So it’s time for the BMAF Top 10 films of 2016.
A year which saw us bored by comic book heroes: Batman V Superman; Suicide Squad and Doctor Strange all were okay but not 5-star movies for us. We also have to add Captain America: Civil War, it may have had a great battle scene but we honestly felt we’d seen most of it in trailers.
On the subject of trailers, 10 Cloverfield Lane showed you don’t need a massive trailer campaign, get us intrigued and we’ll see the film!
Books we have read, transferred to the screen well, with Me Before You and The Girl With All The Gifts both bringing the pages to life.
The sequel also sadly delivered some shockers: Alice Through the Looking Glass; Independence Day: Resurgence and probably our least favourite film of the year, Zoolander 2 failed to capture what we loved about the original films.
Disney, it has been reported have had a huge box office year, thanks in part to Marvel and Star Wars franchises have done well in our top 10 this year too.
So what films made our top 10 then, let’s find out:
Based on the writer of one of Harry Potter’s schoolbooks, this prequel tale took us to New York as we saw many great and wonderful creatures, with Niffler stealing our heart. Whilst we enjoyed it, it looks like its proposed sequels will bring more as it brings us up to the Harry Potter timeline we know so well.
Basically Toy Story with pets, we enjoyed this film as we related to many of the animals habits to Pepper, but we’re not sure non-pet owners would enjoy it as much. A sequel is planned where we hope the chihuahua makes a bigger appearance =)
Tim Burton brought Ransom Riggs book to the screen, and whilst we felt some of the changes from the book unnecessary, this had a feel of some of the vintage Burton films, we certainly enjoyed it more than some of his reboots of late.
An alien film with a difference, Amy Adams was just amazing in this film which relied on communication between our space visitors, rather than CGI explosions of famous landmarks. Director Denis Villeneuve brings us Blade Runner 2049 next and on this performance, we can not wait to see it. If you like intelligent Sci-Fi this is unmissable.
A comic book film not made for grown-ups as Ryan Reynolds is superb as the wise-cracking, crude super hero. Violence and strong language made this a comic book film like none we had seen since the likes of maybe Blade and it was all the better for it.
Poor Ryan, as his wife Blake Lively beats him in our top 10 in this tense thriller about a surfer having to avoid a shark. We are a sucker for a shark film and whilst some shark films such as Sharknado are a bit silly, this felt original. Blake and a Seagull are almost the only characters in the film, yet it really held our attention. It is however slightly let down by a daft ending however.
We went into this film hoping to enjoy it simply because of the pathetic bile thrown at it on the internet, we hated the director Paul Feig’s Spy but loved Heat so were not sure if we would. However, great laughs, good special effects, we nearly considered putting this at 1 just to make a point about giving the film a chance, we still don’t know why it is still receiving the constant hate as other film sits dare to include it in their best of the year. (NB: This would certainly be no.1 for our 3D film of the year)
After helping Marlin find his son in Finding Nemo, in this sequel Dory remembers about her family and goes on another quest to find them in a marine park. Adding in some messages about marine conversation and great characters, Hank the octopus won a lot of hearts but Gerald was the real star for us.
Disney again, but wow, a great buddy film about a fox and a rabbit teaming up to solve a crime. Delivering important messages and addressing issues such as hate crimes as well as being a fantastic film, we can not recommend this enough.
And at number 1: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
As last year, it’s the Star Wars franchise that takes our top spot, a great prequel to the 1977 film that started it all, we see how the rebels get those all important Death Star plans. A great story and effects, we loved this, Star Wars fans will love it, it has some issues but it takes nothing away from the film.
So that’s our top 10 but we’re sure some you won’t agree with and that is the joy of movies, so what are yours, we would love to hear from you.
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