Year in Movies: 2016 edition

[red snow]

2 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Well, La La Land is a move ABOUT Hollywood, is a musical, is a throwback to a time when there was real movie magic.. I'd say it was absolutely nailed on. Everyone else should go home.

It's also an original musical for film and consdering they like handing out Oscars for musicals that are just the stage version with better sets/budget and angle options I think they'll find it hard to resist.

12 hours ago, Bronn Stone said:

I am surprised at the extent to which the film fans here all seem to have avoided La La Land.  I think it terribly worth seeing and I went out of my way mostly because I want to see the key nominated films.

It's only just come out over here. I also discovered why I missed Hacksaw Ridge in the UK - it hasn't come out yet.

11 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Some people have absolutely no interest in seeing a musical. It's certainly not something I'd make a trip to the theater for.

Yeah - there has to be a reason why everyone is singing for me to get my head into a musical eg "buffy" or "it's a dream/result of a brain injury". Because of this "la la land" is a film I'll watch but not before I've seen "hacksaw ridge" or "silence". It's far more likely to be a rental viewing for me unless it's a group social film viewing.

I also watched Green Room over the weekend based on the comments here. Was surpised to see it on netflix for a film that's from 2016. Anyway it's a good thriller but I think I maybe went in with too high expections based on the love shown here. Was fun to see PAtrick Stewart be evil and a damn shame that Anton Yelchin is dead - he was very good at playing delicate yet determined and think he was probably a couple of films away from a break-out role/performance.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

3 minutes ago, red snow said:

It's also an original musical for film and consdering they like handing out Oscars for musicals that are just the stage version with better sets/budget and angle options I think they'll find it hard to resist.

It's only just come out over here. I also discovered why I missed Hacksaw Ridge in the UK - it hasn't come out yet.

Yeah - there has to be a reason why everyone is singing for me to get my head into a musical eg "buffy" or "it's a dream/result of a brain injury". Because of this "la la land" is a film I'll watch but not before I've seen "hacksaw ridge" or "silence". It's far more likely to be a rental viewing for me unless it's a group social film viewing.

I also watched Green Room over the weekend based on the comments here. Was surpised to see it on netflix for a film that's from 2016. Anyway it's a good thriller but I think I maybe went in with too high expections based on the love shown here. Was fun to see PAtrick Stewart be evil and a damn shame that Anton Yelchin is dead - he was very good at playing delicate yet determined and think he was probably a couple of films away from a break-out role/performance.

I'm really not a fan of musicals at all, I don't 'get' them at all in general. I think for it to work the movie has to rejoice in the fact that its telling a story in a hyper unreal way, because people don't generally start bursting into song in real life. Bollywood does this pretty well. 

La La Land was at its best when it was doing that, I think its musical numbers were excellent, I loved the main theme song and I'm still humming it right now. The rest of the movie is a bit above average and that stops it being a 'great' movie in my eyes.  But I enjoyed it where I would hate something else like Chicago or Mamma Mia. 

Green Room I agree with you on. Its one of those movies that gets hyped up because nobody saw it. I did see in the cinema and I liked it a lot, but its mostly pretty forgettable and there is truly nothing very exceptional about it. There are no standout performances, nor is there anything deep or clever about the storyline. Its just a well made thrilling movie. 

 

[red snow]

1 hour ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Green Room I agree with you on. Its one of those movies that gets hyped up because nobody saw it. I did see in the cinema and I liked it a lot, but its mostly pretty forgettable and there is truly nothing very exceptional about it. There are no standout performances, nor is there anything deep or clever about the storyline. Its just a well made thrilling movie. 

 

That in itself is probably reason enough people enjoy it. It's a shame the field is that poor when a solid film is praised. I'd still put the film above many of last year's films with budgets that were probably 10-50 x greater.

It's a similar type of thing with Rogue One - solidly made with few mis-steps but not excellent.

[Bronn Stone]

Thanks for informing me that La La Land wasn't out in the UK until just now.  That makes sense.

I do not get the whole "people don't spontaneously break out in song" bit though.  Movies are all about the impossible and the unlikely.

Giant monsters don't really stomp Tokyo.  Jedi Knights do not.  Do is not really an option for them, since they don't exist.  Drew Barrymore isn't going to give Adam Sandler a first date once, let alone fifty times.  And yes, as I have demonstrated several times over the year, people look at you funny when you start to sing "Oklahoma" for no apparent reason.

[Castel]

5 minutes ago, Bronn Stone said:

Thanks for informing me that La La Land wasn't out in the UK until just now.  That makes sense.

I do not get the whole "people don't spontaneously break out in song" bit though.  Movies are all about the impossible and the unlikely.
Giant monsters don't really stomp Tokyo.  Jedi Knights do not.  Do is not really an option for them, since they don't exist.  Drew Barrymore isn't going to give Adam Sandler a first date once, let alone fifty times.  And yes, as I have demonstrated several times over the year, people look at you funny when you start to sing "Oklahoma" for no apparent reason.

It's not the same though. Musicals work on different conceits than those genres. Those genres have improbable things in-story but movies about Jedi don't sort of break or pause their own narrative to start doing something else. 

It's like...a lot of movies are improbable,but characters don't look directly at the camera and wink and go "here comes the third act" and walking the audience through that either.

[Bronn Stone]

I'd rather live in a world where people express their deepest feelings through spontaneous bits of improvised song and dance than one in which wahoos drive cars fastly and furiously with limited consequences and via improbable leaps and explosions that seldom harm bystanders.

[Veltigar]

I can finally cross of La La Land from my watchlist. I have a little review up in the watchthread, so I'm not going to repeat my issues with the film here.

1) Hell or High Water
2) La Tortue Rouge
3) The Nice Guys
4) Train to Busan
5) Frantz
6) Deadpool
7) Zootopia
8) Love & Friendship
9) La La Land
10) Gods of Egypt
11) The Neon Demon
12) Captain America: Civil War
13) Sausage Party
14) The Young Hyacint

[red snow]

On 25/01/2017 at 7:54 PM, Bronn Stone said:

I'd rather live in a world where people express their deepest feelings through spontaneous bits of improvised song and dance than one in which wahoos drive cars fastly and furiously with limited consequences and via improbable leaps and explosions that seldom harm bystanders.

I'd rather watch neither.

On 25/01/2017 at 6:34 PM, Castel said:

It's not the same though. Musicals work on different conceits than those genres. Those genres have improbable things in-story but movies about Jedi don't sort of break or pause their own narrative to start doing something else. 

It's like...a lot of movies are improbable,but characters don't look directly at the camera and wink and go "here comes the third act" and walking the audience through that either.

Exactly. Otherwise it's the usual "anything goes" flawed argument all over again with the "if you accept dragons argument". I guess if we accept that people (and random strangers in their vicinity) can spontaneously break out into a song and co-ordinated dance routine then we should also be cool if any of those characters start flying, come back from the dead or have a pet dragon.

[dbunting]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

I can finally cross of La La Land from my watchlist. I have a little review up in the watchthread, so I'm not going to repeat my issues with the film here.

1) Hell or High Water
2) La Tortue Rouge
3) The Nice Guys
4) Train to Busan
5) Frantz
6) Deadpool
7) Zootopia
8) Love & Friendship
9) La La Land
10) Gods of Egypt
11) The Neon Demon
12) Captain America: Civil War
13) Sausage Party
14) The Young Hyacint

I have to ask... Gods of Egypt, I heard this was absolutely horrible, comically bad movie, is that why you ranked it there? It was so bad it became good? You may have covered this before but I don't remember.

I am with you on Hell or High water.

The Nice Guys, I saw a lot of previews but there was something about it that turned me off. Will have to watch it on HBO when it comes out.

[Veltigar]

9 minutes ago, dbunting said:

I have to ask... Gods of Egypt, I heard this was absolutely horrible, comically bad movie, is that why you ranked it there? It was so bad it became good? You may have covered this before but I don't remember.

Bingo   In my initial post I elaborated a bit on why I ranked it there (probably my most controversial choice)  

On 21-1-2017 at 10:36 PM, Veltigar said:

8) Gods of Egypt. Objectively this is the worst film on my list. Everything from the acting to the special effects is awful and yet I rate it above a lot of others because it was damn enjoyable. I can really appreciate a funny bad movie and this one is a very proud addition to the genre. 

 

10 minutes ago, dbunting said:

The Nice Guys, I saw a lot of previews but there was something about it that turned me off. Will have to watch it on HBO when it comes out.

Sadly a lot of people must have thought so, since the film wasn't a succes. A shame because it was great fun.

[Castel]

I'm kicking myself that I didn't see The Nice Guys in theaters. 

Over time I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that comedies (well, good ones) are one of the genres that benefit more from the theater setting and watching it I probably would have enjoyed it more there.

Supporting some smaller movies would be a fun gain too.

[red snow]

13 minutes ago, Castel said:

I'm kicking myself that I didn't see The Nice Guys in theaters. 

Over time I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that comedies (well, good ones) are one of the genres that benefit more from the theater setting and watching it I probably would have enjoyed it more there.

Supporting some smaller movies would be a fun gain too.

Me too - that film deserved a much stronger box office. I think the trailers/promotion let it down but at the same time I think a lot of the comedy relies on context and therefore wouldn't have worked so well in a trailer.

Maybe Iron Man 3 made me wary but afer kiss kiss bang bang and the nice guys - I'll be parking my backside on a cinema seat with Shane Black's next film. Although a quick check suggests his next two films will be "the predator" and "doc Savage" which I fear will be more in the Iron Man 2 mould. The film also highlighted how versatile Gosling can be and reminded me of just how could Crowe is (never had him pegged for his comedic talent)

[Castel]

4 minutes ago, red snow said:

Me too - that film deserved a much stronger box office. I think the trailers/promotion let it down but at the same time I think a lot of the comedy relies on context and therefore wouldn't have worked so well in a trailer.

Maybe Iron Man 3 made me wary but afer kiss kiss bang bang and the nice guys - I'll be parking my backside on a cinema seat with Shane Black's next film. Although a quick check suggests his next two films will be "the predator" and "doc Savage" which I fear will be more in the Iron Man 2 mould. The film also highlighted how versatile Gosling can be and reminded me of just how could Crowe is (never had him pegged for his comedic talent)

The Doc Savage thing is not a Marvel or Cinematic Universe property is it? Just an adaptation?

I think it's Marvel's sort of top-down control in the service of an expanded universe that creates problems for directors, not merely adapting works. 

[red snow]

2 minutes ago, Castel said:

The Doc Savage thing is not a Marvel or Cinematic Universe property is it? Just an adaptation?

I think it's Marvel's sort of top-down control in the service of an expanded universe that creates problems for directors, not merely adapting works. 

It's by Sony so an independent superhero/comic hero. It's true that such a film without too much interference could be really fun. Thinking about it he could easily be capable of turning it into an Indiana Jones style film with his knack for humour. Given Savage's sidekicks the "fabulous five" one can hope he somehow gets RDJR, Crowe and Gosling involved. And a young kid who's more competent than any other character

"The Predator" seems hard to imagine where the humour could come in but given the franchise has been stagnant since Predator 2 they should let him run with it. I think an interesting spin on Predator would be to have it being the prey with humans hunting it down. Sort of like a Predator/Rambo hybrid.

[Castel]

31 minutes ago, red snow said:

It's by Sony so an independent superhero/comic hero. It's true that such a film without too much interference could be really fun. Thinking about it he could easily be capable of turning it into an Indiana Jones style film with his knack for humour. Given Savage's sidekicks the "fabulous five" one can hope he somehow gets RDJR, Crowe and Gosling involved. And a young kid who's more competent than any other character

"The Predator" seems hard to imagine where the humour could come in but given the franchise has been stagnant since Predator 2 they should let him run with it. I think an interesting spin on Predator would be to have it being the prey with humans hunting it down. Sort of like a Predator/Rambo hybrid.

Yeah, we'll see. I've never been as big a fan of Predator as the other series it was tied to, Alien.

I don't know where they go from here. They haven't had an Earth-based film since...who knows? Flipping the script works but, given the few comments I've just skimmed on the wiki, I doubt they'll do that for the soft reboot. Maybe the film after.

It'll probably be a lot like the second one.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Maybe because it got so much hype from critics, but I wasn't overly impressed with HELL OR HIGH WATER. Marc Bernardin (who's an LA film critic and co-host of fatman on Batman on youtube) was especially gushing over Pine's performance, but I think Bridges really stole the show. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid little drama/suspense film, but it's not at the level of something like No Country for Old Men, which is what reviews had led me to expect.

And I think I wrote it somewhere else on here, but I didn't realize Train to Busan was a 2016 release. If so it would've definitely made my 2016 Top 10 list, and it likely would've made my Top 5.

[Veltigar]

24 minutes ago, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Maybe because it got so much hype from critics, but I wasn't overly impressed with HELL OR HIGH WATER. Marc Bernardin (who's an LA film critic and co-host of fatman on Batman on youtube) was especially gushing over Pine's performance, but I think Bridges really stole the show. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid little drama/suspense film, but it's not at the level of something like No Country for Old Men, which is what reviews had led me to expect.

I liked Ben Foster the most  Thought it was better than No Country for Old Men, but then again, I have a troubled relationship with the Coen brothers.

26 minutes ago, PetyrPunkinhead said:

And I think I wrote it somewhere else on here, but I didn't realize Train to Busan was a 2016 release. If so it would've definitely made my 2016 Top 10 list, and it likely would've made my Top 5.

According to 2016 it is  you can always edit your top list, I update mine all the time  

[PetyrPunkinhead]

2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I liked Ben Foster the most  Thought it was better than No Country for Old Men, but then again, I have a troubled relationship with the Coen brothers.

According to 2016 it is  you can always edit your top list, I update mine all the time  

Foster was good, too. but he had the "fun" roll. He was the self destructive brother out to sacrifice himself for his family as penance. Bridges' Texas Ranger had more subtle sorrow and loss to him.

And you're right!  So here's my updated list:

1. Rogue One
2. Deadpool
3. Zootopia
4. Arrival
5. Train To Busan
6. The Witch: A New England Folktale
7. Finding Dory
8. Captain Fantastic
9. The Nice Guys
10. Dr. Strange

So Fantastic Beasts drops out of my top 10...for now. It was such a fun IMAX 3D film, but the plot gripes I have with it made it the easiest choice to cut from my list. Maybe after I see it a second time I'll change my mind, but for now this is it. I also saw Hidden Figures and La La Land since I made my original list. However, while both were enjoyable, solid films, neither could really take the place of another film on my existing top 10 like Train to Busan did.

[Veltigar]

13 minutes ago, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Foster was good, too. but he had the "fun" roll. He was the self destructive brother out to sacrifice himself for his family as penance. Bridges' Texas Ranger had more subtle sorrow and loss to him.

And you're right!  So here's my updated list:

1. Rogue One
2. Deadpool
3. Zootopia
4. Arrival
5. Train To Busan
6. The Witch: A New England Folktale
7. Finding Dory
8. Captain Fantastic
9. The Nice Guys
10. Dr. Strange

So Fantastic Beasts drops out of my top 10...for now. It was such a fun IMAX 3D film, but the plot gripes I have with it made it the easiest choice to cut from my list. Maybe after I see it a second time I'll change my mind, but for now this is it. I also saw Hidden Figures and La La Land since I made my original list. However, while both were enjoyable, solid films, neither could really take the place of another film on my existing top 10 like Train to Busan did.

Come on Petyr, give us the dirt  just rank all of the films you saw. We the people have a right to know  (I'm especially curious as to where you'd rank La La Land and Hell or High Water). 

15 minutes ago, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Foster was good, too. but he had the "fun" roll. He was the self destructive brother out to sacrifice himself for his family as penance. Bridges' Texas Ranger had more subtle sorrow and loss to him.

It's just a role that I think Bridges has done before and could pretty much sleepwalk through. In contrast I felt like Ben Foster finally got his due a bit with his role. He had that same intensity he had in 3:10 to Yuma, but with more heart

 

[PetyrPunkinhead]

36 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Come on Petyr, give us the dirt  just rank all of the films you saw. We the people have a right to know  (I'm especially curious as to where you'd rank La La Land and Hell or High Water). 

Wow, thanks for the interest. But ranking ALL of the rest of the films I saw in 2016 is a nigh impossibly tall order. I saw a total of 91 new films in 2016, of which 60 were actually released in 2016.The other 31 weren't released in 2016 but rather films I saw for the first time in 2016. On my original list a few pages back I did list all the other films I saw  that were in deed released in 2016.

I had 14 films in my "Honorable Mentions" and I'd add Hidden Figures & Hell or High Water to that list. (I think I already had La La Land on there, but if not it'd go in that category, too.) I'm a bigtime sci-fi and superhero nerd, so I tend to skew more to that genre and can be a bit of an apologist when it comes to franchise films that are subpar but feature characters I love. *cough*SuicideSquad*cough*BvS*cough*Beyond*cough*

Here's a list of my 10 Least Favorite Films of 2016 in order from bad to worst. So #10 is the worst. Got it? Good. Let's do this...

01. Suicide Squad - So I saw this opening weekend in IMAX 3D with a group of friends and they liked it a lot more than I did. I wanted to love it, but I was soured on it. Then I got the blu ray for Christmas and re-watched it. Yeah, it's bad y'all. Like unnecessarily bad. I love the characters of the Joker & Harley, and I love that DC had the guts to do an anti-Justice League movie before they even did a Justice League movie. I do love Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and I like Leto's Joker. Wil Smith as Deadshot was interesting. Amanda Waller was good at being nasty, too. But the rest was a mess. A disappointing mess. 

02. Purge: Election Year - I expected this to be bad and it was. It is a tradition now for me and three of my friends to see this film in the theater and MST3K it for our own amusement. 

03. The Huntsman: Winter’s War -
I thought the first Huntsman film was flawed but it still had some great aspects to it. Mostly I did not like Kristen Stewart's uninspired performance as Snow White. Stewart is gone and Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain are in--so it's gotta be better, right? Wrong! The script was a hot mess.

04. Independence Day: Resurgence - All I expected was a fun, dumb action film with cool alien battles and splosions. They couldn't even get that right.

05. The Legend of Tarzan - Another summer blockbuster that turned out to be a dud. I was optimistic going in as it had a solid cast and a well known director. However, the direction was boring and Jane and Tarzan had zero chemistry. How are you not gonna have chemistry with Margot Robbie?!? Even Suicide Squad managed to get at least that right.

06. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - I thought the first film was a solid action-suspense flick. This one was a by the numbers snoozefest.

07. Zoolander 2 - I'm not sure why the first one is one of the most quoted comedies of my generation and the sequel is so terrible I have had people openly mock me for having watched it the whole way through. It's so bad that it's not even worth analyzing why it's so bad.

08. The Brothers Grimsby - Trailers and Sacha Baron Cohen's press interviews had me excited to see this one. Damned disappointing. 

09. The Angry Birds Movie - I'm a fan of animated films. I'm a fan of the ANgry Birds games. (Far too many hours of my life have been spent flinging cartoon birds at green piggies.) So the uninspired script and dearth of humor left me feeling not entertained but . . . angry.

10. Ghostbusters - I don't care if your Ghostbusters are men, women, or hobbits--if I'm actively bored during a fucking Ghostbusters film then something is tragically amiss. The team that brought us Bridesmaids seemed like a solid bet to reboot the franchise. Hashtag no sarcasm. Seriously. I loved Bridesmaids. I loved Melissa McCarthy in Spy and I liked her in the Boss, but she was so bland in this film. Wiig is used to being the awkward, odd gal in her comedy but that role was given over to the less talented Kate McKinnon, who was way too self aware in her performance for my liking. Leslie Jones delivered some laughs for me. I'm glad they did try this remake/reboot though. For so many years people have thought it was the premise that made Ghostbusters so special, and that's part of it. But the other crucial element that makes the original Ghostbusters a modern classic is the chemistry and charisma of the cast. You apparently can't reboot that.