The Best & Worst of 2015
It’s that time of the year once again: the end.
For those of you who are following The Gibson Review on Facebook, it also means it’s time for my annual best and worst of the year lists.
Before we dive in, let's take a moment to look at the year that was. The general consensus seems to be that 2015 was a solid year for movies, so much so that there are too many movies that rise above the pack to be considered 'The Best' for many critics and audiences. As we speak, The Revenant, Carol, Spotlight, The Big Short, Room, and Mad Max: Fury Road are all fighting for awards and Best-of lists.
Like every year, majority of the top grossers were based on known properties or sequels. Pixar's Inside Out is the only film in the Top 10 to not be part of a series or based on a known property. Of course, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the unstoppable juggernaut of the year. Surprisingly, Jurassic World held that position for many months, becoming the third-highest grosser of all-time worldwide.
This was also the year that tried to re-live the '80s of sorts. Releases such as Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Poltergeist, and Creed were sequels or remakes of movies released in the '80s. Even the unsuccessful Pixels prominently featured '80s video game characters.
Who were the MVPs? Oscar Isaac is a clear MVP, breaking out in 2015 with such films as A Most Violent Year, Ex Machina, and The Force Awakens and impressing audiences each time. His co-star Domhnall Gleeson starred in four films this year to various success: Ex Machina, Brooklyn, The Force Awakens, and The Revenant. As for actresses, women in general had a great year; this year wasn't a year where only one or two women stood out. The women in The Duke of Burgundy, Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa, Emily Blunt in Sicario, The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Melissa McCarthy in Spy, Amy Schumer in Trainwreck, Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina and The Danish Girl, and Rey (Daisy Ridley) in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. All of these actresses and characters helped make an awesome year for women in film. Let's hope that continues in 2016.
Now, before we get to the lists it's important to note that every year there are a handful of films I am unable to get to before making my list. Sometimes the films aren't playing anywhere near my area or time just plain runs out. By my count, I was able to catch over 40 films this year, which is a touch lower than previous years. Bear in mind, there may be that one film I have yet to see that tops the list. For example, last year I wasn't able to catch Boyhood until just after the New Year. That ended up being #2 on my list. The year before, I had yet to catch up with the documentary The Act of Killing. I believe it ended up toppling 12 Years a Slave for the #1 spot that year. In 2012, I had yet to see Zero Dark Thirty, which topped my list over Beasts of the Southern Wild. And in 2011, I hadn't yet seen Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, which topped my list over Japan's 13 Assassins. So, I don't know if that will matter this year, but it is a major factor 80% of the time. What haven't I seen yet this year? Anomalisa, The Big Short, Carol, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, The Revenant, and Room.
Let's get on with it, shall we?
The Worst
Like every year, 2015 had its share of crap.
By crap, I mean those that you expected to be bad.
Here are my picks for the year’s biggest disappointments.
5. Tomorrowland
For a couple years, we heard about a mysterious project that Brad Bird - maestro of such superb family fare as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles and who had successfully transitioned into live action with 2011’s Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol – and TV’s man of mystique and adventure, Damon Lindelof (LOST) were working together on. Such writing and directing talent should make for an exciting adventure. That project was announced to be Tomorrowland, Disney’s next foray into adapting its amusement rides. It all became a lot of promise that amounted to very little.
Tomorrowland is at best a mediocre family film with nuggets of genius ideas. Unfortunately, the thrill that was promised was unfulfilled and much of what was on screen makes very little sense after a little thought. It isn’t as unbearable as many other family films released in 2015, but none of those films looked nearly as cool or exciting as Tomorrowland did in its trailers. At least we got Britt Robertson, who will undoubtedly go on to better projects.
4. Chappie
There once was a time when South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp was a promising talent. After his spectacular District 9 in 2009 he came out with the mediocre Elysium in 2012. Now, with Chappie, Blomkamp is in danger of becoming the Shyamalan of science fiction.
Like Tomorrowland, Chappie isn’t a painful experience.
But its “RoboCop meets Short Circuit in South Africa” premise failed to connect, earning only $31.5 million of its $49 million budget (Elysium suffered comparably, earning only $93 million of its $115 million budget). The negative word-of-mouth is likely due to its dim script. Instead of the intelligence that District 9 brought to sci-fi, we get something on the level of a Michael Bay contribution to the genre: dumb, mildly entertaining violence and explosions.
3. Aloha
Speaking of once mighty directors fallen from grace (a fairly consistent them in this list)… Director Cameron Crowe, who brought us such gems as Say Anything…, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous returns with a film that was pretty much dead on arrival. Crowe has pretty much struggled for the past 15 years in providing a film that isn’t uneven, forgettable, or dull. I’m one of the few that count We Bought a Zoo as the one moderate highlight during this period, bringing hope that this auteur was working his way back to good. Aloha once again puts those hopes in question. Okay, let’s set aside the odd casting choice of It Girl Emma Stone as a native Hawaiian named Capt. Ng (no, that’s not a typo).
Aloha is an unfocused film that bounces around Hawaiian mythology, a love triangle, and something about some satellite launch. None of it carries any weight or resonates. It just is. Like Tomorrowland, this is a film stuffed with talent doing whatever they can with the material they provided. Crowe is still a name that attracts acting talent, but, with films like this, that won’t be the case for very long.
2. Jupiter Ascending
The Wachowski’s keep trying to offer something unique to sci-fi cinema. Unfortunately, as decent as 2009’s Cloud Atlas was, the sibling directors, overall, keep failing in their efforts. Jupiter Ascending is no exception. I was really pulling for this film to be good. The trailers looked like the film could either be something way cool and fresh or ridiculous. I was hoping for the former, but experienced the latter.
Jupiter Ascending looks cool, but its story’s complexity sucks away the fun and its leads, Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, are saddled with poorly-conceived characters.
1. Fifty Shades of Grey
Okay, let’s set aside the silly portrayal of S&M, its supposedly provocative hook. Every love story has to have some semblance of chemistry between its leads and some reason for the lead characters to fall in love.
Fifty Shades of Grey is completely lacking in both departments. As a love story it completely fails. On top of that, the dialogue is laughably bad, the male lead character is creepy and the female is constantly objectified throughout the film. All of this stacks up to make for the worst film I’ve endured in 2015, the only film I’ve reviewed to receive less than a 4/10 (I gave it a 2). Do not waste your time on this or its inevitable sequels.
Alright, that’s enough dwelling on the muck. Let’s get to…
The Best
10. What We Do in the Shadows
This year wasn’t exactly a great year for comedies. Honestly, aside from Trainwreck – which was decent, but not as great as some would leave you to believe – there really weren’t that many. What We Do in the Shadows is a criminally underseen film that was miles above the rest.
Imagine a Real World episode with vampires. That’s essentially the premise. Jermain Clement (The Flying Conchords) stars and co-wrote this film that takes the different archetypes of the vampire (Nosferatu, Dracula, The Lost Boys, etc.) and makes them interact with each other as flatmates. The results are hilarious and incredibly clever. It’s not exactly broad comedy like you’d see in a Wayans Brothers or Friedberg & Seltzer flick; they care about the characters and are interested in what happens when they react to the world around them.
What We Do in the Shadows is easily the best comedy of the year.
9. Creed
Like Sylvester Stallone when Ryan Coogler first approached him, I was skeptical about a Rocky film that was now about the son of his greatest adversary. Then the trailer was released and my brow raised. You mean to tell me the director of 2013’s Fruitvale Station did this? The film was released, followed by glowing reviews. It became one of the best movie-going experiences of my year. Of course, it helps if you’re familiar with the first three Rocky films, which take place back-to-back and features all the characters referenced in Creed. That said, Coogler succeeded in creating a Rocky film that surpasses every sequel, one that isn’t even about Rocky Balboa. And it manages to rise above a been-there-done-that sports genre.
Creed is an affecting and rousing film. I would even name it among the Top 5 boxing movies of all time – yes, up there with Raging Bull, The Fighter, and the original Rocky.
8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Much has been written about Star Wars recently. There’s even a growing backlash from a small minority. It doesn’t matter if you were bothered by the conspicuous mimicry of the original film, the convenient timing of R2-D2, or that map.
Star Wars is back on track! That and the fact this is more than just a ‘good’ film is worth celebrating alone. After the prequels, this film had to be more than serviceable. Director J. J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek) delivered big a film that rouses the fans by giving them more of everything they love about Star Wars. Love the Millenium Falcon? Watch it do these tricks! Love the Force powers? Watch it do these cool things! Love Chewie and Han Solo? Watch as they, joined at the hip, fight even more Stormtroopers! He even gives us new characters that we can actually love!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens provides the most fun experience at the movies in 2015. It’s very hard not to love this movie, despite its imperfections, slight as they may be. Go ahead and debate how it compares to the originals. We can at least breathe a sigh of relief that it’s no Phantom Menace.
7. Amy
Through a remarkable amount of intimate video footage and voice-overs from those who knew Amy Winehouse best, we get an incredible portrait of a young woman, a rising star, an incredible talent and a tragedy. This film moves one to anger and tears, interchangeably - not just by witnessing a fellow human disappear in front of your eyes, but by the realization that Winehouse really was one of the greatest voices in pop, soul, and jazz music - like Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, or Aretha Franklin. How painfully tragic it is to know that we lost that voice due to opportunists and enablers who, by and large, shut down those who wanted to keep that voice alive.
Whether you were a fan several years ago or come to admire her through the course of this film, there's no denying Amy was one of the greats whose life ended too soon. Amy, the documentary, is one of the best of the decade.
6. The End of the Tour
Here’s probably the second of a handful of overlooked films from 2015.
The End of the Tour stars Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Jesse Eisenberg. It’s about a Rolling Stone journalist’s week with author David Foster Wallace as he goes on a tour promoting his novel The Infinite Jest. The entire film comprises mostly of just conversations between the two leads, as one is recording the other for a possible feature article. What unfolds is an experience that is poignant and captivating, subtle and intelligent. Themes of loneliness, success, ambition, and envy are explored thoughtfully and deeper than most films with more theatrical highs and lows.
The End of the Tour is a film that leaves you with a lot to chew on and will stay with you for quite some time.
5. Love & Mercy
Here’s a film with one of the year’s most generic titles, yet is one of the best you’ll see. Love & Mercy stars Paul Dano as young Brian Wilson and John Cusack as old Brian Wilson. Young Brian Wilson is just about to hit creative genius as all of the sounds and ideas in his head pour out to create the album Pet Sounds, one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Old Brian Wilson is reclusive, mentally unstable and under the thumb of an overbearing psychiatrist (Paul Giamatti) in the 1980s. Elisabeth Banks plays love interest Melinda Ledbetter, who quickly becomes Brian’s salvation. This is an unusual biopic, partly because it is one of the most accurate ever filmed. Screenwriter Michael Lerner worked closely with Wilson and his wife on nailing the details of events and consulted a biography for the early years (details of which are corroborated in this year’s documentary The Wrecking Crew, a great double-feature with this film). The Pet Sounds era is probably the most enjoyable, as it captures the experience of recording an album and makes it something exciting and magical. Dano and Cusack are superb at capturing the essence and mannerisms of Wilson, allowing the audience to get sucked in despite the back-and-forth narrative.
Love & Mercy is a film that latched on and wouldn’t let go. It provided a greater appreciation of The Beach Boys music and moved me.
4. Inside Out
It’s well-documented that Pixar has been coasting the past few years in terms of quality. Sure, Brave and Monsters University are as good, if not a bit better, than the Ice Age sequels, Despicable Me, or Madagascar (Cars 2 is Pixar at its lowest). The thing is this is the studio that built Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and WALL-E. They have always been miles above the rest in quality storytelling that transcended the ‘children’s cartoons’ label American animation often gets slapped with.
Toy Story 3 was Pixar’s last great film and it was looking pretty iffy whether or not they’d ever get there again. Inside Out may be their best film, yet. This is a film that focuses almost entirely on our emotions. Is it a good thing to always experience joy? Should we really avoid feelings of sadness? Most animated movies would provide us with a resounding ‘yes’ to both questions. Inside Out challenges that, which may surprise some parents. Hopefully, the film provides an opportunity to help their children identify their feelings. At the very least, it’s a film that every adult can identify with. As such, many will need a few tissues to get through it. Inside Out is nothing short of a brilliant achievement with an excellent voice cast and an incredibly layered script. Almost every year, I choose an animated film in my Top 10.
Inside Out is the first to very nearly become the best film of the year.
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
This film took many years to make. Nobody expected it to be so wild, so unbelievable, so fricken’ empowering for women – and so damn good! This is a Mad Max film where Max actually takes a back seat to a group of female characters, most notably Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa (that name rolls off the tongue beautifully). More than that, these women are driving the action (no pun intended). They are taking care of themselves. Max agrees to assist them, not because they can’t do it without him, rather it’s the right thing to do. Director George Miller could’ve stopped with making this an explosive, thrilling return to his original franchise. It’s enough to make a post-apocalyptic thriller on par with The Road Warrior. Miller went further by constructing one of the decade’s most progressively feminist films. 2015 became a year chock-full of female empowerment, from anti-shaming social media to pay gap decrying. Fury Road kicked it off with a heroine every gal can get behind in a popcorn film so great, it’s awards-worthy.
2. Sicario
Sicario is a taut, grisly, eye-opening thriller about the war on drugs that's the best of its kind since Traffic. Emily Blunt stars as CIA kidnapping specialist Kate Macy who is thrown into the deep murky waters that is the drug war with Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin. Blunt is kept in the dark about her role, what she's up against, and those around her, leaving her unsure who to trust or what to expect. Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) has upped his game here, delivering some incredibly tense sequences and an intriguing story for adults. Roger Deakins (Fargo, True Grit) once again creates some spectacular visuals. And Johann Johannsson (The Theory of Everything) delivers one of the year's best scores, heightening the tension of nearly every scene, even if it's just a group of people walking in the dark. Like a few others above, it’s unfortunate this film is largely overlooked and forgotten. It is a solid piece of work and definitely worthy of earning top honors throughout awards season.
1. Spotlight
What can top Inside Out, Fury Road, and Sicario? Well, by a hair, I’d say it’s Spotlight. We live in a time when true journalism - the kind that digs deep into mountains of research and uncovers the truth about a systemic problem or political corruption - is a rarity. So when a film like Spotlight, about the team of Boston Globe reporters who uncovered a massive molestation problem in the Catholic Church, comes along it's damn near exhilarating. Spotlight doesn't rake the audience over the coals with its subject's gut-wrenching reality, which is very important to understand going into it. Instead it focuses on the research, the developments, the interviews, and meetings these reporters tirelessly worked hard to get and their realizations as things fell into place and the story became bigger than expected.
Everything about Spotlight is fantastic: the script, the performances, the direction by Tom McCarthy (Win Win), the way it forces us to realize that the story is about more than the sex abuse of minors; it's about how sex abuse in the church also molests and absolutely shatters one's faith.
Honorable Mentions:
It Follows,
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,
The Gift,
The Martian,
Spy
Three other lesser-known films I feel are worth strongly recommending, but didn’t quite make my list:
Ex Machina,
Clouds of Sils Maria,
The Duke of Burgundy
Those are my picks for the best and the worst of the year. What are your picks? Leave a comment below or on Facebook.