2016 Capsule Reviews

Arrival
rating: *****
review: This is the movie that for me defines the genius of Denis Villeneuve, turning a smart story by Ted Chiang into a brilliant movie starring Amy Adams about a new kind of first contact with aliens.  

Silence

rating: *****

review: Martin Scorsese in his most subtle piece of filmmaking (that I've seen; there's a huge gap following Raging Bull I haven't gotten around to filling yet) that explores Jesuit missionary work in Japan, starring Adam Driver in his first truly great film and featuring Liam Neeson in his most recent live action classic.

The Lobster

rating: *****

review: Colin Farrell is my favorite movie, meaning I'll be seeing whatever he does anyway, but it's always nice when critics enjoy his work, too, which is how they responded to this oddball romance.

A Monster Calls

rating: *****

review: I remember attempting to qualify my love of this movie when I first saw it, since it was released not so long after my mother died of cancer, and that's what it's about, but I'm not going to quibble anymore.  Liam Neeson's most recent vocal performance in a classic.

Collateral Beauty

rating: *****

review: Like Seven Pounds before it this is a Will Smith movie that's hard to comprehend but much more worth putting in the effort to do so than the utter lack of appreciation it's so far gotten.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

rating: *****

review: Ambition has been a bad thing in American film in recent decades, doubly so in superhero movies, where it's only begun to surface, and mostly in DC projects.  This one is a conceptual miracle that does the impossible: finally have the two most famous superheroes of any company meet, and figure each other out.  Plus the sensational cinematic debut of Wonder Woman!

Moana

rating: *****

review: I'd argue that modern animated films don't really get better than this.  Also featuring a career-defining (vocal) performance from Dwayne Johnson, including what will likely go down as his most famous singing performance.

Hell or High Water

rating: *****

review: No one has done more for the modern Western than Taylor Sheridan (who wrote this and also, among other projects, created Yellowstone), and in any other era, this would have been recognized as an instant classic, and perhaps cemented Chris Pine's career.

Free State of Jones

rating: *****

review: This incredible true story of the Civil War proves how much more rich material there is to find in it, and that as of 2016 (and later) we're apparently just not interested.  Matthew McConaughey in another great project, costarring (and this is how I know critics were paying attention but were just too stubborn to admit it) Mahershala Ali, who went on to become a critical darling.

Star Trek Beyond

rating: ****

review: The most recent entry in the film franchise in its best moments reached operatic heights of depth but didn't quite know what to do with Kirk or Spock, unlike its immediate predecessors.  Another typically great supporting turn from Idris Elba, though.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

rating: ****

review: A fine start for what's looking at the moment to be a trilogy, but lacking, apparently, that big boost the next entry got from focusing squarely on Grindelwald and, oh, some dude named Dumbledore.

Manchester by the Sea

rating: ****

review: Casey Affleck in his most accessible performance.

Passengers

rating: ****

review: One of the touchstones of modern culture, in all the wrong ways, as too few people bothered to actually watch to find out exactly how Jennifer Lawrence ends up with Chris Pratt.

Midnight Special

rating: ****

review: Jeff Nichols, had this and/or Loving (which I still haven't seen) been embraced as the landmark filmmaking it is, would be embraced as one of the modern masters of the medium.  

Snowden

rating: ****

review: Oliver Stone has driven himself to distraction in his efforts to be subversive to the mainstream, but at least he took the torch for a number of worthy causes, including public oversight of government activities, such as the story of Edward Snowden.  

Suicide Squad

rating: ****

review: Will Smith's Deadshot, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, and a breakthrough performance from Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang all suggest a better film than its reputation suggests.

Ben-Hur

rating: ****

review: This latest adaptation of the classic story was a breakthrough for Jack Huston, latest of a Hollywood acting dynasty, in the lead role.

La La Land

rating: ****

review: I've had my difficulties appreciating Ryan Gosling, but apparently when he's singing and dancing opposite Emma Stone, it's easier.

Billy Flynn's Long Halftime Walk

rating: ****

review: A sober meditation on a soldier returning from modern war.

Central Intelligence

rating: ****

review: Dwayne Johnson's career took a while to reach its current status, but his comedic turn here helped.  Also starring Kevin Hart, who's becoming, for me, a reliable source of cinematic treasures.

Criminal

rating: ****

review: Kevin Costner's career revival sort of began with this.

Jane Got Her Gun

rating: ***

review: Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, and Ewan McGregor all star in this.  They were also all in the Star Wars prequels, although Edgerton didn't reach breakout status until after they were completed, so this is a film where the playing field is leveled.

X-Men: Apocalypse

rating: ***

review: Things don't really get good in this one until Professor X and Magneto realize they have a common enemy.  That makes this one a landmark in the film series.

Captain America: Civil War

rating: ***

review: Sort of the unoffical Avengers film between Age of Ultron and Infinity War, becomes the most blatant of the internal franchise starters with the MCU debuts of Spider-Man and Black Panther.  Loses the point of being, y'know, a Captain America film a little too easily in the process.  

Now You See Me 2

rating: ***

review: I still haven't seen the first one, but it was still possible to enjoy this one, which features a tongue-in-cheek turn from Daniel Radcliffe.

Zoolander 2

rating: ***

review: Sometimes when compiling these I have to recuse myself from including movies I don't remember well enough, but I knew I had to include this one when I realized while watching Anchorman 2  recently I kept thinking back to it, having confused the two.  It isn't the classic the first one is, but it's still nice that someone somewhere remembers that the first one was.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

rating: ***

review: No one ever goes back and rethinks their views, but after the success of Top Gun: Maverick you'd think some people would reconsider how dismissive they'd been of recent Tom Cruise projects.  This was his second Jack Reacher.  I still haven't seen the first.  I made sure to see this one, since it's probably the only real reward Cobie Smulders will get for being a prominent bit player in the MCU.

The Accountant

rating: ***

review: Director Gavin O'Connor has my lasting devotion thanks to Warrior (a modern classic), and he also directed Jane Got Her Gun.  This was Ben Affleck proving he wasn't just going to be Batman, but still in an action role.

Risen

rating: ***

review: Joseph Fiennes in a movie about the resurrection.  About as close as current Hollywood gets to be religious these days.

Fences

rating: ***

review: Denzel Washington struggles to be a family man and also respect himself while wallowing in past glory.  If Training Day was his On the Waterfront, this is his A Streetcar Named Desire.

Warcraft

rating: ***

review: At the time I really wanted to like this because it's directed by Duncan Jones, who knocked Moon and Source Code out of the park.  The problem here is that he's unaccountably generic, other than allowing the audience to become emotionally invested in orcs.

The Magnificent Seven

rating: ***

review: At the time I wanted to believe that Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt could make the Western popular again.  They didn't, but it's still a pretty good movie.

Inferno

rating: ***

review: The last of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard's Robert Langdon adaptations to date, still reliable entertainment, probably the one you'd show if you wanted to prove so to doubters.

Independence Day: Resurgence

rating: ***

review: The very belated sequel is great for world-building, but was never going to succeed in the realm of pop entertainment without Will Smith.

Ghostbusters

rating: ***

review: Apparently it's easy to forget that the first one was basically a Bill Murray movie.  This one proved nobody wanted to view the franchise as "just" a platform for funny people, of whatever sex.  Silly fun.

Deadpool

rating: ***

review: I get that it's great Ryn Reynolds got to make the faithful version of the character everyone wished had been in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I don't think the concept really worked until the second one.  Obnoxious characters, for me, need a few counterbalances.

Doctor Strange

rating: ***

review: Although I'm a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch, I think basically every appearance he's made as this character has been a disappointment, the true limits of the MCU personified.  He's become both the successor of Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and his antithesis.  Nobody involved understands the role.  The results are basically the MCU version of Inception.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

rating: **

review: It seems even the prequel TV show Andor has fans believing otherwise, but for me Rogue One represents a total misreading of Star Wars.  This isn't what the Rebellion actually looks like.  We saw that in, y'know, the original trilogy.  This is a collection of oddballs, and incidentally some terrorists, and I am not at all prepared to accept that the good guys in Star Wars were terrorists, or would have knowingly supported them.  That's just not how it works.  That being said, I really like how the otherwise reprehensible results gave us Ben Mendelsohn as a breakthrough actor.