Hell or High Water was one of the bigger surprises of a downtrodden 2016 and while I don’t think it’s perfect, as a character-driven, modern-day Western, it is fantastic with performances by Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster and Chris Pine (in that order).
Mad Max: Fury Road is a title that lives up to its name. The action is incredible and the characters outlandish yet awfully fun. It’s a great revival of the franchise from the creator himself and it features some of the most impressive stunt work captured to film with only moderate use of CGI to tie it all together.
Punch-Drunk Love isn’t one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s greatest work, yet it’s still a lovely film nevertheless, what was most impressive then and now is seeing that Adam Sandler can turn in a well done, dramatic performance and paired with the exquisite Emily Watson makes for a poignant little romance-drama.
Time After Time is an obscure movie from the late 1970s but as cheesy as it is in some instances, it’s still a fun flick featuring good performances from Malcolm McDowell and David Warner with honorable mention to Mary Steenburgen before she would fall in love with another time traveler a decade later.
Jennifer Lopez: Dance Again isn’t a great music-documentary or anything but for something indifferent towards the artist/actress, I found it completely watchable and I suspect any fans will get something out of it; others probably not.
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders was certainly an interesting concept but perhaps one a decade or so too late and it was pretty distracting hearing a nearly 90-year-old Adam West and a 70-year-old Burt Ward voicing characters in their 30s and teens, respectively. Still, there is a modest amount of entertainment value.
Hannie Caulder is that rare female-led Western with the added rape-revenge angle which would come to more prominence in the 1970s with the likes of I Spit on Your Grave. However, while the “scene” is troubling, the performance from Raquel Welch was fantastic with honorable mention going to Robert Culp.