It’s 2017! 2016 finally ended, huzzah! I hope you’ve all seen some great films this year whatever you’re into (not that you sick freak!). Normally with these kinds of lists you get your big Top 10s or Top 20s, but let’s be serious no one really pays attention till the Top 3 anyway. Why? Because just like in the Olympics, if you aren’t Gold, Silver or Bronze. You lost baby! So I’m going to cut the waffle and tell you my 3 favourite film released in 2016!

Immediately going to break my rules with two honourable mentions; Rogue One and Hateful Eight. I very much enjoyed both of these and they almost made the cut. On the exact opposite side, a dishonourable mention if you will, to Star Trek: Beyond. I’m not doing a worst list, but I just need to let everyone know once again how very disappointed I was in that awful, lazy, mess of a film.

Bronze Medal: The Nice Guys

What a lot of fun The Nice Guys is. Heck of a film, highly recommend it. It’s funny, charming and a tad violent. The characters of Healy and March are both disastrous in their own ways and balance out perfectly. They’re great characters and Crowe and Gosling are in fine form. I’m a big fan of both in general and this film is a great showcase for why. Personally I think Angourie Rice, who plays March’s daughter steals every scene she is in. It’s so common for me to criticise younger actors but you wont get any of that for her. She’s excellent. Overall The Nice Guys is an excellent film, full of fun characters, good performances and twists.

Silver Medal: Deadpool

We’ve seen Deadpool before, or rather we’ve seen Wade Wilson before. In the generally atrocious Wolerine: Origins film were we got a very brief taste of his smart mouth antics only for him to be completely bastardised in the finale.

Deadpool is rude, ever so crude and violent. It loves breaking the fourth wall. TJ Miller cracks my favourite line suggesting to Wade that he go and talk to a guy to ‘advance the plot’. Brilliant.  The opening credits and first scene set the tone perfectly for this movie. It gleefully mocks itself, actors, character traits, clichés and other franchises.

Deadpool is as unique as it is hilarious. Action-packed from start to finish. It’s everything you’d want from the franchise. In such a crowded market for comic book movies it was always going to take something this different and unique as Deapool to make its voice heard. Thankfully after years stuck out in the wilderness a sequel has already been already confirmed. So we won’t have to wait too long for another taste of Deadpool’s crazy antics.

Gold Medal: The Revenant

Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t make bad movies. That’s a fact. His track record is unbelievable. Personally I don’t pay all that much attention to award shows. I like the films I like, some win Oscars, others don’t. It doesn’t matter. The Revenant is based on true events, granted there’s a lot of artistic license taken here. But those changes create a compelling story and great cinema. It’s punishing, brutal, grisly, heart breaking and utterly captivating at the same time. It’s a slow burn but you are willing Hugh Glass along every step of the way, willing him on to survive.

The film looks fantastic as well. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu did a great job here. It’s filled with breathtaking cinematography. What’s going to be talked about the most though is the acting. In particular DiCaprio and Hardy although the whole cast do a great job. We get an extremely powerful performance from Leonardo but I think it’s Hardy who steals the show. As good as DiCaprio is as Glass, Tom Hardy is better as the sinister Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is a disgusting, vile man and it’s Hardy’s performance that really makes you believe that. After all the main reason you want to see Glass survive is because Fitzgerald is such a repulsive man. By the end of the journey you are desperate to see him get his revenge.