Altogether I had watched 36 movies at the cinema (I think that's a new personal record for me). It may sounds like an easy task (to pick 10 movies out of only 36) but to be honest, it is still not an easy thing to do.
So here are my 2016 top 10 movies of the year.
10. Storks
I watched quite a few animation films in 2016 and I must say, Storks is a very funny movie. I would say that the humour, especially when it comes to the characters' dialogue in the movie, are more geared towards adults. But luckily the movie also filled with cute characters and physical gags that appealed to kids (and adults!) as well. So it really is a movie for the whole family to enjoy. The two lead characters are beyond hilarious, the babies are super cute, and even the minor characters like the wolves and penguins are fun to watch. I'm sad to see that this movie is not as high-profile as some of the other top-performing animations of the year like Zootopia, Finding Dory and Secret Life of Pets. Hopefully more people will appreciate it once they discover it on the small screens.
Image from Storks official website.
9. Zootopia
Speaking of Zootopia, it is my number nine movie of the year. In my review, I mentioned that the climax of the movie was a bit underwhelming, but overall Zootopia is still a solid movie. The world that the movie is presenting is truly magnificent and the characters are truly diverse not just in terms of the species of the animals but also in their personalities. The story of overcoming hardship and not judging a person (or should I say animal) from outer appearance and stereotypes are also very commendable and encouraging for an all-ages movie. And it seems I'm not the only one who likes this movie as evident by the box-office numbers. As of this writing, Zootopia is the fifth highest-grossing animated film of all time with worldwide gross of more that $1 billion. That's impressive!
Image from Disney Malaysia official website.
8. Captain America: Civil War
Another movie that performed incredibly well at the box-office, and is the highest-grossing movie of 2016 with $1.1 billion worldwide, is the third Captain America movie, Captain America: Civil War. Personally, I feel Winter Soldier is a much superior movie compared to Civil War. Nevertheless Civil War is still an amazing movie and I'm sure a lot of people agree with that. One of the highlight of the movie is the airport fights between the characters of the two opposing factions. It was fun to see all the iconic characters fighting each other and displaying their unique abilities but to be honest, I much prefer the chase scene between Winter Soldier, Captain America and Black Panther. That was an awesome action sequence.
Image from Marvel Captain America official website.
7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
2016 is the year audiences were brought back to the magical world that were first created by J. K. Rowling through her Harry Potter series but in this movie we're following a new group of characters within the same universe. J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World is the new name for this franchise and I must admit, I'm excited for the next movie in the Fantastic Beasts series because this is a very thrilling world to explore. Even if you don't follow the Harry Potter series, I believe this film can still stand on its own and can still be very entertaining to watch. The film was a bit slow in the beginning but as the story progress, it became more and more exciting with quite a satisfying ending. I see it as a charming and quirky movie, and I love it for that. Initially planned to be a trilogy, the Fantastic Beasts series will now comprise of five films with the second installment set to be released in November 2018. Can't wait!
Image from Fantastic Beasts official website.
6. Moana
If you watched Moana, you will be immersed in the Polynesian culture because the movie is heavily influenced by it; the characters, the music, the plot, you can feel that the whole movie is like a celebration of it and it's very beautiful. It's very commendable for Walt Disney Animation Studios to do that. While Moana is a special movie in that sense (a celebration of the Polynesian culture), personally I find the movie is still great even outside of that. It has a good story, great characters with amazing voice casts, and a wonderful soundtrack. The animation (I mean the visuals) for this film is spectacular as well. Even though it doesn't quite reach the explosive box office numbers of its predecessor, Zootopia, the film still managed to earned quite a hefty load of money, with almost reaching $500 million of revenue for its worldwide box office.
Image from Disney Malaysia official website.
5. Train to Busan (South Korea)
This film received a lot of buzz when it was first released and I must say, it deserved all the attention it got because it is definitely a very good film. The beginning of this movie had a really good suspense build-up and you felt the tension as the horror of the unknown virus slowly catching up with our protagonists onboard the train. It was really suspenseful! Although I was quite unsatisfied with how one of the main character died near the end of the film (I felt the death was unnecessary except just to serve as a tear-jerker scene for the audience), overall I still love the film. It made me care for the main characters and it was really heart-breaking everytime a character didn't make it through. Despite being a horror movie, this film still have a heart, and that is why it is still quite high on my top 10 movie list of 2016.
Image source from Train to Busan official website.
4. Blair Witch
People might be surprised to see this film in a Top 10 list, or even called me crazy to even consider this movie as some of the best for the year. It is after all a low budget horror movie with all the usual tricks like the flying objects, scary noises and shaky cam, all that have been used over and over again in horror movies. So how come Blair Witch got into my list? To be honest, I really enjoyed this film a lot. It was really spooky and the climax of the movie, when the protagonists finally got into the abandoned house in the woods, was really scary. The time displacement element, like how some characters experience time longer than the others, was something I really appreciate too. The best part of the movie, in my opinion, is the creepy atmosphere it managed to create. It may not have a lot of action but the creepy atmosphere really got me at the edge of my seat. I just love this film, it's great!
Image source from Blair Witch official website.
3. Warcraft: The Beginning
Sometimes a film just resonates more in one country versus the other, and that seemed to be the case for this film. Warcraft's box office performance in United States was really poor, raking in just around $47 million but it was hugely successful in China, earning more than half of its total worldwide box office revenue of around $433 million in that country alone. That's impressive! I am, of course, very grateful that it managed to get that much money (even though it is still considered a box office disappointment because of its high production budget) because I am in love with this movie. It has so many great and interesting characters, the story had so many twists and surprises that captivated me while watching it, the visuals were stunning (especially the magic effects!) and the motion-capture performance of the actors were incredibly well-done. I'm not sure if they are still making a sequel out of it but I'm hoping they still will.
Image source from Warcraft movie official website.
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
I may have trouble understanding certain scenes in this movie when I watched it for the first time but I still ended up liking the movie. It is truly an amazing take on superheroes; putting them in a real-world environment, looking at the impact of how these super-being would have on us as a human race and how would the world react to such a discovery. There are so many layers to the story, so much depths, that it makes me appreciate the film even more as time goes by. There are so much hype for it before it was released, and while it seemed that it may not have reached the standard of so many people, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice certainly exceeded my expectations, in fact it gave me more than I would have hoped for.
Image source from Batman v Superman official website.
1. X-Men: Apocalypse
Yes, my number one movie of the year goes to this film. Many people might be surprised to see me placed this film at the top of my list simply because a lot of people usually viewed its predecessor, Days of Future Past (DoFP), as a more superior film but personally, while I really love the action sequences in DoFP, I much prefer the overall story of Apocalypse. The effective performances of James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto and Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse helped contributing to the quality of the film as well. There are a lot of great and memorable scenes and moments in this film, and it is a very entertaining movie to watch too. Not to forget the opening scene of this film was really superb! It was an amazing movie experience for me watching this film at the cinema and I love the movie very much. That is why X-Men: Apocalypse is my number one movie for 2016.
Image source from X-Men: Apocalypse official website.
So those are my top 10 movies of the year, thanks for reading! How's your top 10 movie list would look like?
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