MIKE SHAW'S BEST FILMS OF 2016

Maybe I’m growing up, but I don’t think there’s anything on this year’s list that anyone would violently object to - hopefully.

Midnight Special

One of this year’s runaway TV hits was Stranger Things, and Midnight Special is a spiritual twin: a sci-fi thriller with a gripping performance from a child, where you’re not sure what’s happening from one act to the next. Midnight Special may be based on a kidnapping, it may revolve around a cult, it may be about aliens… I’m not going to tell you, though. Watch it for yourself and enjoy its quiet mystery.

The Nice Guys

Shane Black has made his living out of zippy, violent, funny buddy comedies, and The Nice Guys is the perhaps the zippiest, funniest and most violent of the lot. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe play off each other brilliantly as two private detectives with wildly different ways of doing business, coming together to work an unpleasant case. You’ll feel guilty for laughing.

Deadpool

Deadpool should never have been made. It makes a mockery of its po-faced superhero movie rivals and the studios that churn them out. It smashes the teeth and pomposity out of Captain America with a bloody, spinning roundhouse kick. Some reviewers said Deadpool was needlessly offensive and needlessly violent. I say, in a world where comic-book movies feel safe and polished, Deadpool was hilarious and needed more than ever.

The BFG

My favourite author from my childhood plus one of my all-time favourite directors, I had high expectations for The BFG. It met every single one of them. Roald Dahl’s story is left completely intact, the perfect foil for Steven Spielberg’s magical whimsy. The CGI on the giants sets a new bar, while Mark Rylance’s performance gives the titular character real humanity and warmth. A beautiful, beautiful film.

Spotlight

It’s still quite surprising that Spotlight won Best Picture at the Oscars back in February. There are no big weepy scenes, no epic battles, no barnstorming elegies… What there is, is a harrowing real-life story (child abuse within the Catholic church), told by a brilliant ensemble cast. Spotlight is a small, restrained but ultimately powerfully angry masterpiece.

Secret Life of Pets

There were other excellent animated films this year, such as Zootropolis/Zootopia (it had two names) and Kubo and the Two Strings, but The Secret Life of Pets gets a spot on the list because it was better at one thing than anything else: it was funny. The kind of film Pixar used to make before Pixar went serious.

Arrival

Mix Close Encounters with Contact and Interstellar, and you’ll come close to Denis Villeneuve’s melancholic sci-fi movie. It’s an alien invasion film made by someone who watched Independence Day and thought “I’m going to do the exact opposite”. The story will play on your mind for days afterwards, as will Amy Adams’s emotional, mesmeric performance. Repeated viewing is not just highly recommended, it’s a necessity.

The Accountant

If anything on this list will surprise, it’s this – but The Accountant was slick and highly entertaining. Ben Affleck plays an autistic savant who’s amazing at maths and at killing people. Like Jason Bourne dropped into the middle of Rain Man. He makes his living cooking the books for bad guys and evil corporations, but why? The Accountant twists and turns and keeps up the suspense throughout.

Anomalisa

This is Charlie Kaufman’s first foray into animation, and as you might expect from the man who made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, it’s a bit odd.

He uses stop-motion animation to tell the story of a lonely motivational speaker (voiced by David Thewlis) who has a one-night stand in a hotel.

Even though all the stars are puppets, it’s somehow given Kaufman licence to make his most human, emotionally direct movie to date. Anomalisa is unexpectedly profound, funny and moving.

The Beatles: 8 Days A Week

There have been many, many, many documentaries about The Beatles before, but 8 Days A Week is different. Not just because it’s made by an Oscar-winner (Ron Howard), and not just because it has crystal-clear footage that has never been seen before. 8 Days A Week is different because it focuses on a very specific period (the band’s live career) and goes some way to recreating just how huge the Beatles phenomenon was, how universal their appeal was, and how incredibly electric the live performances must have been. It’s an astounding, absolutely joyous film.

Mike Shaw writes in the KM Group's What's On every week.