TOP 5 WORST FILMS OF 2016

Well guys, it's now 2017 and looking back at 2016 I'm genuinely surprised how many great films were released. There were so many films I loved and enjoyed that I couldn't wait to see them again and buy them on Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, not all films last year hit and we did end up with some massive misfires. Every year is deemed to have it's fair share of stinkers, so today I'll be breaking down the films I didn't enjoy watching in the least bit...like at all...like I'd rather be staring at a wall. 

Here are my TOP 5 WORST FILMS OF 2016...

5. ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS -

Now I’ll be perfectly honest that I didn’t completely loathe this film at all, but it ain’t that good. I’ll say at the very least that it did have its fair share of entertaining sequences, some visuals looked okay and the actors look like they’re trying and I’m sure it might’ve been fun for them making it. It’s a watchable film, but really that’s about it. The story is really all over the place and tends to meander on certain scenes just to keep the film going. Some of the things that are revealed in this story also happen in the strangest of ways. Like there’s a reveal that happens towards the end of the movie involving the Hatter and his family, I won’t spoil it for those who might want to see it, but I got up from my seat and screamed “WHAT?” at my TV. Yeah, it was that strange. Really this is the type of film that’s strange and weird because it can and voluntarily wants to be, but doesn’t always have to be. I didn’t feel any connections to the characters, the plot was all over the place and a little frustrating to follow, the visual effects looked too artificial, and the green screen work was very noticeable. For a fantasy film trying to be fantastical and amazing, it’s unfortunately anything but those things.

4. THE 5TH WAVE -

This film was honestly very shameful because there were instances in the story and a couple of decently directed scenes that this had potential of being pretty good. For such missed opportunity I can now say that this film really sucked! First off the performances in this film were laughably bad, like Tommy Wiseau from The Room bad. What’s worst is that even actors that I’ve seen in great movies were trash in this film as well! Chloe Grace Moretz, a great young actress of our time? Maika Monroe from It Follows, a great underrated horror film? Liev Schreiber, from last year’s Oscar winner Spotlight? What HAPPENED HERE?! The director J Blakeson needs to improve upon working with his actors instead of having the end result being these stilted and awkward performances. On top of that they have to deliver such horrible dialogue from a lifeless, uninspired screenplay. I get this is from a young adult novel and maybe it did have that decent source material to work with, but maybe do something with it to give us a good movie. There’s no pizazz done with the dialogue since it’s so simplistic and doesn’t come off naturally by the actors. Every line delivered felt forced. There was no suspense in the story for such grand events to happen, which they could’ve done so much more to convey emotion. Also, a plot twist I will not spoil that I thought was okay at first, but the more I thought about it turned out to be so obvious. There was no shock value, the execution had no weight, and there was nothing in this film that had any purpose. The 5th Wave crashed, burned, and is one of the most dead on a stick films I’ve seen from last year!

3. INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE -

You know this could’ve been another fun guilty pleasure movie, but unfortunately that’s not the case for this film. What’s worse is that not even Jeff Goldblum could save this movie. Yes the sequel to the cult hit released 20 years ago features a story that takes place 20 years later? I’m not kidding what’s so silly about this movie is that coincidentally these strange alien events start wreaking havoc on Earth once again around the 20 year anniversary of the events of the original film. Why is that at all necessary? They probably could’ve done another story within a shorter time frame with different characters and maybe a couple characters from the original, but no. We’re stuck with a very much unneeded sequel. Not only that, the writing for all of these characters is pretty horrific with there being no development, awful dialogue and to go along with that very mediocre performances. It was a nonsensical story that didn’t need to be made and the way this film ends setting up another sequel is just baffling. Luckily this film underperformed at the US box office grossing $100 million with a $160 million budget. Ouch! Also, even though some of the visuals were decent, there’s not one memorable action scene because the characters are so poorly written that you can’t get invested in the action. This was a very forgetful watch with no suspense towards the conflict and I wish it was something I could’ve had fun watching.

2. GODS OF EGYPT -

Oh where do I begin with this movie. Gods of Egypt was a poorly directed mess of a film that didn’t do anything interesting in the least bit. The story itself is very tension-less. For example, once the film begins when Gerard Butler’s character arrives it’s supposed to almost catch you by surprise, but to me it felt very abrupt and out of nowhere. For a scene that could’ve had decent build up, it just falls flat on its face and from there I knew this movie might not turn out so well. In conclusion, I was right. Gerard Butler’s character was the worst villain of the year and basically acts as Leonidas from 300, but ridiculously overexaggerates that performance. In fact all the actors weren’t even trying acting completely lackluster in their roles. I mentioned that the CGI and green screen in Alice wasn’t good, but heck the CGI and green screen in Alice looks like Jurassic Park compared to this movie. The green screen work wasn’t the least bit convincing and there was not one visual effects shot or action sequence I could say looked decent. The action scenes were so poorly choreographed with this terrible 360 camera shot that panned around the actors. It happened in like two out of the three action scenes. Also, the third and final action scene was just this amped up CGI mess. I didn’t enjoy watching this film in the least bit. The first 6 minutes probably weren’t that bad and had some okay production design, but as soon as Gerard Butler enters it goes downhill from there.

And My Worst of Film of 2016 is...

1. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

For a film called Pride and Prejudice and ZOMBIES I can’t believe how bored out of my mind I was when watching this movie. I do not understand how people got any enjoyment out of this movie in the least bit. The screenplay was terrible and does absolutely nothing with its characters. NOTHING! There’s not one interesting thing you could say about any of the characters other than that they were just there and they fight zombies. Even the Zombie aspect was unnecessary! I feel this movie focused more on being Pride and Prejudice than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It just felt shoehorned into this sort of story and felt tonally inconsistent with the original story to begin with. Whenever zombies play a part in the story it’s so rushed and glossed over that the film just decides to revert back to its original story. It didn’t work for me in the slightest and the execution for this film, the filmmaking involved, felt like I was watching a made-for-TV movie. The soundtrack overstays it’s welcome as well. There’s not one exciting scene or even an emotional scene that makes this experience worth watching. I couldn’t stand watching this movie at all. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is the most awful, standard piece of crap film I’ve seen out of all films last year.

Well that was therapeutic to get all that negativity off my chest. I hope you all enjoyed reading my thoughts about films I tortured myself with. I'm glad I was able to rip off the band-aid because next week I'll be talking about the films from last year that I absolutely adored. My Top 10 Best Films of 2016 which will be split in 2 parts will be posted within the next few days. Part 1 goes up on Tuesday. Part 2 on Thursday.

Also, the 2017 Golden Globes will be tomorrow and I have a yearly tradition of LIVE-Tweeting during the ceremony, so be sure to follow me @alexjcorey to get in on that action and see my thoughts and enjoyment along the way. twitter.com/alexjcorey

Thank you all for reading and hope you all have a lovely weekend! Be sure to see some movies and all that good stuff!