Posted on 01/12/2016 12:50:32 PM PST by Kaslin
With the Golden Globe awards airing last Sunday and the Oscar nominations coming out later this week, I recently took a look at the films of the past year and come up with my annual list of the ten best movies of the year.
Overall, 2015 was a great year at the movies with a lot of great films arriving (including big budget fare like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World). There were plenty of box office failures as well (including financial flops like Fantastic Four and cinematic duds like Fifty Shades of Grey) but overall, the local cineplex offered an eclectic mix of strong films that overshadowed many of the disappointments.
With that in mind, here's a list of my ten favorite films from 2015.
10.) 99 Homes: This low-budget housing drama features Andrew Garfield as a struggling single father trying to keep his family above water. When his house is foreclosed upon by the bank (in a devastatingly painful sequence), his character starts working for an unethical broker (Michael Shannon), who has taken advantage of the financial system and the government bureaucracy to become a millionaire. Much of this film's attention has been focused on Shannon's performance but the underrated Garfield is the heart and soul of this unforgettable feature.
9.) Joy: Watching a struggling mother of two overcome her misfortunes and become a success story may seem like the plot of a predictable movie of the week. In the hands of the creative director/co-writer David O. Russell though and with the support of Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, this film defies its formula and offers a delightfully unique portrayal of a woman who perfectly encapsulates what it means to be a successful entrepreneur.
8.) Ex Machina: In this simplistic-sounding but ultimately profound look at technology, a young programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) is sent to study the humanity of a robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). Director Alex Garland has crafted a thoughtful and insightful drama here that questions our reliance on technological advances and asks a simple question: how far off is this scenario?
7.) Room: A young woman (Brie Larson) and her young son (Jacob Tremblay) are locked in a shed together as this human drama begins. The woman has been held prisoner for nearly a decade and her son — the product of rape — has never seen the outside world before. When the woman decides that she would rather die than let her child's suffering continue, the film takes a major turn. Undeniably compelling and emotional, director Lenny Abrahamson's film offers both an incredible and complex story and two of the best performances of the year.
6.) Creed: In interviews, Sylvester Stallone has stated that he thought Rocky's story had ended in Rocky Balboa (2006). However, a young and hungry director named Ryan Coogler convinced him to return to the role. In an Oscar-worthy supporting performance, Stallone brings back the vibrancy and the power of Rocky while Michael B. Jordan and Coogler deliver in breathing new life into this long-running series.
5.) Steve Jobs: Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin provides an incredible and intimate look into his subject in this powerful drama. Jobs was a technological genius but in this film, we also see the profound weaknesses and flaws of this charismatic leader. Set during the lead-up to three major announcements, the feature is brought to life by Michael Fassbender's commanding lead performance.
4.) Spotlight: This true story shows the power and responsibility of the news media in its depiction of the Boston Globe’s reports about the Church abuse scandal at the beginning of this century. Led by an incredible ensemble cast (featuring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams), the film shows how — despite resistance from the Church and public officials — this newspaper team was able to break this devastating story.
3.) Sicario: Director Denis Villeneuve offers a devastating portrait of the U.S.- Mexican border in this visually-stunning feature. Emily Blunt stars as an FBI agent who is recruited to help stop drugs from being imported over our nation's Southern border. What she finds is a nightmarish world of corruption and brutality — a world where there are no easy answers or clear solutions.
2.) The Revenant: In 2014, directed Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu crafted an unforgettable vision in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Stunningly, he has done it again in 2015. The Revenant is an eye-opening, captivating and gorgeous look at one man's fight to survive after being left for dead. Based on a true story, this film features DiCaprio's most fearless performance yet and some of the most beautiful cinematography I've ever seen on film. The drama might be gruesome and a few minutes too long but it's one of the most memorable movies of 2015.
1.) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, this dramedy is both one of the funniest films of 2015 and also one of its most heartbreaking. Greg (Thomas Mann), the lead character, is tasked by his parents with befriending a high school classmate named Rachel (Olivia Cooke), who was recently diagnosed with cancer. The subject is a tricky one but Gomez-Rejon manages to wring humor out of this painful experience and ultimately presents a beautiful portrait of both the pains of friendship and the beauty of everyday life.
I liked Ex Machina. A bit different, but was a bit predictable. But not bad.
I enjoyed American Sniper and St. Vincent.
I thought that Unbroken had the potential to be a GREAT movie, and they blew it. If they had cut out some scenes of them out on the ocean and taken the last quarter of the movie and showed his breakdown and salvation in God, and his forgiveness of his captors, the movie would have been great.
I felt somewhat the same way about Ex Machina. LOL, it generated a two hour conversation about sex with robots...
We wondered if it could be programmed to be below a 4 crazy and above 8 hot on the Hot vs. Crazy Matrix...
A Unicorn!
Really sad that so few movies are even being called out in this thread. It is a tiny number for a year’s Hollywood production spending hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars on dozens and dozens of movie.
Very sad state of affairs. Hollywood basically can’t make a good movie today. They throw a bunch of spaghetti against the wall for 11 year old boys with ADHD who need constant explosions and action, and 3 or 4 stick with audiences over 30.
What a wretched state of affairs. No wonder I am going back to watching old 1950s/60s TV shows like Death Valley Days, Wanted Dead or Alive and Route 66, among a score of others. Most everything being made today is crap. There are a tiny handful of new cable TV shows at 8-10 episodes per year, and maybe 7-8 movies a year that are entertaining.
Yet they are spending 10 times as much money as ever before. What a colossal waste of time and money.
Spotlight was one of the best films I’ve seen in years. Writing, casting, cinematograpy, acting, period detail — all excellent.
Mostly agree but I thought the book fell flat on its face at the end. Glass gives up his quest; Bridger stars starry-eyed at the mountains.
Yes, did fall flat right at the end. Could have concluded with the same point but in a more persuasive/meaningful fashion, elaborating on the change of heart. Or could have just revised history and wreaked horrible vengeance...
Agreed.
Yes. This. I'm a fan of the original Mad Max, and The Road Warrior. Not so much Beyond Thunderdome (it was okay, but really just didn't work for me for some reason). The originals had a plot. Max was a sympathetic character in both.
I like car chases. I like explosions, good stunt work, and Fury Road had all of that. What it lacked was a sympathetic Max. Of all the characters in the film, the redemptive feral was the only one I liked.
American Sniper was very good. St. Vincent was a hoot. A real sleeper. I'm not a big fan of Molly McCarthy, and Bill Murray can be a real hit-and-miss guy with his films, but this was a hit.
Who would be a ‘real’ intellectual critic then?
I agree with that. Excellent.
Well technically ANY movie is Art House that way, even hugely successful movies don’t get seen by most people. Even Star Wars, now the highest grossing movie ever, when you divide the box office by a ticket price of $11 has “only” had 75 million American viewers if you assume nobody has seen it twice, which sounds like a lot but still leaves at least 3/4 of the population as not having seen it.
Meanwhile out here in reality, Art House movies are movies distributed through Art House theaters, almost never hit more than 1000 screens at time, and make very little money. And most of this list is not Art House.
Yah you're exactly right. I couldn't care less about any of the characters in that movie and that was the difference with Max.
I was the right age for that movie. I remember cheering with the whole theater when Han came and knocked Vader out at the end.
This movie didn’t have that.
Leonardo’s greatest role was when he played himself in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Leonardo’s best moment was when he sunk to the bottom of the ocean in Titanic.
Heheheheheh...
My brother and I were, ahem, taken to the movies by our wives to see “The Piano”.
To this day, it was one of the worst cinematic experiences we ever had, but...we both had the same hilarous (to us) inner reaction when the woman is dragged down to the bottom of the ocean by the piano...we both simultaneously had this inner vision of jumping up and yelling “YES! YES! YES! THANK GOD!”
Half of it was probably appreciation that the annoying, boring actress was dragged down and we wouldn’t see her anymore, and the other half was the realization that the movie was probably nearly over!
I just checked...to this day, we thought the running time was three to four hours, when it was only 114 minutes...:)
Not kidding!
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