It's been a while, hasn't it? It's been a long time. Way too long.
In fact, it's been so long that doing a complete recap of all the movies I've seen last year would take way too long to go over. So, instead of doing that, I'm just gonna jump straight into things and give you my completely personal and biased list of the movies that were the best of the year, in my humble opinion.
To get things out of the way, this list will not include movies I have not either seen or finished. As such, Arrival and Dr. Strange won't be on here because I won't get to see the former until later this month and I have yet to finish the latter. Like I mentioned previously, this is a biased list, so try not to get your knickers in a twist if you don't see your favorites on here.
Before I get into it, I do have some...
Personally, Deadpool was a surprise. I was never the biggest fan of his portrayal in the comics (I found him annoying), so I wasn't expecting to like this movie as much as I did. It was ridiculous, it was funny, it was violent as hell, and, most of all, this movie was balls-to-the-wall great.
Another movie that surprised me this year was Train to Busan. It's very rare that a movie that is so often spoken about and turned into a meme before its theatrical run even finished ends up being everything I wanted it to be and more. This movie packed intensity, fun, thrills, and a surprising amount of heart into what has become one of my favorite zombie films in recent memory.
My experience of watching Finding Dory was enough to earn it an honorable mention on this list. Besides being cute and silly in all the best ways, it had some great characters and was, overall, a pretty awesome family film.
Now that we've gotten all those out of the way, let's dig right into the movies that I, personally, thought were the best of the year, starting with...
I've heaped praises on this movie in my original review, and I'm gonna do it again. Zootopia was pretty cool.
Zootopia managed to be socially relevant without beating you over the head with its message. And, on top of that, it was an all-around great movie. The animation was great, the voice acting was top-notch, and it's just as fun for adults as it is for kids.
Anyone who says remakes are destined to be awful clearly has not watched The Jungle Book.
Without being too heavily reliant on any nostalgia factor, The Jungle Book was a visual marvel with equally compelling storytelling. The movie was well shot, well animated, and very well acted, it's impossible to not acknowledge that it was great. Idris Elba and Christopher Walken delivered some excellent performances, and Neel Sethi was one of the best child actors I've seen in quite a while. The Jungle Book is very well deserving of a spot on this list.
I never thought I would find myself saying I was excited for an entry into the previously-maligned Metro Manila Film Festival, but last year, I was pretty stoked to see Saving Sally.
Until I saw Saving Sally, I never thought I would be able to so completely identify with a character in a local movie but, man, Marty (the main character) was a spot-on impression. The movie was hilarious, it was made with a lot of heart and packed a surprising amount of heart. That, and Sally was also quite hot - always a bonus.
It's very rare that I go into a movie without knowing anything. Upon watching 10 Cloverfield Lane, I only knew two things from the trailer. The first was that John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were trapped in a bunker together and the second was that it had Cloverfield in the title.
And that whole sense of mystery played a big part in making 10 Cloverfield Lane one of my favorites of the year. I'm hardly the biggest fan of horror-thriller-type movies but something about this one was just so gripping and almost addictive in a way. It was intense, it was chilling, and it did more than enough to keep me on the edge of my seat as I was watching it. That is why 10 Cloverfield Lane makes my list.
We all knew Civil War was gonna be good. It was inevitable, but we didn't know how good it was gonna be until we saw the movie.
As it turned out, Civil War was pretty damn sweet. It may have been as formulaic as Marvel movies come, but they managed to maximize what they had and delivered a solid blockbuster with great action, great humor, and a great conflict between the two sides. That airport fight was one of the most exciting action sequences I've seen all year, and this movie was one of my favorites, for sure.
Generally speaking, 2016 was a pretty great year for animated movies. We got Zootopia, Finding Dory, and, most importantly, we got Kubo and the Two Strings.
I personally loved this movie and I'm glad I got see it. The movie was built atop an interesting world with its own compelling mythology and history, and you really feel as if you're in another place while you're watching it. The stop motion animation was perfect and the movie had great characters in it and had the perfect balance of humor, heart, and plot. It was fantastic, and should've gotten a much wider release.
As if this was gonna be a surprise.
Like I said: this is my completely biased list, and this, subjectively speaking, was my favorite movie of 2016.
Rogue One did everything I wanted it to do and went the extra mile and gave me more than I ever thought I wanted to and could see on the silver screen. The cinematography, the acting, the CGI, the action sequences, they were all top-notch and made for the single most enjoyable movie experiences in my lifetime. It isn't everyday you get to hear everyone in the theater collectively scream "HOLY SHIT" when a certain character has his moment. That was just awesome.
Somehow, Rogue One managed to exceed my already-high expectations and delivered not just a great Star Wars film, but a great film in general.
And that's my list of my favorite movies from 2016. I might not have gotten to see every movie to come out in 2016, and I missed out on last year's Cinemalaya and a bunch of other films from the Metro Manila Film Festival that I heard were great, but I regret nothing. I saw what I wanted to see and enjoyed it.
So what were your favorite movies from 2016? Leave a comment, let me know. As always, this has been Rafa. Stay classy.
No comments:
Post a Comment