As I look through 2016, the year that I started The Sacred Wall, I am filled with a variety of feelings. Overall, it was kind of an average, disappointing year – of the 120 I saw (42 reviewed), including documentaries, there are really only a handful I feel I can recommend. However, I cannot get over how phenomenal that Top 3 is. La La Land and Moonlight will be historic classics, and while it doesn’t necessarily have the same impact, my #1 pick, Everybody Wants Some!!, was just too near and dear to me not to place at #1. It is an All-Time Favorite for me, the perfect example of a special film finding you at the right time. I also look at how great some of those film in my Top 15 are, including Arrival, The Handmaiden, Zootopia, and Loving. Two genres that really had a chance to shine in 2016 were documentaries, as O.J.: Made In America, Tower, 13th, Weiner, and I Am Not Your Negro will stand as beacons of the art, and animation, which gave us Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Sing, Moana, Finding Dory, and Batman: Return of the Caped Crusader. It’s too early to start to rethink any of these options, as I haven’t had the chance for history to start to weigh in on what’s a classic and what isn’t, and I still stand by that Top Ten, but if there’s anything I would consider changing, I would maybe move up Popstar and Hush, two great genre films that deserved more love than they got. I’m not sure what would move down though – I very dearly loved my Top Ten. Anyway, you can see the full list of films I saw, listed, and reviewed between January 1st, 2016 and February 26th, 2017 (due to stupid release scheduling rules, I give myself extra time). I would recommend that Top 36 in a heartbeat fairly easily, and would once again like to remind you to check out all of those documentary selections.
Any colored bold name can be clicked on for a link to the original review
You can see my Worst of 2016 list here
You can see my Sacred Wall Awards listed here
And you can see my Top Ten Films of 2016 list right here
- Everybody Wants Some!!
- La La Land
- Moonlight
- Hail, Caesar!
- Hell or High Water
- The Nice Guys
- The Hunt for the Wilderpeople
- Hidden Figures
- Jackie
- Deadpool
- Zootopia
- Arrival
- The Handmaiden
- Loving
- The Salesman
- American Honey
- Manchester by the Sea
- 20th Century Women
- Swiss Army Man
- Pete’s Dragon
- Don’t Think Twice
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
- The Edge of Seventeen
- Sing Street
- Moana
- Sing
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Hush
- Silence
- The BFG
- Finding Dory
- 10 Cloverfield Lane
- Doctor Strange
- Fences
- Army of One
- The Jungle Book
- Sully
- The Neon Demon
- Jason Bourne
- Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie
- Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders
- Sausage Party
- Star Trek Beyond
- Elle
- Florence Foster Jenkins
- The Lobster
- Mascots
- War Dogs
- Patriots’ Day
- A Bigger Splash
- Maggie’s Plan
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- How To Be Single
- The Shallows
- Midnight Special
- Captain America: Civil War
- The Conjuring 2
- Trolls
- Deepwater Horizon
- Green Room
- Blair Witch
- Lion
- Love and Friendship
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Passengers
- The Birth of a Nation
- Don’t Breathe
- Nocturnal Animals
- Denial
- Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
- Suicide Squad
- The Accountant
- Whisky Tango Foxtrot
- The Witch
- Ghostbusters
- Pee Wee’s Big Holiday
- Risen
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
- Aquarius
- Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
- American Pastoral
- Born To Be Blue
- The Girl on the Train
- Captain Fantastic
- Rules Don’t Apply
- Café Society
- Morgan
- Indignation
- Batman: The Killing Joke
- Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice
- Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland
- Lazer Team
- The Invitation
- Liberty’s Secret
- Southside With You
- Genius
- Lights Out
- Triple Nine
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
- Snowden
- Gods of Egypt
- Search Party
- The Forest
- Nine Lives
- Collateral Beauty
- Warcraft
- Mother’s Day
- God’s Not Dead 2
- Get a Job
- Norm of the North
