Alright, finally, two months later, I’m ready to share our list of movies we watched last year – you know, in twenty sixteen.

10 Movies We Watched in 2016:

We tried listing these in the order we liked them (the first one being our most liked.)

1 Arrival

This is my husband’s favorite movie from last year. He liked everything.

The unique  idea of a time and a language that is happening all in one instant instead of chronologically totally fascinated me. I remember getting chills as we watched this, not because the theatre was cold, though it probably was, because I had an eerie feeling the movie makers had somehow found the secret door to my mind and saw some of my inner most thoughts.

Without giving away the unexpected twist of the movie, I have to say my other favorite part was the way one character decided to embrace life, even with all the suffering and pain she knew would come with it.

2 Experimenter

This was definitely my favorite last year. It was a random Netflix movie I’d never heard of that turned out to be great. (Now available on Amazon, also.) 

Experimenter paints a unique and abstract vision of social psychologist, Stanley Milgram’s, unconventional and controversial social experiments.

I’m a “people watcher”, I’ve always been intrigued by human behavior and the science of social psychology – the study of how people interact together. If you also find that fascinating or you’re in the mood for a random thinker movie, try Experimenter.

3 McFarland, USA

We watched this with our thirteen year old (gasp, did I just write that?) and we all really liked it. Maybe you think you’ve seen enough corny sports inspiration movies but give this a chance. We all are runners and cross-country has been part of mine and my husband’s life and now our daughter’s so we might be a bit partial.

Aside from the obvious “you can do it” theme of all inspirational sports movies, I also appreciated the lessons about diversity and showing a slice of what life has been like for migrants – how hard they have to work but also that they can become more.

4 The Fundamentals of Caring

This one has crass language throughout but, if you can get past that, it’s a really excellent film. You’ll laugh, you might cry, and your heart will feel all swelly with pride for the goodness in humanity. Watch it, you’ll love it. (Just remember, I did warn you about the language.)

5 Of Gods and Men

We’ve watched this twice now. Well, technically this was the first time I watched it all the way through. My husband really, really liked it and so I wanted to give it another go.  It is slow-moving but…well that’s kind of the point.

It’s a movie about monks living in Algeria during a time of civil unrest. Somehow, in the midst of all that, they carve out a special place in the community for their religious community to live and serve the local people.

This is a simple movie that shows the beauty of prayerful work, loyalty, community and friendship.  Though they each have a chance to leave each other and save themselves, they all seem to ask the same unsaid question, “to where else would we go?”

6 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

This was a fun little “interlude” between the The Force Awakens and the upcoming Episode VIII, The Last Jedi (which apparently is plural!) Our daughter (who watched it with us) described it as much sadder and depressing that other Star Wars movies. I agree, it wasn’t meant to be uplifting but it was interesting watching that story branch from the previous storyline.    In case you’re wondering – no, you do not have to watch Rogue One to keep up with the other Star Wars movies. This is just a fun bonus for Star Wars fans.

7 The Walk 

I wasn’t sure how well I’d like this – I mean how interesting could a movie about a tightrope walker really be?It was surprisingly suspenseful, artistic, and historically interesting.

8 Jason Bourne

I always like me a good Jason Bourne movie. Fast, energetic, suspenseful. ‘Nough said.

9 Passengers

I had higher hopes for this one. The plot had exciting potential.The cliche relationship between the only man and woman was honestly a boring distraction from what could have been a much cooler movie. Still, I guess if you’re looking for a mildly exciting and interesting sci-fi/chick flick this might satisfy that mood.

10 Romero

I wanted to watch this before going to El Salvador last November.

Though I think some of the movie takes a few tangents from the true events, it still demonstrates a very accurate portrayal of who Archbishop Romero was and of the situation in El Salvador during that time. It made me appreciative of finding a Catholic church and not feeling afraid to pray and go to Mass safely.

Movies like these are harsh and hard to watch but they can help us know about the struggles and atrocities others have had to deal with and still do in many ways and places. We had thought about watching this with our 13-year-old but we’re very glad we decided not to since many of the scenes are so horrific and graphic.

We watched a few Netflix/Amazon Series last year:

Stranger Things

Mysteriously thrilling, nostalgicly fun for anyone who grew up in the 80’s. Watch out though, it gets kind of creepy.

House of Cards

I’m a little hesitant to admit we watched this. First, it’s got a whole lotta inappropriate content, we held the remote the whole time ready to fast forward when needed. I’ll admit it didn’t help with our growing cynicism about our American political situation. Let’s just say the writers of this series have a mastermind talent for inventing a very believable plot about the behind-the-scene relationships and corruption in government politics.

The Crown Netflix Original series

This was a nice series that we both enjoyed, maybe me more than my husband. It kind of fills the space in TV-series-watching left by the ending of Downton Abby. It’s got early 20th century fashion both in clothing and the setting, polished British accents, and all the propriety – and impropriety – that goes along. Like the rest of the world, the English monarchy intrigues me so I found The Crown both entertaining and informative, though I wonder how accurate it all is and I’m not sure this series would win the Queen’s “Royal Seal” of approval.

Man in the High Castle Season One

We watched this sometime last year, when my brain was foggy and numb with sadness. So maybe it wasn’t the best series to watch but I stuck with it nonetheless. I found it mildly entertaining and the suspense motivated me to keep watching even though it was hard to understand what was going on and, to me, it took too long to reach a point when I felt like maybe I was starting to at least grasp at the plot.

Well there it is, our 2016 Movie-Watching List. Now I can get started on movies we’ve watched this year. Any new suggestions?

 

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