We hope you have been enjoying our look back at what the cinema had to offer us in 2016. We are gearing up for tomorrow, in which we will announce our list of the Top 10 films of 2016. Before we get there, however, we would like to salute a number of films that came very close to making our best of the year line-up. Below are the ten movies that while failed to crack our elusive top tier, showcase some of the eclecticism and dynamism that appeared on movie screens throughout the past twelve months. Take a gander.
20th CENTURY WOMEN
Read our review.
This film is simply a treasure. Writer-director Mike Mills touched upon something infinitely special in his film about the generations of women in the American landscape that have raised us and continue to shape us today. Annette Bening adopts the audience as their mother and friend as she pulls us into her world and allows us to experience life again and for the first time with her in 1979. Mills captures an era expertly while also nodding to its significant impact in the rest of its century and beyond.
-Rachel Lutack
AMERICAN HONEY
Read our review.
A visceral experience from start to finish, Andrea Arnold tells a both inspirational and heartbreaking love story between middle America and its wild youth. Each level of fillmmaking – cinematography, directing, costuming, script, acting, and eclectic soundtrack – work in sync as well as individually, telling their own stories in the process. Lead actress and breakout Sasha Lane is raw and beautiful in her portrayal of waning innocence and youthful exuberance, with Shia Labeouf and Riley Keough providing richly complicated and empathetic performances for their morally ambiguous characters.
-Rachel Lutack
HAIL, CAESAR!
Read our review.
An unpretentious farce with the spirit of and adoration towards old Hollywood, Hail, Caesar! features excellent performances in an ensemble led by Josh Brolin, terrific craftsmanship in the sets and costumes, and a visual magnificence unsurpassed in Coen Brothers lore. And it’s simply fun, a bit of good time escapist entertainment, which is rarer than we might realize.
-Brett Harrison Davinger
HIDDEN FIGURES
Read our review.
A deceptively simple story of politics, prejudice, and ingenuity all under the guise of a crowd-pleasing period piece about the space race. The film features three of this year’s strongest female performances in roles that do their inspiring real-life inspirations proud. Director Theodore Melfi should be given credit for wrapping a stern look at racism and sexism into one of the most joyous films of the year.
-John Wedemeyer
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
Hunt for the Wilderpeople might be Taika Waititi’s finest piece of comic magic yet. That’s really saying something when you consider the cult classic Eagle vs. Shark and the 2014 vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. From its opening moments–and thanks to pitch perfect editing and writing–it’s a wondrously charming and hilarious experience. Anchored by lead actors Sam Neill and Julian Dennison, this is late-blooming comedy classic on par with the greats in the genre’s history.
-Raymond Flotat
LION
Lion is a story that needed to be told and needs to be seen. Featuring emotionally wrought and satisfying performances from Dev Patel, newcomer Sunny Pawar, and an unmistakably brilliant Nicole Kidman, the actors give the story’s wide scope a steadily intimate and personal center. Director Garth Davis then pulls the audience out to its global reaches, transporting us from the human narrative to the universal story through minute attention and reverence to geography, nature, and our small but important impacts within it.
-Rachel Lutack
THE LOBSTER
A tale has old as time – a dystopian society where single people are rounded up and given 45 days to find a suitable mate or they are turned into an animal of their choose. Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language debut is a blisteringly unique beast altogether – a widely original work that unsettles the heart, brain and eyes (sometimes literally) and serves as a welcome cinematic wake-up call for grown-up filmmaking in an ever risk-averse marketplace (thank the heavens – and A24 Films – that The Lobster has become an arthouse hit). Gorgeously composed, eerily developed and featuring top-notch performances from Colin Farrell (never better), Rachel Weisz, Olivia Coleman and an ace ensemble cast, Lanthimos, with unparalleled verve, has concocted something new altogether: a bleak romantic comedy. The Lobster is a funny, weird, devastating and yet ultimately moving experience that will be hard to forget. Encore!
-James Tisch
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
For most of the year, Midnight Special was my favorite film of 2016 and looked to finish on top. Jeff Nichols’ science fiction film is a marvel – a wonder of mood and atmosphere. If you haven’t seen Midnight Special – fix that immediately! – I won’t say too much because watching Midnight Special unfold is part of the film’s joy.
-Matthew Passantino
SULLY
Read our review.
Sully is one film to see multiple times just for the story and performances. A true hero who did the impossible and lived to tell the tale. Clint Eastwood is perfection behind the camera as well as Tom Hanks. Phenomenal film.
-Rick Rice
SWISS ARMY MAN
Read our review.
Swiss Army Man is unlike any other comedy. It’s not needlessly graphic, vulgar, or childish. Sure, there are plenty of fart jokes but because it is so wild and almost out of control at times, everything just seems to fit together. Even though it is a wild concept, it is strangely heartwarming and completely unique. It’s like nothing any audience has seen before.
-Alyssa Merwin
Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments.
Also be sure to check in all week for continued Best of 2016 coverage. Previously covered:
The Most Surprising Films of 2016
The Most Disappointing Films of 2016
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