2015: The Year in Review
What Happened to Me in the Dark
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
It was a strange year, with not much critical consensus on the year's best films, except, astoundingly, for a specific summer blockbuster sequel. That, plus two other series reboots from the 1970s seemed to rule the critics' hearts. (We continue to look to the 1970s for inspiration; perhaps we finally found it?) There were fewer blatant Oscar-mongering works, and two of those were given a fresh coat of paint by comedy directors like Jay Roach and Adam McKay. Some of the most acclaimed films featured strong ensemble acting, and there were subsequently few standout, showboat performances in any particular movie. There were more interesting foreign films and documentaries available, animated movies continued to push the boundaries, and streaming made more things available (both good and bad). Overall, I think my favorite films this year were about acts of courage in the face of doubt. Best of all were the films about kindness and compassion, films that acknowledged both joy and sadness, both intangible and personified.
Following my top ten films, please find my ten runners-up and my ten
honorable mentions, followed by great performances, my favorite DVD and
Blu-ray releases, and, lastly, my list of the year's worst.
- The Top Ten -
10. Creed
If Rocky was one of the best movies of 1976, and Creed is every bit as
good, then doesn't it deserve a slot here? It sure does. Director Ryan
Coogler starts out his quasi-sequel with a series of strong
juxtapositions, and then it becomes clear that the entire movie is
roiling with conflict, from Michael B. Jordan's fights inside and
outside the ring to girlfriend's Tessa Thompson's impending hearing
loss. On top of it all is Sylvester Stallone, moving beyond mere movie
star and giving an outright great performance.
9. Sicario
French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve continues to surprise,
turning in a drug-war thriller that feeds on uncertainty and cynicism.
Yet Sicario is still hugely entertaining, and amazingly good-looking
with cinematography by Roger Deakins that quietly observes — and subtly
questions. Emily Blunt is one of the year's much-needed strong heroines,
maneuvering through the complex plot not quite sure of what's going on,
and Benicio Del Toro delivers some of his finest work.
8. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson doesn't seem to get as much credit as he
deserves, perhaps because his movies are essentially comedies. It
doesn't matter that they are tragically absurd comedies, with piercing
portraits of human existence. The third in a trilogy, A Pigeon Sat on a
Branch Reflecting on Existence uses its Gilliamesque, Wellesian
compositions to illustrate the silly, sad ways in which we try to fill
our time, and how misguided we can become in those quests.
7. The Royal Road
San Francisco's Jenni Olson ought to be considered among the best
"experimental" filmmakers in the country, or at least among the makers
of non-traditional films. Her The Royal Road is part essay film, using
gloriously contemplative static shots to discuss the history of
California, part LGBT film, and part romance, with the heartbroken
narrator telling the story of an unrequited love. Even with nary a human
soul portrayed visually (except the stern visage of Father Junipero
Serra), this is a moving, thoughtful experience.
6. Mad Max: Fury Road
Back in 1985, Roger Ebert included Miller's Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
on his ten best list, beginning his review with "it's not supposed to
happen this way." How could Miller, a maker of sequels and light
entertainments, be one of the best directors working today? How could he
revisit this ancient franchise after three decades and deliver one of
the most expert, beautiful, thoughtful, and — should I say it? —
profound summer action blockbusters of all time? Fluid in technique as
well as in idea, Mad Max: Fury Road puts us in the driver's seat with
the simple reminder that all of us are made up of the same stuff.
5. Maps to the Stars
Could it be that David Cronenberg, one of the finest filmmakers alive
today, has passed through his critical day in the sun? In the last
decade, critics began to embrace his post-horror films, but his latest,
Maps to the Stars, seems to have been either scorned or ignored. It takes a look at the seamy underbelly of Hollywood, which, of
course, has been done many times, but no one locates and identifies the
squirmy things quite like Cronenberg. As a nervy, wrong-side-of-forty
actress, Julianne Moore should have won her Oscar for this.
4. The End of the Tour
I'm still not sure if The End of the Tour is a movie for journalists,
but I've seen it twice now and I'm drawn deeper into this peculiar
relationship: two men becoming friends, but also conducting business,
and the two sides constantly wrestling with each other throughout their
intelligent, nuanced conversations. As David Foster Wallace, Jason Segel
deserves accolades, but so does Jesse Eisenberg as the Salieri of the
duo. Writer/director James Ponsoldt shows that he's getting better and
better, a go-to guy for character studies in the new century.
3. Taxi
An act of cinematic courage, Jafar Panahi's Taxi — also known as Taxi
Tehran — comes from a filmmaker who has been banned from making films
for 20 years, accused of making anti-government propaganda. Using
dashboard-mounted cameras, he creates an incredibly layered story about
the art of making movies and the business of selling movies, in addition
to themes of family, city, duty, freedom, and anything else you can care to read
into it. Panahi is in a more upbeat mood here, often smiling and
reveling in being outdoors, rather than cooped up inside (it was rumored
that he had been under house arrest). You may think it's going to be
tough going, but it's a breeze.
2. The Assassin
One of the world's undisputed masters, Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-hsien, returns
after an interminable 7-year absence with what could be his best, and
certainly his most beautiful, film. The Assassin is also a jaw-dropping
martial arts film unlike any other you've ever seen (it makes the others
look sloppy). The intricacies of the plot may be hard for Westerners to
grasp, but at the center is the tormented relationship between assassin
Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) and governor Tian Ji'an (Chang Chen), once
betrothed, and now the latter the target of the former. The spiritual
heir of Ozu and Bresson, Hou's film is less about diversion than
immersion.
1. Inside Out
Pixar's finest film achieved their high standard of incredible design
and superb voice acting, as well as a structurally tight screenplay, and
that alone might make it worthy of my list. But Pete Docter's Inside Out
winds up here because of its immense heart and compassion. Most
mainstream entertainments — and, indeed, society in general — try to
cheer viewers up, forget their troubles. This one, amazingly,
acknowledges that sadness is OK, and is, indeed, an essential part of
things. The scene in which Sadness, not Joy, manages to cheer up
Bing-Bong merely by listening to him, breaks me every time.
Top Ten Runners up (in alphabetical order):
Honorable Mentions:
Great Performances
Sylvester Stallone (Creed)
Michael B. Jordan (Creed)
Sarah Snook (Predestination)
Michael Shannon (99 Homes)
Kristen Wiig (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Welcome to Me)
Michael Keaton (Spotlight)
Ian McKellen (Mr. Holmes)
Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg (The End of the Tour)
Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks (Love & Mercy)
John Cusack (Love & Mercy, Maps to the Stars, Chi-Raq)
Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith (Inside Out)
Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road)
Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro (Sicario)
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Mya Taylor (Tangerine)
Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)
Great DVD and Blu-ray Releases
I no longer review DVDs and Blu-rays with the same regularity that I once
did, and there were several worthy releases this year that I did not get a chance
to see. This list, while not comprehensive, comprises my favorites of the
ones I did see.
- Chaplin's Essanay Comedies (Flicker Alley)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (Warner)
- Dressed to Kill (Criterion)
- A Day in the Country (Criterion)
- Faust (Kino Lorber)
- The Zero Theorem (Well Go USA)
- The Palm Beach Story (Criterion)
- Innerspace (Warner)
- The Fisher King (Criterion)
- Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (Warner)
Guilty Pleasures & Little Treasures
The Year's Worst Films
Thanks, and best wishes for a happy 2016! -- JMA
