Ranking the Films of 2016

Spoiler alert: I haven’t seen every film from 2016 yet. I need to see a number of Academy Award contenders, including Fences, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Land of Mine, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, Nocturnal Animals, The Salesman, Toni Erdmann and 20th Century Women. Despite this gross oversight on my part – hey, some of these are still in theaters; I’ll have more chances after Oscar night! – I have ranked the films I have seen, including (just under the wire) Hacksaw Ridge a few short hours ago.

35 Films, Ranked Best to Worst:

1. Loving – dir. Jeff Nichols
2. Captain Fantastic – dir. Matt Ross
3. Hell or High Water – dir. David Mackenzie
4. Weiner – dirs. Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
5. Chicken People – dir. Nicole Lucas Haimes
6. Jackie – dir. Pablo Larraín
7. Florence Foster Jenkins – dir. Stephen Frears
8. One More Time with Feeling – dir. Andrew Dominik
9. The Fits – dir. Anna Rose Holmer
10. Hacksaw Ridge – dir. Mel Gibson
11. Anthropoid – dir. Sean Ellis
12. Star Trek Beyond – dir. Justin Lin
13. Eddie the Eagle – dir. Dexter Fletcher
14. Captain America: Civil War – dirs. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
15. The Lobster – dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
16. Paterson – dir. Jim Jarmusch
17. Lion – dir. Garth Davis
18. Hello, My Name Is Doris – dir. Michael Showalter
19. Hail, Caesar! – dirs. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
20. Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing – dirs. Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg
21. Keanu – dir. Peter Atencio
22. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – dir. Zack Snyder
23. The Dressmaker – dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse
24. Midnight Special – dir. Jeff Nichols
25. How to Be Single – dir. Christian Ditter
26. Arrival – dir. Denis Villeneuve
27. X-Men: Apocalypse – dir. Bryan Singer
28. Deadpool – dir. Tim Miller
29. City of Gold – dir. Laura Gabbert
30. Triple 9 – dir. John Hillcoat
31. Snowden – dir. Oliver Stone
32. Now You See Me 2 – dir. Jon M. Chu
33. Ghostbusters – dir. Paul Feig
34. Standing Tall – dir. Emmanuelle Bercot
35. Money Monster – dir. Jodie Foster