“Wow big year. Well yes, big year personally, particularly with the move and all. But big year movie wise. New personal record. Drumroll please….
129 total movie screenings
minus 3 repeats equals 126 distinct movies
minus 4 specials equals 122 new movies seen.
That's two more than last year's record cumulative total of 127, and beats the previous year's distinct new movie record of 117. Years prior are irrelevant as they don't even come close. Let's not even think about calculating costs of tickets and concessions and transportation.
And because I'm a dork who keeps track of these things in a spreadsheet during the year, let's dig into the rest of the stats! Or maybe you just skip down to my fave and not so fave picks.
As far as scores, here's where we ended up
\m/ \n – 2
\m/ \m/ – 7
\m/ \m/ \n – 20
\m/ \m/ \m/ – 34
\m/ \m/ \m/ \n – 24
\m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ – 35
From the lack of lows we can deduce one of the following conclusions. Either:
-Movies are getting better
-I'm getting better about not forcing myself to see movies I know I won't like
-I still can't bring myself to give a bad movie a bad score
I think we all know it's a combination of 2 and 3.
Location, location, location! 22 theaters across 5 states!
By city it's Boston-75, LA-44, Laredo-6, Chicago-2, NYC-2.
By theater we've got AMC Boston Common-57, The Landmark-11, Cinemark Howard Hughes-9, AMC Marina Dine in-5, AMC Marina Marketplace-5, Apple Cinemas-5, Kendall Square Cinema-5, AMC Santa Monica-4, Arclight Culver-4, AMC Assembly Row-4, Alamo Drafthouse Laredo-4, AMC Century City-2, AMC Chicago-2, AMC NYC-2, Arclight Santa monica-2, Laredo Cinemark Mall-2, The Brattle-1, Chinese Theatres-1, Cinemark Playa Vista-1, Coolige Corner-1, Somerville Theater-1, Jordans IMAX Reading-1.
And here's the whole dang list of movies
The Big Short, Joy, Carol, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakes, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, The Forest, Dirty Grandpa, 45 Years, The Tribe, The Finest Hours, Kung Fu Panda 3, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Hail Caesar, Zoolander 2, How to Be Single, Deadpool, The Witch, Risen, Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2, Triple 9, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Eddie the Eagle, The Brothers Grimsby, Zootopia, The Bronze, Allegiant, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Eye in the Sky, Midnight Special, Demolition, Everybody Wants Some, The Boss, The Jungle Book, Harddcore Henry, Green Room, Elvis and Nixon, The Huntsman: Winter's War, Keanu, Captain America: Civil War, Money Monster, The Nice Guys, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, The Lobster, X-Men: Apocalypse, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Angry Birds Movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Now You See Me 2, Warcraft, Finding Dory, Central Intelligence, Tickled, One Man, Two Guv'nors, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Legend of Tarzan, The Purge: Election Year, Swiss Army Man, The Purge: Election Year, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, The Secret Life of Pets, Ghostbusters, The Infiltrator, The BFG, The Shallows, Star Trek Beyond, Lights Out, Bad Moms, Nerve, Jason Bourne, Suicide Squad, Sausage Party, Hell or High water, Florence Foster Jenkins, Ben Hur, War Dogs, Pete's Dragon, Equity, Mechanic: Resurrection, Southside with You, Don't Breathe, The Hollars, The Light Between Oceans, Sully, Labyrinth, Snowden, The Magnificent Seven, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Deepwater Horizon, The Girl on the Train, Birth of a Nation, Desierto, The Accountant, American Pastoral, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Inferno, Doctor Strange, Trolls, Hacksaw Ridge, Loving, Arrival, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Moonlight, Edge of Seventeen, Manchester By the Sea, Nocturnal Animals, Bleed for This, Allied, Lion, Moana, Bad Santa 2, Jackie, Miss Sloane, La La Land,Office Christmas Party, Rogue One, Fences, Elf, PassengersSing, Collateral Beauty, Why Him, Assassin's Creed, Patriot's Day, Silence.
Now the fun part. As of this exact moment, here’s my top 10 of the year.
1->The Lobster – This is one of the most unique films I have ever seen. This year was good about sprinkling in this quirky indies amidst all the rehashes. The absurd tone and weird humor are unlike anything else, and most impressive is how it’s consistently maintained throughout. I almost wish there were more movies like this, but then it wouldn’t be special.
2-Manchester By the Sea – As I said when I wrote it up, one of the best screenplays in recent memory. Very real and emotional with the right amount of humor and a top notch cast. I’m really psyched to see how far it goes during awards season. I’m slowly starting to come over to Team Manchester instead of Team La La.
3-Hell or High Water – Such a simple, but compelling and relevant movie. This is one that really stuck with me for a long time after. I was excited to rewatch it when the DVD arrived, and it was just as good.
4-Patriot’s Day – We were very close to a last minute upset. Immediately after watching this, I wanted to jump it to the top of my list. I reconsidered after coming down from the movie high. Yes, I do grade on enjoyability more than quality (hence me saying they’re my faves and not the best) but even then I realized it had an unfair advantage and the other three were more deserving.
5-Eye in the Sky – On the surface, it didn’t sound like anything too exciting, but it was one of the most surprising and suspenseful and affecting films I saw all year. Plus an incredible cast. Not too many people heard of this, but it bests most summer blockbusters.
6-Hail, Caesar – The Coens can be so hit or miss, but there was no question Hail Caesar was a hit. Original and funny and just weird enough Would that it twere so simple.
7-Captain America: Civil War Just when I was complaining about how hackneyed the superhero movie genre was becoming, we get a breath of fresh air. This is the way to do a big movie that still hits on all the expected elements while bringing in something new and fresh.
8-Sausage Party – A common thread on this list? Originality. And what’s more original than animated grocery food with crude humor and foul language seeking to escape the human oppressors who will eat them. Hilarity (and mental scarring) ensues.
9-Ghostbusters – I don’t care what the critics and public at large had to say. As a woman in tech, this movie was everything. It appropriately paid homage to the original and was pretty dang funny.
10-Swiss Army Man – So maybe this one is actually the most original on the list. It should never have worked, but it did and it was beautiful. Side note: Daniel Radcliffe has said that of all his filmography this far, this is the one he is proudest of. As he should be.
Honorable Mentions (not in order): The Hollars, Doctor Strange, Snowden, Tickled, The Purge: Election Year
But for everything that is good, there is something that is bad. Sometimes really bad. Which brings us to:
1-Dirty Grandpa – Not even Zac Efron’s abs could save this. It was boring and unfunny and kinda made me uncomfortable at times. Just say no.
2-Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – Nope, nope, nope nope, nope. DC took all the wrong lessons from Marvel’s success (yet again) and put together an unfocused and dull movie that was frankly kinda dumb at times. Try again next time. Or better yet, don’t.
3-The Legend of Tarzan – All I remember about this movie is that I fell asleep. Not even Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd’s abs could save this
4-The BFG – It wasn’t bad, just boring. Once we got past the wonder of the set up, I really didn’t care anymore.
5-Assassin’s Creed – Didn’t really expect to see this on the list, but the film really didn’t have any real redeeming qualities. Big misfire of a snoozefest.
Dishonorable Mentions (not in order): THe Forrest, The Brothers Grimsby, Collateral Beauty.
And that’s a wrap on 2016. Here’s to more movies in 2017! Maybe some will even be good!!”