Favorite of the Year: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Once again, it’s a new year, and that means it’s time to take a look back at the releases of the previous year. I managed to clock in a a lot of movies in 2016, although as always there are still several I haven’t seen yet (Arrival, Shin Godzilla, Moana, and many more). So as always, consider this list incomplete. It’s every 2016 movie I’ve seen so far, including TV movies and direct-to-DVD fare, ranked from my favorite to least favorite, with commentary where I find it necessary.

• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — Two years in a row, a Star Wars movie has claimed my top spot. Under its new Disney home, Lucasfilm is on fire.
• Doctor Strange — Amazingly, for a character I’ve never fully connected with in the comics, Benedict Cumberbatch has turned in one of my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe performances to date.
• Captain America: Civil War — Although they may as well have called this Avengers 3, the third Captain America movie was a blast. I especially liked the fact that this time around the stakes were much more personal, rather than a save-the-world scenario. It was a nice change of pace.
• Zootopia — This was a huge surprise to me. Not that it was good (John Lasseter taking over Disney animation is the best thing to happen to Disney animation since Walt Disney himself), but how good it was. Funny, sweet, and surprisingly poignant.
• For the Love of Spock — Adam Nimoy directs this touching documentary about his father, Leonard.
• Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice — I don’t care what the critics say, I had a great thrill seeing DC’s trinity on screen for the first time, and I can’t wait to see Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman.
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — I felt the same way about this as Rogue One. The studios have learned that if you can make the universe itself the star instead of a particular character, you can make a franchise last much longer. This was a fun addition to J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.
• Star Trek Beyond — It’s rare that the third film in a franchise is the best, but this was the most exciting, most “Star Trek”-like film in the Kelvin Timeline to date.
• Finding Dory — Lovely follow-up to Finding Nemo, with a heartfelt message.
• The Nice Guys — Like so many people, I loved this movie, and wish that it had found a larger audience in theaters.
• Deadpool
• Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan-Film Ever Made — You may have heard the story of a couple of kids who spent years working on an amateur shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is that story.
• Batman: The Killing Joke
• Hush — Tense little thriller about a home invasion in the home of a deaf woman.
• 10 Cloverfield Lane — One of the year’s best surprises.
• Suicide Squad — Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was fantastic. The rest of the movie was pretty good.
• Hail, Caesar!
• The Witch
• Independence Day: Resurgence
• DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year — Cute direct-to-DVD movie starring DC’s latest franchise. I love the fact that this series exists, and so does my 6-year-old niece.
• X-Men: Apocalypse — Weakest of the “First Class” trilogy, but that still places it ahead of the likes of X-Men: The Last Stand or the first two Wolverine movies.
• Keanu
• Ghostheads
• Justice League Vs. Teen Titans
• Holidays — Fun, if uneven, horror anthology.
• Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday
• Batman: Bad Blood
• LEGO DC Super Heroes: Justice League-Cosmic Clash
• LEGO DC Super Heroes: Justice League-Gotham City Breakout
• Mascots
• The Jungle Book — I know a lot of people were blown away by this, but it just didn’t do it for me. Admittedly, it may just be because I’ve never been able to get into talking animal movies. It’s a weird hang-up of mine, I admit.
• Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders — Animated film featuring Adam West and Burt Ward, and damn, do they show their age. When Batman and Robin sound like they’re in their 70s, maybe nostalgia isn’t enough.
• Dwarvenaut
• Criminal
• Grease Live!
• Dead 7 — Weak-ass SyFy movie starring a bunch of washed-up boy band members in a zombie western.
• The Neon Demon — Probably the most controversial opinion I’ll have here. The latest from writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn of Drive and Only God Forgives, and like those other films, I found this unbearably dull and overblown.
• Ghostbusters — A weak script and a weak director tanked this remake.
• Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again
• Paradox