Top 10 Worst Films of 2016!

Yesterday I posted my '15 Best Movies of 2016' list (check that out if you haven't already) as I celebrated the best that 2016 had to offer. However, 2016 was not completely great as there were many awful films that came out last year. In saying that, here are the 10 films that I really despised in 2016. These films are just awful and not worth your time at all. *SPOILER ALERT* There will be a lot of comedies on this list.

Before we got onto the list, we have some honourable mentions. There were many awful films this year but these are the ones that were lucky enough to just miss out on my list:

Inferno

Warcraft

Bad Moms

Why Him?

Alice: Through The Looking Glass

Ice Age: Collision Course

& The Angry Birds Movie

10. Keeping Up With The Joneses

With the cast that this film had, it should have at least been entertaining. Unfortunately, each of the four main cast members were phoning it in, in what was a very poor "action-comedy". The story was handled very poorly as an interesting concept was not used to its full capacity. The results of this was a very bland, boring film that nobody should ever see,

9. Collateral Beauty

A perfect example of how you can have all the talent in the world within your cast but if you have a terrible story and script, it will fall apart easily. This was the case with 'Collateral Beauty' that tried so hard to be an Oscar type movie, instead it became one of 2016's biggest jokes in film. Most of the performances don't do the film justice either as this one flopped big time. One of 2016's last films, 'Collateral Beauty' certainly isn't beautiful.

8. Independence Day: Resurgence

20 years after the original, 'Independence Day' finally got a sequel. Unfortunately, we wish we never got that sequel. 'Resurgence' lacked the character, impressive effects, great action and most importantly, the fun of the original. This was a depressing watch as this was one of the worst sequels in 2016. The cheek to try and set up a third film after this was laughable and hopefully we never get that film.

7. Rock The Kasbah

This film didn't get much advertising with not many people seeing it and that isn't really a surprise. Again, the cast within this film was very solid so the film should have at least been somewhat entertaining. Unfortunately, we got yet another terrible "comedy" that even Bill Murray could not save. A very dull film that failed on all levels, particularly the entertainment side.

6. Gods Of Egypt

Despite what director Alex Proyas wants you to think, 'Gods of Egypt' is a truly terrible film. Gerard Butler leads a terrible cast of non Egyptians in this CGI fest that looks awful. The CGI in this film looks incredibly bad that it is fairly embarassing. The story is dull and the action isn't exciting as 'Gods of Egypt' flopped. This attempt to create a larger than life epic could not have ended up worse than it did. It's hard to believe that there were 5 worse movies than this.

5. Zoolander 2

Well done 'Zoolander 2', you were the worst sequel of 2016! Boy, was this an absolutely atrocious film. Everything wrong with modern comedy was in this film, especially the over saturation of celebrity cameos. This film was so incredibly lazy that the return of previously funny characters couldn't gloss over it at all. Nobody asked for this sequel and the world would have been a better place without it. A shambolic comedic display from Ben Stiller.

4. Absolutely Fabulous

Maybe I shouldn't have went to see a film based off of a TV show I hadn't seen before but 'Absolutely Fabulous' was painfully bad. I was the only person in my screening for this film and I can see why. Yet another "comedy" failed to do anything remotely funny, as the awful characters talked nonsense and didn't do anything entertaining for the full film. It took everything I had to not walk out of the cinema with this one and looking back, I wish I did.

3. The Boss

Surprise surprise, it's another comedy! Looking back at the year, 2016 had some pretty awful comedies and you'll struggle to find many worse than 'The Boss'. Another terrible film in the inconsistent filmography of Melissa McCarthy which had Peter Dinklage providing one of the year's worst performances- that's how bad it is! Again, this film is simply not funny and the most enraging. There is plenty of talent in this film but it is so lazy that it was infuriating to watch. I remember being agitated whilst watching this as my mind completely rejected this terrible film.

2. Monster Trucks

Seperating these last two is probably the hardest decision I've had to make on this list but at number is 'Monster Trucks'. 'Monster Trucks' has one of the most stupid ideas for a film and that transcends into the film. The combination of pratical and CGI effects for the monsters work attrociously in this film as the cast bring some of the worst performances of the year. It baffles me to how this idea got turned into a movie. 2016 ended terribly as I saw this movie that somehow got a huge budget. The only thing that stops this from being the number 1 worst movie is that it had some so bad it's funny moments. Unlike my number 1.....

1. Nine Lives

Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey is turned into a cat. This film has Christopher Walken as some sort of pet shop, voodoo magician. This film is incredibly stupid, painfully unfunny and a real travesty of a film. There is literally nothing good about this film. The story is stupid, the performances are awful, the effects are awful, everything is just terrible. I want to know who greenlight this film as well as who was able to convince these talented actors to be in this film. This film should be used in torture camps as that is what it was like when watching Kevin Spacey provide the voice to the cat in this stupid movie. The biggest waste of time I've ever had in the cinema, 'Nine Lives' isn't just the worst film on 2016, it's one of the worst films of all time.

So that concludes my list of the worst movies in 2016. Lets hope that we don't get anything as bad in 2017, although that is probably inevitable. I now want to know what movies you thought really put a downer on 2016. 2016 was quite a mixed year with some great and terrible films. Here's hoping that 2017 can improve on that. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor

Month in the Movies: June

The summer movie season has finally got underway and to say it's been a good start wouldn't be true. It's been a slow start this summer with not so many crackers hitting the big screen. Hopefully we're just getting the bad ones out of the way. However it would be unfair to say that there hasn't been some quality so far with a few films saving the season from being terrible.  If you aren't sure what this post is about, each month I look back at the movies I seen in that month and rank them based on a combination of how good the movie was and how much I enjoyed it. So lets get into the list!

10. The Boss

Simple as it is, 'The Boss' is the worst film I have seen so far in 2016. This was painfully unfunny to the point where I was so close to leaving the theatre. Peter Dinklage has the worst performance of the year within this film too which is painful to say but it is true. 'The Boss' is a disaster which for your sake, you shouldn't ever watch. Lets just hope McCarthy's next venture 'Ghostbusters' is much better than this turd. 

Final Verdict = F

Check out my review for 'The Boss' here

9. Gods of Egypt

For some people, this is their worst movie of the year and I can't blame them. A uninteresting story, bland characters, poor acting, mediocre CGI and terrible casting were only a number of things that went wrong in this 'epic'. 'Gods of Egypt' may become one of those "it's so bad, it's good" movies which isn't necessarily a good thing. 'Gods of Egypt' is truly awful but is lucky that there was a film I thought was even worse in the month of June.

Final verdict = F

Check out my review for 'Gods of Egypt' here

8. Independence Day: Resurgence

20 years after the original we got a sequel that people wanted back in the 90's. Unfortunately for us, the film came nowhere near the original in terms of quality. The film failed to replace Will Smith as the new characters were not interesting or charismatic enough. The heart of the original wasn't there either as 'Resurgence' became the 'Terminator: Genisys' of 2016.

Final Verdict = D

Check out my review for 'Independence Day: Resurgence' here

7. Mother's Day

A film about a holiday that here in the UK isn't celebrated to quite the same standard as shown in the film. There was potential for this comedy to succeed as it does have some characters whose stories would make for an interesting movie. However, it is filled with and focuses on some of the most terrible characters of the year who are the main focus which makes the film hard to watch at times. Like most comedies this year, it fails to create a funny movie which is unfortunate considering some of the cast members.

Final Verdict = C-

Check out my review for 'Mother's Day' here

6. The Angry Birds Movie

The movie based off of the hit mobile based game seems to have come a few years too late. The movie is clearly aimed for kids which may explain to why I didn't get that much enjoyment out of the film as it wasn't targeted to me. However there were a few decent jokes despite all the bird puns as well as some nice animation that the film deserves credit for.

Final Verdict = C-

Check out my review for 'The Angry Birds Movie' here

5. Mr Right

'Mr Right' is a really fun movie to watch with some good comedy and performances from the two leads. However the story isn't made that well with a lot of things happening only to allow the film to progress. It's a fun movie just to sit and switch your brain off with but no more than that unfortunately. I wanted more from this movie and although it is entertaining at times, there isn't a great deal of quality the whole way throughout the movie.

Final Verdict = C

Check out my review for 'Mr Right' here

4. The Secret Life of Pets

Much like 'The Angry Birds Movie', TSLOP is a film that is targeted for kids. This comes at no surprise as it comes from the creators of 'Despicable Me' and 'Minions'. However the difference between this film and TABM is that the comedy works a whole lot more in this movie. The jokes led by Louis C.K and Kevin Hart do land a lot more which does make this kids movie a lot more enjoyable to watch. It isn't one of the animated films that will blow audiences away but it is a fine movie to say the least.

Final Verdict = C+

Check out my review for 'The Secret Life of Pets' here

3. Me Before You

'Me Before You' is one of the biggest surprises I have had the cinema this year. I really didn't expect this movie to be good at all and was pleasantly surprised. The film is very charming and has some good comedy within it. The two leads do very well which creates an enjoyable viewing. The emotional parts could have been done a little better especially the finale which seemed to have been rushed. Regardless of that, 'Me Before You' was one of the better movies this month.

Final Verdict = B-

Check out my review for 'Me Before You' here

'Gods of Egypt' Review

Last week when I saw 'The Boss', I thought I was certain to not see a movie just as bad or even worse. But along came 'Gods of Egypt' to do it best to give it a run for its money and to try and claim the title for itself.

Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waladau) is set to become the new ruler of Egypt as his father Osiris (Bryan Brown) steps down. Osiris' brother, Set (Gerard Butler) who was cast out to rule the desert comes back in what seems to be to see the coronation but kills Osiris and blinds Horus to take the throne for himself. A mere mortal Bek (Brenton Thwaites) loses his lover Zaya (Courtney Eaton) when trying to escape slavery from Set and looks to help Horus in return for him bringing back Zaya. 

'Gods of Egypt' takes us to Egypt where absolutely no one looks or sounds Egyptian, at least none of the main characters do. The cast consists of Australians, Europeans and Americans with not many even liking slightly Egyptian at all and it does cause quite a problem. This automatically takes you out of the film as all these characters don't fit the setting at all. On top of that, most of them speaking in what are more British accents than anything other than Gerard Butler who goes all out in his Scottish voice. The film has came under fire a lot for it's terrible casting and it does affect the film a lot. How do they expect us to believe these characters and settings if they haven't even bothered to get even one actor from Egypt or Egyptian descent to appear in it? 

One of the biggest problems with the film is just how bad the writing is within this film. The story for one, is not interesting. The characters also are not interesting and thy don't get you even remotely emotionally invested in any of them. The combination of they two alone is a crime for a movie because if you fail on that, what else do you really have to stand on? Oh yeah, it's the CGI that they want you to only care about. To make things even worse the dialogue is insufferable. I have no idea to why they tried to make this huge film and have everyone try to be funny. It doesn't work at all and it is so cringey seeing these awful characters come out with one liners. The character Bek becomes the worst in the film for this as he cannot help but make some sort of remark regardless of what is happening, even if he is staring in the face of death. The other part of that character's dialogue is him constantly asking questions and is one of the worst written characters of the year.

As previously mentioned, the film is a complete CGI fest. There are literally no scenes that are organic or believable at all. The CGI at times is fairly impressive as it creates some huge settings that do like quite nice. However there are so many things that look awful especially for a feature length film that had a budget of $140 million. They obviously were trying to create something epic but it is just shockingly bad with the gods being twice the size as normal humans, yet have the same features. The fight scenes become unbearable as the gods turn into bulls or eagle like creatures that are eyesores. Unfortunately for the film, none of the creatures look good at all. None of them make you go wow or even impress slightly. The worst of all comes in the form of the sphinx that will let you past if you can solve a riddle. Great stuff. 

There are so many things that happen in the film that are just convenient. Again we go back to the character Bek, who gets away with everyone at the very last second. No matter what happens, he's always safe for no other reason. There is a scene where Bek and Horus are being pursued by two large -and awful looking- fire breathing snakes n which the pair go into one of the gaps in the ground. Whilst sitting in this square in the ground the snake approaches them and starts to breathe it's fire towards them. Only a few seconds ago, the huge creature was sending flames for thousands of metres. However when it came to actually causing destruction, it could only power out enough for 3/4s of the small area and conveniently, that's where our 'heroes' were. Along with constantly being oh so lucky, the characters get a whole lot of help from characters who also possess magic skills. They only do so when danger is near and to allow the story to progress. You then start to question why all these "powerful" gods didn't just team up to take down Set, rather than letting him run amok with a reign of terror. 

The run time of this movie is 2 hours and 8 minutes. Now with no good story, no good writing, no good characters, how on earth do they expect you to be entertained for more than 2 hours? This film undoubtedly should have been a lot shorter as it didn't have nearly enough quality to last that long. In saying that though, the film doesn't have enough quality for one hour.

Final Verdict =

An utter shambles of a movie, 'Gods of Egypt' is up there with the worst of the year. 

So have you seen 'Gods of Egypt'- and for your sake I hope you haven't- what did you think of it? If you do choose to see it albeit I highly recommend you don't, I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Once again, thank you for reading my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor