2016 is taking its final bow and, as is tradition as we approach this time of year, people are welcoming in the new year with best and worst lists aplenty. I've looked back over the past 12 months and have already posted about my best films, but now here's my worst films of 2016.

The year started off with some great films and closed out with even better ones too, with little gems also popping up every so often in-between. However, overall, 2016 hasn't exactly been a superb year for movies - especially for big blockbusters, with many of them just failing to impress; giving us a very lacklustre, weak Summer movie season. Although, whilst they were mostly disappointing, there were definitely some true disasters too and I've gone and whittled it down and have cherry-picked my 10 worst of 2016. Be warned: LOTS of angry ranting ahead.

 It's worth noting that all the films in my list were released in the UK between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2016 so films that may have arrived overseas but don't open here until next year will not count. But, without further ado, here's my list, kicking off with some honourable mentions.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

 THE FOREST

Take a great cast and a great horror premise and this should've been terrifying. But it was boring and not scary in the slightest.

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE

 It's known that movies based on popular videogames are not good. The Angry Birds Movie is evidence; it was charmless, boring and just bad.

 RIDE ALONG 2

 As if the first Ride Along wasn't unfunny enough, the totally unnecessary sequel was no better and, if anything, maybe even worse.

 BAD SANTA 2

 Yet another unnecessary, unfunny and painful to watch comedy sequel. The fact its predecessor was decent meant this was a bit more disappointing.

 JET TRASH

 As the title suggests, this Ed Film Fest indie was trash.
TOP 10:

 10. THE COLONY (COLONIA)
One of the year's lowest-grossing films, no one saw this. And for good reason. Unfortunately, I did see it. You'd think a dramatic thriller starring Daniel Bruhl and Emma Watson, based on a truly fascinating real-life story, would be good. Not even slightly. This was nothing more than boring and tedious.

 9. THE 5TH WAVE
Young-adult adaptations are still a thing? Well, after Allegiant and especially The 5th Wave, I think 2016 has made sure that this genre sits out for a while. This took such an interesting and exciting action premise - certainly a better one than most of the films in this genre - and tossed it out the window. It was boring and cringe-worthy and typical teen, YA mush.

 8. COLLATERAL BEAUTY
I only saw this recently and I still can't get over how awful this was. This film has one of the most stellar casts of the year and the trailers actually looked very promising. This is perhaps the most disappointing film of the year because it was a truly awful movie, despite having so much promise. It actually makes you wonder how A-list names such as Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Kiera Knightley and Helen Mirren even got involved with such a project in the first place. Because the screenplay is bad. It's morally dubious, even.

 7. INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE
Oh, would you look at that... another sequel has appeared in my worst of the year list? What. A. Surprise. This was by far the worst sequel. This was a boring, over-bloated mess. Resurgence could have been fun but was just so devoid of anything and everything that made the original so good and was just a sprawling, frustrating mess to sit through instead.

 6. POINT BREAK
If you have the balls to remake one of my all-time favourite movies, you better make sure you can do it justice. The Point Break remake did not do the original justice. Not only did it do a disservice to the original but it was just an awful film, period. It was poorly acted, poorly directed and so convoluted. The premise lends itself to disposable fun? How can you fail in doing even that?

 5. GODS OF EGYPT
This film was laughably bad. In fact, the only reason it isn't higher on my list is because it was at least so bad it was laughable. This film made no sense whatsoever and had a truly terrible story with some awful action and dialogue and some of the worst CGI of the year.

 4. WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING
Not only were bad sequels in abundance in 2016, but so were bad video-game movies and Warcraft was definitely the worst of the lot. This could have been a fun, Lord of the Rings-esque action epic but it turned out to be such a bland, bloated and messy misfire. There's too much crammed in here and too little sense made of it all to be even somewhat decent.

 3. DIRTY GRANDPA
Forgot this one existed? Yeah, I, unfortunately, didn't. Every January brings that truly awful comedy that doesn't belong anywhere else. This year was Dirty Grandpa, one of the most unfunny, awkward and cringe-worthy comedies I have maybe ever seen. This was actually torturing to sit through. At least the title was somewhat spot on, though, because this is a dirty pile of trash.

 2. NINE LIVES
The only reason I sat through this film (quite recently even) was merely to see how bad it was. Surely it can't be as awful as everyone is saying it is? Surely this film can't really be so bad it's already a meme? Oh boy, was I wrong! Nine Lives takes talent like Kevin Spacey and Christopher Walken and wastes them. When I saw the trailer, I thought it was maybe an SNL skit or a silly parody. No, this is a real film. It could easily be a parody of itself though, that's how truly atrocious it is. So unfunny and just BAD.

 1. NORM OF THE NORTH
What could possibly be worst than all those shit-piles I've already mentioned? How can a film be worse than Nine Lives? The answer: Norm of the North. But this just isn't one of the worst films of the year. No, Norm of the North is so bad it's possibly one of the worst films I have EVER seen - yes, it's up there alongside my deep, sincere hatred for A Dozen Summers. The animation genre has been at a high in recent years, and even the mediocre animated films like Minions and Pets aren't AWFUL. Norm is. This is a hard film to watch because it's just so unfunny, uncharismatic and annoying. Even kids find this hard to watch - and it's a bloody kids film! It makes you wonder just how a film this poorly written and just flat out dumb even came to be made.

 So there you have it, folks. That's my worst films of 2016. These were all my personal picks; films which I just hated myself for sitting through, films which just made me question who I am and what I'm doing with my life. On a more positive note, though, thank you all so much for joining me these past 12 months and for reading all my articles in 2016. Here's to an even bigger and better 2017.

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About the Author

Awais Irfan
Founder of Oasis Awais, and avid lover of life, Awais Irfan's love of writing and film is unequivocal. Ever since he was a little kid, he has loved the cinematic experience; so much so, he is studying Film Production in Glasgow and hopes to be the next "big thing" in directing.

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