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

'Monster Trucks' Review

The premise of this film is that there is a monster inside of a truck. If you have seen the trailer for this film, you wouldn't be expecting too much from this film. Was I right to not have any hope when going to see this film? Absolutely 

Tripp (Lucas Till) is unsatisfied with his life and only finds joy when working in a car scrapyard. Tripp looks to build a truck so he can leave the town but an accident at a nearby oil drilling area displaces a strange creature that has a taste for oil. The creature makes its way to the scrapyard where it befriends Tripp. Tripp finds a way to get Creech into his truck as the main driving force, giving him a chance to finish his truck. Meanwhile, the creature is being hunted down by the oil company to make sure they don't get shut down.

2016 is almost over and everyone looks to be making up their lists of their best and worst films of the year. Amongst new releases like 'Passengers', 'Collateral Beauty' and even 'Rogue One', Paramount have tried to sneak out their newest film 'Monster Trucks'. As I was thinking about my own worst of the year list, I have held off due to waiting for this - and the other Boxing Day releases - to see if any would sneak in. Spoiler alert, this film will be on the list.

First of all, the story for this movie is absolutely terrible. A monster in a truck is the basic premise for this and what is even more baffling is that it took three people to come up with the story for this film. In saying that, it takes the best part of an hour for the monster to actually become a part of the truck as it builds up uninteresting, unentertaining characters in the process. Films like this amaze me as I really can't understand why a company would waste money on something like this. Even worse when you realise that the budget for this film was $125 million! That's over $75 million more than the budget for Paramount's best film this year 'Arrival' which is astonishing. Paramount must have a lot of money to spare if they can fork out that much for an idea that is quite frankly terrible. Don't get me wrong, the film does have its moments where it is actually pretty funny. But in a so bad it's funny kind of way. A lot of this comes from the lines from some of the actors or inconsistencies within actions of characters which really wasn't the intention.

Lucas Till plays Tripp, a high school senior who sulks all day except for when crushing cars at the scrapyard and working on his truck. To Till's credit, he is probably the best part of this film as he does seem to try- unlike some of the other performances in this film. What lets Till down in the poor script that gives his character some unintentionally hilarious moments and terrible lines of dialogue. There were so many moments during this film where I looked across to my friend who I saw this with and sighed due to how bad the writing in this film was. Jane Levy was fantastic in the disturbing and effective horror 'Don't Breathe' but oh my, she was terrible in this movie. The writing again doesn't help but her delivery was even worse as it was comically bad a lot of the time. Maybe this was just a payday for her - as well as for the likes of Rob Lowe, Danny Glover and Barry Pepper - as the performance was not up to standard at all. The film lacks good characters and the performances are just as bad. When your film is focused on people around a beast that cannot speak, that is a huge problem. 

The film uses both practical and CGI effects to bring the monster's to life in this film and they look awful. The designs are very bland and really aren't that impressive. There are practical effects from the 70's and 80' that look better than what is in this film. What doesn't help the creatures is that there really isn't anything about them. We know that they like oil and that is about it. There is no development with the creatures to make us interested or even care about them. Again, this poses a problem as the film focuses on our protagonists protecting these creatures but there is simply no emotion or attachment to them. Younger ones may enjoy this one a bit more but not a lot due to these creatures not being nearly as fun as intended.

'Monster Trucks' is simply one of the worst films of 2016. The film is filled with poor performances, writing and effects and doesn't deliver on the fun aspect like they intended. There aren't many redeeming qualities with this one and it really isn't worth your time. A very poor film.

Final Verdict = 

So have you seen 'Monster Trucks'? If so, what did you think of the film? I hope that this review was helpful for if you were planning on seeing the film or not. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor