#worst of 2016

[dragoni]

One Year Under Trump

Worst mass shooting in 🇺🇸 history First terrorist attack in NYC since 9/11 Texas Charlottesville Niger USS John McCain USS Fitzgerald Healthcare failure No wall $150 million spent on security FBI Investigation Takes credit for Obama’s success Etc etc.. #oneyearundertrump

— Truthtalker‏ -  Nov 8 2017

Etc Etc...  Lowest Approval Ratings EVER

#PuertoRicoCrisis

#FiringJamesComey

#RussiaGate

#TaxCutsForTheRich

#EmolulentsClause

#TrumpSWAMP

#ClimateChange

#DACA

#MuslimBan

#WarOnWomen

#LGBTQ

#SeparationOfPowers

#SeparationOfChurchAndState

#TrumpsWar

#LiarInChief

#DividerInChief

#Dotard

#ExecutiveOrders Authoritarian Rule

#FreedomOfThePress

#CivilRigths

#TheConstitution

#NATO

#InternationalRelations

#DotardTrump #White Agenda #RepealObama

[theartofmoviestills]

Worst Films, 2016 (commentary)

01. The Neon Demon - A profoundly stupid commentary on female friendship as “demonic” and “ruthless,” perpetuating the tired narrative that women are “othered” and “unknowable.” Comes to the offensive, simplistic conclusion that women cannot excel in their careers without “losing themselves” in the process. Confuses vague symbolism with depth. A better recommendation: compare the wholesome depiction of female companionship in the effortless, uplifting ending of Paul Verhoeven’s Elle.

02. Captain Fantastic - A film intensely uncritical of its protagonist’s inherent privilege and manipulation of his children. Smug and condescending, where the family "cut off" from everyday civilization to go live in the woods without modern comforts looks down upon everyone else as a joke, as though they (and they alone) have found the “true meaning” of life. No acknowledgement that their ability to up and leave to go live in the woods is a privileged ability because they have the safety nets of family/friends to return to, which is a far reality from the many underprivileged poor who view this kind of backwoods lifestyle as a burden rather than an escape. The father is also an authoritative figure rather than a hippie, free-thinking one, where his kids are completely cut off from the diversity of perspectives and opinions outside their sheltered bubble, despite their claims otherwise. This is a film paranoid about popular culture and condescending towards “everyday” people. Tries to make cute and quaint what is essentially a “Jesus Camp”-esque group. A better recommendation: Wendy and Lucy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

03. Suicide Squad - A ridiculous, grimly serious storyline. Jared Leto commits way too hard on an unimportant character who’s nothing more than the kind of greasy, unlikeable gangster types that David Ayer has depicted throughout his career (with little variation or nuance). Viola Davis in comparison never smugly made claims to “serious” method acting yet elevated whatever scene she was in with effortless acting chops. Still, nothing saves the movie. Not the assault of popular music in every single scene as a futile attempt to emulate Guardians of the Galaxy (they used cliched, recognizable music too. See: “Fortunate Son” with a shot of helicopters. Compare to the richer song selection in Guardians with tracks by Raspberries, 10cc, Redbone, and Marvin Gaye). Not the “wacky” comedy that often defers to weird, racist stereotyping (Killer Croc requesting “BET,” Diablo as a tattooed Mexican gangster like an extra from End of Watch). Bizarre plotting with a boring villain. A better recommendation: The action is better in the Captain America movies, and it’s good humored too.

04. Hell or High Water - Taylor Sheridan is a shit writer who has been riding on the pretense of antiheroes with “moral ambiguity” even though his conflicts of good and evil are pretty cut and dry (are they really antiheroes, then?). Lazily uses people of color as merely suffering/dying props to motivate his heroic white narratives (see also: his terrible screenplay for Sicario, which gives a safe and reductive and misleading picture of narco trafficking as a “thriller” where dead bodies are a source of spectacle rather than a real human tragedy). A better recommendation: the more honestly exploitative/campy Nocturnal Animals, Killer Joe, and Cold in July. The towering Blood Simple.

05. Hacksaw Ridge - The hack Mel Gibson continues pushing religious conservatism disguised as thrilling action, where complex themes such as Catholic redemptive suffering and guilt are rendered onscreen as pointlessly bloody violence bordering on “torture porn” like Hostel or Saw or (lmao) The Passion of the Christ. Compare to Martin Scorsese’s Silence, which uses violence sparingly but far more effectively: where Catholic suffering is a theme that raises more questions than answers and leaves the faith shook by the end of it. A better recommendation: You want a war movie that better (and poetically) reflects Christian theology and suffering? The Thin Red Line. Also, the aforementioned Silence (both the Scorsese and Shinoda adaptations).

06. Deadpool - “This Ain’t Your Mom’s Monologue.” A better recommendation: the funnier, fourth-wall breaking Funny Games.

07. Green Room - Confuses violence and gore for tension. Flimsy villain with no nuanced backstory/motivations other than “neo-Nazi.” Compare to 10 Cloverfield Lane’s antagonist, and how it draws tension through playful dialogue and maximal use of space (every single room utilized, even the spaces in the walls) instead of graphic violence. A step down from the superior Blue Ruin. A better recommendation: 10 Cloverfield Lane, Blue Ruin, (hell, even Don’t Breathe made better use of space and camerawork).

08. Assassin’s Creed - Only reveals to us that most videogame stories are incomprehensible trash with convoluted mythologies and poorly written characters. The problem isn’t that the interactivity of videogames can’t be translated to a passive medium, but that videogame stories are just bad to begin with. A better recommendation: Go play a good videogame story like Silent Hill 2, or Kentucky Route Zero, or The Last Guardian.

09. Swiss Army Man - So-called “serious” storytelling (read: we used a metaphor) undercut by juvenile humor and sappy sentimentalism. Didn’t find the right balance in tone. A better recommendation: the more absurdist and funnier humor of The Lobster or Force Majeure.

10. Krisha - Wants to provoke as a searing melodrama, but is really just a compilation of shouting matches that purports to be D R A M A. It’s pointlessly exploitative and the characters aren’t given enough personality or story to support their freakouts. A better recommendation: the still exploitative but more enjoyable films of Xavier Dolan, like Mommy.

[caitchercatlady]

Finally got this video up and going. It’s been forever like seriously.

[duckswatchtogether-blog]

Best and Worst 2016 Edition.

Josh does the best and Kylie does the worst. We here at Ducks Watch Together talk about what we thought were the best and the worst films, performances and more of the year!

For Josh’s best of the year: https://letterboxd.com/darbyact/list/best-of-2016/

For Kylie’s worst of the year: https://letterboxd.com/kyliegallacher/list/worst-of-2016/

[themovieworldaccordingtotps]

WORST MOVIES OF 2016

Dishonorable Mentions:

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Director: James Bobin

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Rhys Ifans, Matt Lucas, Lindsay Duncan, Andrew Scott, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen

Critical Consensus: I am not a fan of Tim Burton’s reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, but at least it had ambition and visual spectacle that passes of as cinematic that the sequel should follow up. But instead, it is a huge drop of quality. Granted that the visuals stayed consistent, but in terms of story, the focus on Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter character is a fatal mistake. Even Mia Wasikowska’s Alice gives a non-presence to her own movie. The rest is a colorful puke stain, disguised as a $200 million disaster.

 Grimsby

Director: Louis Leterrier

Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Penélope Cruz, Gabourey Sidibe, Annabelle Wallis, Ian McShane, David Harewood, John Thomson, Scott Adkins, Barkhad Abdi

Critical Consensus: Sacha Baron Cohen takes on the spoof of the spy genre, playing a football hooligan to estranged brother M-16 spy Sebastian, played by Mark Strong, and gets dragged along in his espionage pursuits. Cue bottom-of-the barrel jokes and lame characters that offer nothing. Even with its higher carnage and bigger stars, including Oscar nominees Barkhad Abdi, Gabourey Sidibe and winner Penelope Cruz, Grimsby is an unwatchable trite that ups its R-rated gush to the lowest of the forms.

Ice Age: Collision Course

Director: Mike Thurmeier

Cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Adam DeVine, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jessie J, Nick Offerman, Keke Palmer, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Jennifer Lopez and Queen Latifah

Critical Consensus: After Continental Drift, Blue Sky Studios wanted to cash in more to their 16-year-old franchise to diminishing returns. Piling up more supporting characters (or stars to cash easy checks) to their mindless drivel and placing them in a preposterous plot, Collision Course makes it clear that Ice Age has run out of ideas. Despite the animation being topnotch and Simon Pegg as the crazy weasel is the only thing salvageable but that’s about it, the Ice Age series has just run off its course. No pun intended.

[themovieworldaccordingtotps]

SPECIAL BELATED AWARDS FOR (FREAKING) 2016

Most Untimely Release: Allied

Allied is a WWII-set romantic drama thriller, starring Brad Pitt as a Canadian intelligence officer and Marion Cotillard as a covert Resistance fighter. Both sparked a romance, in the same vein as Casablanca, which placed their connection on the rocks. While it is far from an excellent movie that Robert Zemeckis can pull off, it is fine for what it is. However, its release was untimely as it came out during the aftermath of Pitt’s separation with Angelina Jolie, which is just one of the biggest Hollywood news of 2016. Sorry about that.

[emetophobiahelp]

Worst of 2016 - Smosh

Just skip from 0:38 to 0:48. It’s basically just a compilation of people spitting or doing similiar things and at 5:18 they’re spitting out water.

[brotherhood-of-okay-reviews-blog]

Movie Reviews

Chris' Movie Review Top 15 Worst Movies Of 2016 My Average Score: 6/10 (77 movies I saw this year). Rotten Tomatoes (RT): 68% Welcome to the "That movie just sucks," list of 2016! So the rules are the same as my favorites but these movies are the ones I found to be awful, boring, regrettable, displeasing, and so on. With this list, you may find a film that you really enjoyed but made it on here because I didn't like it. And that's okay. You can like what you enjoy. Differing opinions are fun to hear, so write out your complaints down below. Last thing, you're not going to find a lot of the obviously awful movies one here because I probably didn't waste money on a ticket. Sure there will be some, but for the most part, it should vary from other people's lists. And that's not to be different on purpose either. Let's get this lousy list going. 15. The Boss 4/10 (My Score) RT: 22% You ever have a movie just become worse over time by thinking about it? Well, The Boss is one of those films for me. Melissa McCarthy tries her hardest, at times, but the movie just falls flat around her. There's a couple of good jokes but that's about it. 14. London Has Fallen 3/10 (My Score) RT: 26% The movie is forgettable as fuck, until I remembered it. London Has Fallen is just a standard action flick that makes no sense and isn't even fun. Once in awhile there's a cool scene but other than that, it's just a bore. 13. The Huntsman: Winter's War 2/10 (My Score) RT: 16% There's pretty dresses. That's something. The Huntsman is bland, boring, and just stupid. To be honest, I've forgotten more about this movie than I can remember but I know what I saw and it wasn't very good. 12. Morgan 2/10 (My Score) RT: 42% The problem with this list, so far, is how bland the movies are. They aren't really hateable but more forgettable, and Morgan is more of the same. It's a movie that just kind of flashes by and you wonder why, or when, you saw it. 11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows 3/10 (My Score) RT: 38% Okay, now we're getting to some painful territory. This film, is just dull. For a kid's movie, you'd think it'd be at least fun but no. It's 2 hours of complaining, 3 action scenes, and an ending that makes you go, "Yeah. That wasn't awful looking or anything." But Megan Fox looks good, so there's that. 10. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 3/10 (My Score) RT: 29% This was a cash grab. Ask yourself, who wanted this movie? Who? Cause I didn't. I'm not sure if anyone else in the audience did. The only reason people showed up was because they recalled the first one. And yeah, the film treats its viewers the same way. "Remember this guy?" Yeah, but why are you patronizing me? The film wasn't needed but we got it anyways. 9. X-Men Apocalypse 3/10 (My Score) RT: 48% So, this movie was not good. Look, the villain blows. Honestly, there was a lot of scenes that seemed to go no where and half of the actors just felt like they were there. Jennifer Lawrence especially. While you get some good performances, it doesn't make up for the lack luster ending and 2 hours of below average material. 8. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot 4/10 (My Score) RT: 68% This was Tina Fey's vacation movie. I know I gave it a 4 but looking back on it, it deserves a lower score. Nothing really happens in this movie, and aside from a couple good jokes, Tina does nothing. It sucks too because I really like Tina but yeah, this film just does nothing for me. 7. The Purge: Election Year 3/10 (My Score) RT: 55% Oh my god. Okay, so, have you ever walked into a movie and thought, "Yeah, this might be stupid fun?" Okay, now imagine a movie where it isn't fun. That's this. There really isn't a lot of redeeming material here either. The action scenes are shot poorly and the plot is extended by coincidences. Other than that, it's a movie that was made just because the first two made money. 6. Lights Out 3/10 (My Score) RT: 78% Let's get this out of the way, I watched this movie with the worst audience this year. A group of teenagers were sitting ahead of me and they wouldn't shut up. But regardless of that, this film was just awful. The rules didn't makes sense. The creature was never fully explained how it existed. And there were scenes where you laughed because of how stupid they were. The movie wasn't scary in the least and if I'm not hiding my eyes, you know it's a problem. 5. Independence Day: Resurgence 2/10 (My Score) RT: 31% It's the same movie as the first one. No literally. Go watch the first movie and then watch this one. But don't watch it. Because Resurgence is way worse than the first one. I knew this movie was going to be terrible but come on. Could they at least pretend to have some fun with it? Or how about make the sequel enticing? Just something. Just don't give us this trash and expect us to like it. 4. Suicide Squad 3/10 (My Score) RT: 27% Why?! Why is this so bad? I honestly anticipated this film. After the first trailer, I thought "Wow, this is going to be good." Second trailer rolls around I think to myself, "Oh shit. This is going to be awful." Will Smith does everything he can to pull this movie out of its own grave but it just wasn't enough. There's a couple of good action scenes but overall, it's just a movie full of oddly edited, under written garbage. 3. Free State Of Jones 3/10 (My Score) RT: 43% Does anything happen in this movie? Anything? Matthew McConauhey is trying really hard to make something up but everything else around him is so boring that the cast is literally dying in the swamp they lived in. I think I could've fallen asleep and not have missed anything. 2. Hardcore Henry 1/10 (My Score) RT: 48% A first person movie? Okay. That doesn't sound like a terrible idea...oh. I take that back. Y'all ready for some shaky cam? Really really bad shaky cam? So you might argue, "Hey, it's a POV movie. What did you expect?" Well, what I expected was a better plot and character. Hardcore Henry insults its audience by not giving a good story, character, or a break from the shaky cam sickness. The movie doesn't give any investment or care to the viewers. Look, this idea could be done well. There's a proper way to do this but Hardcore Henry just threw something together and possibly ruined future first person movies altogether. Can this genre bounce back? Sure, but this film didn't help things in the least. 1. Finest Hours 1/10 (My Score) RT: 63% I've seen bad movies. But this, this insults the true story of real heroes. Let's start with the fact that there are cuts in the movie to go back to this girl. I can't remember her name but she isn't important. But the movie seems to think so. You know what she does? Nothing. Wait, sorry. She says some lines, about nothing! But that's not the worst of it. Not only do they forget the heroes, they forget to make them interesting. Yeah. How do you do that? The premise of the film is that three heroes take a boat out into a storm to rescue a boat that's literally cut in half. This story should've been epic. This plot should've been grand but what we got was a waste of a perfectly good set up of a movie. They had all of the pieces right in front of them and they blew it. Even though this movie may not seem as bad as others, it's just the principle of things. If you're going to do a true story, give it justice and do it right. Don't half ass it and give us a mediocre story with boring ass characters. You're not only insulting the audience, but you're also devaluing history. That's my Top 15 Worst movies of the year. Honestly, a lot of the films were just bland but there were obviously some awful ones. If you disagree with my list, let me know in the comments below. Maybe you liked Finest Hours, and if so, tell me about it. Or if you agreed with me, let me know too. Because that'll make me feel better. Thank you for sticking with me for the 2016 year. As usual, thanks for reading!