The movie year is just about over, and a review of the past twelve months makes clear that cinephiles have been spoiled with sterling movies, from blockbuster superhero sagas and low-budget horror thrillers to bizarre dystopian comedies and politically oriented foreign imports. With our late-year binge-watching now complete, our final assessment—which still only scratches the surface of everything worth watching—proves that, whether at the multiplex or the art house, filmgoers were blessed with a bounty of great offerings in 2016.
https://youtu.be/MJIcZGEjjwo
25. Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids
Jonathan Demme's acclaimed career may include numerous beloved dramas and comedies—from Something Wild and Married to the Mob to The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Rachel Getting Married—but he's also the world's foremost music-concert documentarian. In the grand tradition of Stop Making Sense and Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids
is a thrilling showstopper focused on its headliner as he completes his
two-year 20/20 Experience World Tour with two final shows at Las Vegas'
MGM Grand (in January 2015) alongside his enormous backing band, the
Tennessee Kids. Demme captures Timberlake's multifaceted talents in a
collection of rousing greatest-hits numbers, which place a premium on
in-the-moment artistry. In the way his camera pans in long unbroken
takes between Timberlake and his fellow on-stage singers, guitarists,
keyboardists and horn players (as well as frames him amidst a sea of
adoring arena fans) Demme subtly celebrates the joyous collaborative
spirit that guides Timberlake's infectious shows—and elevates him above
his pop-star peers.
https://youtu.be/MJIcZGEjjwo
24. Kill Zone 2
Don't worry if you haven't seen the 2005 precursor to this Hong Kong-Chinese import (also known as SPLII: A Time for Consequences)—aside
from their titles, the two films share no relationship. And don't worry
if you can't follow its myriad crime-saga plot strands, which involves a
dying Hong Kong gangster (Louis Koo) who sells organs on the black
market and plans to kill his brother so he can steal his heart, a Hong
Kong undercover cop (Wu Jing) intent on infiltrating this kingpin's
gang, and a Thailand prison guard (Tony Jaa) trying to save his daughter
who is dying of leukemia. What matters here is that director Cheang
Pou-soi's film features the finest hand-to-hand skirmishes of the year,
with Wu Jing demonstrating deft martial-arts skills and Jaa—he of Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
fame—bringing the concussive thunder via his trademark elbow drops and
flying knee attacks, which peak with him leaping, knees first, through
the windshield of a moving bus. The film's melodrama and comedy
(including a subplot involving a Down's Syndrome-afflicted teen texting
with a dying child via emojis) are overcooked, but Jaa and Jing's
fighting prowess make this a must-see for genre aficionados.
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