Baumer's best 42 films of 2016 (and 12 worst) and Ruk's breakdown of 2016 films (Finished!)

[rukaio101]

38. The Legend of Tarzan

(*awkward coughing intensifies)

 

 

Coming in as another possibly controversial entry, I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. The trailers looked bland and I’ve never been that big a Tarzan fan to begin with. But no, it ended up being a perfectly enjoyable action blockbuster in a year sadly dearth of them. It doesn’t reinvent the genre or anything and I suspect I‘ll have mostly forgotten it this time next year, but I had a fun time watching it and really that’s all it needs.

[rukaio101]

37. The Shallows

 

 

Speaking of ‘doesn’t reinvent the genre’, The Shallows was an enjoyable little shark attack movie.

 

Sure it’s nowhere even near close to being Jaws, but it's not really trying to be Jaws. It's just a little fun shark jaunt that you're supposed to breeze through and enjoy. And, in a year... Hell, in an era filled with films with horribly bloated, unnecessarily long running times, it was nice to have a short, tense film that aimed to be short and tense and ended up feeling short and tense. Nothing special, admittedly, but it did its job more than admirably enough.

[rukaio101]

36. Bastille Day

 

 

It’s a cheesy action movie with Idris Elba. I like cheesy action movies and I like Idris Elba. Nuff said.

[rukaio101]

35. The Witch

 

 

Funnily enough, The Witch is a movie that probably would’ve been a lot more improved if… well… there wasn’t actually a Witch. Because the movie really works as a rather good psychological drama about a troubled young girl in an isolated Puritan household as things collapse around them. As a straight up supernatural horror movie though? ...Not so much. The vast majority of the scenes with out-and-out supernatural things happening fail to carry the same level of dread and unsettling tension and, in a few cases, just look kinda silly.

 

It's especially irritating because most of said out-and-out supernatural stuff could easily be cut in favour of making the horror ambiguous. Is a witch really influencing their actions? Is Thomasin or the twins responsible? Or is it all just a serious of unfortunate accidents and coincidences. It's so easy to just leave it ambiguous. Hell, I've even heard people come up with their own interpretations where Thomasin really was responsible for everything and the witch stuff was just delusions. And it works all the better for it.

 

That said though, when it sticks to the psychological horror stuff, it’s a genuinely really good thriller. The old-timey premise and setting are original and intriguing, the dialogue, while confusing to some, really lends to the atmosphere being built and the drama is compelling. Unfortunately, it fails to provide the same level of compelling interest to the actual supernatural threats present and thus, for me at least, is overshadowed by the other better horror movies this year.

[rukaio101]

34. Queen of Katwe

 

 

This is pretty much every underdog sports movie you’ve ever seen. But with chess. And in Africa.

 

I’m serious, it hits every cliché beat you expect from the genre. The impoverished kid with a poor family life. The charming mentor with his own issues. The people who look down on her because of her poverty/background (seriously, first match she plays, her opponent shakes her hand, then wipes his hand on the tablecloth! I almost burst out laughing at that point.) Her showing her talent. Her getting a successful career in the sport. Her getting overconfident in a big game and losing, leading to a crisis of faith. Her getting past it and achieving her goals. All played completely straight without a trace of irony. It is every single underdog movie you’ve ever seen before.

 

But that said, unoriginality aside, it really isn’t a bad movie. Yes, it’s as straight an underdog movie as you’ll ever seen, but it’s still a well done one. The acting is good, the pacing is good and the underdog clichés work for a reason, even if they’re fairly obvious and somewhat laughable at times. So while it may be very unoriginal, it’s still a relatively fun watch.

[rukaio101]

33. Hell or High Water

 

 

Hell or High Water is rather like Pete's Dragon in the regard that I don't really have that much bad to say about it. The movie was a perfectly enjoyable neo Western, with good acting (including an almost unrecognisable Chris Pines), decent tension and good characterisation. In particular, it did an excellent job at characterising its very setting, in Texas. I’ve never been to the place myself, but this movie really makes the setting stand out with its own quirks in a way that few other movies ever truly manage.

 

That said, while I don't have many real major criticisms, the film never really connect with me the way that it has with so many others. Honestly, Crime Dramas and Neo Westerns just really aren’t my thing (which is funny because normal Westerns totally are) and this movie never really left a solid enough impact on me to become one of the major exceptions. So it only places here on my list. I suppose it's less a problem with the film and more an issue with me, but hey, I threw any claims of objectivity on this list out the window with Warcraft.

[rukaio101]

32. Star Wars: Rogue One

 

 

Now from a movie I don't have much bad to say about, to a movie I have plenty of bad to say about, but enjoyed anyway.

 

I wrote up my thoughts on this in the review thread a while ago but, honestly, I will admit my view has actually softened on it quite a bit since then (and with a second rewatch). Yes, I still don't think it's an amazing film and every problem I had with it still feels completely legitimate, but there's a lot that does work as well and I found myself looking a bit more fondly at it with time. Not enough to give it higher than a B, mind, but that's still some improvement.

 

Quote

 

I've got to concur with what several other people on here have said. Rogue One is a movie with a fantastic, pulse-pounding third act... that would've hit so much harder were the first two acts not so muddled and lackluster. Now, there are many reasons I could list for this. Poor pacing. Questionable character arcs. Lousy characterisation in general. But I think, ultimately, all these issues lead from one major problem. The first two acts of Rogue One have way too much plot.

 

See, when it was announced, I thought Rogue One had a perfectly simple and useable premise. A group of rebels trying to steal the Death Star plans. Understandable, compelling and a solid foundation to build a movie around, right? But, if you think about it, that doesn't become the main story thread until the final act. The first two acts are about finding this Imperial pilot... or, no wait, finding Saw Gerrera so they can get the message from him about Galen Erso's location... or was it a message the superweapon? Or was it Galen Erso's message about the superweapon while finding out whether the superweapon exists... Agh, forget it. The point is, the main aim/plot/conflict of the movie keeps jumping about and about until it finally reach the conclusion at the third act (aka when it actually gets good) that 'Hey! Maybe it might be worth stealing those Death Star Plans there?' Which, you know, pretty much everybody already watching this movie knew from the beginning! The movie takes an overcomplicated and meandering path to something that should've been the aim from the very start. And that makes it suffer. 

 

See, one the biggest pitfalls I keep seeing in the lousier blockbusters this year is the misapprehension that more plot = more substance. The idea that the more elements you add to a story the greater it somehow becomes. I saw it in BvS, Fantastic Beasts, TMNT: Out of the Shadows, X-Men Apocalypse and now this. And it's just not true. If you add too much plot, then, unless you handle it very well, your story becomes weighed down and sluggish, it becomes harder to pace effectively, your audience gets bored of keeping track of all these elements and, most painfully of all, vital things like characterisation get shoved aside to make room for all the plot threads and side stories and exposition and etc etc. If there's anything filmmakers should've learnt from Mad Max: Fury Road last year (and there are many many things filmmakers should learn from that movie), is that sometimes a simple story is better for a movie than a complicated one, especially if you know how to tell it. Unfortunately, that's advice Rogue One didn't follow. Characterization for Jyn, Cassian and most of the squad suffered because the movie didn't have enough time to explore them because it was chasing plot threads. Which is a shame because there were some interesting tidbits there (especially Cassian's greyer tendencies). If I had to pick a personal favourite character (aside from Vader obviously) then it probably would have to be K-2SO. Not just because he was amusing (although he was (even if a few quips were hit and miss)) but because he at least had some kind of an established characterisation. Chirrut and Baze also had some level of characterisation and it's no surprise they were better characters for it. But when it came to Jyn, unlike Rey before her, she really didn't have much to speak of character-wise and her gung-ho switch to supporting the rebellion came fairly out of left-field. 

 

Not to say the movie is all bad mind, or even prequel bad. That third act is most definitely worth it and more or less makes the movie by itself. It's exciting, tense, fairly heartwrenching at times (even if it would've been a lot more heartwrenching had the film done a better job of making us care for these characters) and was pretty much everything I was hoping for from this movie. And, though Vader's time onscreen is brief, he more than makes us feel every second of it. And while I rail on the first two acts, they're far from being prequel bad. Plus, I do have to applaud the film for delving into the greyer aspects of the rebellion, from some of Cassian's more morally grey actions, to the idea of extremists and splinter factions. And it does definitively feel like a Star Wars movie, even without much in the way of Jedi antics. I don't know whether all that is enough for me to necessarily recommend it, but it's enough to make it worth a look.

 

For the moment I'd think I'd give it a  B-. Not unwatchable, but it's no Force Awakens (although it does have the space battle that movie was sorely missing.)

 

[rukaio101]

31. The Wailing

 

You know, there are movies out there which have had all the right ingredients for me to like them, yet, for some reason or another, they just didn’t quite work or click with me as much as I'd like. This movie is… kind of the opposite. While watching it, I thought it was overlong, overly melodramatic and at times silly when it was trying to be terrifying. Yet, when it came time to make this list, I couldn’t consider putting this movie any lower on this list despite, on paper, enjoying other films more. Not because it felt like a guilty pleasure, like London has Fallen or Sadako vs Kayako, but because somehow the movie just… worked. There was just something that, against all odds and flaws, really clicked with me about this film.

 

So what exactly was it that worked so well? If I had to take a guess? Atmosphere. While I considered the movie too long and rolled my eyes at the sillier aspects, the cinematography and sound design gives a real foreboding atmosphere to this little village that makes it difficult to look away. It’s rare the sort of movie, horror or otherwise, that can create such an effective understated atmosphere of tension and unease. Even some of the higher ranking horrors on this list didn’t quite achieve that. It's not quite enough to make up for everything else I considered flawed in the movie, but it's still quite an achievement.

 

Honestly, as it is, if the story had been more streamlined and compelling, I actually think this movie could have made my Top 10 for the year and become a real classic for the ages. As it is, it’s only here as an enjoyable, if flawed horror movie.

[Plain Old Tele]

7 hours ago, rukaio101 said:

38. The Legend of Tarzan

(*awkward coughing intensifies)

 

 

Coming in as another possibly controversial entry, I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. The trailers looked bland and I’ve never been that big a Tarzan fan to begin with. But no, it ended up being a perfectly enjoyable action blockbuster in a year sadly dearth of them. It doesn’t reinvent the genre or anything and I suspect I‘ll have mostly forgotten it this time next year, but I had a fun time watching it and really that’s all it needs.

 

I'm of similar mind here, and I feel like the movie succeeded in spite of the direction, strange as that might seem. Yates' standard desatured palette, featuring subdued colors and a lot of grey and brown, doesn't really help at all here, and IMO actively detracts from many of the scenes of nature. And while his choices of framing and camera movement are relatively conventional for the most part (aside from the absurd intensely stylized swinging stuff) there are a few instances where the movement was actively pointless and distracting. (In particular, there's a steadicam shot that decides to spin wildly around G.W. Williams and Tarzan/Clayton, for no reason whatsoever.)

[Porthos]

Pretty much where I figured where you'd have R1. After reading your review I was pegging high 30s, low 20s (low 30s, high 20s??? However one phrases that ), so I suppose 32 sounds just about right.

 

If the first two acts don't work for you, then I can't see why one would ever put a film in the Top 25. For me, they worked and worked wonderfully. However, if one thinks they actively detract from the film, then yeah, fair does.

 

At least it's in your top half for the year.

[aabattery]

I think it's interesting how pretty much everyone seems to have enjoyed the movie more the second time around. I know I did.

[Porthos]

2 hours ago, AABATTERY said:

I think it's interesting how pretty much everyone seems to have enjoyed the movie more the second time around. I know I did.

I have a vaild excuse, at least. 

 

(At least the film didn't stop during you-know-which scene.  I think I would have absoluetly lost it if it had. )

Edited January 18, 2017 by Porthos

[baumer]

Back from vacation mode.....I'll be working on this today.  I just recently saw about 6 films.  Most of them will make the list (most on the good side, one definitely on the worst of).

[rukaio101]

Good to see you're back, Baumer.

 

Also you should have a good chance of catching up now because I've got to take a bit of a break from my list for a few days. Something's gone wrong with my router and its making my internet really spotty. Like 'stalls out every other minute' spotty. (Seriously, it took me about 5-10 minutes to successfully post this.) 

 

Fortunately, I should be getting a replacement router in the next few days so I'll be able to finish up then. In the meantime, I'm going to try watch a few of the bigger ones I missed this year and possibly do a few words on one or two.

[baumer]

I know there is more films to see but time is not on my side. I don't think I'm going to be able to watch everything that needs to be watched. So now I have seen around 85 films this year and around half of them or a little bit more will make the best list for the year.

[baumer]

#37

Gods of Egypt (for you @CJohn )

Directed by:  Alex Proyas

Starring:  Stupendous and Gerard Butler

Box office:  150 million

 

Gods of Egypt is a guilty pleasure.  It's a big, loud, fast film about Gods being angry and a mortal's attempt to get giggy with a God.  And it also has stupendous tits.  There's no other way to put it.  Me and @CJohn love the film because Courtney Eaton has a terrific set of breasts.  You really have to see the film to understand what is being discussed here.  But beyond that, it's a scene chewing turn from Butler who plays one of the biggest assholes in film history.  He's not likeable in any sense and his arrogance knows no bounds.  He of course gets what's coming to him in the end and stupendous tits and her lover live happily ever after...sort of.  Like I said, it's not a great film but it is a good and fun one.

 

[baumer]

#36

Dirty Grandpa

Directed by: Don Mazer

Starring Robert DeNiro, Zac Efron

Box office:  94 million

 

Once the credits started rolling for Dirty Grandpa, the only thing I could say was, "Oh my god." It was shocking. From beginning to end the movie is shock humor, gross-out humor, crass, offensive, childish and stupid. But you know what? I laughed a lot. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained throughout most of this movie. Sure, it follows a lot of road trip movie tropes and the perfunctory fight/make-up conflict near the end, but one thing about Dirty Grandpa is that it's consistent. Dirty joke after dirty joke; some of them hit, some of them miss, but they don't stop. Some of these things I never thought I'd hear come out of Robert De Niro's mouth, but the fact that it's him saying it makes it all the more funny. People will say this is a slap in the face to his legacy, but it really isn't. The Family was. Little Fockers was. This movie knows what it is - a lewd, politically incorrect road trip comedy, and it succeeds in that regard.

What surprised me most about Dirty Grandpa is the chemistry between Zac Efron and Robert De Niro. They have a great comedic rapport that actually feels authentic, which helps the more insane scenes retain some semblance of realism (as thin as it may be). The rest of the cast is enjoyable too, especially Aubrey Plaza as the overtly slutty college girl who continuously surprised me with every grotesque statement uttered from her mouth. Oddly enough, De Niro feels right at home here. It's as if his character from Meet the Parents went off the deep end and decided to go on a spring break road trip with Zac Efron. And it's fun to see the almost 70 year old DeNiro kick the snot out of some kids a third his age.  Efron also proves once again that he's a comedic force to be reckoned with playing the straight corporate man put in awkward social situations.  

This is certainly a film that surprised me

 

[baumer]

#35

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Directed by:  Jake Syzmanski

Starring:  Zac Effron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick

Box office:  77 million

 

Another Efron film that completely caught me by surprise.   This crude and politically incorrect comedy was funny from the get-go thru the final credits. Never taking the plot too seriously, the film avoids necessary predictability, taking great advantage of the loose set-up to pile on the laughs throughout. I've always enjoyed Anna Kendrick and here she gets to show a different side to her.  This was the rare movie that didn't seem too long. An old-fashioned stupid sex comedy - a perfect escapist film for a day.  If you are like me and enjoy films like Porky's or any other sex romp from the 80's then this film might be one that you enjoy.

 

 

[baumer]

#34

How to be Single

Directed by Christian Ditter

Starring:  Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Rebel Wilson

Box office:  112 million

 

Another novel based film from the director of 'Love, Rosie'. About the four young women that tells how to enjoy the life by balancing the men and the parties. Very interesting cast, hot ones like Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie and even she's in her 40s Leslie Mann looked so fantastic. The narration had layers to focus on these different people and their different attempt to get the life they wanted. In that, I kind of like Leslie's, maybe the age fact and to be touched by her love tale with decency. But Dakota and Alison kind of did it for me.  They were both fantastic here.

 

Rebel Wilson, who I don't care for all that much was much better and more realistic in this film.  The story was good, although at times there seemed to be a bit much going on, and then, bam!! it all connects in some way.  So that makes the stories of everyone take place within the circle and delivered a good entertainment, Lots of fun, even though it is a pure commercial film, there was plenty of heart and enough to make you ponder your own views on love and relationships.

I personally think there is enough in here to keep men as well as women entertained.  It's something I'd see again, if only just to laugh a bit here and there, and for Johnson, who is quietly terrific.  

[baumer]

Now three more of the worst of the year