1. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker
2. Karl Blau – Introducing…
3. Angel Olsen – MY WOMAN
4. Weyes Blood – Front Row Seat to Earth
5. David Bowie – Blackstar
6. Kevin Morby – Singing Saw
7. Merely – Uncanny Valley
8. Various Artists – Day of the Dead
9. Whitney – Light Upon the Lake
10. Local Natives – Sunlit Youth
In 2016, I watched only a paltry 9 films in the theaters. I know, it’s pretty lame, for someone who claims to love movies so much.
But times have changed! People watch films on their phones, on a train, waiting in the airport for their flight to board, etc. Several neat streaming services came into their own this year. HBO Now, Mubi, and FilmStruck, to name a few. I watched some great stuff (and some of my favorite films of the year) via such services.
I have modified my tradition of separating films into lists defined by when they were released and instead offer a list of 16 films that I tremendously enjoyed viewing for the very first time in the year 2016.
Will Oldham, Daniel London and Lucy in Old Joy
Old Joy
Silence
Wendy and Lucy
Saving Private Ryan
Bill Cunningham New York
Phoenix
The Witch
The Sunset Limited
Woyzeck
99 Homes
River of Grass
Omohide poro poro (Only Yesterday) in Japanese with English subtitles
Training Day
Song of the Sea
The Invitation
Psychohydrography
LEGEND:
Regular = movie watched on a TV or other device BOLD = denotes theatrical viewing Italic = denotes a “mini series” or “television movie” Underlined = denotes a short film (30 minutes or less)
Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and River of Grass are all Kelly Reichardt films which were shown as a part of a themed retrospective on Mubi. In 2016, her new film, Certain Women, hit limited distribution in theaters however I didn’t manage to catch it. Seeing so many of her films in short succession has given me a new appreciation for the form of narrative storytelling that allows the viewer to simply experience the characters having interactions with one another. Old Joy takes the cake for best film I saw for the first time in 2016. Two friends whose lives have diverged over time reunite for a camping trip into the Columbia Gorge. A spare, simple, elegiac film that touches on the truest hopes and pains of a deep friendship. I found it moving amidst a year of failed relationships amongst a few of my dearest friends.
Andrew Garfield and Yôsuke Kubozuka in Silence
Martin Scorsese’s long-gestating passion project Silence was released in NY and LA in time for Oscar consideration on 12/23/16 and I made a concerted effort to go and see it. My showing was in a screening lounge at The Landmark in Los Angeles on that date. One couple walked out in the middle of the film. The guy returned for his big gulp of soda a few minutes later. I stayed. I was blown away.
Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Goldberg, Tom Sizemore, and Barry Pepper in Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan was a first-time viewing for me in 2016. An incredible film that has informed and inspired practically every other war film since. Amazing. Utterly amazing.
Bill Cunningham. 1929-2016. RIP.
Bill Cunningham passed away in 2016 and after his death, Mubi presented the documentary Bill Cunningham New York ~ wait for the interview where the filmmaker starts to ask personal questions. It’s a true moment of revelation.
Klaus Kinski in Woyzeck
Another retrospective that I very much enjoyed watching was of many of Werner Herzog’s films, also shown on Mubi. His collaborations with Klaus Kinski remain the stuff of legend for filmmakers. Woyzeck is perhaps their best joint effort. Kinski is the madman who was never tamed nor cured. Their working relationship ended after Cobra Verde.
Below is a complete, alphabetized list of all 109 Films, Short Films, TV miniseries, and shows I took in throughout 2016:
LEGEND:
Regular = movie watched on a TV or other device BOLD = denotes theatrical viewing Italic = denotes a “mini series” or “television movie” Underlined = denotes a short film (30 minutes or less)
2001: A Space Odyssey
99 Homes
America (2013)
American History X
Anomalisa
Arrival
Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt
Bernie
Bill Cunningham New York
The Black Stallion
Burn After Reading
Captain America: Civil War
The Comb
The Conjuring
The Crossing Guard
The Decline of Western Civilization
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
The Decline of Western Civilization Part III
Die Hard
Documentary Now! Season 1
Elf
Extraordinary Tales
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (in 70MM)
Finding Dory
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs
Futurama: Bender’s Game
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder
Galaxy Quest
Game of Thrones: Season 6
The Great Dictator
The Grinch
The Hateful Eight
The Heartbreak Kid
Home Alone
An Honest Liar
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Indecent Proposal
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Invitation
It’s Such a Beautiful Day
The Jungle Book (2016)
Jupiter Ascending
Kentucky Fried Movie
Kung Fu Panda
The Ladykillers (2004)
The LEGO Movie
Liar Liar
The Little Prince
Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro) English Dub
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Mad Max 3: Beyond ThunderDome
Making a Murderer
Master of None: Season 1
Meeks Cutoff
Moonrise Kingdom
The Muppet Christmas Carol
My Side of the Mountain
Sin Dios ni Santa María (Neither God Nor Santa Maria)
The Night Of (Season 1)
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre)
Old Joy
Omoide no Mânî (When Marnie was There) English Dub
Omohide poro poro (Only Yesterday) in Japanese with English subtitles
Peaky Blinders (Season 1)
The Peanuts Movie
Phoenix
Pitch Perfect 2
Psychohydrography
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Ratatouille
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
River of Grass
Rocket Man
Rome: Season 1
The Room (with Rifftrax!)
Saving Private Ryan
The Secret of Kells
Sen to Chihiro no kakimakushi (Spirited Away) English Dub
The first couple batches of Dorothy weren’t my absolute favorite in the Hillsboro lineup. There was a sinister pine and weed resin to them that was a touch too sappy in execution when placed against the innumerable other phenomenal offerings. Different strokes, palates gonna palate. However, Hill Farmstead’s barrel program is basically that machine that transmutes Urkel into Stefan. So what happens when you give the appellation shortening treatment to Dorothy’s sticky oily bones? Let’s find out:
On paper this seems without grace, a Red Bull BMX backflip you pull out just because you can. Oddly, the majesty of the pistachio and chocolate waft comes across like a dollop of spumoni ice cream. I can’t reconcile the ideation of this beer with how good it is, and that Kierkegaardian conflict leaves me only to rely upon faith.
Archaeologists in Turkey recently unearthed an exceptionally preserved mosaic inside the remains of a building from the 3rd century. One section of the three-panel artwork includes a reclining skeleton with an arm over its head, holding a glass of wine and resting an elbow on a loaf of bread. On both sides of its head reads the phrase “Be cheerful and live your life,” written in Greek.
Words to live by. Thanks, ancient mosaic skeleton, for your admonition.
In “Batman v Superman,” the newspapers are full of controversy about the heroes, whom the fickle public alternately turns on and embraces. Batty and Supey themselves, meanwhile, perpetually mistake their narcissism for high-minded public service, and are encouraged to do so by the cynical and sanctimonious institutions that are nominally in charge of things in Gotham and Metropolis.
The rest of the population — or the digitally created simulacra thereof — is required only to die en masse, to cower in terror, and to watch in wide-eyed, worshipful gratitude. That is just what this movie expects of you: acquiescence. It wants you to believe that it’s on your side. Don’t be fooled.
I was taking a theater class and writing plays. I just wanted reading time. I remember standing in the outfield thinking, “I want to read ‘The Brothers Karamazov.’
The first couple batches of Dorothy weren’t my absolute favorite in the Hillsboro lineup. There was a sinister pine and weed resin to them that was a touch too sappy in execution when placed against the innumerable other phenomenal offerings. Different strokes, palates gonna palate. However, Hill Farmstead’s barrel program is basically that machine that transmutes Urkel into Stefan. So what happens when you give the appellation shortening treatment to Dorothy’s sticky oily bones? Let’s find out:
Joel Manahan 