OK Folks, These are My Favourite Films of 2016.

They are in alphabetical order because I realy don’t like rating movies.    After all, why should my subjective ‘scores’ match yours?  Listing them as my favourites is simply my recommendation. and I hope you have enjoyed or will enjoy them too.  

Anthropoid                       

A true story well, if plainly,  told of the actual assassination attempt on the Nazi Richard Heinemann by two Czech soldiers,  with Jamie Doran and  Cillian Murphy.  

Arrival                                

A superior, original and thoughtful Science Fiction movie with an unexpected and powerful emotional heft, starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.    It is still resonating with me.    Of all the films that follow on this list this is the one I most want to see again.

The Assassin

Adapted from the 9th-century wuxia martial arts tale with an exquisitely lovely and poised performance from Shu Qi.   The film is spun from some exquisite, evanescent tissue of precious material, like Donne’s “gold to airy thinness beat”.  (The Guardian)

Batman v Superman

An earnest Superhero faceoff with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill.   I enjoyed this more than ‘Man of Steel’, and it was rather better than I expected.

The BFG                  

A terrific performance-motion capture of Mark Rylance made  Spielberg’s Dahl adaptation a joyful experience for me. (And I have just seen it again).

Captain America: Civil War   

A superior Marvel superhero faceoff that explores a real Political ethical dilemma, with Chris Pine, Robert Downey Jnr and the rest of the Avenger’s gang – plus a new addition. 

Captain Fantastic                      

Provides a very interesting family drama and social dialectic,  with Viggo Mortensen.

Deadpool                           

Was an engaging none-PC comedy superhero pastiche, with Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin ( who I have rather missed since Firefly and Serenity. 

Deepwater Horizon                  

The true oil rig tragedy realistically recreated by Peter Berg, with Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovitch and Kurt Russell.

Doctor Strange

This Marvel movie employs kaleidoscopic special effects and puts Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton rather wittily to work.   Great fun.

Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them  

Worthy Harry Potter prequel (and new franchise) with  Eddy Redmayne and a magical menagerie.   Family fun gently pushing liberal inclusive and ecological attitudes.

Girl On A Train                

An adaptation that divided critics, but I enjoyed this complex thriller and especially Emily Blunt’s performance.

Hail, Caesar                      

This is a Hollywood comedy about 1950’s Hollywood with George Clooney and Josh Brolin heading a star stuffed cast.    Totally unexceptional and forgettable, but fun while it lasted.

Hell or High Water                    

A thoughtful and engaging modern Western, directed rather surprisingly by the Northumbrian born  David Mackenzie,

 with Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges.   

Jane Got a Gun    

is a nicely understated female-led Western with Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton (did I ever say how brilliant he was in Luhrman’s Gatsby, subtly showing the desperation beneath the swagger?)   

Room

Brilliant adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s wonderfully realized book.  Brie Larson deserved her Oscar, and the young Jacob Tremblay was very impressive.  

Spotlight.

I would have used this when I was running Child Protection/Safeguarding training sessions if it had been available.   Hard hitting, accurate, never trivializing nor sensationalizing. 

The Nice Guys

Pleasing comedy thriller with Russell Crowe and  Ryan Gosling.   Set in the 1970’s it is (literally)  how a 1970’s comedy thriller would be/could - and was - filmed today.  

The Girl with All The Gifts.   
I have almost reluctantly come to admire many 21 century vampire movies because they take a different approach to the genre, such as Neil Jordan's Byzantium,  but did not expect to find a zombie movie that also pleased me.   I am glad to say that this British movie does, for the same reason - and it also stars Byzantium's Gemma Arterton.        

The Revenant

The third in an amazing trio of films from Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu – Gravity, Birdman and now this.    Properly – almost viscerally - chilling, but/and I love the way it treated the revenge theme.   I suspect this is the movie DiCaprio has long been waiting for. 

Being stuck in the (well beloved) sticks I haven’t yet seen Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria,  Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship, Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Spash  or Charlie Kaufmann’s Anomalisa, but the DVD of  What Happened Miss Simone? is sitting ready to play.   

Here are some of the DVDs I also enjoyed when revisited or were on catch-up.

Amy

Assassin
Cyrano de Bergerac

Frank

Gangs of New York
Guardians of the Galaxy (I am eagerly waiting for the sequel)

Inherent Vice

Kingdom of Heaven (Director’s cut)

La Vie En Rose

A Late Quartet

Macbeth (the Michael Fassbender/Marion Cotillard  version.)

The Martian

Song of the Sea

I eventually saw the fourth Jason Bourne movie, and was pleased  to be impressed by it.  

And on TV?

The BBC’s War of the Roses – especially the way the first two plays in the sequence set up Richard III properly, and the way the women (therefor) shone. 

Happy Valley  As a late adopter I must get hold of series 1.

War & Peace   TV’s small scale helped to focus on the personal detail.

Missing   Complex, with three time threads, confusing identification, a surprising but utterly plausible villain,  subtle characterization...

The Night Manager   I was disappointed by the book when it first came out – le Carre struggling to find a cause after the end of the Cold War -  but updating it and casting it so brilliantly more than redeemed it.