It will be a sad day on December 31, 2019 when the amazing decade of the 2010’s will conclude. So many filming techniques were created to see people’s lives like “First Reformed” with the 16mm-style aspect ratio, “The Artist” filmed in black-and-white hardly without any dialogue, and “Cold War” having shot like a film from the 1950’s.
Many people have considered 2014 to be the best year of the 2010’s. I would definitely beg the differ for myself even though 2014 would be a close second. 2016 is without question the best year of the 2010’s, period. It is this generation’s 1999 for a reason.
The year itself has one of the greatest libraries of familiar films it can offer that includes “Deadpool”, “La La Land”, “Moonlight”, “Zootopia”, “Hacksaw Ridge”, “Captain America: Civil War”, “Kubo & The Two Strings”, “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”, “10 Cloverfield Lane”, “Manchester by the Sea”, and “Sausage Party”.
Like how 1999 had its collection of films with “The Green Mile”, “The Matrix”, “Galaxy Quest”, “American Beauty”, “The Sixth Sense”, “Being John Malkovich”, “Magnolia”, “Toy Story 2”, “Fight Club”, “The Iron Giant”, and “Tarzan”, 2016’s evidence speaks the same.
2016 has a library like 1999 that showcases powerful and unique works of art which cinema can never copy and paste ever again.
Look at my favorite film of that year, “A Monster Calls”, for example.
Director J.A. Bayona urges the main character Connor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) to cope with the illness of his mother by having a monster (Liam Neeson) to tell three stories that relate to the scenario.
To date, I still consider “A Monster Calls” one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. It dares to go through deeper and tougher scenarios unlike any other fantasy movie anyone has seen. Liam Neeson’s performance as the Monster was brutally chilling to sit through. Too bad J.A. Bayona had to do “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” after that.
Most movies from that year deal both symbolize and cope with tragedy and courage. Movies like “Captain Fantastic”, Martin Scorsese’s “Silence”, “Manchester by the Sea”, “Kubo & The Two Strings”, and “The Hollars” deal stuff like this in the most authentic way possible. Even the character of Judy Hopps in “Zootopia” occupied courage to catch savaged predators.
Arguably the greatest example of this in a 2016 movie would have to be Andrew Garfield. He has to have two of the ten best performances of 2016. The best of the two would easily be his performance as Desmond Doss in “Hacksaw Ridge”. It is probably implausible for a person to save 75 people while refusing any weapons at war due to religion. Doss truly did the impossible.
2016 might as well have some of the most ingenious and creative comedies of the decade.
“Deadpool” is a brilliant example of a R-rated superhero dark comedy done perfectly. It balances every single movie genre in the book (except Documentary) and breaks the fourth wall while at it. Ryan Reynolds gives out a flawless performance as Deadpool that will never be altered nor replaced.
“Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” is basically a modern-day take on Rob Reiner’s “This is Spinal Tap”. Instead of poking fun at the classic rock genre, it pokes fun at many modern-day pop artists like Justin Bieber, which still makes the movie so relevant. Connor4Real is the character that Andy Samberg plays and he does criticize Mona Lisa and he is oh-so humble.
While “The Nice Guys” is a great homage to buddy cop classics like “48 Hrs.”, “Sausage Party” is probably one of the wildest times I had at the movies that year. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg of Point Grey Pictures poked fun at many Disney and Pixar movies specifically “Toy Story” of how food talks obviously. The end is of course crazy.
“Swiss Army Man” was a wild one, too.
There is a handful of movies that inspire other classics like how “Midnight Special” inspired Spielberg’s “Close Encounters” and “E.T.” with the deep and supernatural aspects of Alton Meyer.
One more special thing I’d like to say is that the film I remember seeing twice that year was Damien Chazelle’s masterpiece, “La La Land”. I was inserted into a world of music and people cherishing their dreams. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s chemistry will definitely be timeless. Like I mentioned before, this movie felt like it had inspiration from M-G-M musicals such as “Easter Parade” and “Meet Me in St. Louis”.
Remember when I said 2016 has some of the most complex libraries of movies. YEAH. It does.
I can name the best romance, comedy, drama, horror, action, sports, and animated film of that year by a millisecond.
2016 was the year that overall symbolizes the fiercest of the human condition in so many terms. They equal the smartest doses of courage and tragedy in each and every one.
2016 was the year to revolutionize originality in the strongest perspective that people can remember and quote every day of the week.
2016 was the year to hope for what directors from that year have to offer in the future.
2016 is a year that will be sadly never repeated in 2019.
2016 is the “King Kong” of the 2010’s. No question about it.
Roar.
