Top 10 movies of 2016 Part One.

This is a list of my top 10 movies of the year. I didn't see a lot of movies such as: La La Land, Manchester by the sea, Moonlight, Fences, Monster Calls, Silence, due to my location. These movies might make my list, so when I watch all of them, I will make the second part. This year was a little disappointing in terms of big summer blockbusters, but I think this is one of the best years in movie history, it was rich and exciting. We had got (just think of it): Star Wars, Avengers (whatever), Batman vs Superman, Harry Potter franchise movie Fantastic Beasts, Bourne movie, Star Trek this year. Despite the quality of some of these movies, we have had an insane amount of highly anticipated movies in 2016. 

And I think that I have had one of the best movies of all time for me this year, I spend hours watching it again and again. This movie really became iconic for me, so I am so glad that I loved it. And this movie made №1 on my list. 

№ 10. The Accountant.

Starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick and J. K. Simmons. This is a movie, which I so unexpectedly loved, that it deserve number ten on the list. It may not be the best in terms of art, but in terms of fun and enjoyment it beats a lot of movies for me this year. Click here to check the full review.

№9. Hacksaw Ridge.

One of the best war movies I have ever seen. This movie is heartbreaking and heavy for the audience, sometimes it was hard to watch. This is a great story and brilliant execution. Mel Gibson made something special. Click here to check the full review.

№8. Moana. 

My favorite animated movie of the year. It is a wonderful, charming and adorable movie, filled with classic Disney style songs, creating a beautiful and adventurous atmosphere. It brings a lot  of fun and happiness. Click here to check the full review.

№7. Hell or High Water. 

A modern western with a very deep meaning and amazing execution. Performances are great, directing is very smart and powerful. This film leaves behind a true movie enjoyment feel. Click here to check the full review.

№6. The Magnificent Seven. 

One of those films that I didn't expect to be good. But when I saw it, it appeared to be very smart and even artistic. I love this types of movies a lot. This film struck me by the fact that it was something bigger than just being entertaining and funny. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. I loved the cast and their performances. Overall it was mind-blowing for me. Click here to check the full review.

№5. Deadpool.

Super funny and entertaining. Deadpool brought me so much fun and joy, that it definitely deserves to be number five. This movie blew me away by its boldness and crazy jokes. It was something very special. Directed by Tim Miller and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.  Click here to check the full review.

№4. Arrival. 

This is the movie, that can win an Oscar. It is so powerful and original that I think Denis Villeneuve deserves to win Best Director. This movie is deep and artificial, performances are just stunning and professional. This film is revolutionary and has so much talent behind. And I love it that much for that. Click here to check the full review.

№3. Captain America: Civil War. 

I think everybody loves this movie. This is one of the best superhero movies of all time. It has a unique feel and atmosphere, it is a very different from previous Avengers and Captain America films. I felt so thrilled and entertained, that this movie became one of my favorites comic book adaptations of all time. Such a great introduction of Spider-Man. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. What an amazing cast, what an amazing movie. Click here to check the full review.

№2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

My most anticipated movie of the year. I waited it as a huge Star Wars fan and always put it higher on my list of 2016 movies, just because I am a big fan. But it appeared, that this movie blew me away anyway, despite me being a big fan. The cinematography, the story, connections with The New Hope are just masterfully done. The third act of the film is one of the best in movie history, I loved this movie. But, this year there is one movie, that I loved and anticipated more after all. Click here to check the full review.

№1 The Nice Guys. 

And that is a masterpiece. I love it so much, that I would put it on the first place, even if The Force Awakens would come out this year. I love the atmosphere, the feel of this movie, Ryan Gosling is a genius, playing Holland March. Overall, the characters are the best for me this year. This movie made my summer, I lived by it, I admire it, I watch it when I am happy or sad, to improve my mood. The pace is brilliant, the comedy, which is so precise, makes it feel like this movie is made for true movie fans. Joy I had, just watching trailers before this movie even came out, made me happy every time. Thank you Shane Black, Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe for doing it.

This is my Top 10 list, it was a plenty year, I loved it. It was amazing in every way!

Mad Max: Fury Road 2015 movie review

An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and almost everyone is crazed, fighting for the necessities of life. 

Within this world exist two brave people, who by the twist of fate must go on the run together. Max (Tom Hardy) , a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of his mind following loved ones, whom he promised and failed to protect in the aftermath of the chaos. And Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a fighter and a woman, who believes, that her path to survival might be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland. She just as Max seeks escape from the doom place of Citadel, where is no hope or justice. Everything about this place is creepy and disgusting.  

One of the best action movies of all time. Mad Max: Fury Road stands out as a well made movie about the post-apocalyptic world, where everyone is mad and strange in their way. From the beginning, the movie impresses with its quality and immediately sets the tone and creates an emotional impact on the audience. 

I love the atmosphere, the region in which events take place, due to its despair. Action is the best part of the movie. We rarely get this kind of action, which simply grabs the viewer and gives us one of the best action movies of all time. This action is built on brutal music, violence and atmosphere of madness, created by a wonderful cinematography, editing and score. The pace is very quick and rapid, there is no slow and boring parts in the film. 

The story itself is very simple, but it does not matter. All entertainment forgives the lack of a great story. The movie still has connotations of philosophy, which is expressed in the desire to escape from the terrible reality. Some people choose to forget or not see the cruelty of the world, and this movie is about hope and redemption. George Miller did a fantastic job in this project. It combines previous Mad Max idea with modern technology and well founded film. 

Inferno 2016 movie review

The latest movie in Da Vinci franchise about professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), who specializes in art, history and symbols. Inferno has a terrific cast, very respected director, but even that does not save the film from destruction by the critics and bad reviews from the audience. And in financial terms the film flopped, in comparison to the previous two. It belongs to the category of 'OK' and even a little entertaining, mostly for lovers of antiquity and mystery, but for me Inferno is the weakest of the three films. 

Quite a fine mythology, but, overall, this movie as a whole does not make the most good impression. Due to unstable pace, bad editing choices and cinematography with shaky camera shots, this movie feels like other two, but more with the sense of boredom, especially in the second act, when the plot already revealed and there is no intrigue, because it is cliched and predictable and even riddles didn't entertain me. But, on the positive side, this movie is quite adventurous and good looking in terms of views, there are a lot of beautiful places and works of art to look at. 

The plot itself is not as bad as the overall movie, which is not awful bad, but more average. (I just do not mind this trilogy and understand why so many people hate it). Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital with a head injury, having lost memory of events in the last 48 hours. He doesn't know what is going on, what he was involved into. Langdon escapes from the hospital from the assassin with the help of doctor Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), who helps him remember what is going on and solve the riddle that has some relevance to Dante's Inferno and the plague, which is able to destroy half population of the planet. Now they are on the run from the police and secret organization, which has something to do with it, led by Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan). The plague, created by Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) makes sense in terms of current issues of the world. 

This movie is not necessary, but it has some entertainment, may be for some boring evenings. It is enjoyable for some people, but for me it seemed like no one cared except Ton Hanks. He is one of the few actors who respect their work, despite the lack of motivation in a good performance. Actually, I think that Felicity Jones's and Irrfan Khan's performances were good as well. This year is the busiest in Felicity Jones's career and now she became a good action star, thanks to Star Wars and even this movie.

The film shows a pursuit for unraveling the path that had been left by Zobrist to get to the plague. The issue about the world's population increasing to an insane amount is the principal in the movie, it's something like global warming for many people: one of the reasons of the destruction of the mankind.

A lot of negative reviews coming from critics and deservedly, but this movie is not for the theatrical viewing, rather for home. Towards the end I just wanted it to end quicker, but overall there was something interesting in this movie. I guess, I'm not one who hates those three films.

Ant-Man 2015 movie review.

Five years ago, in the Marvel cinematic universe it would seem to be no place for such unknown properties as Ant-man or even Guardians of the Galaxy, when nobody heard of them. In fact, Marvel owns a huge number of unique characters, about which some people do not even know. Everyone knows Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, but not Ant-Man. Marvel, as always, is very tactical and skillful with their projects, even changing the genre sometimes to the most suitable. Ant-Man turned out to be a heist genre, with a light family tone and atmosphere of an entertaining adventurous film. It's not a big blockbuster, this is one of the smallest movies in the MCU. Therefore, the heist comedy is a very suitable choice for this project. The tone also fits the character of Scott Lang. He is very funny and likable guy. So this is the film, which combines perfect concept and quality execution alongside cool action and great characters. The humor is really well put. It doesn't hurt the story, it works as a little distraction for the film not to feel serious and dramatic.

The movie begins with a meeting between Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Howard Stark in S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, after which Hank promised to keep his formula secret from anyone else. 

Scott Lang (Paul Radd) is an electrical engineer, a robber and a father of a little girl. He just walked out of prison and now he is trying to rebuild his life. Getting a not prestigious job, because of a conviction, attempting to improve relations with the family, he has to pay child support to see his daughter. Realizing that he can not see her in a year, because he have to pay a lot of money, Scott agrees for the robbery of a house, which, according to his friend Luis (Michael Pena), contains a huge safe inside. Cracking the door Scott doesn't find anything, other than an old suit. In surprise, that the safe didn't contain any money or jewels, he steals the suit and discovers its secret, pressing the button on the suit, diminishing himself to the size of an insect. 

At the same time, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), a former student of Hank, reinvents secret Pym formula and wants to sell it, as a weapon, to the most dangerous people in the world. Actually, for me, Corey stall made a good villain. He has vision and motivation. He is smart and harsh. Of cause Pym can not allow that to happen and he comes up with the plan to steal Cross's suit and destroy any research data. That is why he needs the best burglar, who is up for the superhero job. 

Hank Pym is a scientist and a loving father, trying to protect his technology, so it is not to fall into the wrong hands. He has difficult relationship with his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), mostly because of the death oh her mother and Pym being secretive. A parallel between Hank and Hope and Scott Lang and his daughter is a very strong and important part of the film. Relationships between fathers and daughters. Scott still has a chance to fix the situation, but Pym doesn't. Old and young generations. 

Overall, the movie is very entertaining and funny. Characters are perfectly matched, given that the movie contains a huge amount of talent. This film is for all comic book and movie fans, and it will be also enjoyable for the casual audience, because of its light tone, which adds more to the story and makes this film likable and family friendly. I must mention Michael Pena as Luis. He is remarkable as a sidekick.  The soundtrack is pretty awesome by Christophe Beck, it is strong for this kind of movie.

The directing by Peytone Reed is great, he did it just as good as it could have been. The movie really hooked me by its comedic and funny atmosphere. The pace of storytelling is proper for the genre. The most advanced technology and awesome studio direction allowed this movie to happen. I didn't love this movie, I liked it a lot. There are moments in the movie, when I laughed and clapped, but it is a little too forgettable to be something special in my heart.

Mud (2013) movie review

A quiet town, beautiful river. Life flows quiet and easy in this place. Two boys, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) love to take a boat and float down the river. Once on the boat, they find a remote island and a hanging boat on a tree. In it lives a man Mud (Matthew McConaughey). He tells his story that he is hiding and looking for his girlfriend. In exchange for the old hanging boat, boys begin to float to the island every day to bring him food. And then Mud began to involve them in his business.

This is a wonderful story about mostly love, but also relationships with parents and determination of what is good. This movie is beautifully directed. Every shot is made for a reason, showing difficult situations, a lot of powerful and important issues. The composition of good and strong storytelling also adds a nice feeling, thus you just enjoy the action.

Mud is a very mysterious man, he needs some help. The police is chasing him for murder of a man, who has beaten his girlfriend Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Mud's love to her is obvious, he admires her and does everything for her. This story on the examples of Mud and Juniper and Ellis's parents shows how complicated love can be. Ellis's conversations with his dad about love and how it is to be a man, and his parentless pal Neckbone, who never knew his  parents shows a huge input of simple life relationships in this movie.

This film can be called brilliant. It perfectly shows relationships between fathers and sons, even uncle with his parentless nephew. Beautiful cinematography, this movie is very nice to watch. Performances are great, whether it is McConaughey or Witherspoon, huge breakthrough for Tye Sheridan. This movie is perfectly done. Independent feel brings a lot for the movie perception. This is that kind of movie, that you  can call art.  

Suicide Squad 2016 movie review.

Quite primitive script, lack of good dialogues, rare effective phrases some may even find cool and creative, cool pop music and unnecessary scenes just to add awesomeness is not an indicative of a good movie. It's not for everyone, based on the tone they used and direction they choose, but many people really enjoyed it, and I'm very happy for them. But, I'm afraid, at the second viewing, I fully realized the senselessness of this movie. I'd say it works as a collective view on the opening day, when fun exceeds the importance of good quality of the film. 

I completely agree here with critics, Suicide Squad is not a good film. It succeeds as an entertaining and focused on a very specific audience film. So I would not evaluate this movie as something serious. Because if I would, than by all means, this movie is trash. But due to the large number of people, who really like these kind of movies, including me, despite the fact that I prefer quality films, without pathos (and this is the part it reminds me of Transformers), Suicide Squad was very successful in financial terms. For a benefit of the movie adds also the fact that the characters themselves, however, turned out to be very well made. This project has a great potential in the future, but I would prefer a little more respect for simple movie fans and not wasting that potential next time. 

The story is very simple. Captured villains forced to go on a very dangerous operation, about which they know nothing. They have a good chemistry between each other.  So this whole idea to have the most crazy and dangerous people and meta-humans together works. 

The movie has flaws. The storytelling is very choppy and sketchy. Enough good directing still darkened by poor script. The villains are just not interesting and very ridiculous, especially brother's full CG look. This movie is for people, who doesn't mind this things and just has fun of this kind of tone and stories. The characters turned out great, even Joker. My favorite character is captain Boomerang. Simply because he has less pathos than anybody else. And Jai Courtney's performance is just wonderful. He is just a supporting character and had little screen time. May be this is why he worked so well for me.  

Overall, the movie is for a very special category of people. I personally do not like the tone and style of storytelling. The whole movie seemed to me too vague. Still it's obviously not the best movie this year. It is clearly worthy of such low ratings from critics.

Eye In The Sky (2016) movie review.

There is an important issue, that never been discussed in cinema, before this movie. It is a political thriller, which raises the issue of morality in terms of people who whether gives authorization to strike or people, who pull the trigger. But it is not an ordinary military operation, as we know it from elder times. Now it is a drone, which can destroy targets from the sky. This is why the movie called Eye In The Sky. In modern times this is an option, how the government of the UK (or other countries, which has this technology) eliminate key members of terrorist organisations. And those pilots and commanders, who are responsible for these launches to destroy targets from the sky, are doing their jobs and encounter moral and mental issues, when it is time to pull the trigger  

Members of states, who are working together to destroy the terrorists, also face the same problems. They discuss and come to the conclusion, which is then transmitted to the headquarters, where commander of the operation gives direct order to the drone pilot to make a shot. Of course such situations require a carefully considered decision, and if there is a problem with the law or regulation, it might be reconsidered, otherwise it will lead to a negative result. It can either be the death of many innocent people, or the defeat in the propaganda war. 

Anything is possible, and the movie thus shows the human factor. Even in a time of modern technology, when the person who pulls that trigger is sitting on the other side of the world, there is a huge portion of real human problems with murder. This film is a political thriller. It contains a large number of discussions, arguments and disputes about the destruction of a single house, in which sit three important persons in the list of priorities for elimination. But there is one little girl, who sits in the blast radius, selling bread. And this movie shows all the emotions and problems that arise when such a difficult decision to be made, in case, when there is a choice between sacrificing one person to dozens. 

In general I can say only positives about the movie. It perfectly shows all points of view, moral and other issues faced by the characters in the movie. This film, directed by Gavin Hood, perfectly tells the story of a Colonel (Helen Mirren), who runs the operation and the pilot (Aaron Paul), who must pull the trigger. The pace of the film is very favorable for this genre, it also has a very intriguing tone, by which the viewer cares for the characters, their choices and what each one of them sees to be important. Of course, there is no tragedy for the main characters, it's just their choice what to do and deal with the aftermath. 

Overall, this movie touches on so many different issues and fully reveals their essence. Whether it is an issue of war casualties or moral and human principles of the characters. This film is very interesting as an art. Performances of actors are great, the movie was brilliantly shot and edited, it really deserves attention. And, this is one of Alan Rickman's last roles, so this is definitely a great reason to watch it. 

Nocturnal Animals (2016) movie review.

Nocturnal Animals is a cruel thriller. It is intense and creepy, but some parts of it are not just dark, but fascinating as well. This movie is directed and written by Tom Ford. The story is very complicated, it contains three different timelines. 

In the first one - present, Susan ( Amy Adams) is an owner of an art gallery, living in Los Angeles with her rich husband (Armie Hammer). Their relationship is cold and it looks like they are about to break off. Her life is full of disappointments, but still, she achieved stability and even behave like it is all right. She receives a manuscript of a new novel called Nocturnal Animals, which is dedicated to Susan, written by her ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) , with whom she poorly broke twenty years ago. And now she decides to read this novel and we visually see, what she learns. 

This is a second timeline - fictional. A story of a man and his wife and daughter. They are on a trip to some little town in Texas, they drive on a lonely road at night. Before this part of the movie, events have already been rough and harsh, but it gets even more, when this poor family was forced of the road and intimidated by three impulsive freaks, who are no more than just local bandits. They stop this family, start blaming for nothing, then playing with them, which makes these three so bad and annoying. And Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays one of them, does a good job of making the audience nervous. So the husband who was also played by Gyllenhaal, just can not protect his family and they got kidnapped after all. Reading that Susan, in present day, is shocked by the content of the novel, how dark it is, and we see it, as the tone of the movie goes tougher. 

In the third time line we see relationship between young Edward and Susan, before and after they married, it explains a lot for two other timelines and adds character development for Susan. She is so different after twenty years. So these three stories are connected and supplement each other and make each one another more understandable.

The story within the story is the main part in the movie. It has Gyllenhaal( as Tony, the husband), Michael Shannon (as the policeman) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as the bad guy). This story is so dark and interesting, that it really thrills. And overall, it is so sad, that even feels tragic. But, in the same time it is well told, makes you think and touches you. 

Maybe the contents of this story sometimes creepy, but it is a good combination of dark and intimidating tone with amazing performances by everyone in the movie, which makes it even great, but overall, I didn't like this film. For me it is too much, the tone of the movie is too scary. The opening thing is just way too much, so overall, I am not a big fan of bad and ugly stories. This movie is just not for me, but I really appreciate the story, it is something. 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story non-spoilers review.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. This review will be non-spoiler, because I do not want to affect anyone, before seeing the movie, so I will just describe my feelings and non-spoiler related thoughts. 

Firstly, this is the best action-adventure movie this year. I am a big big Star Wars fan, I may consider myself that, because how personal I feel watching new Star Wars movies and much more, I just love it, it is half of my life. And as a fan I adore Rogue One. It is just the best. What a way to combine the galaxy together, add this story to New Hope, that we would appreciate it so much more, because very soon, after hundreds of hundreds of views, everyone would see this, (I would say episode, but it is a standalone), as an organic story, not even noticing that Rogue One was released decades later. 

Being a standalone means a lot. It doesn't have particular Star Wars saga episodes feel, but it certainly doesn't need to. It is as good, as it could have been, but I would love it much much more, say a decade later, just because right now I think of this movie as a brand new, but I would prefer see it as an all time settled part in the Star Wars timeline.

So far I wrote enough, but it is a tiny part of what this movie is worth to be told about. It is a different style of storytelling, pretty risky, but brave move. But as much as the studio wanted to separate a standalone with the saga, Rogue One still felt like a Star Wars movie. The music, effects, dialogs, lore, everything, even little cameos of known characters, some of them gave me chills and made me cry of happiness. 

The music by Michael Giacchino was not as good as John Williams's score, but it was good enough to say that this is Star Wars. It haven't got this unrepeatable feel, as saga films had, in terms of soundtrack, but still, Rogue One score is atmospheric and good. 

This is a war movie, it felt like a war movie all along, it was an amazing point of view for me to perceive the universe. There are a lot of new and interesting characters, they are all great. It is Jyn's story all the way, it is about her family, Erso's family. This is already enough said. The movie enjoyable at every part, I am so happy that battle scenes were as good as possible, but last twenty minutes are better than every war movie ever.

"Sully" 2016 movie review

Captain "Sully" Sullenberger ( Tom Hanks) landed a plane on Hudson in 2009. This is a miracle to happen, he and his second pilot ( Aaron Eckhart) lost two engines on the lowest altitude in history, and still every 155 passengers, including the crew, survived. This is a big event in US history, so there is only one person for the job - Clint Eastwood, who recreated the event so well, that every little detail was counted in and then shown. This movie stands out for me as a great biopic, told in a documentary manner. The drama of this event is very complicated. Sully landed a plane and saved everyone, but there is still doubt that he did a right thing, that didn't try to land in the airport. So the investigation of this water landing is to reveal the true circumstances, which leaded for the decision to land on water. 

This is a story of an old captain, who was a pilot for 42 years. He is experienced professional with a talent to fly. This movie shows what is he going through after the accident. His thoughts, feelings, emotions - this is what the movie is about. And of cause the hearing to determine if he made a mistake. 

The movie gracefully connects the past and present, shows us the link between Sully's thoughts and feelings with the present. This investigation and the accident worries him a lot, he has nightmares, he is under a lot of stress, after all this popularity he gained, and it all influences him. 

All story spins around the investigation and the landing. These events are shown masterfully, this is a good storytelling. Everything felt so natural, due to Tom Hanks's performance you feel like it is happening for real and it is not some action stunt, it is a real life. If you are well familiar with piloting yourself, than you going to love this movie. It is filled with so many technical details and thoughts, that you are going to find it very entertaining. And this movie is not long, only an hour and a half minutes . This a very compact story, but in the same time it is complete and so well told.