Entertainment in 2016: My Favorites and Least Favorites

It's the last day of 2016! It was a weird year for everyone. For me personally and I think for a lot of us, it was a particularly difficult year. But this isn't a post to talk about all that. This is a post to talk about some of the things that made this year bearable: the movies, the music, and the books. And although I don't normally post negative things on here, I will also be sharing some of the films and books I didn't love from this year.

I saw nearly one hundred new movies in 2016, which is the most I think I've ever seen in one year. Obviously I can't talk about them all but if you've followed my blog for the last year I've written about some of my favorites. Down below I will talk about the movies I saw from 2016, from my least favorite to my most.

There were a few films I saw that I really didn't care for this year. This will probably surprise everyone but I think the worst movies (in my opinion) that I saw this year were Zootopia and Lights Out. These two movies got very positive reviews and everyone loved them, but I just didn't get on board. I found Zootopia so try-hard and preachy, and it wasn't very funny. Compared to other Disney movies that come out recently like Big Hero 6, it didn't hold up for me. Lights Out was a movie that I was pretty excited for based on the trailers but I was thoroughly disappointed. It wasn't scary at all, it didn't make a whole lot of sense, and the message seemed pretty terrible. Another film that, again, got really good reviews but didn't compare to other installments in the franchise was the Netflix original Pee-Wee's Big Holiday. It just wasn't that funny. I think that 30-year-old Pee-Wee Herman works but 60-year-old Pee-Wee Herman just doesn't. Three films that were okay for me were Mascots, The Boy, and Shut In. Mascots wasn't as good as other Christopher Guest films but it had some funny and heartwarming moments. The Boy and Shut In received scathing reviews but I found them enjoyable enough. They weren't particularly smart or entirely original, but they were fun enough. (Apparently my tastes are the complete opposite of reviews!) Below are the movies I loved from 2016, all of which I have written individual posts on. From least to best here are my favorite movies of 2016:

6. Hail, Caesar!
5. 10 Cloverfield Lane
4. Kubo and the Two Strings
3. The BFG
2. Rogue One
1. Captain America: Civil War

I had the most fun with Captain America: Civil War. I never thought a Marvel movie would be my favorite anything but it was so good. I saw it twice in theaters and bought it as soon as it came out. I think a lot of people will actually agree with me on this one - Civil War was freakin' amazing. It was everything a summer blockbuster should be.

Of course, I also saw tons of movies that didn't come out in 2016, many that I loved. Here are ten of my favorite new-to-me movies I saw this year:

Moonrise Kingdom (2014)                  
Secrets of War (2014)                            
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
American Graffiti (1973)
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
The Right Stuff (1983)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Jaws (1975)
FairyTale: A True Story (1997)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)

I have to mention the best thing that happened to TV in 2016 and that is Stranger Things. The whole world fell in love with this show and for good reason. I've watched it several times since it came out last summer and I still can't get over how wonderfully perfect that show is for me. I am so ready for season two.

I also want to share other things I loved from this year, things I don't normally talk about on my blog. Let's start with music. I discovered lots of new music and expanded my horizons. Some great albums I bought this year are This is Acting by Sia and Volume One of the Stranger Things soundtrack. I haven't been super into K-Pop for a couple of years but I will always love Bigbang. One of the most wonderful things to happen in music was Bigbang's release of the full MADE album, which fans have been anticipating for about a year. Three new songs and two new music videos accompanied the awesome songs that came out last year. It was a great send-off for T.O.P before he leaves for the military.

I'm pretty proud that I read over 100 books this year, most of them new ones. I spent the last four years only able to read books for school. This was the first year I could read books I actually wanted to read. It's hard to whittle down my faves from such a large number but I'm going to attempt it! First I will list my five least favorite books I read this year:

5. Tim Burton: A Child's Garden of Nightmares (Honestly it's more the genre I didn't like; instead of discussing how they made each film of Burton's, it was just a collection of reviews, which are not super enjoyable to read.)

4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (I disliked almost every character and the ending wasn't too exciting or shocking.)

3. King Dork by Frank Portman (I'm just kind of over these young adult novels with "misunderstood, nerdy" dude protagonists who are actually really douchey and attend just as much parties and have as much sex as the popular kids)

2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I have tried so much to like this book. I've read it several times and I just can't get into it! I love the twenties and all, but I just don't like the characters and that's really important for me)

1. The Dramatic Imagination by Robert Edmond Jones (This was a book I had saved from back when I was an Acting Major for a hot second. I finally got around to reading it and, holy crap, it was so pretentious. And, dare I say, dramatic.)

Okay, now let's talk about my favorite books, which is a lot more fun. Here are the best new books I read this year (this was so hard to do):

~honorable mention goes to Apostles of Disunion by Charles B. Dew~

5. A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd (The original stories behind one of my favorite Christmas movies. Someone wrote that Shepherd's writing are like the stories behind a Norman Rockwell painting. It's a perfect description.)

4. Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge (Hard to believe this is a young adult novel! The best new horror/fantasy novel I've read since Miss Peregrine. It might even be better.)

3. Believing Christ by Stephen E, Robinson (Such an inspiring and happy book. Really made me see things differently.)

2. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (The 1990's film version of this book is one of my favorite movies. This book was just as wonderful. "The whole world is a garden.")

1. Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl (I cried the entirety of reading this book and begged my family members to read after I had finished it. I underlined so many passages. This book was a really important read for my life in 2016 and I hope to revisit it in 2017.)

So there you have it! Some of my faves and not-so-faves from 2016. One good thing from this year was how much better my blog has become, I think. I've had it for a year now and I've changed and developed lots of it. I have really enjoyed writing and I hope to write more in 2017. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next year! xx