By Teri Bayus
From the dark corners of the theater, you hear my wine bottle pop, as the cork releases.
I am here with all the teenagers in the area; every Friday night watching the newest movies. Soda won’t do (plus it’s bad for you), so I smuggle in wine and a note pad. As a popcorn reporter for the past 13 years, this has been the most interesting year for movies.
Kids, dystopian, drama, comedy, it is all over the place. What stands out for me are the films that make you think and discuss them for hours afterwards, even the animated ones. These are my 11 favorite films for 2016.
11. The Suicide Squad
A dark tale from the depths of comic book villains, takes us on the antagonist’s journey. The idea of the script is wonderful: let’s give the bad guys a chance and the writing execution is fantastic. The characters are deep, with good backstories and it’s easy to start liking them.
The plot is an interesting twist- assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated super villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity.
However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, things get interesting.
Will Smith and Margot Robbie’s characters fill the screen with their amazing acting and portrayals of these quirky villains. Similar to Sin City it’s very meta in its approach. It plays up the comic book aesthetic and for me this worked well.
It’s quite dark with splashes of bright color that reinforces the Sin City vibe and it looks amazing. The chemistry between the characters is delightful, as well as the development between their relationships which was electric and funny.
10. The Jungle book
The Jungle Book is a live-action/CGI fantasy film that retells the story of Mowgli, an orphaned human boy who, guided by his animal guardians, sets out on a journey of self-discovery while evading the threatening tiger, Shere Khan.
Like its 1967 older brother, it takes the characteristic of the animals and brings along lightness with songs.
Director, John Favreau’s Jungle Book is a marvel. With a Spielberg-like sense of magical awe and reverent fear, it’s a children’s epic that not only stands-up to its legacy, but also surpasses it.
Giant snakeskins, intense animal battles, and daring escapes from ape kingdoms give the film a scope beyond the animated musical, all while keeping intact its persistent joy. Funny, jaw dropping, thrilling, grand, and fun, it’s an all-cylinders-go cinematic experience on every level. The story of a young man-cub raised by wolves and living amongst the animals of the jungle hasn’t changed much, down to the talking beasts. I think Rudyard Kipling would be pleased.
9. Rogue One – A Star Wars Story
A brilliant, stand alone movie in the Star Wars saga, my brain spent the first half of the movie trying to place it on the Star Wars timetable. Once I stopped that, I loved the fully flushed and wonderful characters.
This is a war movie, and there are no warm, little bears running through the forest. It was story telling at its finest with a few crumbs from the franchise.
It possesses an interesting mix of exciting, heroic and tragic characters. Director Gareth Edwards and team are careful not to take anything away from the iconic 1977 classic Star Wars and successfully add to it.
With immense firepower, Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso, goes about finding her father in a sea of defectors, rebels and insurgents, including Saw Gerrera (Forest Whittaker).
This is fan fiction at its finest and one might enjoy it more if you’d read the comic book first, but it was fantastic once you dropped your Star Wars shields.
Although the film evokes well-known visual elements, it is far removed from the style of the seven episodes of the central story. It brings us a narrative comparable to Saving Private Ryan. Moving away from the adventurous and cool tone of its predecessors, the film immerses us in a militarized and ruthless universe, which shows even more than the original trilogy, the coldness of the iron fist of the Empire and the battle for survival of the rebellion.
The story was interesting, the acting was better than any in the franchise, the music was distinctive, the effects both practical and digital were flawless, the tone was on spot, and the little fan service was put in elegantly.
8. Finding Dory
I’m glad to say that despite being a sequel, Finding Dory is a solid, visually striking and thoroughly entertaining feature. Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) returns as the Blue Tang with the heart of gold and a memory of, well, a fish.
Using the characteristics of the under the sea life (octopus camouflage and smartness, seals on the rock dreaming of being on the rock), the writers did well to further awareness of marine life, using it for plot points.
My favorite part was the original and humorous gag involving a touch pool where fingers becomes exploding landmines and the fish all experience waves of PTSD from the roaming little hands. It made it twice as fun for locals as the aquarium was based in Morro Bay.
Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane who led the team of amazing animators, direct Finding Dory. All of the colors magnificently stand out from the overall bland backgrounds, and make the film look astounding.
Finding Dory made me laugh, giggle, cry and laugh some more. Its humor is in the characters, but the heart of the story sets it apart to reach and not traumatize kids and be fun for adults.
7. Zootopia
Zootopia is a movie everyone can enjoy. It may be Disney’s most colorful film to date, but it also has the classic Disney moral message for viewers of all ages and backgrounds. Zootopia takes place in a world where there are no humans and animals do everything as if they are humans. They have houses, police forces, and access to our type of transportation.
More than anything, it’s worth seeing for its fun characters and inspiring message. The voice talent is as good as it has been for Disney in a long time as Jason Bateman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, and J.K. Simmons, all do a wonderful job bringing these characters to life.
You will get attached to Hopps and her unlikely fox friend, Nick Wilde, as they go on a journey to uncover a conspiracy that is plaguing Zootopia. Which brings up another brilliant aspect of this film, its meticulous plot.
Zootopia is one of the cleverest Disney films to come out in recent memory. Its constant nods to pop culture including famous films like The Godfather or TV shows like Breaking Bad give the parents more than enough reason to take their kids to the theater.
There are plenty of jokes that will fly over kid’s heads and the humor never gets too silly. It’s a great balance that makes an animated kid film prodigious, and Zootopia is a respectable example of that.
6. Captain America – The Civil War
I was not thrilled about seeing my favorite superhero’s fight among themselves in the newest addition, Captain America: Civil War. Thankfully it was handled correctly where neither side is right or wrong. Like a good marriage, they disagree on how things should be done, but ultimately respect each other.
The introduction of new superheroes minimized the “breakup” drama and when they battled each other, it was an eye candy experience more than a battle. The script is tight, theatrical and funny, leaving the strong personalities to drive the drama.
Civil War has the same appeal of the X-men sagas with so many superheroes in the film; us comic book geeks could NOT go see it. But thankfully it was a film both veracious and spectacular.
It’s hard to say which was cooler, watching the spark happening between the Scarlet Which and the Vision, Captain America driving a VW Bug, seeing the origin of the Black Panther, or watching Tony Stark having a heart to heart with Peter Parker.
For me it was definitely the latter, because I though that Spider-Man’s appearance in the film would be overkill. You could not help but clap when he comes on the screen and the dialog between Aunt May and Stark was perfection.
Directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, made a masterpiece. I audibly swooned many times with the fantastic shots and script. This is the longest of Marvel Movies, but I loved every second.
5. The Lobster
This movie gets the “weirdest award,” but darn, it stuck with me. A love story set in a dystopian near future where single people are arrested and transferred to a creepy hotel.
There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal and released into the woods.
Colin Farrell really hits the mark with this role, displaying awkward machismo and fragile humility in equal measure. His comedic timing is matched only by his supporting cast that includes John C. Reilly, Ashley Jensen, and Olivia Coleman. Rachel Weisz is also spot-on as the shortsighted woman.
The Lobster has just about everything you’d want from a film. It’s unpredictable, it’s offbeat, and it’s laugh-out-loud funny. But it’s most impressive feature is the subtext, it manages to reflect how odd our own modern-day social pressures are. How loneliness is feared, how individuality loses out to the mainstream system, and how relationships have to be deemed “legitimate” by some higher order. There’s plenty to talk about with this film.
4. Hell or High Water
This is a slow burn of a gritty lullaby about brothers desperate and unhinged in difficult times. It is not a fun movie. Chris Pine and Ben Foster play brothers and partners in crime, in the thick of a statewide bank robbing spree, which gets progressively more dangerous, all to save a piece of property from the big banks threatening to foreclose.
They’re not evil men, they’re not even bad men because Sheridan’s script doesn’t allow such stark delineation. They are men forced to make decisions, just like any other. Yet in times like these, one’s decisions are often of an extreme nature, out of self preservation or desire to protect one’s family.
Still, this film is a cut above most of the mindless Hollywood film fare. The filmmakers were clearly attempting to weave a social commentary about the callous nature of home foreclosures and the same general mood of discontent.
3. LaLa Land
The last time I felt like this in a cinema, I was 16-years old and I was watching Star Wars. I never imagined, I would ever find that feeling again in a theater — that sense of being transported to another world.
The opening sequence took my breath away and I never got it back. Not even at the end, which left my head spinning. It is a beautiful film with soul, wit, charm, style and love. It is simply outrageous, bold and fantastical.
The film explores the idea of “What if?” and tackles the idea of a working Hollywood versus a Hollywood where the idea of art is paramount. La La Land focuses on the idea of money vs. art, and shows that nobel aspects of creativity are often ignored to focus on the monetary aspects of the industry, while leaving behind the very art that drove them in the first place.
The movie is very much paced in the realm of Hollywood where the cadence of the film is action packed with all the fervor of a young person entering Hollywood for the first time, yet as Mia and Sebastian learn the inter-workings of Hollywood, the film slows down to reflect the realities that are faced when having to juggle income and art. Brilliant.
2. Arrival
Arrival is a cerebral film, but that doesn’t mean that the film isn’t intense, or thoroughly interesting and entertaining. While there may not always be something exciting happening on the screen, there is something to think about in what you are being shown.
As far reaching and mind-bending as the ideas are as to why the aliens are here, there is always a focus on the personal lives and relationships of characters. There is a larger sense of size and scale beyond us, the framing often showing the characters as small and the spaceship and aliens as large in scope and size.
Later in the film, however, the characters are often framed in the foreground, with the spaceship out of focus in the background, depicting their own lives as constantly their main focus rather than the bigger picture.
I liked that no matter what, our personal experiences and relationships define us. This is a great movie to see with friends and then discuss for hours after.
1. Deadpool
From the opening title sequence it is clear that we are in for a ride with a film that will take a poke at itself and everything else in pop culture. The opening credits were done Deadpool-style with the person’s personality description instead of name.
The first thing I noticed, was how inventive the storytelling was. The film throws you into the action from the first moment and then it goes back and forth in brilliant and unexpected ways to slowly unspool the story of this insane, but oddly charming antihero.
Flashbacks and fast-forwards can be annoying, but when done right, they can help render a simple story fresh and exciting. And that’s exactly how Deadpool felt to me right from the start: like a fresh (if somewhat dirty) jolt of energy.
Deadpool is a raunchy, excessively violent, superhero; based on the Marvel Comics character. The film stars Ryan Reynolds who plays a mercenary, named Wade Wilson. Reynolds owns every second that he’s on screen. You can tell he loves the character.
Deadpool is a wise cracking, all attention on him kind of crusader with eye grabbing displays of action, talent and charisma. He doesn’t try to be your everyday superhero and you need to love him for that. He manages to use any means necessary to take down his foes with creative and and sometimes questionable techniques.
The humor is crude, vulgar, and sophomoric (think Family Guy or Superbad), and it’s hilarious. All of the superhero pokes and fourth wall jokes were splendid. The red suited, anti-hero provides a sprinkle of something a little different on a giant Marvel ice cream.
All in all this was a perfect movie in tone and execution. I have now watched it four times and loved it every time.
Teri Bayus is the Host of Taste Buds, shown on Charter Cable Ch. 10 and on Central Coast Now TV. Teri’s culinary erotic book, “Consumed,” is available at: www.amazon.com/Consumed-Teri-Bayus-ebook/dp/B016DW85PA. Dinner and a Movie is a regular feature of Simply Clear Marketing & Media.
