Ranking the 30 films of 2016 I've seen - yay or nay?

30. I Saw the Light

Pros:

• Tom Hiddleston's singing voice and charisma.

Cons:

• Everything else. It's generic musical biopic making at its worst as it bounces through every single cliche in the book, is directed in an extremely dull fashion, the dialogue is so on the nose as to what makes Hank Williams an alcoholic. Seriously, Hiddleston is the only good thing about the film, and even he can't escape some of its worst tendencies as he soon devolves into a repetitive caricature of a drunk musician.

Watch if: you really, really like Tom Hiddleston and can abide anything with him in it (I should note I'm a huge fan and I struggled through this).

29. Triple 9

Pros: 

• An invested Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson
• Decent opening heist scene and the attempted murder of Casey Affleck's character's scenes

Cons: 

• Terribly underwritten characters
• Waste of talent (even by the three aforementioned actors)
• A horrendously over-the-top Kate Winslet
• Plot begins to make absolutely no sense by the halfway point
• Poorly fleshed out allegiances, no idea who's targeting who
• Underwhelming direction by the usually solid John Hillcoat
• Extremely underwhelming conclusion.
• Extremely generic soundtrack
• For a film about cops vs criminals, 95% of it is not entertaining in the slightest

Watch if: you have nothing better to do. It could be fun iff you turn your brain off completely when watching it.  

28. London Has Fallen

Pros:

• Aaron Eckhart makes for a fine President of the United States, can only wish he'd have a better film to showcase his talents in as he really is quite a good actor. 
• The direction of the action scenes is competent enough.
• Morgan Freeman gets to make a speech.

Cons:

• WAY too many characters, and the few who stand out are mostly terrible. 
• Gerard Butler.
• The original ripped off Die Hard (kinda) but at least managed to find some clever ways of playing with the trope of 'lone man against terrorists', this one rips off the lesser sequel to Die Hard and does it extremely poorly, there's no linear sequence from one action scene to the next, every scene is just focused around how much chaos can be created. 
• Corny one-liners for Gerard Butler
• Manages to be both stupidly offensive and offensively stupid with its terrorist characters.

Watch if: I'm not going to lie, some of the action sequences are kind of fun, so watch if your immune to anything else and just want to watch some guns a'blazin' and a Scotsman growling.

27. Independence Day: Resurgence

Pros:

• Jeff Goldbulm Jeff Goldblum-ing.
• Nostalgia
• SFX is good.
• A few fun call-backs to the original (which I liked).
• One death is quite moving, even though it's handled in a completely generic, unoriginal fashion.
• Diversity casting!

Cons:

• One of the most boring leads of an action movie sequel in recent memory in Liam Hemsworth (makes me appreciate the likes of Chris Pratt in Jurassic World way more).
• Makes me miss Will Smith.
• I might need to re-watch but the film wasn't clear at all on what the aliens' plans were.
• 'Murica in excess (and not in a good way).
• Cinematography caused me genuine pain.
• Atrociously cheesy script (and unlike the original, not endearing in its cheesiness).

Watch if: you don't mind turning off your brain and pretending the best bits are just fun reprisals of the original Independence Day.

26. Me Before You

Pros:

• Sam Claflin is surprisingly good and moving.
• Emilia Clarke is extremely good for about 5% of her performance.
• The film's conclusion is quite moving.

Cons:

• Absolutely nothing you haven't seen before.
• Emilia Clarke is Razzie-worthy for about 95% of her performance.
• Some of the more underwritten characters feel less like real-life people and more obnoxious obstacle plot devices.
• Might be a problem with the source material or the handling of it, but has certain elements that could be constituted as offensive to families who take care of their disabled loved ones with compassion and kindness.

Watch if: you want a little nice weepie and can abide some seriously generic writing and underwhelming acting to boot.

25. Batman v.s. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Pros: 

• I'll get onto the problems with the character in a bit, but Ben Affleck actually gives a solid performance as Bruce Wayne, and a really good depiction of Batman.
• Wonder Woman, against all expectations, ended up awesome, as was Gal Gadot.
• The warehouse action scene.
• The soundtrack by Junkie XL and Hans Zimmer (especially Wonder Woman's theme).

Cons:

• Zack Snyder does his very best to veer Batman into near psychopath/murderous idiot territory, he doesn't entirely succeed because of Affleck's performance but it kinda ruins Batman.
• In his own film (supposedly a sequel to Man of Steel), Superman is the dullest, most passive non-entity imaginable.
• Female characters uniformly either underwritten (Holly Hunter's senator, to an extent Wonder Woman) or very poorly written and acted (Amy Adams and Lois Lane).
• Snyder not realising that Jesse Eisenberg probably cared very little about the film, and went about making Lex Luthor as excruciating to watch as possible. 
• Way, way, way too much stylized slo-mo.

Watch if: it's a very entertaining film in some regards, but unless you can forgive some of the most egregious errors it makes with regards to the iconic characters of Batman and Superman, and the incoherence of the plot and villain's plan...I can't recommend it.

Help me

24. Warcraft

Pros:

• Good special effects/mo-cap effects.
• One of the better video-game adaptations in recent memory.
• A decent lead and a fairly strong cast.
• Even with lesser material, Duncan Jones' talent shines through in particular moments, like the sorcerer scenes and the forest scenes.

Cons: 

• Certain scenes just feel like videogame sequences, and I'm sure fans of the games would probably prefer to be playing than watching them.
• Too much exposition.
• An underused Ben Foster.
• Too many characters, so that even the solid performances are somewhat muted by the lack of focus by the film

Watch if: this is the point in the list where films stop being 'bad', so to speak, and are more 'not terribly good, but watchable'. I wouldn't actually mind watching this again, to see if it improves on re-watch.

23. The Finest Hours

Pros:

• Based on a very interesting real-life story.
• The storm special effects are pretty darn good.
• Good score by Carter Burwell
• Casey Affleck's portion of the story as Captain Ray Sybert of the oil tanker is engaging.

Cons:

• Chris Pine's portion of the story, while not bad, is severely addled by a needless romantic subplot, and some incredibly monotonous on-shore scenes.
• While the storm scenes are impressive to watch, there's never a real sense of threat.
• The first and second act is really good, but the third act becomes a bit incoherent and sloppy in terms of editing. 

Watch if: you enjoy disaster movies and don't have too high expectations in terms of storyline. 

22. High-Rise

Pros:

• Solid performances from Luke Evans and Tom Hiddleston as intrepid reporter and reactive everyman.
• As per usual for Ben Wheatley, an intriguing visual aesthetic.
• Excellent score.

Cons:

• Besides the aforementioned two, the cast is uniformly underwhelming.
• Too much overly on-the-nose dialogue about class/ anarchy.
• Vignette after vignette feels a bit reptitive after a while; certainly no Snowpiercer.

Watch if: you're a fan of the source material so you can discern some of the more clumsily explained elements of the plot, or again if you're just a big fan of Tom Hiddleston.

His television work's been the highlight this year but Hiddleston's two
leading film performances have been solid enough

21. Grimsby

Pros: 

• Mark Strong and Sacha Baron Cohen make for a fairly funny comedic straight man, wild man duo.
• Some scenes reach near the point of hilarity (the elephant scene is disgusting but amusing).
• Unlike Adam Sandler, Baron Cohen doesn't mock stupidity but merely uses it for laughs, without ever seeming overly nasty about it.

Cons:

• Extremely offensive without being funny at certain points.
• Can tell a lot of scenes written purely around getting cheap laughs.
• Too many of the jokes miss the mark in certain scenes (i.e. between Nobby and his wife)

Watch if: it's actually fairly funny if you don't take it too seriously. 

20. Bastille Day

Pros:

• Richard Madden and Idris Elba make for an unconventional but charming action movie pair.
• The build-up towards the action-packed final act is well-done and quite intense.
• A good mix between the comedic and dark elements of the film.

Cons:

• Terribly fleshed-out villains, I still don't really understand their intentions.
• Again, like many of these films this year, fairly disposable/unoriginal on the whole.
• Tone is not self-aware enough at times to fully embrace its ridiculous action movie nature.

Watch if: you're looking for a fun buddy action comedy, and haven't set the originality bar too high.

19. Demolition

Pros:

• A fantastic lead performance by Jake Gyllenhaal that through the strength of it alone, gives so much life to the main character's erratic, odd bizzare behavious and grief-coping mechanisms, and through his emotional power and humorous touch alone creates quite the unique character.
• I can say one thing about this, it tries its utmost not to be generic, although...

Cons:

• It ends up being fairly run-of-the-mill anyway. The film isn't necessarily bad, there's just not much to write home about besides Gyllenhaal. All the side characters are either caricatures, or in Naomi Watts' case oddly written characters with seemingly random problems thrown at them just for drama's sake. 
• The direction, while having a few good points, mostly feels smug and overly clever.
• Despite Gyllenhaal's efforts, Davis Mitchell is still a bit of an unsympathetic prat.

Watch if: you really like Jake, and don't mind a film that's entirely his showcase. 

18. Money Monster

Pros:

• An invested George Clooney in the lead role.
• Though swift, the change from money-orientated tale of finance to a tale of humanity is fairly well handled by Jodie Foster's direction.
• Taut pace and fairly engrossing second act.

Cons:

• Takes a while to get going, and also meanders a bit towards the end. 
• Foster's direction, while solid for the most part, has a tendency to try to show off too many tricks.
• Jack O'Connell's performance as the hostage taker is a mixed bag, a great deal of potential with the part messed up by a poor accent and occasionally too broad delivery.

Watch if: the subject matter interests you, and you're willing to sit through a mixed bag for some intriguing food for thought.

17. Florence Foster Jenkins

Pros:

• A moving relationship depicted between the titular Florence (Meryl Streep) and her husband (Hugh Grant, giving a career-best performance).
• The musical scenes are effortlessly funny and entertaining.
• Excellent set design and costumes

Cons:

• Far too much mood whiplash in the final act for my liking.
• Besides the central duo, all other characters are mere ciphers/caricatures.
• Workmanlike direction.

Watch if: you enjoy feel-good romanticized British biopics, this is certainly of the better lot.

16. X-Men Apocalypse

Pros: 

• One of the best action sequences of 2016 so far, with Quicksilver's rescue mission at the X-Mansion to 'Sweet Dreams Are Made of Thee'
• First act has some of the most powerful acting of Michael Fassbender's career.
• The new trio of young mutants introduced (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler) are well done.
• Fantastic cameo by a certain character in one of the best scenes of the film.

Cons:

• TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Did they not learn their lesson from X3.
• The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are some of the most ill-conceived characters in recent film history. Not just comic book film history, recent films. Psylocke and Angel are particularly atrocious in their conception.
• Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, are ultimately wasted. 
• J-Law phones it in HARD. It's clear she doesn't want to do this any more guys.

Watch if: you don't mind enduring some truly low points in order to get to some rather excellent high points. Or if you just like the X-Men so much you don't half mind any film with them.

And we all thought he'd be the lesser Quicksilver. 

15. The Legend of Tarzan

Pros:

• Exciting jungle action sequences.
• A solid enough Tarzan as the lead and a funny if simplistic performance by Samuel L. Jackson.
• Instead of copying previous adaptations, actually bothers to carve a storyline of its own.

Cons:

• Christoph Waltz feels a wee bit uninspired this time round with his villain routine.
• Outside of Jackson, the film does feel a bit too dark and brooding at points for a Tarzan film.
• Could've afforded to expand on some backstory on Tarzan's youth and formative years, his relationship to the tribes, to the apes, etc. 

Watch if: you want a fun, engaging action film SFX extravaganza, you could do worse than this fine film. Just don't go in expecting a Hans Landa from Waltz.

14. Miles Ahead

Pros: 

• Don Cheadle's performance as Miles Davis is the best performance I've seen of 2016 so far.
• Don Cheadle's direction, while not perfect, has some truly inspired moments; as far as musical biopics go this is far more Love & Mercy, less I Saw the Light.
• Strikes a fine balance between the lighthearted and darker sides to Miles Davis' story.
• The soundtrack - but that's to be expected.

Cons:

• Tonally deals with shifts in mood quite well, but the past/present criss-cross cutting isn't flawless and results in some unresolved plotlines.
• Outside of Cheadle and Ewan McGregor, no one else really makes any sort of an impact.
• The ending isn't bad, but a tad bit anti-climactic.

Watch if: you want a thoroughly engaging insight, if not quite the complete version, of one of the most enigmatic musical minds of the 20th Century. Or if you just like jazz. 

13. Eddie the Eagle

Pros:

• It's a terrific underdog real-life sporting story. What's not to like?
• Taron Egerton is excellent as the titular ski star-wannabe, and Hugh Jackman is also good as his drunken instructor.
• Has a very good-natured, enjoyably relaxed sense of humour throughout.
• Avoids many of the potential pitfalls of films of this sort by never over-romanticising the underdog's aspirations, nor demonizing his opponents.

Cons:

• It is a bit generic in some regards to the supporting comic relief characters, and some of the 'ooh ye quirky Brits' jokes.
• A wasted Christopher Walken.

Watch if: underdog British tales are your thing, it 'aint Billy Elliot but it's not far off.

12. 10 Cloverfield Lane

Pros:

• Excellent utilization of 'one-setting' scenario to create a claustraphobic, tense atmosphere.
• Excellent lead performance and two solid supporting performances.
• Minimalist in its use of horror/sci-fi elements, making the gradual buildup very effective.

Cons:

• The last act, really. It throws away a lot of the subtlety of the first two-thirds and becomes a bit more of a generic science-fiction thriller. It's a fairly big issue but the strengths of the film on the whole more than make up for it. 

Watch if: you're feeling up for some chills and thrills. 

11. The Jungle Book

Pros:

• Excellent voice casting across the board, with Bill Murray and Christopher Walken being particularly inspired choices.
• A sense of childish enthusiasm in every frame that's extremely infectious.
• Songs, and sequences from the original adapted to perfection on the silver screen.

Cons:

• Nitpick but some of the voices didn't seem to match with the mouths of the animals perfectly, Shere Khan was a particularly notable example. 
• Like so many films this year, the last act was just not as good as the first two-thirds, though it's still perfectly fine and serviceable. 

Watch if: you're a fan of the original. Hell, if you like Disney, or song and dance, or animals, at all.

10. Love & Friendship 

Pros: 

• A delightful Kate Beckinsale spouting out Austen's lines like she was born to read them.
• Very concise, to-the-point direction places actors and lines at the forefront, giving it the vibe of a very elaborate stage play that works wonders for the source material.
• As is to be expected of an Austen period piece, costuming and locations are pitch-perfect.

Cons:

• Bit of a style dissonance between some of the actors, as some play their roles very broadly while the others seem like they'd be more content with a more subtle Austen piece. 

Watch if: it may not be for everyone, but if you like your good ol' romantic comedies but not so much of the How to be Single, more of the Emma variety, you'll love this. 

9. The Nice Guys

Pros:

• Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are an unexpected but brilliant comedic pairing.
• Some of the most hilarious onscreen moments of 2016 cinema.
• Airily subversive tone that showcases the best of Shane Black's style.
• Angourie Rice is a talented child performer to watch out for.

Cons:

• The mystery at it centre never really amounts to much.
• Too much tone whiplash at certain points, with the dark comedy and truly dark, upsetting moments not doing well enough to flow seamlessly together.
• Kim Basinger's two scenes nearly let the whole film down (thank god for Gosling saving those scenes by him basically taking the piss out of her performance).

Watch if: you're not expecting the next Kiss Kiss Bang Bang but want to watch another fun buddy comedy that doesn't mind taking the mickey out of itself.

8. Sing Street

Pros:

• Absolute bangers aplenty on the soundtrack, easily the best of the year so far.
• Naturalistic young actors and a rather impressive Jack Reynor.
• Pitch-perfect recreation of that 80's youth music scene and the music videos of the time, Duran Duran would be most proud.
• Really like what they did with the 'bully' character in this one as opposed to just comic fodder.

Cons:

• The priest villain character was extremely unnecessary as an adversary was not needed for the film to proceed as it did, also he wasn't all that bad really, making the protagonists' actions in the end towards him feel a bit extreme and unjustified.

Watch if: you want an Irish musical with lots of heart, if not necessarily lots of substance.

7. Deadpool

Pros:

• Ryan Reynolds making up for X-Men Origins: Wolverine by shining in the role he was born to play, you're as excited as he is every moment he's onscreen.
• Consistently hits the marks with its jokes throughout the whole second act, in which it never loses a beat in Deadpool's vengeful quest, with a laugh to be found in just about every frame.
• Action scenes, especially considering the budget, are terrifically done.
• Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead are terrific.

Cons:

• When you think about it the story is very rote and predictable, but it works well for the film.
• Visual aesthetic is a bit dull in some scenes,
• Underwritten love interest.

Watch if: you'll either love it or hate it. Based on most peoples' reactions you'll be more likely to fall into the former. 

6. Eye in the Sky

Pros:

• Engaging and VERY important topic matter discussed in a thoughtful, objective manner.
• A uniformly strong ensemble - not a single weak link in the whole cast.
• Never forces you to choose one side over the other but instead allows the viewer to be as torn as the characters onscreen with regards to the nuclear warfare decisions they have to make.
• A truly great ending.

Cons:

• None, really. I need to re-watch this, it could easily go up a few more places. 

Watch if: you want to be informed and engaged intelligently by a film - this is as good a place as any. Also, an extremely worthy swansong for Alan Rickman.

He shall be missed. 

5. Midnight Special

Pros:

• Throwback to science-fiction films of the past in the best possible way.
• Simple in the best fashion - it excludes any useless science mumbo jumbo in favour of a very strong emotional core to the story that the script and visuals realize perfectly.
• Michael Shannon isn't crazy in this, but he's just as great at playing a unique take on the loving father character - hopefully this might carry onto awards momentum.

Cons:

• Some may find the final revelations of the alien world underwhelming.
• Does not really reach a resolution with its ending.
• The religious cult subplot is somewhat underdeveloped, though I think it works well enough.

Watch if: instead of necessarily being thrilled or bamboozled with special effects, you want a film that hits you more in the heart than the temple. I loved it, personally, though I'll admit it's not flawless.

4. Everybody Wants Some!!

Pros:

• Richard Linklater reverts back to his more relaxed, less Oscar-baity routes, and I loved the film all the more for it.
• Just an enjoyably uneventful watch, and I mean that in a good way - rather than throwing our characters into a generic plot, the film just lets them develop at their own languid pace through a terrifically written script and uniformly good and hilarious performances.
• The jocks here are not gormless assholes as films find it so easy to portray, but just average joes in their own right who are so easy to like.
• A fantastic soundtrack and collection of songs that fit right in with the 80's vibe.

Cons:

• Maybe a bit too slight for some people? I was fine with it but it's more style over substance.
• Excess objectification of women I thought would've been more problematic for me, had Zoey Deutch's love interest character not been so thoughtfully written and well-performed. 

Watch if: you want nothing more than just a neat little throwback to the eighties that doesn't require you to wrack your brains, just sit back and enjoy the ride. 

3. Green Room

Pros:

• Well I love one-setting thrillers to begin with and this one utilizes the concept of a band trapped by Neo-Nazi skinheads to its full potential.
• An extremely worthy swansong for Anton Yelchin - you feel his character's every moment of pain and anxiety. Also great are Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, and Macon Blair.
• Jeremy Saulnier's direction is both thrilling in the more conventional sense but also darkly subversive and even comedic without seeming out-of-place.
• The sound editing is part of the highlight here as even without music, each scene seems to carry this sort of vibe or musicality to the clashing, banging, gunshots, barking etc. 
• The final act is INCREDIBLE.

Cons:

• The opening scenes were not as assured as the later scenes, which was fine because they're not bad, just take a bit of a while to get going (which may have been the point).
• Deeply uncomfortable to watch - not so much a flaw of the film, as a warning from me to not watch this if you're faint of heart. 

Watch if: you're ready to watch with bated breath, a truly terrifying and darkly amusing world where the rules are simple, get out or die.

If Imogen Poots doesn't become the next big thing, I swear...

2. Hail, Caesar!

Pros:

• Every role, small or large, is played to perfection, with the highlight being Alden Ehrenreich as the most endearing movie character of 2016 so far. 
• The laughs keep pouring in and the Coen brothers have so many outlets for them, slapstick, satire, in between, even in little dramatic moments there's always a guffaw around the corner.
• Each genre parodied, whether it be the olden Hollywood musicals or westerns, are played to perfection, as both loving homages and entertaining deconstructions.
• Each subplot is distinctive with its own style and never gets lost amongst the ruckus.
• It's the Coen Brothers letting loose and having so much fun - what's not to like?

Cons:

• I guess given the ensemble nature of the film, some of the subplots are given less focus than others. That's fine though as they all hit their mark.
• Maybe a bit 'slight' for the Coens? They don't plumb the dramatic depths of Inside Llewyn Davis but I don't mind, this is an entirely different film to that.

Watch if: you like/love the Coen brothers. If you don't this won't convert you, but if you do, I can guarantee that at the very least you'll thoroughly enjoy it.

1. Captain America: Civil War

Pros:

• Has a MASSIVE ensemble, but somehow manages to succeed where many similar Marvel/superhero ventures have failed: makes each and every character count, matter, have a pivotal impact on the storyline, and have an awesome moment (s) each, while never losing sight of this being Captain America's story. It also manages to introduce three major new characters without feeling shoehorned even though one of them technically was, as they're perfectly cast and written. 
• The first truly great Marvel villain.
• The airport action sequence is the best action sequence of the year, will take something Mad Max level to push it off its high perch.
• Has a strong emotional undercurrent to it amidst all the action, realized particularly brilliantly through Tony Stark/Iron Man.
• Feels both epic in scope and intimate in its emotions, a tough balancing act it pulls off.

Cons:

• If I had to nitpick, I'd say that General Ross and Rhodes/War Machine, though utilized, don't play as considerable a role in the proceedings as I'd have liked them to. Though Rhodes has a great scene towards the end of the film that's one of my favourites.
• I guess the romance between Cap and the new Agent Carter was a bit sudden, but I certainly didn't mind her presence at all as her funeral speech scene is one of the highlights of the film.

Watch if: you don't necessarily need to like superhero films, you just need to like well-made, emotionally powerful films that bend action, comedy and drama together seamlessly.