My Favorite (and least favorite) Movies of 2016

Very layered and metaphorical, Nocturnal Animals is a dark thriller that, at first, I was disappointed with, but it's a film that makes you think. After thinking about it for quite a while I began to really like this movie. I keep wanting to watch it again, because it is fairly complex and there are clues to find when you go back to re-watch it (some of which aren't hard to spot the firs time though), and I really like when movies do that. The performances in the movie were all great, most noticeably Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and the super creepy Aaron Taylor-Thompson. This is only the second film that Tom Ford has directed, the other being A Single Man way back in 2009 (which I haven't seen), but I will definitely be looking out for his next project. There were times when it felt too on-the-nose with things, but overall I am very pleased with this film, and the more I think about it, the more I like it.

Sing Street is just plain good. The first thing I noticed about the film is it's beautiful cinematography. It looks perfect. The cast of mostly unknowns (to me at least) blew it out of the park. Everybody was great, and the characters were all likable, except of course for the ones we aren't supposed to like. And let's not forget the excellent soundtrack. This might be the best soundtrack we get all year. Sing Street is full of beauty, heart, and humor. It's just a very uplifting and fun movie. Immediately after watching it I picked up one of my guitars and just jammed for a while. It's such a good story. I very highly recommend Sing Street.

I had heard good things about this movie, and I thought that it sounded intriguing, but I wasn't expecting to love this movie. Nevertheless, I love this movie. It had everything I wanted: good actors giving good performances as good characters, a lot of heart, some more dramatic and emotional moments, some good humor, and an overall uplifting tone when it's all over. Viggo Morentsen is a guy that you can always count on for a good performance, even if the movie itself isn't that great. This is my favorite movie he has been in, including the awesome, albeit extremely dark movie, The Road. Captain Fantastic is nothing like that movie, other than Mortensen's excellent performance. He also has a great beard in this movie. I just wanted to point that out. All of the kids in this movie were actually really good too, as well as Frank Langella, who was at times somewhat villainous, but you still understand why he is the way that he is. I loved the great messages in the film. I really liked the soundtrack as well. Anytime feminist punk band Bikini Kill's song "Rebel Girl" plays in a movie, well, that's just awesome. There's also a great Guns 'n' Roses cover in there too. This is a movie I think everybody should see. I loved every single second of Captain Fantastic, I laughed out loud, and when it was over I just felt better than I did before watching it. Check this one out as soon as you can, it really is amazing.

I'm not a big musical movie guy. Which is weird, since I'm a musician/songwriter myself in addition to being a cinephile. But there's just always been something weird about musicals for me, though I do like the classic the Sound of Music, as well as Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Well, La La Land is a new addition to my list of musicals I like, and not only that, it tops the list. Personally, I'm primarily a punk rocker/metalhead/folk guy, but I do have an appreciation for good music in any genre, and jazz has always been one I respect very much, with it's complexities and interesting improvisations, so I was sure I would enjoy at least some of the music in this film, and I did. Stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone both give excellent performances, and while they do each hit a couple of slightly-off notes, they did a great job for the most part with their singing. Damien Chazelle once again proves himself a phenomenal director, following up his (also jazz-filled) Whiplash. And you can't talk about La La Land without mentioning the breathtaking cinematography. This film looks absolutely gorgeous, and not just the two leads. Every shot is beautiful. My only complaint about the movie (POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT) is that we don't see really what happens in much detail at all after we see "five years later", but really, by showing too much of that it could have spoiled some of the emotional impact. So overall I loved this movie, though it took me a bit to get into it at first. It's very well acted and directed, shot beautifully, and the music itself is enchanting. La La Land was every bit as good as I expected.

Denis Villeneuve has been one of my very favorite directors since I saw Prisoners in 2013, and later Enemy and Sicario, so when I first heard it announced that he would be directing a science-fiction film for 2016 it became my most anticipated of the year. Of course, Villeneuve has a very unique style, his films being very well thought-out, as well as conveying a lot of tension, which seems to be his specialty. So I had some high expectations for this film based on his previous work, which of course can lead to disappointment. Well, I am pleased to say that I got exactly what I wanted from Arrival, a slow-burning, tense, smart alien film, which really doesn't focus on the aliens so much. I will say that it takes a few minutes to really pull you in, but once it does, as long as you don't mind slowly building movies, and can do without big action scenes, you will be hooked. I wont give any spoilers, but I will say I didn't expect it to end the way it did, and I can see where some might have issues with it, but I personally loved it. Amy Adams gives my favorite performance she's given in this film, and has some really good chemistry with her costar Jeremy Renner. The cinematography is beautiful. It's very well-written. Denis Villeneuve once again creates a tense atmosphere that never lets up throughout the film. It's not only one of my favorite films to have watched this year, it's also one of my favorites to think about. So yeah, I got what I expected, as well as being surprised at the same time. I absolutely loved Arrival, and even more so the more I think about it.

As a punk rocker I am always interested in movies that explore countercultures and especially when they are set in the early punk scene in the '70s, so naturally I would want to see this movie. That being said, I actually went into it completely blind, without reading any synopsis or plot details at all, and I am so glad I did. I was pleasantly surprised by not only the messages in the film and it's wonderful direction and acting, but by it's not-quite-conventional way of telling the story. Every performance in this movie was amazing, and I wish this film would have gotten more academy nominations, mostly for the acting. It's easily one of my favorite movies of 2016.

Deadpool, one of my most anticipated movies of the year, with quite possibly the best ad campaign ever, had a lot to live up to. Is it perfect? No. Did it live up to the hype? Even better, it exceeded my expectations. It's no perfect film, but it's the perfect Deadpool movie. I am so incredibly happy with this movie, I can't even put it into words. I LOVE Deadpool. It's raunchy, crude, violent, hilarious, and at times even emotional. It was well balanced in terms of humor and seriousness. And what laughs! This movie is hilarious. It is exactly the kind of humor I like best, crude, dark, twisted, and meta. The story is something we've seen before, sure, and it knows it. It still felt like they could have done it a little differently, but that's really my only complaint. I loved every second of Deadpool, and can't wait to see it again.

This film is certainly not for everybody. It's quite bizarre, it has a strange and dark sense of humor, and it can be somewhat disturbing at times. Normally, that sounds like a movie I would really enjoy, but while I like some parts of The Lobster, I don't really see myself going back to it anytime soon. Colin Farrell is excellent as always, so it's at least worth viewing just to see him. I can't recommend this to very many people, but I know some who absolutely loved The Lobster, so go ahead and give it a try.

This movie is weird. And I mean that in a very good way. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't this. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is offbeat, it's very funny, and it is incredibly well-acted. Seriously, Sam Neill is awesome as Hec, and Julian Dennison was perfect playing Ricky. Not everybody has heard of this movie, but you should definitely give it a watch. This is a great, adventurous film. Yes, it's a bit cliche at times, and there are some slower moments, but the good seems to way outshine any negatives I had with the movie. There really wasn't a moment where I was bored, and I laughed out loud quite a few times. The characters are so likable and the performances are great. I really enjoyed this film, and I hope more people will check it out too. It's pretty great.

The Nice Guys was one of my most anticipated movies of 2016 from the moment I heard it was going into production. Which can really get your hopes up too high. However, this movie was exactly what I wanted. I loved this film. Russle Crowe and Ryan Gosling, as you've heard, have amazing chemistry. And yes, Angourie Rice was fantastic as Gosling's daughter. Of course, the film will be held up to and compared with director Shane Black's other noir-comedy, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I'm not going to do that. You can decide which is better for yourself. I will say though that I love both movies. All in all, I very much enjoyed The Nice Guys, and highly reccomend it if you like this kind of dark noir-comedy.

Honestly, it took me a minute or two to get into Hell or High Water. I don't know why, it's the kind of movie I love, and it reminds me a bit of No Country For Old Men, which is in my top ten favorite movies of all time. But once I got into it, I loved it. The first thing I want to say is that this is my favorite performance Chris Pine has ever given. The whole cast was great. I loved Ben Foster as Chris Pine's brother in the movie, their chemistry was amazing, incredibly real and believable. Jeff Bridges also gives a great performance, one of his best in my opinion, as well as Gil Birmingham as his partner. They also worked very well together. It's not a big-budget action film, but when the action does happen, it is very well executed, and very realistic. It's deliberately slow-paced, but it needs to be. It's by no means a boring movie. It's dark in places, it's emotional, and it also has some pretty funny moments as well. There is a scene involving two kids in a green Dodge Challenger that is one of my favorite movie moments this year. I don't want to give too much away. I can't say enough how good this film is, in pretty much every way. It's movies like this that remind me why I love smaller independent films so much. I very highly recommend Hell or High Water.

Well, this is the one everybody seems to have expected to top their lists, and it's pretty close to the top for me. I loved The Force Awakens lat year when I first saw it, but less the more I thought about it and the more I saw it. That's not to say I don't like it, because I really do, I just don't quite love it. I have seen Rogue One twice now, and I have to say, I liked it even more the second time. Of course, I saw it opening night, and there where a group of idiots from some local baseball team being incredibly loud and obnoxious the whole time, as well as an annoying older couple behind me who talked out loud throughout it, so I really didn't enjoy it the first time at all. But the second time I could pay attention to it more, and I can say I like this movie even more now than I did coming out of the first time I saw The Force Awakens last year. I do have some negatives though, mostly that, while the characters in the film were cool, there were some moments where it should have been more emotional, and it just wasn't because the characters in this movie aren't as relate-able as they could have been. I didn't dislike any of them, but I really only cared about a couple of them. Still, as I said, they are all pretty cool characters. It's got the typical cheesy dialogue here and there, as every Star Wars movie has, and a lot of things from the trailers didn't make it into the movie, one towards the end was noticeably absent to me, as I was really looking forward to seeing it and how it would go down. But overall, I enjoyed Rogue One a lot (the second time), and it ends with possibly my favorite scene in any Star Wars film. It also fixes a big flaw that a lot of people had with the original trilogy, and it makes perfect sense after seeing this movie. I don't have to recommend it, because you're already going to see it, if you haven't already.

I'm not a big horror guy, and I tend to shy away from demonic stuff and witchcraft, because it's the thing that scares me most, but I decided to check this one out. It is slow-paced, but still really scary at the same time, as well as quite disturbing at times. It's also very well acted. Black Phillip is terrifying. But it can be a bit boring, and the dialogue can be hard to understand. It took a little while to get used to that, and I didn't have too much trouble with most of it, but there were times when I had no idea what the person had just said. The Witch has some flaws and is pretty slow, but it did deliver some decent scares and had a great atmosphere throughout, so I thought it was alright. Like I've said, I don't care much for horror in general, so the fact that I liked it at all is kind of a miracle I guess.

Storks was a pleasant surprise for me. I wasn't expecting much, but it's a really funny and cute little movie. My favorite part of this movie is the humor in it, and the side-character Pigeon Toady was hilarious. He stole the show whenever he was on screen. The plot is pretty simple and it's one we've seen before with different particulars, but I had a ton of fun watching Storks, and it's one of my favorites of the year so far.

I watched this movie mainly because I had heard the performances were all great and that a lot of these actors were either unknown or were actually kids hired off the street, with the exception of Shia LaBeouf. Well, the performances were all great, which is good when the movie doesn't really have a story. A lot of the movie was actually improvised, and while it was all pretty good, the movie does seem to drag on a bit. I checked the time at one point and was surprised that there was still 30 minutes left. I can't say I loved this movie, but the acting was all very good, and it wasn't really bad. I did enjoy some parts of it quite a bit. Overall I'm glad I watched it, but it's not for everybody, as most will probably find it very boring and pointless.

I have three main problems with this movie. 1) Geese don't sound like that. 2) Molotov cocktails don't explode like that. 3) this movie shouldn't have been called 10 Cloverfield Lane. Why that last one? Because this movie would be so much better if it was a surprise in the end when you learn that it's set in the same world as the first Cloverfield movie. It would have been really cool. And those are really my only complaints for this movie. I liked it way more than I thought I would. The acting was great, which when it only has three stars, and they are Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr, that's kind of a given, right? I love the way this movie was written and directed as a pretty creepy, horror-mystery kind of movie about three people, and it doesn't rely on the aliens at all. It would be a great movie without the aliens in it at all, and that's why it would be so much more awesome if you didn't know it was in the same world as Cloverfield until the end after you finally see he aliens. I very much enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane, way more than I expected.

I wasn't really looking forward to this movie that much, but I'm glad I finally saw it. I didn't read up on the movie before watching it, I just knew that it had gotten some pretty good reviews, so I went ahead and sat down to watch it. Deepwater Horizon is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg, and tells the real-life story of the biggest and worst oil spill in U.S. history. Unbeknownst to me, Kurt Russell is also in this movie. I was surprised to see him. Anyway, this movie was way better than I expected, had some really good performances, and was directed very well. I got a lot more invested in it than I thought I would, and was surprised at how emotional it got. It is a very captivating movie, and I would definitely recommend it.

Star Trek Beyond is a big fun ride. That's pretty much my summary. It's not a perfect movie, but man is it a fun one, and I certainly liked it better than Star Trek Into Darkness. The acting was good all around too, and we get to see more of Carl Urban as Bones, and his interactions with Spock were some of the best moments of the film. The villain seems pretty generic for most of the movie, but finding out who he really was was still pretty cool. As with the previous two Star Trek films, Scotty was awesome. The space battle you've seen in the trailers was way cooler in the theater. Seriously, it's one of my favorite space batles I've ever seen. And I didn't miss the lens flares at all. Overall I was pretty happy with Star Trek Beyond, and can't wait to see it again.

It’s a Neil Breen movie. What else needs to be said?

Green Room is a very simple film. A small punk band plays at a neo-nazi club and things go south. That's all I'll say about that. But Green Room managed to keep me engaged throughout. It's well directed, and very well acted, with one of my favorite performances by Patrick Stewart, as well as another great performance by the late Anton Yelchin. The rest of the cast was also very good, for the most part. Of course, as a punk rocker myself, I enjoyed the music. One thing I wanted to mention was the visual effects for all the violence in the film was very well done. It was pretty realistic. Bloody, but not over the top. Overall I got what I wanted with Green Room: a tense, dark thriller without being too cliche. I enjoyed this film.

The Accountant isn't the best movie I've seen this year, but it is the best Ben Affleck movie I've seen this year. I wasn't really sure what I was going to see when I watched this film, but overall I was pretty happy with it. Affleck gives a great performance, as does J.K. Simmons as he always does, and Anna Kendrick also did a decent job in her role. Jon Bernthal was also really good, as well as Cynthia Addai-Robinson. There were some moments in the film that seemed to lull a bit, some pacing issues. And it also seemed a bit longer than it needed to be. The ending was also more lackluster than I expected, but overall, the acting was strong, and I found the story quite intriguing. Even though it seemed to slow down a bit much sometimes, I wasn't really bored with it, just slightly less interested. I wasn't expecting it to be a full-on action extravaganza, but the action in the movie was pretty cool to watch. Affleck's obsessive and methodical character was fascinating to me. In the end I really did like The Accountant.

Elle is an incredibly weird and often hard to watch film. I think it is very well made in pretty much every way, but it certainly isn't for everybody. In fact the audience for this movie is probably very small. I did figure out who the culprit was fairly early in this movie, but even after it's officially revealed in the film, it still takes some very unexpected turns that really surprised me. I don't really have much else to say about it, and while I think it's pretty good, I don't think it's going to be very many people's favorite of the year. It's worth the watch though, if you can handle the disturbing subject matter.

The Invitation is one of the best creepy thrillers I've seen in a while. And that's thanks especially to the great acting and direction. Logan Marshall-Green's performance in this film is actually one of my favorites this year. This movie has one of the most uncomfortable scenes I've ever watched, but I mean that in the best way. The Invitation does it's job very well, it's creepy and disturbing, and also feels very realistic. It really was a cool surprise, so I don't want to spoil it. I really liked watching it, because it's like something that I would have written myself, so maybe I'm a bit biased being that it's similar to my writing style, but I definitely recommend checking this movie out, especially if you like creepy thrillers that mess with your head.

Manchester by the Sea isn't a movie I will ever watch again, but it was worth the watch. It is very well made, and also very well acted. As I had heard from everybody who had seen it before me, it was a depressing movie. The biggest takeaway is definitely the aforementioned acting. Casey Affleck subtly plays a very tortured man, giving quite possibly his best performance. Michelle Williams is in this movie as well, though barely. She plays a big part, and delivers possibly the most emotional performance, but she's really not in the movie very much at all, and I honestly don't know how she ended up with an Oscar nomination from such little screentime. As I said though, she is excellent in those 5-ish minutes she's in the movie. The rest of the cast was pretty good as well, some better than others. The thing with this movie is that most of the characters are kind of hard to like. Even after knowing why Casey Affleck's character is the way he is, he's still difficult to really get super attached to. So while the movie is very well done, and I think it is very good and worth watching, I don't think it's as good as everybody seems to think it is. But maybe that's just me.

Jackie was actually more interesting than I thought it would be. The main reason to watch it is for Natalie Portman's fantastic performance as First Lady Jackie Kennedy, thought there are also some very good performances in supporting roles as well. I think it could have been a bit better, but overall I liked the movie. I also really liked the score as well.