some of the Oscar-y movies that I finally got to see since 2016 ended.

A couple things to note up front, 1, while I am talking about a lot of more serious,

Oscar nominated films, I will also be talking about some movies that are definitely not

nominated for any awards, but are just movies that I saw since the year ended that I kind

of wanted to talk about.

2, there are times of the movies in the description so you can skip around as you please.

3, I’ve already talked about Hacksaw Ridge in my top 10 movies of 2016 video, so check

that out if you wanna hear my thoughts.

Long story short, amazing movie, 10/10, it was my number 1 of the year in that video.

And 4, while I have made a big effort to see as many 2016 movies as I can, there are still

some that I have missed, because maybe a 15 year old kid who has a ton of school work

and a limited amount of money can’t see everything.

Also, quite a few of these just did not come out where I live or won’t come out until

like April, so movies that are nominated for some Oscars that I have yet to see:

Fences, Moonlight, Patriots Day, Jackie, The Lobster, Silence, The Founder, and Nocturnal

Animals.

Alright, with all that said, let’s get into this kind of extra 2016 movie wrap up starting

off with Arrival.

Arrival is a movie that I’m really not gonna talk a lot about, and in fact throughout this

whole segment I’m only gonna use pictures.

Because I went into this movie knowing basically nothing and I think that is definitely the

best way to watch this movie.

I want people to experience this movie the same way I did, so without going into any

plot details, let me just say, this film is phenomenal.

Everything in it comes together perfectly, all the performances are outstanding, the

movie’s pacing and editing is fantastic, the technical side of the film, like the sound

design and the cinematography is superb.

I alsos thought this had one of the best and most memorable scores of 2016, which is why

I personally was really surprised that it didn’t get any Oscar nomination for it.

I haven’t seen Passengers, but I’m willing to bet a lot of money that the music in this

movie is better than in that.

The movie’s very much a slow burn which absolutely works, the twists along the way

are intriguing, it’s a very unique, tense, and original film.

And the ending is great.

It really leaves you thinking after the film is done, and it totally messes with your head,

I absolutely loved it.

Arrival is amazing, if you haven’t seen it, check it out, I’ll give it a 10/10.

Ok, now let’s take a tad bit of a break from all the serious stuff and talk about

a movie that I was interested in seeing since it came out despite not so great reviews,

Hardcore Henry.

In case you don’t know what this is, this is the first person shot, r rated action movie

about an android (?) called Henry who is on a mission for revenge.

And ultimately….I kind of enjoyed this.

It is far, far from perfect, but I think it was a very unique kind of movie and I can

appreciate how much effort must have gone into this.

Firstly, what I liked, by far the best thing about this movie is Sharlto Copley.

I don’t wanna spoil his role in this, but it is very, let’s just say versatile.

And Copley nails it, had me laughing consistently throughout.

The action like I said is also very impressive, there are some incredible stunts that left

me genuinely wondering how they were pulled off.

Some of the action is great, some of it is not, like the climax for example which I found

to be a bit disappointing.

And I guess this is where we talk about the bad stuff.

This is a movie that I would definitely describe as exhausting.

It never really lets up, and plus the first person perspective (especially in some of

the action) did start giving me a bit of a headache.

I cannot imagine how people could’ve watched this whole thing on the big screen.

This movie is also very very violent.

Like, it takes a lot these days in terms of movie violence to have me saying, ahhhh this

is actually quite off putting.

But the violence got so extreme sometimes where I was like, this is just a bit upsetting.

So just know that going in.

Ultimately, there’s not a ton to say about this movie.

This has a super video game feel to it, from the way it’s shot down to the story (of

which there isn’t all that much) and the villain (who’s super over the top).

I think this movie will be loved by a very specific type of viewer, and will be hated

by a lot of other people.

As someone who I guess kind of falls in the middle of those, I thought this was alright.

Check this out if it seems like something you’d like, it certainly lives up to its

name, I’ll say that much.

I’ll give Hardcore Henry a 6.9/10.

Next there’s Disney’s latest princess movie, Moana.

I had been hearing great things about this movie for weeks following its release.

And now that I’ve finally seen it, I can say that it’s….pretty great.

I don’t think it’s a new Disney classic, I don’t even think it’s better than Zootopia

actually.

But I had a lot of fun with this film.

The voice acting all around is great, especially from the main two leads.

Dwayne Johnson continues to be the modern day movie star, and newcomer Auli’i Cravalho

is just as good.

The two of them are really funny together, I was chuckling consistently throughout.

The animation is also stellar here, as is to be expected from Disney these days.

Especially the water animation, I mean just look at that.

The music is also pretty good, personally my favorite song is You’re Welcome, but

I can see that Moana’s main number also seems to be pretty popular.

Really, all I can say about this movie is that it’s a really fun, enjoyable romp.

My problems with this movie really lie in the story.

It’s a bit of a just generic Disney story.

It felt a lot like a mix of The Emperor’s New Groove meets Hercules….on water, which

is a fun mix, but I could tell where it was going for about 95% of it.

But all in all, I left the movie with a smile on my face.

While quite predictable and nothing really special in the story department, the rest

of the movie is a ton of fun for both adults and children.

And even though most of it felt a bit cookie-cutter, there were a few segments that I thought were

actually really creative.

I just don’t really have a ton to say about this.

I’ll give Moana an 8.5/10.

Next up is a little movie called Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

Look, I’d just say, watch the trailer for this movie and if it looks like something

you’d like, then you’ll like it.

This is a really quirky New Zealand comedy by Taika Waititi, who has done other really

quirky comedies but is also doing the next Thor movie, which is one of the main reasons

why I checked this out.

And I had such a fun time with this.

If you wanna take a break from the insane and often not very pleasant world we’re

living in right now, watch this movie, because it’s such a nice fun break from reality.

It’s so ridiculous and funny and heartfelt, it’s filled with likeable and hilarious

characters, it’s well written, well shot, and really well edited, it’s just a well

made super fun movie.

Sam Neill gives one of the best performances of his career, the kid who plays Ricky is

also great, the woman who plays the Child Protective Services woman is amazing.

Again, if you just wanna laugh and go on an adventure with characters that you really

like, watch the Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

The movie goes from amazing to good towards the end as a lot of movies seem to, but most

of it is still excellent, and even the ending made me smile, it’s just a movie that makes

you smile.

I’ll give it an 8.7/10.

Now there’s a little movie called Manchester by the Sea that came out, aaaaaaand yeah,

it’s pretty depressing.

That’s kind of been the joke around this movie, how depressing it is, but yeah, it’s

a pretty sad movie, not gonna lie.

But with that, it is also an extremely well made film.

This has not only some of the best performances I’ve seen all year but I would say the most

real performances I’ve seen in a movie in a few years.

Cuz even in movies with great performances, I guess I just didn’t feel like I was watching

completely real people like I did in this movie.

Casey Affleck gives maybe the best performance of the entire year, Lucas Hedges is fantastic

as well, Michelle Williams is great, there’s not a single person in the movie that I thought

was just ok, everyone’s great.

The movie’s well shot and really well edited, similarly to Arrival not getting nominated

for best music it surprised me this didn’t get nominated for best editing.

A shot will often stay on a thing more than you’re expecting it to and this really helps

you feel like you’re not watching a movie and that you’re actually there with the

characters.

The movie’s extremely well written, again, it feels very real, and really, the best way

I can sum up this movie is that it’s 2 hours and 17 minutes of compelling nothingness.

A lot of this runtime is just nothing that’s pushing the story forward happening, but it’s

all interesting because it’s making the characters feel more and more real.

The movie is very slow, not a lot happens, just know that going in.

But it is still really really interesting and compelling because of these characters,

performances, and writing.

Somehow I was never bored once while watching this.

Something that also helps is that in addition to feeling very real, the characters are also

quite relatable.

I’m assuming there are a lot of people who can relate to Casey Affleck’s character

(although hopefully there are very few people who can relate to his character in some certain

ways), and other people who can relate to the kid in the movie (some of the things he

did I found myself latching onto.

I was like, yeah, I know that, I can empathize with this guy more than I could’ve otherwise.

Although again, thankfully, there were quite a few elements to his character that I can

have the pleasure of saying I don’t know anything about . Overall, this is a very interesting,

and honestly quite unique movie.

It features incredible performances that really carry something that under the wrong vision

could’ve become a completely boring story.

The movie is also incredibly depressing, like, life just generally sucks for this guy.

Although I saw this movie with my dad and when we walked out of this and i said “well

that was pretty depressing” my dad was like “really?

I thought it was kind of uplifting towards the end.”

So while I personally didn’t really see that until maybe the very very end, sure,

maybe you’ll see some uplift in this movie, who knows.

Most of it though, yeah it’s pretty sad.

I’ll give Manchester by the Sea a 9.5/10.

Next let’s talk about Hidden Figures, finally something less dark.

This is the big “true story” type movie this year, and surprise surprise as these

things usually are, it’s pretty good.

This movie is basically carried by the three main performances, all of which are great.

While all of them great though, I personally would’ve given an Oscar nomination Taraji

P. Henson over Octavia Spencer.

Again, both solid, I just Henson carried more of the movie and gave a deeper performance.

Besides the main three, the supporting cast is superb.

Kevin Costner is great as a supporting actor as usual, I’m not a Big Bang Theory fan

but Jim Parsons was really good in this, Kirsten Dunst was really good, and so was Mahershala

Ali, who is gradually becoming one of my favorites.

Going back to the main three, seeing these characters working with this stuff that they’re

so good at it is really cool, but also seeing their personal lives and their personalities

developed over the course of the film was really interesting to me.

The movie also deals with this story and time period in a respectful way, and watching it

I’m just happy this movie got made, because this is an important story that people should

know about.

I’ll often walk out of these based on a true story movies and be like, how did I not

know about that stuff?

Those some really important and amazing people!

But while it does tell a story set in a not-so-ideal time period for these women, the movie is

still very fun, uplifting, and is definitely what I’d call a feel-good movie.

It’s just a really enjoyable watch from beginning all the way to the credits.

As far as what I didn’t really like, the movie is a bit predictable.

Like everything you expect to happen in this kind of movie happens.

And it also does that based on a true story movie thing, especially towards the end, where

it gets just a little bit too cheesy.

Also I feel like a little bit of this was exaggerated and/or altered in some way to

make this a more entertaining movie, but it did entertain me, so I don’t really know

if I can count that as a negative.

In the end, Hidden Figures is a very fun, feel-good movie.

It’s got great performances, it’s something I think pretty much the whole family can enjoy,

it’s just a pleasant experience.