Let's not waste time with introductions, We've been waiting for this all year. Without hesitation and with much tribulation, here are the best movies of 2015:
10. The Assassin
Set in 8th century China, The Assassin is as elegant as the time period. Shot with beautiful artistic intent that makes some scenes look like paintings, it's a beautiful movie about a ruthless subject. Torn between her devotion to her master and the love she once knew, a young assassin with no equal must make a decision her training never prepared her for. The Assassin is made in the tradition of classic martial arts films like A Touch of Zen while maintaining a vivid style thanks to New Wave master director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.
Shu Qi in The Assassin. (Well Go USA)
9. Brooklyn
"...I find that girl utterly delightful. Flat as a board, enormous birthmark in the shape of Mexico over half her face, sweating for hours in that sweltering kitchen while Mendl, genius that he is, looms over her like a hulking gorilla. Yet, without question, without fail, always and invariably, she's exceedingly lovely. Why? Because of her purity."
These words, about Saoirse Ronan's character, Agatha, in last year's best film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, should always be liberally applied to the actress. Ronan's purity is on full display in Brooklyn, the movie she was born for, as a young Irish immigrant who falls in love in America and eventually must choose between her new life and the one she left behind. It's the perfect compliment of material and performer and, besides that, is a rare violence-free drama that feels true. Like Ronan, it's "exceedingly lovely."
Saoirse Ronan and Emory Cohen in Brooklyn. (Fox Searchlight)
8. Mistress America
You know how John Hughes movies always end with a beautiful moment between two people and a killer song? That's what Mistress America is like for 84 minutes. It's a throwback comedy—Noah Baumbach's best since The Squid and the Whale—and it contains the funniest character of the year. Brooke Cardinas, played by co-writer Greta Gerwig, is a popular girl, now age 30 and overachieving more than ever, all while living on the steroid that is New York City. She's a cavalcade of charm, arrogance, and spontaneity all at once—a female Ferris Bueller. It's no accident her new step-sis to be (Lola Kirke) worships her instantly. Anyone who doesn't know better would.
Tracy gets breakfast in Mistress America. (Fox Searchlight)
7. It Follows
The scariest movie of the year pivots on a villain that slowly walks, agonizingly, towards the hero so she can run, but she can't hide. But the wonderful ingenuity of the terror is only half the story of It Follows, which is directed with wide-angle spacing and '80's-era art direction and music. Imagine if Risky Business was a horror film. It Follows has the realistic sensibilities of an '80s drama and a modern art house film, but it builds and builds like the great thrillers. It'll stay with you long after it ends.
6. Ex Machina
Brilliantly simple and profound at once, Ex Machina is a sci-fi thriller that imagines what the world's first artificial intelligence might look like and how man might respond. With a cast of four characters, writer/director Alex Garland hones in on the truth: that man, given the chance to create life, would ultimately screw it up. Human nature, for all its smarts, is still fatally flawed. Why? Are we driven by our sexual desires above all? By our egos? Our true selves can be seen in the eyes of Ava (Vikander), the A.I. who may be more human than any of us.
Sonoya Mizuno in Ex Machina. (Universal)
5. Sicario
Set against the drug war and featuring a sequence that bravely drives into the most dangerous part of Mexico City, Sicario will take you to the front lines of a battle most people aren't even aware of. Imagine the second season of Breaking Bad with an extra 5000 volts. And that's just the setting. The story, centered around a tough, but in over her head FBI agent (Blunt), carries the stench of mortality and has the same special ops credibility as films like Zero Dark Thirty. It's a master class in how to build suspense by director Denis Villeneuve, who's quickly becoming one of the best directors working today.
Emily Blunt in Sicario. (Lionsgate)
4. Carol
Carol boasts the aesthetic of love. It's director Todd Haynes' way, but the Vaseline-lens sentimentality echoes the past. That's where Haynes takes us to tell his very modern tale of two women free-falling in love in 1948. It's an intense romance with a well-hidden twist. Will love be denied, or prevail? I love how this movie feels, like an old photograph in your hand. It's delicate and is made with an artist's attention to detail. Plus it stars two of the most emotionally-open actresses working today and watching them share scenes is intense. This is what romance looks like.
Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in Carol. (The Weinstein Company)
3. Spotlight
A whipsmart movie about uncovering an unspeakable evil, Spotlight unfolds like a classic crime novel. It's a master class on how to structure a journalistic procedural. Every shot and scene feels important. The bad guys are sighted, identified, and then pursued with that righteous ambition that only great movies can convey. It's a good vs. evil film where the separation grows further away the more you know. So you root for the good guys that much harder. Spotlight is also a character film, and each actor gives a special performance in some way. It's probably the most complete film of the year, from script to performance to visual storytelling.
Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian d'Arcy James, Michael Keaton and John Slattery in Spotlight. (Open Road Films)
2. The Revenant
Like the next movie on this list, The Revenant is the product of incredible labor you can feel in every frame. How did men live like this? Set in 1823, the revenge story is amped up from the novel and the movie carries a constant sense of danger. It's a primal film about base instinct and the fight for life. It's about man's capacity to outthink the elements and survive at any cost. And how that struggle can be stoked by the fire of revenge. It's a simple story with profound implications. And the technique cannot be denied. Some of the shots are downright impossible. Along with Birdman last year, The Revenant is proof director Alejandro González Iñárritu is firing on all cylinders. We're witnessing a great filmmaker in his prime.
The Revenant. (20th Century Fox)
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
It's unlike anything else. Forget the slave labor the film took to produce, the blood and sweat apparent in every perfect frame of Mad Max: Fury Road. There's an originality to the vision that shines so bright because no other film comes close. Star Wars looks like kids' stuff next to this. The action doesn't stop. Fury Road is the most urgent movie of the year, the most suspenseful, and the most cinematic. The details are immense, from the fleet of hellish vehicles to the chrome-painted War Boys. All of it suctions you into this world you can't believe is real. I never wanted it to end.
Hugh Keays-Byrne in Mad Max: Fury Road. (Warner Brothers)
The next 20: Inside Out, Anomalisa, Best of Enemies, Phoenix, The Big Short, The Hateful Eight, Finder's Keepers, Prophet's Prey, '71, Son of Saul, Creed, Digging For Fire, Mustang, 99 Homes, Tangerine, Bridge of Spies, Black Mass, The Wolfpack, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Beasts of No Nation
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