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Best Movies of 2015: The Lists

16/1/2016

1 Comment

 
Daniel Getahun  ·  Matt Levine   ·   Jeremy Meckler 
Michael Montag 
·  Frank Olson  ·  Lee Purvey
Peter Schilling Jr.  ·  Kathie Smith  ·  Geoffrey Stueven  ·  Peter Valelly

Daniel Getahun
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For me the biggest surprise of 2015 was that I enjoyed reheated cinematic leftovers. I have loathed the now decade-old trend of remaking old classics and rebooting franchises, but suddenly this year I found myself not only going to these blockbusters (with a skeptical smirk), but actually enjoying them. In fact among my favorites were three movies - Mad Max: Fury Road, Creed, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens - that showed that with the right seasoning and recipe, it's possible to defrost some frozen leftovers and make comfort food that tastes just like it does in your memory.
  1. Sicario / Denis Villeneuve
  2. Ex Machina / Alex Garland
  3. Mad Max: Fury Road / George Miller
  4. Spotlight / Tom McCarthy
  5. Creed / Ryan Coogler
  6. Anomalisa / Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
  7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens / J.J. Abrams
  8. The Big Short / Adam McKay
  9. 99 Homes / Ramin Bahrani
  10. Love & Mercy / Bill Pohlad

Matt Levine
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  1. Queen of Earth / Alex Ross Perry
  2. Clouds of Sils Maria / Olivier Assayas
  3. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem / Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
  4. The Forbidden Room / Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson
  5. It Follows / David Robert Mitchell
  6. Li'l Quinquin / Bruno Dumont
  7. Hard to Be a God / Aleksei German
  8. Anomalisa / Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
  9. Timbuktu / Abderrahmane Sissako
  10. Girlhood / Céline Sciamma
  11. Carol / Todd Haynes
  12. Sicario / Denis Villeneuve
  13. The End of the Tour / James Ponsoldt
  14. '71 / Yann Demange
  15. The Duke of Burgundy / Peter Strickland
  16. Room / Lenny Abrahamson
  17. The Assassin / Hou Hsiao-hsien
  18. Amy / Asif Kapadia
  19. Inside Out / Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
  20. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence / Roy Andersson
 
HM: What We Do in the Shadows, one of the only movies I've embarrassed myself by laughing too loudly at.

Jeremy Meckler
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  1. Creed / Ryan Coogler
  2. The Revenant / Alejandro González Iñárritu
  3. Room / Lenny Abrahamson
  4. Tired Moonlight / Britni West
  5. The Forbidden Room / Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson
  6. Carol / Todd Haynes
  7. Jauja / Lisandro Alonso
  8. The End of the Tour / James Ponsoldt
  9. Tangerine / Sean Baker
  10. It Follows / David Robert Mitchell
  11. Heart of a Dog / Laurie Anderson
  12. The Big Short / Adam McKay
  13. Mad Max: Fury Road / George Miller
  14. Inside Out / Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
  15. Kumiko the Treasure Hunter / David Zellner
  16. Anomalisa / Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
  17. Hard to Be a God / Aleksei German
  18. Girlhood / Céline Sciamma
  19. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
  20. Queen of Earth / Alex Ross Perry

Best Repertory Screening:
  • Vertigo (in 70mm)—The Heights Theater

Michael Montag
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  1. Phoenix / Christian Petzold
  2. Clouds of Sils Maria / Olivier Assayas
  3. Carol / Todd Haynes
  4. Bridge of Spies / Steven Spielberg
  5. Creed / Ryan Coogler
  6. Mad Max: Fury Road / George Miller
  7. While We’re Young / Noah Baumbach
  8. She’s Funny That Way / Peter Bogdanovich
  9. Mr. Holmes / Bill Condon
  10. Hitchcock/Truffaut / Kent Jones
  11. Brooklyn / John Crowley
  12. About Elly / Asghar Farhadi
  13. It Follows / David Robert Mitchell
  14. The Gift / Joel Edgerton
  15. Paddington / Paul King

Best Repertory Screenings:
  • Vertigo (in 70mm)—The Heights Theater
  • Blow Out—Trylon Microcinema
  • The Black Pirate—Trylon Microcinema

Frank Olson
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Two of the best movies that I saw anywhere this year appeared at the Milwaukee Film Festival but have yet to receive a non-festival release in the US, thus making them ineligible for this list. Make sure that you make time in 2016 for The Club, Pablo Larrain’s lacerating yet wryly funny indictment of the Catholic Church (which would have been my number one had it been eligible) and Embrace of the Serpent, a visionary epic that recalls Aguirre, The Wrath of God as a surreal yet viscerally authentic depiction of dangerous jungle landscapes.
  1. The Duke of Burgundy / Peter Strickland
  2. It Follows / David Robert Mitchell
  3. The Look of Silence / Joshua Oppenheimer
  4. Mad Max: Fury Road / George Miller
  5. Welcome to Leith / Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
  6. Clouds of Sils Maria / Olivier Assayas
  7. Queen of Earth / Alex Ross Perry
  8. The Hateful Eight / Quentin Tarantino
  9. Mistress America / Noah Baumbach
  10. Shaun the Sheep / Mark Burton, Richard Starzak

Lee Purvey
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  1. Carol / Todd Haynes
  2. Bridge of Spies / Steven Spielberg
  3. The End of the Tour / James Ponsoldt
  4. Creed / Ryan Coogler
  5. Anomalisa / Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
  6. Mad Max: Fury Road / George Miller
  7. Son of Saul / László Nemes
  8. The Wonders / Alice Rohrwacher
  9. Victoria / Sebastian Schipper
  10. Spotlight / Tom McCarthy
  11. Star Wars: The Force Awakens / J.J. Abrams
  12. It Follows / David Robert Mitchell
  13. Brooklyn / John Crowley
  14. Li'l Quinquin / Bruno Dumont
  15. The Big Short / Adam McKay
  16. Love & Mercy / Bill Pohlad
  17. Youth / Paolo Sorrention
  18. Heart of a Dog / Laurie Anderson
  19. A Very Murray Christmas / Sofia Coppola
  20. Room / Lenny Abrahamson
 
HM: Clouds of Sils Maria, Tangerine, She's Funny That Way


Peter Schilling Jr.
In a year when everyone's talking about how Hollywood finally got it right (ostensibly with Mad Max and Star Wars), I found myself championing independent and international cinema. Spielberg was a surprise with 7/10th of Bridge of Spies, but for my money no film was better, or even more exciting, than Céline Sciamma's Girlhood, Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy, or Sean Baker's Tangerine (which has as much driving excitement as Fury Road.) 
  1. Girlhood / Céline Sciamma
  2. The Duke of Burgundy / Peter Strickland
  3. Tangerine / Sean Baker
  4. Jauja / Lisandro Alonso
  5. Carol / Todd Haynes
  6. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem / Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
  7. 45 Years / Andrew Haigh
  8. Theeb / Naji Abu Nowar
  9. Bridge of Spies / Steven Speilberg
  10. What We Do in the Shadows / Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi

Best Repertory Screening:
  • Vertigo (in 70mm)—The Heights Theater
Vertigo never looked so amazing, nor have I seen as much film-geek energy than on this beautiful April evening. A sold out show, with people chatting about the merits of 70mm for an hour beforehand. 

Kathie Smith
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  1. The Assassin / Hou Hsiao-hsien
  2. Hard to Be a God / Aleksei German
  3. The Forbidden Room / Guy Maddin
  4. The Duke of Burgundy / Peter Strickland
  5. Girlhood / Céline Sciamma
  6. Tangerine / Sean Baker
  7. Carol / Todd Haynes
  8. Queen of Earth / Alex Ross Perry
  9. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem / Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
  10. The Kindergarten Teacher / Nadav Lapid
  11. 45 Years / Andrew Haigh
  12. Tom at the Farm / Xavier Dolan
  13. Taxi / Jafar Panahi
  14. Tired Moonlight / Britni West
  15. The Russian Woodpecker / Chad Gracia
  16. Kumiko the Treasure Hunter / David Zellner
  17. Jauja / Lisandro Alonso
  18. Clouds of Sils Maria / Olivier Assayas
  19. Mustang / Deniz Gamze Ergüven
  20. Amour Fou / Jessica Hausner

Geoffrey Stueven
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It was the year of the individual, again. Films named after their human subjects dominate my list, but otherwise their conceptions of character have little in common beyond the broad-sweeping and obvious: self-determination, self-destruction, genius. These are privileges not afforded the five sisters of Mustang, a late addition to my list. Here’s the rare cinematic case, scarcely imaginable here in the U.S., of a first-person plural POV. The sisters move as one, at least until the same patriarchal regime that binds them together picks them off one by one and a lone narrator emerges.
  1. Creed / Ryan Coogler
  2. Carol / Todd Haynes
  3. When Marnie Was There / Hiromasa Yonebayashi
  4. About Elly / Asghar Farhadi
  5. Mustang / Deniz Gamze Ergüven
  6. Amy / Asif Kapadia
  7. Seymour: An Introduction / Ethan Hawke
  8. Dope / Rick Famuyiwa
  9. Love & Mercy / Bill Pohlad
  10. The Walk / Robert Zemeckis

Best Repertory Screenings:
  • Pather Panchali—Lagoon Cinema
  • The Tales of Hoffmann—Trylon Microcinema
  • Wings of Desire—Walker Cinema

Peter Valelly
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  1. Tangerine / Sean Baker
  2. Creed / Ryan Coogler
  3. Jauja / Lisandro Alonso
  4. Carol / Todd Haynes
  5. The Forbidden Room / Guy Maddin
  6. Horse Money / Pedro Costa
  7. Tired Moonlight / Britni West
  8. Inside Out / Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
  9. Blind / Eskil Vogt
  10. Mad Max: Fury Road / George Miller
1 Comment
Richard link
2/1/2021 06:05:09 am

Good reaading this post

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