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10 January 2016
This article is a look at my favourite films of 2015. |
MY TOP 25 FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2015
25. EX MACHINA
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Inventive, sexy and stylish sci-fi cinema is extremely rare.
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24. THE BOY AND THE BEAST
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Has director Mamoru Hosoda inherited the animation crown from the now retired Hayao Miyazaki? This is his equivalent of THE JUNGLE BOOK.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
23. DEMOLITION
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Did director Jean-Marc Vallée suddenly take a filmmaking pill? He has moved from overrated prestige pics (WILD, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, etc.) to deliver something compelling. A winning hotchpotch of tones – dread/pathos/humour – means second-guessing the movie is difficult.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
22. A BIGGER SPLASH
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Give Ralph Fiennes the best supporting actor Oscar already. Sex and violence as release are the undercurrents lapping below the surface of a holiday sojourn.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
21. WILD TALES
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Hilarious short films tied together by the theme of vengeance.
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20. GUILTY
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An Indian MEMORIES OF MURDER. Irrfan Khan as Serpico.
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19. SLOW WEST
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The title is a misnomer. Fans of the Western are sated with the play on genre tropes.
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18. DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
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Witty, intelligent comedy set at a university.
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17. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – ROGUE NATION
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Director Christopher McQuarrie wisely opts not to compete with the previous film's pinnacle Burj Khalifa sequence and instead ups the corporeal stakes. Violence on the verge of erupting hangs in the air.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
16. THE DAUGHTER
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Similar to television show ‘Breaking Bad’, THE DAUGHTER’s myriad of tragedies is a complicated array of cause and effect. Superbly calibrated drama.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
15. MY GREAT NIGHT
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A madcap New Year’s Eve TV show party, recorded in summer, is so unbelievably fun, as energetic as a 1930s screwball comedy. Egomania as war. An entire movie equivalent of the opening scene of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
14. OUR LITTLE SISTER
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Gentle pace and quiet observations ostensibly hint at an arduous 128-minutes. Not so, there is a heady humanism on display, and humour, celebrating aspirational qualities – forgiveness, self-awareness and sacrifice.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
13. THE HATEFUL EIGHT
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Writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s three hour Western is a return to RESERVOIR DOGS - a mesmerising use of confined space, dialogue and violence.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
12. TOP FIVE
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Now this is how you make a romantic-comedy: By making the romance subtler and upping the humour.
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11. SICARIO
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An entire film of war on drugs collateral damage. My kind of action movie:
- morally ambiguous - achingly stylish - palpable sense of dread - something to say about the world - ethnic diverse cast - kick ass female and male leads (Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro) - pessimism with glimmers of hope |
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10. DHEEPAN
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DHEEPAN, like the main protagonist, is geared to stay ahead of its audience. The play with expectation, as the story unfurls, is deft. Artists at the top of their game.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
9. TAXI
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Narratively dense, politically engaging and emotionally powerful.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
8. INSIDE OUT
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An adventure set in the mind, peak Pixar-style. An animated film up there with the inventive and wrenching ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
7. TRUMAN
6. HWAYI: A MONSTER BOY
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Worth the 10 year wait, from the director of SAVE THE GREEN PLANET!. A family crime thriller as merciless as ANIMAL KINGDOM.
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5. KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE
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Shreds the espionage action rule book. Witnessing Colin Firth kick ass is unadulterated joy. *Must get myself a double-breasted suit*
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4. SON OF SAUL
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Excluding documentaries, SON OF SAUL is the greatest film I have seen about the Holocaust. Unrelentingly paced and pulse-hammering.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
3. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
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It was worth the 30-year wait. Vehicular mayhem on an unpredicted scale. If you’re going to make an environmental and sociological parable, do it exhilaratingly.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
2. VICTORIA
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Emotional equivalence of a fizzy soft drink bottle being shaken and suddenly opened is the euphoria felt as the closing credits scrawled. For two hours 14 minutes the camera never stops. A single take. No edits. Delay, anticipation, delivery, pay-off – VICTORIA joins ALIENS and DIE HARD for pure distillation of that concept.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
1. THE REVENANT
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THE REVENANT comes along and grabs you by the lapels, looks you square in the eye, before punching you in the stomach, and somehow leaves you with an ecstatic smile across your face. Leonardo DiCaprio vs Tom Hardy vs nature vs karma. A remarkably realised, ferocious Western.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
