The Best And Worst Films Of 2016

2016, love it or hate it there has been a lot to see in the world of film this year, as well as a lot of new rising stars to look out for and some film icons who will be sorely missed. I have always been a major Star Wars fan and to lose Carrie Fisher at the end of this year has really rocked a lot of people all over the world, never forget that she was so fiercely herself and an incredible inspiration to women and people with mental illness. Only a day after losing Ms Fisher her mother, Debbie Reynolds, passed away; I saw Singing In The Rain for the first time last year and since that point I've really just started to touch on the major mark she has left upon cinema for all time. A young up and comer, Anton Yelchin, who left his mark upon the Star Trek and Terminator universes was someone i was looking forward to seeing stun us all for the rest of his life; it's a tragedy he was only with us for such a short time. Finally one of the other legends who will be sorely missed is Alan Rickman, who passed earlier this year; he's played many roles that I've grown up loving and I'm mournful that the world will be deprived of his talent and his grace in the years ahead.

My list for this year is an interesting one, the first three months of 2016 provided a lot of good material but nothing really came close to the top five in the five months following these; it wasn't until the last few months of the year that my top five began to change as some decent content emerged. I would argue that cinema's taken a bit of a creative blow this year which is a shame to see, however it has also allowed for truly unique and creative minds to shine through the cracks. Those who know me well will be surprised to hear that not a single superhero film made it to my top five best films of the year; if you want to see where the Marvel/DC/Fox films landed keep on reading, for now let me kick off with...

The Best:

5. Hacksaw Ridge - 9/10

This is the sort of war film I like to see, it takes a realistic approach in how the carnage of war is displayed but there is also a very human element presented in the main protagonist's drive to help his fellow soldiers. Andrew Garfield stands out in this central role, embodying the compassion and determination needed in a role like this. The actions of Desmond Doss are commemorated and masterfully captured by Mel Gibson as the film's director, truly a worthy endeavour. It is a film that succeeds despite Vince Vaughn's meddling presence.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/hacksaw-ridge.html

4. Deepwater Horizon - 9/10

This is man-made disaster film that really strikes a chord with the viewing audience who watch it, it is a hrash reminder that sometimes the worst disasters are caused by humans and a greed for profit. It's a wild spectacle of a feature with cinematography that leads you all throughout the environment of the rig, sound editing that will have you captivated and special effects that place you right in amongst the flames of the burning oil rig. The cast in this film all do a great job, experienced legends such as Kurt Russell and John Malkovich bring their A game to the film; I'm also very excited to see more of Gina Rodriguez in her future works. Overall this is Mark Wahlbergs film through and through, in my opinion it is his best performance to date.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/deepwater-horizon.html

3. Spotlight - 9/10

It's not really surprising that the film which got an Oscar for Best Film this year is on my top 5 list; in fact since it came out in January Spotlight has held the number one position on my list right up until mid-December. It's a testament to this film that it can purely be driven by the cast and narrative without any real importance place upon the technical qualities of the film that it still retains a high spot. In this film the investigation which exposes institutionalised pedophilia in the Catholic Church is cast under a heavy microscope; we're quickly given every detail of this investigation as well as see many consequences and implications of the crimes committed by this Church. Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Jamey Sheridan and Mark Ruffalo all come together to deliver one of the most thought-provoking performances by an ensemble cast I have ever seen.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/spotlight.html

2. La La Land - 9/10

This film is a love letter to classic cinema, it's accomplishes what had seemed to be the impossible: delivering a good film musical. Everything within this feature is so vivid and stunningly captured, it will take you back to those classic musical films from the 50s when cinema really knew how to get unique and creative. The story here is one of ambition, love, futility and lost potential; it is a journey unlike any other and a must see. Emma Stone and ryan Gosling bring some of their best work to date, and I wouldn't be surprised if this film cleans up at the Oscars in 2017.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/12/la-la-land.html

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - 9.5/10

Well it's official, Star Wars has been number one on my list two years in a row! It was a close call for me this year, the enchanting quality of La La Land and the incredible spectacle of Rogue One competed fierecely against one another. I chose Rogue One quite simply because it recreated a feeling in me that I haven't had with any Star Wars films but the originals when I was a kid, the tone felt the same and the story immersed itself in this science-fiction landscape effortlessly. There was so much here for Star Wars fan but likewise there was a really important story for newcomers too. The characters at the heart of this film are delivered incredibly; some of the best coming from Alan Tudyk, Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Ben Mendelsohn and James Earl Jones. In many ways this film recaptures the Star Wars spirit in ways that the Force Awakens didn't and it proves that there is a place for anthology films in the years to come.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/12/rogue-one-star-wars-story.html

There have been many films that seemed to be competing for the spot of bottom five this year but I've narrowed this list to my bottom five. Here they are...

The Worst:

5. How To Be Single - 1.5/10

So back in 2014 the number five worst film spot was taken by a romance film called Love, Rosie; this year it's taken by a romantic-comedy called How To Be Single. So either I have something against romance or Hollywood is really working hard to add this genre to bargain bin alongside comedy and horror. In How To Be Single we're presented a very generic story about a girl sleeping around until she realises the only true person to love in life is yourself. With the right execution maybe this could have worked, when your lead actress was also the star of 50 Shades of grey then you know what you're in for. Not even comedic heavyweights such as Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie, Damon Wayans Jr. or Leslie Mann could salvage this trainwreck.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/02/how-to-be-single.html

4. Teeange Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows - 1.5/10

It's actually rare for a blockbuster film to make my bottom five films, usually it's plagued with bad romance films, comedies or animated features so this is something new. The first TMNT film that was produced by Michael bay was pretty bad and hard to watch so surely the sequel couldn't be any worse? Ha ha, nope. This is the guy who went from the first Transformers to Revenge Of The Fallen so no great shock there. I think what really went wrong this time was that the story got too outlandish; suddenly aliens, interdimensional travel and animal mutation became important plot points which got a bit out of hand. New characters like Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady got butchered by a weak script and glaringly bad special effects. A couple of the Turtles mo-cap performers pulled out the stops to give and alright performance and even Will Arnett and Tyler Perry do a pretty good job but ultimately this is one of the worst possible sequels that could have been made to an already terrible original film.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/06/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-out-of.html

3. Why Him? - 1.5/10

Sometimes by the end of the year you get the feeling that things can't get any worse and then they dump this crap on you. Why Him? doesn't work for a number of reasons but probably the most glaring issue was that none of the cast seemed to have any chemistry with one another. Bryan Cranston does some of his worst acting ever, Zoey Deutch awkwardly tries to portray Franco's girlfriend (failing miserably) and you get some horrible side performances from Megan Mullally and Griffin Gluck. There isn't much depth to the narrative and the film almost seems to be blindly staggering about in the hunt for a good joke every ten minutes. James Franco and Keegan Michael-Key do a fairly good job but that's about the only redeeming quality of this film.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/12/why-him.html

2. Bad Santa 2 - 1.5/10

So looks like we've all been naughty kids cause we don't just the one lump of coal (Why Him?) but two in the guise of Bad Santa 2! This comedy is really as lowbrow as it gets, there is no attempt to make you like these characters and the humour is so deep in the gutter we might as well say it's drowing in the sewer. Billy Bob Thornton and Tony Cox pull out the stops to do just as well as they did in the original Bad Santa; however the pair are let down by newcomers, Kathy Bates and Christina Hendricks, as well as returning cast member Brett Kelly. This is the worst a comedy film can get and a complete waste of time.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/bad-santa-2.html

1. The Witch - 1/10

Horror films never score too highly and there's a general reason for that; they all tend to follow the same formula in terms of narrative structure or the types of characters in the film. So The Witch is refreshing because it's such an original attempt at the horror genre while also managing to be the most garbage film this year. What this film delivers is something that looks like a film grads first attempt at a feature film, it's not great and it looks worse. The story is sloppy to say the least and half the time makes no sense, in fact I can't even really say I was scared once by any of the moments in the film. The cast doesn't boast any big names and you're not going to remember any of the people in this at all.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2016/06/the-witch.html

I have managed to watch and review 141 films on my blog this year which is about 13 up from last year. It has been so interesting to see such a spectrum of film whether it be blockbuster or indie, romance or sci-fi. If you want to see where your favourite films wound up on my best to worst list check out below:

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 9.5/10
2. La La Land – 9/10
3. Spotlight – 9/10
4. Deepwater Horizon – 9/10
5. Hacksaw Ridge – 9/10
6. Eye In The Sky – 9/10
7. Sing – 9/10
8. Moana – 9/10
9. Eddie The Eagle – 9/10
10. The Big Short – 8.5/10
11. Deadpool – 8.5/10
12. Star Trek: Beyond – 8.5/10
13. Finding Dory – 8.5/10
14. The Jungle Book – 8.5/10
15. Captain America: Civil War – 8.5/10
16. Blood Father – 8.5/10
17. Zootopia – 8.5/10
18. Steve Jobs – 8/10
19. The Revenant – 8/10
20. 10 Cloverfield Lane – 8/10
21. Kung Fu Panda 3 – 8/10
22. Sing Street – 8/10
23. The Finest Hours – 8/10
24. Sully – 8/10
25. The Light Between Oceans – 8/10
26. Jason Bourne – 8/10
27. Arrival – 8/10
28. Independence Day: Resurgence – 8/10
29. Room – 7.5/10
30. Hail, Caesar! – 7.5/10
31. X-Men: Apocalypse – 7.5/10
32. Now You See Me 2 – 7.5/10
33. A Violent Prosecutor – 7.5/10
34. Concussion – 7.5/10
35. The Accountant – 7.5/10
36. Mahana – 7.5/10
37. The Tunnel – 7.5/10
38. Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates – 7.5/10
39. Bad Moms – 7.5/10
40. Kubo And The Two Strings – 7.5/10
41. Storks – 7.5/10
42. The Magnificent Seven – 7.5/10
43. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – 7.5/10
44. Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned – 7.5/10
45. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 -7.5/10
46. The Girl On The Train – 7/10
47. Allied – 7/10
48. Train To Busan – 7/10
49. Boyhood – 7/10
50. Florence Foster Jenkins – 7/10
51. The Huntsman: Winter’s War – 7/10
52. Point Break – 7/10
53. Ouija: Origin Of Evil – 7/10
54. Thirty Million – 7/10
55. The Nice Guys – 6.5/10
56. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them – 6.5/10
57. The Himalayas – 6.5/10
58. Brooklyn – 6.5/10
59. Central Intelligence – 6.5/10
60. The Hateful Eight – 6.5/10
61. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi – 6.5/10
62. Phantom Detective – 6.5/10
63. Bad Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising – 6.5/10
64. Hunt For The Wilderpeople – 6.5/10
65. The Shallows – 6.5/10
66. The Conjuring 2 – 6.5/10
67. The Founder – 6.5/10
68. Sausage Party – 6.5/10
69. Bridget Jones’s Baby – 6.5/10
70. Blair Witch – 6.5/10
71. Oddball – 6.5/10
72. Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie – 6.5/10
73. A United Kingdom – 6/10
74. The Wailing – 6/10
75. Ride Along 2 – 6/10
76. Bastille Day – 6/10
77. Warcraft: The Beginning – 6/10
78. The BFG – 6/10
79. Lights Out – 6/10
80. Nerve – 6/10
81. Doctor Strange – 6/10
82. Underworld: Blood Wars – 6/10
83. Trolls – 6/10
84. The Secret Life Of Pets – 6/10
85. Me Before You – 6/10
86. Luck-Key – 6/10
87. The Boy – 6/10
88. Don’t Breathe – 6/10
89. The Divergent Series: Allegiant – 6/10
90. London Has Fallen – 5.5/10
91. Ben-Hur – 5.5/10
92. Inferno – 5.5/10
93. Risen – 5.5/10
94. The Legend Of Tarzan – 4.5/10
95. Our Kind Of Traitor – 4.5/10
96. Ghostbusters – 4.5/10
97. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – 4.5/10
98. War Dogs – 4.5/10
99. Mother’s Day – 4.5/10
100. The Man Who Knew Infinity – 4.5/10
101. Dad’s Army – 4.5/10
102. Poi E – 4.5/10
103. Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice – 4/10
104. Pete’s Dragon – 4/10
105. Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – 4/10
106. Alice Through The Looking Glass – 4/10
107. Spirits’ Homecoming – 4/10
108. The Age Of Shadows – 4/10
109. Keeping Up With The Joneses – 4/10
110. Dirty Grandpa – 4/10
111. Ice Age: Collision Course – 4/10
112. The Danish Girl – 4/10
113. The Lady In The Van – 4/10
114. The 5^th Wave – 4/10
115. Nocturnal Animals – 4/10
116. Office Christmas Party – 4/10
117. Grimsby – 4/10
118. Love And Friendship – 4/10
119. Chasing Great – 4/10
120. David Brent: Life On The Road – 4/10
121. The Monkey King 2 – 4/10
122. The Boss – 3.5/10
123. The Handmaiden – 3.5/10
124. Robinson Crusoe – 3.5/10
125. Suicide Squad – 3/10
126. Gods Of Egypt – 3/10
127. Ip Man 3 – 3/10
128. Sisters – 3/10
129. Cafe Society – 3/10
130. The Angry Birds Movie – 2.5/10
131. A Bigger Splash – 2.5/10
132. Three Wise Cousins – 2.5/10
133. Zoolander 2 – 2/10
134. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie – 2/10
135. The Rehearsal – 2/10
136. League Of Gods – 2/10
137. How To Be Single – 1.5/10
138. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows – 1.5/10
139. Why Him? – 1.5/10
140. Bad Santa 2 – 1.5/10
141. The Witch – 1/10

Here's to 2017 and another year of film, be it better or worse!