12 Awesome Performances In Otherwise Awful 2016 Movies

Known for his bent towards philosophical musings that focus on men in the midst of existential crises trying to figure out the meaning of life, director Terrence Malick returned to cinema in 2016 after a few year’s hiatus with Knight of Cups, a film about a man in the midst of an existential crisis trying to figure out the meaning of like. Here, that man is Christian Bale’s shallow Hollywood screenwriter Rick whose successful but meaningless existence is basically a constant cycle of parties and sleeping with attractive women. Despite Malick’s signature stunning cinematography (here crafted by his frequent collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki), Knight of Cups is as annoyingly self-indulgent as many of his previous films and his trademark lack of narrative feels more affected and superficial than artistic.

Amidst all its self-congratulatory shallowness, there’s some brief enjoyment to be had in a cameo role from Antonio Banderas in which he gives a scene-stealing turn as the playboy host of an extravagant Hollywood party. Clearly ripping on his own ladies’ man persona, he delivers lines like ‘Women are like flavours: sometimes you want raspberry, then after a while you get tired of it and you want some strawberry’ with an earnest sleaze that almost makes the two-hour exercise in self-indulgence worth it. Almost.