The Hateful Debate: Farewell 2016: A Personal and Cinematic Year in Review

Kicked off the year with Donnie and Mike

The year 2016 is currently synonymous with hatred and negativity. People on social media have made their sentiments about the year very clear through numerous humorous memes and tweets. It's easily the go-to thing to make fun of, and the band wagon of all jokes as of late. Most people dislike the year for one or both of two reasons: a lot famous celebrities and entertainers died this year and Donald Trump won the Presidency. While there were a few celebrity deaths that were quite saddening and the hatred brewed from the election in general, not the results, was disheartening, these things were far from venomous enough to taint an entire year for me. Because in all honesty, 2016 was one of the best years of my life, from both a personal stand point, and from a movie watching experience. Let's break it down.

2016 was the year where I got more so into cinematic journalism than ever before. Although I had always written for my own blog and school paper, I wouldn't necessarily call those the big leagues. After getting my feet wet in late 2015 by interviewing Scott Adkins, I eventually did what I never thought I'd get to do, meet and interview major actors in person, specifically Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson for Ip Man 3. Talk about awesome. It's one thing to meet an actor you like, but it's different when they don't even live in your own country and aren't exactly easy to find or meet up with. Meeting Donnie and Mike is currently the high light of my journalistic career, bar none.

I also got to review more advanced screeners for films such as Ip Man 3 (my first in person screening), Kickboxer: Vengeance (which main actor Alain Moussi shouted me out to about on his Facebook), and Kill Zone 2 (which I got to E-Mail interview Tony Jaa about). I even dabbled in product reviews, such as the Arrow Video releases of two Sho Kosugi films and david j. moore's The Good, The Tough, and the Deadly book. I also received a bunch of free Blu-Rays and DVD's throughout the year, which was quite nice. Come on, who doesn't love free stuff? I must have saved about $100 on movies I would have bought otherwise.

Hanging with the Van Damme boys, Sheldon and Ernie.

Through my review of The Good, the Tough, and the Deadly, I discovered that there was a book signing at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, CA, where I got to meet some filmmakers and authors I had been following for some time. The biggest take away was meeting one of my favorite authors, Vern of Outlaw Vern, whom is most notable for writing the bible on Steven Seagal. It was great to finally be able to put a face and a voice to his writing after so many years. Don't worry Vern, I swear to never reveal your true identity to the world. Me and my friend Chris also got to meet directors Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact, Legionnaire, The Hard Corps) and Ernie Barbarsh (Assassination Games, 6 Bullets, Pound of Flesh), two guys who have made several movies with our favorite action star, Jean-Claude Van Damme. They were very sweet and a blast to meet.

2016 was also the first year where I catalogued every single movie that I watched throughout the year. I had always wanted to do this, but had never actually committed before. Through the use of Letterboxd, I finally did it, and can confirm that I watched 238 movies in 2016, both new and old. If you want to see the specifics, you can check them out here. I may have watched far too many Steven Seagal films, more so than any other actor I believe.

As far as movie-going went, 2016 was a real mixed bag. The new films that were bad, specifically the I.P. focused blockbusters, were especially bad, while the smaller independent features, were beyond fantastic. If there was ever a year to point too that demonstrates the vast difference in the output of our current cinematic world, it would be this one. Below you will find multiple lists that I thought were worth making in order to explain my year of movie watching. There are two that concern 2016, with one being about the very best and the other the worst. There are also two lists regarding older films that I watched. One details the best discoveries of mine, films that I had never seen before, as well as a list devoted to re-discoveries of mine where I fell in love with films again that I had not seen in a long time. And since I'm a huge action fan, I'm writing up a separate post specifically for my favorite and most disappointing action films of the year. I hope you enjoy them!

I couldn't have asked for a better quote.

Ten Best Films of 2016:

10) Hacksaw Ridge

9) Hell or High Water

8) The Nice Guys

7) Moonlight

6) The Lobster

5) The Wailing

4) Green Room

3) La La Land

2) Swiss Army Man

1) SPL II: A Time for Consequences

Ten Worst Films of 2016:

10) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

9) Independence Day: Resurgence

8) Central Intelligence

7) High Rise

6) Hail, Caesar!

5) Suicide Squad

4) X-Men: Apocalypse

3) Blair Witch

2) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

In the presence of titans.

1) Keanu

Ten Best Older Film Discoveries of 2016:

10) Redemption (Steven Knight, Jason Statham film)

9) Snake Eyes

8) Con Air

7) The Hunt (Maads Mikkelsen film)

6) Purple Rain

5) Battle Royale

4) The Host (Bong Joon Ho, Korean one)
3) About Time
2) To Live and Die In L.A.
1) Inside Llewyn Davis

Ten Best Older Film Re-Discoveries of 2016:
10) War of the Worlds (Spielberg one)
9) Tropic Thunder
8) The Even Stevens Movie
7) Bruce Almighty
6) Reservoir Dogs
5) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
4) A Goofy Movie
3) Spider-Man 3
2) Love, Actually
1) An American Werewolf in London

When I look at all I did in 2016, I grew up and flourished more than than ever before, as I got my name out there, met some people, got my first Credit Card, became a manager of a movie theatre, and even got engaged. If you ask me, those are all some pretty great accomplishments, and proof that 2016 wasn't a bad year for me. Therefore, here's to 2017! Hopefully the year where I score my dream full time career job and get married. To end this post, enjoy some more photos of my journeys and adventures in 2016!