All I really want to do with this blog is to encourage people to think about movies in ways they ordinarily would’t do. I want them to try to watch movies they otherwise wouldn’t think about approaching. Because movies can be much more than just a diversion. Because a great movie can make all the difference. Here’s the best of what I saw this year.
19. The Age of Adaline- For those paying attention, Harrison Ford’s comeback didn’t come this December, but back in April with this little gem of a movie. Ford gave his most engaged performance in years as an old man hopelessly in love with a girl who wouldn’t age. Blake Lively as said girl, shows the emotional distance and great sadness that comes with such a terrible, cursed gift. Bonus points for the graceful elegance of its cinematography, which makes the film look like it came out of classic Hollywood. The style perfectly matches the protagonist’s beautiful timelessness.
18. Furious 7- “Cars can’t fly,” says Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) to his young son after the kid throws a toy car out the window. Well, the rest of the movie seems designed to prove Brian wrong with a major scene where cars are dropped out of an airplane (which the filmmakers actually did) and another where they soar from skyscraper to skyscraper (which didn’t actually happen, but a physicist claims could happen). The stunts in the latest Fast and Furious movie are some of the most inventive and thrilling ever put onscreen, but the real reason the film made it to this list is how they handled Brian’s departure after the tragic death of Paul Walker during filming in late 2013. Furious 7 has, without a doubt, the most heart-wrenching ending of any movie this year, with a monologue from Vin Diesel that shows how much Walker meant not just to the series and the fans but to him personally after years of (onscreen and offscreen) friendship.
16. It Follows- The less said about the best horror movie in years, the better. Some movies you just want to see because of the title and the poster, and this is one of them. Just be mindful that this is not for the faint of heart. It will scare you.
15. Blackhat- Nominally, Blackhat is about the high-tech world of hackers, so it comes as a striking surprise how low-tech it actually is. Through computer trickery, Chris Hemsworth’s Hathaway may be able to find out the location of the bad guy's servers, but not much more. In the end, the only way to get to the information inside is to bust into the actual building and get the damned hard drive by hand. For the crucial moments in the film, Hathaway has to be not just virtually, but also mentally and physically present. The bad guy’s plan also comes down to something physical in the end: First he targets a nuclear power plant, then the soy market and finally tin. He uses computers for a tangible goal: cash. As a result, the film boils down to world-hopping chases and to close combat fight scenes. Hathaway is really good at using the stuff around him (chairs, bottles, books, scarves) to defend himself. Everywhere you look, there is an emphasis on the presence, the physicality of people and things. Fittingly, the visual style of the film places the viewer in the immediate "you-are-there" mode, which director Michael Mann excels at. Despite all the constant movement and camera shaking, his compositions still manage to be exacting, precise and beautiful. I've always loved his off-center closeups, and there are a few here of Chris Hemsworth that are outstanding. There's also lots of bluish/greenish, grainy nighttime photography that, again, puts you right in the middle of the action, breathing in with awe, like the newly released from jail Hathaway, all of the film's marvelous locations (I particularly liked Hong Kong). Plus, this being a Michael Mann movie, there are lots of sunglasses and a truly gorgeous romantic lead played by Tang Wei. Amidst all the gritty violent stuff, Mann always leaves plenty of room for romance, and this one's remarkable. It's sensuous and pared down, almost minimalistic in the way it develops. Story-wise it comes out of nowhere, yet it manages to be completely convincing. It's as if Mann has decided to just leave conventional storytelling behind, because fuck it. One more thing Mann is great at: final shots. Blackhat is no exception.
14. The Martian- Matt Damon gets stranded in Mars. He has to find a way to “science the shit out of” the problem or die. He chooses life. This leads to all sorts of amusing/terrifying situations such as how do you grow food and water in a planet as inhospitable as Mars? Damond and director Ridley Scott, however, make his endeavor easier to endure by bombarding you with humor while never diminishing the seriousness of the situation. Meanwhile, people of earth science the shit out of the problem from the other end to bring him home. Donald Glover is particularly good as the young scientist who figures out the ultimate solution to the problem. Hooray for science and humanity! The very definition of a feel-good movie. This also has the best use of a song in any film this year, David Bowie’s “Starman” set to a thrilling rescue montage. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jessica Chastain, who plays the astronaut that made the decision to leave poor Matt Damond in Mars. The guilt she feels is powerful, and how she channels that to make things right is remarkable. Chastain’s continued excellence cannot be taken for granted; she’s the best actress alive.
13. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation/Spectre/The Man From U.N.C.L.E- 2015 was a veritable cornucopia of spy films, so take your pick and enjoy. They are all close enough in quality to rank together here, but the most entertaining of these is U.N.C.L.E. Although of course, the most ridiculously sublime is Rogue Nation. And the most rewarding is the instant-classic Bond, Spectre.
12. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl- The teenage cancer movie to end all teenage cancer movies. To hell with The Fault in Our Stars. Never weepy or overly-sentimental, this movie is not interested in lamenting the beautiful tragedy of its lost protagonist. Instead, it focuses on the dying girl’s dumb friend Greg (the “me” of the title) who likes to make silly ripoffs of timeless classics with his co-worker (read: best friend) Earl. Among their masterpieces are: Eyes Wide Butt, Senior Citizen Kane, The 400 Bros, and Rosemary’s Baby Carrots. Greg also does a terrific Werner Herzog impression that will have any serious film fan guffawing. Few movies love movies as much as this movie.
11. Sicario- Wrote about it here. I said this last year, and will repeat it here: Emily Blunt is the fucking best and she deserves to be a superhero. Also, she should be showered with eternal praise, money, and glory.
10. Creed- (aka Rocky VII.) It's Rocky, but with Apollo's kid. These things have been around forever, so you probably already know if you’ll love it, hate it, or be indifferent to it before watching a frame, and that’s OK. This movie follows the formula strictly, and I see nothing wrong with that. At the same time, however, it is the best-shot and acted movie of the series. Just take a look at this fight sequence, shot in one continuous take. The way director Ryan Coogler puts you inside the ring with Michael B. Jordan's Adonis is intoxicating. (It's probably the best boxing movie since Raging Bull.) Jordan who has been doing phenomenal work in television for years (The Wire, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) finally gets the chance to shine on the big screen. And Sylvester Stallone reminds us that he’s not just an ugly face. The man can act, goddamnit.
9. Steve Jobs- A play structured in three acts, each one depicting Jobs in the hours before the launch of three of his products: the Macintosh (1984), the NeXT (1988) and the iMac (1998). By design, each act is very similar to the other two, but as the film progresses, we see how Jobs evolves as a person through the years, particularly the way he matures in his relationship to his daughter. The film’s structure and emotional arc are clean, efficient, and elegant. There’s also a lot of great dialogue written by the inimitable Aaron Sorkin and some kinetic direction by Danny Boyle, the man who made a movie about a guy slowly cutting off his own arm watchable. And Michael Fassbender is Steve Jobs, so much it’s scary. Hollywood, give the man a little golden statue. Please.
8. Clouds of Sils Maria- A famous actress (Juliette Binoche) and her assistant (Kristen Stewart) retire to a house in the mountains to read lines and prepare for the actress’ next play. The simplest (borderline theatrical) of setups sometimes end up yielding the most unexpectedly complex and fascinating results. Binoche’s grappling with the way the industry uses and discards older actresses is heartbreaking. Kristen Stewart gives the performance of the year in a role that has her admirably, passionately, and articulately defending the Twilight series (sort of). If you like actors, or if you like anything that is good and holy in this world, this movie is for you.
7. Room- A woman who was kidnapped when she was seventeen is forced to raise her and her kidnapper’s five year old son, Jake (the phenomenal Jacob Tremblay) in a room that’s 10x10. I’m not going to lie, this movie is tough; it had me openly weeping at the theater for a lot of its running time. The ferocity with which Brie Larson’s “Ma” protects and cares for her child is truly inspirational, and the inevitable escape sequence is the most tense I’ve been in a theater in years. Yet Room understands something crucial: getting free is only the beginning of the journey for Ma and Jake. Afterwards, there’s the whole world to confront, their whole lives to live.
6. Brooklyn- Along with The Immigrant and In America, this story of an Irish immigrant living in 1950s Brooklyn ranks as one of the best movies to ever depict the immigrant experience. Homesickness has never been so thoroughly or convincingly explored, but at the same time this is a warm and uplifting film, so beautiful to look at! Saoirse Ronan will break your heart.
5. Mustang- Imagine a cross between the 1994 version of Little Women and Sofia Coppola’s Virgin Suicides and you might get close to what Mustang is. Five sisters living in a rural Turkish town by the Black Sea go out one day to play on the beach with their male friends. As soon as they get home, they get a beating from their grandmother. Suddenly, everything changes. Their ultra-conservative uncle, in charge of raising them, believes they have been behaving disgracefully, so he barricades them inside their house. Lale, Nur, Ece, Selma, and Sonay, however, are not to be contained. They are a force of nature to be reckoned with, and mere walls cannot stop them. Their resistance to a toxic and antiquated system is exhilarating. You get the sense that if more people were like them, all of the world’s problems might be able to be solved. Mustang does take a harsh, though realistic, assessment of the girls’ situation, but the hopeful ending is one of the most heartwarming moments I’ve seen in any film. With this film, Deniz Gamze Ergüven has established herself as a major talent.
3. Inside Out- A revolutionary film merely for asserting that sadness is a necessary, healing, and very important part of life. Whoever said that animated movies are “just for kids” has never been more wrong. And yet, that wisdom wouldn’t matter if the film was boring or poorly made. The good news? Inside Out, structured as a journey home for its protagonists, moves like a breeze. Kids (and some adults) will want to re-watch Joy and Sadness' magnificent journey on a loop, and their parents won’t mind.The way the film visualizes the internal workings of a child’s mind is staggering. I can’t count the times I simply wanted to pause the movie to bask in the glory of the visuals: Riley’s headquarters; the Hollywood-like, and very literally titled, “dream-factory”; the dreaded subconscious (where all the troublemakers are kept); the amorphous abstract thought room; the labyrinthine long term memory storage; the personality islands devoted to friendship and hockey(!). All of these different parts of Riley’s mind are so exquisitely rendered, I wouldn’t mind getting lost there. Kudos to Amy Poehler for giving real depth to Joy, who could have easily been a one dimensional character in the wrong hands.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road- Terrence Malick was 67 when he directed The Tree of Life, the best film ever made. Martin Scorsese seemed to spring back to life with the savage Wolf of Wall Street at 71. This year’s septuagenarian masterpiece comes courtesy of George Miller, who proves once and for all that the old pros do it best. A masterclass in action filmmaking and visual storytelling, Fury Road also works extremely well as political allegory, humanist fable, and touching romance all while a crazy, masked electric-guitarist/ flamethrower-wielder rocks out in the background of the film*. The film is beautifully structured as one long chase sequence across the desert that simply does not relent. It’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve witnessed since The Tree of Life, appropriately enough. The titular Max (sadly not Mel Gibson, though Tom Hardy does fine work) plays an important role, but he has been sidelined in favor of Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, a woman trying to escape lifelong captivity from a powerful, possessive mad man, a woman who will not let that man harm his harem of wives any longer, so she risks her life to save them all. The man, Immortan Joe, is so blinded by hate and entitlement that he puts up a chase the likes of which have never been seen in film before. His hundreds of followers consists mostly of “war boys,” men indoctrinated as children, taught to revere the Immortan and in full belief that they will feast in Valhalla if they follow his commands. One of the war boys, Nux (played by Nicholas Hoult), is probably the most empathetic portrayal of a suicide bomber I’ve ever seen onscreen. Fury Road teaches that everyone is important, that all life is sacred, even (or especially) that of the war boys. (In reference to a bullet, The Dag, one of the Immortan’s wives refers to it as anti-seed: “plant one and watch something die.” I’ve rarely seen an action movie treat violence with such disdain and sadness.)Throughout the course of the film, Max, who at first resembles a wild animal, comes back to life and learns that being a good person is worthy even in the anarchistic, post-apocalyptic wasteland he inhabits. Ultimately, he joins Furiosa in the fight against the Immortan. Together in their goodness, they just might be able to redeem the broken human race.
*In case you didn’t believe me about the flame-throwing guitarist:
