TOP TEN FILMS OF 2016

There are many films that have only just come out yet or I have missed, including Silence and Manchester to the Sea, but also countless others from around the world, a world I want to explore further in 2017. I look forward to what I uncover. As for my list, March isn’t too late, right? Right??

My list will not reflect the subjective ‘quality’ of a film. It will be based on films I felt the need to watch again and again; the films that mesmerised me the most and therefore stuck with me.

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10

ARRIVAL

The most intelligent and thoughtful sci-fi film I have seen since 2001. It may have minor flaws, but they sure didn’t stop me from seeing this one three times at the cinema. The cinematography, that score, those alien crafts… everything felt so fresh, and it was nice to see a sci-fi movie with my father where we talked for a long time after the credits rolled, trading our opinions. We both saw it a little differently, and I was a little disappointed with the very final scenes, but we both loved it and decided to see it again. It really is incredible how a film about an alien invasion can feel so human.

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9

EYE IN THE SKY

Alan Rickman’s last role will be remembered, not just because he was an incredible actor, but his last film was a powerful and relevant political thriller revolving around drone warfare. While I felt the accuracy of drone strikes was exaggerated, there is no doubt that the film grips from from the opening scene and does not let go. Helen Mirren is incredible as the hard-nosed Military woman who is calling the shots, as are her allies and enemies that are on the ground.

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8

HIGH-RISE

A fantastic socio-political film that is fuelled by insanity, High-Rise won me over with this pure madness and its visual beauty. The lower and upper classes are battling for supremacy in the modern-looking High-Rise – an ultimately fruitless task – and it is a battle that intensifies as the film grows. Conditions are insane, much like many of the occupants, and almost all of the behaviour becomes beastly – all of it routinely ignored. The irony that the song SOS by ABBA is covered twice in this movie is not lost.

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7

THE RED TURTLE (La tortue rogue)

A collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Dutch director Michael Dudok de Wit, the story is at the same time rooted in reality while still retaining the dream-like aesthetic of so many of Ghibli’s great films. A film free of any dialogue, as soon as it starts we are presented with incredible hand-drawn animation, as well as excellent sound design as we clearly hear waves slapping together, throwing around a nameless man and what is left of his boat. It is an arresting introduction, and from then on, even without words, it is hard to look away. Just what does The Red Turtle signify?

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6

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

An extremely unique film, Captain Fantastic offers a little something for everyone. It is also an intelligently written comedy, with many humorous philosophical debates. It amusingly and thoughtfully makes a statement on what really is the best way to raise children in this era. Does it really matter that Ben’s children have no idea what Nike is, but do know what the bill of rights represents, and how to survive, right down to Ben’s youngest child? He doesn’t have the smoothest ride throughout the film, but you can’t help but root for the guy, and his family.

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5

THE WITCH

A Puritan family is banished from town for their beliefs (perhaps based on these events), forced to move to a farm that feels like the edge of the world, as from the opening the woods that line the farm are presented in an ominous fashion, almost creating a character that could serve as the scariest element of the film. What exactly goes on in there? Why can’t the children venture inside? Without warning, tragedy strikes. The family clings to their faith to prevent them from starving as their crops die, but it is that very faith that caused their banishment, while also dividing the family. A horror film has never said so much.

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4

SON OF SAUL

I have never seen a film like Son of Saul; it feels like so much more than a film. It is a heavy experience that repeatedly batters you over the head with its subject matter, and this is chiefly due to the way the film looks. Never has a film so effectively placed the viewer in the middle of horrific action. The way this film is shot is a reason to see this alone; it is essentially a moving portrait, as all we see in constant focus is Saul’s face, or the back of his head. Consequently, we are constantly seeing what Saul witnesses, or his reactions. And what he is experiencing is his own kind being forced to exterminate others of their own kind. If that isn’t horror, then what is?

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3

HELL OR HIGH WATER

From the standpoint of pure fun, this film was the best of 2016. Period. Flawlessly executed, a wicked sense of humour, oh, and we have Nick Cave and Warren Ellis arranging the score. The post financial-crisis is in the background, and the theme of poverty running through the brothers’ blood is evident and both of these are triggers for why these men are robbing banks. With some action packed, bullet-riddled scenes and a belting climax that isn’t only entertaining as all hell, it also packs some emotional heft, this is one to watch.

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2

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

Both hilarious and touching, carrying a strong message about the treatment of young adults in New Zealand (and Australia for that matter), this is easily my favourite comedy since The Wolf On Wall Street. On re-watches I was consistently impressed with Julian Dennison’s comic timing, and his chemistry with old Aussie vet Sam O’Niell. It looks beautiful, it sounds incredible (and unique, get the soundtrack!) and above all else, its exaggerated ending was the icing on the cake, as many ‘youth welfare officers’ have very similar, authoritarian attitudes.

Kudos to Taika for going with the bombastic finale to nail the film’s point home, while still retaining that sense of humour to the very end. I shall be keeping a close eye on young Dennison, and with New Zealand film culture growing each year, I hope to see him in another home-grown production. Let’s hope that is a comedy!

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1

THE NEON DEMON

Perhaps the most divisive film released last year, with a rating of 57% on RT at the moment, this is easily my favourite film of 2016. Some violent critical responses to this film demonstrate just how effective it is in holding a mirror up to society and portraying everything that is ugly about a glamorous profession.

This has everything I look for in a film: thought-provoking material, incredible visuals that match an incredible soundtrack, and ambiguity abound, making repeat viewings a near necessity. The latter is probably why so many people dislike the film, but hey, its their loss!

They also may not have been aware that Refn explicitly hired two female screenwriters so that his film wasn’t an obvious masculine look into the profession.

Not only is this the perfect film for repeat viewings, but given the fact that it is filled is symbolic references, each viewing will reveal more about one or more characters. Another layer will be revealed. A new perspective on the story will be formed, one totally different from what you thought when you first saw that final scene. I’ve watched this five times since I bought the special edition blu-ray, and not once I have I been bored, nor have I failed to come out with a new understanding of the film. All this, and I still haven’t watched it with commentary from Refn and Elle Fanning yet!

The word pretentious is thrown around when talking about this film, and this perhaps may be true. But faulting a film for having a brain seems utterly ludicrous to me. This has gradually become my favourite film of the decade.

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As for documentaries, I only saw a few, but there is certainly one that stands out and if I were to include it in my list, there is no doubt that it would sit comfortably at Number One

ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING

If I were to include documentaries in my list, this would certainly be at number one, as this feels like more than a documentary. Not only are we able to see Cave at his most personal, raw, uncensored self, but we also are privileged enough to witness (what certainly look like) the actual takes of all but one of the songs from the album that coincided with the release of this film. Given this album was made as an effort to process the grief of losing his son, the album and film are appropriately sombre; some of the album tracks are particularly haunting. The black and white camerawork is perfect, as it matches this incredibly bleak and grief-filled period of his life. Pairing this with his last film, 20,000 Days on Earth, is the perfect double-bill for any creative person looking for inspiration.

The blu-ray is out on March 3rd, don’t miss it!! You have never seen a documentary like this, music-related or otherwise. Having seen Cave and the Seeds live recently, I am counting down the days until I can get my hands on a copy of this extraordinary film. Any lover of music should see this film, whether they are a fan of Cave or not. He is a very unique individual; a true poet.

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Honourable mentions:

Bad Moms

Dheepan

Don’t Breathe

Elle

Fences

The Founder

The Girl on the Train

Hail, Caesar!

Goldstone

I, Daniel Blake

A Month of Sundays

My Mother (Mia Madre)

The Nice Guys

Nocturnal Animals

Rams (Hrutar)

Sully

Swiss Army Man

10 Cloverfield Lane

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Your Name (Kimi no na wa)

 

SPLIT (2017)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Written by M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson

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The Sixth Sense was no doubt a brilliant movie. Perhaps it is the quality of this older work, and the lack thereof within his recent work, that had folks praising his last creation, The Visit, as a ‘return to form’, despite the fact it, among its other glaring flaws, rather obviously used dementia as a stepping stone for scares. This smacks of lazy writing (from a self-proclaimed ‘writer/director’), and we see the same thing in Split, which centres around Kevin, a man suffering from with D.I.D. (more commonly known as multiple personality disorder) and again, this is the launch-pad for his story, which is simple: Kevin has a ton of different personalities, and one has decided to take over and kidnap some teenage girls. Well, perhaps it isn’t quite that simple…

There are many movies that explore this disorder and the cinematic possibilities it offers. The problem with Split is that it tries oh-so-hard to legitimise the disorder via a lot of time spent with Kevin’s doctor. Yet at the same time, supernatural elements are teased at. Trying to present the reality of D.I.D, a vastly misunderstood disorder, while simultaneously referring to supernatural elements, is idiotic, and just a tad insulting to the community of folk who already have to deal with the stigma that surrounds mental health. This film certainly won’t be helping in that regard.

A horror film about a person with mental illness is one thing, but when that film bastardises what that condition is, and further from that, actually uses it as the butt of most of the humour? Is this a new sub-genre of exploitation cinema?

This incredibly over the top presentation of D.I.D. is perfect for a film, for fiction, not to mention being the perfect vehicle for McAvoy to show off his chops. But as said, the film is trying to have his doctor explain the illness. To convince people it is real. Yet the different personalities we see aren’t just absurd, they are laughably unrealistic and literally caused many fellow audience members to laugh aloud at how silly the presentation was. Laughter kills tension and fear like nothing else, and it succeeds here, replacing many a suspenseful moment with a ‘hey, look how silly this man is dressed! And he has an English accent!’ type moment, killing any trace of atmosphere.

The third act is where supernatural elements come into play, and the less said about it, the better. If this was the direction M. Night wanted to go in, avoiding to try and explain to the audience in detail just what D.I.D. is seems like a no-brainer. But if he did want to do that, all supernatural elements should have been shelved entirely. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. As for this film’s final ‘twist’…. Again, the less said, the better. Not only is it underwhelming, it is infuriating and feels very much like M. Night didn’t know how to end his own movie.

Despite making a complete mockery of D.I.D. by trying to legitimise it while simultaneously presenting it in an absurd, exaggerated and almost insulting fashion, this film isn’t a complete loss. M. Night has obviously done his homework, as he has enlisted the talents of West Dylan Thordson, who has composed a brilliant horror score that doesn’t manipulate its viewers, rather inducing a sense of dread with its deep, stringed sounds, almost as if someone was torturing a double bass. Anna Taylor-Joy, fresh from a fantastic performance in The Witch, is on board as the only captive with a semblance of a personality. The film has also been shot by Mike Gioulakis, who previously worked on It Follows. Shayamalan has been doing his horror-homework, but without the writing talent he seemingly once possessed, this homework was a complete waste of time.

God knows what someone suffering from this awful affliction would think of this silliness. For example, one of his personalities is diabetic, requiring insulin shots! Never mind that shooting up insulin is a good way to kill yourself, one of the 23 personalities believes he has diabetes! Yes, it is only a movie, exaggeration is to be expected. But to suggest that a single personality can require insulin but the others cannot? Tying supernatural elements with commentary on a real, horrible mental disorder, and further from that, attempting to legitimise it?? It would seem then that M. Night has done as much as possible to sabotage his own film.

The structure was there for a claustrophobic thriller. M. Night unfortunately turns it into an awkward comedy that isn’t tense at all, and much like his last effort, a lot of the comedy is the audience laughing at how absurd the situations presented to us are. There are very few legitimately funny moments… but hold on a sec’, wasn’t this supposed to be a horror movie?

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Another one for the bargain bin. But hey, it was slightly better than the intolerable The Visit. And that brings us full circle. Would anyone be bothering with his last two movies if an unknown name had made them? Would the critical reception be different if he hadn’t failed so bad previously? A ‘return to form’ can be a very, very different thing from a decent, solid flick, which this certainly is not. McAvoy is essentially the only thing worth watching, though it is hard not to laugh at how absurd the personalities created are. It is also hard not to laugh at the entire last 20 minutes, as what was a solid but flawed film turns into an absolute mess of half-finished ideas.

Two beers out of a sixer

2/6

HALLOWEEN IS HERE!: LIGHTS OUT [2016]

Directed by David F. Sandberg

Written by Eric Heisserer (screenplay), David F. Sandberg (short film)

Starring: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Alicia Vela-Bailey

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I am mad at myself for skipping this one at the cinemas. I had read about the jump-scares, which don’t do much for me, and I avoided it. My mistake, as this flick had me leaning forward, fists clenched as the tension mounted. There may be some jump scares thrown in here, but unlike many other ‘horror’ films the jump scares for the most part add to the already overwhelming atmosphere this film creates.

The concept is at the same time unique but also familiar; spooky entities in a house, nothing new here. But the title is appropriate as our otherworldly guest can only been seen when there is no light. This simple notion is milked for all it is worth, as there are some deeply unsettling moments, most involving this guest. This predicament relegates her (it?) to almost exclusively shadowed areas, and we only ever see her as a silhouette, which makes it that much more confronting when it appears, then disappears just as fast when the lights are turned on.

It is a neat and simple story, made better by the fact that the mother is dealing with mental health issues. She has custody of her son, but his sister knows what he is going through and does her best to get him out of her mother’s house.  Maria Bello as the mother overacts a bit, but mental illness to me is always a creepy subject, and some of the mother’s behaviour here is bat-shit crazy, adding even more to the atmosphere.

The fact that this disturbing behaviour is affecting her young son is another nice layer to the film, and as we meet his sister we learn a lot about the family. It is always nice when a film like this has other issues to deal with, and a fractured family is perfect for this story.

The ambient, unobtrusive soundtrack lurks in the background, as we wait for this creature to appear. Every moment of darkness is filled with tension. Will it appear, or is it waiting, biding its time? The supernatural tones are obvious, but this is a lot more entertaining than something like the god-awful The Conjuring, which is interesting as Mr Wan was involved in the making of both films.

To be honest though, this isn’t an excellent film – sure it has its fair share of creepy scenes, but most of it is material we have seen done before. The acting from the rest of the crew is on point, especially the young child actor Gabriel Bateman. Teresa Palmer is also solid as his older sister and daughter of this increasingly crazy mother, but she also has a tendency to overact, much like her mother in the story.

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And then we have that ending. I loved it and didn’t see it coming, but again I’m sure those who like to think ahead during films will probably figure it out. It isn’t absurdly predictable, but those so inclined will probably work out what will happen far before it happens – possibly this film’s biggest flaw. It can get quite predictable. This film also doesn’t approach the tension or dread of Don’t Breathe for example, but it isn’t too far off either. The pity is that this entire concept is exceedingly familiar. Horror film-makers need to take a leaf from The Witch or It Follows. Bring us something new, damnit!!

One and a half beers short of a sixer

4.5/6

HALLOWEEN IS HERE!: THE WITCH [2015]

Directed and Written by Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw

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I feel like I can’t come up with the right words to describe this incredible movie, but I’ll try. The lingering atmosphere is executed very well from the beginning, helped along by a combination of a tense score and the use of extended periods of silence. The acting is bang-on and you don’t know when or how it is going to end. The movie doesn’t have ‘twists’ exactly, but the way it is written keeps you guessing constantly. And I personally loved the ending. Though the potential is there to use a more standard approach, The Witch however opts to go down a more subversive avenue. We witness the true nature of religious persecution. Additionally, elements of the story have been taken from historical documents, adding another layer of grimness. The supernatural elements are obviously up for discussion, but that these tales were written centuries ago somehow adds more to this disturbing film.

The film is set in 1630, in New England, America. A Puritan family is banished from town for their beliefs (or it at least seems this way, perhaps based on these events). They are forced to move to a farm that feels like the edge of the world, as from the opening the woods that line the farm are presented in an ominous fashion, almost creating a character that could serve as the scariest element of the film. What exactly goes on in there? Why can’t the children venture inside? Suddenly, without warning, tragedy strikes. The family clings to their faith to prevent them from starving as their crops die, with nothing they can do to prevent it.

The period is an appropriate choice given how humans treated each other centuries ago, and an ideal setting for a horror tale. Some conversations require a little more attention, as the characters speak in ‘ye olde English’ which takes a little getting used to, but it adds another layer of mystery as the family is struck by more inexplicable hardships, causing them to become wary of each other, which in turn leaves them in a increasingly vulnerable state. I can’t say that I was scared, but I do know that I was gripping the armrests pretty hard for most of the film. Hell, they manage to make a scene where a man is hunting a rabbit seem tense and creepy!

Additionally, this is not for inattentive viewers; I could see clock-watching all around me. The incredible camerawork almost reminds me of Paul Thomas Anderson in There Will Be Blood, with many long takes, often slowly panning or zooming in. There is also a focus on facial close-ups reminiscent of Bergman, all of which is a feast to watch on an IMAX screen. The score matches this camerawork almost to perfection, while there is often a lengthy silence between dialogue to contrast the tense music. It also must be mentioned that the child actors really shine, out-doing their older counterparts.

This really is my sort of horror film. No jump-scares, convincing acting and a focus on a dark, foreboding atmosphere rather than the grotesque and bloody. This is another of those films I would label as a psychological thriller, as the supernatural horrors are kept almost completely out of view as we witness the downfall of a family who are all affected, turning on each other as their faith is truly tested.

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This film couldn’t have catered to my interests more; I can’t recommend it to everybody, but if you go in with no preconceived notions you’ll be in for a tasty, if not nasty surprise. The suspense is almost unparalleled among recent films, and the ‘horror’ genre conventions are cleverly subverted to deliver a film that is better than It Follows while being completely different. In addition to all this, there is much to take in thematically if you are so inclined… Hell, I’d love to see this again to do just that.

This one is worth a full sixer.

6/6

CRUISIN’ ROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE

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I never expected to meet so many cool people when I started this blog. I also never expected to read so many fantastic posts, there really is a ton of talent just within the blogs I get time to check out, which isn’t nearly enough as I’d like.

SO, here begins my ‘series’ with links to posts I have enjoyed recently… Or perhaps not so recently.

Cheers to all the fine people who stop by my little corner of the interwebz. Let us all enjoy our obsession with movies together! 😀

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An older post, Veronika’s thoughts about the Danish Girl were informative and very thorough… she has a knack for making me think

Mark from Three Rows Back wrote an excellent piece about The Temptation of Christ that had me kicking myself for missing the movie when it was on special earlier that day

One of my best bud’s in our little community is Emma, who reviewed the FANTASTIC film, The Witch. Go see it now!

Ruth’s breakdown of Jessica Jones was extremely well-done, and itself a reason for me to check out this series, even though I’m not a fan of superheroes

 Mark has written about Far From Heaven, introducing me to Todd Haynes for the first time

Tom is writing about roles played by Paul Giamatti, and the second post of that series focuses on his fantastic work in Love and Mercy

I was also going to list a post by Stu of Popcorn Nights but it seems his domain is now offline. Hopefully we will hear from him shortly!

• EDIT – Stu’s site has shifted to a new domain name. Click here for his thoughts on the Coens’ latest, Hail, Caesar!

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I hope you all have had a great weekend; here is Brutus to say goodbye