Top 10 Best Movies of 2015

Now that you guys have seen my picks for 2015’s worst silver-screen crap piles, I wanted to treat you guys to what I thought were the best. But I mostly wanted to treat myself after having to revisit all those awful films. Anyway…

2015 was overall a good year for movies. There might have been some really awful movies, but there were more than enough great ones and, dare I say it, several bona-fide masterpieces. So let’s not waste time with small talk, here are my picks for the best films of 2015.

Honorable mentions: Ant-Man; Kingsman: The Secret Service; Avengers: Age of Ultron; Brooklyn; Mad Max: Fury Road; Steve Jobs; Cinderella; ’71; Straight Outta Compton; The Walk; The Peanuts Movie; The Good Dinosaur; Bridge of Spies

10. Paddington

Surprised to see this on my list? Well, if you saw the movie you shouldn’t be. I had mixed feelings about Paddington going in, but by the end of the movie I was thoroughly entertained. It has boatloads of charm and good humor, delivering laughs while also having a lot of heart. The acting, which could have been silly and over-the-top, was actually top-notch. I totally bought Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins as a loving but mismatched married couple, and Ben Whishaw was great as Paddington himself. So yes, Paddington proves that you can have a January family film that doesn’t suck.

9. The Big Short

I had been interested in seeing The Big Short for quite a while, even if I was a bit skeptical about comedy superstar Adam McKay directing a semi-serious movie about the run-up to the Great Recession. But McKay and co. accomplished something special with this film. The Big Short takes one of the darkest chapters of our history, in which financial wheeler-dealers were allowed to do whatever they wanted and brought the world economy to its knees, and makes it a tragedy and farce in equal measure. I was laughing the whole time, wanting the main characters to prove there was a housing bubble, but also disgusted by all the self-serving people surrounding them and the lengths some people will go to make a quick buck. But that’s a sign of great art; it divides not just man against man, but divides us in our hearts.

8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars has been one of my favorite things since I was a small child. The original trilogy is possibly the best one of all time, and even with the prequels Star Wars stands up as one of the greatest franchises in pop culture history. So I was excited but a bit apprehensive about a new Star Wars movie. The marketing was great, I liked the team behind it, but there was always a chance of failure. But Disney and Lucasfilm succeeded in reviving the franchise with flying colors. The Force Awakens works great as a kickstart to a new series, being a sequel to the original trilogy with a dash of Star Wars (1977)-remake. At times it stuck too close to the first film’s framework, but overall it was exactly what I wanted. Great new characters, plus some old favorites, exciting set-pieces, amazing visual effects, and a great pace combine to make The Force Awakens a terrific movie, and here’s to many more.

7. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

The Mission: Impossible film series was for years a poor man’s James Bond, average-to-pretty good movies that were pretty fun but not particularly memorable. Then came the fourth film, Ghost Protocol, which was a great movie and showed that this franchise could go toe-to-toe with the best of them. Now Rogue Nation is this franchises’s Casino Royale, the movie that changes the game once again. Not only was Rogue Nation an exciting film with lots of great action, it had a thrilling story. I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish, always wondering how Ethan Hunt was gonna get himself out of this one. Add in a still-incredible Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg given his moment to shine, Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames as backup, and the amazing Rebecca Ferguson, and you’ve got the year’s best spy movie…and 2015 had a ton of them!

6. The Martian

Well, Ridley Scott…you’ve won me over again. For the past several years I feel you’ve been off your game. No matter what you tried it just didn’t seem to click. This ranged from the mediocre Alien pseudo-prequel Prometheus to the disastrous Exodus. But I always held out hope that the genius who gave us Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, etc. still had it in him. So thank you for making The Martian. Seriously, what a great movie. With a dramatic story of survival on Mars, with pathos, thrills, and laughs, anchored by the wonderful performance of Matt Damon as the astronaut that could, what more could a film fan ask for? Ridley, you’re back, and I’m so sad you didn’t get nominated for Best Director this year.

5. Spotlight

The more I think about it, Spotlight is sort of the flipside of The Big Short. It portrays the terrible tragedy of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandals, but instead of playing it for dark laughs Spotlight makes a terrific drama. Director Tom McCarthy (who gave Peter Dinklage his break in The Station Agent) has crafted an engrossing saga of sin and denial, of revelation and redemption, showing the terrible consequences of sexual abuse by a trusted figure while showing the power of the human spirit to overcome all obstacles. It’s also a tribute to the power of journalism, the ability of good-old-fashioned investigative reporting to change the world. Not to mention the breathtaking performances from all involved, particularly Mark Ruffalo and Liev Schreiber.

4. The Revenant

After 2014’s Birdman, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was on top of the world. You might even say that he had the right to make a bad movie after that. I’m glad that he didn’t. Not only is The Revenant an amazing movie, to me it is definitely Inarritu’s masterpiece. The film is visually beautiful, a shoo-in for many a Cinematography Award. It sucks you in from the very beginning and makes you feel the hardships Hugh Glass has to go through. And of course, the acting is incredible. Not only do Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy deliver Oscar-worthy performances, Will Poulter and Domhnall Gleeson deliver some of the best of their careers. All in all, The Revenant is incredible, a film not to be missed.

3. Inside Out

I think that Pixar is the best movie studio in business today, but after Toy Story 3 they seemed unable to reach the heights of greatness of their previous films. They were usually pretty good, but that’s not what you expect from Pixar. But with Inside Out they returned to true greatness and had an amazing banner year. Inside Out is exactly what I wanted; I love the characters, especially the dynamic between Joy and Sadness. It was very funny, but also had a beautiful emotional core. It also features one of the most mature themes in a Pixar film yet; the importance of emotional nuance in growing up. A fabulous movie, and a shame it didn’t get nominated for Best Picture.

P.S. Oh yeah, Bing-Bong is my number one guy.

2. Ex Machina

Great sci-fi is not just aesthetically pleasing, it also asks questions about where the world is headed, transports you to another world. What we got from Ex Machina was science fiction of the highest order. It poses the interesting question, how human can an AI be? and runs with it, crafting a great thriller. The CGI is amazing, proving that you don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars to make your movie look great. Congratulations to Domhnall Gleeson (you appeared three times on my list) and Oscar Isaac (twice), who deliver great performances. But the star, of course, is Alicia Vikander as the mysterious AI Ava. You might not know her name, but you have definitely seen her face this year (in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., or the Danish Girl, or on oh-so-sexy magazine covers), and she is going to be a huge star. She’s not been acting very long and is already nominated for on Oscar for The Danish Girl, although I would’ve given it to her for Ex Machina. Yeah, she’s that good in this movie.

1. Creed

Who would’ve thought that a Rocky film without Rocky boxing would be so damn compelling? Well, I had my hopes, but Creed flew past even my wildest dreams. Like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you could accuse Creed of sticking too close to its predecessors, but why change a formula when it’s this good? The story of Adonis Creed is an uplifting one of living in your father’s shadow and trying to carve out your own path, told with gusto by director Ryan Coogler. Michael B. Jordan is great as Adonis, but the standout is Sylvester Stallone as Rocky once again. It’s easy to forget that, for all the silly movies (some good, some bad) he’s been in, Stallone can give dynamite performances, and Creed might be the best he’s ever been. He truly deserves all the acclaim he’s getting, and I will consider myself satisfied if he wins an Oscar this year.

So there you have it, my favorite movies of the past year. Feel free to comment, give your list, rant about omissions, or just go crazy. Oh yeah, have a great 2016.

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” Review

The Avengers are back as a team once again, mopping up the remnants of HYDRA after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. When Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has a vision that all of his friends and colleagues will die in an alien invasion, he creates a new artificial intelligence named Ultron (James Spader), who he hopes will be able to protect the world from intergalactic threats. However, Ultron is not the benevolent protector of humanity that Stark thought he would be, and is Hell-bent on destroying the Avengers for being a threat to “peace in our time”. Now it is up to the Avengers and a few new allies to stop Ultron before he can do any lasting damage.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe might be the most iconic film franchise of the 2010s, and for good reason. Most of the films have been terrific, and they have all been huge financial successes. The series’ crowning achievement is 2012’s The Avengers, the third highest-grossing film of all time and one of my favorite movies of all time. In fact, it’s one of only ten movies that I would give a 10/10. I’m not alone in my obsessive love for the first Avengers, so expectations for the sequel were sky-high. However, judging by a lot of the reviews online, you’d think it didn’t live up to those expectations. Most reviews have been good, but a few are calling Avengers: Age of Ultron unworthy of the Marvel name. While film is subjective, I couldn’t help but think some people set there expectations too high and wanted Age of Ultron to be the biggest and best movie of the series. However, I didn’t need Age of Ultron to be better than the Avengers. That’s a pipe dream for me. If it were a good movie, I would be satisfied.

Well, consider me quite satisfied.

Let me make this perfectly clear; the first Avengers is a better movie overall. However, there are several things Age of Ultron does better. The character development has been stepped up in a big way. We got some more glimpses into the character psyches, what makes them tick, and most importantly what they are afraid of. There were also some specific details that I thought worked really well. When I first heard that there would be a Hulk/Black Widow romance, I was skeptical. However, even though it started out a little cheesy, it quickly won me over. I like seeing their interactions and how their hardships brought them together. In addition, the oft-neglected Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) gets a lot more screentime this time around. You even get to meet Clint’s family, and the scenes with his wife let Jeremy Renner show the character’s emotional depth and give him the motivation to live to fight another day.

Age of Ultron also ups the ante in terms of action. The first Avengers film had a lot of great action, but nothing really earth-shattering until the final battle. Here, damn near everything is the balls-to-the-wall actionfest you want from a superhero movie. From the initial assault on HYDRA commander Baron von Strucker’s fortress to the final battle, the movie’s a non-stop thrill ride that left me thoroughly entertained.

Once again, all of the Avengers and their non-avenging allies have great chemistry. The battle banter between Iron Man, Captain America and co. is really fun and lightens the tension in any big battle. However, the most fun character interactions were probably the ones where they were just hanging out and having fun, especially when everyone tries (and fails) to lift Thor’s hammer.

If there’s one thing the MCU needs more of, it’s great villains. That’s not to say they’ve done a bad job with them, but they’ve been…inconsistent. Sometimes they get a Loki or Red Skull, other times they get a Malekith or Justin Hammer. That being said, Ultron…aw man, he’s awesome. He’s legitimately threatening, being able to go toe-to-toe with all of the Avengers simultaneously and whoop their asses, not to mention being super creepy. However, he’s also got a lot of black comedy up his sleeve, and I was laughing out loud whenever he cracked a dark joke. And don’t even get me started on James Spader’s voice-acting. That man is awesome.

As for the other new characters, I thought they added a lot to the movie. The Maximoff twins were my biggest fear. I thought they were unnecessary additions to the franchise when they were announced and didn’t like them in any of the trailers. Even for their first fifteen or twenty minutes of screentime I had a hard time buying them. But they slowly grew on me, and by the end I was rooting for them every step of the way. There’s also Vision, a humanoid evolution of Stark’s A.I. butler J.A.R.V.I.S., played by Paul Bettany. He’s near-invincible, exactly the kind of guy needed to go up against Ulton. He also might be the most serious character in the whole movie, and served as a great contrast of the more laid-back regulars.

However, just because I love a movie doesn’t meet I’m gonna ignore its flaws. Unlike the first film, Age of Ultron has some notable problems. The basic plot skeleton is very similar to the first movie, with the team facing a threatening adversary, some bickering between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, and a climactic battle where the world’s survival is at stake. We even get Ultron hypnotizing a brilliant scientist just like Loki did in the first movie. It’s not enough to ruin the fun, and there are some legitimate surprises later on, but I would like to have seen Joss Whedon (who did an awesome job directing and with the script) and Kevin Feige take a few more risks.

There’s also some miscellaneous complaints that don’t neatly fit anywhere else. Even though Ultron is a terrific villain, his motivation could’ve been more fleshed out. It’s not really clear why he goes berserk, he just sort of does. Also, MINOR SPOILERS they wasted some potentially really cool characters. Baron von Strucker, who had been set up in the Winter Soldier mid-credits scene as a major threat, is killed of early on, and offscreen to boot. There was no reason to kill him and I wish he would’ve been saved for later films. Also, I love Andy Serkis, but his character really served no purpose other to get his hand cut off (I know it’s foreshadowing for Klaw, but it didn’t serve this movie at all).

So, Avengers: Age of Ultron is not as good as the first movie. Who cares? It’s still great. More character development, more characters, better action, and an awesome villain who gives Loki a run for his money all make Age of Ultron a must-see. Also, stick around for the mid-credits scene. It’s got some great foreshadowing.

Score: 8.5/10

My Reaction to the Oscar Nominees

The Oscars are always one of my favorite events of year. Even when I don’t agree with some of the nominees and winners, it’s still a fun show and I love having a celebration of the year in film. Well, the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards were announced a few days ago, and I’ve finally gotten all my thoughts on them straight.

DISCLAIMER: All film is subjective, so just like my reviews this list will be completely opinion-based.

BEST PICTURE

American Sniper: This should definitely not be on here. Great lead performance, bad movie.

Birdman: Terrific. This belongs here, and is probably gonna be the winner.

Boyhood: This is my pick for most overrated movie of the year. It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t enthralled by it like most people.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: Sure, why not?

The Imitation Game: My favorite movie on this list, but it doesn’t have a strong chance of winning.

Selma: CONTROVERSY: It was just okay. Not worth a nomination in my opinion.

The Theory of Everything: Very nice to see this nominated.

Whiplash: Even nicer to see this nominated. One of the best movies of the year, and it gets better every time I see it. If I haven’t seen it I won’t comment.

Will win: Either Birdman or Boyhood

Should win: The Imitation Game

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher

Bradley Cooper, American Sniper: In a weaker year, I would’ve put him on here. But this was a stacked year, and I would rather have seen David Oyelowo or Jake Gyllenhaal in his spot.

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game: He belongs here for sure.

Michael Keaton, Birdman: So does he. One of Keaton’s best performances.

Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything: Yet another extremely strong contender. This is Redmayne’s best performance to date.

Will and should win: Michael Keaton, Birdman

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything: I loved her performance. She belongs her for sure.

Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl: YES YES YES!! I would’ve freaked out if she wasn’t nominated.

Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Will win: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Should win: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall, The Judge: He’s got no chance, but he was the best part of that movie and deserves a nomination.

Ethan Hawke, Boyhood: He should be on here. The parents in Boyhood were much more compelling than Mason.

Edward Norton, Birdman: Another great performance in a movie filled with them.

Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons, Whiplash: This is a very strong category, but I don’t see how he doesn’t win.

Will and should win: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood: She and Ethan Hawke made the movie watchable for me. That enough is worth win.

Laura Dern, Wild

Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game: Knightley has come a long way in the last few years, and this is a vindication of all her efforts.

Emma Stone, Birdman: She was terrific.

Meryl Streep, Into the Woods: I didn’t like the movie. It was about an hour too long. But Streep was great, same as always.

Will and should win: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: I don’t like this category. It exists only to give the Academy an excuse not to nominate animated films for Best Picture. BUT HOW THE HELL DOES THE LEGO MOVIE NOT GET NOMINATED? I don’t use the term snub lightly, but this is a snub.

Big Hero 6: I loved it. Lots of fun, and yet another credit to Disney.

The Boxtrolls: I enjoyed it, and it’s nice to see it get nominated.

How to Train Your Dragon 2: Without The Lego Movie in competition, this is my clear favorite.

Song of the Sea

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Will and should win: How to Train Your Dragon 2

BEST DIRECTOR

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman: This is the first time that I can honestly say he did a great job directing. He did a truly amazing job.

Richard Linklater, Boyhood: I wouldn’t put him on here. I don’t think he did a very good job creating a compelling story. But I appreciate his ambition.

Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel: A good one for Anderson to get nominated for.

Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game: It wasn’t very showy direction, but Tyldum told this story very well and pulled good performances out of everyone.

Will and should win: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Jason Hall, American Sniper: No thanks.

Graham Moore, The Imitation Game: I’m surprised this is Moore’s first screenplay. He did a fantastic job.

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice: I love PTA, but this screenplay was not a strong one.

Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything: A great screenplay. He deserves the nomination.

Damien Chazelle, Whiplash: Yet another great screenplay.

Will win: Too close to call.

Should win: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, Birdman: With a movie this good, how can the screenplay not be nominated?

Richard Linklater, Boyhood: I wouldn’t give it to him, but I understand why he’s nominated. I was an ambitious effort.

E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (story), The Grand Budapest Hotel: I’m kind of surprised to see this get so many nominations, but I can’t complain.

Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler: A better movie than any of these, and yet this is its only nomination. Glad to see it get something.

Will win: All those unpronounceable names, Birdman

Should win: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

So, there’s all the big ones. I might not agree with all the Academy’s decisions, but that doesn’t matter. Like all art forms, film is subjective, and it’s nice to see that people have varying opinions. I’m sure this year’s show will be a lot of fun, especially with all of the surprises. The Lego Movie not getting nominated is insane, though.