On the last page, an honorable mention section, some housekeeping notes on the rest of the year, and some unposted top 10s from previous years if you care (and I won’t fault you if you don’t).
Honorable Mention: Also Worthy
Look, it was a great year for movies. The insane volume alone usually means that’s going to be the case almost every year ,and 2015 was no different. In no particular order: Guy Maddin’s “The Forbidden Room” was another one of the Canadian filmmaker’s patently demented and delirious dream fantasias worth pruning in. “Bone Tomahawk” was probably the best surprise of the year for me, and one of the best directorial debuts. I found “Clouds Of Sils Maria” captivating, and its two leads were excellent. “Slow Learners” was one of the kind of romantic comedies I generally kind of dislike, but it was disarmingly funny and I’d love to see more from its charming leads (especially the underrated Sarah Burns). The enigmatic, be-careful-what-you-wish-for qualities of marriage dramedy ”Digging For Fire” were beguiling. “Results” wasn’t quite perfect, but the cast — Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders,and in particular Kevin Corrigan — were terrific.
I was mixed on Spielberg’s “Bridge Of Spies” at the time, and still am, but man, is it so amazingly crafted it deserves a shout-out. “Stanford Prison Experiment” absolutely rocked me in theaters and was probably one of my favorite movie-going experiences at Sundance earlier this year (Michael Angarano is so good in it). Other films worth your time include Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina” (Oscar Isaac needs to do comedy, his is so brilliant in it); Jafar Panahi’s playful, “Taxi,” Alejandro González Iñárritu’s brutal meditation on a world without mercy, “The Revenant”; the bewitching horror, “It Follows”; Bill Pohlad’s unconventional Brian Wilson biopic “Love And Mercy”; Michael Mann’s visually engrossing “Black Hat”; Christian Petzold’s “Phoenix” (Nina Hoss is always incredible); Ryan Coogler’s familiar, but well triumphantly crafted “Creed”; James Ponsoldt’s “The End Of The Tour.” Additionally, pretty much every film on our The 25 Best Films You Didn’t See In 2015 list is worthwhile too.
Documentary wise “(T)error” and “Meru” are phenomenal and I’m glad they topped our Best Documentaries Of The Year list. Also great were Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Junun”— the best music concert I didn’t actually attend in 2015 — “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” (some of which was so sad it made my weepy), and the moving Ethan Hawke documentary/tribute-to-his-mentor, “Seymour: An Introduction.” Wim Wenders’ can be a frustratingly uneven filmmaker, but “The Salt of the Earth” is one of the best things he’s made in a long time. I also thought Amy Berg’s “An Open Secret” and “Prophets Prey” were absolutely chilling, and she’s becoming a formidable filmmaker that Hollywood is going to have to take notice of soon. And a final shout-out to one more belated, freewheeling doc experience, “A Poem Is A Naked Person,” from the late great Les Blank.
Underrated
Sebastian Silva’s dark and funny look at the impending anxieties of parenthood in “Nasty Baby” was great. It’s twist tests all suspension of disbelief, but it’s ending— just that fucking look the protagonist gives his child at the end — is well worth any chafing that the film provides. Also, “Hyena,” “Far From The Madding Crowd,” and “Unexpected” were also a nice, tender little surprises (which I wrote about in more detail here).
Best TV Of The Year
“Transparent,” which if it was a movie I’d put at #1 or #2 on this list (which I did in years past, see below), and “The Knick,” which had a phenomenal finale and some killer late-season episodes.
Bit Of A Disappointment
Despite an incredible cast and a director who’s incredible promise has yet to be totally fulfilled, “Macbeth” is too oppressively cold and damp, taking liberties with the original text (which I adore) that I didn’t love.
“Mississippi Grind” — Ben Mendelsohn is amazing, but Ryan Reynolds is not, and it has too many goddamn endings.
Not At All My Tempo
A lot of filmmakers I love went awry this year.
“99 Homes” — Michael Shannon rules, but otherwise the righteous anger is overwrought and treads on Ramin Bahrani’s former facility with subtlety.
“Maps To The Stars” — A disaster of tone and a mess of a movie from what is normally a master filmmaker. Easily David Cronenberg‘s worst. Also a brutally laughable CGI scene that is unforgivably bad.
“Manglehorn”— David Gordon Green at his most undisciplined.
“Final Girls” — Winky, meta, self-satisfied horror that believe it’s as clever as “Scream.” Awful.
“Man Up” — To be fair, I don’t really care for most of these kinds of cloying, romantic comedies. This one is not much different even with the charming Lake Bell as one of its leads
“Crimson Peak” — Great style and look, but…
“The Big Short” — While it inevitably is an outraged portrait of American grotesqueries and greed, it’s such a mess of style, tone, and point of view in getting there its impact is constantly dulled.
“American Ultra” — Just dreadful.
Miscellaneous
In case you’re curious about “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” this basically sums it up, though there are additional thoughts on this podcast. And again, because I hadn’t posted my top 10 lists for two years running, and I need a reference point now and then, I decided to post them here for myself. So, for myself, here’s how I felt about 2013 and 2014 at the time (lists probably would have changed upon examination, but I’m not examining them).
2014 Top 15
15. “Two Days One Night”
14. “Selma”
13. “Listen Up Philip”
12. “The Double”
11. “Frank”
10. “Virunga”
09. “The Knick”
08. “Transparent”
07. “Nightcrawler”
06. “Inherent Vice”
05. “Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
04. “Foxcatcher”
03. “Enemy”
02. “Only Lovers Left Alive”
01. “Under The Skin”
2013 Top 15
15. “Afternoon Delight”
14. “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”
13. “Prince Avalanche”
12. “In A World”
11. “Her”
10. “The Past”
09. “American Hustle”
08. “Prisoners”
07. “Upstream Color”
06. “Gloria”
05. “Frances Ha”
04. “All Is Lost”
03. “Inside Llewyn Davis”
02. “Stories We Tell”
01. “Top Of The Lake”
