#TrendingAwards2016: The best and worst in movies

#TrendingAwards2016 – This was the year where children’s animations like Finding Dory topped the box office, comic book movies like Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman crashed and burnt with the critics (while others like Deadpool soared), and local productions continued to be lekker.

This was also the year of nostalgia.

Beloved classics such as Ghostbusters, Ben-Hur, The Jungle Book and Tarzan were remade (with mixed results) – proving that the more threatening the world around us becomes, the more we hark back to what we think of as the golden past.

On the local front, South Africans proved their thirst for lighter fare with romance movies such as Happiness Is a Four-letter Word doing well at the box office.

Money-wise, Afrikaans movies still pull in the most, with the romance Vir Altyd raking in R14.3 million.

Yet it was still gritty violence that topped critics’ lists, with Shepherds and Butchers and Noem My Skollie receiving the most acclaim.

Our best movie of the year

Noem My Skollie: Call Me Thief

Yup, this local drama was the best movie I saw this year.

Anchored by a heart-wrenching autobiographical script by John Fredericks, it tells the story of a young boy who becomes a gangster on the Cape Flats.

It’s been chosen as South Africa’s official selection for the 89th Annual Academy Awards, so we’re holding thumbs for it to win the golden trophy.

Other hits

International: Spotlight, Moana, Queen of Katwe

Local: Happiness Is a Four-letter Word, Wonderboy, Dora’s Peace

Our worst movie of the year

The Revenant

The more I think about The Revenant, the more I hate it.

Though Leonardo diCaprio got an Oscar for it, this overwrought tale of a man who must survive a bear attack in frigid North America became more and more ridiculous as the minutes ticked by.

Then again, Ben-Hur also happened to us this year.

A film so bad that my colleague said the only redeeming feature was that the actor who plays Jesus was pretty hot.

Other flops

International: Batman v Superman, Tarzan, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Suicide Squad, Ben-Hur, Independence Day: Resurgence

Local: The Journeymen