I know, by the time you read this, I’m effectively saying you should watch all these 5 films (assuming you didn’t catch any of them) on New Year’s Eve. Would that be such a bad idea though? These are some of the most amazing films to have come out this year. They span the gamut of genres, and are heartwarming pieces of storytelling that are absolutely worth every minute spent on them.
Well, not all of them are heartwarming, to be honest. But they’re certainly worth your time, or your money back… OK I don’t actually have the power to order a refund of whatever service you used to watch them, but let’s just say I stand by these 5 films for 2016.
“Zootopia” was funny, touching, smart, educational, layered, and pretty much the best Disney film this… OK it was tied with “Finding Dory” but I’d go with “Zootopia” for this year’s picks. I’m still surprised by how well it depicted the theme of racism without ever overtly saying that out loud. It was beautifully done and laced with jokes that help made it all the more palatable. If you have kids, bring them to watch this. You won’t regret it.
Or Netflix it or something.
“Deadpool” is perhaps the most underrated film that lived up to its hype, in the sense that the film delivered on the hype, but nobody hyped up the fact that “Deadpool” lived up to its hype. It wasn’t the best superhero film of its lot, but if you’ve got a friend who appreciates dark humour but hates superheroes because they’re all bright and colourful and thinks “Watchmen” is inaccessible, then “Deadpool” will change his mind.
Or her mind. Not discriminating here.
I’m not a small person so perhaps that might have contributed to my slight claustrophobia. Or maybe I’m a free-spirited artist who needs his space to be creative, so physical spaces confine my creativity. Regardless of whatever whimsical or practical reason behind it, yes, I am scared of losing my freedom, which is what the first half of “Room” is all about. It’s not so much that Joy’s life is controlled. Rather, it’s that she has so many restrictions, but still has to go about a functional life despite all that.
And Jacob Tremblay is amazing. He’s not as cutesy as Macaulay Culkin was back in the time, but he makes up for it with this scary intensity that few young kids have. This is an intense drama that showed you how little you needed to stir up strong emotions in your viewers.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (I am not sure if I’ve used this phrase in relation to “Train to Busan” either) – the success of “Train to Busan” comes from how it cultivated a good story while depicting zombies with a twist inside a horribly cramped train. The other side characters weren’t all that spectacular, but the relationship between Seok-Woo and Su-An was just heartwrenching.
Oh, and those mountains of zombies too. Seriously. They were like tsunamis.
1. The Kid from the Big Apple (我来自纽约)
And the most tearjerking film of all, one that left me a sobbing mess by the time it ended, a film where no reviewer left the cinema without sniffing at least once, is “The Kid from the Big Apple (我来自纽约)”. It’s the best film of the year because it moves you with such intensity that even real relationships might not hurt you as much.
It started out as a seemingly insipid story, but then you grew to see how the gap between the two main character, a girl and her grandfather, was nothing compared to the familial love between them. But only when their situation was jeopardised did you, and they, realise how much they had become family.
I’m really tearing as I write this because it’s one of the most touching films of the year, and one that deserves so much more commendation. I don’t know where to find it or where you can watch it now, besides pointing you to their Facebook Page.
It’s the best movie of the year.
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
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