Top 10 Best Films of 2015

2015 was a good year for film. We got a slew of spy movies, a few great animated movies, and an awakening. Honorable Mentions include Selma, Kingsman, Room, and Whiplash. The last two were on many iterations of this list but unfortunately for them I had 10 other movies I enjoyed more.

10. The Martian

Perhaps a stretch too long, but nonetheless enjoyable as hell, The Martian is Ridley Scott's return to greatness. Matt Damon is alone on Mars as NASA tries to rescue him. I learned I could never survive on the red planet, but Jason Bourne can. This is why people go to the movies. It's pure entertainment along with great heart.

9. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

How is it that the fifth film in a franchise is the best? That's unheard of. So is hanging on the side of an airplane and holding your breath for six minutes. That is of course unless you're Tom Cruise. The most dedicated movie star on the planet puts his body on the line for the audience's entrainment. This is the best Mission yet because of Cruise's dedication and a great supporting cast and spectacular set pieces.

8. Bridge of Spies 

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks deliver a great cold war thriller. One man has the courage to stand up for the enemy and fight for what he believes in. That man was James Donovan and this movie was based on his story. Hanks is great as The insurance lawyer turned negotiator and Mark Rylance shines as the spy. Compelling and never faultering, Bridge of Spies is a great addition to Spielberg's ever impressive resume.

7. Creed 

In what might be the best addition in the Rocky franchise Rocky Balboa trains his greatest opponent's son. Michael B. Jordan is great in this movie but may be getting over looked because Sylvester Stallone delivers the best performance of his career. While following familiar steps as the first Rocky, Creed stands out by embracing its name and fighting for its place. A thunderous score flows through director Ryan Coogler's best film to date. Creed is a winner.

6. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl

This movie came out of nowhere. I'd never seen a poster for it, a trailer for it, absolutely zero advertising. I'm glad I knew nothing going in because I loved each turn this movie took, each joke it told. I was moved after watching this touching love letter to film that follows no stereotypes one might expect. In a summer of dinosaurs and Avengers, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl was a gem that stood out.

5. Mad Max: Fury Road

70 year old director George Miller delivered the hardest hitting action thrill ride in recent years. This movie was an insane gasoline fire on wheels that shot at everything chasing it. Incredible stunt work, cinematography, and score fueled this film. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron star in this truly amazing action movie. George Miller yelled "Witness" and boy did we witness.

4. Inside Out

If memory serves correct I saw this 5 times in theaters and I cried each time. Pixar is back to form with this emotional masterpiece. Dealing with the importance of sadness, and neglecting emotions, Inside Out also gave audiences laughs, albeit inbetween tears.

3. Steve Jobs

Michael Fassbender gave, in my opinion, the best performance of the year in this unconventional bio pic. This film was the definition of a three act film, as each act was set backstage at an important moment in Job's life. Jeff Daniels and Kate Winslet were equally incredible in this fascinating movie. Performances were at the center here and director Danny Boyle got the best out of everyone involved. This was my number 1 of the year until I saw the next two.
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Maybe Steve Jobs had better performances and maybe Bridge of Spies had better directon but only this movie was the best experience I've had at a theater since The Dark Knight. Seeing the opening crawl for this film was only something I could describe as a religious experience, especially as a film fan and a movie lover. J.J. Abrahms had the weight of the universe on his shoulders and he miraculously delivered a great movie. He introduced great new characters, great action, and more importantly a great new chapter to the Star Wars saga. BB8 was fun, Kylo Ren was a badass, Han Solo was a great shepard for the new characters. This movie against all odds overcame expectations and featured my favorite movie moment of this year.

1. Spotlight

The best movie of 2015 for me is hands down what I feel was it's most important movie. This is the story of the spotlight reporters who investigated the Boston church's cover up of priests molesting children. Director Tom McCarthy threw an incredible amount of information at the viewers and it never felt convoluted and you never got lost keeping track of it. He had an ensemble cast featuring Mark Ruffalo at his very best, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams. While Star Wars had the weight of fans across the world on it's shoulders, this movie had the weight of every victim of this scandal and the responsibility to tell this story right. This is an incredible harrowing movie that will shake you to your center.

Top 10 Worst of 2015

2015 was a pretty good year for film, none the less there were a few stinkers. Dishonorable mentions include Sinister 2, which I didn't really hate but wasn't a good movie.
10. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

The final entry into The Hunger Games saga proved to be the weakest. This film was an incredibly slow burn with a very weak payoff. Not only did it bore me but it pissed me off as well. A conversation between Peeta and Katniss about the color orange is proof that Mockingjay should never have been split into 2 movies.
9.  Aloha

This Cameron Crowe flick had all the potential in the world. It had a great trailer, a solid director, and a cast that boasted the likes of Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, and Bill Murray. The cast was given a by the numbers script that never really went anywhere. This movie squandered all the talent in the world and failed to be moving.

8. Jupiter Ascending

The Wachowski siblings directed a one of the greatest sci-fi action films ever in The Matrix. That movie is awesome, what's less awesome is that that movie came out in 1999 and they haven't directed a good film since then. A miscast Mila Kunis and a not even trying Channing Tatum lead this awfuly convoluted film. I applaud the Wachowskis for trying to create something original but this was crap. 

7. The Fantastic Four

It wasn't that bad.  Josh Trank's battle with Fox resulted a mess of a movie. I had a morbid curiosity going into it, the same one has when slowing down near a car wreck to view the carnage. The first third of this movie, as lifeless as it was, wasn't terrible but it became clear when the battle between director and studio occurred. Things became disjointed and actors, particularly Miles Teller, began mailing it in. Add a third act with no weight to it and you get this waste of a movie.

6. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Truth be told I don't remember much about this movie other than it being a complete waste of money. 

5. Unfinished Business

Unlike Spongebob I do remember this movie. I remember Dave Franco's name was Mike Pancake and Vince Vaughn wore makeup.  This comedy lacked any laughs and despite it trying, lacked any heart as well.  I remember feeling empty after watching it which isn't something I should have felt after watching a comedy.

4. Ladrones

Why is it that spanish comedies feel the need to be condescending to their audiences? They treat their viewers like complete morons and then deliver the most paint by numbers stories, Instructions Not Included did the same thing in 2013. If it's not broke then you don't fix it but this studio is in dire need of fixing it. 

3. Taken 3

I hated this movie. I really hated it. I hate it's shaky-cam style, I hate it being a ripoff of The Fugitive, I hate that Liam Neeson and Forrest Whittaker wasted their time on it. It's a stupid cash grab excuse for an action movie. The tag line says "It Ends Here". I sure hope so. 

2. The Gallows

A found footage horror movie set in a school at night has potential to work. You know, if you make it scary and hire good actors, a good filmmaker, someone who knows what they're doing. The Gallows had none of that.

1. While We're Young

Currently sitting at an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes is the only film I've ever walked out of. Similar to Mockingjay, this movie bored me and pissed me off. It came off as a pretentious hipster flick which made me leave 30 minutes early. As much as I loved Adam Driver in another film you might see on a different list, I hated him here. Ben Stiller was a bore, Amanda Seyfried had nothing to do, and Naiomi Watts just stood there. This movie angered me in a way no other ever had and for that it gets to be number 1.

Southpaw Review

   Originally developed as an Eminem vehicle, Jake Gyllenhaal takes the lead as Billy Hope, a boxer who struggles to get his life back together in and out of the ring after a death in the family. Training Day and Olympus Has Fallen Director Antoine Fuqua is behind the camera here. Southpaw features a script by first time writer Kurt Sutter and perhaps the final score composed by the late James Horner.

   Since the marketing team for this film wasn't concerned about spoilers I won't be either. The trailer did give away a large part of Southpaw's plot including every twist and turn it takes. The death of Rachel McAdam's character is an obvious one. The scene was not nearly as powerful as it should have been because it was prominently displayed in the marketing, as was the court taking away Billy Hope's daughter.  Like Billy Hope, this film had the deck stacked against it. It had no tricks up its sleeve to use, the only thing it had going for it was Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. Luckily, he delivered.

   I went into this film expecting a great performance by Jake Gyllenhaal and he is undeniably the strongest part of the movie. He's perfectly believable as a boxer as he captures all of the skill, anger, and mannerisms this role required. He can add this to his list of great performances. Rachel McAdams is fine in the film but she isn't in it long enough to say much more than that. Forest Whitaker plays the "Mickey" role in this film.  He's good in the movie and is given plenty to do and Forest carries it just fine. Other than Gyllenhaal himself I'd say the next strongest performance is Oona Lauerence who plays Billy Hope's daughter. The child actress carried her own in some very emotional scenes.

   Antoine Fuqua is a hit or miss director for me. Looking through his filmography I would say that 2007's Shooter was a boring movie and while I enjoyed the over the top violence in Olympus Has fallen, I thought The Equalizer was needlessly violent. His inspirations are clear in this film and those would be Eninem and the Rocky franchise. He's clearly a fan of the latter as the plot of this film is derived from that of Rocky III and Rocky V. Directors have multiple jobs on a feature and they include getting the best performance possible from his actors, making sure the story works, and seeing to it that it is his vision that we the audience see on the big screen. I don't believe he was firing on all cylinders on Southpaw. The biggest problem with this movie is Kurt Sutter's screenplay. Not only is it riddled with cliches, but it is also filled with plot holes, and worst of all it is predictable. The "villain" of the film is completely underdeveloped. The screenplay tries to beat you over the head with sadness in so many scenes that it ultimately ends up feeling redundant. 

   

   From a technical standpoint this was  a weak film for the most part. I wasn't crazy about the up close camera during most of the boxing scenes. In the third act of the film Fuqua employs a method that is meant to make the viewer feel like they are in the fight. To be honest it felt more like a first person video game than a movie when he did that. For the most part the boxing scenes, to their credit, felt very authentic. The pace of the film was another problem for me. This is a movie that feels much longer than it actually is. It starts off with such a fast pace that goes slow for such a long time that when it is time for the third act of the film, its jarring.  Academy Award winning composer James Horner wrote the score for this film, one of his final scores before his untimely death earlier this year. It represents Gyllenhaal's character as the songs reflect the mood of sadness, anger, and glory.   

   There are plenty of great sports films out there. The boxing genre in particular can boast such greats such as Rocky, Raging Bull, and The Fighter. Those movies are Oscar movies and Oscar movies all come out around Oscar season, which typically runs from November through to the Oscars. I believe The Weinstein Company, the studio behind the film, would have released this in that season and would have mostly likely pushed Gyllenhaal for best lead actor and pushed Whittaker for best supporting actor if they believed in the quality of this movie. I believe the studio saw this for what it was; a film with great performances and not much else. 

3/5