During these first few months of 2026, many people on social media have been posting pictures of themselves from 2016, using the caption #2016.
According to an article from USA Today, these posts are meant to reminisce on 2016 itself. On campus, The Chimes is reminiscing about the movies that came out in 2016.
Here are six movies that are just as good 10 years later:
“Paterson”
“Paterson” is director Jim Jarmusch’s return to his early days of slice-of-life filmmaking, and might be his best example yet. The film is about a week in the life of a bus driver who writes poetry, and that’s about as much of a plot there is.
Heavily inspired by William Carlos Williams’s epic poem of the same name, “Paterson” explores how a man is a city, and a city is a man; Williams and Jarmusch used Paterson, N.J. as that city.
Although it is not a traditional film, “Paterson” works extremely well and feels like a visual poem, meditating on the mundanity and routine of daily life.
For those doing the #2016 trend to reminisce about a simpler time, there is not a simpler movie than “Paterson.”
“La La Land”
If you want a direct opposite of “Paterson,” then “La La Land” is the movie for you. It’s not as energetic as director Damien Chazelle’s other two films about performing arts, “Whiplash” and “Babylon,” but “La La Land” is still a jazz-infused whirl of love and hate for the craft.
The film is about an aspiring actress, Mia, and a jazz piano player, Sebastian, who fall in love and try to manage their relationship while also following their dreams. While “La La Land” is a love letter to jazz, it’s also a love letter to musical films from the 1950s and 1960s. A big influence for “La La Land” was “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” a French musical film from 1964 that Chazelle showed to “La La Land” composer Justin Hurwitz during the film’s development.
Hurwitz’s music combined with the film’s choreography and cinematography (shot mostly with anamorphic lenses) makes the audience feel like they really are watching something that was released around the same time as “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.”
“Everybody Wants Some!!”
An underrated film of the bunch, “Everybody Wants Some!!”, follows a college baseball team in 1980 during the three days between move-in and the first day of classes. The film has been called the “spiritual sequel” to “Dazed and Confused,” director Richard Linklater’s sophomore effort that has become a cult classic.
The film has its similarities to “Dazed and Confused,” but overall, they have completely different vibes. “Everybody Wants Some!!” is raunchier than “Dazed and Confused,” playing into the tropes of classic college films like “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and “Revenge of the Nerds.”
This stark difference from “Dazed and Confused” can be offputting at first, but if you hang on, you will find that “Everybody Wants Some!!” is one of the most accurate portrayals of the fun and chaos of college.
“Operation Avalanche”
Recently, actor, writer and director Matt Johnson has received massive acclaim because of his new film, “Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie.” Two films before his most recent was Johnson’s “Operation Avalanche,” which is a found-footage film about members of the CIA posing as a documentary film crew in 1967 to find a Russian mole working for NASA, but what they find instead is much more concerning.
Almost all of Johnson’s work causes viewers to ask, “How did he make this?”, and “Operation Avalanche” is no exception. The film really was shot inside NASA’s primary Texas base. Johnson and his crew posed as university film students making a documentary about NASA’s Apollo program so they would have permission to film inside the NASA base. No NASA officials knew what Johnson was really doing.
Similar to Johnson’s debut feature, “The Dirties,” “Operation Avalanche” is primarily a comedy but has some impressively dark scenes.
“20th Century Women”
Yet another period piece film on this list, Mike Mills’s “20th Century Women” follows Dorothea, an aged mother trying to parent her teenage son, Jamie, as a single mom in 1979. Dorothea gets help from an alternative, artsy woman in her 20s, Abbie, and Julie, Dorothea and Jamie’s teenage neighbor.
“20th Century Women” is one of the best coming-of-age movies for teenagers to watch, and it can also be enjoyable for parents to watch, too, as it is a great portrayal of the struggle of parenting.
“Moonlight”
Saving the literal best for last, there is a good chance you first heard of “Moonlight” because of the fiasco that happened at the 2017 Academy Awards ceremony. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway originally announced “La La Land” as the winner for “Best Picture,” but a few minutes later, it was revealed that “Moonlight” had actually won best picture.
While “Moonlight” may not be as approachable as “La La Land” due to its personal subject matter, it is still a future classic.
The film follows Chiron, a Black man living in Miami, throughout different stages in his life as he navigates his sexuality and the challenges of growing up. The film is written and directed by Barry Jenkins, who is praised for the representation of Black characters and stories in his films.
