14 Really Good Movies from 2016

24. The Finest Hours



A great, suspenseful film that's really two movies in one. Chris Pine's in a rousing, military story about duty and being tenacious, while Casey Affleck's in a survival thriller. Both parts are equally good, even though Pine's half suffers from a weak romantic subplot. But even that is made better by super cute Holliday Grainger who's totally convincing and touching in her concern for Pine.

23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows



My new favorite TMNT movie, which - okay - is a pretty low bar. Perfectly captures the ridiculous fun of the '90s cartoon series, and almost makes me curious to watch the 2014 movie. Almost.

22. Suicide Squad



There's some extremely sloppy storytelling around a major plot point, which is laughable, because they actually show it twice and neither time could I tell what the heck was going on. But except for that, I had a pretty great time.

I went in with low expectations and ended up enjoying most of the team quite a bit. I especially like Deadshot, Harley, and Diablo, but Killer Croc also gets a nice story arc. I was disappointed by how little Katana matters, but she was still better than Boomerang and Amanda Waller, both of whom are pretty horrible people. Flagg I can totally take or leave.

But it's surprising to me that I like three or four of these characters. Even though it's a movie about villains, there's more heroism and sacrifice going on here than in either of Zack Snyder's Superman movies. Suicide Squad isn't a great movie by any stretch, but it's easily the best of the three DCU movies so far and I'd love to see more with these characters.

21. Risen



After a disappointing experience with The Young Messiah and a more challenging watch of Last Days in the Desert than I expected, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with the third Jesus film of 2016. (Last Days was technically a 2015 film, which is why I haven't listed it with this year's movies, but it didn't come widely available to watch until 2016.)

I quite liked the procedural investigation angle of Risen though and the actors are mostly very good. Fiennes is excellent and I also quite like Stewart Scudamore as Peter. I want more resolution to Fiennes' journey, but I think maybe that's a positive thing. His story captures my imagination.

20. Keanu



I like Key and Peele a lot, especially Keegan-Michael Key, whom I was introduced to in the final season of Parks and Rec and then started noticing everywhere. I didn't know too much about Keanu going in, but hoped that it would be funny and I wasn't disappointed. I laughed a lot. The plot also messes with expectations in some fun and interesting ways, particularly in how it deals with violence, so not only is it funny, but it's smart, too.

19. The Jungle Book



Visually spectacular and a lot of fun. The voice actors all do remarkable jobs and Neel Sethi is an adorable Mowgli. It won't replace the 1967 animated version for me though, simply on the strength of those songs and my love for Phil Harris, George Sanders, and Sebastian Cabot's voices. It sure is awesome to hear Christopher Walken sing "I Wanna Be Like You," though, and watching the credits is worthwhile purely to hear Scarlett Johansson's sultry version of "Trust In Me."

The new movie also adds some great character stuff that deepens Mowgli as a character and strengthens the emotional impact of his having to leave the jungle.

18. Kubo and the Two Strings



Easily my favorite Laika movie. I always find Laika films cool and visually stunning, but I'm also used to not quite connecting with them as deeply as I want to. They've never punched me in the heart the way Toy Story 2 or How to Train Your Dragon do, for instance. But Kubo comes closest.

I felt the ending was resolved too easily and wasn't really honest with the characters' emotions, but that's a final stumble in an otherwise wonderful, fantastical adventure. This is a great world with great characters and some chilling villains.

17. Zootopia



A lot of fun and also very timely. But while I like and mostly agree with the overarching message of the film, it's presented in such a pointed way that it overpowers everything else. The analogy that compares animal species to groups of humans doesn't always work and the film has a complicated relationship with stereotypes (denouncing them while simultaneously using them for comedy). That makes me work harder than I want to in separating the useful parts from the parts that are just kind of dumb.

16. The Secret Life of Pets



Different from what the trailer led me to expect. Less vignettes about how pets are funny; more adventure. Some of that's good (I appreciate the structure of a traditional narrative) and some of it's not so great (the character arcs are trite). But above all, it's very, very funny and that's enough.

15. Pee Wee’s Big Holiday



Nothing will ever top Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but Big Holiday is super funny and sweet. Makes me want to rewatch Big Top Pee Wee to see where that one went wrong. I don't remember much about Big Top other than being disappointed. No such problem with Holiday; I'll happily rewatch it. Just probably not over and over again the way I do with Adventure.

14. The Nice Guys



A fun movie with a great cast. If there's anyone I want to see Gosling paired up with as much as Emma Stone, it's Russell Crowe. And I always enjoy Shane Black projects. The only thing keeping it this low on the list is that the villains' motivations and plan are ridiculous.

13. Finding Dory



I rate Finding Nemo in the upper-middle tier of Pixar films, so I knew there was potential for the sequel to be good, but I didn't expect great things. And it's not The Best Pixar Movie Ever, but dang it's a lot more entertaining and touching than I expected. I may have even teared up towards the end.

12. 10 Cloverfield Lane



Not the Cloverfield sequel I'd asked for, but an excellent thriller-with-a-twist nonetheless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great, relatable hero and John Goodman does an excellent job keeping her and me on our toes. John Gallagher Jr is also compelling as the third major character and I had a good time trying to decide whether he or Goodman (or both or neither of them) was a villain.

11. The Shallows



I'm warming to these survival films with one person stuck in a location for two hours. And it helps when the location is as gorgeous as this one.

Like in Gravity, the main character gets a backstory that's supposed to enhance her experience, but really isn't that meaningful. That's okay though. Her story is plenty thrilling and ends spectacularly. I had high hopes for this movie and wasn't disappointed.

7 Days in May | Pee Wee's Big Cloverfield

So here's what I watched last week:

Pee Wee's Big Holiday (2016)

Nothing will ever top Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but Big Holiday is super funny and sweet. Makes me want to re-watch Big Top Pee Wee to see where that one went wrong. I don't remember much about Big Top other than being disappointed, but there's no such problem with Holiday. Although I also doubt I'll watch it over and over again the way I do Adventure.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Not the Cloverfield sequel I'd wanted, but an excellent thriller-with-a-twist nonetheless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great, relatable hero and John Goodman does an excellent job keeping her and viewers on our toes. John Gallagher Jr is also compelling as the third major character and I had a good time trying to decide whether he or Goodman (or neither of them) was a villain.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

Probably the last word on these characters, at least as far as I'm concerned. As sweet and funny as any of the classic shows, with a great balance of classic bits and new material. And what's so great about the new stuff is that it moves the kids' story forward and lets them learn something great about themselves. Just lovely and charming.

Top Secret! (1984)

Some of the jokes no longer hold up, but most of them still do and are just as funny after dozens of viewings. The music is also fun, as is the cast with Val Kilmer and Michael Gough (long before Batman Forever), Jim Carter in the complete opposite of his Downton Abbey role, and a cameo by Peter Cushing.



King Arthur (2004)

For the longest time, I've wanted to work my way through British history as portrayed in the movies. I finally started that with King Arthur, so obviously accuracy isn't a factor in this project. It's just that I generally like this movie and it 's one of the few I know of that cover the Roman occupation, the Celts, and the Saxon invasion.

Even though I like King Arthur, the premise does feel cynical. It's basically Braveheart with brand recognition. But even though it's derivative and only nominally an Arthurian film, it's gorgeously shot and has an amazing cast. I never feel like I'm watching a King Arthur movie, but I don't care. As a fictionalized account of Rome's last days in Britain, it's fun and compelling.

The Vikings (1958)

Pretty standard mid-'50s "historical" adventure, but it covers the Saxon period before the Norman invasion, which is rare. It has three things worth mentioning:

1. It's not sure what it wants to do with Kirk Douglas. He's clearly the villain for the entire movie, but I think the film wants to redeem him a little at the end. He never really changes though; he just hesitates at a crucial moment. The movie seems to want me to feel something other than simple victory when he dies, but it does nothing to help me do that.

2. The location of the Viking village is gorgeous. I could look at that place all day. I wish more of the movie was set there.

3. Tony Curtis is absolutely dreamy in a beard.



The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Like last week, I'm continuing to work my way through a bunch of silent films. Some of them are new to me, but a lot of them are re-watches like Dr. Caligari. I've grown less satisfied with the twist ending on this one the more I see it, but I never get enough of looking at the movie. Just beautiful.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

Not my favorite adaptation of the story, but a good one. I wrote plenty about it already.

One Week (1920)

This short is one of my favorite Buster Keaton films of any length. It's got a great concept to build gags around (putting up a prefab house) and makes full use of the opportunities. Sybil Seely is super cute and a great partner for Keaton, bringing her own athleticism and comedy to the team.

The Saphead (1920)

Buster Keaton's first feature-length film is good, but not typical of his stuff. It's a pretty standard romantic comedy most of the way. It makes great use of Keaton's deadpan, sad sack persona to endear me to his clueless, insanely wealthy character. I root for him and Beulah Booker's character to overcome the obstacles to their being together, which are mostly thrown in the way by other people.

As straightforward as most of the movie is, the climax finally gives Keaton the chance to go nuts with his awesome physical comedy, so it's even good on that level. There's just not enough of it to be completely satisfying.

Convict 13 (1920)

One of the things I both admire and am frustrated by in Keaton shorts is the way he leads into the premise. Convict 13 is built around Keaton's being mistakenly imprisoned, with all the gags that take place in that setting. But there's a long explanation for how he got there, featuring golf jokes. The golf jokes are funny and pay off at the end, so I don't dislike them; it's just that - especially on re-watches - I'm impatient to get to the prison stuff that I consider the meat of the film. I've probably been over-influenced by Looney Tunes cartoons that cut to the chase right away.



The Mark of Zorro (1920)

A splendid version of the Zorro story. Douglas Fairbanks isn't as handsome as some of his swashbuckling successors, but he makes up for that with sheer athletic ability and a ton of charm. His stunts in the climax are nothing short of early parkour.

He's also the model for what Christopher Reeve did with Superman/Clark Kent. He makes it believable that no one connects Don Diego with Zorro, because he plays them as two totally separate characters: sheepishly slouching as Diego, while full of life as the hero. I also love the touch of Diego's constantly amusing himself with shadow figures and little handkerchief tricks, then nerdishly trying to share them with the uninterested people around him. Great performance in a great movie.

Neighbors (1920)

Another of Keaton's best. Simple plot (star-crossed lovers in a New York tenement), super funny, and with some amazing stunts.

The Scarecrow (1920)

Like Convict 13, the story takes a while to get going. Before getting to the main plot about Keaton's rivalry with his roommate over a young woman, The Scarecrow indulges in lots of gags about the multi-functional gadgets of Keaton and his pal's one-room house. Then there's a bit about Keaton's being chased by a dog he thinks has rabies (actually it's just eaten a cream pie). But eventually feelings for Sybil Seely's character (so glad to see her return from One Week) reveal themselves and Keaton goes on the run from his roommate and Seely's father. Every bit of it is funny stuff, so I don't mind the meandering plot. It's just not as focused as my most favorite Keaton films.

On to some stuff I've been reading/listening to:



Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

I discovered Harry Potter through the movies and by the time I did, I decided to discover that world through cinema first and then come back later and pick up the books. I finally read the first one on vacation a few years ago, but never found time to do the rest. Now that the audiobooks are available on Audible, I'm planning to listen to the whole series this year.

Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone is as magical as I remember from the first time reading it. Rowling has a wonderful imagination and a great sense of humor. It's a joy to attend Hogwart's alongside her characters. Some of the mystery-solving relies more heavily on coincidences than I'd like, but that's easy to forgive in a book about and for pre-teens. Especially since the characters' motivations and relationships are already so sophisticated. I'm eager to get on to brand new territory with Chamber of Secrets.

Long John Silver comics by Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Lauffray

This is a series of four comics albums and they're great. The first volume, Lady Vivian Hastings, is gorgeous. And it's an excellent sequel to Treasure Island. Lauffray's artwork is incredibly detailed and immersive. Dorison's plot introduces a fascinating character, Lady Hastings, who is as different from Jim Hawkins as can be. Delightfully wicked, cunning, and courageous, she's a worthy foil for Silver and the perfect person to bring him into a new treasure-seeking venture. And Silver himself is as charmingly crafty as ever. (I went into more detail about this one a couple of years ago.)

A lot of stories set at sea bore me with the same old tales of storms and doldrums and complaining crews, but Neptune, the second installment, avoids that by filling the time with politics and scheming. It's the same tactic that Stevenson used in Treasure Island, but to very different results. Stevenson's adventure story has its moments of darkness, but this is a scarier version with rougher stakes.

In part three, The Emerald Maze, the pirate adventure becomes more psychological thriller and Heart of Darkness. The crew of treasure-seekers heads upriver into the jungle in search of a lost, gold-filled city, and doubts arise in some of them about the wisdom of the venture.

Finally, the whole thing wraps up in Guyanacapac. I always worry about how well these things are going to end, but Dorison and Laufray do a nice job with a conclusion that's both epic and emotionally satisfying. They have pirates fighting Aztecs with shades of Lovecraft looming over it all. They also offer a great read on the character of Long John Silver and what drives him. Great series of books. Highly recommended.

The LXB adds to my list of favorite films

I'm going to take the week off from the LXB (I'm unqualified to talk about reality TV treasure hunters), but won't let that keep me from pointing out that last week's Top Ten Movies assignment was super popular and successful.

I especially love the themed lists that three of the members came up with, so I'll list those first.

• Top Ten Monkey Movies [Cool and Collected]
• Top Ten Time Travel Movies [Cavalcade of Awesome]
• Top Ten Vincent Price Movies [AEIOU and Sometimes Why]

But, as predicted, there were lots of movies that could easily have gone on my own list.

• Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Summer School, Back to the Future, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off [Flashlights Are Something to Eat]
• Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Life With Fandom]
• Can't Buy Me Love and The Avengers (I debated including The Avengers on my list, but decided I needed some distance from it to give it an objective ranking. I'm glad to see not everyone was that shy, because my feeling is that it deserves to be there.) [Random Toy Reviews]
• Terminator, Die Hard, and First Blood [Movie Hodge Podge]
• This is Spinal Tap [That Figures, who gets bonus points for also picking Night of the Demon.]
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Aliens, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Batman (1966) [My pal Erik Johnson]
• The Crow [Jason Vorhees]
• Lean On Me [Team Hellions]

Some of those were picked by multiple bloggers, so I linked to the one I saw first. Seriously, the LXB roll call on this one is full of great films, so if you're looking to kill some time, you should check them all out.

League of Extraordinary Bloggers | Saturday afternoon comfort movies

Brian at the Cool and Collected blog had a cool idea he's calling The League of Extraordinary Bloggers. It's sort of a bloggers' version of a group sketch blog where every week Brian will announce a topic and participants write about it. Sounds fun, right?

The first topic is about "Go To" Saturday Matinees, or as Brian explains it:

What movie is, or was, your “go to” Saturday matinee — the comfort movie you always popped into the VCR on a rainy Saturday afternoon, the movie you watched over and over again, driving your parents crazy while you recited the lines along with the characters on the screen?

This is a hard one for me because I'm old enough to have grown up without a VCR in the house. We didn't get one until I hit high school, so as a kid my Saturday afternoons were spent on whatever old movies the local TV stations decided to run. That was usually Tarzan or monster movies, which was cool, but honestly, by Saturday afternoon my mom was sick of my brothers and I having spent the entire morning in front of the TV with cartoons. Come noon, she shooed us out the door to spend some time outside.

By the time we got a VCR, I was working most Saturdays. Lucky for me, that job was in a video store, so I still got to watch movies (or at least be aware of them on in the background while I talked to customers). One of my favorites was Pee Wee's Big Adventure, a movie I somehow missed in the theater, but craved like crack on VHS. And I shared it like crack, too. I took it home, converted my brothers to it, and the three of us fulfilled the part of Brian's criteria above about driving our parents crazy with constant imitations of Pee Wee's laugh and recitations of "I pity the poor fool who don't eat my cereal," "Let's talk about your big butt, Simone," "Paging Mr. Herman" (in the appropriate voice), and singing "Deep In the Heart of Texas."

How in the world have I not shared this with my ten-year-old by this point in his life? Bad parenting.

Excuse me, I need to go to Amazon. And if you've never seen Pee Wee's Big Adventure, so do you.