The Best Movie Of Each Year From 1925-2025
10. 2016 - Arrival
Honourable Mentions: La La Land, Moonlight, Your Name
Denis Villeneuve has become one of the most exciting and buzzworthy directors working in Hollywood over the last decade, making his mainstream entrance with 2013's Prisoners and following that up with the insidiously brutal Taylor Sheridan-penned Sicario in 2015, both of which were shot by cinematographic maestro, Roger Deakins.
Villeneuve changed tack in terms of subject matter for his following film - a time-travelling sci-fi tragi-romance starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, titled Arrival. Adapted by Eric Heisserer from a story by Ted Chiang, Arrival is mind-bending like the best entries in the genre but with an emotional throughline that crash-lands in the third act to tearful effect.
More importantly - and undoubtedly the reason why Villenueve was courted for the Blade Runner and Dune franchises in the immediate aftermath - it felt like a sci-fi film we hadn't seen before.