2016 was a year for the underdog, a sentiment reflected in several films I enjoyed. Korean horror, low budget thrillfests and problematic action films were my personal highlights in a period dominated by endless comic book movies, unwanted remakes and shameless sequels. No change from any other year then.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (Michael Bay)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (André Øvredal)
The Belko Experiment (Greg McLean)
Don't Breathe (Fede Álvarez)
The Girl with All the Gifts (Colm McCarthy)
Hotel Coolgardie (Pete Gleeson)
Hush (Mike Flanagan)
London Has Fallen (Babak Najafi)
The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn)
The Nice Guys (Shane Black)
The Shallows (Jaume Collet-Serra)
Terrifier (Damien Leone)
Train to Busan (Yeon Sang-ho)
The Wailing (Na Hong-jin)
I remember being mostly positive about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but I've not cared for anything Star Wars related after the deluge of awful films and TV shows ever since.
I'm looking at this list and I've not seen anything.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I'm looking at a 2016 list on IMDB and the only things I've seen on there are10 Cloverfield Lane and Everybody Wants Some!!!
Guess this was a year when I didn't pay much attention to movies,
Genuinely surprised you haven’t seen The Nice Guys.
DeleteYou’ve definitely watched the documentary film Hotel Coolgardie, though.
Oh yeah, I thought that was the film. That doc was great.
ReplyDeleteI haven't even heard of The Nice Guys before.
The Nice Guys was a fave amongst the Curb Your Enthusiasm regs back in the day. Bombed at the box office, but has since become something of a cult film by cinephiles. Definitely one for the film club.
DeleteIndicative of my general disconnect from this century's pop culture, the only flick on your 2016 list I've seen is TERRIFIER. Simple and extreme, to say the least, and to be applauded for its low-budget chutzpah making a bloody splash and a lasting success in the midst of so many big-budget, wannabe-blockbuster "intellectual properties."
ReplyDeleteHaving seen numerous faux-grindhouse movies over the years, I've come to the belief that there's a fine art in replicating the aesthetics of the bygone exploitation horror, and many fail to get it right. Terrifier, surprisingly managed it; with a slasher icon worthy of mentioning in the same breath as Messrs. Krueger, Myers and Voorhees.
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