Preemptive Retaliation

I watched almost 200 films last year. I’m not going to list them all here, that’d be silly. Instead I’ve picked the ones I liked the most, and I’m going to talk about them.

Room: A rollercoaster of feeling and emotion. Brie Larson is incredibly convincing in her role and I felt the dread and horror of being stuck in that room for years. It felt like I was holding my breath for the entire escape scene, and then the rest of the film was slowly getting my breathing back to normal. Anna cried throughout the whole thing, big wet tears that half the cinema were shedding too. It was expertly done, and really hit hard with me.

Zootropolis: This was a surprisingly adult film. It was a detective noir story with a jaded cynic and a naïve optimist as both of them realise the world they had crafted for themselves wasn’t quite right. There was action and danger, and a double-fake-out plot that made me think of Chandler or Hammett. It’s a film that might not be high art, but I’ve watched it three times now and each time I find a new joke or reference or delightful little thing that keeps me coming back for more.

Green Room: I loved this for the same reason I loved Blue Ruin… it felt honest. There was weight to the character’s actions. They reacted like real, scared people. They didn’t know what to do or where to go, and the violence was muted and terrifying. Sure, it get a little crazy in the end, but when it’s a bottle-movie about a bunch of people freaking out, it shines its brightest.

Seven Samurai: Watching this is like watching a video on how to create a table. You see how it’s done, and then suddenly you realise you know how thousands of other tables were made, and how they drew from this instruction to make them great. Watching this was like finally being included on one big inside joke; all the references, the homages, the thefts and influences all became clear as day to me. It’s an incredible film, with engaging characters and story, and it’s just beautiful.

Sing Street: If I had to pick a movie as the definition of “fun”, here it is. I thought I wouldn’t like it, but I ended up grinning throughout the entire runtime. It was fantastic music and a charming little story, and it really captures that point in your life when you’re letting your tastes define you. Ah I want to watch it again now.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople: I didn’t know anything about this movie before going on – who was in it, the director, the story – and I was really surprised by how good it was. It’s got solid laughs every minute with such charismatic characters and a compelling bond between them. It’s almost like Hot Fuzz, with Ricky being the action-obsessed cretin while Hec is the straight man who just wants to be left alone. This is the film I’ll recommend on movie nights to sit and laugh with my friends.

Kubo and the Two Strings: This is my favourite film of the year. It’s beautiful to watch and listen to, and I was utterly charmed by the story and journey. It felt like a movie that children could watch that had real stakes. People died, they weren’t coming back. The hero was facing a powerful and malevolent monster. It’s a film I don’t want to watch again, not yet, because I like thinking about it and remembering it, happy that there’s this little spark of brilliance still in children’s films.