Jay's Best Films of 2015

Jay here!

Well it's Oscar time and I know its a bit late, but it seemed like an appropriate time, like Matt, to release my picks for the best films of the year. I did list mine in order of preference so please enjoy and feel free to comment!

10. Love & Mercy

Directed by Bill Polhad

Starring John Cusak, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti

The creative force behind The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson was one of the most innovative songwriters to come out of the 1960's. Bill Polhand's intimate biopic chronicles Wilson's life during two key moments - when he conceived, wrote, and recorded Pet Sounds in 1966, considered today to be one of the greatest albums of all time - and later in life, in the 1980's when he met and fell in love with model-turned-used-car-salesperson, Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks). Paul Dano plays Wilson during his younger period and he does a fantastic job of portraying the young songwriter at a time when he was both at his creative peak and also starting to manifest many of the psychological conditions that would ultimately derail his career and life. Brian suffered from auditory hallucinations, a rare mental disorder that caused him to literally hear music and voices in his head. He eventually turned to self-medicating through alcohol, cocaine and other hallucinogenic drugs and fell out with the band. Wilson became a recluse until he was put into the care Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). Landy became a dominant presence in Wilson's life in his 30's and 40's. Now being portrayed by John Cusak, we see a broken man who is a shell of the genius who wrote such songs as "God Only Knows", "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B.". His doctor keeps him doped up with psychotropic drugs, meant to help him function, while he also continues to manipulate Wilson into making him his business partner and beneficiary in his will. It is only through the love and perseverance of Melinda that Brian is able get back a sense of self and free himself of Landy's corrosive influence. Love & Mercy is the kind of biopic I really like. Instead of focusing on all of its subjects life it chooses to focus on just these two periods and gives us everything we need to know about who this man was, the struggles he had to go through to deal with his inner demons, and why he meant so much to music in the 20th century.

9. Star Wars: Episode VII, The Force Awakens

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Issac, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill

Star Wars is back! I have to admit, I was skeptical because, honestly, I've never understood why J.J. Abrams is seen as the second coming of Speilberg. To me there simply is no comparison. Mostly because Abrams, for the most part has made his reputation on making films that are not original creations but another number in a series he did not conceive. Even Super 8, owes so much to Speilberg and his biggest hit on television, Lost, was actually the brain child of Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to be fair. The Force Awakens is no exception to this trend. If we want to be critical, it is even a worse example of how Abrams' claim to fame is only to simply capture the same cathartic response we had to an original property that came out years before. Episode VII comes dangerously close to crossing the line of being an egregious copy of the original 1977 film, A New Hope. There is no getting around that fact. But, if given the choice between this movie and Attack of the Clones (in my opinion, the worst Star Wars entry) then I will take this one all day long. Despite my misgivings, J.J. Abrams has given us one of the most entertaining movies in years with new characters that already seem iconic and perfect for this new generation. Daisy Ridley is the stand out here. Her Rey heralds in the new age of female empowerment and the moment that lightsaber flies into her hands remains one of the most exciting scenes of the year. Adam Driver is equally mesmerizing as the immature and misguided Sith wannabe, Kylo Ren. I applaud the decision to give us a complex villain who challenges our ideas on what embracing the Dark Side might mean. Making a reluctant Stormtrooper one of the heroes was a stroke of genius and John Boyega has some of the best and funniest moments in the film. And, of course, I cannot forget to mention Harrison Ford's effortless return to the role that made him a household name, Han Solo. His back and forth with Chewbacca was essential to making this feel all the more familiar again. So, I am willing to suspend disbelief when I see a giant Death Star-like planet absorb a sun and not send every other planet in the system hurtling into the void of space. Because, for the first time in years, I felt like a kid again, watching a movie about a boy, a girl and a galaxy.

8. Phoenix

Directed by Christiian Petzold

Starring Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld and Lene Winter

I knew next to nothing about this German film before sitting down in a darkened theater to watch it last summer. Boy, was I surprised at how much I liked it. A young Jewish woman, Nelle (Nina Hoss), returns home after spending years in a concentration camp. Her face is completely bandaged due to facial reconstruction surgery that was necessary after her ordeal. Instead of leaving with her friend to start a new life in the growing state of Israel, she chooses to to search for her husband, Johnny (Ronald Zehtfeld), who thinks she is long since dead and in a disturbing twist, may or may not have turned in to the Nazis. Anyone who knows me really well knows about my unabated love for Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 masterpiece, Vertigo. Well, once Nele finds Johnny, who does not know she is his wife comeback from the horrors of war, Petzold's film reveals itself as a play on many of the same themes of Hitchcock's dark, romantic thriller. Johnny concocts a scheme to get his deceased (not really) wife's money by remaking this woman he has met into a carbon copy of her. He orchestrates everything from her hair to her clothes to how she walks and carries herself. He does all of this oblivious that this shy woman, who just happens to look a little like his late spouse, is hiding her true identity from him. Hoss gives one of the best performances of the year and her work in this film was unsurprisingly overlooked by the Academy this year. The final scene of Phoenix is really breathtaking, as everything comes full circle. Its one of the best endings to movie I've seen in a long time.

7. Sicario

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro

Here I am, down to #7 on my list and as you look all these films a pattern has certainly emerged. 2015 was a great year for roles written for women and almost every movie I've picked this year has a strong feminist theme running through it. Sicario is an interesting choice when you follow this train of thought. It certainly has a strong heroine in Kate Mercer (Emily Blunt), an idealistic FBI agent. She actually has a lot in common with Clarice Starling, the protagonist of Silence of the Lambs, but instead of hunting serial killers, Mercer is tackling a larger, more unyielding problem; the rise in power of the Mexican drug cartels along the U.S. border. Unlike Clarice, who also operates within a profession dominated by men, Kate's journey into this violent and morally compromised world threatens to not only literally kill her but also destroy her sense of right and wrong. Recruited by a clandestine group of CIA agents led by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), Kate joins the fight to suppress the cartels that operate out of Juarez, Mexico. But, soon she finds that the rules that she is used to playing by have been tossed aside and for the first time she may be seriously out of her depth. Benecio Del Toro gives one of his best performances in years as the mysterious, Alejandro, a particularly vicious member of the team who keeps his agenda to himself until the final moments of the film. Sicario is not only action-packed but is unmistakably timely in the current climate of debate over the border with Mexico and the rise of the cartels that exploit it.

6. (tie) Amy

Directed by Asif Kapadia

Cobain: Montage of Heck

Directed by Brett Morgen

Ok, I know a tie is kind of cheating, but these two documentaries had many similarities. They are both about music superstars whose lives were cut short in the prime of their careers. Amy Winehouse's life is deftly captured on film by Asif Kapadia. It's a heart wrenching look at the singers slow decent in to drug and alcohol abuse, as the pressures of stardom and the bad influences of some of those around her take her down a dark road. Montage of Heck explores that inner thoughts and life story of the legendary front man of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. The film is an often awkward look into a very troubled mind and gives a unique perspective on Kurt's mental condition. Both of these excellent movies were my favorite docs of the year.

5. Ex Machina

Directed by Alex Garland

Starring Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Issac

Written and directed by Alex Garland, Ex Machina feels more like a stage play then a science fiction film. It's all so intimate and tightly controlled. A young programmer named,Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a company competition to spend a week with the CEO of the giant tech company he works for. He is flown out to a secluded house where he asked by his eccentric boss, Nathan (a fantastic Oscar Issac) to interview a new form of artificial intelligence he has created. He calls her Ava (Alicia Vikander) and she is something no one has ever seen before. As Caleb gets to know Ava, more and more, he begins to question Nathan's agenda as he finds himself drawn to the android more and more. Ex Machina further explore the familiar theme of what it means to be human, but it does it in a wholly original way that feels more personal. It also is special for having the best impromptu dance scene and the best house that everyone wants to live in.

4. Inside Out

Directed by Pete Doctor

Starring Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black and Mindy Kaling

The best Pixar movie since 2009's Up, Inside Out is an endearing and meaningful story about the complicated emotions of a young girl named Riley. We are given a unique glimpse inside Riley's brain where five the most basic emotions(Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger)are personified in individual characters that express those feelings. Chief among these is Joy (voiced by Amy Phoeler), who is the de-facto leader because happiness has been the dominate emotion for most of Riley's young life. But, that all changes when her family is forced to uproot and move to another town, leaving all of her friends and everything that was comfortable and stable behind. Enter Sadness (a brilliantly casted Phyllis Smith from TVs The Office), who begins to play a larger role in Riley's mind and emotions. As the young girl's troubles begin to mount up and her depression grows and grows, Joy and Sadness must go on a journey through Riley's subconscious on a quest to restore her core memories and try and help her deal with deal with her first step towards leaving childhood behind. Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling and Lewis Black do excellent work voicing Fear, Disgust and Anger respectively. Also, I can't forget to mention the fantastic voice work of Richard Kind as "Bing Bong", Riley's forgotten imaginary friend, whom she has tucked away in the deep recesses of her memory. "Bing Bong" is instrumental in helping Joy and Sadness complete their quest to restore balance to Riley's life.

3. It Follows

Directed by David Robert Mitchell

Starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi and Daniel Zovatto

Taking suburban paranoia, urban decay and teenage sexual exploration, David Robert Mitchell gave us one of the best horror films in 20 years with It Follows. The premise may be well known by now, young girl has sex for the first time with boy she is dating only to have him inform her that he has passed on a kind-of curse to her. From now on she will be presumed by a mysterious entity that can take the form of anyone. It's goal is to kill her and the only thing that can save her is to have pass it on by having sex with someone else so that the entity will go after them instead. It Follows is all about building dread and tension. As a throw back to John Carpenter's early films it also has the best score of the year as its menacing synth soundtrack manages to fill you with nostalgia while the visuals of a bankrupt and decaying Detroit remind us of the hollowing out of America and the hopelessness of the struggle of today's youth.

2. Room

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

Starring Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridges, Joan Allen and William H. Macy

The most moving film of the year,for me, was Lenny Abrahamson's brilliant little film called Room. Brie Larson gives the best performance of the year as a young mother, imprisoned for 7 years in a tiny room with her 5-year-old son, Jack (played with astounding talent by young newcomer, Jacob Trembley). What's great about Room is that it isn't really about the crime that was committed in the kidnapping of this young woman and it isn't about the man who did this to her (both mother and son refer to him as "Old Nick"). It's really about the relationship between a boy and his mother and what happens when they are finally freed from their prison and Jack is exposed to the world for the first time. This movie has two of the best scenes of the year. The first is when young Jack sees the sky for the first time from the back of Old Nick's truck and the second is when he is introduced to his grandfather's dog for the first time. Not a dry eye in the house, I tell you. After this and the wonderful Short Term 12 from a few years back, Larson has quickly become one of my favorite actresses working today. Room is about mothers and sons, the bonds of family and how people heal each other after significant trauma. 

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

Directed by George Miller

Starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Nicolas Hoult 

Maybe it will surprise no one that my favorite movie of 2015 was definitely George Miller's return to glory, Mad Max: Fury Road. I have always thought 1982's, The Road Warrior was one of the best action movies of all time, read my appreciation of it here, but Miller managed to surpass himself with this latest entry in his post-apocalyptic opus. And he did at the tender age of 70 and over 30 years after he last made a Mad Max movie. This is about as good as an action film can be. The visuals are nothing short of spectacular, with minimal CGI used to enhance some scenes. It's possibly the most beautiful thrill ride ever shot. The entire movie is essentially one big car chase and the stunts harken back to do day when stunt people did some insane shit. Next there is the story itself. Sparse, compact and direct, Fury Road doesn't play down to its audience by explaining any of its themes. It is obvious from the moment Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) steals that War Rig with five of Imorten Joe's (Hugh Keays-Bryne) prize "breeders". This movie is a master class in economic plotting and it hits harder on both a cathartic and emotional level than most of the celebrated dramas of the year. Tom Hardy steps effortlessly into the role of Max Rockatansky, captured by Joe's War Boys and forced into a kind of slavery for his blood. Max's story runs parallel to Furiosa, who really steals the movie. She is a woman desperate to lead her charges to a better life in this blasted landscape. Every frame and shot of this film is near to perfection and it is all owed to George Miller. The technique that is on display here is astounding. No one else could have made this movie except Miller. It most certainly is Oscar worthy for every single ounce of blood, sweat and tears you can see up there on the screen. It deserves recognition for the craft it took to make it happen and for the emotional uppercut it lands with each crashing car and each scream of "Witness!!!" ....... Witness, indeed ......