Now more than ever, movies are something to watch. Only trouble is, it’s hard to know which ones are going to be good and which ones are going to stink. As someone who has watched around 300 movies this year, why not take advantage of my suffering as I point out (in no particular order) the five best and not-so-best movies of the year gone by.
My top five:
Deadpool: Who knew it was possible to make a fun, exciting superhero movie in 2016?
Love & Friendship: Whit Stilman’s first period film (a Jane Austin adaptation) had insight and snappy dialogue to burn.
Carol: Director Todd Haynes’s sensitive adaptation of one of crime writer Patricia Highsmith’s earliest novels was a spot-on showcase for heart-breaking performances from Cate Blanchett and Mara Rooney.
The Hateful Eight: Quentin Tarantino’s second western in a row was a locked room mystery that showed off all his usual skill with dialogue and quirky plotting.
Arrival: Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of award-winning writer Ted Chaing’s story of a very subdued first contact provided plenty of moments of cinematic awe.
And my bottom five:
Spin Out: This Australian film set at a B&S ball was never sure whether it wanted to be a raunchy comedy or a lightweight kids film, so it went with neither.
Inferno: This latest and hopefully last of Ron Howard’s adaptations of Dan Brown’s puzzle box novels was little more than a very bad tour of Italian historical sites.
Alice Through the Looking Glass: A totally pointless collection of grim origin stories for minor Alice in Wonderland characters? Yeesh.
Zoolander 2: With this leaden mess Ben Stiller seemed to have forgotten everything that made the first film fun.
David Brent: Life on the Road: This basically involved an annoying man being annoying for three quarters of the film, then everyone he’d annoyed said he was great.
Picked by Anthony Morris