The best time of the year has arrived. With 2015 behind us, it's time to take a look at the film industry ahead of the Academy Awards. This past year I managed to see 17+ films in the theater, which I've attempted to highlight below. Enjoy.
Films
Anomalisa
Brooklyn
The Revenant
The Martian
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Spotlight
Inside Out
Steve Jobs
The Big Short
Room
Bridge of Spies
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Mad Max: Fury Road
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Pawn Sacrifice
Ex Machina
Jurassic World
Carol
Thoughts
The Fregoli Delusion is a rare disorder where a patient believes that everyone else is actually the same person in disguise, and is also the subject of Anomalisa, my favorite film of the year. From the brilliant mind of Charlie Kaufman, who has brought us films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation, comes a story about a man having a severe existential crisis and an inability to connect with others. As he checks into the The Fregoli Hotel to attend a customer service conference in which he is the keynote speaker, his alienation and disillusionment become apparent as every person he encounters sounds the same to him. That is, until he hears a new voice, that belonging to a woman named Lisa - who appears to be an anomaly that cuts through the din of his humdrum existence. But is she really an anomaly? Without spoiling this uniquely cerebral film, I will say that the movie is full of irony, open to interpretation, and demands multiple viewings. Kaufman has crafted a surreal dream-like world reminiscent of Linklater's Waking Life. The entire movie is stop-motion and made using puppets and props created from 3D printers, which was especially striking during an extremely realistic sex scene. This is a film you don't want to miss.
I have to admit that Brooklyn is one of the best coming-of-age films I've seen to date. A serious romantic drama set in the 1950s, the film tells the story of a girl caught between two worlds that she has to choose between: her hometown in Ireland, and the foreign land of New York to which she initially immigrates. Set in a time period where chivalrous behavior was prevalent, each world lures her with its own suitor and future possibilities and opportunities. The deep inner conflict she is tormented with reverberates throughout the film, and it is only by facing the conflict head-on and overcoming it can she grow from a girl to a woman. The screenplay for Brooklyn is written by Nick Hornby, who also wrote the script for Wild, my favorite film last year. There are scenes in the movie set in Ireland that remind me of Malick's Days of Heaven, and there is at least one scene involving an Irish folk song being sung that reminds me of the feeling of otherworldliness in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Overall, Brooklyn was a very solid movie.
The most shockingly awesome film this year was The Revenant, a movie whose hauntingly beautiful realism will leave you completely stunned. Loosely based on real events and set in the snowy winter of 1823 in what is now South Dakota, the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio who plays Hugh Glass, a scout in the American Frontier that was mauled by a bear and left for dead by a member of his party of fur trappers. Holding onto the few breaths of life that are still within him, Glass literally rises from the dirt grave he has been thrown in and goes on a 200-mile journey to find the man that betrayed him. While the film is centered around age-old themes of greed, endurance, survival, and redemption, the way in which the events are portrayed are nothing less than a chilling visual poem. The Revenant was filmed entirely in natural light and freezing weather by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who was also the cinematographer for The Tree of Life and Gravity. Through these visuals, the film really transports you back into history and lets you relive the brutal time when frontiersmen explored the uncharted American West in the 1800s, and how they devoured raw animal flesh and fought violent battles with Native Americans just to survive. It is like the primal state of nature described by philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Everything you see - the mountains, the rivers, the snow, the blood, everything - is so vividly visualized that it takes your breath away. This is a film that stays with you long after the credits roll.
Quotes
"Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves?" -Mad Max: Fury Road
"What is it to be human? What is it to ache? What is it to be alive?" -Anomalisa
"Our time is limited, we forget that." -Anomalisa
"Everyone is one person but you and me. You're the only other person in the world." -Anomalisa
"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight." -The Revenant
"I ain't afraid to die anymore - I'd done it already." -The Revenant
"When there is a storm and you stand in front of a tree, if you look at its branches, you swear it will fall. But if you watch the trunk, you will see its stability." -The Revenant
"We’re at war – only it’s not being fought with guns and missiles, not yet – it’s a war of perception." -Pawn Sacrifice
"You do the math - you solve one problem, then you solve the next one. And then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home." -The Martian
"Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra." -Steve Jobs
"The plan will reveal itself to you when you’re ready to see it." -Steve Jobs
"Every time they hit him, he stood back up again. Soldier hit him harder, still he got back to his feet. I think because of this they stopped the beating and let him live." -Bridge of Spies
"No one is strong alone." -Room
"All I can say is that it will pass. Homesickness is like most sicknesses. It'll make you feel wretched, and then it'll move on to somebody else." -Brooklyn
"I don't know what I want you to know." -Brooklyn
"There are no accidents and everything comes full circle. No explanation I offer will satisfy you." -Carol
"Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we spend most of our time stumbling around in the dark." -Spotlight
"The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead." -Star Wars: The Force Awakens
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." (Mark Twain) -The Big Short
"Take her to the moon for me." -Inside Out
"But in the end, you will understand." -Sicario
Great list. I would probably tack on Creed, Son of Saul, Beasts of No Nation, and The Danish Girl.
I've seen most of these movies on this list, and my rankings are approximately similar. The Martian and Bridge of Spies fall a little lower for me, Ex Machina a little higher. Star Wars was good and well-executed. But it didn't quite resonate with me as much. Did seem like a safe play as the story felt a little too familiar.
The Revenant wasn't a good movie. Take away the nice scenery and you've got nothing left.
I just saw The Revenant this past weekend. For me, this movie is only ok. The story lacked any kind of real depth and reminded me too much of a half baked Dances With Wolves. The filming and scenery are incredible though, some amazing shots. I think this movie will get polarizing reviews from people.
I'll agree that The Revenant is a little light on exploring the inner complexities of the main characters and showing how they evolve. For instance, I would have liked to see the film go deeper into Tom Hardy's character. There is a great scene when he describes how his dad found God in the wilderness in the form of a squirrel, but didn't hesitate to eat it. It would have been really interesting to transition to a flashback at that point and show how Hardy became this atheistic, immoral, 'every-person-for-himself' type figure. But aside from the mind-blowing visuals and great musical score, the film also had amazing acting performances from DiCaprio and Hardy.
I'm glad that DiCaprio won best actor for drama at the Golden Globes last night, along with The Revenant winning best drama picture. Most of the awards were reasonable, but I would have picked Anomalisa over Inside Out for the animated category (both were excellent though). And Brooklyn should have at least been nominated for best drama instead of Carol.
Good stuff. Thank you.
Anybody seen Trumbo? It's generating some Oscar buzz.
Is Creed good? Saw Southpaw and thought it was pretty decent. Wish they actually did major boxing movies on real people: Tyson, Ali, Pac-Man, etc.
Thought it was decent. I'm a Philadephian so I loved the Philly ties and stuff, so I'm a little bias. It wasn't revolutionary or a "must-see" movie by any means though. The last fight was pretty damn good though.
I would put Mad Max (film of the year for me) and Sicario in the top category and would move the Martian down to the second category. Other than that, solid list.
I would say Everest was a good movie (adaptation from Into Thin Air)
Sorry, the Revenant sucked - the scenery was the only good part. Sicario sucked too, the music was the only good part.
New Star Wars was good enough. Creed was good enough. Mad Max was good enough (although Tom Hardy sucked, and I'm a fan).
Jurassic World was OK. Steve Jobs was OK.
Big Short was solid. Ex Machina was solid.
That is all.
Beasts of No Nation was a solid movie that I recommend seeing if you have not
No love for The Man from UNCLE?
Thanks for the list, +1. Made me realize how little I went to the theater this year. Got some catching up to do.
I really liked The Revenant. Loved the Big Short.
Decently liked Room. Was hoping Jacob Tremblay would get a nomination at least, because he was awesome. I was very impressed.
Jurassic Park was awful.
If you haven't watched Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, it's well worth the time. My top 2015 movie.
Thanks for the info I will definitely check out the revenant.
I started keeping a spreadsheet a few months ago:
Red Knot (2014): 6/10 Insurgent (2015): 5.5/10 Manhattan Romans (2012): 2/10 Pumping Iron (1977): 5.5/10 Jurassic World (2015): 5.5/10 The Martian (2015): 8/10 Sisters (2015): 4/10 Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008): 5.5/10 The Hateful Eight (2015): 7.5/10 Brooklyn (2015): 3.5/10 Bad Grandpa (2013): 5.5/10 Borat (2006): 6.5/10 This is 40 (2012): 3.5/10 Seven Psychopaths (2012): 7.5/10 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): 4.5/10
How are people clamoring about Mad Max? It had absolutely no story or character development. And I'm not at all the type of person who usually bitches, or even watches for, that type of thing. It was just a two-hour-long, visually stunning chase scene.
I really thought Sicario and Emily Blunt were snubbed for the Oscars.
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