Cinema 2016: 10 Favorites

As another year comes to a close, it’s always a good idea to assess what art impacted you over the last 365 days. In film, ten stood out for me.

Desired to screen but unable to by publish date: La La Land, Midnight Special, Captain Fantastic, Kubo and the Two Strings

Honorable mentions: Blue Jay, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, & Moana.

10. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Absurdist humor is hard to pull off. Satire even more so. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping does for the pop concert documentary what This is Spinal Tap did for rock — parody something so well that the artistic performances of the characters are just as good as the real deal (even more so in some cases). Shave off the goofy lyrics in “I’m So Humble” or “Donkey Roll” and you legitimately have a club banger.

But it’s not just the music. Popstar finds a way to poke fun at just about everything that makes up fame these days. Whether it be snark based entertainment reporting, social media missteps, or the price of peaking young, the film oddly has a heart that even its parody predecessors usually can’t accomplish.

9. Deadpool

This year’s little movie that could. Well…for a superhero film that is. The monetary value of Deadpool is hardly a signifier of quality, but this crass forth-wall breaking bloodfest made $782 million on a $58 million budget and cemented itself as, not only the highest grossing X-Men related project, but the highest grossing of any 20th Century Fox film not directed by either James Cameron or George Lucas. That’s about as insane as our red-hooded hero and makes all the Hollywood insider naysayers who held the project back for six years (and botched the character in a Wolverine movie) eat crow.

But it’s impressive impact isn’t what makes it special. It’s possibly the most irreverent film of the year (google the opening credit sequence), but also somehow gives us a reason cemented in pain and grief to root for this despicable mercenary. Behind that suit and scrambled egg skin of his, there is a determination and heart that holds closer to actual humanity than we’ve seen in iron-clad billionaires and norse alien gods.

8. Zootopia

I love a good animated film as much as the next guy, but the entire marketing campaign for Zootopia had left me cold. What a shock I was in for when what I encountered was a semi-noir mystery about tolerance. Rarely do I see a film that I think has something really to say about the current culture, but to find a Disney cartoon that works as a counter-argument to a rising climate of hate and discrimination is fascinating.

Fresh and funny, Zootopia also really fleshes out a unique urban world that holds vast detail in every scene. So many little touches. A whole lot of animal puns. But nothing takes away from its beautiful core story as predators and prey learn to live together.

7. Arrival

Much like the previous entry, the slow burn hard sci-fi film Arrival looks at the differences that divide us, but holds a firm reason why we fail so often when crossing cultures — a lack of good communication. It’s not just that we are speaking different languages, but even the things we have in common can be defined so differently.

Perhaps that prettiest film of the year, this tale of intergalactic encounter finds as much to do with its shadows as it does with its light, and the framing of certain sequences will stick with me for some time. So rare it is to see a film breathe and let us sit in its moments. How refreshing.

FYI: I spoke in greater detail about this film during my review on The Watch and Talk podcast.

6. Don’t Think Twice

I’ve been a fan of monologist Mike Birbiglia for years and, after his semi-autobiographical first film Sleepwalk With Me, I was excited to see what was next. Low and behold, Don’t Think Twice kicks the concept of the sophomore slump to the curb as it’s not only a wholly original story, but also a more realized piece of art chronicling the lives of a bunch of broke improv comics and the cracks that form when one of them makes it big.

With the film, Birbiglia makes all the right moves. No longer playing the protagonist, he stretches himself in a roll as the improv troupe’s oldest member, who waxes nostalgic about the moments he almost broke through as he beds younger up-and-comers. He’s pathetic and Birbiglia doesn’t shy away from the ugliness. In every way, the film is rich and layered. It’s as funny as it is sad, as goofy as it is human, and as wholly touching as it’s subject matter is niche. Maybe you’ve never even been to an improv show, but you know what it’s like to feel stalled and unsure and the film understands deeply what it takes to keep moving.

5. Star Trek Beyond

Generally the third film of a franchise has a story as big and bold as possible — the culmination of all the stakes that have previously been put out on the table. Star Trek Beyond does the very opposite. It is everything it’s predecessor Into Darkness wasn’t — optimistic, cohesive and, most importantly, fun.

Thanks to a cracking script by Simon Pegg, the series own Scotty, we’re given a story that certainly hits a few cliches (how many times can they blow up the Enterprise?) but overall seeks to tell a smaller tale — marooning the crew on a distant planet and forcing them to survive in pairs. While some have complained about how diminutive the scale of it all feels, almost as if it’s an episode of the old TV show, I, for one, find that it’s greatest asset. It’s a breeze to watch and probably the most fun I had at the box office all summer.

4. 10 Cloverfield Lane

No film had me more at the edge of my seat this year than 10 Cloverfield Lane. The nail-biter of the year, the film is greatly enhanced by the performances of basically only three actors, the standout being John Goodman, who should win every supporting actor award possible for his outstanding portrayal of the antagonist.

After seeing it, I assigned it as required viewing for my screenwriting students as an amazing example of how to keep tension flowing throughout your story. The moment something resolved, it was immediately out-shined by the next problem at hand, boxing the protagonist (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in until there was practically no way out. While I can sympathize with those who feel the third act a little broad in comparison to the rest of the picture, it still remains one of the years most solid pieces of storytelling.

3. Jackie

“I didn’t want to be famous,” a grieving widow trembles out. “I just became a Kennedy.” In Jackie we see what a biographical film can be. Where others reach so far and wide their story dilutes the life they hope to portray, Jackie reflects only the week after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and solely from the perspective of the first lady, still in shock and with her husband’s brain matter plastered on her pink dress.

While it sounds like a morbid affair, it’s all engaging, as the overall arch is told by Jackie to a Times reporter and her perspective ranges from deeply raw to overly dreamlike. There is the truth and then there is America’s Camelot. Natalie Portman’s portrayal is more than just an impersonation. It’s as layered and calculated as the former first lady and deserving of all the praise it has been getting.

2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Accomplishing a near impossible task, Rogue One finds a way to stretch out in originality while being utterly anchored to the most popular film franchise of all time. Visually it feels on its own and the narrative never attempts the sort of bait and switch plot points found in franchises. This is clearly a one off affair and, due to this, it’s free to explore.

As a devoted geek of the series, the fan service the film provides pleased me overall. While certain moments fall flat, most, including one very production heavy one, amazed me. Perhaps it’s not the most cohesive of films, but it’s incredible what nods can be made when you have a whole department based on keeping story canon straight. It all felt richer for it and, as a whole, the film adds complexity and weight to A New Hope — a thing I didn’t know I needed until it was given to me.

1. The Nice Guys

I love nothing more than a pulpy detective story and good dialogue. Shane Black’s The Nice Guys has both in spades. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as an enforcer and private detective working together to track down a young woman had chemistry I just never would have expected. Gosling hams it up so well next to Crowe’s straight man you’d think they’d been doing this for years.

The spiritual successor to Shane Black’s previous modern day pulp story Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Nice Guys takes things back to 1970’s LA and the glitz and grime are both present and lovely, but it’s the banter and non-sequiturs about killer bees and Hitler what will have me coming back time and time again.

Nathan Hartman is an award-winning screenwriter and film educator. Learn more about him at www.nathanhartman.net