A few years back I started an annual tradition where I would choose my top ten movies of the year. I am not going to be as detailed in this entry as in years past but I will provide a few thoughts. These rankings reflect what each of these films meant to me, whereas my Oscar picks try to evaluate these movies on merit and their importance to a broader film context.
10 
"Bridge of Spies" is classic Spielberg. It looks great, feels historically accurate, yet is polished just enough to appreciate his greatness as a director. This will be ranked as one of his second-rate movies, which is a testament to his prowess. Per usual, Tom Hanks also delivers a strong performance. The third element of this film, and perhaps the most compelling, is Spielberg's portrayal of Postwar Germany. As an American born at the very end of the Cold War, the effects of the East Germany and West Germany divide is a topic that is little known or talked about among my peers. Without spoiling the scene, one of my favorite moments from this film involves Hanks' character riding a train looking at the Berlin Wall. It resonates.
10 (tie)
"Room" is an emotionally exhausting film. Brie Larson and newcomer Jacob Tremblay take a film, which could have been just as a powerful as TV movie, to the next level. Like Paul Newman in "Coolhand Luke" or Steve Carell in "Dan in the Real Life", Larson is provided the opportunity to sing in character, which lands a poignant punch to this film. In many ways, "Room" is two movies and I left the theater wanting to know more about these characters. While this movie focuses on two captives locked in a shed, it's a great allegory for growing up and developing the paradigms through which we see the world.
9
I am as big of fan of Rocky Balboa as the next guy. "Creed" is the best entry into this series since the original. My personal favorites from this film: Tessa Thompson and the first fight scene in the Mexican club. The camera work here is as skillful as a choreographed dance--kudos to director Ryan Coogler. Many of the Rocky films reflect the broader sociopolitical context in which they were made (check out one of the worst and funniest examples here). "Creed" is for this generation. When you think about the original "Rocky" beating "Taxi Driver" or "All the President's Men", it makes sense. "Rocky" captured the can-do, working class, white narrative which Americans love(d) to believe. A better film like "Taxi Driver" reverberated a fracturing sense of the American identity prevalent in seventies America. This year, the roles are reversed. "Creed" is the daring movie representative of the moral and racial anxiety felt in the United States today. This movie should be nominated for Best Picture; Michael B. Jordan should be nominated for Best Actor; and Ryan Coogler should be nominated for Best Director. Check out my 2014 blog entry here and you'll find my criticism of Hollywood and the Academy. Unlike some people who hate being right, I love it. Unfortunately, the black collaborators of "Creed" are not recognized for their brilliance.
8
“Trumbo" is a force. After watching "Breaking Bad" and this movie, I am convinced there's nothing Bryan Cranston can't do in front of a camera. How did this guy go unrecognized for so long? I have known since high school that Dalton Trumbo was blackballed for being a communist sympathizer, but I never knew to what extent that situation unfolded. As a fan of classic cinema, this movie made me re-evaluate many of the stars and films from the 1950s. Of course I usually try to take into account the broader context in which art is made, but "Trumbo" provided a greater understanding of that history. Going full circle here, how did 2015 shape "Trumbo"? "Trumbo" portrays the lunacy all too common in Cold War and Post 9-11 America. We shouldn't see the world as good versus evil, and then sacrifice our liberties in the face of real and perceived threats.
7
"The Revenant", starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, was fantastic. This movie is stunningly beautiful and thoroughly intense. Although DiCaprio doesn't speak much in this film, his determination for revenge bleeds into every scene. Native American criticisms of this movie are valid and deserve a deeper analysis than the one I provided in this entry; however, if you want to read a good perspective check out this piece here by Gyasi Ross, Editor at Large Blackfeet Nation/Suquamish Territories. Ross writes forcefully about aspects of "The Revenant" that I enjoyed most while also raising fair complaints. I'll provide you one of my favorite passages from his review:
The movie also portrays Native people in a fairly historically accurate light. Native people were brutal during this time period because we had to be brutal. White Americans were brutal. French people were brutal. Native people could not be exempt from that world and were trying to hold on for dear life; guns, germs and steel threatened our very existence. If the movie hadn’t shown Native people with a willingness to participate in the brutality of the time period it would have been inaccurate and dangerous as it would have stripped our ancestors of the dignity of protecting our people at all costs. The white men were terrified of “The Ree” (the Arikara people) and probably with good reason; from historical accounts and also from the movie, the Ree could get down with the best of them and were fierce warriors defending their people.
The movie also portrays Native people in a fairly historically accurate light. Native people were brutal during this time period because we had to be brutal. White Americans were brutal. French people were brutal. Native people could not be exempt from that world and were trying to hold on for dear life; guns, germs and steel threatened our very existence. If the movie hadn’t shown Native people with a willingness to participate in the brutality of the time period it would have been inaccurate and dangerous as it would have stripped our ancestors of the dignity of protecting our people at all costs. The white men were terrified of “The Ree” (the Arikara people) and probably with good reason; from historical accounts and also from the movie, the Ree could get down with the best of them and were fierce warriors defending their people.
6
"Spotlight" is one of the most authentically Boston movies I have ever seen. Hell, Mark Ruffalo's character got pizza from Santarpio's. I am hooked. This movie is also devastating. "Spotlight" explores how entire communities can ignore and bury awful truths about themselves. Director Tom McCarthy goes to great lengths to show us how the Catholic Church covered up sexual abuse by hundreds of their priests. This movie is compelling. Michael Keaton, like Iñárritu in "The Revenant", gives praiseworthy work that trounces their collaboration in last year's overrated Best Picture winner "Birdman". Mark Ruffalo as reporter Mike Rezendes, however, stole the show as he became obsessed with his search for truth.
SPOILER ALERT- When the Spotlight team at the Boston Globe finally released their story at Christmas time and the children's choir is singing "Silent Night," this movie hits its apex. During the end credits I noticed that some of the kids affected by the negligence and criminality of the Catholic Church spanned from neighborhoods in Boston to the communities I lived in South Dakota. I left the theater feeling hurt and reflecting on 2015. What are we collectively repressing from the public conscience nowadays? It's racial inequity.
SPOILER ALERT- When the Spotlight team at the Boston Globe finally released their story at Christmas time and the children's choir is singing "Silent Night," this movie hits its apex. During the end credits I noticed that some of the kids affected by the negligence and criminality of the Catholic Church spanned from neighborhoods in Boston to the communities I lived in South Dakota. I left the theater feeling hurt and reflecting on 2015. What are we collectively repressing from the public conscience nowadays? It's racial inequity.
5
This is my first time ever seeing a "Mad Max" movie. "Fury Road" is one of the most unique and intriguing action movies I have seen in a long time. Director George Miller creates a provocative look at the accumulation of wealth to the few; the Earth's depleting natural resources; and feminism. Not only is this movie grimly beautiful at nearly every point, but the action provides a stage on which the characters can be developed in meaningful ways. While I am a fan of large, commercialized action movies like "The Avengers" and defend their creativeness, "Mad Max: Fury Road" takes originality to the next level. I need to see this movie again.
4
This one strongly acted and infuriating movie. "The Big Short" depicts the corporate greed of Wall Street leading up to the 2008 financial crash. Bale, Pitt, and Carell form the best assemble cast of the year. These are complicated, normal people disgusted by a system making them rich. Steve Carell not being nominated for his role in "The Big Short" is another mistake by the Academy, who instead opted for the showier performance by Christian Bale. Director Adam McKay designs this movie so that I was rooting for the protagonists trying to exploit the excess of Wall Street, yet, by doing so I was anxiously awaiting the crash of the global economy and the destruction of millions of people's lives. Without spoiling part of "The Big Short's" charm, McKay has a few gags which work well in explaining the complexities of high finance. When the end credits rolled, I felt disgusted. This is a harsh reminder that for all the criminality leading up to the 2008 crash, only one top banker went to jail. This movie makes me worry for the future.
3
"The Hateful Eight" is intense. Quentin Tarantino spends at least two hours building suspense for the third act. Everyone is talking about Leo with a mama grizzly bear being the most tension-filled scene of the year, but I challenge anyone who says this to watch "The Hateful Eight" and tell me different. Not only does this film look great but it also gives us a score produced by legendary composer Ennio Morricone. Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren gives one of his best performances and the top acting job of the year. It is wrong that the Academy overlooked his work. Given the controversial nature of "The Hateful Eight", I am not surprised though. Matt Zoller Seitz, my favorite critic, who writes for RogerEbert.com, articulated these criticisms eloquently here. I'll include the best excerpt from this scathing review below:
Quentin Tarantino's ultraviolent, ultra-talky sorta-Western "The Hateful Eight" is an impressive display of film craft and a profoundly ugly movie—so gleeful in its violence and so nihilistic in its world view that it feels as though the director is daring his detractors to see it as a confirmation of their worst fears about his art... When the violence arrives in "Hateful Eight," it's unmoored not just from any morality espoused by the characters (who are hateful, after all!) but also, it seems, from Tarantino's own moral compass—if indeed he has one, and after this movie I have serious doubts. From "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" through his recent run of movies, he's given us a mix of proudly amoral and morally struggling characters, then shown them working through their hypocrisy and relativism in finely tuned, ping-pong style exchanges (like that final Travolta-Jackson conversation in "Pulp Fiction"). In "Hateful Eight," for the first time in Tarantino's career—and in contrast to such brutal, semi-exploitive but ultimately mournful films as "The Wild Bunch" and "U-Turn"—there's no detectable moral framework to speak of. We're just watching a bunch of scorpions in a bucket getting ready to sting each other, then stinging each other—sometimes verbally, sometimes with fists or guns or other weapons: tearing flesh, coating hardwood floors with gore and brains.
Seitz's criticisms are fair but I'm not certain that I agree with him. The violence of Tarantino does serve a purpose--I hope. The key to this movie surrounds the Lincoln letter and the fate of Jennifer Jason Leigh's character. If you think about these two symbols more deeply, it undercuts Seitz's criticisms. "The Hateful Eight" is one of those movies where I left the theater feeling like I saw something powerful but I was not sure how to articulate these feelings into thoughts. I find myself in a similar position months later.
2
I have spent more time writing about this movie than any other. To read my thoughts on "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", click here. A big thanks to all those who participated in this conversation. I have removed nearly everyone's identity who contributed.
1
Relegating "Inside Out" to the Best Animated Feature category instead of including it in the Best Picture category is just plain stupid. Here is a movie about growing up and being human. "Inside Out" is one of the most original movies I have ever seen. There are only good characters in this film. Conflict is created by a human struggle we all face: how we learn to deal with our emotions effectively through making sense of the world. Sadness appears to foil Happiness at every turn, yet through this movie we appreciate how sorrow helps us empathize with others and fondly remember the past. "Inside Out" is about the power memories and the control we can or can't exercise over ourselves. This is one powerful film and the best of 2015.
Honorable Mentions
"Brooklyn" - a great love story depicting the hardships faced and the strength needed to immigrate to America, but in the year of Führer Donald J. Trump, it does little to take its commentary to the next level. This is a pleasant movie.
"Water Diviner" - I wanted to love this movie but I could only like it. The "Water Diviner" is about an Australian father looking for his dead children on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. Director-actor Russell Crowe hones in on a father's regret for regaling his children about the glory of war, yet Crowe curiously undermines this theme by making this an action movie.
"McFarland, USA" - This movie is about a Mexican-American community in California and the discrimination they face. While this movie does little to challenge conventionality, I appreciated its sincerity and willingness to show the strength of immigrant America.
"Jurassic World" - This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was a commercialized, sexist, overly reliant on CGI piece of crap.
"Spectre" - Another horrible movie in 2015. It seems to exist in a world where the Austin Powers series hasn't been released. Unfortunately for "Spectre" everyone else lives in a world where we saw "The Spy Who Shagged Me". SPOILER ALERT - The villain will reveal his entire evil plan while petting a cat and giving Bond enough time to free himself. Bond will give said villain a scar on his face but does not kill him. The villain then escapes his secret lair via a helicopter. Yeah, it's that bad. Might as well have called him Dr. Evil.
"Water Diviner" - I wanted to love this movie but I could only like it. The "Water Diviner" is about an Australian father looking for his dead children on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. Director-actor Russell Crowe hones in on a father's regret for regaling his children about the glory of war, yet Crowe curiously undermines this theme by making this an action movie.
"McFarland, USA" - This movie is about a Mexican-American community in California and the discrimination they face. While this movie does little to challenge conventionality, I appreciated its sincerity and willingness to show the strength of immigrant America.
"Jurassic World" - This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was a commercialized, sexist, overly reliant on CGI piece of crap.
"Spectre" - Another horrible movie in 2015. It seems to exist in a world where the Austin Powers series hasn't been released. Unfortunately for "Spectre" everyone else lives in a world where we saw "The Spy Who Shagged Me". SPOILER ALERT - The villain will reveal his entire evil plan while petting a cat and giving Bond enough time to free himself. Bond will give said villain a scar on his face but does not kill him. The villain then escapes his secret lair via a helicopter. Yeah, it's that bad. Might as well have called him Dr. Evil.
Now...
If I picked the Oscar winners based on the nominations provided by the Academy.
Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"
Best Supporting Actor
Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight"
Best Actress
Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"
Best Adapted Screenplay
"Brooklyn" Written by Nick Hornby
Best Original Screenplay
"Inside Out" Written by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
Cinematography
"The Revenant" Emmanuel Lubezki
Visual Effects
“Mad Max: Fury Road" Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
Costumes
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Jenny Beavan
Director
"Mad Max: Fury Road" George Miller
Best Picture
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
