17.) Anomalisa [3/1/2016]

I love Charlie Kaufman, and fully realize that his movies aren't for everyone.  Not surprisingly, I liked Anomalisa, but I can also understand how people would hate it.  A movie full of puppets, metaphorical trickery, full-frontal puppet nudity (and a surprisingly long, incredibly awkward puppet sex scene), and a story about a shitty person struggling to find himself is not really something everyone is going to like.  My Mom hated it (though, I am sure seeing puppets go at it for what felt like twenty minutes while sitting next to your son would shade your appreciation of the movie).  I have a lot of time for movies that try new things, and this movie was incredibly clever in the way that most of his movies are clever.  Like Hateful 8, which was a pastiche of Tarantino movies, Anomalisa was the boiled down essence of Kaufman's entire set of work.  If you like weird, plodding movies about the human condition and can empathize with imperfect people, you'll like this movie.