The best (and worst) from 2016

Image courtesy Cohen Media.

Looking through this list the one thing that strikes is the breadth of options to pick from. The top film is about five sisters struggling in Turkey, and the rest of the collection incorporates a punk band under siege, a pair of pretty great musicals with wildly different themes and presentations, and a profile of one of the saddest politicians in recent years. Depth and variety are great things to have when hitting up theaters, and 2016 brought a broad palate to theaters.

The films below are all ones reviewed from 2016. I kept the list to the top seven to focus on the films most worth a second look, which cut out a few rather good films. Movies missing the cut include The Neon Demon, Pete's Dragon, The Nice Guys, Rogue One, Hail, Caesar! and Everybody Wants Some! So below are the best films I reviewed this year, along with the absolute worst film I laid eyes on in 2016.

No. 1: Mustang

This one was actually nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2016 Academy Awards, meaning that the film was up for competition among 2015 nominees. I'm keeping it though because the stateside release came in 2016 and to recognize it as the best film I've watched in the last 12 months.

Mustang is a tender and melancholy look into the lives of five sisters being thrown into marriages with little to no choice and a lot of implied violence. There is a hint of fatalism and a lot of danger if things go wrong, but in the end the little victories are what matter in this film. Mustang lifts and drops viewers on such a frequent basis that the relatively positive ending feels like rapture.

Image courtesy A24.

No. 2: Green Room

Director Jeremy Saulnier's follow up to his terrific revenge film Blue Ruin shocks viewers with its sudden bursts of violence between lulls of peculiar black humor. It's tough to find a film this balanced and this effective at what it wants to do; keep the audience on edge and with little clue of what’s really going on.

Despite the oddity of the premise – a punk band led by Anton Yelchin stumbling into a Neo-Nazi murder in the middle of the woods – everything feels natural and logical, the acts of violence ramping up in a strangely grounded fashion. This is one of the better horror films in recent years too, featuring one of the scariest boogeymen to come along recently in Patrick Stewart's Neo-Nazi leader Darcy.

Image courtesy Lionsgate.

No. 3: La La Land

A probable front-runner for a ton of awards, La La Land keeps its soulful analysis of the divide between romance and ambition hidden just underneath a sunny, musical surface. The cheeriness does just enough to disguise the film's true theme – although those sometimes sneak in through the lyrics – and the result is a complex, enchanting musical.

Writer/director Damien Chazelle deserves credit for folding in the tenants of musicals of the past – the big numbers and those little flirty bits of dancing – into a modern setting and doing so in a smooth, logical fashion. That Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are both charming as all hell and showcase a rather engaging rapport just adds to La La Land's many charms.

Image courtesy IFC Films.

No. 4: Weiner

Somehow this film became even more noteworthy in the months after its release. The film didn't predict Anthony Weiner's role in the 2016 election, but it set the table for how the man could muck up enough to become entangled in that morass of awful.

What makes the film so engrossing is watching Anthony Weiner fall apart over the course of a few months and the tragedy of the self-inflicted crash. He is depicted in Weiner as a politician with his heart at least close to the right place, so his second fall from grace impacts a whole lot of people outside of himself and his family. The documentary ably captures his failings, his inability to handle his faults, and the fact that his personal foibles sink any chance of his message catching on.

Image courtesy Fox Searchlight.

No. 5: Jackie

Jackie is the film I hope proves to people that Natalie Portman is a terrific actress. She absolutely nails a difficult performance, being a woman who must show a pretty and calm face to the nation and still have enough verve to fulfill the legacy of her husband.

Even though Portman is the heart of Jackie, the film is strong enough independent of her performance to remain a worthwhile experience. It offers one of the more interesting glimpses into the John F. Kennedy legacy, playing around with the concept of Camelot while pointing out why that ideal was seized upon by the public. Kennedy's election came at a difficult time in American history, so a little romanticism worked to assuage the fears of the voters while pushing for vital changes.

Image courtesy Disney.

No. 6: Moana

This film and the next are pretty close to being toss ups, but I liked Moana a little bit more than the next one. For one thing, it has a great performance by the unfairly charismatic Dwayne Johnson, and that tends to push many films up a level or two.

Moana's real selling point though is the eponymous princess who takes decisive action to save her people even against the recommendations of her father. Even though the film sets things up to have her be Mad Max to Maui's Furiousa, it makes a quick and effective shift that is logical and important. Add that to some terrific vocal performances (particular Johnson and Auli’i Cravalho) and killer songs courtesy Lin-Manuel Miranda and the result is a wicked good animated film.

Image courtesy Disney.

No. 7: Zootopia

Like Moana, one of Zootopia's main selling points is a complex message delivered in a bright, often rather humorous fashion. This film addresses racial stereotypes and how easily those characteristics become ingrained in societal fabric, an important topic given how easy it is to ignore or miss such biases. The film doesn't offer any definitive answers, but it at least works as a gateway for understanding the issue and inspecting one's own biases.

The message wouldn't really work without the rest of Zootopia's charms, as it has so many jokes and clever references it is worth watching just on the surface level. Adding depth to it just makes for a more interesting and rewarding viewing experience.

Image courtesy Lionsgate.

Worst film: Norm of the North

The fun thing with this year's contenders for the worst film was the depth of the terrible. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice suffer from a terminal case of dourness and some tremendously asinine plot twists. Patriots Day is an insensitive, dumb film about a complicated moment Boston history. Dirty Grandpa has the great Robert De Niro at his nadir, while films like Sing and Zoolander 2 are obnoxious at best.

None of those films though fail on the same level as Norm of the North. This animated monstrosity is ugly to look at and is lacking narrative cohesion, talented voice actors (the awful Rob Schneider is the headliner), and any coherent themes. This film is a garbage dump of an animated flick that insults the intelligence of its young target. At least it seems to have drifted away from public eye in the last 12 months, fated to rest in the depths of online streaming services for some unlucky soul to stumble upon.

'Everybody Wants Some' features beer, brahs and profundity

Blake Jenner and Glen Powell in "Everybody Wants Some!" Image courtesy Paramount Pictures.

It's difficult to find any of the main characters likable for a large portion of Richard Linklater's new film, “Everybody Wants Some!” They are more often than not dumb and brutish, obsessed with alcohol and sex and goofy antics that sometimes devolve to cruelty. Even the film acknowledges these guys are typical dumb jocks treated with fealty by a system that genuflects to their athletic prowess. And then, all of a sudden, these little inklings of melancholy and philosophical musings begin to creep up within what started off as stereotypes and it becomes difficult to avoid falling for these idiots a bit; as many of them realize, life won't be much sweeter than it is for them right now. And, as they figure it, it’s best to not let that opportunity go to waste.

Right now, for the characters in “Everybody Wants Some!”, is 1980 at Southeast Texas University, three days before the start of the first semester for freshman Jake (a charming Blake Jenner). He's a new pitcher for the schools high-caliber baseball program and moves in to a decrepit off campus house with a few teammates. Among this crop of excitable boys is superstar and team captain McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), space cadet stoner/pitcher Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), second baseman Dale (J. Quinton Johnson), the chatty Finn (Glen Powell), and amateur braggadocio Jay Niles (Juston Street). The players spend those three days bar hopping, brawling, hosting an epic party, attending an epic party, making dumb bets, mocking one another, and, for Jenner's Jake, courting attractive coed Beverly (Zoey Deutch).

And, well, that's about it for the plot to “Everybody Wants Some!” It's a pretty typical flick for writer/director Linklater, who spends almost two hours observing the characters waste away the first few days before the school year begins. It's a very long time to spend with people who are, at least on the surface, obnoxious jackanapes obsessed with causing destruction and mayhem wherever they go. This is a privileged class of people on the college campus, a team that, as the players outline, is the only successful program the college has to offer at all. They're effectively the default kings of campus, never required to go to class or have an actual major; their default line when asked about what they study is to state their presence on the team.

It does take a while to get to the full point of sympathy for these guys, so it helps that Linklater shows off his underrated sense of humor to keep the audience invested. Linklater is smart enough to make the puerile jocks the butt of the jokes, whether it's pranks amongst themselves or a female character shooting down sad, pathetic advances toward her. The audience is meant to laugh at them, but not in a particularly mean-spirited fashion either; for all their flaws and grandiose acts of stupidity, Linklater clearly cares for the group of guys he's created.  (Linklater played baseball for Sam Houston State for a couple of years in the early ’80s, adding some autobiographical context to this movie.)

“Everybody Wants Some!” never loses its sense of humor, but it begins to add little clues to offer sympathy for the adult-like devils. Much of it comes from Powell's Finn, who talks endlessly about a litany of topics while dabbling in some legitimate profundity when he isn't trying to talk a girl or two into something or other. He is very cognizant that their life as baseball players will probably end after college, that pro ball isn't in their stars unless they happen to be as gifted as Hoechlin's McReynolds (Linklater demonstrates the gap in talent with a brilliant scene). The saddest moment of the film comes when one player realizes his opportunity has come and gone, and he walks off with one final little wave of philosophy and a peace offering left behind for his former teammates.

Much of what happens in “Everybody Wants Some!” occurs amid a conversation, snuck in so Jenner’s Jake can listen in on the commentary. He’s portrayed as more of an explorer than a traditional baseball player, a person who will eagerly hit up a punk show and compare Sisyphus to baseball while absorbing knowledge and philosophy to prepare for whatever happens tomorrow. It's funny then that his final moment should find him falling asleep in his first class, shortly after the instructor writes “frontiers are where you find them” on the chalkboard and as the somewhat sardonic “Good Times Roll” plays for the audience's benefit. He's embracing his preferred status on campus, cognizant that what he needs to learn will come outside his classroom’s walls.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see a trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 116 minute

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away

Target audience: People nostalgic for other days and Richard Linklater zealots.

Take the whole family?: The film does feature a bit of nudity and a sizable amount of sexual content and swearing. So, probably not.

Theater or Netflix?: I still recommend taking a theater trip for this one, but you can get away with waiting a few months for streaming versions.

Will the soundtrack get stuck in your head?: Let's just say you might load up a few songs on YouTube while working the following morning. “Everybody Wants Some!” just owns the music, from the opening of “My Sharona” to that last song by The Cars before the end credits commence. There is even a cute music video featuring the cast rapping in the style of The Sugarhill Gang during the back end of the roll.

Watch this as well?: “Dazed and Confused,” “Slacker,” and the three entries into the “Before” trilogy offer the best representation of Linklater's sensibilities as a director, along with his proclivity to capture profundity within just a few hours or days.