Warrington Guardian's pick of the best films of 2016

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Starring: Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves

Living up to its name, The Neon Demon is probably the most visually arresting film of 2016.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s movie is a dark, unsettling and unconventional ‘horror story’ about the beauty and modelling industry.

It features a star turn by Elle Fanning as you have never seen her before as she becomes warped by her quest to become a pin-up.

The film’s later scenes are extreme and will split viewers.

But Refn’s story has a lot to say about how the industry feeds on insecurities about appearance, shape and size and makes people distort their bodies – and minds – in a quest for ‘perfection’. Uncomfortable but compelling viewing.

9. FINDING DORY

Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane

Featuring the voices of: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill

Created by the geniuses at Pixar, Finding Dory not only looks gorgeous but has all the heart of its predecessor, Finding Nemo.

This lovely film, featuring a wealth of voice talent, is about the importance and meaning of family.

Set a year after Finding Nemo, Andrew Stanton’s story sees Dory, (Ellen DeGeneres), a blue tang with short term memory loss, finally remember that she was separated from her parents when she was young.

She sets out to find them with clown fish Nemo (Hayden Rolence) and his dad Marlin (Albert Brooks). It is funny, compelling, has a host of great characters, old and new, and will entertain parents as much as it will their children.

8. Captain America: Civil War

Directors: The Russo brothers

Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson

They have battled a Norse god, an alien army and a malevolent artificial intelligence. But who would have thought that the Avengers’ best film outing would be when they fight each other?

The story sees the icons, plus many newcomers like Black Panther and a certain web-slinger, come to blows over the introduction of legislation to control superheroes.

The two sides are led by Captain America (Chris Evans) who refuses to sign ‘The Sokovia Accords’, fearful of losing his independence, and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) who feels superheroes need to be kept in check.

Civil War offers a more intelligent brand of comic book movie where its thought-provoking themes about the moral implications of vigilantism match its big action sequences and special effects.

7. Spotlight

Directors: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams

Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy’s film is a tribute to truth and justice winning over adversity.

It happens a lot in the fictional worlds of Hollywood but not so much in real life which is what makes this true story all the more remarkable – and shocking.

The immaculately constructed film tells the story of how investigative journalists at the Boston Globe newspaper uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and the cover-up within the city’s Catholic Archdiocese.

With many true stories turned into films, artistic licence needs to be taken with the facts and certain details need to be embellished to bring them to life.

But Spotlight is about as understated as you can get and is better for it.

As intriguing as it is heart-breaking, Spotlight harks back to the dense story-led films of the 1970s, like All The President’s Men which focused on the Watergate scandal of the Richard Nixon presidency, which really packed a punch.

6. 10 Cloverfield Lane

Director: Dan Trachtenberg

Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr

British director Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of this masterclass work in mystery, tension and suspense.

John Goodman has never been scarier as conspiracy theorist and survivalist Howard who claims to have saved a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) by locking her up in his basement.

He comes to her ‘aid’ after a car crash and says that the outside world has been infected by a chemical attack but is he telling the truth and what are Howard’s real intentions?

His demeanour snaps from saviour to threat and back again in an instant with precious little information available to confirm what is really happening.

10 Cloverfield Lane could almost work as a piece of theatre with Trachtenberg building up the relationships and tensions between Michelle, Howard and his other ‘guest’ Emmett (John Gallagher Jr) in a confined space.

This claustrophobic film will keep you guessing and turns numerous genres on their head.

5. Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Director: Taika Waititi 
Starring: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata

This wonderfully quirky film is Taika Waititi’s love letter to New Zealand. The director is best known for Flight of the Conchords and What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople shares a similar kooky sense of humour.

The film, based on the novel by Barry Crump, focuses on Ricky (Julian Dennison), a young ‘delinquent’ who has been raised on hip hop and rejection until he finds a fresh start with selfless Bella (Rima Te Wiata) and cantankerous Hec (Sam Neill)

But a series of unfortunate incidents see mismatched pair Hec and Ricky go on the run together in the outback.

The off kilter story about family, the notion of home and acceptance is funny throughout and the interactions and evolving relationship between Hec and Ricky is delightful.

4. The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins  
Iconic filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has never been more theatrical than he has with The Hateful Eight.

The blood soaked western is mostly set in one location – an isolated shelter during a snow storm – and the director turns this to his advantage with masterful storytelling and suspense.

All is not as it seems at ‘Minnie’s Haberdashery’ as strangers meet through necessity to escape the blizzard.

Following on from Django Unchained, Tarantino continues to explore racial tensions bubbling under the surface with the film set a short time after the American Civil War.

And Tarantino toys with viewers’ perceptions of who they should trust and root for – if anyone.

The Hateful Eight is a slow brooding film, filled with suspense and mystery, but it thoroughly rewards your patience if you stick with it.

3. Doctor Strange

Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton

It was a character that was barely known outside of comic book circles. But Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange became a huge hit with bigger box office takings in its opening weekend than Thor and Captain America. 

Perhaps this was because the subject matter was so cinematic: a mind-bending story where reality can be manipulated, time can run backwards, multiple universes co-exist together and warriors fight on buildings that fold in on each other Inception-style.

Cumberbatch plays Dr Stephen Strange, an arrogant but gifted neurosurgeon in New York, who loses his surgical abilities after a horrific car crash.

And when conventional medicine fails him he heads to Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu, Nepal, in search of ‘The Ancient One’ (Tilda Swinton).
Strange is no true believer but his cynical mind is blown wide open by what he sees, experiences and then learns.

The joy of watching a film like this is that the special effects have caught up with the grand themes. This supernatural thriller also boasts a good sense of humour and a charismatic lead performance by Cumberbatch.

2. ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk 

Gareth Edwards described filming Rogue One as the realisation of a boyhood dream and you can feel that enthusiasm and passion in this movie.

The Star Wars spin-off imagines the lead-up to the first classic film in the series, A New Hope, by showing how the Empire’s Death Star plans fall into Rebel hands.

It is a delight to see how Rogue One ties into the 1977 film and pays fan service while never losing its integrity as a standalone story. 

But it also breaks new ground offering a heist story, a war movie and a love letter to Star Wars all in one.

It is well paced, the attention to detail is incredible, the humour is great thanks to Alan Tudyk’s enforcer droid K-2SO and Felicity Jones, whose star keeps rising, is well chosen as the lead, Jyn Erso.

On top of all that you also get to see the return to the screen of arguably cinema’s most iconic villain, Darth Vader. 

What’s not to love?

1. The Revenant

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film shoot for The Revenant is described as one of the toughest in movie history with cast and crew having to endure the remote wilds of Alberta in west Canada with temperatures rarely making it above -30C.

But it was truly worth it for this Oscar-winning film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which is immaculately directed and acted.

Alberta stood in for Montana and South Dakota in 1823 in this partly true story about frontiersman Hugh Glass who is left for dead by members of his own hunting team after being mauled by a bear.

This well-crafted story of survival, fortitude and revenge is a triumph for filmmaking in every way.