The Year In Film: 2016

Introduction By @TrueGodImmortal
-With 2017 coming to a close, I thought that it would only be right to take a look back at the year before it in film. 2016 was a rough year all around for the most part, but the film world seemed to prosper on as usual. While years prior had seen some successful movies, 2016 would boast 4 films that grossed over 1 billion dollars worldwide, proving to be a huge year financially overall (this was also the first year that two animated movies made over 1 billion in the same year). In addition to that, there were 4 more films that made upwards of 800 million worldwide, so needless to say, there were a lot of people filling up the theaters in 2016. There were a number of records being broken for the juggernaut that is Disney, and that also includes the success of Marvel films. The superhero film genre and the animated kids film genre were equally the most popular this year and the amount of earnings they acquired back up that claim. Other genres were successful of course, and we'll definitely cover films from each genre. Let's start off by going through the first half of the year.

January was a decent month, but there were only two noteworthy releases for me and those were Ride Along 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3. Sequels are a bit watered down and over saturated these days, but I'll admit, Ride Along 2 wasn't too bad. However, a movie that did release in January that wasn't really that great would be the Marlon Wayans parody Fifty Shades of Black. February is a bit more forgiving in the film department, as it kicked off the month with one of the most acclaimed superhero films in Deadpool. Full of charm, deadpan sarcasm, and witty jokes, Deadpool is a favorite for many. Literally in the same week, the animated classic Zootopia was released to huge numbers. It is regarded as one of the best animated films and although I wasn't too keen on seeing it, it actually turned out to be better than I expected. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for another February film, Zoolander 2. Another unnecessary sequel. While the Jesse Owens movie Race debuted to mixed reviews this month, the awful Gods Of Egypt whitewashing film also came out in February, which takes the quality of the month down a bit. Still, overall, there were a couple solid releases in the month.

 

March was interesting. Overall, it was a fairly weak month, but there were a few interesting releases. For the crowd that loves black romantic comedies, you could catch Terrence J and Cassie in The Perfect Match (I advise against it). For the crowd that love a decent horror/thriller, there was 10 Cloverfield Lane. For those who love a high voltage action film, then you could check out London Has Fallen. In the unnecessary sequel department, we also have My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. The Divergent Series continued with Allegiant, and The Huntsman: Winter War also debuted this month, but I feel like I'm missing something. Oh, wait, I am. Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice was the biggest release of March and should have been the biggest release of the entire year. Unfortunately, we all know how that turned out. While the film had a few bright spots, and the introduction of Wonder Woman was done well, I don't think many people really enjoyed the movie. It's a film that had a ton of potential and managed to fall well below it. April was rather uneventful, unless of course you liked Meet The Blacks, the new Jungle Book, The Boss, or Barbershop 3. One disappointing release for April was the adaption of Ratchet and Clank, as it didn't really gain any attention and flopped. I hate seeing video game adaption flop or not be done well, and it's a shame because Ratchet And Clank is a solid gaming franchise.

May was a monster month for movies, at least in terms of earnings. Two of the biggest movies of the year were released in May, one of which is my personal favorite on the year. While many Marvel "fans" have criticized Captain America: Civil War, I actually enjoyed the movie a lot. Knowing what was expected to happen when I went into this film, I was waiting to see Captain America die, and well... it didn't happen. However, the introduction of Spiderman into the fray, along with the introduction of Black Panther made this movie really fun to watch in the theater and it was the most fun I had in the theater that year. Sure, there were parts that could have been executed better, but from the action to the post credit scenes, this movie has everything you wanted, entertainment wise. Another successful film on the year, Alice Through The Looking Glass was released, alongside another TMNT movie. However, the second biggest release of May was the disappointing X-Men: Apocalypse, which was a bit underwhelming in every aspect. It was solid in terms of action, but still lacked severely in multiple areas. 

Still, May was a successful month at the theaters overall in terms of earnings. June was a huge month, as Now You See Me 2, Finding Dory, The Conjuring 2, Independence Day: Resurgence, Central Intelligence, and the mega hit The Secret Life Of Pets all released this month. Finding Dory would gross over a billion dollars, marking Disney and their dominance even more. For the first half of the year, there were some solid releases, some good movies, and a lot of money being brought in for the film industry. I'll close out the year by talking the second half in the outro. For now, let's take a look at another opinion on the year 2016 in film.

@JADBeats
There were a lot of films that came out in 2016, a lot of which I heard were good. I've gotten around to seeing some. These are the ones that I really liked.
First, I want to discuss Arrival. Amy Adams plays Louise Banks, a linguistics professor who is tasked with the job of figuring out a way to communicate with an alien race that have come to earth with an unknown agenda. Another Amy Adams film I enjoyed this year would be Nocturnal Animals. The Good Neighbor was also a solid film about a pair of buddies who decide to play a joke on their crazy old neighbor who lost his wife not too long ago by rigging his home to appear haunted. Their torment on the old man turns into chaos they didn't expect. Another film that was a thriller that went wrong for unsuspecting people was Don't Breathe. Three friends try to rob an old blind man who they believe has a lot of money in the house. What they didn't account for was his keen abilities to use his other senses at an amplified level and he begins to terrorize them.

I really enjoyed The Girl on the Train. A woman rides the train everyday and watches a couples display their perfect love until one day she sees something horrible that no one believes her about then things get really interesting. Movies that start with "The Girl" never fail me.
Another good movie this year was Passengers. On a journey through space to a new planet, a man wakes up 90 years too early out of his sleeping chamber. As he gets lonely, he decides to wake a beautiful woman up and things go wrong on a few levels. Marvel got it right with MCU's Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange while FOX, WB & DC struggle to get their depictions right with X Men: Apocalypse, Batman V Superman, and Suicide Squad which were the letdowns for me this year.

Outro By @TrueGodImmortal
-Admittedly, in the second half of the year, I wasn't in the movies much. July was an uneventful month for me personally in film, but if you were into the foreshadowing of The Purge: Election Year, the forcing of an all female Ghostbusters, another sequel in Star Trek Beyond, or the poorly executed and named comedy Bad Moms, then July was the month for you. The two movies from July that I actually enjoyed the most? Jason Bourne and the super underrated movie The Infiltrator. Otherwise, July just had nothing for me. August wasn't much different either sadly. I refuse to ever watch La La Land, I didn't want to check out the useless sequel to The Mechanic, definitely had no interest in watching Ben-Hur, laughed only a bit at Sausage Party, and honestly, I regret going to see Suicide Squad. Those were the noteworthy releases for August and they were all mostly disappointing, with Suicide Squad continuing the DC Universe trend of poorly executed movies. 

September was another month that I wasn't racing to the theater, though a few critically acclaimed movies were released. Tom Hanks got a lot of appreciation for his role in Sully, while the animated Sing got rave reviews by many. If you were into disaster type films, Deepwater Horizon was decent. In the useless sequel department, we got Bridget Jones's Baby and a new Blair Witch movie. When The Bough Breaks was also released, and for black cinema, it was considered a slight success. For me, my two favorite movies of the month were Snowden and The Magnificent Seven. Neither film was a cinematic masterpiece, but they both were entertaining and engaging enough for me. October was actually an interesting film month, as it started with the interesting movie The Girl On The Train and the controversial Nat Turner story The Birth Of A Nation. However, for every shining piece of film released, there are terrible movies that offset it. Boo! A Madea Halloween is one of those, as is the Jack Reacher film which put Tom Cruise back in a role no one asked for. I personally enjoyed the Ben Affleck movie The Accountant and personally, I found Kevin Hart and his new What Now special to be mostly funny. October wasn't the greatest month by any stretch of the imagination, but it did have a few solid releases that I enjoyed seeing in the studio.

November was full of big releases, from Trolls to Doctor Strange (which continued the Marvel power) to Moana to Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, as well as the critically acclaimed Hacksaw Ridge. Admittedly, I didn't see any of the films listed above except Doctor Strange (that is correct, I haven't seen Moana), but I've heard great things about Moana and Hacksaw Ridge. December was a month that I did attend the theaters a bit more to close the year out, and my personal favorite performance came from a movie released this month. Denzel Washington was excellent in the movie Fences and honestly, next to Civil War, Fences is definitely a highlight of the year and my favorite movie. While there were other good films that were released, including the hugely successful Rogue One, the amazing Hidden Figures (which released in limited release on Christmas, then expanded in 2017), there is one movie I want to call out before I close this article. Will Smith. Collateral Beauty. This movie was awful. I watched it once recently and I wish I could get my time back for it. Will has tried to make a film to get that elusive Oscar, but this wasn't it. This wasn't the one. Will, please. Find better roles. All in all, 2016 wasn't a perfect year, but it was successful overall and gave us a number of good movies. Was 2016 a great year In film? No. Was it a solid year in film? Yes. Feel free to revisit some of these films and let us know your favorites in the comments below.

-DAR