As Oscar night approaches I like to review what I’ve seen over the year and rank my top movies. Last year was really a great year for movies. I enjoyed more movies than disappointed me. Below is my list of the top 11 movies of 2016. I couldn’t narrow it down to just 10 movies and since it’s my list, I can do what I want.

11. Sing Street

I am a fan of John Carney’s films (other films include Once and Begin Again). Sing Street, like Carney’s other movies, is a musical. It is set in the 80’s and centers around a boy trying to get a girl so he asks her to be in his music video. The girl agrees, and then he has to form a band with a motley crew of neighborhood kids. It’s a funny and sweet coming-of-age story. The music is original and catchy and has an 80’s vibe. What I like about Carney’s films are that they focus on one significant turning point in a person’s life and the music and people that help that person move forward in their lives. The characters are always so rich and colorful and seem like people you would meet down the street or at your local bar. There is nothing flashy or Hollywood about the movie. It’s just simple and sweet.

10. The Lobster

The Lobster is weird. It is the story of a dystopian reality where no one is allowed to be single. If you are single you are brought to a resort, of sorts, where you have a limited amount of time to meet and find someone or you get turned into the animal of your choosing. Colin Farrell plays man whose wife has just died and so he is brought immediately to this resort and asked which animal he would like to be turned into if he fails to find a partner. The lobster is Farrell’s animal of choice. Colin Farrell has come a long way since SWAT and I love that he does so many of these quirky indie films. I’m so glad he stopped doing pretty-boy action movies with no substance and started diving into these dark comedy roles because he’s so good at them. The Lobster is unique and different and ¾ of the movie is absolutely amazing. I got sucked into the film’s strange and horrifying world. Rachel Weisz, playing a rogue singleton, was also great. The problem with The Lobster is the end. It totally falls apart. It felt a bit like the writer or director didn’t know how to end the movie. The last part of the film was more violent and weird, in a bad way, and overall was a disappointing conclusion. Props for originality though.

9. A Man Called Ove

This was one of my favorite books last year and I really thought the movie was just as good as the book. A sweet story about a cranky old man trying to kill himself after the death of his wife and all the people that keep getting in the way. Even though the movie centers around some pretty serious issues, it is so funny. The movie, like the book, is told going back and forth between present day and Ove’s past which makes it unique and engaging. It’s a little like Manchester by the Sea and Casey Affleck’s character where you wonder why this guy is so angry and then, as the past gets slowly revealed, you understand and are able to sympathize and empathize with the character and, in this case, grow to love him even more! To know Ove is to love Ove.

8. Deadpool

I am beyond done with all the superhero movies these days. However, Deadpool was different in part because it was rated-R and had more of an adult storyline, with adult jokes and there wasn’t the censoring of both language and violence that there is with the hundreds of other superhero movies out there currently. I didn’t know much about the Deadpool character but Ryan Reynolds was funny and the entire movie, from start to finish, was entertaining and engaging. There was never a fight or an action scene that got too long or over-involved and the dialogue was sarcastic, quick and witty with numerous pop-culture references, which I loved.

Side note: I don’t know about anyone else, but when I heard they were making a movie called Deadpool, I thought they were re-making The Dead Pool, a Clint Eastwood movie from 1988, and I was actually quite excited and intrigued by this prospect.

7. Lion

Lion was such a pleasant surprise of a movie. The movie is based on the true story of a little boy, named Saroo, who, at the age of 5, gets lost from his brother while they are away from home. Saroo ends up in Calcutta in the early 80’s and is preyed upon by numerous individuals before he is brought to a type of orphanage. He ends up being adopted and moves to Australia. Nicole Kidman plays the boy’s adoptive, and a bit emotionally unstable, mother. It was fun to hear Kidman act in her own Australian accent for once. The middle dragged a little bit as the now older Saroo, played by Dev Patel, is working on finding his biological mother through a lot of Google earth searches. There is a relatively unnecessary plotline between Saroo and his girlfriend, played by Rooney Mara. Both Patel and Mara are great actors but other than Mara’s character encouraging him to search, they did more fighting and arguing than anything else. The end is touching, emotional and very satisfying. Lion is a beautiful movie visually with lots of shots of the landscapes of both India and Australia. I also really enjoyed the song at the end of the movie while the credits were rolling, “Never Give Up” by Sia, and thought it could have deserved an Oscar nomination (it would never win up against La La Land and Mohana music but still).

6. Zootopia

What can I say, I loved Zootopia. It was cute and funny. It’s about Judy Hops, a bunny who wants to become a police officer, even though there has never been a bunny police officer before in this world where predator and prey animals live together in harmony. When she does become a police officer and moves to the big city (of Zootopia) she gets involved in a mystery involving missing animals. She hooks up with a fox, voiced by Jason Bateman, who just happens to be a con artist. The movie is about how we all have some prejudice even in a world where we may think we have evolved beyond stereotypes. Zootopia has a genuinely good mystery that kept me intrigued. It was one of the best animated movies I’ve seen in a long while. Of course, now I’ve seen it a billion times and it’s lost a bit of its luster.

5. Arrival

I didn’t think I was going to like Arrival. I don’t love science-fiction unless it’s horror but then I had several people telling me Arrival was one of their favorite movies of the year. This movie is a bit mysterious and I don’t want to say too much about it because I think the beauty of this film, is not knowing much. It is both a political and philosophical film. It speaks to the importance of communication and how scary and potentially devastating it can be when communication can’t happen or simply breaks down. This movie is based on a short story called “Story of Your Life,” which was written in 2010 and yet it felt eerily close to our political climate today. It is a quiet film with a stellar cast. Amy Adams, as always, was great but I also really enjoyed seeing Jeremy Renner play a nerdy scientist instead of an asshole, like he usually does.

4. Manchester by the Sea

Although Manchester was a terribly hard and sad movie to watch, I cannot stop thinking about it (and every single time I do, I tear up). I have talked to so many people about this movie and it’s interesting to see the divide. People either love it or hate it because they think it’s way too depressing. Casey Affleck was amazing playing the stoic man with so much self-hatred, rage and sadness just bubbling under the surface. Manchester surprised me, plot-wise and emotionally. Any film that can surprise me the way this one did, always is one I end up respecting, appreciating and, usually, loving. I enjoyed how you start in the middle and work your way forward with flashbacks that continue to illuminate the present day and the events of the past. A powerful film but probably not for everyone as it is a difficult movie to watch.

3. The Nice Guys

The Nice Guys movie brought me back to the buddy-cop movies of the 80’s, ala Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop. I have to say if Ryan Gosling ever tires of playing the tortured yet dreamy loner, he can find work as a comedic actor because he’s hysterical. Gosling and Crowe are great together and complement each other well. The story gets a little convoluted near the end, but that didn’t bother me since I found all the scenes between Gosling and Crowe so engaging and funny that I could have watched their interplay for hours.

2. Hell or High Water

I saw this movie back in August and couldn’t stop raving about it to anyone who would listen. Such a simple story and timeless in the way it was shot and yet it addressed a very current and real issue. I love Ben Foster. He always plays a character that is a little (or a lot) unhinged. This role was a little subtler but all the more touching because of the subtlety. I think he should have been nominated for an Oscar for this role. He was awesome. Jeff Bridges really can’t do anything wrong. He is amazing. What I like best about this film is that it isn’t good guys vs. bad guys but instead makes you question whether the true villains of the movie, and perhaps in life, aren’t the corporations and banks that protect the wealthy and prey on the poor, making poverty a way of life that is impossible to escape.

1. La La Land

La La Land is my favorite movie of the year. I can’t get enough of this movie. I’ve seen it twice. I own the soundtrack and the score. La La Land is beautiful and vibrant and a throwback to old films and musicals. The film hits every feeling on the spectrum of emotions. It is funny, touching, romantic and sad. La La Land captures the lifestyle of an artist living in LA and the sacrifices a person often has to make to live out his or her dreams. It touches on what drives an artist and the necessity for having artists who create beauty and allow us an escape from our world. I loved the last scene and found it so telling that often when we think about what “might have been” we romanticize it in a way real life can’t really live-up to. I loved Emma Stone and I loved Ryan Gosling. The movie is fun, beautiful and has great music. Best movie of the year in my opinion.