The Ten Best Films of 2016
10. Now You See Me 2
I loved the first Now You See Me. It got me into magic and was one heck of thinking film. Everything about the film was layered and it really had you guessing until the very end. Because of that, I had high hopes for the sequel. Not impossible hopes, but fairly high. It semi delivered. I say semi, because it was easier to figure out and pretty much delivered some of the same stuff from the original film. There were also a few unnecessary character additions. One of those would be Woody Harrelson's second character in the film, Chase. I thought that character was bizarre and had no purpose in the film. Despite that, the sequel was great. More magic, though some of the tricks were less believable, and it took our heroes and stripped everything from them. Just like the great second chapters do, the heroes go through some real hurtles in the film and as a result, they are forced to get out of their terrible situations. It may not have the ending where everyone is clamoring to see what happens, but the film itself is very suspenseful throughout. You may know that the main characters are going to get out of their difficult situations, but watching and viewing how that is done is exciting to witness. I enjoyed the new additions to the cast. Though her purpose was to replace Isla Fisher's character from the first film, I found the addition of Lizzy Caplan's character to be both hilarious and upbeat, though her comments about her being the only female on the team were annoying. I hope that with Isla Fisher coming back for the third film, it doesn't mean that Lizzy Caplan's character will be erased, because I liked her character. I really enjoyed the development for Mark Ruffalo's character, Dylan, as well as Morgan Freeman as his character, Thaddeus. I didn't know how I felt about Daniel Radcliffe's inclusion, though his character served as a worthy, albeit disposable, adversary. The film is with its problems, but why this film didn't get more positive attention is beyond me.
9. MoanaDisney, as a whole, had a SPECTACULAR year in 2016. They had one or two flops in the year, but the rest were considered bona fide hits. All of its divisions from Marvel to Star Wars, to Pixar, to their live-action remakes, to their traditional animated films, they all had great films that came out. Moana was a return to making princess films for Disney. This princess comes from the South Pacific and is voiced by a newcomer actress, Auli'i Cravalho. Joining her is the rock himself, Dwayne Johnson, who plays an ancient demigod named Maui. These two play well off each other. From their comedic banter to their more heartfelt moments together. I appreciated the fact that Disney changed a few things up with Moana. Making this princess have no love interest made her more refreshing given all the other princesses that have one. The musical numbers are fantastic. There was one I didn't like though, but that's a small gripe given the level of quality the other numbers have. The animation with this film is stunning, which can also be said with my next installment of this list. I had a few MINOR issues with the film with it being a bit too meta and I thought they could've fixed a few problems with the first act, but there were bound to be a few problems considering that this film was rushed through production to capitalize on Frozen's continued success. Even though I had a few problems, I, overall loved the end result. Though not as much as my little sisters.
We may get tired of Pixar making sequels, but I found their latest endeavor to be a fun and entertaining one at best. I may have had too high expectations for this film, and like Now You See Me 2, Finding Dory semi delivered. I thought the film had a few problems with the climatic action piece, the flashbacks which I felt interrupted the pacing of the story, and to some extent, the inclusion of Marlin and Nemo felt unnecessary at points. That's why the film ranks lower. The rest of the film is fantastic. I find Ellen Degeneres a perfect match with her character. In my opinion, Dory definitely deserved her own film. It was so great to see this world again after thirteen years. Thanks to that gap, the world is given a newer look. Everything from the texture, the lighting, and of course, the amazing looking aquarium. That's all thanks to the animation quality and if there was an aquarium like that, I'd love to go there. I thought that if you took away the cartoonish humans and fish, and replaced them with real world and humans, that may look like an actual aquarium. That's how good the animation was. Another part of that credit goes to the septopus, Hank, who is voiced by Ed O'Neill. Just like when Dory stole the show in Finding Nemo, I think that Hank ALMOST stole the show in Finding Dory. The new side characters weren't as interesting, save a few sea lions. Even though the bulk of their scenes were those flashbacks, Dory's parents were really great. The movie had a lot of great themes, thanks to Thomas Newman, who composed the first film. Mark Newman!
Anyway, the movie is just so spot on as a whole and is certainly a great addition to the Pixar library.
7. ZootopiaWhen it comes to the best animated movie of the year, Zootopia is at the top of a real cool pyramid. This film has pluses in all sorts of areas. There's not a single flaw in it. Even if there was, that'd probably be called nitpicking. First off, the film has spectacular world building. Disney went the distance when it came to designing and shaping the different sections of this animal friendly utopia, or is that Zootopia. The world simultaneously blended anthropomorphic animals with the technology and modern world we have today and it works. The second reason this is a triumph, is the mystery. The mystery is so good. It makes sense in the context of what the messages the filmmakers are trying to go for. I thought I was watching a kid friendly version of a Sherlock Holmes level mystery. The twist is in every way a surprise. I enjoy the plethora of messages presented. The ones about not stereotyping others, or believing in what you want to accomplish, and the importance of not being biassed against others, these are all great lessons that can be learned from this film. The cast overall is great, but the two standouts, as they should be, are Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman. The two form a hilarious and heartwarming buddy cop, or bunny cop, duo. It's a spectacular film and it's my pick to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
This film is so underrated. I found it to be a great way to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek. I loved the first of this reboot series and I seemed to be the only one who enjoyed the second. This time around, we find Kirk as he tries to find ways to become his own man which comes at a bad time as he's sent to investigate the disappearance of a crew. But as a mon calamari said in a galaxy far, far away, IT'S A TRAP! After being attacked, Kirk and crew are stranded on a planet and are forced to survive. I really enjoyed this film and I appreciated that it dealt with the tragic death of Leonard Nimoy (Original Spock) and they somewhat upgraded Anton Yelchin's role as Chekov which is a great, yet sad thing because of his tragic and unexpected death just one month prior to the release of this film. The crew get their own fair share of character development and when they were split up, hilarious banter ensued. I especially loved it when Spock and Bones where having their own discussions and comedic banter with one another. The action sequences are spot on and who didn't love the Beastie Boy's Sabotage addition? I know my family did, myself included. The film was one of the most underrated films of the year. For me, it's also ranks amongst the best of the Star Trek films.
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryIn an attempt to expand the franchise beyond the traditional episodes, Rouge One gives us the first spin-off film which tells the story of how the Rebellion was able to get a hold of the Death Star plans which will lead to its demise in A New Hope. While acting as a great tie-in to A New Hope, Rouge One also works as a great stand alone story. The cast is diverse across the board and they really do a great job as a team. That said, some of the members get more screen time than others and because of that, the other members don't get enough time to develop and as soon as the movie ends, they're forgotten. But aside from that, the film has the best action scenes in the Star Wars films ever. That's saying something because there has been a ton. As an added bonus, we get some spectacular returns from characters in the other movies. The best of the bunch is of course James Earl Jones's return to Darth Vader. Though we see him very little in the film, what we got of him was worth the anticipation. This film takes some bold, creative, yet inevitable and predictable choices in this film which I felt was a great decision. The effects were a great part of the film. Especially when it came to the Death Star. Speaking of technology, technically speaking, it is a prequel and I think that, in the right hands, Star Wars can make a great prequel.
4. Doctor StrangeThough it shouldn't be a surprise at this point, Marvel's ability to launch a relatively unknown character into the mainstream is uncanny. Not in an unsettling way though, I find it very effective. We're not talking about a B level character, more like a C level character. That's a scale of how unknown this character is, not how bad the character is. Prior to seeing this film, I knew very little about Doctor Strange. I knew he had a terrible crash that led him to become a sorcerer and that was about it. Nothing else. I went into the theater with excitement for all that I saw in the marketing campaign and with an open mind. Let it be said, I was surprised. Not only because of how cool everything looked, but also because of all the great and comedic performances. Benedict Cumberbatch owns this role. There was literally no other actor that could do this role except him. Mads Mikkelsen plays the villain, Kaecilius, and he continues the villain winning streak Marvel has been building towards. Chiwetel Ejiofor does a great performance as Karl Mordo and Tilda Swinton, who was criticized for "whitewashing" the character, did a great job that, I think, no one could do better. We of course have to talk about the action and effects, as they go hand-in-hand. The action is beautiful. It really is. They are really done well and I could watch those scenes all day. They also help the humor category, because for most of them, they are really hilarious. The magic/effects hit the perfect mark that this movie needed them to do. With all the weapons, the conjuring, the shifting buildings, the different realities, and of course, the astral plane. It's even better in 3D. This was the first time I saw a film in 3D in a while and my money was well spent. The score, composed by Michael Giacchino, is really good. I also enjoyed the important messages that this film highlights are great that everyone should learn. I did not anticipate that from a Marvel movie. It was very unexpected. All in all, Doctor Strange is a though provoking and mind-blowing masterpiece.
If you read my review for this film, you'd know that I didn't like this film as much as the place spot suggests. Originally, I had this film towards the back of the pack, with it being number seven or six, but then I thought about it. During that, I realized that those problems I pointed out, in my review, were very minor and insignificant to the rest of the film. I know what your thinking and that is "Why number three Dallin?" After thinking about all the great things that was in the film, I moved it to three which is three steps higher, surpassing Doctor Strange and Rogue One. It deserves it though. The film delivers a great and original story while also giving us a dose of nostalgia from the original Harry Potter series. Giving us new characters, a new setting, but also delivering us that same familiarity that we loved from the other films. The cast across the board is spectacular. Eddie Redmayne is fantastic as our new lead wizard. So are the two female leads, but my favorite character was Dan Fogler as Jacob. Colin Farrell was a superb villain in the movie and the magic looks great as always. Ezra Miller joins the cast as well and he may have a small role, but I thought his character was great. Because this movie is called Fantastic Beasts, I thought the beasts looked wonderful. Each of them had their unique features, which I appreciated. This film is surprisingly dark. Even though it went dark in the Harry Potter films, it wasn't at the level that Fantastic Beasts is. J.K Rowling writes her first screenplay with this film and you can tell that she did everything right. This spin-off/prequel is one of the few prequels that are actually good. I'm very curious from where the filmmakers go from here.
Taking the runner-up spot for the best movie on this list, is Captain America: Civil War. Marvel had a spectacular run in 2016. The combination of this and Doctor Strange was a recipe for success. But why does this rank higher than Doctor Strange? It's not that it has a lot of great characters, although that is a plus, but it's the story which is why it gets the second place spot. I love the story. It shows the heroes we love, getting torn apart. The important thing about the story is that you believe the conflict that is happening and it is believable. Marvel effectively tore apart the characters we know very well and made the audience pick a side. I myself chose Captain America's team. There were many debates about which side was right. I knew people that chose Iron Man's side. So that adds to Marvel's credit about making the audience care about these characters. Speaking of characters, Civil War features a vast variety of new characters and settings. The kingdom of Wakanda is finally introduced and with it, we're given T'Challa otherwise known as the Black Panther, who is perfectly played by Chadwick Boseman. Finally, Sony decided to get along with Marvel and because of that, Spider-Man officially joins the MCU. Both characters perfectly fit into the story. Neither of them felt tacked on or unnecessary. Ant-Man, who got his origin story film one film prior, joins the larger scope and his character is given a huge upgrade. That was a cheap pun wasn't it? The action sequences are phenomenal. The airport battle is the best action sequence in a comic book film ever. The villain is likely the best one the MCU has had yet. There's no equal. I couldn't praise this film enough. It's that good.
1. Arrival
Congratulations to the nine other films that made my list. All of them were spectacles, but my number one favorite film that came out in 2016, is Arrival. This film is fantastic front to back. It takes the typical and played out alien encounter premise and actually makes it interesting. The story is very thick and has multiple layers throughout. It's unpredictable in every sense of the word. Actors are the key thing here and they all do a marvelous job. But Amy Adams is no doubt, the star of the show and her performance here is the best performance I've seen her do in her entire career. It's just that good. Jeremy Renner is here and his character is as important as Amy Adams. Everything here is low tech. Captain America: Civil War had a two hundred and fifty million dollar budget. In comparison, Arrival had forty-seven million as its budget and I thought that this film used this budget wisely. I was impressed with what they were able to accomplish with it. The effects may not be at the main front of the film, but I thought the alien spacecrafts were clever and the aliens themselves were very cool, but also interesting. It's not like the usual look that aliens are given in film. Johann Johannsson's score is very peaceful, but also very rampant and excited as well. Denis Villeneuve hit this film out of the park. I haven't heard of him prior to Arrival, but after having seen this film, I look forward to his future works.
So those are the ten best films I saw in 2016. What did you think? I'd be curious to hear your own personal list in the comments below. Have a great new year. I look forward to the upcoming slate of films that will come this year. Thanks for reading, I'm the film fanatic, bye-bye.
Comments
Post a Comment