Can you believe it? 2015 is on its way out the door. We had a pretty solid crop of films this year, and putting together this top ten list was actually a bit harder than in years past because of the abundance of options. Definitely not a bad thing!
Let’s take a look at our picks for the best movies of the year.
In no particular order, here are our favorite films of 2015. Once you’ve read through the list, hit the comments and tell us if we’re right or wrong and what your top picks are.
The Martian
Matt Damon and Ridley Scott make a powerful actor/director duo in this quietly smart and funny space movie. Definitely worth seeing for anyone remotely interested in space travel and the possibility of surviving on other worlds.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Boom! Pow! Kablamo! The loudest, most riotous movie of the year also holds some surprisingly deep ideas at its core. Nothing with the title Mad Max has ever been remotely this good, all apologies to Mel Gibson.
The Big Short
How do you take a technical, depressing subject (the greed of Wall Street sub-prime lenders who brought about the Great Recession) and make it fun and entertaining? Here’s your template. Several times throughout this movie I found myself struggling with the strange emotional combination of laughter and outrage. Mega bonus points for the celebrity cameos to briefly explain the finer points of Wall Street lingo.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Was it the best movie of the year? Nope, too many plot holes and too much slavish devotion to Episode IV for that. Was it the best Star Wars film? Nope, that title will always likely belong to The Empire Strikes Back. But was it the best Star Wars movie in 30-plus years, and a generally great, fast-paced sci-fi adventure? You bet. That this movie didn’t collapse under the unbelievable weight of the expectations placed upon it and turned out to be pretty awesome is the highest praise it could receive.
Inside Out
Curse you, Pixar, for making me cry over the fading away of a child’s imaginary friend. Bless you, however, for giving us the best animated movie in years and bursting back into the forefront of the crowded animated field.
Bridge of Spies
If there were any doubts, this movie settled them: Hanks + Spielberg = Awesomeness. Perfectly scripted, acted, and directed, this movie gripped me its entire running time. The amount of empathy the flick gave me for the titular Soviet agent surprised me as well.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Tom Cruise showed us that he and his spy franchise are aging like a fine wine with this fifth(!) outing. Great action, character interplay, and dialogue gave us the best spy movie of the year. Much as it pains me to say that, Mr. Bond.
Ex Machina
It’s rare when you can say that you’ve never seen anything like this before, but with Ex Machina, it’s true. Mind-bendingly cool with superlative performances, this is the best sci-fi flick in a year packed with several big contenders.
It Follows
It’s so rare for a horror movie to accomplish its goal of scaring the audience while still maintaining quality. Enter It Follows, a cautionary tale for teens everywhere and a spooky good time for everyone else.
The Hateful Eight
Every three years or so I look forward to Quentin Tarantino’s latest talky, bloody masterpiece, and he always delivers. While not scaling the heights of Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained, this flick features all the QT trademarks in spades and belies its three-hour running time.
Best movies I didn’t see: Anomalisa, The Revenant, Sicario, Tangerine
Biggest Disappointments: Spectre, Jurassic World, Joy, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Martian was a total bore, predictable and put me to sleep. Hateful Eight was a long drawn out bore as well, although if you like blood a guts, this one is for you. Ending sucked. Mission Impossible was pretty good, kept my interest and as a fan of original show, it was not bad at all. Mad Max was a bomb, as it a waste of time, glad I watched them all for no cost at home, would hate to have paid to watch these bombs.
why do none of the free codes you list NEVER work for me?
@Shane…
Don’t miss “The Revenant”! It will win multiple awards.
Agreed “Spectre” and “Jurassic World” were disappointments. :( !
rent 1 get 1
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by 01/03/2016 11:59 p.m
98% of the stuff that comes out now are bomb’s. And not worth going to see.
I just let Netflix send them to me when they come out on DVD.
I have to agree with just about everything the editor said, except for his review of Mad Max, Fury Road. That was one of those movies that I rented with a credit, and yet I still feel that I was ripped off. That’s time of my life that I will never be able to get back. I kept hearing rave reviews, so I rented it. I watched it. I kept waiting for it to get even remotely good. This movie could be compared to an industrial-strength Hoover: it sucks – a lot! At least that’s my two cents worth.
Could not agree more, jonmac. Loved the original Max movies, but this one was one of the more overrated movies of all time!