Best Movies of 2015

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Listen to Marlon is EXCELLENT. It's utterly riveting and almost uncomfortably intimate. Talk about rare insight. I don't think it's a bio/documentary for everyone, but it is a compelling look into Brando's personal life. I would easily rate that among the year's best films.

80% of your list is garbage though.

I think 2015 will be long remembered as the year the Jurassic Park, Mad Max, and Star Wars franchises all made successful comebacks.

No mention of Pixels? What did you think?

I'd be curious if Pixels is worse than Fantastic Four or Green Inferno

I watched Pixels because my kids wanted to see it and it was on TV. They call it "Video Games Come to Life". It was really dumb, and Adam Sandler is naturally horrible but the movie wasn't especially bad, offensive or poorly made. It came across like the kind of movie you'd see in the summertime circa 1992. You could tell they were aiming for a Ghostbusters/Men in Black kind of vibe but the writing and characters just weren't up to that level. I'm not really sure why it was so widely HATED. The Transformers movies, for example are MUCH worse.

My kids liked it, but they've not asked to watch it again.

My thought when I was watching Inside Out was: it really isn't for children. It's much more useful for young adults or adults who try to understand how to manage feelings, etc. I actually use it to teach people how to manage sadness.

" (not having an anti-Semitic protagonist helps). "
This surprises me from you, Barney. I would think you of all people could separate an actor from his role. There's nothing anti-Semitic about the rooster.

Sevej wrote: My thought when I was watching Inside Out was: it really isn't for children. It's much more useful for young adults or adults who try to understand how to manage feelings, etc. I actually use it to teach people how to manage sadness.

Our almost 4 year old has found it very useful for managing both sadness and anger. Especially understanding how it is ok to be sad sometimes but not letting it overwhelm your life.

In terms of anger, there was a period of a few months where she would walk around saying "My red guy is getting fired up" when she got mad.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Ex Machina
3. Room
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
5. The Walk
6. Inside Out
7. Spotlight
8. What We Do in the Shadows
9. Chi-Raq
10. The Martian

Honorable mentions:
Sicario
Mission:Impossible - Rogue Nation
Ant Man
Creed
The Big Short

I didn't see much but I thought Ex Machina was the best overall film. It certainly went after new ground and that's refreshing all on its own.

The more I think about Star Wars and Mad Max the more I think that they won't leave lasting impressions. They were good films technically for sure and well done, but they were very safe. They were installments.

Sagrilarus wrote: The more I think about Star Wars and Mad Max the more I think that they won't leave lasting impressions. They were good films technically for sure and well done, but they were very safe. They were installments.

Are you talking about Fury Road or one of the other Mad Max films? Because if it's Fury Road, I didn't feel it was played safe. I mean, the studio bankrolled a director who hadn't filmed an action flick in 30 years, and who's last features were kiddie films, to reboot a franchise the general public wasn't asking for in a genre most thought was well past it's expiration date. He delivered a better action film than anything else in the past decade, and included a relevant social message to which the titular character was almost the side-kick.

Which part was safe?


EDIT: My top film picks:

MM:FR
Ant Man
Ex Machina
Turbo Kid

I'm hoping Creed will make the list, but I haven't seen it.