My Top 10 Films of 2016

With 2016 coming to a close in just a few short hours, it's time to look back at the year that was and recount my favourite films from the last twelve months. 

My 2016 Movie Soundtrack Playlist

"I want to write and feel the drama. Music is essentially an emotional language, so you want to feel something from the relationships and build music based on those feelings" - Howard Shore

Every December I take a look back at the year that was and cherry pick some musical highlights, whether they be soaring orchestral scores or licensed tracks that have been inserted into films to great effect.

This year has been a stellar year for film scores in my opinion; now more than ever, I find myself listening to film scores in my spare time instead of 'normal' music.

My personal favourites include Johann Johannsson's haunting ambiance for Arrival, Abel Korzeniowski's sweeping score in Nocturnal Animals and Dario Marianelli's fantastic oriental inspired strings in Kubo and the Two Strings. Flashing back to the beginning of the year, Howard Shore and Ennio Morricone both worked wonders in Spotlight and The Hateful Eight respectively. More recently, the original scores for La La Land and Moana have been swimming through my head - you'll discover a lot of tracks from each in the playlist below.

Film Review: Sing Street

Prepare to smile and sing along like a complete dork; John Carney’s Sing Street is joyful, cinematic heaven.

My 2014 Movie Soundtrack Playlist

Movies and music, a match made in heaven. 

For me, a big part of a film's entertainment factor comes from its score or soundtrack. Weave a half decent score through your movie, or throw in a few licensed tracks that compliment the action and you can bet your ass I'm heading straight to iTunes as soon as I get home from the theatre.

2014 has been no different, with a whole host of toe-tapping tracks pricking up my ears across the year - from Tegan and Sara's inescapable earworm 'Everything is Awesome' to Keira Knightley's wonderful vocals in John Carney's Begin Again soundtrack, there has been so much to jam along to over the last 12 months.

For me, the best soundtrack compilation of the year has got to be Guardians of the Galaxy - from August onwards, Awesome Mix Vol. 1 has pretty much been on an endless loop in my car. Another standout was Hans Zimmer's superb Interstellar soundtrack, as was Alexandre Desplat's compositions from The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

I also really liked the meta-humour in The Muppets track, 'We're Doing A Sequel' - not many films would open with a musical number decrying it to be not as good as the previous movie, but they went there. Beware - it's super catchy.

I've thrown in a couple of TV tunes too - it's kind of cheating, but you know what? That doesn't matter, that's how awesome those tracks are. Fans of True Detective and Fargo rejoice!

As I've done in the past, I've put together a quick Spotify playlist to encapsulate the year, cherrypicking my favourite tracks from the soundtracks from X-Men, Walter Mitty, Godzilla and more. Check out the full playlist in the Spotify player below:

Random Movie Retitles (VOR #25)

It may not look like it, but this is actually the same movie.

Disclaimer: This opinion piece contains a rather obscure and inconsequential rant on random movie retitles. Beware, it gets messy.

One movie, two titles = one very confused Rhys. When is a random movie retitle justified, or are they just plain silly?

Film Review: Begin Again

Begin Again is a musical dramedy from writer/director John Carney - it tells the story of two down-on-their luck strangers, Dan (Mark Ruffalo) and Gretta (Keira Knightley), who decide to help each other turn their luck around by making music on the streets of New York.