These 10 films represent the very best in 2015 cinema.
The great films are not simply stories well told – nor do they simply illicit feelings. The very best films are masterpieces that demand genuine emotional engagement. They are stories that expose the human condition and artistically relate experiences of living and making choices.
When asked why I watch so many films (including dozens of horrifically bad movies) every year, I need only point to these 10 films.
Sidenote: Past #1 overall favorite films of the past 7 yrs: “The Dark Knight” (2008), “The Hurt Locker” (2009), “Inception” (2010), “The Artist” (2011), “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012), “Her” (2013) and “Birdman” (2014).
#10: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
What is essentially a two-hour car chase packed with gunfire and explosions, “Mad Max: Fury Road” is one of the most exciting (and certainly one of the most bold) films of 2015.
The brilliance of “Fury Road” is its pure simplicity — director George Miller just throws his characters into his desert nightmare and sends them on a two-hour chase sequence, with Max and Furiosa fleeing a horde of crazed, murderous and insane desert warriors.
Despite being a sequel to a well-established franchise, “Fury Road” is a refreshing jolt of high-energy mayhem, packed with relentless action and absurd practical special effects (car crashes, explosions, etc). “Mad Max” must be seen to be believed.
(watch the trailer)
#9: ‘The Revenant’
“The Revenant” is a bruising, brutal and emotionally exhausting tale of survival and revenge. This grim story is simultaneously gripping, unsettling and impossible to look away from.
“The Revenant” is an elegant array of contradictions. It’s a simple tale of revenge and survival, but executed with nuanced, rich performances and set in a vibrant and haunting world. It is a beautifully shot and acted film that demands total attention – while telling an unrelentingly violent story that is, at times, very difficult to watch. It’s impossible to look away and equally impossible to not squirm during several of the more graphic sequences. Fair warning: this film – which graphically depicts scalping, knife fights and a particularly gory bear mauling – is certainly not for the faint of heart.
This film absolutely makes the audience endure Glass’s ordeal. From its bleak color palette to its deliberate pacing, “The Revenant” absolutely makes the audience feel every dagger of ice cold water when Glass jumps into a raging river and feel every shot of agonizing pain as Glass hobbles on an ankle contorted at an unnatural angle. Credit to Leonardo DiCaprio and Iñárritu for crafting an unflinching film that makes the audience experience every step of Glass’s long and painful pursuit of revenge.
(watch the trailer)
#8: ‘Room’
Indie actress Brie Larson delivers an incredible performance in the tragic, sweet and heartbreaking drama “Room.”
The first 40 minutes — essentially a drawn out intro to the film’s true narrative arch — is harrowing and tender. The framework of “Room” works because its foundation is based firmly on the beautiful and intimate dynamic between a child and his mother. If only the Academy had a Best Acting Duo award, then newcomer Jacob Tremblay and Larson would win hands down. This is surely one of the best acting duos of 2015 – and arguably the very best of the year.
“Room” is a dark, dramatic, sweet, harrowing, suspenseful, heart-wrenching and uplifting story — a feat that few movies achieve.
(watch the trailer)
#7: ‘Mustang’
The timely Turkish drama “Mustang” is a powerful and touching indictment of systemic and cultural subjugation — and an inspiring tale of rebellion and preserving identity.
“Mustang” is a universal story of oppression. While it takes places in a specific modern day country town influenced by a specific religion – this story about have taken place in any number of countries throughout recent history. It’s easy to attack the specific religion and customs of this one Turkish village — but the general themes of rebellion amid cultural oppression make it impossible not to root for the sisters.
(watch the trailer)
#6: ‘Cartel Land’
This documentary presents a complex and layered examination how and why the drug cartels may not merely be a violently dangerous threats to the citizens — “Cartel Land” makes a solid case that the cartels are nearly impossible to stomp out. Virtually nothing about this documentary is simple, except that “the cartels are brutal.”
“Cartel Land” is the rare thriller of a documentary that is an eye-opening examination of a horrific real-life threat as much as it is a compelling thriller that keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats. While the citizen vigilantes fight the good fight – enjoying some victories and enduring some setbacks – an ever-present threat always looms over their heads. At any point, the main subjects – who lead their respective militias – could find shot or killed.
This is a riveting look at an impossible situation that sets everyday townspeople against corrupt government officials, skeptical/suspicious towns people and brutal drug cartels.
(watch the trailer)
#5: ‘The Martian’
“The Martian” is much more ambitious than the usual “stranded survivor” story. No single word adequately describe what may be the best popcorn flick of 2015 – a smart, funny, harrowing, intense, exciting and joyous movie that is flat-out entertaining.
Matt Damon is absolutely the centerpiece of this sprawling ensemble cast effort. For his part of what is essentially a “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” story, Damon is a one-man show.
Director Ridley Scott masterfully controls a massive cast in a story set across the solar system to tells a story that is as thrilling as it is funny and at times touching. Leading man Damon anchors this roller-coaster of a thrilling survival drama which will be one of the most fun, all-around entertaining movies of the year.
(watch the trailer)
#4: ‘Brooklyn’
Why “Brooklyn” works is quite simple: this is a focused, moving, effective and beautiful story of cultural identity. Unlike most other immigration-based movies, “Brooklyn” is so confident in its themes that it doesn’t resort to cloying or obvious melodrama. This is simply an elegantly-told story of culture shock — a universal theme that every immigrant experiences as leave home for a new homeland.
“Brooklyn” is first and foremost a personal journey. Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) reluctantly makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave the only home she has ever known to live alone in a new land. She logically knows she has no real future in Ireland, but her heart yearns for her beloved sister and mother. She is not beset by prejudice or threats of deportation — Eilis is simply alone, which only makes her solitary journey effective and heartbreaking. Her internal conflict and search for a new identity are fundamental story archetypes – and they keep “Brooklyn” dramatically compelling.
“Brooklyn” is beautiful filmmaking – a throwback to the classy and elegant period films that once ruled Award Season. This is an unstated film that tells an emotionally powerful story
(watch the trailer)
#3: ‘Son of Saul’
This is a Holocaust film unlike any you’ve ever seen. This is an emotionally intense and draining exploration into the inner working of a death camp.
“Son of Saul” forces a personal connection to Saul. While there are narrative plots going on around him, he has a simple mission – find a rabbi to bury a young boy.
He is not plotting some intricate revenge scheme or trying to come up with a way to escape the camp. Saul is solely focused on doing something good – something right – amid the horrors of an absolutely hopeless situation. This is a story of a man’s fight to cling to his own humanity in a place where humanity must be discarded to survive.
(watch the trailer)
#2: ‘Sicario’
What “Apocalypse Now” was to the Vietnam War, “Sicario” is to the morally ambiguous and ever escalating war against the drug cartels.
“Sicario” is a deliberately paced and relentlessly taut descent into the murky war against the drug cartels. FBI agent Kate Kate Macer (played with brilliant steeliness by Emily Blunt) is the audience’s POV as much as she represents an ideal that many of us want to share. Although Macer’s character is familiar with the brutality of the Mexican drug cartel, she remains an idealistic FBI agents who believes in gathering evidence and building prosecutable cases against suspects. But when she joins the enigmatic task force, Macer steps into a ruthless and ends-justify-the-means world that does not play by the rules she so firmly believes in.
“Sicario” is one of the more thematically and morally complex films of 2015 — and this haunting and brilliant film is perhaps the strongest pure crime drama of the year.
(watch the trailer)
The best film of 2015: ‘Ex Machina’
“Ex Machina” is a lean yet richly dense work of science fiction. As a drama, this is a focused, tension-filled dynamic between an everyman, a creator and a new form of awareness. As a piece of sci-fi, it examines the inevitability of artificial intelligence, blurred definitions of true consciousness and where the limits exist between the rights of the creators and the rights of the created.
This science fiction masterpiece is an absolute must-see film of 2015. Its concept is exhilarating and often poses points-of-view that challenge the characters and commonly held ideas of how we define consciousness. The trio of main actors wonderfully bounce off each other, creating an increasingly tense atmosphere that drives the movie forward.
(watch the trailer)
