Revised 1/9/15
Everybody’s got a year-end list. I’ve got a bunch of them.
My Top Ten Films of 2015
- Room
- The Nightmare
- The Martian
- Ex Machina
- It Follows
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Inside Out
- Sicario
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- The Revenant
Best Director
Winner: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Runner-up: David Robert Mitchell, It Follows
Honorable mentions: Rodney Ascher, The Nightmare; Alex Garland, Ex Machina; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant; Ridley Scott, The Martian; Denis Villenueve, Sicario
In general I tend to think the best director should direct the best picture, but Fury Road wasn’t in my top five and Lenny Abrahamson isn’t even on this list, so there you go. Basically even though I liked five movies more than Fury Road I still thought it was the best and most thorough example of directorial vision I’ve seen this year. Whatever that means.
Best Lead Actress
Winner: Brie Larson, Room
Runner-up: Rooney Mara, Carol
Honorable mentions: Emily Blunt, Sicario; Sidse Babbet Knudsen, The Duke of Burgundy; Elisabeth Moss, Queen of Earth; Shu Qi, The Assassin; Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
It was very difficult to choose between the top three. I ended up going with Larson because I named Room best picture, but it very easily could have gone to either of the other two.
Best Lead Actor
Winner: Tom Hardy, Legend
Runner-up: John Cusack, Love & Mercy
Honorable mentions: Bryan Cranston, Trumbo; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant; Matt Damon, The Martian; Mark Duplass, Creep; Leland Orser, Faults
Legend turned out not to be as good as I hoped it would be but Tom Hardy still impressed the hell out of me. Great performance.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina
Runner-up: Benicio del Toro, Sicario
Honorable mentions: Pit Bukowski, Der Samurai; Adam Driver, Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Tom Hardy, The Revenant; Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight; Jacob Tremblay, Room
Oscar Isaac has been sitting at the top of this list since I saw Ex Machina. There was a point when I might have considered unseating him in favor of del Toro, but I thought the better of it.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Phyllis Smith, Inside Out
Runner-up: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Honorable mentions: Jessica Chastain, Crimson Peak; Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight; Rachel McAdams, Spotlight; Natalie Press, Suffragette; Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
This was another tough category. There were times I wanted to bump Smith down to #3 and put Vikander on top. But 2015 seems to have been the Year of Vikander, although moreso for Danish Girl than Ex Machina, and…
…with all honesty, voice actors always get screwed, and as good as the ensemble of Inside Out was, I think Smith was the real lynchpin.
Best Ensemble Cast
Winner: Spotlight
Runner-up: Inside Out
Honorable mentions: The Hateful Eight; The Martian; Star Wars: The Force Awakens; What We Do in the Shadows; The Voices
This was probably the hardest to decide on: I really wanted to go with Inside Out, but there was an early draft of this list that also had Brian d’Arcy James for supporting actor (alongside Ruffalo!) and Rachel McAdams for supporting actress. So there you go.
As for the rest of the categories…
Best Writing
Original Screenplay
Winner: Inside Out
Runner-up: Ex Machina
Honorable mentions: The Hateful Eight; Sicario; Spotlight
Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Room
Runner-up: Phoenix
Honorable mentions: Mad Max: Fury Road; The Martian; The Revenant
Best Music
Best Original Score
Winner: Disasterpeace, It Follows
Runner-up: Jóhan Jóhnannson, Sicario
Honorable mentions: Cat’s Eyes, The Duke of Burgundy; Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight; Olga Neuwirth, Goodnight Mommy; Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs; Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto, The Revenant
Best Original Song
Winner: “The Final Derrière,” performed by Sparks, from The Forbidden Room
Best Use of Non-Original Music
Winner: “Waterloo,” performed by ABBA, from The Martian
Runner-up: “We Stand Tall,” performed by David Pomeranz, from Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Best Cinematography
Winner: It Follows
Runner-up: The Revenant
Honorable mentions: The Assassin; The Hateful Eight; Mad Max: Fury Road; The Martian; Sicario
Best Editing
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
Runner-up: Sicario
Honorable mentions: It Follows; Macbeth; The Martian; The Nightmare; Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Most Promising Potential Robotic Overlord
BB-8, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
OBEY ROLLERDROID!
This is a great list.
I picked the Martian as my movie of the year, over Stars Wars. Followed by Jurassic Park. Top horror was It Follows, Babadook (since it was both ’14 and 15 releases) and then honorable mention to Krampus. But reading this post made me forget just how great the Nightmare was. That may have been one of the greatest documentary/horrors I have ever seen..
Good list.
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