The 2016 Nashville Film Festival came to a close Saturday, bringing to an end a furious flurry of screenings.

I attended eight days of the 10-day festival and in that time saw 29 feature films and 25 to 30 shorts. While there were some misses in the group, for the most part it was an entertaining and diverse portfolio with some nice gems hidden among the festival’s 271 films.

Here are a few other things that stood out the most:

“Sing Street” wasn’t just my favorite film of the festival, it was my favorite film of 2016 so far.

The latest from writer/director John Carney (the man behind “Once” and “Begin Again”) is a charming tale about a 14-year-old boy in Ireland in 1985 who forms a band to impress a girl. It’s a film that has a John Hughes feel, capturing the 1980s musical era perfectly.

The kids don’t just give good acting performances, but they can sing, too – creating some catchy pop tunes that had me humming long after my screening.

If you were a child of the 1980s or are looking for romantic nostalgia piece, this is a film you should seek out as it expands into wider release over the next few months.

There were a slew of quality documentaries from “Tickled” to “A Song For You: The Story of Austin City Limits” to “Holy Hell” to “A Fat Wreck” to “The Bandit” to “Thank You Del: The Story of the Del Close Marathon.” Subjects ranged from everything from different aspects of the music industry to the friendship between stuntman/director Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds to religious cults to improv comedy shows to weird tickling competitions.

What made these films stand out was the way they captured the essence of their subject and managed to not just inform and provide insight but entertain as well. “Tickled” and “Holy Hell” will be in theaters in the next few months, while “The Bandit” is slated for a run on CMT this summer.

There were also some emotional heartfelt performances including Tomas Pais in “Hunky Dory,” Jane Ackermann in the coming-of-age drama “Neptune,” Cristin Milioti in the adorable romantic comedy “It Had to Be You” and, my favorite performance at the festival, Lauren McQueen as a 15-year old caring for her younger brother trying to overcome the scars of an abusive father in the very moving “The Violators.”

The first three films are still in talks with distributors for theatrical releases, while “The Violators” is slated for a June release.

Other feature films that I enjoyed included the following:

“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” – writer/director Taika Waititi’s funny follow-up to last year’s “What We Do in the Shadows” about a rebellious kid (Julian Dennison) and his foster parent (Sam Neill), who become the target of a manhunt when they go on the run in the New Zealand bush.

“Inside Scarlett” – a trippy little bit of B-movie schlock about an agoraphobic who suddenly finds herself pregnant and is convinced that her stuffed animal chicken impregnated her.

“Magallanes” – a Spanish import about a former Army soldier (Damian Alcazar) turned taxi driver who looks to make amends for a terrible secret from his past was a well-acted film with a compelling story and beautifully haunting cinematography.

Now in theaters

This week’s big theatrical release is “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” (D+), the follow-up to the 2012 hit that is about as lackluster as a film can be with this talented of a cast.

“Winter’s War” is both a prequel and sequel with a lengthy prologue set before the first film before fast forwarding to events post “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

Chris Hemsworth once again plays a huntsman named Eric, who this time finds himself caught in a battle between sisters – the ice queen he serves Freya (Emily Blunt) and Snow White’s old nemesis Ravenna (Charlize Theron).

The original film was mildly entertaining, the better of the two Snow White-centric released in 2012, but I don’t think the world was exactly clamoring for a follow-up.

The screenplay is a mess, with red herring on top of red herring to the point of being comical, and Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s direction (he also directed the 2012 original) is pedestrian at best.

He seems bored behind the camera, and the entire cast seems bored in front of the camera. That’s a shame because with Hemsworth, Blunt, Theron and Jessica Chastain (added as a love interest for Eric), you would at least expect that type of talent to hold the audience’s interest.

There are a few fleeting moments of self-awareness that the whole proceeding is rather silly, but for the most part this is a dull, full-speed ahead cash grab. And with the opening weekend barely cracking $20 million, chances are this will be the last gasp for this attempted franchise.

“The Huntsman: Winter’s War” is rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence and some sensuality and is now playing at the Regal Bowling Green Stadium 12 and Highland Cinemas in Glasgow.

— To read Micheal Compton’s thoughts on more movies, visit his blog at bgdailynews.com/blogs/reel_to_reel or follow him on Twitter @mcompton428. Email him at mcompton@bgdailynews.com.