I am not a fan of lists. What makes one film better then others? Why is my number one film better then my son’s? He loved the Jack Black movie Goosebumps. My wife loved the the Tina Fey comedy Sisters. Do I judge them? In secret. Yes. But in reality movies have to move people. Move them to cry, laugh, scream, shout. Their favourites are not mine but how can I say they are wrong. People may look at my list and think I’m nuts. So what? I know I am late with a best films of 2015 list. I wanted to watch as much as I could before I could sit down and try to think and write of 10 movies that stirred me up.
10) ROOM: Lenny Abrahamson’s adaption of Emma Donoghue’s novel is a powerful story of the cliché, the “triumph of the human spirit”. But there is nothing clichéd about Room. This is a gut wrenching story of a 5 year old boy and his mother, both held captive in a backyard garden shed. The film follows their experiences in the outside world when they break free of their prison. The performances of Brie Larson and 7 year old Jacob Tremblay are stunning.
9) CHI-RAQ: This is Spike Lee’s best film in years. It is a totally original film on the state of Chicago’s gang culture. A group of women withhold sex from their men to force them to stop killing each other. Told in Lee’s distinctive visual style, this is a bold slap in the face for people to wake up to the gun violence problem.
8) STEVE JOBS: Director Danny Boyle and writer Aaron Sorkin. You had me at them. Throw in Michel Fassebender’s amazing portrayal of the Apple Mogul and side him with Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels and Seth Rogen doing career best work and you got something special.
7) THE REVENANT: Alejandro G. Inarritu’s epic, brutal western contains amazing visuals and pulse pounding sequences not for the squeamish. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass is a man of few words but a man with great determination as he treks through hundreds of miles of frozen wilderness to exact revenge on the man who killed his son.
6) BROOKLYN: Someone said to me nothing happens in John Crowley’s film Brooklyn. I said to the person you didn’t really pay attention. This is a sweet and touching romance that also serves as a portrait of the immigrant experience.
5) THE BIG SHORT: The Big Short is Adam McCay’s biographical look at the 2008 financial crisis that is written and directed so well, never did I once scratch my head and wonder what the hell is going on. I stink at math and have no idea on the goings on of banks but the filmmakers take us, rather entertainingly, through the steps on how American Banks crippled the US economy.
4) BRIDGE OF SPIES: Steven Spielberg directs Tom Hanks in a cold war thriller co-written by the Coen brothers. That is all I need to say.
3) CREED: If someone told me last year that Creed, aka Rocky 7, would be good, I would have laughed my ass off. I’m not laughing now. This is not only good, I rank it as better then all the Rocky sequels and put it on par with the original. Director Ryan Coogler has done the impossible. He made Sylvester Stallone an actor again while establishing a major new talent in star Michael B. Jordan.
2) STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS: All involved in the making of this nostalgic ode to my youth should be rewarded and given free reign to do what they want from now on. They took a broken and battered franchise and put new life into it. I told my kids teacher that he had a doctors appointment so that he’d get half a day off from school so that him and I could go see this on opening day. Irresponsible parent, maybe, satisfied moviegoer. You bet.
1) INSIDE OUT: A Pixar Studios masterpiece. I always wondered how the writers and directors over there explained this story to whoever says yes and pays to create new projects. The story of 5 emotions that live in the mind of a young girl and how they are thrown for a loop when their happy host has to move to a new city. What a concept. It’s an emotional adventure film that will leave you crying and smiling by the end. Parents and children should all be able to relate to this story. If they gave Oscars for voice talent, give one to Amy Poehler for her character Joy and another to Phyllis Smith for her version of Sadness. Two amazing performances that rank with the best of the year.
