And after a little extra delay, without further ado…

1. Moonlight – So everyone has heard of this one by now and yes it’s good, the three sections combine to tell the story of a boy to man poignantly dealing with themes of identity, sexuality, race…
2. Manchester by the Sea – Yep it’s a bummer and yep it’s worth watching, following Casey Affleck’s broken character as he returns home to care for his nephew.
3. 20th Century Women – This one gets my coming of age vote for this year as Annette Bening turns to those around her to help raise her son, with a nice vibe set in ’79.
4. Deadpool – I most enjoy Marvel when it’s good story, good action, and a good dose of humor and this one does just that, leaning heavy into the humor category, fun.
5. Hell or High Water – Getting to know the bank robber brothers and the lawmen who follow them as things go down a path that they can’t return from, it’s hard to pick someone to root against.
6. Hunt for the Wilderpeople – I wasn’t sure what I was getting into on this odd New Zealand boy and his foster father on the run from the law in the wilderness is oddly fun and touching.
7. La La Land – I have noted this as the most overrated film of 2016, and while I was truly put off by the casting of non song and dance peeps in the leads, as well as a few other things, this still made an enjoyable escape via homage to musicals, though something like Sing Street was almost more fun.
8. The Nice Guys – This buddy crime thriller flick has enough heart and humor to make the ride with Gosling and Crowe on their continued failures as they try to solve the crime that is of course more complicated without killing themselves or each other a bunch of fun.
9. Arrival – As long as I don’t think too much about the plot of this film, I really appreciate the film-making and the slant on communication and humanity through a slightly new take on alien invasion (though yes big on aliens), it kept me engaged and intrigued.
10. Nocturnal Animals – Ok I just watched this so that might be swaying me but I feel like this movie would be worth watching just for the visuals alone, though Ford also did a nice job weaving together the present ‘success,’ the naive past, with the fictional noir.

Order as always might be someone subjective and I have missed a few of the more talked about films this year (Lion, Fences, Hidden Figures, Paterson…) so no telling is those would make my personal list. For a gander at what other films critics are talking about check out Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

A friend of mine and I were talking recently and wondering whether tv had just gotten better or if movies had also gotten worse. When I heard a critic say that there were a bunch of second best movies this year but not a best movie I thought that sounded appropriate. I was supposed to do my best movies list last week (or the week before, or the week before that…) but I just kept trying to watch movies to see if I was missing anything. Well I’ve seen my final addition to the list so here goes, order as always is somewhat arbitrary:

1. Room/The Big Short – Together I think these might make up my favorite movie, the first I caught early before I knew anything about it or what anyone had to say (which for me almost always helps) and the performances by these two actors in a story that went beyond what you normally see on a kidnapped life was so moving, but what it had in small film amazing it might have lacked in big pic spectacle which I thought Big Short had in spades, a great ensemble cast bringing a big American moment to the screen in a way that was suspenseful and quite funny as it educated us on the crappy credit/housing market and I always love weird Christian Bale.
2. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – I’m a sucker for a well done small coming of age story and this poignant story won me over as we look at friendship, cancer, and movies.
3. Spotlight – I’m not typically a huge fan of historical based films but this look at the specific time and the way the story was uncovered as well as the set of circumstances that held it back from surfacing earlier, with a cast that brought the intensity, drew me in.
4. Sicario – Emily Blunt as the idealistic FBI agent getting in way over her head on a task force in the war on drugs was tension filled from start to finish, and not that I’d thought about it before but don’t mess with Benicio Del Toro.
5. Ex Machina – Programmer Domhnall Gleeson gets the opportunity of a lifetime but he has no idea what he’s getting into but can you really believe what you see or hear when you’re talking to Artificial Intelligence, or its creator for that matter, captivating.
6. Ant-Man – I generally enjoy the bringings from the Marvel universe as well as an origin story, and the comedic take lead by Paul Rudd in what was basically a sci fi heist flick of fun, who knew tiny ant powers could be so powerful.
7. Carol – From the moment Rooney Mara sees Cate Blanchett we fell for her and watching them fall in love in a time and situation that aren’t going to allow it makes you want to follow them on their journey.
8. The Martian – I was dreading seeing another Gravity but the tension on this was mixed with not only humor (and no this was not a comedy regardless of what the Golden Globes decided) and some space MacGyvering made Matt Damon pretty entertaining to watch.
9. Anomalisa – This is a movie worth watching just because Charlie Kaufman doesn’t disappoint in creating yet another super odd flick and not just because it’s stop motion,

For a look at a bit of an overview of what I’ve seen about check out the critics’ list. What were your fave movies of the year?

Here’s a little round up of what some of the critics and award shows are saying are worth seeing. I’m trying to make up for lost time but not sure what I’m going to get to before I do my own top list, but in bold are what I’ve seen so far. Though I will tell you right now I don’t get why people are so on the Mad Max thing, I mean it was entertaining but… really?

• 45 Years – SH
• Anomalisa – DM, AOS
• The Assassin – MD, FW
• Beasts of No Nation – DM
• The Big Short – MD, AOS, SH, CN, AA, AFI, BA, CC
• Bridge of Spies – MD, AA, AFI, BA, CC
• Brooklyn – DM, SH, BG, AA, CC
• Call Me Lucky – DM
• Carol – MD, AOS, SH, BG, AFI, BA, CC, CFC
• Clouds of Sils Maria – Ti, CN
• Creed – DM, AOS, Ti, CN
• The Diary of a Teenage Girl – MD, SH, FW
• The Duke of Burgundy – FW
• Ex Machina – DM, BG, Ti
• The Fool – SH
• The Hateful Eight – DM
• Hitchcock/Truffant – FW
• I’ll See You In My Dreams – Ti
• In Jackson Heights – MD
• Inside Out – AOS, BG, CN, AFI, CFC
• It Follows – BG, CN
• Iris – Ti
• The Kindergarten Teacher – MD
• The Look of Silence – SH, CN
• Mad Max: Fury Road – DM, MD, AOS, BG, AA, AFI, CC, CFC, FW
• The Man from UNCLE – Ti
• The Martian – MD, AA, AFI, CC
• Mustang – Ti
• Nasty Baby – FW
• Out 1: Noli Me Tangere – AOS
• Phoenix – Ti
• Queen of Earth – FW
• Results – AOS
• Revenant – AA, BA, CC, CFC
• Room – DM, BG, CN, AA, AFI, CC
• Sicario – CN, CC
• Sixty Six – MD
• Son of Saul – CN
• Spotlight – AOS, SH, BG, Ti, CN, AA, AFI, BA, CC, CFC, FW
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens – DM, BG, AFI, CC
• Straight Outta Compton – AFI
• Tangerine – SH, Ti
• Taxi – AOS
• Timbuktu – AOS, BG
• Truth – SH
• Welcome to Me – AOS

AA – Academy Award Nominations, AFI – American Film Institute, BA – BAFTA Nominations, CC – Critics Choice Nominations, CFC – Chicago Film Critics, FW – Flavorwire, SH – Stephen Holden for NYT, MD – Manohla Dargis for NYT, BG – Bill Goodykoontz for The Republic, DM – Drew McWeeny for Hitfix, CN – Chris Nashawaty for EW, AOS – A. O. Scott for NYT,  Ti – Time Magazine

Looking back over this last year none of the faves really stood out for me so for my number one pick I went with what I remember actually enjoying. That’s not to say that if I made this list again any other day it wouldn’t come out quite differently. And though I didn’t see everything you can see what I did see from the critics’ picks.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy – I generally like a good comic book romp but this movie unburdened by any knowledge of the characters or stories managed to draw me into the world of the band of misfits led by the charming Chris Pratt.
2. Whiplash – Seriously uncomfortable, this was the movie whose performances most stayed with me raising questions of the tutelage of greatness, and insanity put to a nice jazz track.
3. Bad Words – I dig a random Jason Bateman and this flick hit the nail right on the head with an inappropriateness that was laughable and surprisingly touching.
4. Skeleton Twins – Wiig and Hader looked into the past and the present of these estranged siblings with a realness and a randomness that brings them beyond their SNL sketches.
5. Big Eyes – The period setting in the lovely San Francisco made the look at this unbelievable artistic duo and the woman behind the man in this odd rise to fame all the more compelling.
6. Selma – Beautiful portrayals of King and those around him in this look back at the pivotal civil rights, I appreciate an historic drama that has me in disbelief of the activities for the right reasons.
7. The Imitation Game – Smart and socially inept has become all the rage but this look at the mathematicians behind cracking code and the social mores of sexes and sexuality kept me engaged, and who doesn’t enjoy some Cumberbatch.
8. Grand Budapest Hotel – While this wasn’t my favorite Wes flick it had the beautiful visual style and quirkiest of characters that will always keep me coming back.
9. Edge of Tomorrow – Who doesn’t like a good action flick, and while I’m not the hugest of Cruise fans this movie strikes a great balance of action and the progression of story by repeating it over again in a way that isn’t repetitive.
10. St Vincent – Bill Murray as a curmudgeon has become how I think of him but the dysfunctional daily life that he and his somewhat willing circle of folks leads to somewhat unexpected bad and good sentimental journey.

Any standouts for you this year?