I know, you’re supposed to publish your year-end “Best Of” lists before the year actually ends. Unforeseen circumstances forced a one-week postponement of my annual list of film favorites, but you should still run out (or sit down) and see every one of these flicks. As is my usual custom, and to reflect the way people actually consume films these days, I’m not confining myself to flicks released in 2016. Instead, I throw the doors open to any film I saw for the first time last year, regardless of release date. I’ve also come to feel that ranking the movies from 1 to 10 is a kind of pointless “apples to oranges” exercise, so I’m simply listing them in alphabetical order. So with no further ado, here are the ten best movies I saw for the first time in 2016.
Attack the Block (2011) – This fast-paced action flick has developed a cult following over the past few years, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a fun, well-made story of an alien invasion that’s thwarted by a band of teenage hoodlums when the invaders land in the wrong part of London. The gang leader is played by The Force Awakens‘ John Begoya, whose presence and sword-wielding make it obvious why the Star Wars folks chose him to anchor the new trilogy. The flick is a low-budget throwback to 80s’ b-movies, with its ridiculous story and just-good-enough special effects. If you see just one aliens-against-teen-gangsters movie this year, Attack the Block should be it.
Bad Brains: A Band in DC (2012) – I stumbled across this extremely well-made rock doc on YouTube, under the not-very-informative title “Bad Brains Documentary.” I guess the filmmakers couldn’t get the flick distributed so they just dumped it on YouTube, but don’t let the streaming locale fool you. This is a polished, professional doc that delves into the entire up-and-down 40-year span of Bad Brains’ career as the world’s premier hardcore band. There’s lots of great stuff here, from old concert clips to oddball HR rants to Dave Grohl explaining how he learned drums by playing along with Rock for Light until he had every song down. He even cops to stealing the opening drum riff of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from “How Low Can A Punk Get?” A really fantastic doc about one of the greatest bands ever.
A Colt is My Passport (1967) – When I heard that Hulu was going to lose the rights to the Criterion Collection flicks in its catalog, I spent the summer checking out as many of them as I could. What did I discover? Mostly that I hate European art films as much as I thought I did–and that Asian art films can be every bit as pretentious and tedious! Along with that, I did manage to see a few really good films, though. A Colt is My Passport is a fast-paced Japanese gangster flick from 1967 that manages to combine lots of disparate elements into a scintillating new something all its own. It’s a stylish slice of noir that borrows from spaghetti westerns, French gangster films, samurai flicks and more as it tells its tale of a hitman wronged by the yakuza. It bogs down a bit in the middle, but the outstanding black-and-white cinematography dazzles throughout, and the final sequence is pure genius.
Crippled Avengers (1978) – So this was the year I finally got into Shaw Brother flicks in a big way. Quite a few incredible ones made their way to Netflix and Hulu in 2016, with Crippled Avengers being the best of the bunch. It’s a great example of the completely over-the-top Shaw Brothers ethos. Basically, a villain with crazy metal arms goes around “crippling” anyone who crosses him—blinding one guy, making another deaf and dumb, etc. Of course, the crippled victims band together, find their way to a kung-fu teacher, and train themselves to exact vengeance on the metal-armed guy. If this sounds stupid, it kind of is, but it’s so insanely entertaining that you won’t mind a bit. The scene where one of the Avengers is struck deaf and dumb, and the soundtrack cuts out completely while he realizes the horror of his situation, is one of the best moments of pure filmmaking I saw all year.
Deadpool (2016) – I’ve been pretty bored by Marvel flicks in recent years. The incessant need to tie every film to every other one, the unending tease of the whole thing, with a “bigger and better” adventure always looming in the next film, the uninspired CGI. . . It all came to a head with this year’s Captain America: Civil War, which managed to bookend a pretty decent airport fight scene with scene after scene of boring handwringing about the vapid non-controversy of a “superhero registry.” Ugh. And then came Deadpool, a low(er)-budget R-rated Ryan Reynolds vehicle focusing on one of my least favorite characters. None of that sounded promising, but Deadpool ended up being the best hardcore action flick of the year. Insanely violent fights and car chases kept the flick humming along, but surprisingly, Reynolds’ funny, winning performance ended up holding the whole thing together. Who would have guessed?
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014) – As someone who watched a lot of Cinemax in the 1980s, I’ve been familiar with Cannon Films’ unique brand of b-grade schlock for years. But even if you haven’t seen such cinematic gems as Revenge of the Ninja or Missing in Action, you’ll get a kick out of this breezy documentary. It chronicles the rise of fall of Cannon, the company owned by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, which was responsible for tons of low-budget 80s action flicks and thrillers. It’s a blast discovering how the men turned an unsuccessful production company into a world-dominating goliath of trash cinema. Plus, plenty of Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme!
Elevator to the Gallows (1958) – This is the second entry on my list from Hulu’s Criterion Collection, and it’s probably the best film on the entire list. Elevator to the Gallows was Louis Malle’s first directorial effort, and for my money, he never got close to topping it. It’s a moody noir tale of murder(s) gone wrong, with an incredible centerpiece performance from Jeanne Moreau as the woman who inspires the whole caper. The sense of impending, unescapable doom permeates every frame of the flick, as each poor decision and unlucky coincidence piles on top of the last. Really great stuff.
Five Years: David Bowie (2013) – In the wake of David Bowie’s death, I started delving into some aspects of his voluminous catalog that I had missed or slept on. Among the best things I discovered was this 2013 documentary that focused on what it considered the five most important years of Bowie’s career. The flick does a great job analyzing what exactly made Bowie’s music so different from what anyone else was doing. Where else can you hear a discussion about the guitar noises that open Station to Station, or listen to Nile Rodgers describe how Bowie told him to “write some hit songs” for the Let’s Dance album? Five Years is a concise, focused doc that doesn’t try to encompass Bowie’s whole career, but kind of ends up doing that anyway.
Rogue One (2016) – Another year, another really good Star Wars flick. Last year’s Force Awakens helped everyone remember that Star Wars movies could actually be pretty fun. This year, Rogue One helped everyone realize that you could make an even better Star Wars flick by not hitting the exact same story beats as A New Hope. The story of Jyn Erso’s suicidal mission to steal the Death Star plans is a tightly-wound, action-packed adventure that isn’t afraid to deal with the implications of its tale. There’s nothing “Disney-fied” about the ending of Rogue One, which is a welcome relief from the typical blockbuster flick, where no potential sequel can ever be closed off. Plus, Donnie Yen! Donnie Yen, people!
Under the Cherry Moon (1986) – Every year, I cheat and put one flick on my list that I have technically seen before, but never quite completely got. I’ve already written a pretty lengthy testament to this year’s pick, Under the Cherry Moon. Somehow, it seems that being drunk, high and eighteen years old wasn’t the ideal way to appreciate Prince’s goofball black-and-white homage to something or other. If you want the full explanation of why you should see Under the Cherry Moon, you can check out my previous article here. Basically, it’s a bizarre vision of a world that never existed outside Prince’s head, full of oddball performances, stunning cinematography and plenty of incredible Prince music. Continue to sleep on it at your peril!
Related: My Favorite Films of 2015 | My Favorite Films of 2014
Leave a Reply