This is it.
The moment you've been waiting all year for!
Or at least, the moment I've been waiting all year for.
A look back at the best of the best of the best...sir!(Men in Black)
With just over 200 reviews this year, there were 21 movies that made my cutoff score of B+ or higher to be considered on this final countdown.
Much like the Turkeys of the Year: 2016 Turkeys roughly 10% of the movies I watched were terrible, another 10% were great.
21 Excellent. 21 Lousy.
That leaves 80% of the movies as some sort of average, yet enjoyable, entertainment.
Which by Hollywood standards, sounds about right.
: )
Again, I can live with those odds.
So again, here's the movies that entertained me the most this year.
I watched them once, at least, and would be willing to spend my hard earned money to buy them and watch them again whenever the mood strikes me.
Without further adieu....
10) Keanu
A movie about 2 men who pretend to be gangsters in order to retrieve a kidnapped kitten.
A movie that extols the greatness of George Michael's musical career.
A movie that introduced me to Key & Peele for the first time.
A movie that begins the countdown for the best films of 2016.
I can't help it, an entertaining movie is an entertaining movie, and if you told me that those first 2 sentences would be on my Best of the Year list, I would have laughed and said, seriously?
I never even saw the trailer until a month before I finally saw the movie.
The trailer looked good.
The movie was even better.
There were a few moments of fatigue like they weren't quite sure what to do next with the story, but overall, for a first feature, it was very well done.
I'm eagerly awaiting a follow-up, whether or not it's Keanu 2.
9) Hunt For The Wilderpeople
This little New Zealand charmer is simply great.
A coming of age dramedy about a boy that the system doesn't want who finds a foster family that finally wants him, and he begins to feel like it's home.
Then it all comes crashing down, and he decides to run away, faking his own death to convince the authorities not to look for him...
:)
Things then continue to go askew from there.
It's funny, it's poignant.
It's genius.
It's one of those perfect everything happens, yet nothing happens types of movies, but you're so engrossed with the characters you hate to see the film end.
Director Taika Waititi's 2nd straight year in the Best of the Year countdown, and if he brings this energy and fun to Thor: Ragnarok, it's quite possible he'll be back again!
8) Kung Fu Panda 3
Kung Fu what now?
How in the name of Walt Disney, did Dreamworks beat the far superior Inside Out and Zootopia?!?
Easy, I didn't exactly find those 2 to be that superior to this one.
I was but moments away from ejecting Inside Out because Sadness was soooooo annoying.
And Zootopia was cute and all, great message, blah blah blah... but it's not something I feel I can just pop in and watch any time.
Rewatchability is key for an animated film.
And that leads us to Jack Black's triumphant farewell (??!!) to us as Po, the panda with a heart of gold and never-ending tummy.
I saw the last 1/3 of the movie, about 3 times before I ever saw the beginning.
For the record, I'm also the guy that started it that last time, in a room without kids.
That's how enjoyable this franchise has been.
The jokes are fun, the action sequences are great, the voice cast is outstanding, and the series has snuck in a healthy dose of heartwarming feelings over the years.
So enjoy your Disney and Pixar, I'll be watching Kung Fu Panda multiple times before those make a 2nd play at our house.
Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.
7) The Shallows
To say it's the best shark movie since Jaws is a bit of a backhanded compliment.
There really haven't even been that many good shark movies since then.
So it's not like there are dozens of great ones, and this one just blows them all away.
This is the first time anyone has really channeled the fear and tension that Spielberg threw at us back in the day.
She's alone in that water, hurting, and that shark just will not go away!
It was an edge of your seat thriller that kept us glued from beginning to end.
Hopefully it's not another 40 years until a decent shark movie comes along.
And, we'll see if this becomes a franchise...
::sigh::
6) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What do you get when you remove George Lucas from further meddling in his own franchise?
A return to greatness!
:)
So what if it was a very familiar story, one that seemingly cribbed or downright stole much of the original Star Wars storyline?
That was a good movie, therefore if you're going to pick a Star Wars movie to duplicate, you choose from the first 3, not the "first 3".
An influx of interesting new characters and a sprinkling of characters past, it was a great way to kick off the new year, and was the first official movie to garner Best of the Year accolades.
Looking forward to seeing what is in store for the next chapter...and beyond!
5) Trumbo
I thought seriously about discussing an actor of the year as 2016 drew to a close.
Had I done so, it would have been Bryan Cranston, hands down. Every movie that I saw him in this year was better simply by his involvement.
But his turn as Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted Hollywood writer in the 50s/60s who continued his efforts to care for his family while doing what he loved was phenomenal.
That he lost the Academy Award to Leonardo DiCaprio will go down in entertainment history as one of the many injustices the Academy has dealt to the entertainment industry over the years.
Which leads us back to this film, where a reputed Communist goes on to create some of the most beloved films in American history, and is unable to receive recognition all because of his political beliefs, which by the way, have nothing to do with his job.
It seems like something like that is so ancient and foreign in the 21st century, but if you think people aren't still eviscerated for their political beliefs, you've been living under some heavy rocks with no wi-fi for too long.
4) Spotlight
Normally I let the dramas slide off my end of year lists, as I tend to go towards the more entertaining films, than the ones that pack an emotional punch.
However with Spotlight, I felt that would be a grave injustice to a great movie, an inspired cast and a horrific subject that deserves one last hurrah for a much deserved Academy Award winning Best Picture.
To the Spotlight team that helped uncover the Catholic church cover-up of priests that were preying on innocent kids for years, bravo.
Spotlight is currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.
3) Deadpool
Deadpool was amazing.
It was the role that Ryan Reynolds was born to play, and the best X-Men movie that Fox has ever made.
Made on a shoestring budget, it packed more action and laughs than most of the 80% of movies that didn't make this list.
It was rude, crude, hilariously funny and filled with more gags, jokes, killings and insanity per minute than any other film in likely the history of ever.
It also had a film, that much like Guardians of the Galaxy (and not Suicide Squad) helped tell the story and get the audience in the moment.
So why the $%#$%$# didn't Deadpool rank higher?
2) Doctor Strange
Deadpool, I have come to bargain!
There is probably nobody more shocked than I am right now that not 1, but 2 movies moved in front of Deadpool for the best of the year honors.
Why, and how could I do such a thing?
As I lamented in my original review, Deadpool is not a family-friendly movie, by any stretch of the imagination. So when it comes down to what movie can I pop in and watch any time, with any audience, Wade Wilson has to always move to the back of the line if there are any kids around.
Now, all that said, Doctor Strange was a truly amazing film on its own merits.
Much like Guardians of the Galaxy a few years back, I just rolled my eyes and said "hope it doesn't suck" when the movie was announced. None were characters I cared for, nor really wanted to see on the big screen.
Then Guardians showed their first trailer, and I was hooked on a feeling, and my worries were over, mostly.
Could it be as good as the trailer?
It was.
In fact, it was my favorite movie of 2014! In case you don't believe me...
Yep, even better than Captain America: Winter Soldier, itself an amazing movie!
However, when I saw the Doctor Strange trailers, I was still non-committal, and frankly thought they were a little boring.
I had planned on skipping it in theaters (much like I did with Avengers: Age of Ultron) and just waiting for Netflix. Then at the last moment, decided to go...
and I was honestly blown away.
It was good. It was funny. It was emotional.
It was another hit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It quite possibly could have been my favorite film of the year, but there was just one roadblock in the way....
1) Captain America: Civil War
Show of hands on who's surprised to see this at the top of my list?
Yeah, I didn't think there'd be any.
: )
It's everything we've come to love from Marvel, with the old Marvel comics twist of the good guys sometimes don't always see eye to eye and need to settle those differences with their fists.
It gave us... The Airport Battle scene.
Quite possibly the best 15+ minutes of action in any Marvel film, combined.
There was witty banter, camaraderie, and emotional character moments.
Characters were further defined, and in the end, both sides were right...both sides were wrong...
It happens in the best of families, and for now, the Marvel Universe's family is torn asunder.
I'm thinking Tony will use the phone in the next movie.
If you haven't seen this one yet, it's been streaming on Netflix since Christmas morning.
Get to it!
: )
I'll see you next year to see what 2017 has in store for us!
