You know the drill. The Golden Globes are tonight and I get
to sit at my desk, with a glass of fine ginger ale, deciding the movies I loved
the most this year. It was an odd year because for a while, I felt it was a
particularly weak year of movies that didn’t truly move me. That has since
changed.
There were some shockers. A movie I
never expected to be good, Goosebumps,
ended up being one of my most enjoyable times at the movies this year (mainly
because it hit upon my nostalgia for Jumanji
and Halloween-esque adventure stories). And then there’s Paddington, but I’ll get to that.
There were some also some
disappointment. My most anticipated movie of the year was none other than
Alejandro Innaritu’s The Revenant.
While the cinematography was GORGEOUS and Tom Hardy is always churning out
interesting and tough performances, it didn’t surpass the excellence that the
trailer gave to me.
But, despite all that, I give you my
TOP 10 Best Films of 2015.
10. Steve Jobs
This movie didn’t get the reception I
hoped it would. Why is that? Bad marketing and release play is what you’ll be
told. But now it’s been long enough that I hope you find it one day and get
into it.
Lets go through all the highlights.
Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet churn out award worthy performances. I went
along with the little embellishments of Steve Jobs’ life AND the three-act
structure this movie had. But the BIG thing for me is always Sorkin writing. I
will listen to people act out his scripts any day. And Danny Boyle made sure
they spoke those words as their characters and not Sorkin himself (although you
can definitely hear all the Sorkin in it).
This is essentially a great play of
Jobs’ life on film. This is worth your time if you’re a fan of The Social Network, Newsroom, or any of
these fine actors.
Dir. Danny Boyle
9. Paddington
I was looking at my list of favorite
movies this year and noticed I have a lot of movies about screwballs and bad
people (Steve Jobs, Mistress America, The
Hateful Eight). Well…not Paddington fucking bear. WHAT…WHY…HOW…did they put
so much talent and wonder into a Paddington movie!?!? I watched this from a
recommendation (purely intending on skip it) and THIS is the biggest surprise
of the year. If you’re a fan on Wes Anderson’s style of blocking, colors that
pop, shots that wonder, a likable animated lead, and some whimsically
hysterical jokes sprinkled throughout, this movie is for YOU. It’s the best
family film of the year. It’s not just pure fun. There’s a REAL talent going
into this one. Trust me.
Dir. Paul King
8. Straight Outta Compton
Well. This isn’t Paddington. This is a hardcore EPIC that I truly loved. It sickens
me that a movie about the late 80’s with a number of talented black youths
getting harassed by the police for the first 45min of the movie can’t be seen
as a period piece. It resonated so well with our country, it might as well have
been about today. But I won’t get deep/political on you with this review (even
though that’s what the film wants you to do).
It does a juggling act of talking about the racism/power of the police force, the rise and fall of power in rap, AIDS, guns, handling money, etc ALL within one film. It works to it's advantage and disadvantage. All you have to know is that
while the film is surely very LONG at an ambitious 2 hours and 30 minutes, it’s
the best historical movie about music to have come out in a long time.
Also, I gotta call out O’Shea Jackson
playing his father Ice Cube and Jason Mitchell playing Eazy-E. I hope they have
big careers. They had me the whole movie. Hope you agree.
Oh...and that great line...
Dir. F. Gary Gray
7. Spotlight
This is what I’m going to consider the Argo of this year. Poised to win best
picture, I appreciate this movie more than I love it, but boy do I appreciate it. It has an all-star cast
and deals with a very dark and truthful subject matter. What I appreciate the
most is how the entire movie is handled: letting the story come first and
having no embellishments along the way. While there are no stand-out
performances I could really call out (except maybe Live Schrieber’s understated
and impressive role), everyone came to work on the same playing field and no one goes over the top. This movie will have you from start to finish and I have
to recommend it as a no-holding-back and seriously adult kind of movie.
Dir. Tom McCarthy
6. Sicario
Roger Deakins does it again. Most of
this film, I couldn’t get over the shots they were getting. Example: Emily Blunt looks through binoculars on a rooftop and see's cops driving towards explosions and gun fire...how's they make that look so GOOD!?
Benicio Del Toro does it AGAIN. I’d
never want to be stuck in a room with this character.
Emily Blunt does it AGAIN! Most of the film, I was reminded of how I called her out last year as the actress of the year that blew me away. She might be my favorite tough-chick actor of all time (tough exterior/tragic and fragile interior, this character is so amazing to follow).
Plenty of twists, turns, and
on-the-edge-of-your-seat sequences, this is True
Detective Season 1 meets Zero Dark
Thiry meets (insert epic crime drama)
but in an extremely original and fresh way. Loved this movie.
Dir. Denis Villeneueve
5. Inside Out
Oh Sadness. This might be my favorite
Pixar character ever. Coming from the guy that thinks Up is the best Pixar movie, I hoped for Pete Doctor to deliver
again with this one. He understands storytelling and bringing the feels. I’ll
watch anything he does from here on out.
I particularly loved the message for kids. FINALLY we have a film that understands that kids aren't just into farts and jokes all the time. Kids are just like adults...they go through sadness and disgust and anger all the damn time. And while, yes, we all know that, this film's message is that it's OKAY to feel all those things. Boy am I happy this was executed correctly.
This isn’t just one of the best family
films of the year, it’s just one of the best films.
Dir. Pete Doctor
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
You’ve waited 2 years (maybe your whole
life), you’ve seen it 5 times in the theater, you have Rey plastered on your
wall, you have ngihtmares about a Kylo Ren temper tantrum, you got the feels
for every Han Solo moment, you want your very own BB-8, you want to buy JJ
Abrams drinks for making you so happy this holiday season…did I get all of it?
Bottom line: This movie succeeds in the hardest part a soft reboot of Star Wars could- It has you care about all of its new characters deeply. I think Rey might be my favorite Star Wars character of all time (yes..Darth Maul is taking a backseat). While she's not flawed really in any way (yet), she is infinitely more interesting to watch (curious, brave, adventurous, independent and energetic).
Dir. JJ Abrams
3. The Hateful Eight
This might have been my most enjoyable
time in the theater this year. I think Pulp
Fiction and Inglorious Basterds are
some of my favorite movies of all time so I expected goodness out of this. But
what I got was an EPIC 3 hour event in 70mm with an overture and intermission.
The music was sensational. I was laughing throughout. I got sucked into the
mystery. Tim Roth’s character was out of this world enjoyable.
So why do people not LOVE this movie?
Maybe it’s because of the run time. Maybe it’s because it’s so unbelievably
Tarantino to the point where he’s narrating his own movie. But I’ve found it
divided by people who loved the first half before the intermission and hated
the structure of the second, or vice versa. Maybe that structure is what’s
getting everyone. For me…it’s all I needed for a good time this winter.
It's Quentin Tarantino's Clue Western! I had to love it.
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
2. Room
I can’t stop thinking about this movie.
It’s hard and painful to watch but it could have been my favorite movie of the
year. I hope this gives Brie Larson license to do any role she ever wants
because BOY does she bring it here. And Jacob Temblay is the best actor of the
year in my opinion…at 9 years old he should be beating Dicaprio for the top
prizes this year…I said it.
In a movie like Room where a good portion of it is shot within very small quarters,
it manages to make you feel claustrophic yet invited. You know their world, see
all it’s angles and dimensions and it gives you something about what the
characters inner thoughts are based off their environment. It’s masterful
cinematography how this was all handled.
It's no spoiler that they do escape the Room at some point, and that whole buildup and aftermath had me GASPING. Lenny Abrahamson NEEDS a Best Director nom.
I will have this on my Top 10 list of
the decade for sure, along with…
Dir. Lenny Abrahamson
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
HOLY SHIT MAD MAX: FURY ROAD IS THE
BEST MOVIE OF 2015. It is the most energetic, eye popping, balls to the wall
action/chase movie of the decade. It manages to be completely original, never
dip in pacing or excitement, and not have any subplots…just one story of epic
survival in a wasteland.
If aliens fell from the sky and asked
me what movies are and why do humans enjoy them, I would show them the first 5
minutes of Mad Max: Fury Road.
WITNESS THIS!!!!
Dir. George Miller
HONORABLE
MENTIONS (In Alphabetical Order)
1.
Brooklyn
2.
Carol
3.
Creed
4.
Ex Machina
5.
Goosebumps
6.
Me, Earl and the
Dying Girl
7.
Mistress America
8.
The Peanuts Movie
9.
The Revenant
10. Trainwreck
Films
I Still Need to See:
Anamolisa
Beast of No Nation
Crimson Peak
The Danish Girl
The Good Dinosaur
Krampus
The Night Before
Trumbo
The Visit
My
Year End Awards:
Best Actor: Jacob Temblay, Room
Bect Actress: Brie Larson, Room
Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester
Stallone, Creed
Best Supporting Actress: Alicia
Vikander, Ex Machina
Best Director: George Miller, Mad Max:
Fury Road
Worst Movie: Tomorrowland
Thanks for reading! I will see you
again with my Oscar Predictions come February. Have a wonderful day,
movie-lovers!
