Film Room's Top 10 Movies of 2015 - We have a winner!

[Heelmatic]

I just watched Mad Max: Fury Road and all I can say is this past year must have really sucked in terms of movies for everybody to have this top 3.

Spoiler

I'm supposed to believe Furiosa was able to just slip them girls past EVERYBODY and hide them in that war rig? Max mumbling through the whole movie They had all that trouble getting through that mud on their way through(using a tiny tree to pull that big ass truck out of the mud) only to I guess roll right through it on their way back?

It was a good action movie but damn the rest of the movies in 2015 were awful if this was one of the best.

 

[Bobhoward]

I couldn't find a dedicated thread for Son of Saul but if you haven't seen it.. Get on it ASAP. My theater had a 35mm print this weekend and

Movie is masterfully directed, didn't realize until after that it's a directorial debut

 

[TheGodling]

fukk your opinion and fukk you too, dear reader, because the only opinion that ever mattered is here! - TheGodling, all day, every day

:gawdling::ducreux::goddammit::anger::ducreux2:

10.


​

What is there left to be said about the illustrious career of Gaspar Noé? A true l'enfant terrible of cinema, the man's reputation for capturing (and basking in) the darker side of society is as strong as ever. Love 3D is as self-indulgent and overly long as an arthouse erotic porn movie can be, but it's also quite humorous and of course exceptionally well-made as Noé remains a master of the camera, and with bizarrely effective music choices (Funkadelic and John Carpenter) the sex never gets boring. Also features the most blatant gratuitous money shot of the year, in every sense of the word.

9.


​

100 Yen Love is the story about a socially dysfunctional woman who for the first time in her life is forced to live on her own. She gets a job in a 100 yen discount store and becomes enamored with a boxer from a local gym, but the pain and struggle of the real world beat her up to a point where she either has to lay down and die or get up and fight. Even in a world where Creed exists this might really be the most motivational boxing film of the year, although it's probably hard to call it motivational or a boxing film. What it definitely is, is an incredibly strong and powerful character study filled with humor and discomfort about social dysfunction in (Japan's) society, powered by the best female performance of the year (Sakura Ando) and a groovy punk-rockish soundtrack that will make you tap your feet.

8.


​

I'm sure @FlyRy will catch a fit seeing me acknowledge one of his pretty darlings, but let's be honest, despite the criticisms I hold against The Revenant, it is one hell of an experience, of which most credit should go to Emmanuel Lubezki, the cinematographer who seems as if his gift was granted upon him by the heavens itself. It's not just a beautiful picture, it's also an intense picture, with at least two all-time classic scenes, which makes for a strong comeback for Innaritu after last year's overblown and pretentious failure Birdman

7.


​

Sometimes a film comes along that makes so much sense it makes you wonder why it wasn't made before. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, about the urban legend of the Japanese woman who froze to death searching for the buried money from Fargo (not based on a true story btw), is one of those films. Much like 100 Yen Love it's a movie about a dysfunctional woman who doesn't fit into society, but it's a lot more heavy and distraught, capturing the depression of its lead character very well in what might very well be the second best female performance of the year (Rinko Kikuchi). Minor note, I would've rated it higher if not for director David Zellner's poor decision to cast himself in a small but substantial role where he proves himself to be less than an average actor, proving once again that just because you can cast yourself in a movie, and you might want to be in a movie, it doesn't mean you should be.

6.


​

Pete Docter is Pixar. More than Lasseter or Bird. You may disagree, but you'd be wrong. Docter is an imaginative genius who brilliantly spins stories for children with adult sensibilities in a way you wish your favorite filmmaker could. Inside Out isn't any different. A brilliant concept, a brilliant execution, exceptionally clever and witty and with a powerful emotional core, it's everything a children's movie could be and frankly should be, namely one on par with the best "adult" movies. What else is left to say, other than that it might be a top three Pixar movie and we can all think of how hard it is for any movie to rightfully be called a top three Pixar movie. But this might just be.

5.


​

Although I've seen the movie very recently, and I thought it was absolutely brilliant, it still felt like it took me forever to find out what makes El Abrazo De La Serpiente tick. Shot in stark black & white and very documentary-like style, it is manically claustrophobic and intense to a point the madness captured on screen barely makes sense. But it does, and more than that, it does something near unimaginable as it nearly equals The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre in its claustrophobic madness. And I can honestly say that in the 67 years between these two movies, I can't think of one other title that truly deserves to be put on the same pedestal as that Humphrey Bogart classic. But this does.

4.


​

Does naming "Ryan Gosling" suffice? It should, but since The Big Short offers more than just the gracious presence of the actor extraordinaire, let's talk about the movie too. The anti-Wolf Of Wall Street, it's a film that seems genuinely outraged by true events it retells, yet it manages to do so with an abundance of outrageous humor, all while tip-toeing cleverly around boring facts and statistics talk despite being a movie literally about boring facts and statistics. A very strong career switch from Adam McKay from Will Ferrell comedies to satirical drama (or however the hell you want to categorize this one) who certainly has a future in making his audiences as mad as he is about the wrongs of this world (if he plans on continuing to do so, and hopefully he does).

3.


​

All Hail MacBeth. The greatest Shakespeare story of them all finally finds it way back to an epic cinematic depiction, decades upon decades after the great Orson Welles did so (actually, like The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre in comparison to El Abrazo De La Serpiente, it's been 67 years also... coincidence?). Michael Fassbender is the titular character who becomes undone by a prophecy that pushes him into a self-destructive madness unlike no other. And as a proud self-destructive madman myself, it is a thing of beauty to behold. It is also slow (but not boring), with whispery Scottish accents that will force you to listen carefully with the kind of dedication required to follow speeches about nano-molecular super structures. It requires quite a lot from its audience, but for those who can push through, it's a date with magnificence, brooding atmosphere and (again) Scottish accents. But perhaps no other element of the movie is more striking of the movie's quality as the fact that Marion Cotillard delivers in an English-speaking part. Who thought we'd ever get to see that, eh?

2.


​

In any year, it would be quite a feat to be called the most visually impressive film of the year. In a year that practically defined an evolution of the (audio)visual experience of cinema (see Love 3D, The Revenant, Son Of Saul and a certain #1 movie ahead), it's simply baffling, but Victoria pulls it off. Shot in one-take, it's a heavy and intense two hour plus experience in the streets of Berlin about a girl getting caught up with four guys in a situation beyond her control. As I write this I also realize this is the third movie in my top 10 about a woman who struggles with finding her place in society (albeit this time not Japanese society), which may or may not say quite a lot about me.... Anyway, it might be easy to call Victoria's one-take execution a "gimmick", except it actually is a huge benefit to the power of the narrative as we grow with these characters during the time we spend with them, and as we delve into beautifully powerful piano plays, off-the-wall crazy EDM partying and intense police shoot-outs, it is an experience that will last forever.

1.


​

Orson Welles once famously said that he learned everything about film-making, and in particular about editing a film from watching the famous chase scene from John Ford's Stagecoach over and over again (over forty times to be specific). He did so in preparation of making a little film called Citizen Kane. This great anecdote proved its worth this year with the arrival of the film that should be showed in film classes all over the world for the next fifty years or so, Mad Max: Fury Road. Because rarely has there been a film that showcases such an undeniably pitch perfect grasp of the technical aspects of cinema and tells a story so big with so much incredible detail, whether it be sound design, make-up or pyrotechnics, editing, camera work or set dressing. If a picture is worth a thousand words than a single frame of Fury Road is worth a million, and playing in motion you may multiply that number with a million. It is a film that builds its world in the movements of strange figures in the background, in the limited dialog full of unique slang and the hood ornaments decorating the vehicles of war. It is a simple story of redemption and hope, with the most obvious conclusion of all (that you shouldn't run away from your problems but face them head-on, which this movies does literally), yet it's more effective than any other movie of the past decade and probably the next decade. It is the ultimate audio-visual experience in cinema, a quintessential lesson in the lost art of 'show, not tell', all of which makes the film the torchbearer and golden standard for the next generation of filmmakers. Case closed.

And with the undeniable #1 film set apart from the rest of the pack, I present to you:​

TheGodling's MAD MAX: FURY ROAD 2015 (DIS)HONORABLE MENTION AWARDS

'MEDIOCRE!'
(the worst of the year)
1. The Plague At The Karatas Village
2. Black
3. Jupiter Ascending

'OH, WHAT A DAY! WHAT A LOVELY DAY!'
(the most pleasing experiences)
1. A Perfect Day
2. Little Forest: Winter/Spring
3. The Lobster

'WITNESS ME!'
(outstanding cinematographic efforts)
1. Son Of Saul
2. Sicario
3. The Assassin

'I HAD A BABY BROTHER! A LITTLE BABY BROTHER! AND HE WAS PERFECT! PERFECT IN EVERY WAY!'
(the best Mad Max rip-off)
Turbo Kid

'I LIVE! I DIE! I LIVE AGAIN!'
(comeback of the year)
Jurassic World (Jurassic Park Franchise)

'SING BROTHER KOCH. SIIIING!'
(soundtrack of the year)
1. Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) - Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Ennio Morricone - The Hateful Eight
3. Nils Frahm - Victoria

'YOU WILL RIDE ETERNAL, SHINY AND CHROME!'
(breakout performances of the year)
1. Alicia Vikander - actress of Ex Machina/The Danish Girl
2. Laslo Nemes - director of Son Of Saul
3. Sturla Brandth Grøvlen - cinematographer of Victoria/Rams

THE MAD MAX ACTOR AWARD
1. Michael Fassbender - MacBeth/Steve Jobs
2. Tom Hardy - The Revenant/Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Benicio Del Toro - Sicario/A Perfect Day

THE FURIOSA ACTRESS AWARD
1. Sakura Ando - 100 Yen Love
2. Rinko Kikuchi - Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
3. Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina/The Danish Girl

THE FIRST HISTORY MAN SCREENWRITING AWARD
1. Nick Hornsby - Brooklyn
2. Deniz Gamze Ergüven & Alice Winocour - Mustang
3. Alex Garland - Ex Machina

THE IMMORTAN JOE DIRECTOR AWARD
George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
(naming anyone else would make the enormous gap between them seem smaller)

 

[FlyRy]

@TheGodling :inarritu:

@Sensitive Blake Griffin we got us one breh! (Michael b jordan in creed voice)

#teaminarritu

 

[Xcoyote]

1.Mad Max:Fury Road
2.Anomalisa
3.Sicario
4.Hard To Be A God
5.Son of Saul
6.Bridge of Spies
7.Aferim
8.The Man From U.N.C.L.E
9.The Night Before
10.The Lobster

 

[dish lowry]

the best movie was "listen to me marlon" (marlon brando documentary)

its all compiled from audio tapes he recorded himself....the guy was crazy but he was a damn genius....i went to see the revenant a few hours later & couldn't concentrate. it makes other movies look like crap

 

[StraxStrax]

Can we get a sticky since its less then week left @hexagram23

 

[ciubaca]

I just watched Mad Max: Fury Road and all I can say is this past year must have really sucked in terms of movies for everybody to have this top 3.

Spoiler

I'm supposed to believe Furiosa was able to just slip them girls past EVERYBODY and hide them in that war rig? Max mumbling through the whole movie They had all that trouble getting through that mud on their way through(using a tiny tree to pull that big ass truck out of the mud) only to I guess roll right through it on their way back?

It was a good action movie but damn the rest of the movies in 2015 were awful if this was one of the best.

Never talk shyt about Mad max on this board. Posters will join and

 

[BobbyBooshay]

Mad Max
Kingsman
Episode 7
Creed
The Big Short
Straight Outta Compton
H8
Legend

 

[FlyRy]

I just watched Mad Max: Fury Road and all I can say is this past year must have really sucked in terms of movies for everybody to have this top 3.

Spoiler

I'm supposed to believe Furiosa was able to just slip them girls past EVERYBODY and hide them in that war rig? Max mumbling through the whole movie They had all that trouble getting through that mud on their way through(using a tiny tree to pull that big ass truck out of the mud) only to I guess roll right through it on their way back?

It was a good action movie but damn the rest of the movies in 2015 were awful if this was one of the best.

:Jimmy:

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

1. The Revenant
2. Mad Max
3. Ex Machina
4. Star Wars
5. Inside Out
6. Hateful Eight
7. Beasts of no nation (maybe this shyt should be higher...it's such a goddamn depressing film though )
8. Straight Outta Compton
9. Sicario
10. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

 

[StraxStrax]

I'm watching Bridge of Spies and I can't understand for the life of me why someone would put this on a top 10 list. Its decent but c'mon.
Someone who likes please explain why you do like it.

 

[ciubaca]

I'm watching Bridge of Spies and I can't understand for the life of me why someone would put this on a top 10 list. Its decent but c'mon.
Someone who likes please explain why you do like it.

Its a good movie in a year without any great movies .
Sure, it's not an R rated wacky races but, it's pretty good



I dont see your top 10

 

[StraxStrax]

Its a good movie in a year without any great movies .
Sure, it's not an R rated wacky races but, it's pretty good



I dont see your top 10

I'd say it was year of 4 great movies, at least. I'm playing catch up so my list will go up at the deadline like I said in the OP. Watched 2 today, will watch 1-2 more.

 

[ciubaca]

I'd say it was year of 4 great movies, at least. I'm playing catch up so my list will go up at the deadline like I said in the OP. Watched 2 today, will watch 1-2 more.

please name these so called "great movies" so i can hate



pls dont say mad max