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.