Every year when I go to assemble this year end list I tell
myself not to lament the current state of film (because I really did enjoy
myself at the cinema this year) but 2015 was an especially pitiful year with
disturbing, reprocessing trends which should not be ignored. Major studios
laughed all the way to the bank this year submitting stale rehashes of past
hits (Jurassic World, Star Wars, The Hateful Eight, any Marvel humiliation) for audience consumption
and even some critical darlings (TheMartian, Creed) were just
reinvigorated revisitations of tested and by the numbers stories. Further,
monotonous indistinguishable “indies” continued to muddle to market along with
an incalculable number of straight to stream projects.
With that being said, the year offered much to appreciate. Mad Max seemingly took everyone by storm
early on and it magically perpetuates as an awards favorite. Sicario was a pulse pounding thriller of
a different ilk as was Phoenix, a post WWII thriller done in a
much more somber key. Spotlight a
powerful newspaper movie with incredible casting. Brooklyn is an old-fashioned romance
with a lovable lead performance. Love
and Mercy, also a romance plus a dual picture of creation and horror. What We Do in the Shadows was a
hilarious vampire mockumentary and Room showed earned uplift in the face of despair. Irrational Man didn’t get a lot a love but was a well-crafted work
from an old hand and It Follows
showed that horror movies are still capable of being scary, even when they are
incredibly stupid. Aside from these “best” pictures, I should mention I had a
lot a fun with other action oriented pictures including Kingsman, Blackhat, Chappie, Black Sea, and The Walk, the
hindmost which is by no means even a decent picture but one with an extraordinary finale I would equate it to waiting in line
for an hour on a hot summer day to ride the Millennium Force at Cedar Point.
Well that about sums it up. Writing this there are still several movies I haven’t
seen, with The Revenant, Carol, Joy, and The Danish Girl
figuring most prominently and I will update as I see them when appropriate.
Here is a gathering of my 2015 favorites in pictures:
Supporting Actress
(tie)
Joan Allen, Room
Jane Fonda, Youth
Rachel McAdams,
Spotlight
Supporting Actor
(tie)
John Cusack, Love
and Mercy
Jeff Daniels, Steve Jobs
Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation
Michael Keaton,
Spotlight
Best Actor
Michael Fassbender,
Steve Jobs and MacBeth
Best Actress
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best
Director
George
Miller, Mad Max
Best Movies, Alphabetically
Brooklyn
Irrational Man
It Follows
Love and Mercy
Mad Max
Phoenix
Room
Sicario
Spotlight
What We Do in the Shadows
