20 Best Movies Of 2016
The year's must-see movies.
2016 has been a wild ride in just about every sense of the word, and while it was ultimately a pretty disappointing year for blockbusters (thanks, DC), that doesn't mean the year was at all lacking in terrific cinema.
Both in the multiplexes and outside of it, 2016 served up its fair share of stunning, hilarious, terrifying and awe-inspiring movies, some of which are sure to come away with a bunch of Oscars, while others will get infuriatingly overlooked.
Still, a great movie is a great movie regardless of how many gold statues it picks up, and these 20 films, from all sides of the filmmaking sphere, represent the most imaginative, fun, intense and intelligent works of cinema that came out over the last 12 months.
Here are the 20 best movies of 2016...
20. Moana
Balanced brilliantly between old-school Disney tropes and a refreshing feminist twist on the standard formula, Moana is a visually gorgeous, immensely witty romp driven forward by excellent vocal performances from Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson.
Essentially an animated road movie, Moana is girded by the brilliant chemistry between its two focal characters, creating another terrific and unconventional role model for young girls, while Johnson is pretty much a perfect choice to play the larger-than-life demi-God Maui.
It's not as contemporary or socially relevant as Disney's other release this year (though more on that later), but the toe-tapping tunes are wonderful, it's gleefully self-aware, and sure to leave a smile on the face of just about everyone.