The Oscars and the Best Films of 2016: Better Late Than Never

It goes without saying that the 89th Academy Awards was a mostly enjoyable show featuring the adorableness of Lion star Sunny Pawar, Viola Davis finally winning a much-deserved Oscar, Mahershala Ali becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award, Auli'l Cravalho and Lin-Manuel Miranda's terrific performance, and a mostly humorous (yet arguably slightly racist) hosting job from Jimmy Kimmel. It also concluded with the most unusual ending ever.

Oscars 2017 had been up until the finale a remarkably predictable event; the only win that slightly surprised me was O.J.: Made in America winning Best Documentary over 13th. However, I needed to make a run and skip the final award. Friends and colleagues were waiting for me to join them for an afternoon out (I currently live in China, 13 hours ahead of West-coast time), and so after Emma Stone's expected win for Best Actress (the second-final award) came to pass, I decided it was time to go, and given La La Land's other wins for Best Director, Best Song, Best Cinematography, etc., I decided it was best to just leave.

"How were the Oscars?" I was asked. "Were there any surprises?"

"No," I responded. "No surprises. It was probably the most predictable Oscars ever."

Boy, was I wrong.

By now, all the world has seen Faye Dunaway and a particularly confused Warren Beatty incorrectly announcing La La Land as the Best Picture after apparently having been given the wrong envelope. Several Oscar speeches later, it was announced (admirably by La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz) that there had been a mistake: "Guys, guys, I'm sorry," he said, moments after fellow producer Fred Berger declared, "We lost, by the way. But you know..."

"Moonlight," Horowitz said, "you guys won Best Picture."

Am I happy about the result? Aside from feeling bad for the La La Land people and happy for the Moonlight people, I still believe both films to be only moderately satisfying with limited legacies. Neither of them are among the best films of the previous year in my mind. Those films are below:


Arrival
Arrival is a rare Denis Villeneuve-directed film that seems to be steeped in optimism despite its dark tone and cinematography. This is a smart, fine, thought-provoking look at how humans (particularly in this day and age) might actually respond if alien visitors were to descend to various areas across the globe. (As an English teacher, I was fascinated with the communication scenes.) I wish it had won more than a sole Oscar (it was the best of the Best Picture nominees), and I do hope more and more viewers will see it throughout the years.

O.J.: Made in America
I had no expectation that I would enjoy any part of an eight-hour documentary about a man who played a sport I have no interest in and whose trial I have few memories of. But O.J.: Made in America, part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series, is the best cinematic look at race in a year that thoroughly examined the topic, both in and outside of movies. O.J. Simpson and his story encompasses racial tensions and divisions in a way that I had never realized. This documentary looks at it all: O.J. Simpson as a "colorless" superstar. O.J. Simpson as a "civil rights victim". O.J. Simpson as an inmate. There were many movies last year that explored race in the U.S. -- Fences, Hidden Figures, I Am Not Your Negro, 13th, The Birth of a Nation -- and yet O.J.: Made in America was the best.

Kubo and the Two Strings
First, the only major knock on Kubo and the Two Strings is its use of whitewashing, which director Travis Knight gave an awfully weak response to. George Takei is given a role here, but only as a villager with a few lines. Why couldn't he have been given the villainous role? His powerful baritone voice surely would have been intriguing to listen to as he chases the hero in the climactic scene. Instead, he gets to say "Oh, my," a line he's been using literally all his life.

All that aside, there has never, I think, been an animated movie that has looked so beautiful. I'm puzzled why this film was not nominated for Best Picture. Perhaps it was because of the controversy, perhaps because it's an animated feature, perhaps because it was a summer movie. Like Arrival, it could and should be seen by many, many more people.

Rogue One
The best Star Wars film since the 80s, this is the franchise's movie that wasn't supposed to do much, sandwiched between Episode VII and VIII. But this was an exceptional movie -- flawed, sure (mainly because of its lack of character development), but it divorces itself from the problems its predecessor had (mainly too much nostalgia). Instead, this movie made Star Wars seem fresh and yet gritty, like a genuine war movie set in a space opera. I so very much cannot wait for the next one.

There are a handful of honorable mentions: the heavy-handed yet powerful Lion; the thrilling Don't Breathe; the jaw-dropping Weiner; Moana, the musical that was better than La La Land; Under the Shadow, the Babadook-ripoff from Iran that was still pretty darn scary; Eye in the Sky, the powerful examination of lethal drone programs; and the hysterical Florence Foster Jenkins.


Best Trailers:

The Handmaiden

Jackie

Rest in peace, Bill Paxton.