2016 Academy Award Best Picture Nominees
The nominees for 2016 Best Picture in order from best to worst.
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- DirectorBarry JenkinsStarsMahershala AliNaomie HarrisTrevante RhodesA young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.This is the clear winner this year. The cinematography, pacing, story, art design, writing, and performances were all fantastic. It presented a new view of the world, a character so real and heartbreaking that even while his life might have been so very different from our own, it was still so intimately understandable. A true tragic love story, none of the other nominees this year even came close to its quality. Every actor in this film could be honored for their performances this year, because they were that good, but the director for certain should be honored for this film. It is so rare to see a film that deals with subject matter this difficult that feels real and is not just a political sounding board. This film truly transcends.
- DirectorGarth DavisStarsDev PatelNicole KidmanRooney MaraA five-year-old Indian boy is adopted by an Australian couple after getting lost hundreds of kilometers from home. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.The next best film on this list was also my personal favorite. Again telling an amazing and heartbreaking story. Another film that was told in such a measured and perfect way, as it unfolds and we see the way this man's life becomes consumed by his past. More fantastic performances are in this one, as well as great pacing, art direction, and story. If it won best picture, I would not be disappointed.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsAndrew GarfieldSam WorthingtonLuke BraceyWorld War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.As the film began, it seemed too forced, too Hollywood, and I kept imagining it was just another war story. I was pleasantly surprised by a story of a man who not only held his convictions, but lived by them in the face of dire consequences. By the time the story got to Hacksaw Ridge, I realized the battle scenes were some of the best I'd ever seen. The story was inspiring and true. This one falls just slightly short for a script that is a bit too on the nose, but the story alone would easily carry this to the top of this year's list.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsAmy AdamsJeremy RennerForest WhitakerA linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.An alien first contact movie that reveals a new image of an alien race and that is about language and communication? How could I not love this film? It falls a bit below many of the other films on this list for strong but not outstanding performances and cinematography, but was raised up by the way the story ended up transcending the alien contact theme by reminding us of the challenges of being human.
- DirectorKenneth LonerganStarsCasey AffleckMichelle WilliamsKyle ChandlerA depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.This film is a reflection on the crippling results of tragedy and how that manifests in everyday life. It is a slow burn. The silent moments are as striking as the ones with dialogue, the dialogue reveals subtext not story, the actions of the characters reveal the story. This is like watching the family next door fall apart before your eyes. It is a beautiful film, but it has earned its place here more on the performance of its actors, (Casey Affleck in particular should win the award for best actor this year without question) than on the strength of the story or film itself. The writing and performances are brilliant, but the story fell just slightly short.
- DirectorDavid MackenzieStarsChris PineBen FosterJeff BridgesToby is a divorced father who's trying to make a better life. His brother is an ex-con with a short temper and a loose trigger finger. Together, they plan a series of heists against the bank that's about to foreclose on their family ranch.Here is an interesting genre bending film. What begins as a modern action thriller, reveals itself to be a great modern-day western. The characters, writing, and performances are all strong, and when the gunslinger and the law man square off, it is powerful, but all that being said, in the end, we don't leave the film feeling we witnessed anything particularly profound, but we do see, as has been revealed in many of the greatest westerns, that the divide between criminal and law man may not be as simple as it at first might seem.
- DirectorTheodore MelfiStarsTaraji P. HensonOctavia SpencerJanelle MonáeThe story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.One of the most popular and entertaining films of the year, this film tells the story of the first women at NASA. The film hits all the feel good notes. It has great performances and a truly fascinating story (and space travel), so on the surface, I should have loved it without fail. However, I did not. I liked it. It was fun, funny, and entertaining, but it also seemed more focused on its political agenda than really showing these women and their lives. It had on the nose dialogue and seemed to want to make more of a point about current politics than reveal its otherwise compelling story. In essence, it tried too hard, when it should have just told us the story. It is a reflection of many of the problems with Hollywood filmmaking, and the reason an otherwise fascinating story ends up so far down this list.
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonViola DavisStephen McKinley HendersonA working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.I am a big fan of this whole cast of actors. They had terrific performances and the story was good. Yet, this film failed for me because it was a play turned into a film, and, as is often the case with such a film, it FELT like a play turned into a film. The set was limited in scope and everything was dependent on long monologues and the way the actors interacted. Their performances were good, but I could never find the story real. It always seemed like a play. That was a clear reflection of the director's design choices intending to keep the audience feeling fenced in. Not a bad story. Worth watching, but definitely not a best picture winner.
- DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsRyan GoslingEmma StoneRosemarie DeWittWhile navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.Some people will be surprised this ends up last considering it has been such a darling of the awards this year, but where others saw a nice homage to classic Hollywood musicals, I found a pale shadow of what those films were, which in my mind, had considerably more depth and substance to them. Where others found the story sweet, enchanting, and romantic, I found myself noting that you had two attractive people who had no real connection beyond their ability to flirt and look cute, and found their dancing and musical performances pretty poor. Some of the music was good (not great or memorable, just good) and that is about the best thing I can say about this vapid, fluff of a film. It is about Hollywood though, so without question it will probably win best picture. *sigh*
Update: It didn't! Ha!