Paul Feig, Mike Birbiglia, David Lowery & More Directors Pick Their Favorite Films Of 2016
We’ve already started posting our own retrospective lists of theTop 10 Movies of 2016, each one different from the next (Jacob HallandDavid Chenhave posted their lists so far), and next week will bring our cumulative list of /Film’s Top 15 Movies of 2016. In the meantime, why not find out which movies some of the most buzzed about directors loved this year?
A batch of filmmakers likePaul Feig(Ghostbusters),Chris Kelly(Other People),David Lowery(Pete’s Dragon),Mike Birbiglia(Don’t Think Twice),The Daniels(Swiss Army Man),Marielle Heller(The Diary of a Teenage Girl), Jay Duplass (Cyrus),Nicole Holofcener(Enough Said),Jonathan Demme(Silence of the Lambs) and many more each compiled a list of their favorite films from this year, and we’ve highlighted some of them to check out.
IndieWiredeserves all the credit for getting these filmmakers to chime in on this year’s best movies.La La Landwas a heavy favorite on plenty of the lists, with Paul Feig saying:
However, Feig also was bold enough to put his ownGhostbsuters: Answers the Callon the list:
Yeah, that’s right, it’s my movie and I’m not ashamed to put it on here. I made it, I’m proud of it, everyone involved in making it was great and despite the media focusing on all our haters, a lot of people really liked it. So, it’s my top ten list and I’m putting my own movie on it. Boom! Suck it, trolls.
Feig admits that he’s catching up on a lot of movies over the holidays, so he hadn’t seen a lot of the great ones out there at the time he put the list together.
Moonlightwas another movie that was mentioned over and over again.Other Peopledirector Chris Kelly wrote in his list:
The Lobsterwasn’t quite as universally beloved, but it got plenty of praise. Daniel Kwan, one-half of theSwiss Army Mandirecting duo known as The Daniels wrote this:
Here are some of the full lists of just a few of the filmmakers asked for their favorite 2016 movies:
Mike Birbiglia
11 faves (sorry, amazing year for movies, and there are a ton more I loved)
“Moonlight”
“Hell or High Water”
“Captain Fantastic”
“20th Century Women”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Sausage Party”
“Where To Invade Next” (2015/16)
“Pop Star”
“Black Mirror” (S. 3 episode 4 “San Junipero”— I will fight people on this.)
Jay Duplass
“Don’t Think Twice”
“Other People”
“La La Land”
“The Eagle Huntress”
“City of Gold”
Nicole Holofcener
“Sing Street”
“Sing Street” [Editor’s Note: This is not a typo, Ms. Holofcener really likes this film]
“The Night Of”
“The Founder”
“Horace and Pete”
“I, Daniel Blake”
Jonathan Demme
(no particular order)
“Maggie’s Plan”
“Toni Erdmann”
“Christine”
“Gimme Danger”
Marielle Heller
1. “Spa Night”
2 “20th Century Women”
3 “Don’t Think Twice”
4. “Popstar”
5. “Weiner”
6. “The Lobster”
7. “Moonlight”
“Pete’s Dragon”
“Hello My name Is Doris”
10. “Captain Fantastic”
James Ponsoldt
1. “Moonlight”
2. “The Jungle Book”
“Daughters of the Dust” (re-release)
“Manchester by the Sea”
5. “Toni Erdmann”
6. “Cameraperson”
7. “Little Men”
8. “La La Land”
- “Pete’s Dragon”
11. “Certain Women”
- “OJ: Made in America”
13. “Jackie”
14. “Swiss Army Man”
- “Hell or High Water”
You can get a bunch more lists from other filmmakers, including some with full explanations as to why they loved the movies they did, over at IndieWire. I recommending reading through all seven pages.
