Our top 10 movies of 2016

Top 10 Movies of 2016

This list was not ranked using high-tech statistical analysis, but rather features our opinions and feelings towards some of the movies watched in 2016. Wing and I are just casual movie goers, we are not professional movie reviewers/critics.

10) Snowden
Oliver Stone’s Snowden was a fast-paced, fun to watch, yet frightening movie in terms of highlighting what the government can do with regards to surveillance (according to the film). Edward Snowden, played by the talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt, got Snowden’s mannerism down pat. However, there were also lots of cliche and unrealistic moments (e.g., Snowden was in a high-tech secret facility with a Rubix cube?). If you compare this movie to Citizenfour, Citizenfour is by far a more sound and provoking film. Instead, Stone’s Snowden was an entertaining popcorn movie and I hope people, not just Americans, will come to understand what their government is doing in terms of NSA spying (I doubt it though xD).

9) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Once more, Harry Potter fans got to experience the feeling of magic by following the adventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he (unintentionally) reeks havoc upon a 1920s New York when his suitcase housing thousands of magical creatures is opened. Featuring a wide array of beautifully-imagined creatures, Fantastic Beasts presents a feast for the fantasy lover’s eyes. All sounds and images powerfully arouse the viewer to immerse themselves into the film and embrace the personalities of the fantastic beasts. The star-studded cast (Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, and Johnny Depp) gave the movie its dramatic appeal as the acting certainly did not disappoint. However, this movie failed to impress in terms of flow and coherence. The overall plot was weak as the producers sought to highlight the graphics and effects instead. Still, Fantastic Beasts is a wonderful watch for those who wish to relive the magic of J.K Rowling’s wizarding world!

8) Sing Street – Set in 1980s Dublin, the story follows a teenager and his efforts to form a band with his three misfit friends. His band and his music help him deal with the societal institutions (family, school, religion) which fall apart around him. Through his band and under the influence of his elder brother, he gains the confidence to move beyond the life trajectories which would lead him to reproduce the destructive relationships happening around him. This powerful movie moves the audience to re-experience the wonderfully raw emotions of growing up, finding one’s identity, and taking risks. Sing Street speaks to the heart about the angst, pain, and confusion of being a teenager as well as the joy of discovery and novelty through love, friendship, and music. Beautifully written, Sing Street is surely one of 2016’s best movies.

7) The Nice Guys – If you are a fan of Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, you will definitely like the candy-coated noir genre of The Nice Guys. This movie is set in the 1970s LA where Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling’s characters trying to find/investigate a missing girl. Ryan Gosling has great comedic chops with his slap-stick humour and funny banter with Russell Crowe’s character. The movie has great pace and an underrated 70s soundtrack including songs such as The Temptations – Papa was a rolling stone and Earth, Wind & Fire ft The Emotions ~ Boogie Wonderland.

6) Star Trek Beyond – Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond is the 3rd installment of the movie and it was great. I loved the send-off to the great Spock – Leonard Nimoy. Chris Pine reprises his role as Captain Kirk where he and his crew encounters an alien race trying to destroy their spaceship as well as the Federation. All the characters including Zachary Quinto as Spock, John Cho as Sulu (love the scene between him and his husband with his daughter), Simon Pegg as Scotty (funny as always/great script writer), Karl Urban as Bones, Zoe Saldana as Uhura and the late Anton Yelchin as Chekov (RIP) were amazing. These actors and actresses were able to bounce off each other with wit and emotion. Newcomers such as Ashley Edner as Natalia and Sofia Boutella as Jaylah were surprisingly great and not over the top! Lin’s Star Trek Beyond was not the best movie out of the trilogy. However, Lin did bring the chemistry between new characters and old. In addition, Lin brings great visuals which were displayed in the Enterprise’s mission where the crew explored somewhat new territory in space. Finally, all I have to say is the Star Trek trilogy was amazing, fun, high-quality in terms of acting, script, and directing, and most importantly: underrated, perhaps shadowed by Disney’s Star Wars and Marvel movies. Totally forgot, Michael Giacchino’s music score is amazing (I don’t know why the Marvel studio did not reuse their old score): https://youtu.be/fh7HVwKr0jA

5) Doctor Strange – The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-oiled machine that understands what Marvel fans and movie-going audience enjoy. The plot is very similar to the first Iron Man movie. However, something special about Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange is that it includes great performances from Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor as well as trippy visual effects and a psychedelic score (https://youtu.be/Q4uoNAFfvKg). Marvel gave us yet another successful superhero origin story (e.g., Ant-man) about a talented yet arrogant surgeon who not only learned about the mystic art of magic but also about himself.

4) Deadpool – 10 years in the making, Ryan Reynolds’ fast-talking, Spider-man lookalike, Anti-hero Deadpool was very entertaining and provided lots of laughs! This Valentines’ Day movie has a simple story plotline (AKA a “love story”) for which the movie was well aware of and emphasized continually. Overall, the movie essentially made fun of the cliches/formulaic approach that every superhero movies had (e.g. opening credit sequence). In addition, the meta-humour and the banter between the protagonist and other characters (e.g., Weasel, Ajax) brought a new layer of uniqueness in a “superhero” movie that we haven’t seen before. In addition, the music choices, for instance, DMX – X Gon Give To Ya as well as Salt N Pepa – Shoop were great! This R-rated superhero movie was a risk for Fox studio and now Fox studio finally have the guts to create an R-rated Logan movie (Wolverine movie)!

3) Zootopia – This clever movie is about a heartfelt buddy-cop story featuring cute animals as the main characters (who doesn’t like that?). However, Zootopia is not just a kids movie, but rather a family movie that teaches viewers how not to “judge a book by its cover”. It also uses subtle messages to explore the difficult, yet pressing adult issues of racism facing today’s society (e.g. racial stereotyping). Starring Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde (the ‘sly’ fox) and Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps (the ‘small’ rabbit with a big sense of justice), the movie uses animal stereotypes such as “predatory” animals to convey racial minorities. To also note, other characters such as Idris Elba’s Chief Bogo, J.K. Simmons’s Mayor Lionheart, Jenny Slate’s Bellwether and Shakira’s Gazelle all made for a great movie! The Gazelle music was so catchy!

2) Captain America – Civil War – The Russo brothers’ Captain America – Civil War is the best “Avengers” movie ever (yes, even better than Avengers 1). Can you imagine that the directors from the TV Show “Community” directed this high-budget action superhero movie? (Give applause to Marvel Studios). Captain America: Civil War surrounds two conflicting ideas which were, for those who know what I am talking about, shown very brilliantly in the “couch scene” after Thaddeus Ross talks to the group of superheroes about the Sokovia Accords. The characters were developed really well as it felt organic and not unnecessarily crammed (after all this was their 13th Marvel movie). The audience clearly knew the reason each superhero chose to side with, especially since Marvel studios has been building up the tension between Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man since Avengers 1 and 2. The airport scene in Civil War included some of the best action sequence I have ever seen in my life! Everyone, including the new band of heroes (which were portrayed perfectly): Black Panther (what an accent!) and Spider-man (an actual teenage kid!), were duking it out! Lastly, (and unfortunately), the music score was amazing but underrated: https://youtu.be/QiqsyMDjE2k?t=41s

1) La La Land – Starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, La La Land follows the love story of an aspiring actress and jazz pianist and their attempts to follow their dreams. Visually stunning and artistically sound, the comedic, yet melancholic plot could only have been drawn out under the masterful direction of Damien Chazelle, who also directed the award-winning movie Whiplash in 2014. Contending for the Best Original Soundtrack at the Oscars this year, La La Land is a must see. Fans of Ryan Gosling (and/or jazz music) will hear jazz straight from his very hands. No doubles were used to film the piano playing parts. The opening scene could be a scene stealer in itself as it features a six-minute song and dance sequence complete with a hundred dancers jumping,  dancing, and tapping on a couple dozen cars on a Los Angeles freeway. Even without this scene, Stone and Gosling brings the audience on an emotional journey about ambition, dreams, sacrifice, and love through song and dance. This movie (and very likely, the music itself) will make you laugh, cry, and appreciate living in the moment. By stretching the cinematic boundaries of lighting, sound, and effect, La La Land will make you see beauty in completely new ways. Without a doubt, La La Land is definitely the best movie of 2016.

Movies we haven’t seen but heard it was great:
– Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
– Arrival
– Moana
– Paterson

Upcoming movies in 2017, I can’t wait to see:
– Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
– Beauty and the Beast
– Star Wars Episode VIII
– Spider-man Homecoming
– Thor Ragnarok
– John Wick: Chapter 2
– Kingsman: The Golden Circle
– War for the Planet of the Apes
– Ghost in the Shell
– World War Z 2