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Hi. I wrote some stuff if you would like to read it and consider my recommendations and maybe discuss them too. I realize it’s the end of January, but the Oscar noms just came out, and although most of social media is making it seem like the world has been turned upside down in the last couple of weeks, I thought maybe taking a few minutes away from lil donny hysteria and looking at something fun would be nice. Like I did with my list of music favorites I haven’t necessarily ranked these; they’re just my favorite movies and tv shows of 2016 listed alphabetically. This was also the first year in a very long time in which I managed to see most of everything I wanted to (though I haven’t seen Elle, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Love Witch, Manchester by the Sea, Paterson, or Toni Erdmann (and I really just don’t care about La La Land)), so I actually felt like I could throw in my two cents. So yeah, please read if you have a few minutes, and if you’re into it, let’s talk about it! <3

-Film- Arrival – The best Denis Villeneuve science fiction movie of 2016 about the importance of empathetic communication which involves listening as well as talking, the importance of understanding and loving your neighbor, regardless of how different your lives may be, and the importance of embracing life and taking full advantage of the time we have right now/existing in the moment and not worrying about what may happen in the future, good or bad. Also, the best Amy Adams movie of 2016.

Captain America: Civil War – The best Russo Brothers comic book movie of 2016 about opposing ideological beliefs that can have the power to tear friendships and partnerships apart, but also about the importance of finding common ground and overcoming those differences. Also Spiderman and Black Panther are the GOAT.

Green Room – The best Jeremy Saulnier siege/suspense movie of 2016 about a punk band taking on a group of neo-Nazis. I don’t remember if any of the neo-Nazis get punched, but rest assured they get the fucked the eff up. 

The Handmaiden – The best Park Chan-wook period costume drama of 2016 about how love, sex, and violence are used in oppressive patriarchy; and how love, sex, and violence can be used in order to oppose the patriarchy and achieve liberation.  

High Rise – The best Ben Wheatley dystopian Freudian psycho-trip movie of 2016 about the selfish decadence and inevitable self-destruction of modern society. 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – The best Taika Waititi road trip/coming of age movie of 2016, the best Rima Te Wiata movie of 2016, the best Julian Dennison movie of 2016, the best Sam Neil movie of 2016, the best New Zealand movie of 2016, the best happy birthday Ricky Baker song of 2016.

The Invitation – The best Karyn Kusama something-dreadful-is-going-to-happen-at-this-dinner-party-isn’t-it? movie of 2016 about mourning and grief and how you can come out on the other side either stronger or irreparably broken.

Moonlight – The best Barry Jenkins movie of 2016 about Love – maternal, paternal, brotherly, sexual, spiritual… all forms of Love, and especially where it is and where it isn’t… about how love works to foster positive growth and understanding, and how accepting the love of others is crucial to learning how to love oneself… and about so much more.  

The Nice Guys – The best Shane Black crime mystery movie of 2016 about some not-so-nice guys and how they miraculously survive every hilariously violent and ridiculous situation they keep getting themselves into.  

Nocturnal Animals – The best Tom Ford revenge movie of 2016 and the other best Amy Adams movie of 2016.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping – Just the funniest movie of 2016 about how perfect The Lonely Island still are.

Shin Godzilla – The best Godzilla movie in 20 years (probably in the top 5 of all time) about the absurdly comical ineffectiveness of the Japanese bureaucratic government system, the importance of global relations working together to achieve greatness, and Godzilla being an awesome and horrifying destructive force of nature.

Silence – The best Martin Scorsese historical fiction movie of 2016 about the struggle to find and maintain faith in the midst of life-and-death stakes levels of adversity. But also about raising some very difficult philosophical and theological questions concerning what different forms of religion means to people from fundamentally different ways of life in different areas of the world, the morally questionable intentions of missionary work and colonialism, and the self-righteous assumptions of assuming that what one believes to be “the right way” of living one’s life is applicable to everyone else in the world… and not providing easy answers to any of these questions.

The Wailing – The best Hong-jin Na horror movie of 2016 about a few ambiguously malevolent spirits causing a whole bunch of fuckery in a small village in the mountains of S. Korea. Weird and sad, brutally violent, oddly (and intentionally) hilarious, and ultimately about as bleak as you can get.

The Witch – The best Robert Eggers horror movie of 2016 about religious repression and secular liberation. I could expound, but it all boils down very simply to this.