The Best Movies of 2016

Moonlight is the best-reviewed movie of 2016

Was 2016 a good year for movies? We've seen a variety of opinions on both sides of the argument, but one thing is clear: it was indeed a great year for great films.

And by "great" films we mean high-scoring films. There were 12 movies released during 2016 that scored 90 or higher, more than in any other year this century. (See chart below.)

No 2016 film was greater than Barry Jenkins' coming-of-age drama Moonlight, a three-part look at the life of a gay black man growing up in a broken household in Florida. It's the highest-scoring release since Boyhood in 2014 and one of just four films in our entire database to score 99 or higher.

But the strength of 2016's very best films is such that Moonlight isn't even necessarily a favorite to win the best picture Oscar (though a nomination appears to be a certainty). It will have to contend with other films showered with praise by critics, including Kenneth Lonergan's drama Manchester by the Sea and the throwback musical La La Land.

Then again, there was plenty of love from reviewers to go around. There were 610 films released during 2016 to receive at least seven reviews from top professional critics. Of those, 328 received positive reviews (scoring 61 or higher)—that's an impressive 53%, and up from the 2015 figure (which was around 50%). And 58 of those films received a Metascore of 81 or higher, the cutoff we use to indicate "universal acclaim" from reviewers. That pretty much matches the percentage for the prior year.

More good news: the average Metascore for all 2016 films was 60.3, up from 2015's mark of 58.7. And the number of truly awful films scoring below 20 remained at just 7 for the year, tying 2015's total (and still down considerably from the 14 terrible films released in 2014).

Total number of films scoring at least 90, by year

The year's best films

Below are 2016's highest-scoring overall films, followed by separate lists of the year's best movies in a variety of categories.

Highest-Scoring Movies Released in 2016

Movie Score Watch Now 1 Moonlight 99    2 I Am Not Your Negro 97    3 Manchester by the Sea 96    4 Toni Erdmann 96    5 O.J.: Made in America * 96    6 La La Land 93    7 One More Time with Feeling 92    8 The Red Turtle 92    9 Tower 92    10 The Fits 91    11 13th 90    12 Paths of the Soul 90    13 Paterson 89    14 Elle 89    15 Things to Come 88    16 Hell or High Water 88    17 Newtown 87    18 Aquarius 87    19 Cameraperson 87    20 Fire at Sea 87    21 Krisha 87    22 Cemetery of Splendor 87    23 My Golden Days 87    24 Love & Friendship 87    25 Little Men 86    26 The Treasure 85    27 April and the Extraordinary World 85    28 Kaili Blues 85    29 Fireworks Wednesday 84    30 Aferim! 84    31 The Handmaiden 84    32 Under the Shadow 84    33 Weiner 84    34 Kubo and the Two Strings 84    35 Everybody Wants Some!! 83    36 De Palma 83    37 The Witch 83    38 Ixcanul 83    39 Being 17 83    40 Don't Think Twice 83    41 Neruda 82    42 The Lobster 82    43 Rams 82    44 Nuts! 82    45 Embrace of the Serpent 82    46 20th Century Women 82    47 Silence 82    48 Arrival 81    49 Closet Monster 81    50 Certain Women 81    51 Under the Sun 81    52 Moana 81    53 The Wailing 81    54 Hunt for the Wilderpeople 81    55 The Love Witch 81    56 A War 81    57 Jackie 81    58 Right Now, Wrong Then 81    59 Neon Bull 80    60 Your Name 80    61 Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened 80    62 Gleason 80    63 Pervert Park 80    64 Peter and the Farm 80    65 Off the Rails 80    66 Demon 80    67 Mountains May Depart 79    68 Loving 79    69 Green Room 79    70 Colliding Dreams 79    71 Sing Street 79    72 American Honey 79    73 The Witness 79    74 Indignation 78    75 The Age of Shadows 78    76 Fences 78    77 The Last Man on the Moon 78    78 The Innocents 78    79 Amanda Knox 78    80 Zero Days 78    81 No Home Movie 78    82 Hooligan Sparrow 78    83 Zootopia 78    84 Abortion: Stories Women Tell 78    85 Command and Control 77    86 Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience 77    87 Trapped 77    88 Finding Dory 77    89 The Dark Horse 77    90 The Jungle Book 77    91 Miss Sharon Jones! 77    92 Evolution 77    93 Baden Baden 77    94 Starving the Beast 77    95 A Monster Calls 77      Presenting Princess Shaw 77    97 Don't Call Me Son 77    98 The Edge of Seventeen 77    99 Dheepan 76    100 Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World 76

For this and all tables in this article, only movies with seven or more reviews and released in at least one theater in the United States between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 were considered. Re-releases of older films are excluded. The Metascore is a weighted average of scores from top professional critics, on a scale from 0 (bad) to 100 (good). Although scores have been rounded to the nearest whole number, movies are ranked prior to rounding. All scores in this article are from January 3, 2017.

* The eight-hour documentary O.J.: Made in America can be classified as both a television miniseries as well as a film (and will in fact be eligible for both Oscars and Emmys). Because it did screen in a few theaters prior to airing on TV, we are including it here (in addition to on our Best Miniseries of 2016 list).

Best 2016 Films in Selected Genres

2016's Best Documentaries 1 I Am Not Your Negro 97    2 O.J.: Made in America 96    3 One More Time with Feeling 92    4 Tower 92    5 13th 90    6 Newtown 87    7 Cameraperson 87    8 Fire at Sea 87    9 Weiner 84    10 De Palma 83

2016's Best Foreign-Language Films (Live-action narrative films only) 1 Toni Erdmann 96    2 Paths of the Soul 90    3 Elle 89    4 Things to Come 88    5 Aquarius 87    6 Cemetery of Splendor 87    7 My Golden Days 87    8 The Treasure 85    9 Kaili Blues 85    10 Fireworks Wednesday 84

2016's Best Animated Films 1 The Red Turtle 92    2 Tower 92    3 April and the Extraordinary World 85    4 Kubo and the Two Strings 84    5 Nuts! 82    6 Moana 81    7 Your Name 80    8 Zootopia 78    9 Finding Dory 77    10 Miss Hokusai 74

2016's Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Superhero Films (English-language, live action) 1 Arrival 81    2 The Jungle Book 77    3 A Monster Calls 77    4 Midnight Special 76    5 10 Cloverfield Lane 76    6 Captain America: Civil War 75    7 Tale of Tales 72    8 Doctor Strange 72    9 Pete's Dragon 71    10 Star Trek Beyond 68

2016's Best Horror Films and Supernatural Thrillers 1 Under the Shadow 84    2 The Witch 83    3 The Wailing 81    4 The Love Witch 81    5 Demon 80    6 Green Room 79    7 Evolution 77    8 10 Cloverfield Lane 76    9 Nina Forever 75    10 The Invitation 74

2016's Best Musicals 1 La La Land 93    2 Moana 81    3 Sing Street 79    4 London Road 71    5 Swiss Army Man 64

What about the year's worst movies?

It would be a shame to forget about those. You can find the 15 lowest-scoring films released in 2016 in the gallery below:

What are your favorites?

What are your selections for the best and worst movies of the past year? Let us know in the comments section below. If you are looking for even more of 2016's best films, be sure to check out our compilation of over 200 film critic top 10 lists as well as our 2016 Film Awards Scorecard.