Darkmatters Top 10 Films of 2016

Matt Adcock’s Top Ten Films of the Year

Another year of cinematic offerings - so which were the good (as opposed to the bad and the ugly)... Amidst the chaos of the political and planetary events - the cinema has at least served up some great opportunities to escape from reality!

You can disagree or debate via twitter: @Cleric20  but here are the ten which made the wall of Darkmatters fame...

Top 10 films of 2016

10 The Girl With All The Gifts (Darkmatters Review HERE)

Melanie, she’s a special girl. Bright, polite and caring, full of wide-eyed wonder at the world around her – oh – and she’s not actually human, even thought you couldn’t tell by looking at her… Director Colm ‘Sherlock’ McCarthy takes the excellent, heartbreaking novel by M.R. Carey and brings it to brutal life on the big screen. Bonus points because I got to be one of the ‘zombie-alike’ extras!?

9 The Edge of Seventeen (Darkmatters Review HERE)

Meet Nadine (Hailee ‘Enders Game’ Steinfeld) a super awkward teenager whose life is a cringe-em-up writ large on the big screen.  The best big screen teenage angst for years. The Edge of Seventeen is just a great film which will make you laugh, cry and feel all the pain of being young and unsure of yourself again.

8 Captain America: Civil War (Darkmatters Review HERE)

The super smack-down of the year which tore The Avengers apart in fine style as team Iron Man take on Team Captain America in a battle royale. Exciting and funny, this is a super treat for the senses which gives great fan service without upping the ante too far. Normally war is hell but this one is a blast!

7 Arrival (Darkmatters Review HERE)

 A cool new take on humanity’s first contact with extra-terrestrial life, as witnessed through the experiences of language expert Louise Banks (Amy ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Adams). Not a ‘shooty’ sci-fi, but a meticulous, deeper, thought-provoking communicate-em-up tinged with a haunting melancholy and packing an emotional punch.

6 Hell or High Water (Darkmatters Review HERE)

Hell or High Water is a film that has family at the heart. Exciting bank heists, shootouts, chases and a body count follow but relationships form the core and it is the family dynamic that makes Director David 'Starred Up' Mackenzie's film so engaging. Just how far will a good man go when desperation closes in around him from every angle?

5 Suburra  (Darkmatters Review HERE)

Prepare yourself for an Italian apocalypse of criminal chaos, corruption, sleaze and heavy duty violence. Suburra is a powerhouse of a film that beguiles and thrills in equal measure. Suburra is a gutsy, beautiful and haunting neo-noir crime-em-up that grips from the start and doesn’t let go. The violent set pieces are just incredible, burning themselves into your mind’s eye

4 Deadpool (Darkmatters Review HERE)

Another superhero origin story? I know right. But this one is a little different, a bit of a spicier cocktail of seriously non-PC jaw-dropping violence, laugh-out-loud profane funnies and ironic pop-culture zeitgeist that bleeds cool from every frame. Expect to have your boundaries expanded – it’s a ballsy ride.

3 Love & Friendship  (Darkmatters Review HERE)

Lady Susan - who shares her name with the unfinished novella on which this movie is based - is on a mission to find both her and her daughter Frederica (Morfydd 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' Clark), eligible husbands, packing fortunes preferably. An absolutely perfect date movie, a master class in romantic shenanigans and jolly good time all rolled into one. As Lady Susan might say: “it would be offensive to us both” if you were to miss it!

2 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Darkmatters Review HERE) 

Prepare to jump to light speed once again as we find ourselves caught up in the big screen sci-fi events of a rebellion built on hope… Not ‘A New Hope’ which was the blueprint for the last year’s The Force Awakens but rather a desperate gambit by some plucky rebels who must risk everything if they are to help stop the Empire’s new ‘Death Star’. Let The Force flow through you (again).

1 Hunt for the Wilderpeople  (Darkmatters Review HERE) 

The most heart-warming action comedy of the year delivers on every possible level. Hunt For The Wilderpeople, based on Barry Crump’s 1986 novel is directed by Taika ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Waititi – who brings both an exciting comic manhunt movie and a powerful essay on family life, meaning and the courage required to trust. Simply essential viewing!

Read the Darkmatters Top Ten Films of 2015: HERE