Empire Magazine's "Best Movies of 2016"
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- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsSam NeillJulian DennisonRima Te WiataA national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsAmy AdamsJeremy RennerForest WhitakerA linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.In a year where blockbusters often faltered, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve offered a stirring riposte. Here was genre cinema done right. Arrival certainly isn’t lacking in Hollywood razzle-dazzle: there’s scale and bluster; there’s special effects that wow; there’s pace and tension; there’s a grand IMAX release, should you be so inclined. But it is also a intensely cerebral piece of work, transforming Ted Chiang’s short story into an atmospheric wrong-footing puzzle which plays with narrative conventions and linguistic head-scratchers. And thanks to an emotional, career-best performance from Amy Adams, it never loses sight of its humanistic core. Not bad for a film about aliens.
- DirectorDavid MackenzieStarsChris PineBen FosterJeff BridgesToby is a divorced father who's trying to make a better life. His brother is an ex-con with a short temper and a loose trigger finger. Together, they plan a series of heists against the bank that's about to foreclose on their family ranch.
- DirectorAnthony RussoJoe RussoStarsChris EvansRobert Downey Jr.Scarlett JohanssonPolitical involvement in the Avengers' affairs causes a rift between Captain America and Iron Man.Marvel’s most ambitious outing to date set everyone’s favourite super-squad against each other – and sent a few of them home to patch up their suits. The idea of pitching 673 (or thereabouts) superheroes against each other was a dizzying notion, but the brothers Russo pulled it off with aplomb, introducing a unanimously crowd-pleasing baby Spidey in the process. Worried about superhero fatigue? Those fears completely vanish by the time you reach the film’s airport battle opus.
- DirectorSebastian SchipperStarsLaia CostaFrederick LauFranz RogowskiA young Spanish woman who has recently moved to Berlin finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals a dangerous secret.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsSamuel L. JacksonKurt RussellJennifer Jason LeighIn the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.After a couple of false starts (read: script leaks), Quentin Tarantino’s post-Civil War tale finally made it to the big screen back in January. And boy, was it worth the wait. As Tarantino’s ‘orrible octet seek refuge from a blizzard in Minnie’s Haberdashery, it soon becomes clear that there’s more on the agenda than simply getting a hot cup of cocoa. As the claustrophobia sets in and the bullets start to fly, there’ll only be one question on your lips: ‘can we have your third Western now please, QT?’.
- DirectorTravis KnightStarsCharlize TheronArt ParkinsonMatthew McConaugheyA young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.With Kubo And The Two Strings, Oregon-based animation studio Laika is now four for four. Where Coraline and ParaNorman brought the chills, and The Boxtrolls brought Victorian spills, Kubo provides martial arts fantasy thrills. Stop-motion animation has never been rendered more confidently, or more beautifully, as Kubo hops between emotional, scary, and comic moments, as assuredly as he wields his shamisen. Also, Matthew McConaughey plays an amnesiac samurai beetle.
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTom HardyWill PoulterA frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.It was the movie that would finally coronate Leonardo DiCaprio with an Oscar, after five near-misses; it was the movie that become instantly legendary for that wintry Calgary shoot; it was the movie that was briefly, inaccurately reported to feature a scene of bestial buggery. The benefit of time and reflection shows it for the movie that it really is: an astonishing, gut-punching piece of cinema. Admittedly, there’s not a huge amount of narrative meat on the bones – the dialogue is mostly grunts and gurgles – but Alejandro González Iñárritu and cinematographer-in-chief Emmanuel Lubezki have crafted two hours of overwhelming visual and sensory brilliance, anchored by DiCaprio’s extraordinary, selfless, awards-hoovering lead turn. Best watched with the heating off, for the full effect.
- DirectorTom McCarthyStarsMark RuffaloMichael KeatonRachel McAdamsThe true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
- DirectorJeremy SaulnierStarsAnton YelchinImogen PootsAlia ShawkatA punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar.
- DirectorRon ClementsJohn MuskerDon HallStarsAuli'i CravalhoDwayne JohnsonRachel HouseIn ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the demigod Maui reaches Moana's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out Maui to set things right.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsDave JohnsHayley SquiresSharon PercyAfter surviving a heart-attack, a 59-year-old carpenter must fight bureaucratic forces to receive Employment and Support Allowance.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsBlake JennerTyler HoechlinRyan GuzmanIn 1980 Texas, a college freshman meets his new baseball teammates, an unruly group of disco-dancing, skirt-chasing, and they navigate their way
- DirectorGareth EdwardsStarsFelicity JonesDiego LunaAlan TudykIn a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's ultimate weapon of destruction.The first of the new standalone Star Wars movies, Rogue One arrived as an unknown quantity and proceeded to annihilate the box office like a blast from the Death Star itself. Darker, grittier and bolder than any saga film to date, Gareth Edwards's film is a WWII-inspired men-on-a-mission adventure set in the galaxy far, far away. It may be short on laughs but this is a welcome counterpoint to the main Episodes and forces you to see A New Hope in a whole new light.
- DirectorRobert EggersStarsAnya Taylor-JoyRalph InesonKate DickieA family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
- DirectorDuke JohnsonCharlie KaufmanStarsDavid ThewlisJennifer Jason LeighTom NoonanA man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.
- DirectorWhit StillmanStarsKate BeckinsaleChloë SevignyXavier SamuelLady Susan Vernon takes up temporary residence at her in-laws' estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica--and herself too, naturally.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsJosh BrolinGeorge ClooneyAlden EhrenreichA Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line.
- DirectorRyan CooglerStarsMichael B. JordanSylvester StalloneTessa ThompsonThe former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.There was a time when folk scoffed at the idea of a seventh film in the Rocky series: quickly dismissed as a cash-in, a desperate attempt to keep afloat an ageing and soon-to-be-forgotten boxing franchise. What a happy surprise to find this was actually one of the most thoughtfully-calibrated reboots in memory: affectionately doffing a cap to the spirit of the original, while ploughing its own muscular, confident furrow. Creed is smart, surprising, entertaining, joyful, emotional, and has important, timely, powerful things to say. More, please.
- DirectorTom FordStarsAmy AdamsJake GyllenhaalMichael ShannonA wealthy art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband's novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a symbolic revenge tale.
- DirectorAdam McKayStarsChristian BaleSteve CarellRyan GoslingIn 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
- DirectorDan TrachtenbergStarsJohn GoodmanMary Elizabeth WinsteadJohn Gallagher Jr.A young woman is held in an underground bunker by a man who insists that a hostile event has left the surface of the Earth uninhabitable.
- DirectorBrady CorbetStarsBérénice BejoLiam CunninghamStacy MartinA chronicle of the childhood of a post-World War I leader.
- DirectorLászló NemesStarsGéza RöhrigLevente MolnárUrs RechnA Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
- DirectorLenny AbrahamsonStarsBrie LarsonJacob TremblaySean BridgersA little boy is held captive in a room with his mother since his birth, so he has never known the world outside.Lenny Abrahamson’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue centres on two exceptional performances. Brie Larson earned all the headlines, of course, for her Oscar-winning turn as the captive of a barely-seen Fritzl-esque kidnapper; but a then seven-year-old Jacob Tremblay, playing her son, very nearly steals the show. It’s through his fairytale perspective that we experience a turbulent and traumatic set of events, turning what could be a clichéd drama into something distinctive and oddly uplifting.