I probably shouldn't like 'The Neon Demon' but I kind of loved it

When Drive came out in 2011, it was love at first sight for me. The moody homage to movies like Thief and The Driver was a masterpiece in my opinion, the best movie of that year and I was psyched to see whatever its director, the cocky Nicolas Winding Refn, would do next.

His follow-up, the pretty much critically reviled Only God Forgives, was decidedly less accessible and yet I dug it, despite the fact that it was pretty indulgent and almost aggressively not audience-friendly.

By the time The Neon Demon rolled around I was starting to question my fandom.

Was Refn just a talented hack with a knack for sensuous visuals, or was he still a filmmaker worth following? After watching The Neon Demon, which will surely turn off most viewers as it has most critics, I must admit that I consider him and his work an irresistible guilty pleasure.

The movie is ostensibly a bleak satire of the fashion industry, but I don't think it has anything especially profound or original to say about that admittedly fascinating world. Instead, Refn has created a totally whacked out horror movie that could make for ideal midnight movie fare. A totally audacious and stunning-looking experiment in style over substance.

Veering wildly from black humor to gross-out gags, this is not a movie I could recommend to many people, in fact I can totally understand why a lot of audiences will/would hate it (if you despised Only God Forgives, steer clear). But I was on board with Refn's vision from the very first gorgeous frames.

He is aided tremendously by his mostly female, waif-like cast (and Keanu Reeves in a very good, out-of-character supporting role). Elle Fanning is a revelation. She builds on the promise she showed in Super 8, using her expressive face to play both naive sweetness and cunning sexuality. She is matched by Jena Malone, who nearly steals the movie with a performance that asks her to take some shocking risks that might humiliate a lesser actress.

The whole film is beyond absurd and if you're looking for something that makes a whole lot of narrative sense this isn't the movie for you. This is Refn doing a riff on Brian De Palma's aesthetic of pure cinema -- visual eye candy collides with Cliff Martinez's throbbing, erotic score -- to create a real dream like atmosphere that had me riveted.

The Neon Demon

Refn really likes to call attention to himself, he slathers the film with his name as prominently featured in the credits as his stars. Clearly he is a director interested in making a statement and being taken seriously, and I admire the fact that instead of making the Hollywood blockbusters he was surely offered after the critical success of Drive, he instead chose to let his freak flag fly and pursue his preoccupations.

His films are not kind to women to say the least, and a case could be made that this film traffics in misogyny, although I was impressed to see that his co-writers and cinematographer were all women. And his tendency to revel on particularly queasy violence has always been a little unsettling to me. But these are minor quibbles when I watch something that truly surprises me.

There are film I saw this year that I liked better but I sure had a lot of fun watching The Neon Demon, although I can't for the life of me figure out how he got a movie this bizarre financed! Say what you will about Refn and his films, he is one of the few directors I can think of right now who is cultivating a signature style (those dread-filled pregnant pauses!) and creating his own cinematic worlds.

I'm back! Here's my tentative top 10 list for 2016 movies

Despite some very unsettling and disappointing developments in my life and the world at large over the past twelve months -- it was a truly fantastic year for cinema.

I saw several movies that deeply touched me, felt fresh and invigorating, and there are still many worthy works that I haven't had a chance to see yet.

So this is, at best, a tentative list, a snapshot of where my head is at right now at this particularly moment. For instance, I am seeing Jackie tomorrow -- which as a history buff and Kennedy fanatic -- I really expect to enjoy.

There's also Silence, which by virtue of the fact that it's made by my favorite filmmaker -- Martin Scorsese -- is high up on my list. I desperately want to see the James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro, and I could go and on.

I could also construct a very long list of movies that I adored this year that just barely missed the cut or got squeezed out at the last second by something I've seen more recently. I'd be remiss if I didn't give shout outs to the wonderful throwback action comedy The Nice Guys, the great chiller 10 Cloverfield Lane, the new stoner classic Keanu, one of the best blockbusters -- Captain America: Civil War -- and The Neon Demon, which was over-the-top in the best way.

I have some more close calls, also rans, and honorable mentions. 2016 was just that good. And in my top 10 I have one cheat tie, only because the film's themes are so interwoven. But without further caveats, here is my top 10:

10)  The Fits - I just saw this unique and documentary-like coming of age story, so it's still sitting with me. At just 72 minutes, it could have been slight, but instead this at-times-ominous portrait of a young tomboy making inroads into the drill team world is a visual tour de force and a really strong statement from its director, Anna Rose Holmer. It's a hard movie to describe or pin down, but I will say it's a unique and fascinating viewing experience. And it is also the third film in my top 10 not to feature a single white cast member. More on that later.

9) Don't Breathe - This movie really took me, and I suspect a lot of audiences and critics, by surprise. We have all seen home invasion thrillers and yet this one felt so intense and riveting from start to finish. The premise (the 'victim' is blind) seemed so simple I can't believe someone hadn't thought of it before. Plus, the choice to have our loyalties shift and fluctuate lent real gravitas to what otherwise could have been a fun B-movie. In a really strong year for genre films, this one was among the best.

8) Hunt for the Wilderpeople - I don't think I laughed harder at any film this year than this wacky adventure out of New Zealand, which pairs a grizzled mountain man with a funky know-it-all, hip-hop loving kid (the rotund and adorable Julian Dennison in one of my favorite performances of the year, hands down). Another film which avoids the cuddly cliches, and whose offbeat humor is note perfect. I never was quite sure where this movie was going, but it really has a lot of heart and a wonderful sense of fun about it.

7) Hell or High Water - Although this crime film came out earlier in the season, it has stubbornly hung around, in part because it feels very timely and realistic. It shares some of the same DNA as No Country for Old Men, but perhaps stripped a little of that films existentialist flair. It's a bit of western, mixed with a bank heist movie, but it also really has something to say about communities in the heartland that have been fleeced over several decades and have never quite recovered. A film far more sophisticated than it appears to be on the surface.

6) La La Land - I wanted to hate this movie and I suspect many people will -- but I found myself succumbing to its sense of infectious joy. This movie is an unapologetic valentine to Hollywood and old fashioned movie-making and it's a fun romp from its bravura opening sequence to its final one. I can't help but feel its multicultural utopia seems better suited for an America where Hillary Clinton was president or when Barack Obama still was, but the charm of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone is irresistible when all is said and done.

5) 13th/OJ: Made in America - Two flawless documentaries approaching issues of race and the criminal justice system from very different yet totally profound perspectives. Ava DuVernay's 13th is righteous in its anger at decades of both political parties passing the buck on a prison industrial complex which exploits and dehumanizes people of color at an alarmingly disproportionate rate. It's the movie that will make you want to write your Congressman. O.J.: Made in America, the multi-part opus on not just the infamous murder case but the culture of L.A. and the media that were integral to it, may force you to look inward and wonder why we like to chew up celebrities and then spit them out.

4) Rogue One - I have come to accept the fact that any new Star Wars film will come with quibbles from diehard fans, and some are legit with Rogue One, a sidebar story looking at how the Death Star plans were stolen prior to a A New Hope. Still, for me, this was a remarkable feat of mainstream sci-fi movie making. Visually flawless -- with the last 20 minutes ranking among the saga's best -- it made me feel like a little kid all over again. With this and The Force Awakens, we now finally have a prequel-proof supermajority of Star Wars films, with the two latest serving as perfect bookends to the original trilogy. I now feel certain that the legacy of those three masterpieces is in good hands with the folks at Disney.

3) Green Room - When I first watched this bloody, gritty thriller months ago I knew it would be in my top 10 and maybe be at the top (it remained there a long time). This one brought me back to the Pulp Fiction days, where you are watching a filmmaker at the top of their game, with material that is relentless and breathtakingly original. Oddly prescient, this movie about a punk band being terrorized by white supremacists, never got much of an audience when it was released but I am convinced will become a cult classic, thanks in part to the lead performance of the late Anton Yelchin and the truly scary one from Patrick Stewart as his nemesis.

2) Fences - I was just emotionally pulverized by this movie. And as a huge, lifelong Denzel Washington fan, this movie (based on the acclaimed August Wilson play of the same name) felt like the culmination of all his prior work. Although he remains one of our most endearing movie stars, he strips himself bare of all vanity here and delivers a volcanic, lived-in performance as a fundamentally damaged, but in denial, man. And the invaluable Viola Davis (who deserves every award possible for this performance) matches him step by step with a heartbreaking portrayal of his long-suffering wife. This is dramatic acting of the first order in a film that bowls you over with its simple elegance. It also (like my #1 film) features only people of color, and in doing so, shows that working class angst is not just the dominion of whites; it is universal.

1) Moonlight - When the credits rolled on Moonlight, I vividly remember telling my wife, "Well, that was a masterpiece." It's another difficult film to quantify -- it feels alive in every frame. Yes, it's nominally a coming-of-age story told in triptych form, but that doesn't do it justice either since I have never seen a character study quite like this. Yes, it has an LGBT theme, which feels relevant and even urgent right now, but it's also gorgeous to look at and listen to and the acting ensemble (made mostly of newcomers and rising stars) is peerless. It was without a doubt the best movie of the year, regardless of what the Oscars say.

UPDATE: My revised top 10: 1) Moonlight 2) I Am Not Your Negro 3) Fences 4) 20th Century Women 5) Green Room 6) Rogue One 7) Hell or High Water 8) 13th/OJ: Made in America 9) Elle and 10) Hunt for Wilderpeople and honorable mentions to: La La Land, Hidden Figures, Jackie, The Nice Guys, Captain America: Civil War, The Founder, Michael Moore in Trumpland, The Neon Demon, Southside With You, Keanu, Doctor Strange, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Don't Breathe, The Fits, Hail Caesar and The Witch.

'The Bad Batch' is bound to infuriate, but may become a cult classic

In the languid, dystopian new movie The Bad Batch, Suki Waterhouse -- the model-turned-actress - sports a pair of tight shorts with a prominently placed wink and a smile on the back. Watching the movie, I was struck by the ambivalence of that image.

Is this movie supposed to be funny? Is it supposed to be profound? Is it supposed to be about anything?

It's certainly terrific looking, with a killer soundtrack and a striking aesthetic that conjures a more chilled out Mad Max world of cannibals and scroungers.

After an intriguing opening, the movie settles into more of a mood piece and if the groaning, sighing and seat-shifting audience members who sat around me are any indication, it's not an audience-pleaser.

Still, The Bad Batch has a sensational quality too it. At times its dreamy, slow pace tried my patience, but its audacity impressed me too and it provides further evidence that Keanu Reeves (who is essentially the villain here, albeit a fairly non-threatening one) is in the middle of a truly impressive career revival, following great turns in the John Wick movies and The Neon Demon.

The movie's flaws are easy to pick apart -- it's overlong, it lacks a sense of danger or narrative drive, its dialogue can land like a thud and while Waterhouse is stunning she doesn't have a lot of the gravitas needed to truly be able to carry a lot of her scenes, which are often totally wordless.

Jason Momoa, of Game of Thrones fame, is a striking physical presence throughout, although he is saddled with one of the all time worst Cuban accents I've ever heard, and that conceit nearly torpedoes his performance.

I was never really bored by the movie, and I was fascinated by the world up on the screen. Director Ana Lily Amirpour is definitely up to something here and it felt like a movie that might grow in my esteem without the initial expectation of higher stakes and action.

And while I usually roll my eyes when people make the case that a film works better under the influence, this may be one of the rare examples where it's true. It certainly feels as if the film emerged from a dream, instead of coherent plot construction.

The Bad Batch is a hard film to recommend without caveats, but it does feel like an original, though undeniably indulgent, vision, and so I don't regret seeing it for a second. And I will say that the more I think about it, the more it grows on me.

Sound of cinema: My top 10 favorite film composers of all-time

Ennio Morricone

I am a huge fan of film scores and soundtracks. In fact, I might just love movie music almost as much as I am aficionado of cinema itself.

I am not much of a crier in my everyday life, but a well-placed, moving score can really bring on the waterworks (Clint Eastwood's heartbreaking Million Dollar Baby music always gets me). I truly believe a great soundtrack can elevate a movie, and sometimes a bad one can mar one.

There are classic one-offs, like Nina Rota's memorable work on The Godfather, but this blog is not about those. This is about artists who had a sustained -- and in some cases -- still ongoing body of work that is formidable by almost any standard.

10) Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith (tie) - I hate to do ties, and this is a bit of a cheat for me but these two legends are kind of interchangeable to me. I don't mean that as a knock, but they both are responsible for lush, romantic scores that speak to Hollywood's golden age, and both seamlessly could modernize their sound -- Bernstein with his playfully serious themes for comedies like (Ghostbusters) and Goldsmith's evocative work on big budget fare (Alien). To me, they both personify composer class at its finest.

Best scores: Goldsmith - Chinatown, Bernstein - The Grifters

9) John Carpenter - A bit of an outside the box pick for sure, but hear me out. Although Carpenter only did a handful of minimalist keyboard driven scores for his own films (including his iconic Halloween), his signature sound is not only phenomenal but highly influential. He changed the way scary movies sounded for a generation and his recent releases -- Lost Themes and Lost Themes II -- finally see him getting the credit he's long deserved for being a musical genius.

Best score: Escape From New York

John Williams

8) Lalo Schifrin - This composer's slinky, jazzy, but also funky rhythms perfectly evoke his late 1960s, early 1970s heyday. If he had done nothing but write the classic Mission: Impossible theme he would have probably made this list, but he also leant his talents to a number of brooding '60s and '70s hits (like Bullitt and Dirty Harry), and seemed to put the most sentimental inclinations of Hollywood scores of the past to bed forever.

Best score: Enter the Dragon

7) Cliff Martinez - The frequent collaborator of Steven Soderbergh's and Nicolas Winding Refn has slowly been building up quite a reputation, boasting three modern classics with his work on Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon. Also worth checking out is his underrated work on the equally undervalued 2002 remake of Solaris. He's doing amazing stuff with synths and moody propulsive beats (see Spring Breakers), that have had me noticing his name more and more when I go to the movies.

Best score: Drive

6) John Barry - The man behind the James Bond theme. That's kind of all you need to know. He went on to do many respectable scores, but for my money, he never surpassed the incredible work he did on the 007 series. Remarkably, he tailored each score to the specific tone of each movie -- from the spacey Moonraker to the grittier Goldfinger and From Russia With Love. The music of the Bond films is just as important as the stunts and the actor in the lead role.

Best score: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

5) Hans Zimmer - Today, Zimmer is best known for his bombastic, muscular scores for thinking man's action films like Inception, but his resume is actually much more diverse. For instance, he also penned the music for against type films like Rain Man and 12 Years a Slave. Still, it's pulse pounding, brassy work for Christopher Nolan which has single-handedly redefined the sound of the summer blockbuster. His work on The Dark Knight trilogy in particular is unparalleled.

Best score: The Dark Knight (with James Newton Howard)

4) Danny Elfman - The former Oingo Bingo front-man has worked with other director's but his partnership with Tim Burton is one of the most successful in all of movies. His playful, mischievous sound is almost instantly recognizable in movies like Beetlejuice and Pee Wee's Big Adventure. But he also does macabre mayhem better than just about anyone. In recent years he's moved further away from his earlier work to embrace a more mainstream style, but I will always associate him with nursery rhyme gone to seed style of his Simpsons theme.

Best score; Batman

3) Bernard Herrmann - This late composer is most famous for his many collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock. Apparently quite belligerent and difficult behind the scenes, that didn't stop him from producing some brilliant scores for the master filmmaker, from Psycho, to North By Northwest and the beautifully haunting Vertigo. He also scored what is widely considered to be the best movie ever made -- Citizen Kane. But my personal favorite score is his last, Taxi Driver, which he completed just says before his death in 1976.

Best score: Taxi Driver

2) John Williams - Most music snobs (and even many movie lovers) roll their eyes at the mention of Williams, who is best associated with accessible, almost pop scores for some of the most beloved hit movies of all time. His work for Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and others may not always be sophisticated but it has an emotional power that is unmistakable. His work on Star Wars, ET, Indiana Jones, Close Encounters, Jaws and Superman isn't just popular because its easy on the ears -- it's also a perfect compliment to the visuals. And his remarkable body of work should not be reduced to those legendary scores either. For instance, his music for Catch Me If You Can, Nixon and many more is just as accomplished.

Best score; The Empire Strikes Back

1) Ennio Morricone - The man. The legend. The Italian composer first captured the attention of American audiences with his epic, rock-influenced scores for Ennio Morricone's early spaghetti westerns and he spun that success into dozens of other terrific soundtracks in the genre. Morricone distinguished himself with achingly beautiful music that often even upstaged the action in many of the films in which it appeared. In his later years, he calibrated his style to suit sprawling gangster films like The Untouchables and Bugsy, and took some risks with his ominous work on The Thing, some of which was re-purposed with the Oscar-winning score for The Hateful Eight. This guy, and his countless hours of music, is a treasure.

Best score: Once Upon a Time in the West

Words can't express how much I love '20th Century Women'

In what has been a truly standout 12 months for Hollywood, there have been a handful of films that I took an instant liking to, where as the credits rolled I just knew I'd watched a master class of acting, writing and direction. This happened for me with Moonlight, with Fences, with Green Room and now, the gloriously funny and moving 20th Century Women.

I found myself wanting to tell everyone I knew about the movie, I want it to be a hit. I want it to be a movie that becomes a part of the American lexicon. It spoke to me that much.

There are traces of peak Woody Allen and Robert Altman in this movie, and maybe a little Wes Anderson too, but for the most part director Mike Mills has discovered a rhythm and playful style all his own as a filmmaker and he's found a flawless cast that can execute this subtle material (set in the uniquely distinct summer of 1979) with grace, warmth and gravitas.

In what has been a remarkable year for women's roles, this film presents three of my favorite: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig all get to play complex, flawed, charismatic and ultimately triumphant women, at very different stages of their life, all at interesting moments of self discovery.

Bening plays the kind of mom I think we wish we all had and perhaps some of us do. She is inquisitive and open-hearted, she is a little old fashioned (she adores Casablanca) but also eager to understand the world as it is today (she tries, valiantly, to understand punk). Bening has always been terrific but this may be my favorite performance she's ever given. She comes across so real, so naturally, and her character is someone I wanted to hang out with, to sit up late talking to.

I appreciate the way she thinks, the way she carries herself. If Bening is not nominated for Best Actress later this month it'd be a travesty.

Gerwig, whose ticks and mannerisms have occasionally irked me in the past, is a revelation here. Perhaps, liberated from her normal look, she breathes real life into a character who could have been a caricature, making her utterly sympathetic, awkward and somehow devastatingly cool at the same time.

And Elle Fanning, with this and The Neon Demon, has demonstrated that despite her cherubic appearance she has incredible range and depth as an actress. I have been so impressed by her choices so far -- this is someone who is willing to really bare her soul on screen and take risks. She too creates a powerful piece of this ensemble, which also includes terrific supporting work from the men on the periphery but it is first and foremost about women -- and to some extent how they try to relate to and understand men, but also how they make sense of themselves.

The somewhat episodic film has a simple, strong thread about Bening trying to reach out to her teenage son (played by Lucas Jade Zumann, in a marvelously unaffected performance). She has already formed this ragtag pseudo family with the tenants in her boarding house (including Gerwig, Fanning and a charming Billy Crudup as a handyman with delusions of being a deep thinker). A single mom, Bening earnestly seeks this quirky coterie's help in raising her son, and the results are both heartbreaking and hilarious.

I had no idea until after the fact that the film is semi-autobiographical, drawing from elements of director Mills' own childhood. But now that I know, it makes perfect sense. There is a specificity to this movie that I really appreciated (including the time period details, which are never overstated) and a depth of feeling that seems to come from a very personal place.

I like movies about people who could actually exist, whose stories illuminate aspects of my own life and the lives of the people I care about. 20th Century Women is one of those movies. It's a celebration of life -- in all its messiness, and it's an ode to the women who make life so interesting, cause let's face it, they are the most compelling sex.

I will never stop singing this movie's praises. It really hit me in a personal way that I don't think I can even appropriately put into words. All I can say is that I loved it and that I hope you see it.

Sofia Coppola's bold 'Beguiled' breathes new life into her career

Ever since her mainstream breakthrough with the classic Bill Murray vehicle Lost In Translation, director Sofia Coppola has seemed to be stuck in neutral.

She's made some well-crafted films -- I particularly thought The Bling Ring was underrated -- but she hasn't made much of a creative leap and at worst she sometimes was guilty of more navel gazing than novel filmmaking.

This is why her critically acclaimed new film The Beguiled, her first attempt at anything resembling a pure genre movie, is such a breath of fresh air.

The Civil War period film is a pastiche of dark comedy, horror and romance. It is also a remake of an unconventional Clint Eastwood film (itself also based on a novel of the same name). The Eastwood movie, which came out back in 1971, the same year he first starred as the iconic Dirty Harry, is a curious entry into his filmography.

In the Eastwood film he plays an injured soldier who is taken in by a house full of what turns out to be horny, repressed woman. He systematically tries to seduce as many of them as possible but his gambit ends up backfiring in horrifying ways. What's most interesting about that version is seeing Eastwood plays such a morally repugnant character, since he almost always plays characters defined by their heroic rectitude. But the movie itself is a little overheated and exploitative.

The new version, well, is much more of a Sofia Coppola film, which will likely disappoint some viewers who are looking for more shocks and scares. But for those looking for a more simmering take on this material, The Beguiled is a blast.

First off, its buoyed by a great cast. Colin Farrell is perfectly cast in the Eastwood role. He's both believable as a sex object and as a slippery manipulator.

Then there's the trio of women in the house vying for his attention (there are also some great standout performances from a younger group of actresses staying in the Virginia home he's convalescing in). Nicole Kidman builds on the good will she got from her great work in HBO's Big Little Lies, with a well-calibrated take on the repressed den mother of the house. Kirsten Dunst brings a lot of feeling and pathos to a lonely and longing character.

And my favorite may be Elle Fanning, who with this, The Neon Demon, and 20th Century Women, has rapidly become one of my favorite young actresses. She is quietly hilarious as the closet nympho is the group.

The film though is more Coppola's than any one character. She has some gorgeous, sumptuous cinematography here, and the film's tension and mounting dread is established from the very beginning with some Kubrick-esque establishing shots, and a minimalist score that at times just sounds like the pounding of a heart.

It's all handled in a tidy, roughly 90 minutes -- although it unfolds with Coppola's trademark languid pace. Because it's not bogged down by distracting effects or unnecessary subplots, it feels like a real movie for adults, with a lot of content to chew on and debate.

Is this movie a satire of toxic masculinity? Is it a study of the ill effect of sexual repression? It may be both. But it definitely is a bold new turn in Coppola's career and an enticing view of what she is capable of when the material is right.

Guest blog: What a year for women's films!

This is a guest blog written by my wife, Elizabeth Rosado. 

Oh boy, 2016 was truly a rollercoaster of a year – the highs include Adam Howard and I getting married at the Museum of the Moving Image and welcoming a new niece into our family. As for the lows, well, we all know what happened on November 9^th.

Even though that highest glass ceiling remains unbroken, women are still making progress, and one silver-lining to 2016 can be found by looking to Hollywood.  2016 had quite a crop of woman-centric films that were both critical and commercial successes.  Below is a list of my favorites – if you haven’t seen these, do yourself a favor and check them out.

SIDEBAR: It’s pretty obvious that Adam and I watch A LOT of movies, but there’s always something that slips by. So I’ll caveat the list below by noting that I haven’t seen Elle (Isabelle Huppert just won a Golden Globe for her lead performance), Nocturnal Creatures (starring Amy Adams, who I think has a unique talent for making characters subtly complicated), or Moana (whose heroine has been described as “Disney’s most unapologetically feminist princess yet”).  Without further ado, here are my top 10 lady movies of 2016!

1. The Fits. Odds are you haven’t heard of this movie, which is a shame because it is a beautiful and touching film. It’s a “coming of age” story that centers on a young tomboy, Toni, finding her place in a tight-knit dance troupe. While most male-focused “coming of age” movies are about finding a path to independence, Toni’s journey is about finding her place in a community. The film also captures the ways in which women “learn” to be women – how we absorb the trappings of femininity (the ways we dress, the ways we move our bodies) by observing and replicating. The Fits is also visually compelling  - a dance movie with a documentary feel – and I’m excited to see what director, Anna Rose Holmer, does next!

      2. Zootopia. Yes, Zootopia is a “kids movie”, but it carries a message that grown-ups need now more than ever – to “[embrace] diversity, even when there are people in the world who want to divide us by using fear”. Its lead character, Judy, is a rookie bunny cop who won’t let anything stand in her way, not her size and certainly not her gender. But what I found particularly refreshing is that Judy is not a perfect character – for all of her ambition and pluck, she also makes mistakes, and learns from them. A great role model for young girls and boys.

      
     3.  The Neon Demon. I might get some heat for including this one on the list – some feminist did not care for the film – but the deceptively simple story (young woman movies to LA to become a model and gets chewed up by the industry – literally) is just the first of many layers.  It’s a morality tale, both about our culture’s obsession with beauty (and the very narrow definition of beauty that women are expected to conform to) and about the ways in which women are often pitted against each other. Elle Fanning delivers a note-perfect performance as the lead character – she begins as an innocent, but when she eventually buys into the beauty-industry bullshit, it leads to her corruption and demise. This movie has lots of style, but lots of substance too.

      4.  The Handmaiden. Ummmmm, this movie is sexy AF. Some might think the girl-on-girl action is salacious and gratuitous, but I liked that the two main characters (one a young con-woman and the other a seemingly naïve heiress) relished in their sexuality and sensuality, taking ownership over their bodies as they also take control of their lives. This movie took twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, and also had a healthy dose of humor. It’s long (almost 2.5 hours) and has subtitles, but I hope that doesn’t keep you from giving this movie a shot. Just don’t watch it with your parents – those sex scenes are no joke.
         
      5. Rogue One. How did Princess Leia get the plans to the Death Star? Turns out it was a rag-tag team of heroes, who rally around Jyn Erso as she leads them on a mission of certain-death. I was moved to tears to see a heroine that was depicted as a leader, one who could command loyalty and devotion from her (male) followers. My nieces are big Star Wars fans, so I’m glad that Jyn gives them an example of a woman as a leader. Because if you can’t see it, you can’t become it.

6. Arrival. Amy Adams is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses. Her choices are interesting and diverse – I can’t think of a single Adam’s performance that was bad or boring. In Arrival, a surprisingly philosophical “alien invasion” movie, Adams’ character saves the day, not by rushing in with guns blazing, but by finding common ground and understanding.  It’s a hopeful movie, one that presents humanity as it could be – tolerant and open-minded. I hope we keep holding ourselves up to those ideals.

      7. 20^th Century Women.  Annette Bening is a revelation in this movie. Her performance - as a single mom who creates a makeshift family of quirky characters – is natural, unselfconscious and “lived-in” and she deserves all of the nominations this awards season. All of them. Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning also get meaty roles as fully-fleshed, complicated women. These women are not “shrinking violets” or “damsels in distress” or any other trope that women actors are so often confined to.  They have struggles and behave “badly” but also exude warmth and charisma. These are the kinds of women we all see in our own lives – real women.
       
         8. Hidden Figures. I’m so excited that a film led by three women of color is a box office success. Since Hollywood follows the money, I hope this means we’ll see more movies like this in the future. The truly inspiring story of a team of African-American women who played vital roles at NASA, the movie is funny and touching, without ever crossing the line into hokiness or sentimentality. It doesn’t shy away from the sexism and racial barriers that these women overcame, and really highlights how passivity in the face of discrimination can be just as bad as the discrimination itself. But it never stops being entertaining either - a very hard feat to pull-off.

      9. Jackie. I have to admit that I’ve never fully bought in to the “Jackie O cult”, but this movie went a long way to helping me understand it. While I can’t vouch for the factual accuracy of movie, the film portrays Jackie as a woman with an astute (and shrewd) understanding of how to build a legacy. She knew that image was everything  - not just the Chanel suits or the perfect hair, but the image of the presidency as royalty, our very own Camelot. The film focuses on the days after JFKs assassination, as Jackie plans the details of the funeral and lays the groundwork for enshrining her husband’s legacy.  It captures a woman who endured a great tragedy and trauma with grace and grit. And Natalie Portman is Jackie – she nails the looks, the voice, the mannerisms. A truly transformative performance.
 
     10. Ghostbusters. Okay, okay – this wasn’t exactly a critical or commercial blockbuster. And many ask why a remake of the beloved Ghostbusters was necessary. But this movie was a noble endeavor – why can't the Ghostbusters be an all-lady team? The movie was so-so, but I was delighted to see young girls dressed up as Ghostbusters. It may not have been the greatest of barriers, but it was nice to see this one knocked down. 

I hope 2017 continues this trend of female-led movies that dare to present multi-faceted, complicated and fascinating women. Our stories deserve to be told.