Best of 2016?

[Andrew Michael Price]

I know this is early, but is there a general Best Of thread out there already for this year? (I'm needing to start research early on this topic and would love to know what others have seen!)

I tried searching for it, but didn't come up with anything. Also, I'm not a power user by any means, and I think I accidentally started this thread in the wrong place.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Andrew Michael Price

[SDG]

Moved to Film Awards, Festivals, & Lists. 

[Darren H]

I always keep a running list at Letterboxd. I haven't seen many 2016 films yet, but the top four is really strong.

[Darren H]

For what it's worth, here are my favorites of 2016, broken into different release categories. I'm really proud of the fact that six of my top ten US releases screened (or will screen) at my microcinema in Knoxville, and if all goes as planned at least four of the yet-to-be-released films will screen there this spring.

 

Favorite New Films Released in America
1. Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days, Arnaud Desplechin, 2015)
2. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2016)
3. No Home Movie (Chantal Akerman, 2015)
4. Rak ti Khon Kaen (Cemetery of Splendor, Apitchatpong Weerasethkul, 2015)
5. L'ombre des femmes  (In the Shadow of Women, Philippe Garrel, 2015)
6. Shan he gu ren (Mountains May Depart, Jia Zhang-ke, 2015)
7. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2015)
8. The Fits (Anna Rose Holmer, 2015)
9. Elle (Paul Verhoeven, 2015)
10. Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, 2016)

Favorite New Films Yet to be Released in America
1. AS WITHOUT SO WITHIN (Manuela De Laborde, 2016)
2. Ears, Nose and Throat (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2016)
3. Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, 2016)
4. The Lost City of Z (James Gray, 2016)
5. Die Geträumten (The Dreamed Ones, Ruth Beckermann, 2016)
6. Dead Slow Ahead (Mauro Herce, 2015)
7. La fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2016)
8. Der traumhafte Weg (The Dreamed Path, Angela Schanelec, 2016)
9. Ma Loute (Slack Bay, Bruno Dumont, 2016)
10. Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu, 2016)

Favorite New Films I Saw for the First Time in 2016
1. AS WITHOUT SO WITHIN (Manuela De Laborde, 2016)
2. Ears, Nose and Throat (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2016)
3. Nocturama (Bertrand Bonello, 2016)
4. Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days, Arnaud Desplechin, 2015)
5. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2016)
6. The Lost City of Z (James Gray, 2016)
7. Die Geträumten (The Dreamed Ones, Ruth Beckermann, 2016)
8. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2015)
9. Dead Slow Ahead (Mauro Herce, 2015)
10. La fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2016)

[Joel Mayward]

Though I've yet to see a few key films which have potential to be favorites--such as Silence and Paterson--here are my top 20 films of 2016.

1. La La Land
2. Tower
3. Sing Street
4. The Fits
5. Moonlight
6. Hail, Caesar!
7. Cameraperson
8. The Innocents
9. Hell or High Water
10. Knight of Cups
11. Arrival
12. The Edge of Seventeen
13. Love & Friendship
14. The Witness
15. O.J.: Made in America
16. Last Days in the Desert
17. The Witch
18. Loving
19. Manchester By the Sea
20. Swiss Army Man

Happy New Year!

[Andrew]

What an excellent year at the movies!  30 films that could easily have made my Best of 2016 list, so it was a tougher winnowing process than usual.  Here's my final result:  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/secularcinephile/2017/01/best-films-2016/

[Benchwarmer]

Like a lot of other people, I found trying to narrow my favourites down to be a very difficult task this year. 2016 struck me as an above average year at the movies in many respects.

Two disclaimers:
1. I'm likely to come back and edit these lists in the coming weeks, so they are very much in flux.
2. Y'all here at the Arts and Faith community will likely notice that a lot of the movies I list are stuff that you would have seen last year. That's because (like every other year) my lists are going by Australian release dates.

My favourites (in order of preference):

1. PATERSON
2. 45 YEARS
3. BROOKLYN
4. LOVE & FRIENDSHIP
5. THE RED TURTLE
6. HELL OR HIGH WATER
7. SHERPA
8. ARRIVAL
9. HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
10. THE JUNGLE BOOK
11. TRAIN TO BUSAN
12. SPOTLIGHT
13. HACKSAW RIDGE
14. DOCTOR STRANGE
15. QUEEN OF KATWE

Runners-up (alphabetical order):

1. APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD
2. THE BFG
3. EYE IN THE SKY
4. HAIL, CAESAR
5. KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
6. MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
7. RAMS
8. SULLY
9. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE
10. THE WITCH

Honourable mentions (alphabetical order):

1. THE BIG SHORT
2. THE FOUNDER
3. LIFE, ANIMATED
4. PETE'S DRAGON
5. SAND STORM
6. SNOOPY AND CHARLIE BROWN: THE PEANUTS MOVIE
7. STAR TREK BEYOND
8. STEVE JOBS
9. YOUR NAME
10. ZOOTOPIA

Edited January 8, 2017 by Benchwarmer

[Evan C]

My top ten (plus more) with write-ups.

1. Silence
2. The Witch
3. Cameraperson
4. Paterson
5. The Handmaiden
6. Our Little Sister
7. Hell or High Water
8. The Edge of Seventeen
9. Love & Friendship
10. Certain Women
11. Tower
12. Jackie
13. The Fits
14. Right Now, Wrong Then
15. The Innocents
16. Arrival
17. A Monster Calls
18. Sing Street
19. Eye in the Sky
20. The Young Messiah
21. 13th

[SDG]

Somewhat belatedly, my top films list (there are 10 runners-up and 10 honorable mentions): 

1. Paterson
2. Cameraperson
3. Silence
4. The Red Turtle
5. O.J.: Made in America
6. Love & Friendship
7. April and the Extraordinary World
8. The Witch
9. Arrival
10. Queen of Katwe

I also did my usual round-up of top 10s from Christian cinephile friends and peers… and the top picks look strangely familiar…
 

[Justin Hanvey]

#1 The Red Turtle

#2 Arrival

#3 Midnight Special

#4 A Monster Calls

#5 The Girl With All the Gifts

#6 Finding Dory

#7 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Leaving some room til I see Silence, Moonlight and Loving but 10 Cloverfield Lane is in there, along with Ouija Origin of Evil and the Conjuring 2 and Green Room, also Zootopia so I guess it's a top 15, oh and Doctor Strange 

Edited February 25, 2017 by Justin Hanvey

[Justin Hanvey]

And now thanks to you I'm gonna add Paterson to my will see list