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The best films to watch in 2016

Consider this your ultimate Super 8 list for 2016

Written by
Wai Yeng Kong
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There's a whole bunch of movies to look forward to in the next 12 months. From blockbusters and comedies to Oscar-tipped favourites, these are the films you should be watching this year. 

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

  • Film
  • Drama
Opens Jan 28
Director: Danny Boyle

There will never be a shortage of tributes to Steve Jobs, the supercilious and fast-talking visionary tech mastermind who cares more about his machines than actual relationships. Michael Fassbender – a spitting image of the egomaniacal Apple magnate – is the perfect vehicle for Job’s wiriness, delivering a version that’s fiercer, surer and much more charismatic than Ashton Kutcher’s unloved 2013 biopic ‘Jobs’. This is a film run on a Sorkinian chip: The signature quickfire walk-and-talk riffs and fiery dialogues paint an astonishingly energetic yet human portrait of a cult figure that shook the world.
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The Revenant

The Revenant

  • Film
  • Action and adventure
Opens Jan 28
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu 

This previously stalled project, which predates Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning ‘Birdman’, is inspired by true events, starring a scruffy Leonardo DiCaprio who seeks survival in a hellish winter after being mauled by a bear and left dead by members of his own hunting team (including one played by Tom Hardy). Basically, it’s Leo’s gruelling 156-mintue plea for an Oscar: He eats uncooked bison liver, sleeps in animal carcasses, and lives at the mercy of the icy wilderness illuminated by just natural light (cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki shot without electrical lights). Just hand the poor man a statuette already.
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Joy

Joy

  • Film
  • Drama
Opens Feb 11
Director: David O Russell

It’s a ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ reunion; joy, oh joy. Russell’s latest is an ode to women, specifically women who are the unsung heroes of their households. This is a story loosely based on Joy Mangano, a Long Island single mum who invented the Miracle Mop that made her a millionaire. There’s no one better, really, to play this matriarch-turned-self-actualised-entrepreneur than Jennifer Lawrence, who incidentally has a natural gift for female empowerment (and tripping on an orange cone or two). As promised, look out for Bradley Cooper as a HSN executive and Robert De Niro as Joy’s father.
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Hail, Caesar!

Hail, Caesar!

  • Film
  • Comedy
Opens Feb 18
Director: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

This period comedy has all the trappings of a Coen Brothers oeuvre: immersive cinematic experiences with a sprawling ensemble you know and love: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson and a dashing Channing Tatum in a tailor suit, mmm-mmm. Set in 1950s Hollywood, fixer Eddie (Brolin) attempts to track down Clooney’s character, actor Baird Whitlock, who was kidnapped during the making of a Roman epic. Catch the flick and see it evoke fond memories of some of Coens’ best.
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Zoolander 2

Zoolander 2

  • Film
  • Comedy
Opens Mar 3
Director: Ben Stiller

The return of hapless male model Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and his equally washed-up frenemy Hansel (Owen Wilson) has created quite a stir. First, there was the ‘Zoolander Invasion’ where the duo pulled off a dramatic walkoff in the middle of a Valentino show. Then there’s the controversial trailer, in which Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal as an androgynous model named ‘All’ was labelled ‘an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals’ by advocates (There, there, Benedict; haters are gonna hate). If everyone has stopped overreacting, thank you, watch how our beloved models solve crime with Interpol agent Valentina (Penélope Cruz).
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Finding Dory

Finding Dory

  • Film
  • Animation
Opens Jun 16
Director: Andrew Stanton & Angus MacLane

If you’ve always wanted to know if that forgetful Blue Tang fish in ‘Finding Nemo’ ever got lost again, she did. Only this time, she sleep-swims and floats away unconsciously while muttering about her lost family between snores. Marlin and Nemo, together with new characters – a ‘sectopus’, a beluga whale and a whale shark (no, no clams) – help Dory escape an ocean sanctuary facility to find her family.
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Silence

Silence

Opening date TBC
Director: Martin Scorsese

Will Martin Scorsese, the mastermind behind epics ‘Goodfellas’, ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Mean Streets’, finally be content? Never, it seems. Based upon the novel by Shusaku Endo, Scorsese’s latest, starring a gaunt Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, ran into a 6.1 earthquake in Taiwan during production. But he’s adamant on pushing this elaborate picture – focusing on two Jesuit priests who face violent persecution when they travel to Japan – to the fore. A ‘shaky’ start it may be, but the premise and cinematography are bound to break grounds.
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The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight

  • Film
  • Action and adventure
Opening date TBC
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino has courted a great deal of controversies throughout his career – the latest being the police union threatening to boycott ‘The Hateful Eight’ following his comments about police brutality. This and a leaked script later, the director decided to press on, rounding up heavyweights like Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh to star in a spaghetti Western homage that pits a group of gun-toting outlaws in a blustery mountain stopover in post-Civil War Wyoming. There will be unflinching violence, there will be blood, and there will be an Oscar nomination.
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Superhero films to look out for

Deadpool

1. Deadpool

  • Film
  • Action and adventure

Wade Wilson’s transformation to Deadpool leaves him with accelerated healing powers, a twisted sense of humour and a mission to hunt down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

  • Film
  • Action and adventure

A lot is riding ‘Batman v Superman’. Not only is the first film to feature both superheroes, but director Zack Snyder has also got to introduce a new DC movie-verse of characters including Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

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Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Civil War

  • Film
  • Action and adventure

Choose sides in this year’s Marvel offering as Captain America and Iron Man disagrees when political pressure results in a government interference and a system of accountability.

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X-Men: Apocalypse

4. X-Men: Apocalypse

  • Film
  • Action and adventure

Professor X and Mystique leads a team of young X-Men to save humanity from Apocalypse – not the dreaded day but the god-like mutant said to be the first and most powerful.

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Doctor Strange

5. Doctor Strange

  • Film
  • Action and adventure

After a career-shattering accident, surgeon Stephen Strange is mentored by The Ancient One (aptly played by Tilda Swinton) and sets out on a journey of healing.

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