I hated Hacksaw Ridge: it's dated; it's two movies — the beginning is like a Norman Rockwell painting and the end is this gore-fest. I didn't like Hidden Figures — it was a great story, but the director [Ted Melfi] made really dopey choices, from the blocking, where they walk down the hall like they're a gang, to the tone. I just hated it.

I liked Fences, but it felt too much like the play to me; the most special moment in that movie was when the light actually shined down at the funeral — but then the guy with the disability [played by Mykelti Williamson] comments on it, which just ruined it.

Arrival was a rock solid movie. I was engrossed by Manchester — walking into somebody's life just as something really shitty happened — but there was no takeaway for me. Lion first half is terrific, but its second half drags. Hell or High Water I loved, but it's not a best picture.

I really admire Moonlight — the look of it and the story, which left me feeling like I was really f---ing there, and brilliant Marsala [Mahershala Ali] — but it was a tad inconsistent, with the first two thirds much better than the last third, and I was distracted by having characters played by multiple actors who look nothing alike.

I normally go for sort of heavy films like Life of Pi, and I normally don't like musicals, but because everything's so f---ing miserable in the world, La La Land — even though it doesn't end on a positive note — took me out of the moment and found a place in my heart. It was a good distraction.

I actually saw it, for the first time, on Thanksgiving Day — I've seen it three times — all by myself, which I don't normally do, but my wife was out of town and I went there and I left with a skip in my step. It made me happy that I live in town. It was wonderful.

My vote

(1) La La Land

(2) Moonlight

(3) Hell or High Water

(4) Lion

(5) Manchester by the Sea