# Best movie of the last 3 years? 2014-2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016 "2016-11-15T00:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/61 "2016-11-16T15:14:42Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Fair enough- I guess I was looking for something different that want yet mentioned. Fun movie though. 🙂 That kid deserves on Oscar nomination. He was terrific. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/62 "2016-11-16T15:21:26Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Boyhood. By a lot. Giving the Best Picture to Oscar to Birdman instead was a Grade-A travesty. I’m not sure this ranks as the worst Best Picture choice ever made, but it wasn’t my pick. I’d actually argue “Spotlight” was a _much_ worse pick. I watched the movie after it won the award and was gobsmacked it won Best Picture. It wasn’t one of the twenty best movies of 2015. Nothing at all about it was particularly impressive. I get that it’s an important issue (two important issues, really) but come on. “Inside Out” was a better movie. “The Gift” was a better movie. “Chi-Raq” was better. “Ex Machina” was better. I know I disagree with almost everyone in this regard, but I stick by it, just as I will insist to the end of my days that “Captain America: Civil War” is an absolute pile of horse dung. Anyway, “Boyhood” or “Fury Road” are both pretty good choices. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/63 "2016-11-16T16:00:19Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’m not sure this ranks as the worst Best Picture choice ever made, but it wasn’t my pick. I’d actually argue “Spotlight” was a _much_ worse pick. I watched the movie after it won the award and was gobsmacked it won Best Picture. It wasn’t one of the twenty best movies of 2015. Nothing at all about it was particularly impressive. I get that it’s an important issue (two important issues, really) but come on. “Inside Out” was a better movie. “The Gift” was a better movie. “Chi-Raq” was better. “Ex Machina” was better. I know I disagree with almost everyone in this regard, but I stick by it, just as I will insist to the end of my days that “Captain America: Civil War” is an absolute pile of horse dung. > > Anyway, “Boyhood” or “Fury Road” are both pretty good choices. Boyhood was an incredible film, almost more of a documentary than a movie. It seemed that the cast weren’t even acting, though that’s the thing: they sustained their performances over 12 years! There has not been another film that has achieved what this film did, and the young actors in particular are incredible. It is a story of truth. It does not moralize. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/64 "2016-11-16T16:18:19Z")
My top four: **Mad Max: Fury Road** : I love car chase movies in general and all Mad Max in particular, but this one took the genre to new levels. **Grand Budapest Hotel** : It was quirky without being annoying and charming without being cloying. **Clouds of Sils Maria** : I’m surprised I liked this so much. Not the type of movie I usually go for, but it really grabbed me. **Chappie** : I know a lot of people didn’t like it, but I loved how, underneath the violence, it was the story of an unexpected child. Who happened to be a sentient robot with bunny ears. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/65 "2016-11-16T17:07:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > You might be interested, but I don’t think you’re gonna be happy… > > \*\*\* SPOILERS \*\*\* > > [spoiler]This was awful. Truly awful. > > The first act is 45 minutes long and is paced slower than coal turning into diamonds. None of the characters are believable at all, though some of the actors do give typically decent performances, particularly Harvey Keitel. Every character, in addition to not being believable, is loathsome. I didn’t care about anyone and actively hated a few that I was supposed to sympathetic to. > > The second act was painful to watch. The animated parts weren’t even interesting. For one, the concept of an “animated zone” was unbelievably stupid. Why would anyone do that in the first place, set something up where you’ve essentially taken LSD but somehow have to function as if you have not? The first scene where she’s driving her car and the desert turns into an ocean and she finally goes over a cliff, for instance, was ludicrous; people would be dead. Then, she’s already seeing herself and everything around her as a cartoon, but for some reason the tap water contains ANOTHER hallucinogenic drug??? It was also inexplicable to me why they mostly stuck with a pastiche of classic 1930s-50s style cartoon art, and even that wasn’t done well. > > The third act and the ending were beyond terrible. I spent 2 hours watching this and at the end had no resolution whatsoever beyond the real world being a terrible place, terrible people getting what they want at everyone else’s expense, and our protagonist being significantly worse off than she was when the movie started. > > I couldn’t even tell you what themes they were trying to explore. There was no examination of the nature of reality, no look at what it means to be human, no exploration of how we trust our senses… nothing at all. > > A better movie with a similar subject (the digitizing of actors) was made way back in 1981. [Looker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082677/) is a flawed and dated film, but it is at least engaging: there is conflict, the characters have real motivations. And not least, there is a resolution to the story beyond the story just ending. > > If you and your wife were 2 of 13,000 that saw this film, I’d guess that you were 2 of 13,000 that enjoyed the experience; _The Congress_ was execrable IMO. In fact, it was so bad that I consider it a public service to warn people away from it. > > DO NOT WATCH! > > Zero stars; zero thumbs up.[/spoiler]I posted that review on IMDB, of course. No, seriously, what did you really think? 😉 Like I said, the IMDB reviews are all over the place. Interesting, but not surprising, that your reaction was so opposite of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/66 "2016-11-16T22:58:24Z")
I thought **The Big Short** was outstanding. It’s apples v. oranges, but it noses out **Mad Max: Fury Road** for me. MMFR was wahsome, but not quite as emotionally impacting, IMHO. But I keep thinking there is something that nobody has mentioned. (Thinking…) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/67 "2016-11-16T23:37:50Z")
… and thought of it. **Steve Jobs**. Michael Fassbender is a monster (figuratively… and sort of literally if you saw “Shame.”) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/68 "2016-11-17T00:25:55Z")
I mulled it over, have to go with _Grand Budapest Hotel_. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/69 "2016-11-17T02:43:59Z")
Damnit…it looks like _Gravity, The Wind Rises_, AND _The Ghastly Love of Johnny X_ all miss the cutoff. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/70 "2016-11-17T03:07:09Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Damnit…it looks like _Gravity, The Wind Rises_, AND _The Ghastly Love of Johnny X_ all miss the cutoff. ☹ Ready for some sacrilege? I thought The Wind Rises was boring. I love Miyazaki, but it was terrible. His worst movie, I think. :ducks: ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/71 "2016-11-17T13:53:49Z")
The Martian, hands-down ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/72 "2016-11-17T23:08:49Z")
When did The Dallas Buyers’ Club come out? Because that was seriously top notch. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/73 "2016-11-18T09:19:20Z")
Love this thread idea! I’m going to post my Top 5 of that time period first, then go back and look at what other people put. 1. _The Martian_ 2. _The Grand Budapest Hotel_ 3. _Deadpool_ 4. _Hail, Caesar!_ 5. _X-Men: Days of Future Past_ If anyone is curious to see all my favorites, regardless of year, [that list is here.](http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250) The top 40 are the ones I would rate 10/10; 41-224 are 9/10 (and all 224 get 5/5 from me on Netflix). ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/74 "2016-11-18T10:09:58Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > **Kingsman: The Secret Service** is probably the movie I enjoyed the most, dunno if it’s the best though. It’s not in my top ten for this time period, but it is definitely a very enjoyable romp. The scene in the church is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > I only found Boyhood to be OK. I thought it was better than OK, quite good: 8/10. But I was set up to expect a total masterpiece, and willing to believe it as there are two Linklater films I would give a 10/10 (\*Slacker \*and _Waking Life_), plus two others I give a 9/10 (_Before Sunrise_ and _Before Midnight_). This one for me turned out to be more in the territory of some of his other “very good but not great” films like _Me and Orson Welles_ and _School of Rock_. Now of course, the method of making it is really fascinating. But I was sympathetic to something Julia Turner (Editor in Chief of Slate) said (paraphrasing): “If there were lots of movies shot over a decade plus, would this one be the best one, or are we just getting so excited because no one’s done it before?” > [@bienville](#): > > It ain’t gonna win the popular vote, but my personal favorite film of the past three years _by a WIDE margin_ is [A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2326554/). > > The director is on track for becoming one of my favorite directors as well. The was her debut feature film but I just recently saw her second film [The Bad Batch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4334266/) at a film festival and it was also quite excellent. It will be officially released sometime in 2017. I’ll be watching her career quite closely. This is in my disc queue, but I haven’t seen it yet. Iranian cinema has impressed me greatly in the last couple years though. I just the other day saw \*Persepolis \*(which, I know, was released almost a decade ago) and really liked it. And I’m very fond of the neorealist film _A Separation_ as well (which reminds me: _About Elly_, from the same filmmaker, has been sitting on my Instant Queue unwatched for far too long). > [@Chronos](#): > > I haven’t yet seen _Fury Road_, but of the movies I have seen, it’s got to be either _The Martian_ or _Guardians of the Galaxy_. The former was the finest hard SF I’ve ever seen, and the latter was the most fun I’ve had in a movie since at least _The Princess Bride_. > > For that matter, I think the second-finest specimen of hard SF I’ve ever seen was _Gravity_. It’s been a good few years on that front. I pretty much agree with all of that (except that I saw _Fury Road_ and liked it but found it vastly overrated). The opening shot of \*Gravity \*in 3D was amazing. > [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > **Her** - an amazing love story (released only in NY & LA in 2013 but the rest of the country in 2014) ORLY? If this counts, then it is actually my #1. Because it \*is \*my #1. Of all time. > [@Asimovian](#): > > I’m going to add one more, although very few people I know actually saw it: [Locke](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2692904/). A film with a gimmick I would never have expected to work, but the acting was exceptional and they pulled it off beautifully. I saw this too, but for me it mostly didn’t work. I thought it was overacted and melodramatically written (I’m especially tired of the trope of the man who is spending his life trying to get back at his father or earn his love or whatever). And I hated that they fell into the trap of making his infidelity this one time thing that he did almost as a favor to the other woman, and now he is showing his nobility by being there for the birth; I prefer infidelity stories that don’t sell out to this kind of PC angle of conventional morality, although those tend to be toxic in terms of attracting audiences. > [@JohnT](#): > > I’m going to vote for a 2013 movie that wasn’t released in the US until September 2014: > > [The Congress](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1821641/). > > Robin Wright plays Robin Wright, an aging actress whose glory days are behind her because society has moved on from watching people act to watching the dreams in their head. She takes one last job and has to deal with the consequences. > > Not a universally beloved film, _The Congress_ has its detractors, and the animated portions may work better on the big screen than the little screen, but it’s an _original_ movie, at least by American standards, and I’m thrilled my wife and I went to see it on a lark. And, given it’s American box office ($130,000), we were apparently 2 of 13,000 people in this country to see this movie… regardless, it deserves to be mentioned in a thread like this. I have seen it as well (though on DVD or Blu-ray). Looks like I’ll be splitting the difference between the views presented so far. I thought the initial premise was really interesting, and is very likely to play out over the next few decades. But then it sort of dissolved into something else mostly unrelated to that premise, and I found that it fell apart as any kind of believable sci-fi. Overall I would still recommend it however. > [@psychonaut](#): > > I watch a lot of films but there haven’t been any truly great ones in last three years. If I had to pick the best ones per year, they’d be as follows: > > 2016: _Swiss Army Man_ > > 2015: _The Lobster_ > > 2014: _Interstellar_ > > All three of these stand out to me for being so weird – it’s nice to watch a story that’s so original, even if the execution isn’t perfect. > > The most recent truly great film I’ve seen is _Her_. As **Richard John Marcej** points out, it was initially released in 2013 but didn’t see wide release until the following year, so maybe it still counts as the “best movie of the last three years”. Good call (obviously I would say so, based on what I wrote above). \*Interstellar \*I was kind of meh about–too many fails in terms of hard sci-fi (although I loved the time dilation). But _Swiss Army Man_ and _The Lobster_ are both on my queue, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing the latter as I thought _Dogtooth_ (from the same filmmaker) was brilliant in a uniquely transgressive way, and _The Lobster_ has been getting great reviews. > [@Catamount](#): > > **Chappie** : I know a lot of people didn’t like it, but I loved how, underneath the violence, it was the story of an unexpected child. Who happened to be a sentient robot with bunny ears. I don’t think I have this rated as highly as you do, but I do agree that this movie is \*vastly \*underrated. And the non-actor musicians (who played the gangster couple) did an amazing job. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/75 "2016-11-18T13:40:59Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I saw this too, but for me it mostly didn’t work. I thought it was overacted and melodramatically written (I’m especially tired of the trope of the man who is spending his life trying to get back at his father or earn his love or whatever). And I hated that they fell into the trap of making his infidelity this one time thing that he did almost as a favor to the other woman, and now he is showing his nobility by being there for the birth; I prefer infidelity stories that don’t sell out to this kind of PC angle of conventional morality, although those tend to be toxic in terms of attracting audiences. Interesting. It has been a while, but [spoiler]I don’t really remember thinking it was about being noble. He was an asshole when it came to the coworker, and he destroyed his family over his decision to be there for the baby’s birth. I don’t think it’s noble to choose to fulfill an obligation you already had, particularly when your motivation is based less on being moral and more on “I don’t want to be like my asshole father.” I certainly didn’t look at Locke as being a hero in that film. He was a flawed character with an incredibly difficult set of choices, but none of them were going to be the right or moral choice. All of them were morally wrong, somehow. To me, that was the point of the film. But, I see where you’re coming from, and if I’d had your perspective on it, that would definitely have impacted my view of the film.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/76 "2016-11-18T13:42:34Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > And the non-actor musicians (who played the gangster couple) did an amazing job. They’re _not_ non-actors, given that their entire musician personas are as made-up as any other film character. They certainly were acting, it just happens to be the same characters they play in their day jobs as a band. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/77 "2016-11-18T14:42:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Good call (obviously I would say so, based on what I wrote above). \*Interstellar \*I was kind of meh about–too many fails in terms of hard sci-fi (although I loved the time dilation). This is a bit OT, but in the case of both “Interstellar” and “The Martian” - and I have to stress that in general I adored both movies - I was taken a bit out of the movie by the striking lack of the psychological effect of isolation and the passage of time. In “Interstellar,” most of the crew goes down to the ocean planet for what seems like a few minutes and when they return to the mothership, find their compatriot Romilly (David Gyasi) has lived through 23 years alone. For a person who’s been isolated for 23 years, he seems - well, way too sane. He looks a bit shaken, but he’s not that bad off. A person can’t be isolated on a little ship for 23 years, even taking a few “long stretches” of hypersleep, without being a little damn crazy. I also found myself a little doubtful as to Mark Watney’s remarkable ability to keep his shit together on Mars in “The Martian.” I’ll grant much of the story hinges on the fact Watney proves determined and resourceful, but even given that, he seems way cheerier than a person in his situation would be. I could have stood for a lot less of whether Sean Bean was going to lose his job and a bit more examination of Mark Watney’s dealing with his isolation and loneliness. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/78 "2016-11-18T20:42:54Z")
I thought Romilly did seem a bit insane (he also might have been worse off before people came back). And since we don’t know how long those stretches of hypersleep were, I’m willing to cut them some slack on this. For me the two aspects that I couldn’t swallow were the woo-woo ending but then also the whole scenario with crops failing and no way to do anything about it. The day we have technology advanced enough to go through wormholes to the other side of the galaxy, but are not able to figure out how to save agriculture on a basic level, not even in greenhouses, is just a day I don’t believe we will ever see. > [@MrDibble](#): > > They’re _not_ non-actors, given that their entire musician personas are as made-up as any other film character. They certainly were acting, it just happens to be the same characters they play in their day jobs as a band. Fair enough! > [@Asimovian](#): > > Interesting. It has been a while, but [spoiler]I don’t really remember thinking it was about being noble. He was an asshole when it came to the coworker, and he destroyed his family over his decision to be there for the baby’s birth. I don’t think it’s noble to choose to fulfill an obligation you already had, particularly when your motivation is based less on being moral and more on “I don’t want to be like my asshole father.” I certainly didn’t look at Locke as being a hero in that film. He was a flawed character with an incredibly difficult set of choices, but none of them were going to be the right or moral choice. All of them were morally wrong, somehow. To me, that was the point of the film. > > But, I see where you’re coming from, and if I’d had your perspective on it, that would definitely have impacted my view of the film.[/spoiler] It has been a while for me as well. I can’t really defend my point other than to say that’s how it struck me at the time. And there were many critics whose opinion I respect who liked it a lot, which is why I saw it in the first place. (it’s possible I would have been more charitable without those high expectations.) I certainly can’t criticize the people involved for just making the typical box office formula pablum. And I’m always game for a well written and acted production that essentially involves just talking. _My Dinner with Andre_ is one of my all-time favorites, and I loved the HBO series _In Treatment_. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/79 "2016-11-21T10:52:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > This is in my disc queue, but I haven’t seen it yet. Iranian cinema has impressed me greatly in the last couple years though. I just the other day saw \*Persepolis \*(which, I know, was released almost a decade ago) and really liked it. And I’m very fond of the neorealist film _A Separation_ as well (which reminds me: _About Elly_, from the same filmmaker, has been sitting on my Instant Queue unwatched for far too long). I liked _A Separation_. Haven’t seen _About Elly_, but I’ll check it out. One of my favorite films of the 90s is an Iranian film: [Children of Heaven](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118849/). Saw it in the theater then bought it immediately when it became available on DVD. I’ve watched it several times since. I loved \*Persepolis \*, which of course was made by an ex-pat. She had already long adopted Europe as her home by the time her career began. The interesting thing about _A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night_, is that the filmmaker isn’t even an ex-pat. She was born in the U.K. and grew up in the U.S. The film is very much an American film… that just happens to take place in Iran and all of the dialog is in Persian. It’s an entirely American crew, an entirely American cast (Iranian-Americans, U.S. born and immigrants), and the entire film- which takes place in Iran- was filmed in California! For the first half of my first viewing of the film I kept saying to myself, “Wow! The Iranian censors have become really permissive!” After saying that to myself three or four times, finally I just said “What the hell? This is _not_ an Iranian film!!!” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016/80 "2016-11-21T18:44:05Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > **Kingsman: The Secret Service** is probably the movie I enjoyed the most, dunno if it’s the best though. Yes, there is a large gap between “best” and “most enjoyable”. I think lot of posters here are posting the film they like the best, rather than the film they thought WAS the best. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-of-the-last-3-years-2014-2016/772016.md?page=5)