It’s been a mixed bag of a year, for many reasons, but when it came to culture, 2016 was only a “great, but not staggering” year for film and TV. We seem to have hit a plateau. I’m yet to see ‘Manchester by the Sea’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Toni Erdmann’, or ‘Childhood of a Leader’, but even those titles I know what i’m going to get, and it seems unlikely that they are films I’m going to be talking about in decades to come. We seem to have missed the mark (less said about ‘Mr Robot’ the better – awful) in most areas of visual artistry this year (apart from Louis CK). That said, progress in music seems to have accelerated, still pushing forward. Anyway, like every year, what you see below is what I’ve seen or heard this year so there may be a couple of pieces from 2015 in there. Without further ado, here’s the list:
FILM
1. One More Time With Feeling
2. Son of Saul
3. Anomalisa
4. The Revenant
5. Green Room
6. A Bigger Splash
7. Nocturnal Animals
8. Paterson
9. Arrival
10. The Witch
Honourable Mentions
Everybody Wants Some!!! Chiraq, End of the Tour, The Nice Guys, High Rise, Maggie’s Plan, Friendship, Born to be Blue
Overrated
Hateful Eight, The Big Short, Neon Demon, Deadpool, Hail Ceaser!, Sing Street, Brooklyn, Miles Ahead, Swiss Army Man, Suicide Squad, Danish Girl, Warcraft, Rogue One, Batman v Superman, Lemonade
TV / Online
1. Horace and Pete
2. Halt and Catch Fire
3. Black Mirror
4. High Maintenance
5. Silicon Valley
6. Atlanta
7. Broad City
8. War & Peace
9. Planet Earth II
10. Transparent
Honourable Mentions
The Americans, Eric Andre, Baskets, Nathan for You
Overrated
Stranger Things, Westworld, Game of Thrones, Vinyl, Mr Robot, Gilmore Girls, Peaky Blinders
MUSIC (Albums)
1. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
2. Bon Iver – 22 Million Years
3. Nick Cave – Skeleton Tree
4. Savages – Adore Life
5. David Bowie – Blackstar
6. Kanye West – Life of Pablo
7. Anhoni – Hopelessness
8. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker
9. Frank Ocean – Blonde
10. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial
Honourable Mentions
Avalanches, Nicolas Jaar, Mica Levi, Kendrick Lamar, Mitski, Jenny Hval, Preoccupations, Parquet Courts, Adult Jazz, Kevin Morby, Porches
Overrated
Beyonce, Drake, Iggy Pop, James Blake, 1975
MUSIC (Singles)
1. Radiohead – Daydreaming
2. Bon Iver – 22 (OVER S∞∞N)
3. Savages – Adore Life
4. Nick Cave – I Need You
5. David Bowie – Lazarus
6. Frank Ocean – Nikes
7. Kanye West (ft. Weeknd) – FML
8. Preoccupations – Anxiety
9. Car Seat Headrest – Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales
10. Hamilton Leithauser – A 1000 Times