Jennifer Aniston considers return to TV and slams Piers Morgan in interview

Jennifer Aniston is mulling a return to television.  (Reuters)

ET/
Jennifer Aniston has been mulling over the idea of making a small screen comeback.

"I've thought about it a lot. That's where the work is," the 47-year-old actress tells Variety of returning to television. "That's where the quality is. At this point in my career, I want to be part of wonderful stories, exciting characters, and also just having a good time."

Aniston further weighs the pros and cons of making movies versus TV. "When you're in your 20s, going away from home was an adventure -- meeting new people, seeing other parts of the country or world was so exciting," she explains. "Now it's really about wanting to stay closer to home and just enjoying your time. It goes really fast. The experience needs to be a good experience."

The Friends star adds, "I have no time for the yelling, angry directors, or bad behavior anymore."
Aniston also addressed the op-ed she penned  for The Huffington Post in July, titled "For the Record," in which she addressed all the pregnancy rumors and explained how the "stalking and objectification" she has endured by the media is harmful to women.

She tells Variety that looking back, she thinks the piece made "a little bit" of a difference. "It's definitely in people's consciousness a lot more," she says. "But you're always going to have the Piers Morgans of the world contradicting something that comes from the heart and saying, 'You're a hypocrite.'"

After the op-ed was released, Morgan put out an article of his own in reaction to Aniston's views on the media. "I do think the least stars like Jennifer Aniston can do in return for the massive financial and career boost these fake covers bring them is to stop pretending it's all everyone else's fault that impressionable young girls struggle with their own beauty and body images as a result of seeing perfect photos of Jennifer Aniston," he wrote.

Aniston reveals to Variety that she had much more to say than what was published. "I was rolling into the 15th year of these preposterous rumors about my fertility status, marital status, singlehood status. 

I was tired of being shamed for whether I have this or that," she recalls. "I'm perfectly happy where I am, and that needs to be honored and respected. I've worked hard for a lot of years to be reduced down to: 'Is she or isn't she?' I just felt, write it down, get it all out. That's why the original draft, before I put it in the hands of my trusted editor, was 12 pages of me barking my head off at people."

"I had this moment of -- it's time, and who cares how it's received," she continues. "I had no idea it would get the response that it did; I was thrilled with that. But sadly, people still buy into it. They are consumers of this trash and they eat it up."
 
This isn't the first time Aniston has talked about her op-ed and hinted at a return to TV. Check out what she told her longtime friend, Chelsea Handler, about starring on another show.

 Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Wanda Group, speaks during an interview in Beijing, China, August 23, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

By Axel Threfall

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, said on Tuesday that rising tensions between the United States and China will affect trade, although he's confident that his Dalian Wanda Group's investment in the country's entertainment industry will not be hampered.

Wang, speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, said his group has earmarked $5 billion to $10 billion each year for outbound investment, focussing on entertainment and sports.

The billionaire property tycoon-turned-entertainment mogul said the United States would be the top priority for investment opportunities, followed by Europe, as his group seeks to extend its overseas buying spree.

"Certainly trade will be affected by the tension between the two governments," Wang said, referring to Beijing and the government of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. "If I can lobby I'm willing, but I'm not capable of lobbying both."

Wang said his company would not be affected by the tension between the two sides because Trump would not block money going into the United States.

Trump often targeted China in the U.S. election campaign, blaming Beijing for U.S. job losses and vowing to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.

"We will go to invest in the U.S. and I believe they will not close the door to us but maybe they will have some regulations regarding trade," Wang said.

In November, Dalian Wanda agreed a $1 billion takeover of Dick Clark Productions, the company that runs the Golden Globe awards and Miss America pageants.

Wanda already owns Legendary Entertainment, co-producer of film hits such as "Jurassic World" - which was the biggest U.S.-China movie deal when it was sealed in January last year. It also owns 

U.S. cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC.N).

Wang told Reuters that his group was interested in buying one more U.S. movie studio although there was not substantial progress in the talks so far because few were willing to sell.

Speaking on the outlook for China's property market, where Wanda started its business empire, the 62-year-old tycoon said there was a bubble "that was local in nature" and he expected a small correction due to government intervention.

Wang this month criticised China's close control of its property industry, saying the "excessive cyclicality" caused by that was a reason for his conglomerate's planned move to exit the real estate development business.

He shrugged off concerns over China's government and corporate debt situation, saying he believed it was manageable thanks to solid growth in the country's domestic economy.

The group was considering a "a very large" tourism project in Australia because it was one of the favourite destinations for Chinese tourists, Wang also said, without elaborating.

Wang was speaking to Reuters TV in Davos and also answered questions in the Reuters Global Markets Forum, a chat room on the Eikon platform. For more information on this and other editorial forums: (http://tmsnrt.rs/2jTnFk8)

(Reporting by Axel Threfall; Additional reporting by Martinne Geller in DAVOS, Billy Chan and Clare Jim in HONG KONG,; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

What If China's Money Stream Stops Flowing to Hollywood?

Illustration by: Kevin Hong

 

by Patrick Brzeski

Beijing begins monitoring "irrational" investments in entertainment companies (even while Alibaba pledges $7.2 billion) as one deal falls apart and all eyes focus on Trump.

Chinese companies poured record amounts of capital into Hollywood in 2016 — a trend eagerly embraced by the U.S. film industry. Among the deals: Dalian Wanda Group acquired Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion and Dick Clark Productions for $1 billion; Alibaba made a major investment in Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment; and Beijing-based Perfect World Pictures put $500 million into 50 films from Universal.

But tighter regulatory scrutiny and rising protectionism in the U.S. and China now have the industry questioning whether the deal flow could dry up in 2017. Already, there have been casualties.

Indie film player Voltage Entertainment, producer of The Hurt Locker and Dallas Buyers Club, surprised many in November when plans came to light for a provincial Chinese manufacturing firm to acquire the Los Angeles-based studio for $350 million. But within weeks, the firm, Anhui Xinke New Materials, revealed it was aborting the deal after failing to meet additional documentation requests from local regulators.

The agreement might have squeaked through if it had come a few months earlier. In early December, Beijing announced it was monitoring a pattern of "irrational" overseas investments in several sectors, particularly film, real estate and sports. In an effort to stem capital flight, which was seen as contributing to a devaluation of China's currency, regulators signaled that stricter oversight is on the way. According to a leaked draft of the new rules, Chinese officials said they would scrutinize offshore purchases of more than $1 billion if they were outside the investor's "core business" area. 

Insiders say deals well below that threshold already are being reviewed as well.

China's concerns are understood to be twofold: that some companies are disguising capital flight as foreign investment, while others are using high-profile entertainment purchases — a trendy sector among Chinese investors — as a short-term strategy to boost stock prices. "This increasing regulatory oversight will make it more difficult for 'concept deals' [Chinese companies acquiring businesses outside of their core business areas] to receive approval in 2017," says Peter Schloss, CEO of CastleHill Partners, a Beijing-based merchant bank focused on the media and entertainment industries.

In light of the new challenges, analysts predict Hollywood sellers will begin to demand larger breakup fees to test Chinese bidders' confidence in their ability to execute deals. But nobody knows how far-reaching the new regulations will be. "Some think that even the well-established entertainment companies may have trouble closing transactions," says Stanley Rosen, a USC professor of political science.

And in the U.S., the deals have caught the attention of Congress and the president-elect. On Nov. 30, incoming Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter that the takeover of Hollywood companies by China firms should be examined more closely to determine whether they are being orchestrated to serve Chinese government interests.

At the same time, Donald Trump's appointment of hawkish economist Peter Navarro — author of such books as Death by China — to head a new White House National Trade Council inspired Chinese state media to warn of a potential "showdown with the U.S."

Thus far, Hollywood dealmakers have been taking the long view, says Lindsay Conner, an attorney at Manatt with China experience. "People are watching the tweets and responses with interest, but there's no chill yet," he says. "There are protectionist winds blowing on both sides of the Pacific, but there are compelling business reasons for why Hollywood and China have a growing partnership — and those reasons remain."

And China's heavyweight conglomerates have shown little sign of moderating their expansionist ambitions. Alibaba's Jack Ma met Jan. 9 with Trump and pledged to create 1 million U.S. jobs, and Ma's new head of entertainment, Yu Yongfu, said in a memo that he planned to invest $7.2 billion in media during the next three years, with a focus on entertainment content. Yu was named CEO of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group in October and, he wrote in the memo, "I didn't come to play."  

Apple Sets Its Sights on Hollywood With Plans for Original Content

The technology giant has been in talks with veteran Hollywood producers about buying rights to scripted television programs. Photo: lucy nicholson/Reuters

 
By Ben Fritz, Tripp Mickle and Hannah Karp
Apple Inc. is planning to build a significant new business in original television shows and movies, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could make it a bigger player in Hollywood and offset slowing sales of iPhones and iPads.

These people said the programming would be available to subscribers of Apple’s $10-a-month streaming-music service, which has struggled to catch up to the larger Spotify AB. Apple Music already includes a limited number of documentary-style segments on musicians, but nothing like the premium programming it is now seeking.

The technology giant has been in talks with veteran producers in recent months about buying rights to scripted television programs. It also has approached experienced marketing executives at studios and networks to discuss hiring them to promote its content, said people with knowledge of the discussions.

In addition to TV, Apple indicated to these people that it is considering offering original movies, though those plans are more preliminary.

Executives at Apple have told people in Hollywood they hope to start offering original scripted content by the end of 2017.

The shows Apple is considering would likely be comparable to critically acclaimed programs like “Westworld” on Time Warner Inc.’s HBO or “Stranger Things” on Netflix.

Because it is looking at just a handful of carefully selected shows, and potentially films, it doesn’t appear Apple is preparing to spend the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars it would need to spend annually to become a direct competitor to Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video or premium cable networks.

Rather, it would escalate the arms race between Apple Music and Spotify, which both offer essentially the same catalog of tens of millions of songs, by adding other content that could distinguish Apple’s service.

Nonetheless, the entry of the world’s most valuable company into original television and films could be a transformative moment for Hollywood and mark a significant turn in strategy for Apple as it starts to become more of a media company, rather than just a distributor of other companies’ media.

In addition to its music-related nonfiction shows and documentaries, Apple Music already has bought the rights to a half-hour version of “Carpool Karaoke,” which is currently a segment on CBS’s “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” It is also making a quasi-biographical series about Dr. Dre, the rap star and Apple Music executive, which is slated to premiere later this year.

But it hasn’t yet bought scripted content from outside producers, a more expensive and riskier endeavor that takes it further onto the turf of entertainment companies. The series and movies Apple is now considering buying don’t have any particular relationship to music, according to the people familiar with the matter.

One reason Apple hasn’t yet completed a deal to buy a scripted series is because it is still working out details of its business strategy built around original content. But it has told producers that a key advantage it hopes to offer is that it would share data on how many people watch its original content and some demographic data on them. Netflix doesn’t share any such information with its content creators, which has been a source of contention among some in Hollywood.

Apple has been flirting for years with whether and how it should enter the entertainment business. It held talk with television companies about offering a “skinny bundle” of networks over the internet, but was never able to reach terms. It also approached Time Warner Inc. last year about a possible merger before that company agreed to be acquired by AT&T Inc.

The move into original content comes as Apple is grappling with a slowdown in its traditional business. Last year it missed its own internal revenue targets for the first time in at least seven years as sales of the iPhone 6s fell short of expectations. Sales of the iPhone, which turned Apple into the world’s most profitable company, have slowed amid rising competition, particularly in China.

Apple Music has become a key piece of the company’s services business, which has been growing as iPhone sales slow. Revenue from Apple Music rose 22% in the quarter ended Sept. 24, but the service’s subscriber base is still dwarfed by Spotify’s.

Apple Music said in December that it had more than 20 million subscribers, most of whom pay $9.99 a month; Spotify counted more than 40 million paying subscribers in September.

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com, Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com and Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@wsj.com

Los Angeles will be home to George Lucas' $1-billion museum

George Lucas' Museum of Narrative Art will be built in Los Angeles, the project's directors have announced. The $1-billion Exposition Park museum will be funded by Lucas, the creator of "Star Wars." 

 

By Deborah VankinContact Reporter

For months, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas held the art world in suspense: Would he put his $1-billion Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles or San Francisco?

On Tuesday came the answer.

Lucas’ personal collection of fine and popular art, including ephemera related to his “Star Wars” franchise, will fill a futuristic-looking new museum planned for L.A.’s Exposition Park, which beat out a competing design for Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. The rivalry had pitted the two cities in the competition not only for Lucas’ collection and the tourism it will bring, but also for the thousands of jobs that backers said the project will create.

Lucas has said he will fund the project to the tune of about $1 billion, including building costs, his art and an endowment of at least $400 million.

The Lucas Museum will further expand the art museum landscape in greater L.A., which has become a global hot spot for art production. The Broad museum opened in late 2015 in downtown L.A., across the street from the Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum-scale Hauser Wirth & Schimmel gallery opened in L.A.’s Arts District less than a year ago, and the former Santa Monica Museum of Art will reopen in the Arts District this fall, renamed the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. The Marciano Art Foundation, the contemporary art museum from Guess co-founders Paul and Maurice Marciano, is aiming to open in Koreatown this spring. Meanwhile, the non-collecting Main Museum made a soft debut in downtown’s Old Bank District in October.

“It feels like this incredible gift has come home. I always thought Los Angeles was the natural place to spread the vision of George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, to make art and creativity accessible and inspirational to the next generation,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said of the filmmaker and his wife. “It’s a natural place to have this museum in the creative capital of the world and in the geographic center of the city. It’s a banner day for L.A.”

Garcetti said the 275,000-square-foot museum will lead to tens of thousands of jobs in construction, and he estimated the number of permanent jobs created by the museum at more than a thousand — “and that’s a lowball estimate.”

“People will visit from around the world to see the original Darth Vader mask and Norman Rockwell paintings,” he said. 

Entertainment and cultural leaders including Los Angeles County Museum of Art Director Michael Govan, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures leader Kerry Brougher and DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg gathered before the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in November to show their support for Lucas’ project. 

“This is a real triumph for the city of L.A., and this will be a transformative opportunity for L.A.,” Katzenberg said Tuesday after learning of Lucas’ decision. “First and foremost for our residents, who are going to have an outstanding cultural, iconic new force here — the force will be with us — and I think for tourism, and for the continued, extraordinary transformation of downtown Los Angeles, and for Exposition Park and the other museums it will be joining.”   

Lucas' Treasure Island plan, for the middle of San Francisco Bay. (Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)

Lucas, 72, has spent years trying to erect a museum for his art collection, which consists of about 10,000 paintings and illustrations including works by Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and R. Crumb, along with Hollywood memorabilia from films such as “Star Wars” and “The Ten Commandments.” In 2009 he set his sights near his home turf in San Francisco but faced community opposition from the city’s Presidio Trust about building in the historic park. Lucas then aimed for Chicago, Hobson’s hometown, but encountered resistance from Friends of the Parks about a downtown site along Lake Michigan.  

The newest proposals, both featuring designs by Chinese architect Ma Yansong, were aesthetically similar but seemingly opposite in other respects. One was a remote, four-acre site on a breezy island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, beautiful but accessible only by bridge and ferry; the other was a seven-acre location in public transit-friendly, museum-heavy Exposition Park near Lucas’ alma mater, USC.  

Lucas declined to comment for this article, but the museum board’s announcement said he chose L.A. largely because Exposition Park positions the museum to “have the greatest impact on the broader community, fulfilling our goal of inspiring, engaging and educating a broad and diverse visitorship.”

Exposition Park could become the Central Park of Los Angeles, Garcetti said, adding that Lucas has expressed interest in helping to guide a master plan for the swiftly evolving area, already home to the California Science Center, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California African American Museum. Plans for the new museum, which will rise along Vermont Avenue on land now covered by parking lots, will include underground parking.

“We have a new football stadium being built, the Coliseum being redone with more than $200 million in upgrades, and the science center is building a whole new building to permanently house the space shuttle and its rockets,” Garcetti said, also noting the proximity to the Expo light rail line and bus lines. The Lucas Museum, he said, “will be the jewel in the crown.”  

The Lucas Museum proposal for Exposition Park, with the Coliseum lying beyond it. (Lucas Museum of Narrative Art)

The museum board called Exposition Park “a magnet for the region and accessible from all parts of the city.” It also cited the location “surrounded by more than 100 elementary and high schools, one of the country's leading universities as well as three other world-class museums.”

“There’s an understanding of L.A.’s growing cultural influence and growing and diverse audiences for museums here,” LACMA’s Govan said Tuesday. “We ended 2016 with over 1.5 million visitors.”  He said the Lucas Museum will present visual culture from a different point of view, one that “makes so much sense in a city known equally for art and for film.”

Philanthropist and Broad museum founder Eli Broad called the Lucas Museum “one of the most important cultural and tourist additions to our city in the last 25 years.”

“I spoke to both George Lucas and Mellody personally about our great success at the Broad,” the philanthropist said. “We’ve had over 1 million visitors since we opened in 2015, and I’d expect the attendance at the Lucas Museum will be equal or even succeed that.”

Art historian Don Bacigalupi, formerly president and executive director of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., will serve as founding president of the Lucas Museum. He and Lucas still face the possibility of the kind of community scrutiny the project encountered in San Francisco and Chicago, but officials remain optimistic. Groundbreaking is planned before year’s end, a spokesman said, with the opening targeted for 2021.

“We have exciting work ahead,” Bacigalupi said.

Reality? No, Thanks. Moviegoers Sought Escape in 2016

Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) in “Finding Dory,” one of the top ticket sellers at movie theaters in 2016. Credit Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

By BROOKS BARNES 

LOS ANGELES — The moviegoing masses sent clear messages in 2016. They are most definitely not tired of superheroes. The more animated animals, the merrier. Fantasy worlds of any kind, whether underwater or in outer space, are worth the trip to theaters.

But reality? Not so much. Unlike in recent years, when films like “American Sniper” and “The Hangover” broke through, not one movie rooted in a real-life setting was among the top 10 box office performers.

For the box office year that ended on Saturday, movie theaters in North America sold an estimated $11.37 billion in tickets, a record in raw dollars and a 2 percent increase over the same period in 2015, according to comScore, which compiles theatrical data. The top three ticket sellers were “Finding Dory” ($486.3 million), the spinoff “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (at least $440 million) and “Captain America: Civil War” ($408.1 million).

Despite the increase, the year-end results gave ammunition to those who contend that moviegoing in North America is troubled. Higher revenue could be attributed almost entirely to higher ticket prices: Attendance was flat, with about 1.32 billion tickets sold in the United States and Canada. The average ticket price was $8.61, up from $8.43.

The riches were also unevenly spread in Hollywood. Eight of the top 15 performing films, including four of the top five, came from Walt Disney Studios, which includes the Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm brands. That astounding performance — Disney’s hits included “The Jungle Book,” “Moana,” 

 “Zootopia” and “Doctor Strange” — resulted in roughly $2.7 billion in domestic ticket sales, or more than 25 percent of the market.

Second-place Warner Bros. took in about $1.87 billion at domestic theaters and had three films in the top 15. (They were “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Suicide Squad” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”) On the opposite end of the scale, Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures finished the year with less than $1 billion in domestic ticket sales apiece. (Each did spark some cultural heat, however. Sony had the much-discussed, women-led “Ghostbusters,” and Paramount delivered critical darlings like “Arrival” and the drama “Fences.”)

Among art film companies, the indie distributor Roadside Attractions had a particularly strong run. Successful releases like “Manchester by the Sea” and “Hello, My Name Is Doris” enabled Roadside to take in more than $70 million, the largest total in its 13-year history, and to have a better year than that of Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Company.

“We zigged when studios zagged, especially in the first half of the year,” said Howard Cohen, one of Roadside Attractions’ founders. In March and May, “when major studios were not releasing upscale intelligent films,” Mr. Cohen said, Roadside was able to push its movies into 900 theaters, a relatively large number for the specialty market.

In recent weeks, prestige films have done well in general. Generating strong sampling over the weekend in a handful of theaters were entries like Pete Berg’s “Patriots Day” (CBS Films and Lionsgate) and “20th Century Women” (A24), a period comedic drama starring Annette Bening. 

Since its wide release on Christmas Day, “Fences,” an adaptation of August Wilson’s play about a black family in 1950s Pittsburgh, has taken in about $32.7 million. That euphorically reviewed film, directed by Denzel Washington and starring Mr. Washington and Viola Davis, cost about $24 million to make.

Even more impressive, “La La Land” (Lionsgate), a celebrated musical about the romantic and professional trade-offs faced by two young entertainers, has been playing in only 750 theaters ahead of wide release and has already taken in about $37 million, making it the No. 1 prestige release of the year. Results for “La La Land,” starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, are on par with films like 

“Silver Linings Playbook,” which went on to collect more than $132 million in the United States and Canada in 2012.

But none of those sophisticated earthbound films were able to attract anything close to the turnout for the top-performing weekend offerings. “Rogue One” was No. 1, taking in roughly $52 million between Friday and Sunday, for a three-week domestic total of more than $440 million. “Sing,” an animated musical from Illumination Entertainment and Universal, was second, selling about $41.5 million in tickets, for a two-week total approaching $180 million.

“Passengers,” a science-fiction movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, was third, with ticket sales of about $15 million, for a total since arriving on Dec. 21 of more than $60 million — a bit soft given its production cost of roughly $110 million, which was shared by Sony and several financing partners.

“Passengers,” which could make up ground overseas, relied heavily on the star power of Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Pratt. Star vehicles sometimes worked in 2016 — Ryan Reynolds turned the R-rated “Deadpool” into a massive hit for 20th Century Fox, and Tyler Perry succeeded in “Boo! A Madea Halloween” — but crowds, more often than not, shrugged at marquee names. Suffering flops were Ben Stiller (“Zoolander 2”), Will Smith (“Collateral Beauty”) and Julia Roberts (“Mother’s Day”).

Rex Reed’s Best Movies of 2016

By Rex Reed

Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea. Amazon Studios

I had high hopes that 2016 at the movies would be like every other year—they’d save the best for last.  Sadly, no miracles occurred and it went down in history as one of the sorriest years ever. Blame free internet streaming, pretentious critics who abhor anything with a plot, new kids on the block who don’t know how to make movies with flair, focus or narrative continuity, the death of style, the growth of alternate TV programming, or any of a number of other alarming factors. The fact remains, movies are no longer what they used to be and nobody cares. Some observers predict the cultural force that informs our development from the advent of childhood is already a thing of the past. The year that just passed is such convincing proof that I found it a challenge as daunting as a degree in aeronautical physics just to form a 10 Best List. You won’t find such critical favorites as the deadly Moonlight or the seriously overrated mediocrity Toni Erdmann on it, and my begrudgingly last-minute inclusion of the flawed, uninspired, unoriginal and creatively disappointing La La Land  is merely a half-hearted attempt to support the rebirth of movie musicals. So it was a penurious year, but here goes:

The Ten Best Films of 2016

1) Manchester by the Sea    

Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea. Amazon Studios

Rex Says: This is haunting, life-affirming filmmaking you will not forget. The details, the observations, the nuances, the revelations—they all add up to a masterful narrative structure and a beautifully textured reality I cannot praise highly enough.

2. Hell or High Water

Ben Foster and Chris Pine in Hell or High Water. Lorey Sebastian/CBS Films

3. Hacksaw Ridge

Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss. Mark Rogers

Rex Says: Mel Gibson recreates the life of an extraordinary patriot at a time when a troubled world, guided by a sadly compromised American leadership, could use a role model. The one who redefined the word hope on Hacksaw Ridge is a good place to start.

4. The Light Between Oceans

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander in The Light Between Oceans. Walt Disney Studios

Rex Says: The Light Between Oceans is so vast and covers so much ground that any feeble attempt to tell you what happens in it only weakens the impact. Clearly it’s a work of art that must be experienced, not explained—intelligent, deeply heartfelt and one of the best films of the year.

5. Lion

Dev Patel in Lion. Mark Rogers/The Weinstein Company

Rex Says: Once in awhile, a movie comes along that is so touching and sincere, without a moment of false emotion or manipulative self-indulgence, that it establishes squatters’ rights and moves into your heart to stay. Cynics who prefer waterboarding to shedding a tear usually misread such movies and falsely label them sentimental. They are fools, and filmgoers desperate for anything that makes them actually feel something ignore the doomsayers and often propel such movies to box-office glory. Lion is that kind of picture. See it and I promise your own heart will skip a beat with happiness and joy.

6. Fences

Denzel Washington as Troy Maxson and Viola Davis as Rose Maxson. Paramount Pictures

Rex Says: Fences is a labor of love and attention must be paid. You don’t get writing or acting of this caliber every day, and in this particularly dreary year of second-rate everything, this movie is something special.

7. Captain Fantastic

Viggo Mortensen stars in Captain Fantastic. Photo: Erik Simkins / Bleecker Street

Rex Says: Despite a frustrating fizzle of a finale, it’s a movie that enthralls the senses and engages the mind for two hours, proving no movie is too long when you’re having fun.

8. Jackie

Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Fox Searchlight Pictures

Rex Says: Never embroidered or rehearsed, the way so many biopics are, this is a wonderful movie that feels freshly observed, like an uninvited peek through some forbidden White House keyhole, at the woman we called Jackie.

9. Denial

Rachel Weisz as Deborah E. Lipstadt in Denial. Laurie Sparham/Bleecker Street

Rex says: Another illuminating performance by Rachel Weisz and a brilliant screenplay by the distinguished British playwright David Hare make Denial one of the most powerful and riveting courtroom dramas ever made.

10. La La Land (by default)

Emma Stone as Mia and Ryan Gosling as Sebastian in La La Land. Summit Entertainment

Rex says: La La Land has moments of pleasure and satisfaction that are worth the price of admission. It’s not that it’s a bad movie; it’s just not an outstanding entertainment, the way great movies (especially musicals) should be. But I hope it signals an open door for more to follow.