For someone who tends to root for the bad guys to win, I also have a soft spot for the underdogs. The Hollywood landscape is full of underdog stories that happen on a weekly basis when the nearly two dozen feature-length movies are released. What's that? You thought there were only a handful? Well, that's the problem right there, isn't it? It's why people like me take the extra effort to bring some attention to movies that fell between the cracks, because there are a lot of hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.
The criteria I use is simple: If I felt a movie didn't get the attention it deserved, up it goes. I also won't include any movies that wound up on my Best Movies of the Year roundup, so you won't see Don't Think Twice, A Bigger Splash, Green Room, and others that might have been here otherwise. This year it was REALLY tough widdlin the number down to 15. I had a full page of options before I started cutting, so this easily could have been 30 or even 40 picks. That means this was a damn good year, folks. I mean, there's a Jamie Dornan movie on here. That's not supposed to happen.
Be sure to check out all of our Best of 2016 coverage here!
Little Men
Director: Ira Sachs
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle, Paulina Garcia, Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri, Alfred Molina
Anthropoid
Director: Sean Ellis
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Toby Jones, Charlotte Le Bon
Desierto
Director: Jonas Cuaron
Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Blood Father
Director: Jean-Francois Richet
Cast: Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, William H. Macy, Diego Luna
Equals
Director: Drake Doremus
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult
The Phenom
Director: Noah Buschel
Cast: Johnny Simmons, Ethan Hawke, Paul Giamatti
Indignation
Director: James Schamus
Cast: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts, Linda Emond
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Julian Dennison, Sam Neill
The Handmaiden
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Directors: Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone
Cast: The Lonely Island
Destination: Planet Negro
Director: Kevin Willmott
Cast: Kevin Willmott, Danielle Cooper,Tosin Morohunfolo
The Family Fang
Director: Jason Bateman
Cast: Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Kathryn Hahn
The Meddler
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne, JK Simmons, Jason Ritter
Hardcore Henry
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Haley Bennett, Danila Kozlovsky, Tim Roth
Born to be Blue
Director: Robert Budreau
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Carmen Ejogo
The Land
Director: Steven Caple Jr.
Cast: Moises Arias, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Linda Emond, Natalie Martinez, Erykah Badu, Michael K. Williams
Southside with You
Director: Richard Tanne
Cast: Parker Sawyers, Tika Sumpter
Morris from America
Director: Chad Hartigan
Cast: Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, Lina Keller
The Free World
Director: Jason Lew
Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Elisabeth Moss, Octavia Spencer
Other People
Director: Chris Kelly
Cast: Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon, Bradley Whitford
