2016 has been one of the worst years in cinema. I personally can't think of a year worse than 2016.
2016 has been one of the worst years in cinema. I personally can't think of a year worse than 2016.
See my latest blog entry: The Wolf of Wall Street and The New Cinema of Excess
2016 was good for movies.
Sure why not?
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson) - 9
STRONGER (David Gordon Green) - 6
THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco) - 7
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) - 9
LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig) - 8
"Hitchcock is really bad at suspense."
- Stay Puft
2016 politically, societally, culturally: Pretty terrible.
2016 film, television, music, other artistic output: Great. And made even more special due to the above.
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
Given how many films are produced each year, it seems impossible--or at least extremely unlikely--that there could be a bad year for movies, assuming we define a "good year" as one with a fair number of exceptional films (let's say fifteen to twenty). Of course, maybe you don't, or wouldn't, like Aquarius, Captain Fantastic, Fire at Sea, Harmonium, Hermia & Helena, Kékzakállú, La Mort de Louis XIV, Neruda, The Ornithologist, Safari, or The Woman Who Left as much as I do (and I'm less enthusiastic about The Dreamed Path, La La Land, and Moonlight than some other people), but I'm sure you'd find something you liked if you watched a large enough sample.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
I like my top ten a lot, but just seem to be on many other lists.
So I'll just talk Deepwater Horizon and Silence.
+1 .Quoting Izzy Black (view post)
I wouldn't define it that way, but even if I did, I don't think there have been 15-20 exceptional films in 2016.
I'll definitely find something I like. I saw a few films I liked last year. But none of the films I saw were particularly exceptional, or at least, nowhere near the quality of great films from almost every previous year I can think of in memory. Cinema on an international level tends to do better, but even then, several of the more acclaimed non-US films from last year I am either not particularly interested in seeing, or I saw them and found them middling.
I will say I have yet to see The Woman Who Left and that has a good chance of being a favorite, but still, my metric is fundamentally comparative. I can give you 10 films from each of the 10 years prior to 2016 that I consider good to great. I can think of exactly zero truly great films from 2016. Actually, I'd put Stillman's Love & Friendship up there, but that's pretty much it for me.
I also admit I haven't seen nearly as much as I have in previous years, but I also have not wanted to see nearly as much as I have in previous years. So there's that.
See my latest blog entry: The Wolf of Wall Street and The New Cinema of Excess
This is pretty much me as well. I look at all the lists here and see a bunch of films I found well overrated (La La Land, Sing Street, Elle, The Witch, Hell or High Water, Zootopia, Captain America, Hail Caesar!, Everybody Wants Some!!), a bunch of solid but no more genre films (The Nice Guys, Don't Breathe, The Green Room, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Triple 9) and several prestige or auteur pictures I'm not really all that jazzed to see (Moonlight, Jackie, Midnight Special, The Neon Demon, Certain Women, Love and Friendship, Captain Fantastic, Louder than Bombs, Knight of Cups etc.)
Basically the only five US films that I still really care about seeing are Manchester By the Sea, Silence, Arrival, Paterson, and American Honey for some reason).
It's been a shitty year for American film. I haven't seen enough non-American films to comment.
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
American cinema has been garbage, full stop.
See my latest blog entry: The Wolf of Wall Street and The New Cinema of Excess
I want to see American Honey. Can't track it down anywhere.
It's on Blu-Ray or available to rent from Amazon. Check it out, it's great.
last four:
black widow - 8
zero dark thirty - 9
the muse - 7
freaky - 7
now reading:
lonesome dove - larry mcmurtry
Letterboxd
The Harrison Marathon - A Podcast About Harrison Ford
Love
1. The Lobster
2. Green Room
3. Sing Street
Like a lot
4. Eye in the Sky
5. Hell or High Water
6. Arrival
7. The Witch
8. La La Land
9. Silence
Like
10. The Neon Demon
11. The Invitation
12. Weiner
13. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
14. 10 Cloverfield Lane
15. Hail, Caesar!
OK
16. Don't Breathe
17. Keanu
18. The Nice Guys
19. Captain America: Civil War
20. Jason Bourne
Dislike
21. Everybody Wants Some!!
22. X-Men: Apocalypse
23. Love & Friendship
Currently not a great list, but I haven't seen a whole lot. I'll be surprised if I don't love Manchester by the Sea.
Last edited by Melville; 01-28-2017 at 12:38 PM.
I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?
lists and reviews
I guess I should add The Lobster to 2016 Movies I need to see.
1. Moonlight
2. La La Land
3. Swiss Army Man
4. The Neon Demon
5. Jackie
6. Elle
7. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppin’
8. The Greasy Strangler
9. Everybody Wants Some!!
10. Manchester By The Sea
[]
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
Probably final now, with only three contenders I still want to see left: Happy Hour, I Am Not Your Negro, and One More Time With Feeling.
1. Toni Erdmann
2. Manchester by the Sea
3. Everybody Wants Some!!
4. 20th Century Women
5. La La Land
6. Cameraperson
7. The Handmaiden
8. Moonlight
9. Paterson
10. Tower
11. Silence
12. OJ: Made in America
13. Captain America: Civil War
14. Right Now, Wrong Then
15. Elle
16. After the Storm
17. Arrival
18. 10 Cloverfield Lane
19. Jackie
20. Love and Friendship
Mainstream cinema is pretty meh in 2016 so this is probably the first year ever where my top 10 feels almost unrecognizably cinephile-ish to me (two docs! I feel like I don't know myself anymore). No equivalences of Fury Road, Inside Out, Interstellar, Snowpiercer, etc.
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
I keep going back and forth on which Malick film I should put on my list, or if I should put both, or neither.
I'm still not satisfied with the list but the Top 5 is feeling like a solid lock at this point.
1. Things to Come
2. Moonlight
3. Mountains May Depart
4. Paterson
5. The Lobster
6. Julieta
7. Mermaid
8. Certain Women
9. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
10. Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience
Giving up in 2020. Who cares.
maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
Night Hunter (David Raymond) *
I haven't gotten to nearly everything I want to from 2016, but here's an updated list, with a couple new films and a whole lot of juggling:
1. Arrival
2. The Lobster
3. Shin Godzilla
4. O.J. Made in America
5. Love and Friendship
6. Certain Women
7. The Mermaid
8. The Witch
9. 10 Cloverfield Lane
10. Into the Inferno
I am really, really bummed Silence left theaters here before I could see it. Also, just so behind.
Love
1. The Lobster
2. Green Room
3. Sing Street
Like a lot
4. Eye in the Sky
5. Hell or High Water
6. Arrival
7. The Witch
8. American Honey
9. La La Land
10. Silence
Like
11. The Neon Demon
12. The Invitation
13. Weiner
14. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
15. 10 Cloverfield Lane
16. Tale of Tales
17. 13th
18. Hail, Caesar!
19. Goat
OK
20. Don't Breathe
21. Keanu
22. The Nice Guys
23. OJ: Made in America
24. Captain America: Civil War
25. Jason Bourne
Dislike
26 Sausage Party
27. Everybody Wants Some!!
28. X-Men: Apocalypse
29. Love & Friendship
I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?
lists and reviews
I still haven't seen many of the year's most acclaimed movies.
Love
1. The Lobster
2. Green Room
3. Sing Street
Like a lot
4. Eye in the Sky
5. Hell or High Water
6. Nocturnal Animals
7. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
8. Doctor Strange
9. Arrival
10. The Witch
11. American Honey
12. La La Land
13. Silence
Like
14. The Neon Demon
15. The Invitation
16. 10 Cloverfield Lane
17. Tale of Tales
18. Zootopia
19. Weiner
20. 13th
21. Hail, Caesar!
22. Goat
OK
23. The Light Between Oceans
24. The Edge of Seventeen
25. Don't Breathe
26. Keanu
27. The Nice Guys
28. OJ: Made in America
29. Captain America: Civil War
30. Jason Bourne
Dislike
31. Sausage Party
32. Everybody Wants Some!!
33. X-Men: Apocalypse
34. Love & Friendship
Bumped Hunt for the Wilderpeople way up after a second viewing. I should probably pay more attention when I watch movies.
Last edited by Melville; 04-11-2017 at 01:10 PM.
I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?
lists and reviews
So I'm closing the book on 2016. Here is my top 10.
1. The Lobster
2. Swiss Army Man
3. Sing Street
4. The Nice Guys
5. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
6. Kubo and the Two Strings
7. Everybody Wants Some!!
8. Don't Think Twice
9. Zootopia
10. The Edge of Seventeen
And 35 more...
[]
spicy
Evolution (Lucile Hadzihalilovic)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)
The Terrorizers (Edward Yang)
warm
Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Captain Fantastic (Matt Ross)
The Club (Pablo LarraÃ*n)
Fire at Sea (Gianfranco Rosi)
Fireworks Wednesday (Asghar Farhadi)
Neruda (Pablo LarraÃ*n)
mild
The Birth of a Nation (Nate Parker)
Café Society (Woody Allen)
Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Christine (Antonio Campos)
Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Everybody Wants Some!! (Richard Linklater)
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)
La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
cold
Eisenstein in Guanajuato (Peter Greenaway)
The Family Fang (Jason Bateman)
Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata)
frozen
No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman)
inedible
Afternoon (Tsai Ming-liang)
Obviously there's still a shit-ton of stuff I haven't seen, never-mind all the terrific films that never get released in the States.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
I still haven't seen Deepwater Horizon. I'll try and watch it soon though.
Last edited by Odise; 10-22-2021 at 03:39 PM.
This was indeed a damn good movie. Spicy even.
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
I like baby doll's rating scale.
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
Catchin' up on 2016 movies til I die.
Love
1. The Lobster
2. Manchester by the Sea
3. Horace and Pete
4. Green Room
5. Sing Street
Like a lot
6. Eye in the Sky
7. Moonlight
8. Hell or High Water
9. Nocturnal Animals
10. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
11. The Handmaiden
12. Doctor Strange
13. American Honey
14. The Witch
15. Jackie
16. Arrival
17. La La Land
18. Silence
Like
19. Elle
20. The Neon Demon
21. The Invitation
22. 10 Cloverfield Lane
23. Tale of Tales
24. Hacksaw Ridge
25. Zootopia
26. Certain Women
27. Weiner
28. The Fits
29. 13th
30. Hail, Caesar!
31. Goat
OK
32. High-Rise
33. The Light Between Oceans
34. Loving
35. The Edge of Seventeen
36. Don't Breathe
37. Rogue One
38. Keanu
39. The Nice Guys
40. OJ: Made in America
41. Sully
42. Captain America: Civil War
43. Jason Bourne
44. Lion
45. Krisha
Dislike
46. Deepwater Horizon
47. Sausage Party
48. Everybody Wants Some!!
49. X-Men: Apocalypse
50. Love & Friendship
51. 20th Century Women
Still to see: Toni Erdmann, Kubo, Cemetery of Splendor, I Am Not Your Negro, Midnight Special, The Red Turtle
Edited to add The Handmaiden and the Fits.
Last edited by Melville; 09-30-2017 at 08:08 PM.
I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?
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