Michael’s Top 5 Films of 2016

First, I have to start by saying I had an incredibly busy fall which prevented me from getting out to the theater as much as I would have liked to. Unfortunately, I have not seen many of the films which have garnered the most oscar buzz including Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or Highwater, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, Arrival, Silence, The Edge of Seventeen, and Moonlight. Therefore, this list will be vastly different from the lists of many others although I’m sure it would be comprised of much of those titles had I seen them.

 

5. Kubo and the Two Strings

From Laika studios and first-time director Travis Knight comes a passionate love letter to storytelling itself. The film is an absolute must-see for all movie lovers and writers. Kubo features an incredible blend of CGI and stop-motion animation that will most likely be overlooked at the Oscars but deserves all the awards and praise it can get.

 

 

4. Deadpool

After a decade of championing the project, Ryan Reynolds finally brought Deadpool to fruition with director Tim Miller. The film which ended up becoming the highest grossing Rated-R film of all time was made on a modest budget of 58 million dollars and felt just as large as any Marvel or DC feature thanks to Miller’s VFX house Blur Studios doing much of the visual effects for free.

 

 

3. Sing Street

An incredible coming of age story of a young boy who finds his voice (pun intended), leading him to become a man and conquer his world. The film set in 1980’s Dublin features an incredible soundtrack of original songs written by director John Carney and singer-songwriter Gary Clark, sung by the film’s star Ferdia Walsh-Peelo.

 

 

2. Captain America: Civil War

The Russo Brothers once again prove themselves as the best Directors in the MCU. They do an incredible job balancing out both Team Cap and Team Iron Man throughout the film. The motivations are clear and the characters are provided equal screen time to support their sides of the argument. It doesn’t matter whether your Team Cap or Team Iron Man, you can absolutely understand the opposing side. What makes it so compelling is that both sides are right.

 

 

1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

No, Rogue One isn’t perfect. It suffers from a lack of characterization and some pacing issues but it still manages to come together in the end and serve as an incredible lead into A New Hope.The third act is a borderline masterpiece which delivers some of the greatest moments in Star Wars history. Never again will we look at the original Star Wars nor the Rebellion in the same way. The film itself opens the door to the limitless potential Lucasfilm has with standalone Star Wars features separate from the Skywalker saga.

 

‘Captain America: Civil War’ Spoiler Review

Civil War gets started with a pulse pounding action sequence that showcases the Avengers’ teamwork and chemistry as they work together to secure a biological weapon from the hands of terrorists. The wonderfully directed action sequence is a bit overshadowed by the absolutely astounding action that comes later in the film, however. It serves its purpose effectively to energetically jumpstart the film with the three most important qualities for any superhero story: Heart, humor, and heroics.

The Russo Brothers once again prove themselves as the best Directors in the MCU (Sorry, Joss). They do an incredible job balancing out both Team Cap and Team Iron Man throughout the film. The motivations are clear and the characters are provided equal screen time to support their sides of the argument. It doesn’t matter whether your Team Cap or Team Iron Man, you can absolutely understand the opposing side. What makes it so compelling is that both sides are right.

Chris Evans as Captain America and Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in Captain American: Civil War (Marvel).

Robert Downey Jr. turns in his best performance as Iron Man yet, however. The clear standouts of the film are Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Ant-Man. Paul Rudd as is as charming as ever. He and Tom Holland work together to bring brief but necessary levity to the drama that without, may have left us exhausted by the time we reach the films final action scene. Chadwick Boseman packs power and conviction into every line he has. He is so well used by the Russos that every time he is on screen you know it’s important. But I think we can all agree going into this film we were most excited for Spider-Man’s introduction into the MCU and it couldn’t have been done better. Marvel absolutely nails it. The moment Tom Holland stepped on screen I felt as if I was witnessing the true Peter Parker for the first time ever. Tom kills it as Peter only to outdo himself as Spider-Man in the short amount of time we get with him.

Tom Holland as Spider-Man. (Marvel)

The airport scene is one of, if not the greatest action scenes ever put to screen. The scene is fantastically shot, edited, and balanced between both sides of heroes. The action is constantly engaging. It perfectly showcases all of the heroes’ strengths as well as their weaknesses. The Russos managed to strike a rhythm in this scene that prevents it from feeling too long, even at 15 minutes. The best part of this fight, and probably the film itself is when Spider-Man takes down Giant-Man like an AT-AT on Hoth. Myself and the rest of the theater were cheering as if the Luke just blew up the Death Star! The Russos have set the bar high and there is no doubt they will outdo themselves with Infinity War.

As great as this film is, it isn’t perfect. Marvel once again fumbles when it comes to the villain. Daniel Brühl as Baron Zemo isn’t necessary to the story until the final confrontation between Captain America and Iron Man. Ultimately he does succeed in tearing apart The Avengers and that’s awesome. But they were already doing a good enough job at them themselves. Zemo is just there to give the final push.

Team Cap charges toward Team Iron Man. (Marvel)

It boggles my mind that Marvel isn’t concerned with focusing on the villain in their films especially after we have seen how well the Netflix series have done with Wilson Fisk, Killgrave, and I’ll even say Punisher. While Punisher wasn’t a villain, he was still an incredible antagonist to Daredevil in those few episodes of season two. A great villain can help elevate a good superhero movie to a great superhero movie and as good as Marvel’s films have gotten over the last few years, they could still be better.

Captain America: Civil War is what I call Marvel’s Dark Knight. It does what Dark Knight did for WB and transcends the superhero genre. This isn’t just some spectacle we can all sit back and admire. This is a vehicle with enough seats for everyone. No matter which side you take, you’ll feel justified in your position all the way until the credits roll. Bravo, Russo Brothers, Bravo.

9.1/10 – FANTASTIC