2016 Movie Awards

(Year End Movie Awards)

1. Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? 3 Stars
2. Zootopia 4 Stars
3. The Jungle Book (2016) 4 Stars
4. Captain America: Civil War 8 Stars
5. X-Men Apocalypse 7 Stars
6. Finding Dory 2 Stars
7. The Legend of Tarzan 3 Stars
8. Star Trek Beyond 8 stars
9. Sausage Party 7 Stars
10. The Hateful Eight 8 Stars
11. All The Way 10 Stars
12. Selma 9 Stars
13. Trumbo (2015) 8 Stars
14. Ant Man 6 Stars
15. Star Wars Rogue One 9 Stars

As always, this is my personal list of what I saw, and doesn't reflect which movies were current this year.  So several of these movies came out 2 or 3 years ago, but are still on this list.  (Sing I saw on New Year's Day, and so it's not eligible for this list.  It'll get recounted in next year's end-of-year movie roundup.)

As for the ratings:
 I make this disclaimer every - year, but I'll say it again here--the ratings are just off-the-cuff, and I often find my opinion changes over time.  For example, in this year's crop I'm already beginning to think I was too generous to X-Men Apocalypse, Star Trek Beyond, Sausage Party, and Rogue One.
But it's a losing battle to try to re-evaluate everything every time my mood shifts, so I'm just going to let the ratings stand as they are. 

Best Movie of the Year:
All The Way 10 out of 10 Stars
A close second is Selma with 9 out of 10 Stars.

I feel a little bit bad about ranking All the Way above Selma, because if I were going by political orthodoxy I would have to go with Selma.  All the Way is a bit too nice to LBJ's legacy.  Selma is a movie that correctly recognizes that the real heroes of the civil rights movement were the people out in the street.

But this list isn't about political orthodoxy.  It's about good movies.  And All the Way was just top-notch story-telling.  It did a great job of dramatizing all those back-room political wheelings and dealings, and I was completely glued to the TV the whole time with fascination.
Selma was also really good, but it didn't match that level of engagement I had with All the Way.

Another close second is The Hateful Eight.  Which I really wanted to give 10 out of 10 Stars to, but just couldn't in the end.
Quentin Tarantino is a very problematic film maker.  He's obviously a genius, and one of the most talented film makers of all time.  But his fascination with pulp-violence is seeming a bit played out by the 8th film.
It seems like a huge waste of talent.  With such huge talent, are these pulpy ultra-violent revenge films all he wants to leave behind as his legacy?  Apparently so.

Worst Movie of the Year
Finding Dory 2 Stars of 10 Stars

This wins by default.  As I said in my review, there's nothing really wrong with this movie, but I'm just not in the target audience.

Addendum: TV Shows
I actually watched a lot more TV than I reviewed on this blog, but since WestWorld was the only show I reviewed on the blog, that's the only link I have for this year.

* Westworld Season 1

Link of the Day
Chomsky warns of the systematic threat Trump would pose, from human rights to the environment