Ten Best Films of 2016

It's that time of year again. Time for every newspaper, critic, and blogger in the #FirstWorld to race to see who can influence the rest of them into copying each other's lists and saying, "I liked that movie too!" Well now:

My name is Eric C. Player, I am an award-winning Film Producer/Writer/Director. My list is here. My list is my own. (Copyright Panther Pictures, LLC.) I saw what you were squawking about, I might have even watched it in all it's pixelated Pixar or TiFF glory; but now you'll have to react to MY opinion, Mister Lady Person. I made mine first.

To start off with, I'll re-purpose some of what I say every year:

"The Best From Hollywood" will always be my broad statement to mean the American Film Industry, those folks in California (and Georgia, and Toronto) that make stories in two-hour segments. It is what I have been a fan of my entire life; No disrespect to the movies coming out of other nations, or the endless spider web of television production, but that just isn't what I study or follow. (Though 2016's list is a little broader, encompassing 'Movies in English.')

And again, remember that my list is a reflection of myself within the industry. What has resonated with THIS PERSON this year? Everything in this business is subjective. Subject to who got free screeners, mostly.

2016 was a pretty good year; for movies, anyway. As I understand it attendance has been down at your local Main Street Theater. Of course, with lower attendance comes lower prices--about 2% lower this year overall, everywhere except Regal Cinemas. Maybe they'll go down too if people continue to stay away.

So, I don't mind. I'll watch, you guys read. Here then, in no order except my own musing, are the movies you should tell your friends you liked.

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The Angry Birds Movie
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Maybe it was because I had absolutely no expectations for this one, I mean, none. But it made it on my Ten Best of 2016 list with craft, heart, and genuine fun. The story of Red, an outcast who can't control his temper--and who also can't really see anything wrong with his temper except that everyone ELSE has a problem with it--was not just a lesson for the kids watching in how to control (and embrace) one's personality in service of society, it was also a lesson to the rest of the movie industry about how to successfully translate a brand. Plus the actors were game and the jokes genuinely funny. Watching Bomb pretend he wasn't disappointed that he couldn't hang out with Red has made my "Movie Clip" rotation.

Hell or High Water
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Here was a movie that made me feel like I was watching a novel, if you follow me. At the same time it was a better Western than I have seen in some time. It captured the American Experience and the ethos of the frontier better than any other movie that came out this year. Its tropes are something of a standard that movies after it are going to be measured against. And like all good Westerns it came with a deadly cool standoff in the end. (And I don't mean on that ridge with all the cars.) The cherry on top was Jeff Bridges pulling out his John Wayne impression from True Grit.

The Magnificent Seven
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It was over-long, over-violent, and a remake of two superior films. It was also a Western and a movie I watched in-theater with my son. One of the best of 2016; End of Line.

Star Trek: Beyond
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Movies are more than the experience in the theater, even if that is what puts some of them on the list for me this year. They are a development process, from script to screen, with an army of collaborators. Yes, each individual film needs to stand on its own--no "homework" involved or the film is a failure--but they all undeniably carry the baggage of what came before, in terms of genres, cliches, franchises, actors. Everything that appears on the screen has weight. Star Trek: Beyond makes my list this year not only because it is a rip-roaring good time all on its own, but because for the first time since the series "reboot," and arguably for the first time since the original cast left the screen in Star Trek Six (or Generations, if you're into that sort of thing), the people in charge of shepherding the Star Trek Universe towards the multiplex remembered what was at the center of that universe: a family.

Hunt for the WilderPeople
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Foster kids, rebellion, old men, a manhunt. Ricky Baker would say its like The Lord Of The Rings, but I kinda enjoyed it as though it was On Golden Pond--if Norman and his grandson had gone fishing for Walter, and just decided to stay gone (and then the police came after them). With jetpacks. And pretty girls.

Arrival
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The first "adult" space alien story since, what, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Amy Adams picks quality projects. Maybe that's why she makes a great Lois Lane. She works hard, and she plays hard.

Passengers
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It occurs to me that I have two Chris Pine and two Chris Pratt films on this year's list. Does that say something about me, Hollywood, or their agents? Probably more about me, because I could just as easily call this one a Jennifer Lawrence film. In any case, I've been looking forward to this one all year, and while I am putting forward my ranking solely based on teasers and ComiCon clips, I think I am in safe territory predicting nominations and quality all around and, based upon all the other movies I've seen in 2016, a place on my "Ten Best" of 2016.

UPDATE 12/31/2016 - Having had the great pleasure of watching the film in its entirety, it remains firmly on the list. I've been made aware of the controversy surrounding it, and it seems to me much of that controversy misses the point of the story. Or suffers from what I like to call Alternate Writers Syndrome. It is not a fair criticism of any film to simply point out what you would have done differently. Are the characters' motivations true? Is everything resolved in a way that makes sense? Then the film succeeds, and this one succeeds beautifully.

Doctor Strange
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Marvel generally makes it on to my "Ten Best" list, but usually with an Avenger or somebody from outside their galaxy entirely, guarding it. This time they scored taking a character I knew best as a parody of himself on The Venture Bros., and made the world believe that Benedict Cumberbatch could . . . well okay, these days it's not so hard to believe that Benedict Cumberbatch could be anybody or do anything, but with a little tutoring from the White Witch, apparently, he can bend the world.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Order

It doesn't come out until December 18. Goin' out on a limb here: Yeah. Awesome.

UPDATE 12/31/2016 - Yeah. Awesome.

Hail Caesar!
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This movie really divided audiences after it premiered in Berlin. I watched it in a nearly empty theater with my boy, and spent the whole screening grinning from ear to ear. James Brolin made a great studio "fixer," and maybe the entire movie was just an excuse for the Coens to send their cameras from Classic Hollywood Moment to Classic Hollywood Moment, but I still maintain that the entire 107-odd minutes is worthwhile for George Clooney's Danny Kaye Back-Shaving Speech 71 minutes in.

Honorable Mentions:

Deepwater Horizon
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Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg make us feel hot, wet, and sad for the men who were trapped on the oil platform in the Gulf in 2010.

The Journey Within
Trailer

A documentary--my first in the time I have spent recommending films at the end of the year--about a music show in Pakistan and what it means for the people involved. An unforgettable visual and aural delight that must be experienced to be understood.

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So that's it. Seriously. Those are the best movies Hollywood put out, or will, this year. 2016.

In my opinion, of course.

Eric C. Player is the president of Panther Pictures, LLC. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," & graduate of BYU & Chapman University film schools. His feature films and shorts have played in theaters all across the United States and worldwide. He has written and produced film and video content for twenty years. His latest short, "Moment of Anger," received multiple honors including Best short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival 2016 in Santa Monica, California. Eric C. Player on Imdb.

Writing Exercise: The Fruit

"Go ahead, Ted. Do it."

Ted Wilson stood looking down at the basket of fruit at the counter of the Gulp'n Go. He didn't particularly like fruit. And most of it in the basket looked like it was about three days too old. The bananas especially looked as though they had been resigned to showing up in a bread recipe about 48 hours ago. Really, all he'd come in for was the candy bar.

But as much as he was disinterested in the fruit, he was more interested in annoying the Blaarg. The Blaarg behind him was making that "trilling" sound they all made. It was waiting its turn, but it really seemed like it wanted the fruit. Ted hated Blaargs. Was it hate? No maybe not hate, he just didn't trust them. Ever since they showed up in those goldish silvery tube things promising peace and prosperity to the people of Earth, he'd just never had a really productive or satisfying day. This is peace? Nothing has ever fit the same--these alternative-fabric-renewable-cotton-what-the-heck-whatevers that they call clothing now . . . Margot says it's in his mind but they itch, and all the fasteners are in the wrong places!

The little voice in his head spoke again: "So just Do it, Ted. Go on."

The girl behind the counter was a little impatient: "Just the candy? Is this all for you?"

Ted decided to go for it.
"No, I'd like the fruit, please."
"Which ones?"
"All of them."

The Blaarg behind him made a sound like a cat with a bag over its head having its tail squeezed. He was right. It wanted the fruit. Somehow, knowing a Blaarg would be disappointed in this way made Ted Wilson feel extremely satisfied. He was tired of caring what they thought and when he got home he would tell Margot exactly that.

Ted paid for his fruit and his candy bar and left the Gulp'n Go. Outside, his motorcade was waiting. As was Bob, who was ALWAYS waiting and watching.

"Did you find what you needed, Mr. President?"

"And more, Bob. Thanks for the detour. Sorry for the delay--ggaahh.."

President Wilson's final words were choked in his throat by the Blaarg, a bulbous, tentacled species who communicate through a series of whoopee-cushion-like muscle contractions. This one no longer felt like talking.

The Blaarg fleet was also about 17 1/2 times larger than they claimed when they arrived. With much more advanced weapon systems than originally thought. The people of Earth would spend the next 27 years dealing with these revelations, until an alliance with the Gruuun finally ended the Blaarg War.

The Gruuun did not eat fruit.

Academic Malfeasance: The Movie - Full Pitch

Academic Malfeasance: The Movie - Full Pitch from Eric Clermont Player on Vimeo.

Newest pitch for "Academic Malfeasance: College Funding With One Simple Felony," for the next Kickstarter Campaign by Panther Pictures, LLC. Includes references to the reel of writer/director Eric C. Player, and the latest teaser.  http://www.am-themovie.com

"Academic Malfeasance: College Funding With One Simple Felony" is a comedy about the state of both education in America, and Prisons.  Because the world needs more Prison Education Comedies.  Come to think of it, this might be the first one.  It's about one high school graduate's idea to use the prison system to get his college education, even if he's never stolen a pencil.

Content: For the Cause!

Over the last 17 years that I have spent in the entertainment industry, I have heard many different talking heads give their opinion about what will or won't get you a job in "this town."

You need to know somebody. You need to be a fresh face. You need to pay your dues before you come out on top. Only submit your work to the top companies. Submit it to everybody. Take classes. Stay away from classes, just get out there and work. Go to festivals, don't go to festivals. And on and on.

Screenwriting IS a language. There ARE patterns to follow. Otherwise, all you have is noise. Like the difference between a well-made film and a static-filled TV screen. But William Goldman is right when he says, "Nobody knows anything." There are a hundred "rules" out there, and I've heard all of them. You will too. Heck, I'll lay out plenty when I read your work. (I mean, you have to know the rules before you can break them.) But what trumps them all is YOU HAVE TO BE OUT THERE.

Don't paralyze yourself because you think you might not be doing it right. Write the screenplay. Make the short film (heck, make the whole feature if you have the time), enter that contest. Send it off to that agent, that producer--even if they are based in Hoboken, CA, as opposed to Hollywood, CA. (But by all means, knock on Hollywood's door first.) Because nobody ever got a "Yes," or a "No" for that matter (and you will get hundreds and hundreds) without making something for the rest of the world to judge, first.

And isn't that why you want to be in this business? :)