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MaryAnn’s quick take… A beach-slap to anyone with a brain. Embodies everything that is wrong with Hollywood today. It is proudly dumb. It is proudly sexist. It is proudly pointless. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

These are the shoals upon which critics are broken. Those gently susurrating waves? The bastard power of water to wear everything down. Those lovely soft grains of sand on the beach? Every one of them a thoughtful film lover who has dedicated her- or himself to considering cinema, now ground down into a tiny tiny pebble.

Baywatch is a beach-slap fuck-you to anyone with a brain. Your gonads may be engaged if you are a heterosexual man (or a homosexual woman, though that will be accidental) who has not graduated from a tween sexuality in which disembodied boobs...

04.27.17: This list is now final. While I may in the future see additional films that were released in the awards year of 2016, no more films will be added to this list. (I may add links to reviews of films listed here.)

This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2016 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the Ofcs and Awfj awards); some films released in the UK without Us releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2016 unless otherwise noted.

worth paying multiplex prices for

[5 stars]

Arrival (10.10/11.11/11.10)

La La Land (10.07/12.09/01.13.17)

A Monster Calls (10.06/12.23/01.01.17)

The Lobster (07.16.15/05.13/10.16.15)

Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) (02.22/03.04/03.25)

A Bigger Splash (10.08.15/05.04/02.12)

Miss Sloane (11.20/11.25/05.12.17)

London Road (06.03.15/09.09/06.12.15)

The Girl with All the Gifts (07.26/02.24.17/09.23)

I, Daniel Blake...

Just from glancing at this film’s title you might think that you’re in for another frothy “rom-com”, or perhaps a peppy teen comedy that ends with a “make-over’ montage prior to a jubilant dance number at the senior prom. Well, you’d be mistaken, maybe pleasantly mistaken. Though one name is mentioned in its title, this sweet little “indie” flick really concerns that lady and her older sister, Bianca, who’s found her fella’. She’s the one playing “cupid”, a challenge since her sis’ must deal with many, many challenges. This tale is a search for romance, but also a love story of these young women, a relationship that is tested when Jane Wants A Boyfriend.

As the film begins, Bianca (Eliza Dushku) is in the last days of rehearsal as the fairy queen Titania in a big new stage production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night...

Eliza Dushku has turned in superb performances in TV and films for over twenty years. On the small screen she headlined two shows, “Tru Calling” and “Dollhouse” after her breakthrough role as “bad girl” Faith on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Her big screen career began with playing the daughters of Robert De Niro and Arnold Schwarzenegger in This Boy’S Life and True Lies. Later roles ranged from the comedy hits Bring It On and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back to thrillers like Soul Survivors and Wrong Turn. Ms. Dushku returns to cinemas with the family drama/romance Jane Wants A Boyfriend, out on March 25. We Are Movie Geeks spoke with her in a phone interview about the film.

Interview conducted on March 16, 2016

We Are Movie Geeks: After meeting you at Wizard World in St. Louis in 2014, I had heard that you were returning to college, so I was...

Plus: Production begins on The Last Word; Keira Knightley circles Collateral Beauty; Music Box acquires Sundance entry The Innocents; and more…

Aaron Eckhart stars in Courage, based on Jim Dent’s novel Courage Beyond The Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story and Spotlight will commence sales at the Efm this week.

Angelo Pizzo directed the film about about a university athlete who receives a shocking diagnosis following an injury. Clarius distributed Courage in the Us last November under the title My All American.

Production is underway in the Los Angeles area on Mark Pellington’s The Last Word starring Shirley Maclaine and Amanda Seyfried. Bleecker Street will distribute the drama in the Us and Myriad Pictures handles international sales at the Efm. Anne Heche, Philip Baker Hall and Scott Speedman and Tom Everett Scott round out the key cast.Kristin Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter are in talks and James Franco is attached to star in Jt Leroy, about...

Plus: Keira Knightley circles Collateral Beauty; Music Box acquires Sundance entry The Innocents; Alcon sets writer for The Ice Twins; and more…

Aaron Eckhart stars in Courage, based on Jim Dent’s novel Courage Beyond The Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story and Spotlight will commence sales at the Efm this week.

Angelo Pizzo directed the film about about a university athlete who receives a shocking diagnosis following an injury. Clarius distributed Courage in the Us last November under the title My All American.

Kristin Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter are in talks and James Franco is attached to star in Jt Leroy, about the hoax female blogger who passed herself off as a transgender male. Lbi Entertainment /Aquarius / Rabbit Bandini Productions produce and Fortitude International represents international rights.Keira Knightley is reportedly in talks to star opposite Will Smith in New Line/Village Roadshow’s drama Collateral Beauty. Warner Bros will distribute in the Us on March...

Exclusive: We will be seeing a lot more of tech wiz Aram on NBC’s The Blacklist next season. Amir Arison, who recurred on the breakout drama’s first season as the slightly awkward and witty FBI technician, is being promoted to regular for Season 2. Arison recurred heavily on the first season of the Sony-produced series, appearing in 18 of the 22 episodes. During The Blacklist‘s summer hiatus, Arison will star in Labyrinth Theater Company’s New York premiere of Stephen Belber’s play, The Muscles In Our Toes. He did an arc on HBO’s Girls this past season as Kevin, Hannah’s (Lena Dunham) sparring co-worker at GQ Magazine, co-stars in Merry Friggin Christmas opposite Robin Williams and Joel McHale, out this holiday season, and recently wrapped Jane Wants A Boyfriend opposite Eliza Dushku. He is with Brs/Gage and Lillian Lasalle at Sweet 180.