Review of the 133 films I watched in 2016 [with BBFC analysis]

I’m slowly going through my review of 2016 releases, one blog post per week (backlog: un et deux). As I still have quite a lot of the 2016 awards-nominated films to see and thus don't want to complete my 'review of the year' without giving them a chance first, I thought I’d buy some time by looking at all the films I watched in 2016, not just the ones that were released that year.

I watched 133 films in total last year, in a mixture of mediums, from at the cinema (my Cineworld Unlimited and Odeon Unlimited cards have both recouped their charges), at the cinema with ISENSE, whatever that is, on DVD, on the TV, on Netflix and Amazon Prime, and a few other mediums that I shan’t detail.

The arithmetic mean for the 133 films I gave out of ten was 6.54, which unfortunately shows some erroneous decision-making on my part, given I generally only watch a film if I expect it to be 7/10 in quality.

However, the appearance of a couple of lesser-seen films with my favourite actresses in, Saoirse Ronan and Rooney Mara, on Netflix, including a couple of real stinkers (Lost River, Dream Boy, Dare, Trash), would have no doubt bought this average down. Plus, while catching up with the 2015 Oscar-contention films, there were a handful which I didn’t think were that great, but watched for the sake of completeness (eg The Revenant and The Big Short), so they, too, would have skewed the average.

I recently went on an R course, so here be three graphs that indulge my statistical fascination with films (and the BBFC in particular).

2017 Golden Globe Winners!!

:: Best motion picture (drama) - Moonlight
:: Best motion picture - (musical or comedy) - La La Land
:: Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea 
:: Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - Isabelle Huppert - Elle
:: Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - (musical or comedy) -Ryan Gosling - La La Land 
: Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - (musical or comedy) -Emma Stone - La La Land 
:: Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture - Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Nocturnal Animals 
:: Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture - Viola Davis - Fences
:: Best director - Damien Chazelle - La La Land 
:: Best original screenplay - La La Land 
:: Best motion picture - foreign language - Elle - France 
:: Best motion picture - animated - Zootopia
:: Best original song - City Of Stars - La La Land
:: Best original score - La La Land

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Seven out of seven is an unprecedented sweep for La La Land, so they must be buzzing. The majority of the wins were not unexpected, bar, perhaps, in Screenplay, where I would have thought a 'talkier' film such as Manchester by the Sea would have won. A musical winning Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes is pretty unheard of. The fact that La La Land won Screenplay and Director acts as a barometer that this was by far the most loved film by the 90 or so voters in the HPFA.

One of the two biggest surprises in the acting categories was Aaron Taylor-Johnson winning for Nocturnal Animals. He bloody deserved it tho; I was on a knife edge every time he was on screen. It's unusual; most other awards bodies have awarded/nominated his Nocturnal Animals co-star Michael Shannon instead of Taylor-Johnson, for his more internal performance, but in this case, I much preferred the showier turn from ATJ. He probably won't get an Oscar nomination, so I'm ecstatic he got recognised at the Golden Globes.

The other acting shock was Isabelle Huppert winning Best Actress in a Drama for 'rape revenge comedy' Elle. Huppert has been sweeping the Critics awards, but I would have thought with the film's dicey subject matter, as well as the fact that Portman has been in Hollywood since she was a child and the HPFA love honouring celebrities, they would have awarded her. More than happy to be proved wrong!! 

I hope this Golden Globe win gives IsabElle the momentum to get an Oscar nomination and even win the thing; I have confused feelings towards the frontrunner Emma Stone, who, despite being very pretty and charming, did play a half-Asian in Aloha, something I simply can't overlook given how hard it is for my Asian sisters to find acting work. It's funny; that yellow-facing Felicia dedicated her Best Actress in a Comedy win to 'anyone who's ever had the door slammed in their face' regarding failed auditions. What about the Asian actresses who had the doors slammed in their face as a result of you accepting a white-washed role, Emma? #JustWondering

One thing that's hampering Isabelle Huppert's campaign is that, annoyingly, due to Elle being released over here in March, it isn't eligible at the BAFTAs. If she'd got a BAFTA nomination, she probably would have won, because we tend to be more receptive to European fare than the Americans are (we correctly awarded Emmanuelle Riva back in 2013 for her amazing performance in Amour, was one of the catalysts for pushing Riva's Oscar campaign almost all the way), thus raising her profile even more. BAFTA nominations come out tomorrow, and Huppert could still get a nomination for Things to Come, so that's something.

Moonlight got a standing ovation when it won Best Drama, showing that whilst La La Land may be the favourite of the HPFA, the audience had a different favourite. Although I haven't yet seen it, I'm already a fan given its subject matter, and wish for it to do well all Awards season. Also delighted for Viola Davis although I've not yet seen Fences. And yay Zootopia! My third favourite film of the year so far, tremendous fun, film references aplenty and featuring one foxy lead.

I got 9 out of 14 correct in my predictions which is pretty good for me!

I didn't watch the ceremony but have seen a couple of clips and Tom Hiddleston accepting his win for The Night Manager is the most White Saviour thing I've seen for a while. Naomie Harris side-eyeing him during the speech encapsulates my thoughts to his narcissistic speech perfectly. 

Finally, the tradition at the Golden Globes is that winner of Best Actress Drama last year has to present the award to recipient of Best Actor Drama this year. This meant that Brie Larson, an advocate for Victims of Sexual Assult, had to present the award to Casey Affleck, as she'll probably have to do at the Oscars as well. Apparently she could barely veil her disgust (Affleck is riddled with accusations of groping a woman whilst she was asleep), refusing to so much as pat him when he came up to accept his award. Attagirl.

My 10 Favourite Performances of 2012.

Powering through the series where I list my top 10 acting performances by year. Remember, the top 10 isn't so much a list of the top 10 best acting performances, per se, but more me playing favourites to actors and actresses I really dig, as well as performances that gave me the feels. You know, to quote Family Guy, 'all the things that make us, laugh and cry'. Which is ironic because a certain prominent member of the Family Guy cast is on this list. It's almost like I set up my own joke, isn't it?

If you're wondering why no performances from Lincoln or The Master are on the list, it's because I haven't seen those films. If you're wondering why none from Silver Linings Playbook is on, that'll be because I despise that dishonest movie with every bone in my body, and cannot abide Jennifer Lawrence's hammy, OTT, shrill performance in it, which was not an accurate portrayal of a woman with mental health issues at all, so much so, that the mental health community had backlash about her acting in it. There, I said it. J-law did not deserve to win that goddamn Oscar. The lady who I have listed first should have received the award instead, for what was, in my opinion, one of the best acting performances of all time.

10. Amandla Stenberg, The Hunger Games

09. Kristen Stewart, On the Road

08. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

07. Jonah Hill, 21 Jump Street

06. Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

05. Seth MacFarlane, Ted

04. Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

03. Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina

02. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

01. Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

A couple of stats...

By Gender
Gals: 7
Dudes: 3

By BBFC certificate
18: 1
15: 4

12A: 5 (my favourite is Beast of the Southern Wild's warning: 'Contains moderate threat, injury detail and potentially dangerous behaviour')

Shameless favouritism (people who've been on before)

Keira Knightley: 8th in 2014 for The Imitation Game

Leonardo DiCaprio: 2nd in 2006 (for The Depahted; hi Scorsese!) and 9th (Blood Diamond) although that list was constructed a l-o-n-g time ago and would be subject to change, 2nd in 2010 (Shutter Island; another Scorsese collab!), 2nd in 2013 (The Wolf of Wall Street; directed by some Martin Scorsese bloke I haven't heard of)
Jessica Chastain: 10th in 2014 (for A Most Violent Year)

Jonah Hill: 3rd in 2014 (for 22 Jump Street; the sequel to the film he's on this list for. I'm pretty brazen with my Jonah fangirling), 9th in 2013 (The Wolf of Wall Street)