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harry365in2016 · 8 years ago

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Top Movies Seen in 2016 NOT Released in 2016

Hey all! This is my list of the best movies I saw in 2016 that were not released in 2016. If you��re looking for the top movies I saw in 2016 that were released in 2016 check it out here! [Link forthcoming]

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm gonna be honest, aside from #1 choice, the rest of this list is in a rough order rather than definitive.

20) Sunset Boulevard (1950)

While watching Sunset Boulevard I couldn't understand why it was classified as film noir. That is, until it became painfully obvious why it was film noir.

Sunset Boulevard is a pitch black movie about how far people will sacrifice they're own livelihood just for a taste of that Hollywood fame and fortune. It's about what happens when someone loses their fame and is desperate to get it back.

19) Everest (2015)

Disasters scare the piss out of me. Both real life disasters and fictional ones. Knowing this I'm not sure why I willingly chose to watch this movie. Even though it terrified me I'm still glad I watched.

It's a movie that shows even the most professional, most capable people can succumb to mother nature. There's no cartoonish dumbness in this movie. The mistakes that were made by the expedition team were all small, understandable mistakes. It just so happens that they all piled up to contribute to one of Everest's most deadly periods in history.

18) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

In a lot of ways this movie and 12 Angry Men share thematic similarities. I happened to like 12 Angry Men more but this is still a great movie.

Atticus Finch (and by proxy Gregory Peck) are the human personifications of what decency means. Finch is a quiet gentle man who does not back down in the face of adversary nor does he give up on his convictions. He knows what's right and wrong and he fights tooth and nail for it.

17) The Limey (1999)

It's unfair to compare this movie to Memento but also completely accurate. Both movies are about the nature of memory and how it's colored by grief and trauma.

The Limey is one of Steven Soderburgh's best films. It's quiet and meditative until it's not. Terrance Stamp puts in a great performance as an aging badass who is seeking vengeance. It's also a movie that's sort of about the death of the hippie counter-culture movement from the 60s?

16) The Kid with the Golden Arm (1979)

I loved this movie because of how many characters were in it. It's a simple plot. One group of people are transporting money and goods. Another group wants to rob them.

But the characters! There's a duo called Long Axe and Short Axe, a drunkard who might be a special agent for the local ruler, and a fabled fighter who may or may not exist. The gang trying to steal the money and wares are ruled by a hierarchy. Their ranks include Golden Arm, Silver Spear, Iron Hide, and more outrageous villains.

15) Singing in the Rain (1952)

They don't make them like they used to. Singing in the Rain is a fun romp about a group of actors who are struggling to transition from silent pictures to talkies. It's fun, charming, and will make you grin like an idiot.

I genuinely loved this movie but also my opinion of it was colored by the fact that I saw it in a ginormous theater with a ginormous screen.

14) Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

The subtitle to this documentary is not lying. The story of the 1980s most infamous production company is amazing.

Aside from all the funny stories about how Cannon Films went about making their movies the movie is also an examination of what it means to be an artist who simply cannot help but make trash. The central figures to Cannon Films really did want to make good movies. They just time and time again ended up making at best B-grade flicks.

13) Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

This movie is an exercise in making a movie the most purely charming thing ever willed into existence. In other words it's charming af.

What I love about Kiki's Delivery Service is that it's mostly just a story about a young person trying to make their place in the world. It's all about the difficulties of setting off on your own. It's about the struggle to provide for one's self.

12) 12 Angry Men* (1957)

What does it take to stand up (metaphorically) in a group of people to fight for what you believe in?

12 Angry Men is a meditation on that theme. Like a lot of other classic movies I saw in 2016 I didn't think this was going to hold up to the hype. It does.

It's also a movie I think people should watch or rewatch from time to time to remind themselves of what it takes to fight for the rights of other people.

In this movie the 11 other jurors are ready to throw the defendant of the case under the bus simply because they're acting on lazy and harmful stereotypes. They're convinced that just because the young man comes from the wrong side of the tracks that he's inherently guilty.

*Yeah, I made 12 Angry Men my 12th pick for the year. Do something about it.

11) Sorcerer (1977)

Ostensibly this movie is a remake of 1953's The Wages of Fear (also excellent), however Sorcerer is kind of its own beast.

It's one of the most tense, terrifying, and stress-inducing movies I've ever seen. Four desparate men are tasked with delivering two trucks full of nitroglycerin through the rocky mountains of South America.

The company that hired them needs the nitro to stop an oil field that is on fire and won't unless they blow it up.

The movie ends up being a sweaty and ugly meditation on the hell corporations put random, everyday people through just for the sake of profit.

10) Gaslight (1944)

"Gaslighting" is a term that has risen in popularity in the last few years. The term comes from this movie.

I don't want to spoil anything about it. The story is about a newly eloped couple who move in together. Then the wife starts having mental "episodes."

The movie is one of the most psychologically gripping films I've ever seen. It does a great job of putting you in the wife's headspace. You feel her frustration and terror as she loses grip on reality.

9) Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Obviously the Creature is a monster, but I'm not sure why this movie is typically classified as horror. To me it's much more an adventure movie.

I'd hazard a guess that Michael Crichton loved this movie and it's what informed his writing. Cause it plays like a Crichton novel. A bunch of scientists discover that some lost creature is living in the lagoon and go to investigate. Along the way they have arguments about the scientific method and how to best deal with the creature.

8) Five Element Ninjas (1982)

There's a subgenre of martial arts movies that I love that I call "bat shit insane kung fu flicks."

Five Element Ninjas is one of the best.

Its story, if you can call it that, concerns a student getting vengeance for those who slaughtered the rest of his school.

The insane part is that the highest caliber fighters in this universe belong to a color-themed tier system of ninja clans each who base their fighting style off of Earth elements. There's the gold clan, earth clan, fire clan, and water clan. Each of these clans have looney ways of fighting. For instance, the gold clan is covered head to toe in gold cloth. Their clothes are so shiny it blinds their opponents.

This movie is sheer lunacy and I love it.

7) A Hard Day's Night (1964)

The best way I can describe A Hard Day's Night is that it's Animaniacs grandfather.

It's just a fun, absurd romp chronicling the life and times of the Beatles at the height of their fame.

It's movie magic. How many other pop bands tried to cash in on their fame with movies, tv appearances, or otherwise and failed miserably? This movie is lightning in a bottle that might not ever be repeated.

It's also barely a movie in that more than half of it is musical interludes (that also happened to inform the blossoming art form of music videos).

6) Casablanca (1942)

Gonna be honest, part of the reason I slept on Casablanca for so long was that I didn't believe the hype. I thought there was no way it still held up after all these years as one of the best movies of all time.

I was wrong wrong wrong wrong.

I'm in awe of this movie. I cannot think of many other movies in which literally every single character that comes on screen is a fully-formed character with their own rich backstory and traits.

This is one of those movies I want to get lost in. There's very few times in my life when I've wanted to immediately re-watch a movie after viewing it. You might wonder why it's not higher on the list but personal taste in art is a funny thing that's not easily explained. Anyway, the point is I still love this movie.

5) Inside Out (2015)

I guess it's called the Pixar Effect when you have a super charming and funny movie that turns on a dime to emotionally wreck you, yes?

Anyway, Inside Out, IMHO, might be Pixar's best movie to date. It's a fun, infectious movie that delivers a complex tale about how hard it is to grow up. Inside Out is one of those movies when you realize how important art is to explaining humanity. We might laugh at the Greek myths but what they were doing is no different than coming up with a brilliant metaphor for how memories and emotions are handled in the brain. In each case they're using the power of creativity and storytelling to figure out what life and humanity means.

4) Heathers (1988)

Heathers is my platonic ideal of what a satire should be. A heightened reality that is dark, off-kilter, and is still totally recognizable to audiences.

That a movie exists in which suicide is a fad is astonishing. Add a dash of everyday woes about surviving high school, a great performance from Winona Ryder & Christian Slater, and a hilarious script makes it for one of the best satires I've ever seen.

3) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

This movie is one that suggests the expansion of the west was not simply carried out by man. Rather, it was a chaotic force upon itself. Once western progress was started in this country there was nothing that could stop it. Even if you tried to stay out of its way it could ruin you. You could be prosperous from western expansion but you'd have blood on your hands.

Of course, since this is a Sergio Leone movie it's also wildly entertaining. It features a great performance from Charles Bronson as a harmonica-weilding gunslinger.

2) Rope (1948)

I think a lot of praise gets thrown to Rope for it's illusions of editing. Namely, that in Alfred Hitchcock's movie it is seemingly one long take. There's only a small number of cuts in the movie -- some of which are obscured cleverly.

However, I think this movie deserves praise for its story. In this film Jimmy Stewart flippantly suggests something awful should be legalized. What he doesn't realize is that he's inspired two younger men to take his word as gospel.

Words have meaning. When you speak you should speak clearly and without any sort of flippant tone. Not respecting language can lead to disastrous results. In the age of the Internet it's incredibly important not to mince your words. There's times that it's hard to suss out the meaning of what someone says online. In communication clarity is king.

1) Shock Corridor (1963)

Shock Corridor is a movie that is unbelievably relevant to today's societal woes. The movie concerns a reporter going undercover in a mental asylum to find out the truth why one of the patients died.

In his journey he crosses paths with patients who become bullhorns for different aspects of American society.

It is a relentless, strange, and ballsy movie. It's loud, brash, and sometimes uncomfortable. It's a great exploitation flick and an even better allegory.

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