Before we do that, I always like to list a few honorable mentions that just missed making the Top 50: 10 Cloverfield Lane, 13th, The Birth of a Nation, Blair Witch, The Club, The Conjuring 2, Deadpool, Demolition, Dheepan, Doctor Strange, Don't Think Twice, Edge of Seventeen, Hacksaw Ridge, Hail, Caesar!, Hidden Figures, Hush, Indignation, The Jungle Book, Keanu, Knight of Cups, Lights Out, Little Men, Little Sister, Louder Than Bombs, Loving, Nerve, Operation Avalanche, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoping, Sausage Party, The Shallows, Tower, Train to Busan, White Girl, Wiener-Dog, and Zootopia. That's taken care off. Let's dive in, shall we? Hit the jump for the 50 Best Films of 2016...
50. GIMME DANGER // Jim Jarmusch49. THE INVITATION // Karyn Kusama
48. THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS // Derek Cianfrance
47. BLUE JAY // Alex Lehmann
46. GOAT // Andrew Neel
45. LION // Garth Davis
44. SULLY // Clint Eastwood
43. THE INNOCENTS // Anne Fontaine
42. FENCES // Denzel Washington
41. WEINER // Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg
39. MORRIS FROM AMERICA // Chad Hartigan
38. DEEPWATER HORIZON // Peter Berg
37. PATRIOT'S DAY // Peter Berg
36. THE LOVE WITCH // Anna Biller
34. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL // Jeff Nichols
33. KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS // Travis Knight
32. DE PALMA // Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow
31. CAPTAIN FANTASTIC // Matt Ross
29. DON'T BREATHE // Fede Alvarez
28. CHRISTINE // Antonia Campos
27. A BIGGER SPLASH // Luca Guadagnino
26. EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! // Richard Linklater
24. UNDER THE SHADOW // Babak Anvari
23. AMERICAN HONEY // Andrea Arnold
21. SWISS ARMY MAN // Daniels
20. HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE // Taika Waititi
18. ARRIVAL // Denis Villeneuve
17. THE FITS // Anna Rose Holmer
15. THE EYES OF MY MOTHER // Nicolas Pesce
14. 20TH CENTURY WOMEN // Mike Mills
12. KICKS // Justin Tipping
11. OJ: MADE IN AMERICA // Ezra Edelman
#10
The Witch
Kicking off the Top 10 is a film that actually premiered at Sundance in 2015, but didn't get it's official release until over a year later. Coming out of Park City, Robert Eggers' debut had a lot of buzz going for it, with many declaring it the best horror film in years. While I'm not big on hyperbole, I'm not sure I can disagree here. The Witch is a horror masterpiece. While many modern horror films relay heavily on the "jump scare", The Witch is pure psychological terror. Eggers builds the tension to near unbearable levels, old-school. All the performances are great, especially Anya Taylor-Joy, who is already starting to pop up in everything. It's a breakout film for nearly everyone invol
#9
Hell or High Water
The western is a genre steeped in American folklore. Unfortunately, in recent years the classic stories about the cowboys have all but gone to the wayside, replaced by all of those superheroes. Lucky for us, David Mackenzie came along and breathed new life into the genre. And guess what? He's British! Leave it to a Brit to capture West Texas perfectly. It helps when you have Hollywood's outlaw, the Dude himself, Mr. Jeff Bridges, leading the way for your cast. El Duderino is in top form here and his Best Supporting Actor nod is well deserved. Personally, I think Ben Foster really steals the show here. It's a scenery chewing performance, maybe a little over the top at times, but truly amazing when you boil it down. Chris Pine shows he can act outside of the Star Trek world as well. It's a thrilling story with some comedy sprinkled in. Like I said, it feels like a film that I just needed.
#8
Green Room
If you were to ask me, who is one filmmaker on the rise that I should keep my eye one, without hesitation I would tell you Jeremy Saulnier. Green Room marks his third feature film after Blue Ruin and Murder Party and already you can see he's one of the best genre filmmakers out there. In his brief career so far he's been able to master suspense and horror (and all the violence that goes with it) and he's able to get the most out of his actors. Here we have Sir Patrick Stewart playing completely against type as a ruthless Neo-Nazi leader and he's a total badass. Then we have a great performance by the late Anton Yelchin that shows off the talent that we lost way too soon. Thrown is some solid supporting turns by Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Saulnier's frequent collaborator Macon Blair and you have one pulse-pounding, head-banging piece of work.
#7
The Handmaiden
Ladies and gentlemen, Park Chan-wook has returned. Actually he never really went anywhere. After a brief detour to the good ole USA in 2013 with Stoker (a highly divisive film that I really loved), Park goes home to South Korea to make something unlike anything he has ever made before. While the film still features gorgeous cinematography and the twists and turns that he has become famous for, it's a key element of his formula: violence. It's has it's moments, but there is no hallway fight in this one. Instead, Park trades in the blood and guts for sex. Lots and lots of sex. The film is not rated, but surely it would have garnered an NC-17. That's beyond the point. The way Park has mastered making the goriest scenes beautiful, he has now done that with sex. It's a feat to watch and it's also a lot of twisted fun. At 146 minutes with subtitles, it's a commitment, but well worth it.
#6
The Neon Demon
The day I saw Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon I wrote the perfect review, so why reinvent the wheel? Imagine Suspiria and Mulholland Dr. had a baby and Black Swan and Only God Forgives also had a baby. Then, one day many years later, those two babies met at a lavish, yet sleazy party in the Hollywood Hill, and after an evening of wild, crazy, trashy love making on top of a pile of glitter under the warm glow of a neon blue light, they too had a baby. That baby's name would be The Neon Demon. If you don't know what any of that means, it's probably worth the Google. Then it will all make sense.
#5
Nocturnal Animals
Is everybody ready for some twisted, arthouse Inception. There are no dreams here, just a story (in the form of a book) inside of a story (in the form of the person reading the book) which triggers flashbacks and stuff. Yeah it's a little all over the place in word form, but on the screen it actually flows beautifully and brutally. For my money, this is the best edited film of the year. Each cut means something, which is something that's hard to accomplish. Tom Ford is really great/ behind the camera and if he sticks with his current pattern and only makes a film every seven years, they're going to start becoming cinematic events (see A Single Man if you haven't already). Lastly, let's quick touch on performances. Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor Johnson (?!?) are all fantastic, but can someone please throw Amy Adams an frickin' award. Where's the love?
#4
Jackie
I have an interesting relationship with Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain. I've seen all of his films, but I'm not sure that I really like many of them. I admire them all and maybe they just need a re-watch, but overall, I'm usually frustrated by his films. Still, I'm fascinated by his work, so when I heard he was making his English-language debut with this Jackie Kennedy biopic, I was intrigued. What came out of it is quite simply Larrain's best film to date. It's all helped, or course, by the powerhouse performance by Natalie Portman (her best work since Black Swan). It's a showy performance, sprinkled with these subtle nuances that may not be visible on first viewing. Portman is able to bring a human quality to a larger-than-life figure in American history. Which brings me to what I really love about this film. Despite how it may look, this is not a biopic. It's an in-depth, intense character study on dealing with grief and tragedy in an extreme environment. An engrossing film, that deserves more recognition than what it got.
#3
Silence
My affinity for Martin Scorsese is well documented, so you can bet that the film he waited nearly 30 years to make is going to be highly regarded by me. Is that bias? Probably, but it's my list and my taste so I'll do whatever I want. Silence is, at it's core, one of those faith-based films that gets cranked out every month, but unlike those other films, this one is really, REALLY great. You can feel the passion that Marty had for the material in every frame of the film. In many ways, this is his most technically astounding film of his career (the camera work of DP Rodrigo Prieto is magnificent), which is really saying something. It's by no means an easy watch; it's over three hours long and, in typical Scorsese fashion, gets quite violent, but I was ready. I'm not quite sure where this ranks in Marty's filmography, but I put it up there with some of the best.
#2
La La Land
Hype can be a dangerous thing, especially when you watch movies. If you're like me, you heard for months that La La Land was the best movie of the year and the shoe-in to win Best Picture. I tried not to get caught in the hype, but it was difficult. It wasn't made any easier by the fact that Damien Chazelle's last directorial effort, Whiplash, was my favorite film of 2014. Still, I tried to go in with an open mind and tempered expectations, but that all went to the wayside in the first five minutes of the film. From the moment the screen shows the old Cinemascope logo and the opening musical number kicks off, I thought to myself "Shit, this going to be great," and it was. I've never been a big musical guy. There's some I really love, but for the most part, they're just not my thing. However, there is something about this one that made me swoon. I think it's the fact that it's a true flashback and love letter to Old Hollywood. It's a film that tries to emulate the classic technicolor musicals of the past and becomes a classic in it's own rite. It's dazzling because of Chazelle, but also because of the chemistry between stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. This is their third collaboration together, and definitely their best. They're full of charm and wit. They make you fall in love with them and their characters and, as an audience, you care about them. In a film such as this one, that's massively important. All of it blends together to make a magical film experience full of vibrant life. It's pure joy.
#1
Moonlight
I see a lot of movies (depending on who you ask, maybe too many). This is my seventh year doing one of these year end lists, and in those years I've seen a wide-ranging variety of films quality-wise. One film in that time has stood out and that's 2011's Drive, which not only topped my list that year, it cracked my Top 10 Films of ALL-TIME. Why am I bringing all this up? Because if Drive is my favorite movie I've seen in my years as an amateur critic, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight is a close second. This film is a flat-out masterpiece. It mesmerized me like no film has in a long time with it's perfection. It starts with the fantastic script, written by Jenkins and based on the un-produced play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, and continues through every aspect of filmmaking. Jenkins directorial choices and the way he chooses to shoot moments feels like a breath of fresh air in the blockbuster world we live in. The cinematography of James Laxton is absolutely beautiful. The photo above is just one example of the many shots you could hang on your mantle. Then there's the performances. Across the board, everyone in this film becomes the characters they are playing and delivers a masterclass in their field. Mahershala Ali is the one garnering all the awards attention, and although he was upset at the Golden Globes, there is no reason he shouldn't take home Best Supporting Actor tomorrow night, Naomie Harris is also great as the only actor who appears in all three segments of the film. She delivers a powerful, layered performance that apparently only took a few days to shoot. Last, but certainly not least, are the performances of three actors that play our main character, Chiron. Whether it's young Alex Hibbert, or Ashton Sanders, or Trevante Rhodes, all three actors bring their own uniqueness to the character. Jenkins has said that he did not have the actors meet eachother before filming began because he wanted them all to make Chiron their own. It's tough to say which one I liked best because their isn't a correct answer. They're all so brilliant. Really, I could go on and on talking about this film, but words just can't do it justice. Barry Jenkins has given numerous interviews in promotion of the film and always ends them the same way. He always tells the audience that this is a small film and if you've seen it and loved, tell a friend to just go see it. So, if you've made it this far and you're still reading this, please GO SEE MOONLIGHT! You will not be disappointed because this, easily, is the best film of 2016.
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