The Year-End Reflection of 2016

WORST FUCKING YEAR EVER!!!!!!! That is what I have to say about 2016. It was a shit year. A year that I wish never existed. Fortunately, it will end in hours but we’re headed for some uncertainty into what is ahead. Especially as the world is pretty much thrown into chaos and there is so much to worry about. Still, the sins of 2016 look like it will be repeated or exaggerated considering the bullshit that is looming. It was a shitty year filled with too many deaths, too many chaos, a lot of divide socially and politically, wars all over the world, and lots of stupid decisions.

In the year of 2016, I saw a total of 400 films in 252 first-timers and 128 re-watches as it wasn’t entirely surprising but disappointing considering the year itself as I didn’t see a lot of films theatrically as I only saw 12 films in 2016 in the theaters as one of them was a re-watch. It is very likely I won’t reach that personal goal of 500 films a year as I’m not going to attempt in 2017. Fortunately, one of the highlights this year has been my Blind Spot Series as here is the final ranking for my Blind Spot films of 2016:

1. The Exorcist

2. Das Boot

3. The Killer

4. Come and See

5. Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy (Pather Panchali - Aparajito - Apur Sansar)

6. Roman Holiday

7. Yi Yi

8. John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy (Fort Apache - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - Rio Grande)

9. News from Home

10. A Brief History of Time

11. Seven Beauties

12. A Trip to the Moon

The Blind Spots were definitely inspiring as I saw a lot of great films in different genres while many of the first-timers I saw this year were really good. Some of which are surprising as well as some gems that people should encounter. Instead of fifty, I’m going to whittle it down to 25 as it is due to the fact that there were many that stood out as most of the films I saw were from 2010 and so on so those films won’t be in the list. So here is a list of 30 films that I really liked that saw that came out before 2010:

1. Les Rendez-vous d'Anna

2. Halloween

3. Santa Sangre

4. Night and Fog

5. Schindler's List

6. Red River

7. Speedy

8. Watership Down

9. Salaam Bombay!

10. Cross of Iron

11. The Tales of Hoffmann

12. Woman in the Dunes

13. Crumb

14. Touki Bouki

15. Shane

16. Woodstock

17. Roar

18. Cape Fear

19. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

20. Cabaret

21. The Street Fighter

22. Lifeforce

23. Gertrud

24. From the Life of the Marionettes

25. The Driver

26. Fight Club

27. Ordet

28. La Cage Aux Folles

29. Stray Dog

30. Smokey and the Bandit

Well, that is all I’m going to say for 2016. There hasn’t been a lot of good things that happened this year. Sure, the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series and I got to see Kraftwerk but too much bullshit happened. I lost my cat this year. Still don’t have a new water heater while my kitchen sink is in the fritz again. Plus, there was so many people that died this year that meant a lot to me like Prince, Muhammad Ali, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Garry Shandling, Alan Rickman, Michael Cimino, Abbas Kiarostami, and so many others. Yet, none was bigger than David Bowie who probably meant more to me than anyone as he helped me find myself and so many others. I think all there is to said is this… fuck 2016 and fuck off for good. I wish I could say happy new year but I’m not really up to it as I’m just filled with too much dread. For everyone that wants to say good times are coming. All I can say is this… fuck you and fuck off.


Let’s just hope for 2017 to do much better and get some power back into our hands just to do things right in a world full of wrongs.

© thevoid99 2016