Least Favorite Movies of 2016

<< 2015   2016 >>

Favorite Movies of 2016

14. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

D: Zack Snyder

**********

Despite how inept it was overall, there were many enjoyable aspects to it.  Ben Affleck was surprisingly good as Batman, and I have an aesthetic defense for his killing.  Batman has always been depicted as on the edge of becoming a killer, and this movie portrays him as a Batman who has crossed that line.  Hopefully the Justice League would be a redemptive force on him, as the final scene suggests.  Still, Afred’s killing and the possibility of continued killing in Justice League might discredit that theory.  I also like how the forming of the League may be a redemptive event for its members (Wonder Woman seemed to have been in a cynical funk at the time), which is more interesting than having a bunch of people brought together and shoot wisecracks at each other (Avengers).  The score had its moments.

13. Captain America: Civil War

D: Joe & Anthony Russo

**********

A mediocre and disappointing movie.  Helmut Zemo is nothing like he is in the comics, and Tony Stark lacks the humor we all love him for.  It tries to be complex and smart, but neither side makes sense.  The only good thing about the movie is the action.  The airport fight did a great job utilizing the characters’ superpowers.  

12. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

D: David Yates

**********

I had the opposite reaction to this movie I had to Kung Fu Panda.  Po was the character I liked the least, and his arc is heroism handed to him on a silver platter.  Kowalski was the only thing about this movie I liked, and he maintained an effective role as an everyman.  I also liked Kung Fu Panda overall and disliked this movie overall.  It pleases the fans of the book in that it’s full of tedious filler that doesn’t work in a movie (like a front-heavy rhino-thing trying to hump a fatman). 

11. The Magnificent Seven

D: Antoine Fuqua

**********

A blandly competent and unnecessary remake.  The only part I liked was when the villager couldn’t hit any targets and Chris Pratt says, “I don’t get it.  Statistically they should have hit something.” 

10. A Cure for Wellness

D: Gore Verbinski

**********
Great cinematography and that’s about it.  The character is unlikeable up till the end of the movie, and that’s not enough time.  Also it subverts its ominous atmosphere to transform into a feel-good action movie at the end. 

9. Passengers

D: Morten Tyldum

**********

Really creepy “romance,” even if they movie makes it clear how wrong the protagonists’ actions are.  The only good thing was Michael Sheen’s character, who passes a personhood test for his moral decision to tell the woman the truth in spite of orders.

8. Star Trek Beyond

D: Justin Lin

**********

Despite what everybody says, this is a bad movie with a bland villain, shameless fanservice, and tedious action sequences.  The one good thing was the beginning in which they talk briefly about how boring deployment is (with a beautiful shot of the Enterprise travelling through warp) and the entrance into the space city.

7. The BFG

D: Steven Spielberg

**********

Doesn’t hold a candle next to the animated version.  The fart jokes were done with the worst possible delivery. 

6. Suicide Squad

D: David Ayer

**********

Massively disappointing.  It would have been better had it stuck to its gritty guns and not had a supernatural force that the Suicide Squad was distinctly ill-equipped to deal with.

5. Zoolander No. 2

D: Ben Stiller

**********

Had its moments, but not nearly as funny or clever as the first.  Apparently, 15 years wasn’t enough to write jokes.  It really looked like it only had enough material for a short sketch which should have been a special feature on a Blu-Ray release or something.  Very clear that some of the jokes were written years ago, but they still kept them in (the Netflix references). 

4. Kung Fu Panda 3

D: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni

**********

Though this year has definitely seen some bad sequels, I think this is the most genuinely disappointing one.  I’ve always thought the weakest aspect of Kung Fu Panda was Po himself.  I’ve always found the supporting cast more likable.  Here the characters I like are pushed even further into the background while Po spends time with a whole village of Po-like characters.  Also, the villain was not as developed or interesting as the previous two.  Lord Shen was a pretty hard act to follow.

3. Underworld: Blood Wars
D: Anna Foerster
**********
Not as much technically wrong with it as the previous movies, but lacks almost every interesting aspect of them.  It doesn't even have a memorable line, which even the others seemed to have some of those.

2. Independence Day: Resurgence

D: Roland Emmerich

**********

It lacks the effective manipulation of the first.  Without that, the great practical effects, and the nostalgia, it wasn’t worth watching.

1. Batman: The Killing Joke

D: Sam Liu, Bruce Timm

**********

How could they have gotten this so wrong?  The tragedy of Batgirl’s paralysis is cheapened by the revelation that she sucked at being a superheroine anyway, and not even the voice acting from Mark Hammill and Kevin Conroy couldn’t save it.  The animation seems a bit disappointing and would have been better had they not wasted so much effort on 30min worth of scenes that shouldn’t even exist.  The main reason this movie could have been great was to hear the Joker’s song, but even that was a bland letdown.

<< 2015   2017 >>