The "Talkies": 2016 Superlatives!

The Oscars are fun and everything, but I know that all you really care about are which lucky movies earn the gold on my annual superlatives list! Wrapping up the movie year of 2016 was not easy, as there was so much greatness on display - making these picks was a real Sophie's choice at times. So, without further delay... here are the "Talkies!"

BEST ACTOR - Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

One of my favorite eras of film history that I explored in film school was the Italian Neorealist movement of the post-WWII period. In contrast to their Hollywood counterparts, often "real," non-professional actors were cast in the lead and supporting roles, lending these films an unprecedented level of truth to the story, melting away at the artificiality of movie-making. A similar feeling of human authenticity washed over me while watching Manchester by the Sea, but somehow director Kenneth Lonergan was able to capture that same level of realism with Hollywood actors like Casey Affleck. In the most devastating performance of the year, Affleck doesn't play Lee, an emotionally complicated Boston handyman, he just is Lee. I might be at risk of sounding hyperbolic in my praise, but I was reminded of Brando's performance in On the Waterfront - it's seriously that good, and it would be a travesty if he lost the Oscar this year!

Rogue One, La La Land, Miss Sloane, The Brand New Testament Reviews

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Dir. Gareth Edwards
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Among my biggest problems with The Force Awakens were its over-use of winking nostalgia and its slavish relationship to the original trilogy. In fact, the entire film pretty much exactly mirrors A New Hope in its characters, locations, and plot structure. But I feel for J.J. - he had a ridiculous amount of elements to juggle in bringing back the Star Wars franchise, and he accomplished what he set out to do: setting the stage for future adventures that can live and breathe on their own. Rogue One, the first live action Star Wars movie not set in the "main" Skywalker timeline, had the opportunity to be something completely new and fresh for a change. Unfortunately, this film not only pulls the same veil of throat-cramming nostalgia over our eyes, but it does so with dull characters and the drabness of an actual war film.

Manchester by the Sea, Nocturnal Animals, Jackie, Elle Reviews

Manchester by the Sea
Dir. Kenneth Lonergan
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The log line for Manchester by the Sea seems to be: "Grief-stricken Boston janitor is sad for 2.5 hours." While it's true that this film deals with heavy subjects like death and grief, and has several of the most tragic gut-punches in a movie this year, the real reason why it's so great is that it's actually hilarious! Manchester by the Sea works because it doesn't stick to a single melancholic groove - its characters experience life as it really happens, with both its unfathomably, almost operatically terrible moments as well as its small funny details. This film feels so natural and authentic to the human experience that it's hard to think of a comparison. It's a tough watch at points, but Manchester by the Sea is a fantastic character study and one of the best dramas of the year.

Moana, Allied, Bad Santa 2, Christine Reviews

Moana
Dir. John Musker & Ron Clements
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For nearly eighty years, starting with Snow White, Disney has found success with adapting fairy tales under a familiar template - typically involving a naive, but ambitious young girl who ventures outside her safe home, finding her destiny and identity in the dangerous world outside while singing catchy songs and a cute sidekick or two tags along. Moana, the latest in Disney's "princess" canon, follows this same formula to a T and then some, but the difference lies in the execution: here the story beautifully captures ancient Polynesian myths that provide a unique backdrop as yet unseen in a film like this and a handful of songs developed by Hamilton's Lin Manuel Miranda that are sure to get some Oscar attention this year.

Fantastic Beasts, Arrival, Edge of Seventeen, Loving Reviews

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Dir. David Yates
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The Harry Potter series was one of the biggest, most reliable cash cows ever for Warner Brothers Entertainment. Every year or so saw another guaranteed box office hit with a rabid built-in fan base and studio execs were showering themselves in gold doubloons a la Scrooge McDuck. But look - uh oh - there aren't any more books left to adapt in J.K. Rowling's Potter series! Now how will the executives pay for their third or fourth beach houses?! The answer lies in returning to the wizarding well in a new form: the spin-off/prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Though it may be a fresh property not based on an existing book, featuring a whole slew of new characters, Fantastic Beasts still feels like one of the most calculated movie productions this year, manufactured to be a hit.

Doctor Strange, Hacksaw Ridge, Moonlight, The Handmaiden Reviews

Doctor Strange
Dir. Scott Derrickson
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The fourteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange is in many ways one of the most formulaic origin stories we've seen in the series so far - BUT it's also one of the most visually inventive, with mind-blowing special effects that will cause the heads of viewers on LSD to explode like that guy from Scanners.  Paralleling Tony Stark's character arc from the first Iron Man, Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is also positioned as an arrogant genius who becomes humbled through his superhero journey - and coincidentally rocks the same goatee. In this case, Strange is a world-famous surgeon whose hands become damaged after a brutal car accident. In the aftermath, he seeks healing from a faraway Eastern secret society that practices the "mystic arts" under the tutelage of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). It's there that Strange's scientific mind learns about worlds and dimensions he never thought possible. Replace Iron Man's technology with trippy-dippy Inception-inspired reality-manipulation and you've got Doctor Strange: a routine, but mind-meltingly cool looking Marvel movie.

The Accountant, The Birth of a Nation, Queen of Katwe, Denial Reviews

The Accountant
Dir. Gavin O'Connor
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On paper, the ensemble brought together for The Accountant sounds amazing: Ben Affleck in his first post-Batman role, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor, and directed by Warrior and Miracle's Gavin O'Connor.

On paper, the story for The Accountant sounds like a complete unmitigated disaster-in-waiting. Christian Wolff (Affleck) is a mathematics savant on the autism spectrum who makes his living as a freelance accountant for dangerous criminals. As a Treasury agent (J.K. Simmons) is hot on his trail, Wolff takes on a state-of-the-arts robotic company, run by Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), as a legitimate client, but uncovers a discrepancy that involves millions of dollars. Using his genius, as well as military-level defense skills his father taught him (including martial arts and shooting targets a mile away), Wolff uncovers the truth while on the run and the bodies starting piling high.

I have no idea how O'Connor got that pedigree of talent for such a b-grade, somewhat exploitative action flick, but I found The Accountant to be a singularly entertaining, bizarre Bourne-meets-Rain Man shoot-em-up that despite a wonky (and possibly offensive) depiction of autism and a labyrinthine plot that makes little sense, I had a lot of fun with.