2016 has been a great year for movies spanning a greater variety of themes and stories being engaged to the audience. Such is exemplary in the inclusion of original and non-franchise entries in this year's list, one of foul-mouthed superhero origin, one of unique thrilling tone, one of Western genre, another of Disney's unique masterpieces, one of Korean horror and another of Japanese animation. Truly a list worth looking for, as the list is definitive of the most watch-worthy films of the past year. Movies which earned numerous critical acclaim, high box office success, and social media attention were the ones chosen by JR in this years' list. In order to qualify as a 2016 movie, the films in the list must be premiered worldwide (having a United States release, and at least one release each in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa), must have a United States release within the time frame 25 December 2015 to 24 December 2016 and a Philippine release in theatrical or home video format for 2016.
The trend continues as this year's top spot is nagged by a sequel of a very prominent superhero franchise. Earning more than $1.1 billion worldwide, Captain America: Civil War is truly ambitious in scope having an ensemble cast of superheroes surpassing those in The Avengers and X-Men movies. While I mentioned earlier that this year's list is lined with original, non-sequel story linings, the list still contains sequels (or spin-offs) of popular movie franchises such as The Conjuring, Finding Dory, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, We see three animated films this year in the entire list and two horror films within the top 5 spots. This year, JR gives six films a 10/10 perfect score, earning a Masterpiece title. Unfortunately, Jason Bourne, Alice In Wonderland, and Suicide Squad (the former two not even being a part of the short list of 15 movies to be selected) didn't make this year's cut. Warning, SPOILER ALERT! The year's movies was a blast, we start it off with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Summary of the List:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Intro | Methodology | Honorable Mentions | Records | Data Sources | Photo Credits
- For a movie to qualify in the list, it must have earned numerous critical acclaim, high box office success, and ample social media attention.
- JR made sure that each movie in the list was watched from start to finish prior to giving his comments, critics and opinions on the movies listed. For the first time, JR will be providing scores for each movie listed.
- The movies must have a United States release between 25 December 2015 to 24 December 2016, must have been released in Philippine cinemas or home video discs within January 2016 to December 2016, must have at least earned $50,000,000 (at least Php 2,500,000,000) in the worldwide box office and must have a Metacritic Score greater than 60 or Internet Movie Database Score greater than 6.0
- To maximize the number of genres entering the list, a minimum of one film for the following genres were included in the list.
- Animation
- Action
- Drama & Comedy (includes Western)
- Fantasy (includes Adventure and Sci-Fi)
- Horror & Thriller
- In cases of movie franchises (or movie universes, i.e. Marvel and X-Men), only one film series from the franchise will be included in the list. (That's why Marvel can only have either Captain America or Doctor Strange in the list not both.)
- No movie re-releases in HD or IMAX were included in the list (such movies had already been premiered in the past).
- All films selected are international films having worldwide releases including the Philippines, no local films were included in the list as JR wants it to be definitive of what it really takes to be a movie of the year for the entire world.
- All box office data in the list were as of blog publishing - 28 December 2016. All box office numbers were rounded to the nearest thousands.
SCORING GUIDE:
10 - Masterpiece
9 - Excellent
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Okay
|
5 - Mediocre
4 - Bad
3 - Disappointment
2 - Boring
1 - Failure
0 - Worthless
|
JR's Movies of the Year - 2016
| Rank |
Movies of the Year
|
Movie Genre | Month of Release | JR's Score |
| 1 | Action | Apr 2016 | 10.0 | |
| 2 | Horror | May 2016 | 10.0 | |
| 3 | Horror | Jun 2016 | 10.0 | |
| 4 | J-Animation | Aug 2016 | 10.0 | |
| 5 | Thriller | Aug 2016 | 10.0 | |
| 6 | Animation | Jun 2016 | 10.0 | |
| 7 | Adventure | Nov 2016 | 9.0 | |
| 8 | Action | Feb 2016 | 8.5 | |
| 9 | Western | Jan 2016 | 8.0 | |
| 10 | Animation | Feb 2016 | 8.0 |
Get back to previous JR Late Night Blogs' Movies of the Year lists:
#1
|
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
(2016) |
JR's Score:
(10/10)
"MASTERPIECE"
|
Worldwide Box Office:
|
$1,153,304,000
|
Metacritic Score:
Internet Movie Database Score: |
75 out of 100
8.0/10 |
Movie Genre:
|
Action
|
Director/s:
|
Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
|
Distributor:
|
Buena Vista (Disney)
|
MPAA Rating:
|
PG-13
|
Total Running Time:
|
2 hours, 27 minutes
|
Production Budget:
|
$250 million
|
Cast Overview:
|
Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Chadwick Boseman, Emily VanCamp, Daniel Bruhl, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, Martin Freeman, Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei
|
"The Most Ambitious Yet Grandest Film of the Year"
The movie is indeed one of the grandest and most ambitious films ever made surpassing the grandeur and power of its predecessors. To say that any of the Avengers or Iron Man films is better than this film is an understatement to the third act of Captain America. In Captain America: Civil War, we see Team Captain America fight against Team Iron Man after a supposed protocol was to be imposed by the United Nations on the Avengers as innocent lives were sacrificed in previous missions by the mightiest heroes in the land specifically those missions done in New York (The Avengers), Washington D.C. (Captain America: Winter Soldier), Sokovia (Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Lagos, Nigeria (beginning of Captain America: Civil War). Captain America fights for the right of superheroes to decide on their own whereas Iron Man fights for the enlistment of the Avengers under the United Nations Sokovia Accords. The ensemble cast has 12 superheroes fighting blood and sweat for what they believe in. Truly grand in scope and out of this world. Better than X-Men: Apocalypse.
(10 out of 10) 
(7.5 out of 10) 
(9.0 out of 10) 
