My Top 10 Movies of 2015

[Udaman]

Now that we are past half way of the awards season....here is my personal Top 10 of movies in 2015.

Well, I say that...but first let me give honorable mention. These were movies that I liked, enjoyed, would watch again on cable, etc. Perfectly fine, just not top 10

Mad Max, Star Wars Force Awakens, Bridge of Spies, The Wedding Ringer, Inside Out, Trainwreck, Furious 7, Spy, Ant-Man, Hunger Games, Avengers (gets better with more viewings, oddly), Hateful8, Kingsman and MI 4 (note that these last two would be 11 and 12 on my list. Also, Kingsman had, at least to me, by far the greatest scene of any movie this year - with the fight scene inside the Alabama church. Just an incredible 2 minute sequence).

Any my list of disappointments: Jurassic World (so many logical gaps, and the high heels throughout absolutely ruined the movie for me...though Chris Pratt is a star and should be the next Indiana Jones), Spectre (just really didn't like this movie), Jupiter Ascending, The Intern, Pixels, The Terminator, and....by far the worst for me...Minions. Man was that movie terrible.

OK....top 10 descending

10. The Walk. If only for the visuals. Brought back the Towers in an incredible way.
9. The Martian. Not as good as the book, but still really good and engaging.
8. Straight Outta Compton.
7. The Revenant. A little too much grunting...but worth it just for the bear scene.
6. Room.
5. Ex Machina. Loved and hated the ending....because the real message was that in order to truly be human, you need to think only of yourself.
4. It Follows. Great low budget horror movie.
3. The Big Short
2. Love and Mercy. First movie since Amadeus that really showed the genius behind a musical icon.
1. Spotlight. Powerful acting and a powerful story.

[JasonEvans]

Fun exercise. For the record, I saw 64 films in 2015, at least according to the list of every film released last year (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2015) on Boxoffice Mojo's website.

My top 12 (because I wanted to list more than 10):

1. Room
2. Spotlight
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Ex Machina
5. Inside Out
6. The Martian
7. Force Awakens
8. Hateful Eight
9. Brooklyn
10. Steve Jobs
11. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
12. The Walk

Though high quality films, both Carol and The Revenant just didn't do it for me. I was also somewhat disappointed in The Big Short, though I appreciated the effort and quality of the acting.

-Jason "side note-- it comes out in a week or two, but I urge everyone to check out a film called Remember with Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau... really fun story of 80+ year old Holocaust survivors trying to take revenge on Nazi's" Evans

[Doria]

I am behind in my movie going, but off the top of my head (for enjoyment--I'm not saying they were the objective "best" movies, though I think they are good):

1. Creed
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. It Follows (big horror movie fan)
4. The Martian
5. Star Wars: Force Awakens
6. The Babaduke (I think it was this year? Also, I had to misspell it to get it past our filters, lol)
7. Mission Impossible 4 (?!! Maybe 5?!!!)

Spectre wasn't as bad as the reviews, but it wasn't too great, either. A Most Violent Year was pretty good, but I'm not sure it was released this year--I saw it in January--but I liked it better than the totally different Ex Machina.

Lots of disappointing sequels and also, for me, horror movies: Avengers, Hunger Games, Jurassic World, Spectre, Terminator:GeneSys, Minions, Crimson Peak, Paranormal Activity.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some I saw earlier in the year. Haven't yet seen Spotlight, The Big Short, Revenant, Straight Outta Compton, but plan to see these.

[gurufrisbee]

With two little girls, we don't get out to the theater all that much and we have never found the interest in getting cable or netflix, but we do tend to Red Box a lot (although half of it is really bad kids movies). I really appreciated the link Jason put there - it was kind of fun to look and see what was from this past year. I think we've only seen 30 movies, and obviously that means for the most part missing anything that isn't out on DVD yet. With that in mind, here is my top ten right now:

Actually before I get to my top ten I have to say two other things:

A) There should be a special place in a really hot, horrible, disgusting eternity for San Andreas, the Boy Next Door, and Trainwreck (despite Lebron actually being pretty good in there.

B) Even though it came out in late 2014, I have to make a point here for RUDDERLESS, which no one saw but would easily be #1 on my list if it qualified. It's fantastic.

Okay, my top ten:

10 - tie) Jurassic World/Pitch Perfect 2 (which both were just re-doing the originals but the originals were good so it was fun to see them again but updated)
9) Paper Towns
8) Cinderella
7) Tomorrow Land
6) Black or White
5) Shaun the Sheep
4) The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
3) The Martian
2) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
1) Inside Out

(the only one that I've seen that is going to be featured much for awards is Mad Max, which was decent but very overrated and not really my kind of movie).

[bedeviled]

I saw 64 films in 2015, ...[SNIP]...My top 12 (because I wanted to list more than 10):
1. Room
2. Spotlight
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
I'm somewhere north of 50 movies, but I didn't see Room or Spotlight because their content. So, dropping down to the next in line, I whole-heartedly agree with you. I think Mad Max was on a different level than other movies. It was well beyond simple storytelling. While the viewer was being driven along by the action, Miller was able to pull him/her into a world unlike typical sci-fi or zombie dystopia. I thought it was remarkable that the world continued to develop throughout the film, without heavy-handed explanations or "setting the story" that usually accompany such feats. And, as bizarre as the characters were, they seemed 1. true as individual beings and 2. in place in the created world.

I heard an interview with Miller yesterday on NPR (http://www.npr.org/2016/02/08/465989808/mad-max-director-george-miller-the-audience-tells-you-what-your-film-is). He talked about how he sees movies as exploring myth, à la Joseph Campbell, and characters as living out eternal themes through specific circumstances. In addition to the storytelling, the imagination, attention to detail and how it fits into the whole, and organization necessary to pull off that movie were phenomenal.

My Top Movie of 2015 was Mad Max.
But, my Favorite Movie of 2015 was About Elly. I don't know why and I don't know how. Therefore, I wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone. Heck, you even have to translate it as you watch because the English subtitles are atrocious. Nonetheless, just looking at the cover pic still makes me feel like this film is...IDK, the word that comes to mind is "fundamental." It's elemental and also good storytelling (eh, to me, anyway. I have no idea if others would like it).
http://www.charlottecultureguide.com/sites/charlottecultureguide.com/images/event/441927564/about_elly.jpg



B) Even though it came out in late 2014, I have to make a point here for RUDDERLESS, which no one saw but would easily be #1 on my list if it qualified
I saw it! Apparently, music is able to give me 'the feels' more than standard films; My Favorite 'Feels' Movies of 2015 were Love & Mercy (Beach Boys) and Straight Outta Compton (NWA).

Well, gurufrisbee, we disagree on Mad Max. And, we disagree on Shaun the Sheep. Maybe I was just in a bad mood...or maybe it's because I have no business watching movies for 5 year-olds (Oh, my Most Disappointing Movie of 2015 might be The SpongeBob Movie).

Nonetheless, you may consider watching The Prophet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640718/) (voiced by Salma Hayek, Liam Neeson, Quvenzhané Wallis) and The Little Prince (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754656/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4) (technically a 2016 film) (voiced by Jeff Bridges, Paul Rudd, Marion Cotillard, Benicio Del Toro, Rachel McAdams). Neither has the fancy animation to which we've become accustomed. And, maybe they'd be a bit slow to capture a child's attention. IDK. They are both classics, though, and I enjoyed each movie. Perhaps your girls would, too.

[bedeviled]

Eek! Thinking about my last post, I regret my suggestion to add The Prophet and The Little Prince to the animated movies queue. Each of them has a theme of loss via the death of a beloved character. In fairy tales, it's usually the wicked person who dies, so maybe these movies aren't so appropriate for little kiddies (at least I didn't recommend Anomalisa!). Bambi is probably enough trauma for childhood.

Back to the thread topic: My Top Embarrassingly Unintentionally Funny Film of 2015: Chi-Raq.
It's a film about street life with less street cred than Wolf of Wall Street. I appreciate the creativity and bold intention, but the execution and result were embarrassing. Some of the rhyme scheme, dialogue, and acting are so juvenile it made me think that, instead of packin' .22's, they were packin' Dr. Seuss.
I don't think the intention was to have the viewer laugh at the film. I, however, kept wishing that they had gone full Aristophanes and had males play ALL the characters. That thought had me giggling over and over.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

My Top Movie of 2015 was Mad Max.
But, my Favorite Movie of 2015 was About Elly. I don't know why and I don't know how. Therefore, I wouldn't actually recommend it to anyone. Heck, you even have to translate it as you watch because the English subtitles are atrocious. Nonetheless, just looking at the cover pic still makes me feel like this film is...IDK, the word that comes to mind is "fundamental." It's elemental and also good storytelling (eh, to me, anyway. I have no idea if others would like it).
http://www.charlottecultureguide.com/sites/charlottecultureguide.com/images/event/441927564/about_elly.jpg


I guess this was released in some US theaters this year? About Elly, I mean. Strange...I sought this out on iTunes a couple months ago because I loved the two movies that Asghar Farhadi made afterwards, A Separation and The Past. About Elly was released in Iran in 2009. I highly recommend his later movies, if you haven't seen them. A Separation, in particular, is probably my favorite movie of the decade. It's currently an 8.4 rating on IMDB and #105 on their top 250.

[bedeviled]

I guess this was released in some US theaters this year? About Elly, I mean. Strange...It is quite Americanocentric that our film industry categorizes films based on their US opening (and I hope the diversification of the Academy includes a more global presence). I'm glad Elly made Top of 2015 lists, though, or else I wouldn't have known to check it out! Yes, I saw A Separation the year it won the Oscar, and I'll take your advice to check out The Past, thanks.