One of my favorite times of the movie year is right now, here at the mid-way point. It's a time to take stock and look back at what worked for me and what fucking blew during the first half of the year. Trust me there were plenty of both. The best part will be looking back at this list in another six months to see what stuck and what got bumped off the list.
If you guessed that The Neon Demon, the only movie to inspire an all-GIF review from me, would end up on the list then you're right. Trust me it was no sure thing Refn's Hollywood horror would end up anywhere near it. A couple of superhero movies make the cut? OF COURSE! But there will definitely be a few surprises, I think. Some of these I saw early at Sundance, some came out of nowhere to knock my socks off, and others lived up to long-building hype. With so many films coming out each week it's become tougher than ever to keep up, so I hope I didn't miss anything. I probably did. Screw it.
Below you'll find my picks for the best of 2016 so far, or better yet, my favorite films of the year so far, in no particular order. So don't email saying "Oh my God you had Embrace of the Serpent ahead of Deadpool" because no. That's not happening. Just relax. Feel free to chime in with your own picks in the comments section!
Best Movies
The Club (review here)
Director: Pablo Larrain
Cast: Roberto Farias, Antonia Zegers, Alfredo Castro, Alejandro Goic, Alejandro Sieveking
Deadpool (review here)
Director: Tim Miller
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, Gina Carano, TJ Miller, Brianna Hildebrand
Green Room (review here)
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Patrick Stewart, Mark Webber, Macon Blair, Joe Cole
Midnight Special (review here)
Director: Jeff Nichols
Cast: Michael Shannon, Jaeden Lieberher, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver
A Bigger Splash (review here)
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts, Dakota Johnson
Sing Street (review here)
Director: John Carney
Cast: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Jack Reynor, Aiden Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Weiner (review here)
Directors: Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
Cast: Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin
Embrace of the Serpent (review here)
Director: Ciro Guerra
Cast: Jan Bijvoet, Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolívar, Brionne Davis
The Witch (review here)
Director: Robert Eggers
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw
Zootopia (review here)
Director: Byron Howard and Rich Moore
Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Idris Elba, Jason Bateman, Jenny Slate
Destination: Planet Negro (review here)
Director: Kevin Willmott
Cast: Kevin Willmott, Tosin Morohunfolo, Trai Byers
Captain America: Civil War (review here)
Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chadwick Boseman, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle
Keanu (review here)
Director: Peter Atencio
Cast: Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Method Man, Tiffany Haddish, Nia Long, Jason Mitchell
Dheepan (review here)
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby
The Neon Demon (review here)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Elle Fanning, Bella Heathcote, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Keanu Reeves, Alessandro Nivola
