Best of 2016 Part 2

Now Where were we?

5. La La Land

I’d damn near given up hope on ever seeing a new modern musical masterpiece but lo and behold, Damien Chazelle’s sophomore outing has landed the type of contemporary musical I’ve been dying to see for years while simultaneously proving that “Whiplash” was no fluke.

Strip the film of its astonishing flare and enticing sense of style and your still left with an excellently acted love story amongst artists that doesn’t flinch or cop out on the reality that personal passions don’t always align well with the people that you may want to keep in your life.

Add all of that in through the power of vibrant and breathtaking cinematography and camerawork plus one of the best soundtracks of the year and you’re left with an escapist masterpiece that inspires and uplifts without being saccharine or hollow like so many other failed films of its type.

4. Arrival

As a fan of adventure storytelling, science fiction has always been up my alley but the odds of finding good, hard, intelligent science fiction have slowly been becoming about as likely as the actual idea of having first contact with an extraterrestrial species.

Time will tell if the decision to pursue a sequel to “Blade Runner” was a worthwhile idea or not but for now, Denis Villeneuve continues hold his spot as one of the most talented and versatile directors currently working in the industry, coming off of the masterpiece of “Sicario” with subject matter that couldn’t be further away from the best of what he has covered before, with no loss in quality.

“Arrival” is impressive enough as a complexly crafted “what-if” scenario about humanity coming to terms with the reality of just how small that they are in the universe but at such a tumultuous time, a film about human nature overcoming the incompetence of its leaderships and institutions to work towards a goal to ensure a better tomorrow through means of intellectual discourse may be just the kind of thing that the world needs.

3. Captain America: Civil War

Honestly at this point, the quality control of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is so baked into the laws of reality that I’m actually actively excited and hoping for the first truly bad one to come along just to shake things up. All good things will have to come to an end eventually but as of “Civil War,” I am more than content to simply ride out the wave while it lasts.

Riding the high of “The Avengers” for 4 years, the superhero genre finally takes a step back from the flash and bang of its out of hand pulpier aspects in favor of striping the nature of the genre back down to its basics, reminding audiences that the true appeal of superheroes is the humanity underneath the mask while simultaneously connecting to real life issues of morally grey political accountability and changing the landscape of future stories with possible permanence.

Strong deconstructions of the superhero genre have been around but “Captain America: Civil War” may be one of the most thorough humanizations of a fantasy setting to come along, not only keeping all of its exaggerated internal mechanics intact but serving to celebrate the well earned monument of its own success.

Lesser film franchises may be setting themselves up for sabotage chasing the model that Marvel has established but that will never take away from the impressive feat that they have pulled off with everything that has pushed them to this point.

  

2. The Nice Guys

The words Shane Black, Cop comedy, and Ryan Gosling should just about summarize this one but going to sleep every night knowing that the fucking “Angry Birds” made more money on opening weekend than this did in its entire run is a god damn travesty that you should rectify by closing your browser window right now and, for the love of all that’s holy, watch this movie right now.

“The Nice Guys” is a brilliant depiction of 70s counter culture and political hypocrisy against the backdrop of characters attempting to pick themselves up off of the ground by ironically giving into their own self-destructive tendencies.

And if all of that sounds too high-fucking minded for you folks that decided this might not be your cup of tea but a fucking “Independence Day” sequel was right up your alley than just ignore it all and focus on what the film is at its core; a fun, briskly paced, stylish action comedy with charismatic leads and hilarious jokes to boot.

 

1. Zootopia

The best film to come out of the House of Mouse in decades, one of the 10 best films of the 50+ film Animated Cannon and quite possibly one of the fewer films of that line destined to not only be iconic but is actually legitimately great rather than merely very good (but that’s a topic for another series entirely).

“Zootopia’s” social divides of Preadator and Prey may seem fairly overt in its intent but its true brilliance is in refusing to apply direct allegory to any particular issue.

The dynamics of the titular cities cast and background characters may draw more attention to more pertinent issues of racial insensitivity but just as many can be found regarding themes of pro-feminism, LGBTQ acceptance, Sociological double standards, boundaries of political institution, and so much more.

I almost find it hilarious that an animated movie with the typical third act Disney cop out managed to have notably more complexities than many film released last year both on and off of this list.

“Zootopia’s” not with out its narrative hiccups driven by the commercial nature of Hollywood animated marketing demographics, but it’s still a solid example of everything I adore about storytelling at its finest and a burgeoning new franchise littered with potential so rich I wouldn’t even mind seeing Disney milk it with an attempted sequel or two, misstep or no.


And there you have it. Train wreck thought it may have been, 2016, like any good year, still managed to provide a few diamonds in the rough among the sea of shit that it brought forth like some sort of unholy plague.

That's what we'll be discussing very soon.