Our Movie Critic Counts Down his 15 Favorite Movies of 2015

By: Jan. 04, 2016
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Now that 2015 is squarely in the rearview mirror, and everyone is back to work after the holidays, it is time to take a look at some of the best films of the past year. As was the case with my Top 15 TV Shows of 2015 list, this is not intended to be a comprehensive list. I am one man, and I have not yet seen every major movie released last year. However, as I continue to work through screeners and upcoming screenings (I live in Orlando, so not all of the awards-bait has been released here yet), I will count down the top 2015 releases that I saw during the calendar year. Notable omissions are BRIDGE OF SPIES, THE REVENANT, THE DANISH GIRL, and CONCUSSION, all of which I hope to see by the end of the week.

As Awards Season approaches, BroadwayWorld will have extensive coverage, so stay tuned.

While everything on this list might not be Oscar-worthy, they are each enjoyable in their own right. The list also represents a fairly wide swatch of movies, so whether you like musicals, foul-mouthed comedies, superhero fare, action adventures, or prestige films, chances are pretty good that there's something included that will speak to you.

Also, don't forget to let me know what your favorite films of the year are on Twitter @BWWMatt.

No. 15 JOY

This one only makes the list on the sheer strength and likeability of star Jennifer Lawrence. While her previous collaborations with writer/director David O. Russell have been incredibly strong (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, AMERICAN HUSTLE), JOY is a bit of a jumbled, unfocused mess. All of the pieces for a great movie are there, a strong heroine who is able to overcome bad break after bad break on the back of her ingenuity and perseverance. However, the opening act was muddled and disjointed, and the conclusion was confusing and anticlimactic. Fortunately the middle third, which features Lawrence going head-to-head with regular co-star Bradley Cooper, is so tight and exciting that it nearly makes up for the rest of the shortcomings.

The film also gets bonus points for featuring ABC soap opera legends Susan Lucci, Laura Wright, Maurice Benard, and Donna Mills.

No. 14 THE LAST FIVE YEARS

This is an obvious one for me. While it didn't have the marketing budget of Disney's INTO THE WOODS or PITCH PERFECT 2, this is my favorite Anna Kendrick musical of the past 13 months. Even though Jason Robert Brown's two-person musical does not seem like an ideal candidate for a film adaptation, Richard LaGravenese's script allowed the songs, which are more abstract monologues on stage, to become fully realized scenes.

It also doesn't hurt that opposite Kendrick is one of Broadway's most charismatic leading men Jeremy Jordan. Both stars proved that they have the singing and acting chops to lead a musical on either stage or screen.

No. 13 CREED

Between FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, CHRONICLE, and FRUITVALE STATION, not to mention his early work as Reggie Montgomery on ALL MY CHILDREN, Michael B. Jordan is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's most versatile young stars. While there were probably very few people clamoring for another ROCKY movie, writer/director Ryan Coogler teamed back up with his FRUITVALE star to breathe new life into one of the most venerable sports film franchises in history.

After the silliness of Clubber Lang, Tommy "The Machine" Gunn, and Mason "The Line" Dixon, it is easy to forget that the original film won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. While I don't think that CREED is at that level, especially since it relies so heavily on the format of Sylvester Stallone's original screenplay, it is full of the heart, dedication, and moxy that all good underdog stories require. It also helps that Jordan delivers a knockout performance... get it?

No. 12 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

I am by no means a STAR WARS nerd. In fact, even though I saw Episodes I, II, and III at midnight on Opening Night, I fell asleep during all three. That being typed, I've seen all six movies, and I knew enough about the characters to find this film to be thoroughly entertaining, as has nearly every other human in the world based on the box office receipts.

While I will leave the "Mary Sue" debates to people who know the franchise far better than I do, for me, Daisy Ridley's Rey is one of the most exciting characters of the year. She was smart, strong, resourceful, and valued for these qualities, not her physical appearance or relationship to a man (although there are plenty of theories about what character(s) she might be related to).

For me THE FORCE AWAKENS is nothing more than popcorn fun, but for many, J. J. Abrams has done the unimaginable and met nearly all of the expectations of a notoriously ravenous fan base.

No. 11 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

You will find this film at the top of a number of many critics' Top 10 lists. While I understand their excitement for this brash, socially conscious reboot of the campy Mel Gibson franchise, the environmental and feminist undertones would have worked far better had the characters been more sympathetic. Yes, the various tasks that Furiosa, The Five Wives, and Max take on are exciting, but because they were all stock, two-dimensional characters, I never got as invested in them as I would have liked.

With all that in mind, I greatly admire what George Miller did to reinvigorate the franchise that first brought him to prominence. The film's stark landscapes are some of the most striking you will see all year.

No. 10 INSIDE OUT


Definitely not your typical Pixar movie, but like other films from the company, INSIDE OUT is both enjoyable and touching. However, what separates this movie from others is that it seeks to, and mostly succeeds in, giving voice to one of the most difficult parts of growing up.

While TOY STORY 3 might have brought tears, and BRAVE might have inspired girls in a way that previous films hadn't, what is remarkable about INSIDE OUT is that it provides the basis for young people to understand the turbulent, and sometimes volatile, emotions that they will undoubtedly experience as they get older. While it can certainly be a nice, shiny, brightly colored Psych 101 lesson for many, the fact that it could give a young person going through more extreme emotional tumult the vocabulary to communicate what is going on inside of him or herself is breathtaking, and potentially life-saving, as hyperbolic as that might sound.

While Amy Poehler and the rest of the voice cast, along with director Pete Docter and all of the animators, deserve credit for creating a beautiful film worthy of the Pixar tradition, for me the greatest success of INSIDE OUT will be in the young people more willing and capable of discussing their emotions in years to come.

Video Credit: Disney-Pixar

No. 9 THE MARTIAN

Based on Andy Weir's book of the same name, Matt Damon's astronaut Mark Watney is left on Mars after being lost during an emergency evacuation prompted by a massive sandstorm on the Red Planet. After shrapnel pierces his vital signs monitor, the rest of his crew believes him to be dead, Commander Lewis, played by Jessica Chastain, reluctantly orders the launch home.

After coming to, Watney realizes that he is all alone on the barren, unforgiving planet, and that he must fend for himself in a vast wasteland. While his crew's Martian habitat, or "hab," and various other pieces of equipment were left behind, Watney calculates that he only has enough food to make it through about a quarter of the time until NASA's next manned-flight to the planet lands. With few options, and Mission Control still unaware that he is alive, Watney decides that to survive, he is "going to have to science the $h!t out of this," and science the $h!t out of it he does.

In his best film since 2000's GLADIATOR, legendary director Ridley Scott allows the inherently dramatic situation to stand on its own, ultimately creating a more sympathetic protagonist and a more fraught and moving journey; even if it's twists and turns are fairly transparent from the get-go.

Damon's performance in the film is strong, hitting all of the proper notes, but again, that's not what this movie is about. THE MARTIAN's drama comes from the odyssey that one man takes to find his way home; this is an interplanetary Homeric epic. Check out my full review for THE MARTIAN here.

Video Credit: 20th Century Fox

No. 8 TRAIN WRECK


On my Top 15 TV Shows of 2015 list, I struggled with whether or not to include the brilliant and funny INSIDE AMY SCHUMER. One of the only things that made that decision easier was that I knew that I would be including Schumer's feature film breakout TRAIN WRECK in this list. Not only did the comedienne star in the summer comedy, but she wrote it as well, turning in one of the funniest films in recent memory.

Schumer plays a men's magazine writer who enjoys her freedom and resists committing to a relationship until she interviews sports surgeon Aaron, played by Bill Hader. While Hader is funny in practically everything that he does, it was cool to see him in a comedy where he played the straight man. Schumer is her typical raunchy, self-deprecating self in the movie, but with the chance to play a longer narrative than in her usual sketches, she proves that she has the ability to be much more than just funny.

Also turning in outstanding supporting turns were NBA icon LeBron James and WWE superstar John Cena. Both gave surprisingly believable and side-splitting performances worthy of their hilarious scene-partners. They also both deserve a lot of respect for being willing to be the butt of a lot of jokes, especially James, who played himself.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the nearly unrecognizable Tilda Swinton. If there was ever any doubts that this woman is a professional chameleon, this role put them to rest.

Video Credit: Universal Pictures

No. 7 ANT-MAN

In most Marvel movies, especially those of the Avenger variety, massive amounts of destruction rains down on major cities across the globe; New York, Greenwich, and the fictional capital of Sokovia to name a few. What was so unique and exciting to watch about ANT-MAN is that the majority of the battles happened on a teeny-tiny scale.

The final battle takes place in a child's playroom, so rather than blowing up skyscrapers, Ant-Man and Yellowjacket fight on a trainset and use Thomas the Tank Engine as a weapon. If that doesn't entertain you, then I don't know what you want out of life.

Before the movie was released, many people believed that ANT-MAN was a ridiculous concept for a superhero movie, and in all honesty, it kind of is; a hero whose power is to shrink so that he has the strength of an ant? Ridiculous, right? Well, in the hands of Paul Rudd, that ridiculous concept proved to be one of the most refreshing films of the genre since the original IRON MAN.

Rudd's Scott Lang (a.k.a. Ant-Man) is funny, flawed, noble, and he leans into the absurdity that is his new life. Flanked by a healthy Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly (whom I will never not want to call "Freckles") the movie doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a major feat for comic book fare.

While Marvel's films are much more bright and funny than DC's, ANT-MAN stands out because it knows what it is; the runt of the larger Marvel litter, a fact that the film uses to its utmost advantage.

Video Credit: Marvel Entertainment

No. 6 THE NIGHT BEFORE


Move over CHRISTMAS VACATION, step aside HOME ALONE, we just might have a new Christmas comedy classic in our midst. THE NIGHT BEFORE, directed by Jonathan Levine, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie is side-splittingly funny, and has just enough sentimentality to warm your heart during the holidays.

Since his parents died on Christmas Eve when he was in college, Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) and his best friends Isaac (Rogen) and Chris (Mackie) have spent every Christmas Eve together for 14 years. However, now that Isaac is about to become a father, and Chris is an NFL superstar, the tradition is coming to an end. So, the trio sets out to find the Holy Grail of Christmas parties, the illusive Nutcracker Ball, one last time.

Between the night's ups and downs, the lessons gleaned from the well-timed cameos, and the hallucinations brought on by the copious amounts of drugs, everyone is able to figure out what it is that means the most to them; almost as if they had their own Christmas Ghosts watching out for them all along.

Is THE NIGHT BEFORE going to knock IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or THE MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET off of their perches as the most beloved holiday films of all time? Absolutely not, but it might just be the new go-to film for moms and dads to turn on after the children are nestled all snug in their beds. Check out my full review of THE NIGHT BEFORE here.

No. 5 EX MACHINA

Have you ever seen a seemingly straight forward sci-fi film and left completely and utterly shaken? That is the jarring effect of EX MACHINA.

The concept is fairly simple, a tech genius billionaire, played by Oscar Isaac, invites an employee (Domhnall Gleeson) to his secluded compound to help perform an unbiased Turing Test on his latest Artificial Intelligence experiment "Ava" (played by Alicia Vikander). As Gleeson's Caleb and Ava begin to interact so that he can determine if "she" passes the test, he begins to suspect that something sinister is at play. Isaac's Nathan has shrouded the entire exercise in mystery, and as Caleb learns more, he realizes that nothing is as it seems.

The film has the foreboding feel of British anthology series BLACK MIRROR, which plays like a 21st Century TWILIGHT ZONE. Coincidentally, Gleeson and Isaac have both starred in separate episodes of the series.

The three stars, along with Sonoya Mizuno, engage in a thrilling cat and mouse, without ever exposing who is the hunter and whom is the hunted. Isaac, Gleeson, and Vikander are all poised for breakout stardom, and the incredibly nuanced performances they gave in EX MACHINA prove that it is all thoroughly deserved.

Director and screenwriter Alex Garland, who wrote the screenplay for the best zombie film of all-time, Danny Boyle's 28 DAYS LATER, has constructed a film with so many layers, that even after multiple viewings, there is more to discover.

Video Credit: A24

No. 4 STEVE JOBS


You can take the writer out of the theatre, but you can't take the theatre out of the writer. For the past 20 years, Aaron Sorkin has been one of Hollywood's most successful scribes. With his latest film, STEVE JOBS, Sorkin proves that he still knows how to write an incredibly powerful three-act stage play, even if it just so happens to appear on the big screen.

Unlike 2013's JOBS, starring Ashton Kutcher, which takes a more holistic look at the Apple co-founder, Sorkin has structured his film around three seminal events in Jobs' personal and professional lives; the product launches of three different computers, the original Mac in 1984, his follow-up company NeXT's signature machine in 1988, and the iMac in 1998. While many of the figures integral to Jobs' life are present at these events in the film, nearly all of their interactions are either heavily modified, or out-and-out fiction. Sorkin uses the launches as opportunities to inspect how Jobs, and his relationships, change throughout the years. In the film, these high-pressure events often lead to full-voiced arguments that didn't actually happen as scripted in real-life.

While Fassbender doesn't physically resemble Jobs all that much, he possesses all of the maniacal drive and stubbornness that the real-life genius was known for. As now has become the thing of legend, Jobs was a notoriously controlling man who refused to compromise on his vision, often alienating even the people closest to him.

In the film, Sorkin and director Danny Boyle, draw a direct line between his personal need for control and his insistence that Mac products have complete end to end control, resulting in only two ports. While arguing over their first computer's design, Woz, played by Seth Rogen, says, "Computers aren't supposed to have human flaws; I'm not going to build one with yours." Check out my full review of STEVE JOBS here.

Video Credit: Universal Pictures

No. 3 SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT is one of those special films that is completely mesmerizing, but features no standout performances. Don't get me wrong, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schriber, et. al are each fantastic, but the standout in SPOTLIGHT is the incredibly taught screenplay by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy (who also directed). The excellent cast doesn't play over-the-top caricatures designed to elicit cheap emotions, instead they each authentically serve the story being told.

The subject matter, the investigation that brought to light the systematic sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in Boston, is harrowing and chilling, and serves as a reminder that even the most venerable institutions are vulnerable to abuse, corruption, and cover-up. However, what SPOTLIGHT does more than anything else is celebrate the noble and necessary profession of investigative journalism.

From theory to research to investigation to corroboration to follow-through, the real-life members of the Spotlight team are true heroes, and their story is now a heartbreaking, breathtaking testament to their dedication. In an age of dwindling resources for print media, and the increasing need for instant information, SPOTLIGHT is a reminder that often the most important stories can't be told in 140 characters.

Video Credit: Open Road Films

No. 2 THE BIG SHORT


THE BIG SHORT pulls off the seemingly impossible task of taking an incredibly complicated, mind-numbingly boring topic, the tedious machinations that led to the 2008 financial collapse, and made it entertaining.

Granted, I still couldn't explain the specific details of the collapse to you now, but by focusing on the underdog, colorful characters that saw the crisis coming, it allows us to root for someone along the way, even if we don't exactly know why. To be fair, even though this group of outsiders saw the massive catastrophe coming, for the most part, they used that knowledge for their own financial gain, rather than the greater good; a real-life fact that becomes the film's one major flaw.

The cast is a who's who of Hollywood heavyweights and up-and-coming stars; Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt are above the title, but the ensemble also includes major talents including Hamish Linklater, Finn Wittrock, Marisa Tomei, Tracy Letts, Karen Gillan, Max Greenfield, Billy Magnussen, Melissa Leo, and more.

Not to mention Margot Robbie, Selena Gomez, and Anthony Bourdain, who each appear in helpful, meta segments to make sure that the audience is keeping up with all of the complicated information.

While nearly everyone in the world felt the fallout from the housing bubble burst, this film, based on the Michael Lewis (MONEYBALL, THE BLINDSIDE) book of the same name, makes it just understandable enough to make you angry all over again. Director Adam McKay, known primarily for his comedic partnership with Will Ferrell, does a tremendous job of keeping the story moving, while constantly disguising mountains of technical exposition as intriguing, entertaining dialogue.

THE BIG SHORT is the funniest, most terrifying civics lesson you will have all year.

Video Credit: Paramount Pictures

No. 1 THE HATEFUL EIGHT


While the settings, styles, and time periods of Quentin Tarantino's movies have changed throughout the years, there are three things that have remained consistent; ensembles of gleefully disturbed characters; depraved, but gorgeously bloody violence; and lots and lots of profanity. While the theatre is no stranger to violence nor profanity, it is his legendary ability to create compelling, but bizarre characters that has led me to say in print and on podcasts that if the 52-year-old writer and director had been born a few decades earlier, Tarantino could have been one of America's greatest playwrights, alongside Williams, O'Neill, Miller, and Mamet.

With his newest film, THE HATEFUL EIGHT, Tarantino again shows why there are few auteurs as proficient at creating movies that are as cinematically pleasing as they are artistically. With an obsessive attention to detail, the film is beautiful from start to finish, even when the blindingly bright snow gives way to blood red stains.

The film tells the story of bounty hunter John Ruth (1, Kurt Russell) as he transports the wanted murderer Daisy Domergue (2, Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Red Rock to be hanged. Along the way, he comes across two strangers stranded in the desolate Wyoming wilderness as the weather gets increasingly worse. The first is Major Marquis Warren (3, Samuel L. Jackson), a former Union officer turned bounty hunter, and the second is Chris Mannix (4, Walton Goggins), the son of an infamous Confederate rebel, now claiming to be the new sheriff of Red Rock.

As the motley, untrusting crew finally makes it to Minnie's Haberdashery, where they plan to wait out the blizzard, Minnie is nowhere to be found. In her place is a stagecoach full of men also waiting for the storm to pass. Amongst them are Oswaldo Mobray (5, Tim Roth) a British hangman on his way to Red Rock, a cowboy named Joe Gage (6, Michael Madsen), former Confederate general Sanford Smithers (7, Bruce Dern), and Bob (8, Demián Bichir), Minnie's Mexican caretaker.

While the cast is great, the star is undoubtedly Tarantino and his screenplay, however, he does indulge a bit too much in oddly long establishing shots of characters riding across the blindingly white horizon or panning across a snow covered crucifix. In his previous film, DJANGO UNCHAINED, a bit of controversy swirled about the number of times the N-word was used, and while I did not count, that particular epithet seemed to flow just as freely in THE HATEFUL EIGHT.

There are two versions of the film currently playing in theaters, the first is a 70mm version, which runs over three hour running time, including an overture and intermission, and the second is a slightly shorter digital version. If you have the chance, see the 70 mm version. This violent character study is quintessential Tarantino, making it a perfect gift for movie fans who like their films with as much violence as character development. Check out my full review of THE HATEFUL EIGHT here.

Video Credit: The Weinstein Company

What do you think of my favorite films of the year? Were any of your favorites left off my list? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. If you want to follow along with my "366 in 366" articles, you can check out #BWW366in366 on Twitter. Also, make sure to follow @BWWTVWorld on Twitter for all of the biggest news from the world of TV and movies.


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