Recently, in an effort to produce a somewhat accurate top 10 list for 2016\u2019s best movies, I\u2019ve been trying to catch up and see some of the most acclaimed of the year. I follow a procedure after I finish a movie: I strike it from my \u2018to watch\u2019 to list, I read all the reviews I\u2019ve saved beforehand from critics I like, and I add it to my 2016 ranking, which I assemble as I go throughout the year.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve found recently, though, that making rankings isn\u2019t that easy. When I left the theater after watching Moonlight<\/em>, I felt like I was in a daze, like I couldn\u2019t just go about my day as usual. I knew that it was one of the best movies of the year, and when I got home, I added it as #4. It just couldn\u2019t match the pure ecstasy that I got from watching Sing Street<\/em>, the hilarious absurdity mixed with tragedy of Swiss Army Man<\/em>, or the nonstop laughs mixed with deep emotion of Don\u2019t Think Twice<\/em>.<\/p>\n And yet, in the weeks since I saw Moonlight<\/em>, I\u2019ve thought about it more than I thought about any of those other movies in the aftermath of watching them. While I used to have a strict rule about keeping my rankings in their original order, I\u2019ve now made an amendment and allowed myself to tinker with them. Moonlight<\/em> is now #1.<\/p>\n And while Captain America: Civil War<\/em> used to be in my top 10\u2014I gave it the four-star ranking on Rotten Tomatoes, which means I loved it\u2014I\u2019ve moved it below movies like Southside with You<\/em> and Kubo and the Two Strings<\/em>, neither of which I said I \u2018loved\u2019 originally. In retrospect, Civil War<\/em> isn\u2019t that radically different from any other Marvel movie, and the more of these superhero movies there are, the higher the bar is set for me in expecting something \u2018different.\u2019 There are a lot of internal character contradictions in Civil War<\/em>, as Film Crit Hulk explained<\/a>, and in general the movie was just kind of a solid action movie for me, fun while I was watching but ultimately forgettable. I\u2019d rather re-watch the original Avengers<\/em>, or maybe just cherry-pick the airport scene from Civil War<\/em>.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also had trouble figuring out how to rank movies based on what actual emotional reactions they provoke in me. Watching Manchester by the Sea<\/em> was certainly an emotional experience, and I entered the same sort of trance I had when I watched Moonlight<\/em>, but because the movie is pretty unsentimental for long stretches, I didn\u2019t have any one moment as emotionally overwhelming as the scene of Hailee Steinfeld crying in The Edge of Seventeen<\/em>. (Keep in mind that this may just be because watching a teenager express her deepest insecurities still feels very relatable to me.) How do I compare Manchester by the Sea<\/em> and The Edge of Seventeen<\/em> in my rankings, when the former \u2018feels\u2019 like it should be higher but the latter does so many specific things that I love? Does loving unabashedly happy endings and teenage romance justify keeping Sing Street<\/em>, or should I place it below something audacious like Krisha<\/em>?<\/p>\n Then, today, I watched Arrival<\/em>. The first three quarters or so of Arrival<\/em> I really liked, but more for its intelligent ideas and amazing direction than for how deep it cut emotionally. I kept thinking, \u2018This is brilliant,\u2019 but I never thought \u2018This is emotionally destroying me.\u2019 Then the last 20 minutes or so happened, and I found myself swept up in everything, brought nearly to tears every time I even thought about the implications the ending made. I didn\u2019t quite cry, because I\u2019m emotionally stunted, but I felt my face contorting into that ugly face that people make when they cry.<\/p>\n So where do I place a movie that I generally really liked, but which didn\u2019t really enrapture me until its ending, which is probably the best ending of the year for me? How does that compare to something like The Edge of Seventeen<\/em> or Manchester by the Sea<\/em>, both of which completely held my attention throughout?<\/p>\n