excited to see more of Black Panther.

Notable mentions: Doctor Strange was a fun acid trip, Deadpool was pretty hilarious, Star Trek Beyond was very exciting, and the second half of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story deserves a mention

Best Children's Film

The Jungle Book

This film came out around the same time as Civil War, so it also feels like a lifetime ago. However, Neel Sethi who plays Mowlgi did a really great job in his breakout role here, and the CGI was exceptionally beautiful.


Kubo and the Two Strings

It has a weird name, but the stop-motion animation in this looks so much like CGI that it blew my mind. The storytelling and the lore of this film is really great, and it would have been great to see more of it. But what we did see was still pretty amazing.

Notable mentions: Moana was a pretty exciting look into Polynesian culture, and had great songs; Zootopia waas fun but I didn't really see what the hype was about, and Finding Dory was a pretty decent sequel to our beloved Finding Nemo, if a bit cliche at times.


Best Thriller

Nocturnal Animals

A really intriguing story within a story. The only reason this makes it worthy of this list is because the second story is super interesting. However, the main story isn't as interesting and while it does have some parallels with the more interesting story, it's still a bit slow paced and not as intense. Still, though, Jake Gyllenhaal and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are great in the story-within-the-story.

Notable mention: Deepwater Horizon was a pretty thrilling and interesting look into the huge BP oil spill that we all heard about in high school, and it was great to see what went down that day.

Best Action

Hacksaw Ridge

I mean, this isn't really an action film for the most of it, but in the second half of the movie when the action does kick in, it is CRAZY. And it is definitely the best action of year, as it's on par with Saving Private Ryan levels.

Notable mention: The Magnificent Seven was a very fun and enjoyable cowboy action film.


Well, that's it for now. There are some other films I have not gotten round to seeing yet but I have heard they have gotten good reviews, and they are:

Pete's Dragon

The Birth of a Nation

Fences

Silence (Edit: this is not a good movie, check out my review here)

Patriots Day (Edit: this movie is a really good thriller, check out my review here)

Here at NASA, we all pee the same color.

Hidden Figures (2016)

7.9/10 on IMDb
92% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: A must-see
Watch it if you: Are interested in the subject matter (true story, racism, NASA);
Want a refreshingly upbeat movie in the face of all these depressing Oscar films
Hidden Figures tells the true story of three African-American women working at NASA and playing separate, but integral, roles in the Space Race. We have Katherine Goble, a computer/mathematician who gets placed on the team that calculates the flight trajectory of the astronaut; we have Mary Jackson, another computer who aspires to be an engineer but cannot because of new regulations that seem only to favour white males; and Dorothy Vaughan, an unofficial supervisor for the coloured computers struggling to get a promotion while also being concerned about being made redundant in the face of new IBM technology entering NASA.

Apparently this film was pretty accurate to the true events, although they did condense the three women's stories into the same timeline whereas in real life they took place at different times within the same decade. And I thought the film did an excellent job at telling this unfortunately not-well-known story about these three hidden figures of history, who were looking for hidden mathematical figures for NASA.



Firstly, I think what struck me the most was how the film portrayed the different levels of racism and segregation you could see here.

One, you had the people who just didn't see race. They didn't see colour. They would go out of their way to talk to you or to shake your hand purely because that was what they would do to anyone, black or white. At NASA, it wasn't about the Whites against the Blacks, it was about the Americans against the Russians, and some people knew that the only way they could succeed was if they allowed anyone worthy, regardless of colour and gender, to aid where necessary.

Unfortunately, not everyone at the time was like that, though. In fact, most people weren't, so you had people who were blatantly racist. People who would stare at a black woman just because she got up to get coffee, people who would stick hard and fast to labels for "Coloured" people, people who would hinder the progress of others even if it meant the advancement of their team as a whole.

Then you have the people in between. The people who are racist, but don't know it. The people who think, "I'm so great because I work at a company that hires black people! My company is very progressive and we are giving these people jobs where they wouldn't ever get one in any other situation! That means I'm very progressive!" And I think this is really dangerous because these sorts of people don't realise how much they are adding to the system and cycle of racism, because they are ignorant of how their actions could possibly be racist at all.

And that leads us to the last group of people, those who are ignorant. And this can cover all three of the above levels I just spoke about, because you could be racist because you are ignorant, or you could not see race but still be ignorant of all the difficulties that they face just in every day life. Things like going to the bathroom serve a daily reminder of the oppression they face, things like walking into a room full of white males shows the lack of representation of females, let alone black females and males, in an area of science where these things shouldn't matter. It's sad but that is the harsh reality of the 60s, and it's the harsh reality even of today, unfortunately.



But enough about that, let's talk about the rest of the film.

I was so fascinated with Taraji P. Henson in this. I don't watch Empire but I am familiar with the rough idea of what her character is like in that show, and here she is the complete opposite. She was so great as a strong, resilient, and yet oppressed and silenced woman, and she has a fantastic moment where she decides that she has had enough of being treated badly because of the colour of her skin, and I will admit I cried in that scene (although, that's not saying much in light of how many times I've cried in movies these past few months).

Octavia Spencer was alright in this, I didn't feel like she had many moments to shine, although ever since The Help, I've loved seeing her on screen (and they even have a reference to the infamous pie!). I liked the idea of her character though, she was very smart in the sense that she was the authoritative figure of the coloured computers, and she also knew about how new technology could make her job redundant, and she came up with different ways of trying to make herself useful and even invaluable to the company.

But oh my goodness, Janelle Monáe. Daaaang this girl is on fire right now. In between this and Moonlight, she is doing a killer job at entering the acting world. I cannot believe she just decides to go into acting, as a singer, and then right off the bat stars in two highly-talked-of films this year. She has a great moment where she speaks to a judge, and just the overall sassiness she brings to the screen is fantastic. And, it goes without saying, she is beautiful so I could watch her do nothing all day long and I'd still be happy. Plus, it was great seeing her on screen with Mahershala Ali as well, who makes a small appearance (although he didn't really do much so I was kinda disappointed with his character).

I think I've given this enough of a rave for you to understand that I loved this film, but here's my summary anyway. I feel like I've given way too many "must-sees" this year, but I still think this needs to be watched by everybody, because it's a story that needs to be told, and heard. I am fascinated with anything NASA related, and I love true stories that show the achievements of man, and send important messages, and this is a film that does so. The acting is great, it's all pretty subtle, even by supporting actors like Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner, who are great in this. Some of their personal lives seemed glossed over in favour of more focus on NASA, which I don't really have an issue with, but some of the side stuff seems to be a bit too dramatised (like Jim Parson's character) or a bit too irrelevant (like Mahershala Ali's character), and the ending comes off as a bit too Hollywood-action-flick suspensey, but overall I think this is a great film that needs to be seen.

My heart was broken, but I know yours was broken too

Manchester By the Sea (2016)

8.1/10 on IMDb
96% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe
Watch it if you: Are in the mood for a heavy drama (and trust me, you need to be in the mood for this); Still want to laugh a little
Lee Chandler is a sombre and disagreeable man working a dead-end job as a handyman for a Boston apartment. One day, he needs to return to his hometown of Manchester-by-the-sea, where his brother has recently passed. As he learns that he has been appointed guardian for his teenage nephew, he struggles with the sudden change of routine, all while trying to overcome his own tragic past.

I think this film was a great piece of storytelling without being the overly dramatic Oscar-bait movie I was expecting. It was still dramatic, and it was still very Oscar-esque in some parts, but for the most part it felt like a very realistic portrayal of depression, anxiety, trauma, and the struggle to recover from all of these.

The film was surprisingly quite funny, because life is funny. And awkward. And life doesn't stop being funny or awkward just because one person gets depression. People continue to act the way they always have acted, regardless of whether or not you are an arsehole because you are depressed. And I really liked all the scenes in here that portrayed that. Little things like extras' little conversations in the background, or moments where not everything is so perfectly played out because life is filled with little things that annoy you even though they aren't such a big deal. They could have easily made this like a typical movie where they only include things that are necessary, but sometimes you just won't be able to find certain things in your office, or you just won't for the life of you be able to wheel someone into a van properly. And then what do you do, do you just watch them continue struggling? Do you try and help them even though you're not qualified or experienced enough and don't want to mess up more than you already have? What do you do? It's an awkward, albeit funny, situation to be in.

And there are a lot of other subtle things that this film does. Subtle things the main character does, like intently keeping an eye on the microwave, help to flesh out a stoic character more so than dialogue could. And when dialogue is used, it's used sparingly, but efficiently; just a few words could speak miles in a this film.

And this subtlety means that the movie doesn't spoon-feed things to you. It reveals the story to you in stages, bit by bit, ever so slowly, and then suddenly all at once. At first, you know this guy is an arsehole. Then you realise that something's a bit off, but you don't know what. Then you realise that something's really off. And then you realise, and it all makes sense.

The first part of the movie may be a bit jarring because of this, because the past is told in really abrupt stages of flashbacks, but as the story progresses, it unfolds in a way that is more understandable.

The acting in this is really great. Casey Affleck is phenomenal in this. His acting is so subtle, I never felt that he overacted any scene. He was able to realistically portray someone so consumed by grief and depression but who just needs to continue through life. As I said before, you first see him as an arsehole, and then you later realise that this is his way of being depressed; he chooses to be miserable, he chooses that he does not deserve happiness, and he actively avoids anything that could possibly make him happy again. It really is heartbreaking.

I'm not sure why Michelle Williams is on the poster. I mean, there is one scene in this film where she is fantastic in (and I was blubbering like a baby; doesn't help that I can't get the Blue Valentine Michelle Williams out of my head), but she's really only in about four scenes in total and sort of disappears for the rest of the movie.

In actuality I think Lucas Hedges, who plays Lee's nephew, should be talked of more, because he did a pretty great job holding his own alongside Casey Affleck. It was really interesting to see these two characters side by side, because they showed the clear difference in the different manifestations of grief, and their character arcs seemed so natural and real.

Apart from that, Kyle Chandler was great as Lee's loving and protective brother, and even Matthew Broderick makes an appearance! That was a bit weird because the last thing I saw of him was Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which he was super cute in and now he's old and weird and super Christian in this film instead.

This movie is a bit longer, at 2 hours and 17 minutes, and it does feel quite long, and for that it would be hard to rewatch even though I think it does deserve one, sometime in the distant future.

This is because sometimes it feel a bit slow, but that just adds to the sense of realism it creates.

Another downside was that I sometimes felt like the score was very overwhelming. It sometimes felt a bit jarring and a bit too heavy for me.

But apart from that, this is a great movie to watch. It's heartbreaking and tragic, but it's also very realistic and very funny too. It's a great portrayal of depression and grief, and a great example that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just cannot overcome your demons. Sometimes there is no way out, sometimes there is no happy ending. But sometimes, things do work out, just not the way you expect them to. And that's okay.

In Moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue

Moonlight (2016)

8.1/10 on IMDb
98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright; Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe (it's a mix of both)
Watch it if you: Want a refreshingly different movie from standard Hollywood films; Want to see an interesting coming-of-age story of one person's life over time; Are a fan of Boyhood (2014)


Moonlight focuses on the story of one man, told through the three stages of his life: boy, teen, and man. As we journey through his life, we see a story of love, heartbreak, friendship, identity, and self-discovery.

I went into this movie not knowing much about it, but I had heard great things from critics, so I decided to check it out. I honestly didn't even realise that the poster shows three different actors until shortly before I saw the film.

Firstly, I really liked the idea of following one man through these different and very defining chapters of his life. Each chapter focuses very heavily on particular events without skipping too much in time within the chapter, and it felt almost like the main character was reflecting on all the important moments of his life, sharing only his most important and self-defining memories with the audience.

It was also really interesting because whenever we enter a new chapter into his life, we see a different actor portray a different personality, even though it's the same character we are watching. And in doing so, the movie is able to reflect how much one person can change in their lives, while still being the same person once you strip away all that exterior stuff.

I found it fascinating that the three actors who portrayed Chiron never actually met during production, because the director wanted them to develop their own personas based off the script alone. This was surprising because I noticed that all three of the actors shared similar body and facial language movements, and I thought this was a deliberate and subtle way of linking all three actors to the same character, but it turns out that's just them acting!

And the acting in this was really great!

Apart from those who play the main character, there was Mahershala Ali as Juan, the man who takes Chiron under his wing, and there was the stunning Janelle Monáe, who plays Juan's girlfriend. And seriously, she is so pretty (and I saw her in the trailer for Hidden Figures so I'm keen to see her in that!).

Then there was Naomie Harris, who plays Chiron's mother, and my goodness she was fantastic in her role. I think she seriously deserves an Oscar for this (although I haven't seen Fences, Hidden Figures, or Manchester by the Sea yet so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here).

It was also great that they showed others' character arcs as well, in a way that was not so dramatic or Hollywood-ised. Seriously, sometimes character arcs get closed off in really cliché ways, but the character arcs here felt real and natural.

I did really enjoy this movie. It was heartbreaking, emotional, and different. I heard way too many good things about it though, so I was expecting a lot, and I wouldn't call this film the best of the year. I think it's an important film to watch, and I think it's great that it broke through the mould of Hollywood, but I think it lacks a bit in terms of rewatchability.


A few side notes:

Did the swimming scene remind anyone of a baptism?

"You ain't got to love me, but you gonna know that I love you."

"At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you're going to be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you."

"What's a faggot?"
"A faggot is a word used to make gay people feel bad."
"Am I a faggot?"
"No. You're not a faggot. You can be gay, but you don't have to let nobody call you a faggot."

Every day my real brother screams my name.

Lion (2016)

8.0/10 on IMDb
87% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: A must-see; I'm buying the DVD
Watch it if you: Want a heartwrenching biopic that captures the harshness of India and familial separation; Don't mind crying, a lot


Lion tells the story of Saroo Brierley, who at five years old got lost on a train, separating him from his family in a small Indian town. After struggling to survive on his own, he winds up being adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty five years later, though, he resolves to set out and find his family through Google Earth's technology.

I am so glad I was able to watch this film. It came out the day before I left for my holiday and I wasn't able to catch it, but I did see a lot of people posting about it on Facebook, so I made sure to watch it once I got back.

Firstly, I will say that I was quite surprised at how much of the film focused on young Saroo. Pleasantly surprised, though, because this half was the best part of the movie.

It was so shocking and difficult to watch young Saro go missing, and go through all these hardships of survival. The amount of poverty and evildoings that happen on the regular in India are terrifying, with kids being kidnapped (possibly to become beggars for others, organ donors, or sex slaves), people taking advantages of homeless children, and the overall terrible quality of life and lack of concern for orphaned and homeless children. All of this was a struggle and I was on the verge of tears a lot of the time.

The focus on India was much much much longer than I expected, but I am glad that the director decided not to gloss over these aspects of Indian life. The film told what needed to be told. These are real issues; 80,000 children go missing in India every year, and while this is the story of one of them, most of those children's stories remain untold simply because they were not able to survive. The film is aligned with three charities that help children living on the streets, check out more info on the film's website.

The cinematography in this first half of the film is amazing, and Sunny Pawar, who plays the young Saroo, is amazingly talented and also phenomenally adorable! He did a fantastic job even though he had very little dialogue, and was able to communicate through his body and facial expressions, which is a great achievement for a kid, let alone a kid with no acting experience.

Then the second half of the movie focuses on adult Saroo, which was what I originally thought the entire film was going to be about (and now after seeing the film I understand why Dev Patel was nominated as a Supporting Actor).

Dev Patel is amazing in this; his accent sounds so spot on and natural, I was very impressed and even confused, wondering whether he was actually Australian (no, he's from the UK)! In fact, in an interview he said he actually learnt the Aussie accent from watching Australian Masterchef!

Also, when did he suddenly become so handsome???

This second half definitely has its flaws. Unfortunately, they gloss over Saroo's adjusting to Australian life, and also gloss over Mantosh's adjustment, which seemed very interesting and I wish the film was a bit longer so that it could explain and integrate that in a bit better. Also because it seemed like the film was trying to compare and contrast Saroo's relationships with his two brothers, Guddu and Mantosh. It felt like they tried to start that, but then didn't go all the way through with it.

There is also a very dramatic scene with Nicole Kidman that I think could have been done a bit better, and that was the slowest part of the film for me.

Worse still is that apparently, the real life Mantosh and Sue Brierley were not like how the film portrays them, so that's unfortunate because I think they wanted to create more drama to make it more Oscar-worthy, which is sad because I kind of wanted to see more of Saroo's actual searching, rather than his struggles to maintain his family and romantic relationships.

But then we get to the last 20 or so minutes of the film, and my goodness I was getting so worried of running out of tissues (yes, I made it a point to bring tissues because I saw everyone's Facebook posts mentioning how much they cried)!

If I thought the first 1.5 hours were bad, with me trying to blink back tears, slyly wipe away the tears that did fall, and slowly blow my nose whenever the movie started getting louder, boy was I in for a treat!

In the last 20 minutes, everything just came out. Blubbering, heaving, weeping, and just tears. Endless tears.

The performances of Dev Patel and Priyanka Bose here were stunningly beautiful, and I cried like a baby who had just had her heart broken for the first time.

In summary, I came out of the theatre thinking this was one of the best films of the year. While the middle was a bit lacking, the beginning half was phenomenally heartbreaking, and the end climax was a very powerful and touching piece of art due to the entire film's build up, as well as the superb acting abilities of the characters. I think you would be a fool to miss out on this movie.