Best Movies of 2016 (So Far)

Better late than never I always say. I’ve mentioned many times about beating my record of 100 movies last year and I am now well on my way after seeing 92 movies so far this year. That is a lot of movies and I can’t even imagine where I’ll be at the end of the year. Out of the 92 movies I’ve seen so far in 2016, there definitely were some good ones and some not so good ones. Now I’d like to talk about the 10 best movies I’ve seen so far in 2016. Some of my descriptions are from an earlier post of the best movies of year 1 of keithlovesmovies.com

10. 10 Cloverfield Lane (review)

I will admit that I still not have seen the original Cloverfield. This movie takes place within the same universe but is not a sequel so I wasn’t as worried. I think the movie’s title did it a real disservice here as those who see “Cloverfield” will kind of be spoiled. Those who saw the film know what I’m talking about but I’ll just say that it felt a little tact on. That’s just a minor complaint as the rest of the movie up to that point was amazing. The claustrophobic nature of the bunker as well as the performances of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., and especially John Goodman, who was simply amazing, made this for me.

9. Midnight Special (review)

I couldn’t help but to get some 1980s and 1990s sci-fi adventures vibes from this. Maybe its derivative but I don’t care. I liked how the movie started right in the thick of things but a little backstory would have been nice. I found the story about a father named Roy (Michael Shannon) going to great lengths to protect his son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) from a bunch of religious extremists and the FBI very engaging thanks to the performances, especially from Shannon and Joel Edgerton playing Roy’s friend Lucas. The visuals and the cinematography were great as well and the soundtrack sounder very Williams-esque, creating those vibes.

8. Hello, My Name is Doris (review)

Who would have thought that Sally Field still has it? She still does and proves it here. This could have been a much different movie if Doris Miller had been played by someone else. Her performance just brought this to a completely different level and elevated what is really not that original of a story. She made the character multi-dimensional, being the awkward older person in a predominately younger environment in a way that was better than with De Niro in The Intern and by showing a more vulnerable side when dealing with Miller’s own deeper issues. This was just a smart movie.

7. Sing Street (review)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_YqJ_aimkM

This was my first forray into John Carney musical movies and this was a great one to start with. Of course a musical movie has to have a great soundtrack and this one does not disappoint, especially since some of the songs have remained in my head. Not only is this a great coming of age story but it also a compelling family drama involving the relationship between a pair of brothers named Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and Brendan (Jack Reynor). All the performances, musical or not, were great with Conor was just a great character who was fun to watch and it was easy to relate to him and his many obvious struggles.

6. The Nice Guys (review)

When it comes to film pairings, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling isn’t exactly the first that comes to mind so maybe that was why this one worked so well. With a movie that depends so much on their chemistry, they definitely knocked it out of the park. They were amazing at playing off of each other with Crowe obviously being the big, tough guy and Gosling being the sleazy, cowardly guy which meant a lot of physical comedy where he was amazing. This was a just a funny movie and approached it in a smart way with its great script and dialogue. This was very fun to watch and its depiction of the 1970s made it really cool.

5. The Lady in The Van (review)

This is not something I would have imagined having here but seeing this movie changed my mind. The story is simple enough with a man named Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) forms an unexpected bond with a transient woman named Miss Shepherd (Maggie Smith) living in her van that’s parked in his driveway. Bennett is an eccentric character and his relationship with Shepherd was great but it is Smith’s surprisingly deep performance as Shepherd was very entertaining and the best part of the movie.

4. Deadpool (review)

This isn’t your typical superhero movie and that’s a good thing. I liked this in particular because it took everything we know and love about superhero movies and took it in a completely different direction which was a welcome surprise. Of course the most obvious difference is the R-rating which meant more language, violence, and sexual content. Other than in Watchmen, I’ve never seen anything close to this before and I found this very refreshing. I thought this movie was very funny as well with the fourth wall breaking and the other various superhero movie references. Ryan Reynolds was great here as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and T.J. Miller as Weasel was a formidable sidekick.

3. Captain America: Civil War (review)

I’ve always been a big fan of Marvel movies, especially the Avengers movies (first one more than the second). After the disappointment of Batman v Superman, it was nice to see a superhero team-up movie done right here. While Batman v Superman felt very convoluted, this was better here since all the characters have already been established in previous movies. There was a great balance between all of the characters present here and the chemistry here was great and made it all very fun to watch. The story here was surprisingly good and made sense with what was happening. The performances were great here and the production values were just as high as always. This is definitely one of the best MCU and superhero movies of all time.

2. Swiss Army Man (review)

The trailers for this were the cause of many WTFs but this just made me curious about where this movie would go. Without giving anything away, the movie takes that weirdness and runs with it. Everybody knows how it starts, with a lonely, hungry, and very stranded man named Hank (Paul Dano) about to hang himself but is suddenly interrupted when a corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) washes up on shore. But this isn’t just any corpse as he possesses magical powers which you will have to see to believe. The corpse, who we learn is named Manny, may or may not be alive and has a child-like understanding of the world and what it means to be human. Expect a lot of existential type stuff here and it all works very well. Dano and Radcliffe were excellent here and had excellent chemistry which made them both very fun to watch. Did I mention there’s farting too?

1. Finding Dory (review)

What in the world is an animated movie doing here? I’m just as surprised as you are. After it was originally released back in 2003, I thought Finding Nemo was a great animated movie and a classic. I didn’t think they could have gone any further with it but I was happily proven wrong 13 years later with a sequel starring the most popular character from the original in Ellen DeGeneres’ Dory. My expectations were high but not sky high but I was just blown away here. The story and the script here were amazing, making Dory and her adventure amazing to watch with DeGeneres’ vocal performance as Dory taking it to an even higher level. This movie made me laugh and kind of made me cry which admittedly does not happen often. I often believed that great movies make you feel something and this one did that in spades.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.