Top Ten of 2016!

I don't know what the hell 2017 is going to look like for our country with a reality TV star at its helm, but if the year's movies are half as good as they were this year, I'll welcome it with open arms. 2016, by far, has been the most difficult year I've ever had cultivating a "Top Ten" list since I've started making them. I've left off certain movies that in any other year would've easily made the list, but 2016 was just brimming with an amazing froth of films. It's movie musical chairs, and there's only ten seats available. So let's start the music and see what flicks secured a seat on my list!

10. Florence Foster Jenkins
Dir. Stephen Frears

Many of us at some time or another have lied to a friend or family member about their talents to spare their feelings. Whether they burn the Thanksgiving turkey or miss that high note in their school play - a simple "You were good, really!" usually suffices. But imagine if instead of the usual pleasantries, you booked them a gig at Carnegie Hall! Florence Foster Jenkins tells the weird and charming true story of a woman who wanted nothing more than to sing opera tunes and her well-wishing husband who would do anything to keep up the ruse. Meryl Streep imbues Florence with a complexity that shows both a larger-than-life quirky personality and a more quiet, sensitive side without ever being mean-spirited towards her character. Especially in today's world of Youtube videos and reality shows, this movie refreshingly provides some commentary on our culture's tendency to mock others during their "cringiest" moments.

9. Sing Street
Dir. John Carney

John Hughes meets School of Rock in another modern musical from John Carney (Once, Begin Again). Sing Street is a coming-of-age movie set in 1980s Dublin, with a young group of boys getting together to form a band, primarily started as an effort for one of them to woo an older girl. But beyond that simple launching point, Sing Street is an energetic, fun, crowd-pleasing, surprisingly emotional trip through a bygone era with genuinely witty dialogue and a fantastic set of original songs that sound ripped right from the 80s.

8. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Dir. Taika Waititi

If you thought Pixar's Up was lacking in Tupac-loving orphans and boar slaughtering, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the movie you didn't realize you needed in your life. This film from New Zealand comedy director Taika Waititi has such a distinct, fresh voice behind it that I'd say it's relative in cinematic zaniness to cult favorite Edgar Wright. Sam Neill plays the cantankerous foster uncle to one Ricky Baker, a defiant but lovable city kid experiencing life in the NZ "bush" for the first time. With beautiful landscapes, quirky, heartfelt performances, and an eclectic soundtrack, The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is an eccentric little movie told with an expertly crafted comic vision.

7. Captain Fantastic
Dir. Matt Ross

Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) lives deep in the woods, devoting his life to raising his six children - educating them with high literature, keeping them in top physical shape, and teaching them the value of nature without technology. But when Ben's wife dies, he brings his kids on a road trip to her funeral, where they're exposed to the outside world for the first time. While at first Ben's parenting seems amazing, it starts to become clear that despite being little geniuses his close-knit tribe could benefit from just "being kids." Especially in today's world where it's easier to have an "all-in" rigid opinion of something (whether it's your political party of choice or the latest Marvel film), the heartfelt, offbeat, and often funny Captain Fantastic reminds us that sometimes compromises end up making us better people in the long run.

6. Don't Breathe
Dir. Fede Alvarez

I debated whether or not to put Don't Breathe on my "top ten" list at all. I mean, it's more or less your standard home invasion thriller with a few new twists. But despite existing in a crowded genre, I can't think of a better example of that genre - everything from the acting, set design, the lighting, and even the sound is absolutely perfect for this kind of horror movie, which I'm kind of a sucker for. Stephen Lang plays a blind man who's being robbed by a trio of house thieves, and the result turns into a cat-and-mouse game that Fede Alvarez expertly executes. Don't Breathe is simple, but totally effective storytelling that while watching made me think: This is why I go to the movies!

5. Zootopia
Dir. Byron Howard, Rich Moore & Jared Bush

On the surface, Zootopia looks like a simple movie about a bunny and a fox in a "buddy cop" detective story, but don't let the smiling, friendly animals fool you - Zootopia actually has a lot to say about societal prejudice, inclusion, gender inequality and racial stereotyping. It also happens to explore those things while making loads of animal puns. Genuinely hilarious (the sloth bit at the DMV is amazing), beautifully animated, featuring perfectly-cast voice talent (weirdly I think Jason Bateman has never been better), and allegorizing many deep themes in a clever, alternate animal world, Zootopia is honestly among my favorite Disney animated films of all time.

4. The Edge of Seventeen
Dir. Kelly Fremon Craig

Like my #6 pick, The Edge of Seventeen exists alongside so many other films of its type: the "coming of age" high school movie. However, it smartly avoids the cliched trappings of that genre and is one of the most authentic, emotional, funny, well-written, and perfectly casted films of its kind I've seen. Hailee Steinfeld plays Nadine - a teen whose life is filled with those awkward, self-important moments we all remember going through in high school, but instead of coming across as completely insufferable, we relate to and deeply care about all the characters (including the always great Woody Harrelson as a disgruntled history teacher). The Edge of Seventeen has "modern classic" written all over it - I really hope more people actually watch it!

3. Eye in the Sky
Dir. Gavin Hood

Eye in the Sky is probably the most tense movie-watching experience I've had this year. The film follows a number of different perspectives during a drone strike, exploring the ethical, political, and military ramifications of dropping a bomb to kill a number of terrorists at the expense of possibly seriously injuring a single civilian. Gavin Hood expertly balances the viewpoints of each person involved, from a determined military officer (Helen Mirren) down to the sensitive drone pilot (Aaron Paul), who are each weighing their moral and personal beliefs in this ticking-clock situation. What sort of shook me as I watched this was that my opinion of what to do was swayed back and forth as I heard the different sides throughout the film. Chilling, suspenseful, and unfortunately relevant to today's world, Eye in the Sky is a fantastic movie that will probably be the subject of future ethics classes.

2. Hell or High Water
Dir. David Mackenzie

What I love about Hell or High Water is that unlike most westerns or heist films, there are no real heroes or villains - only victims. I believe it's among the best bank heist films ever made, reusing the iconography of classic westerns and planting them in a contemporary story of a father trying to make ends meet by robbing banks alongside his loose-cannon brother. Taking place in an economically downtrodden Texas, this movie is full of colorful, authentic southern charm; one of my favorite scenes in a movie this year is when a waitress asks the sheriff (Jeff Bridges), "What don't you want?" because no one orders anything other than a T-bone steak. The actors are all great (Bridges reaffirms his status as a national treasure) and the heist sequences are thrilling and intense. Hell or High Water displays the kind of raw, pure, exhilarating filmmaking that came out of the 1970s and turns a somewhat generic story into one of the year's best movies.

1. Arrival
Dir. Denis Villeneuve

While I would consider Arrival a sci-fi masterpiece on its own, I think it has some extra meaning for me being the first movie I watched after the 2016 election results. Whatever your politics, I think we can all agree that Americans have a difficult time communicating with each other, especially when we are of different cultures or perspectives. Arrival directly confronts those ideas and then some; Amy Adams plays a linguistics professor who's tasked with "translating" the language of newly-arrived aliens (or figuring out if the garbled noises they make even is a language). Beautifully shot, perfectly acted, and hauntingly scored, Arrival dives into themes of communication, grief, and the "circle of time" in ways I've never seen depicted in science fiction before. This is a thinking man's sci-fi flick in the same class as 2001 or Minority Report, only it balances its grandiose ideas and visuals with a humanistic story of a mother at its center.


HONORABLE MENTIONS:

CHRISTINE: Rebecca Hall gives a fantastic performance as Christine Chubbuck, an emotionally and socially struggling local news reporter.

LIFE, ANIMATED: A documentary about an autistic man who learns how to communicate after watching Disney animated films like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS: Beautifully-shot, emotionally devastating WWI melodrama starring Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and a mystery baby.

THE LOBSTER: In this abstract, darkly funny dystopian tale single people must find a mate within 45 days or be transformed into the animal of their choice.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA: A Boston janitor returns home and is faced with tragedy; fantastic performances from Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, and Michelle Williams.

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS: A pulpy ensemble thriller taking place in three interweaving timelines, examining the power of fiction to reflect and affect our lives in profound ways.

PETE'S DRAGON: Little orphan Pete lives in the woods with his pet dragon, Elliot. Then a bunch of jerk-face lumberjacks try to kill it. I swear it's magical.

SULLY: Tom Hanks lands a plane on the Hudson, and Clint Eastwood directs it. A surprisingly affective ode to professionalism.

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT: Controversial documentarian Michael Moore visits various European countries, examining how they differ from the US. Every American should watch this!


Some movies I missed: American Honey, Cameraperson, Certain Women, Don't Think Twice, The Fits, Hidden Figures, I Daniel Blake, Krisha, Lion, Live by Night, Love & Friendship, A Man Called Ove, A Monster Calls, My Name is Doris, Paterson, Patriots Day, Silence, Things to Come, Toni Erdmann, Tower, 20th Century Women, Weiner-Dog

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Thanks for reading, everyone! If I've inspired anyone to check out one of these movies who otherwise wouldn't have, I can die satisfied. Have a happy new year and see you in 2017!