10. Best of Enemies
In the midst of the amorphous blend of politics and reality television that has - and will continue to - engulf the 2016 US presidential race, Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon's look at ABC's revolutionary debates between conservative William F. Buckley and liberal Gore Vidal is an eye-opening reminder of the staying power of sensational politics.
9. Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Another all-too unsettling reminder of cyclical history, Stanley Nelson Jr.'s documentary of the rise and fall of the much-aligned but mostly misunderstood (and violently broken) Black Panther movement that gripped America in the 1960s is electric, angry and honest. Worth watching, if only for the fascinating parallels to today's Black Lives Matter movement.
8. Spotlight
Instantly (and rightfully) heralded as this generation's All The President's Men, Tom McCarthy's journalistic procedural of the Boston Globe's 2001 explosive expose on the Catholic Church's cover-up and complacence of an epidemic of sexual abuse slow-burns its righteous and contemplative energy and offers up tremendous ensemble acting. Yes, Spotlight is critically adored and important, but it is also demanding of our philosophical curiosity and attention.
7. The Big Short
Adam McKay has always been willing to infuse his absurd comedies with sly political commentary, but with The Big Short, he finally lets his finely sharpened political claws draw blood. A furious and very funny indictment of the financial institutions, regulators, snake-oil salesmen and greed-mongers that nearly took down the world economy with shit-laden securities, McKay and Co's unorthodox film about the unorthodox men that saw through the finance world's pre-2008 parade of delusion is a surprisingly crackerjack entertainment. Memorable, fuming performances from Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling.
6. Phoenix
In this year's most measured, complex and controlled performance, Nina Hoss commands the screen as a unrecognizable survivor of the Nazi death machine in German director Christian Petzold's wonderful World War II drama, Phoenix. A story of confused identities, allegiances and emotions, this deceptively simple, yet emotionally lush and gripping movie builds to a jaw-dropping climax that you will not see coming.
5. Amy
With Amy, Asif Kapadia establishes himself as a bonafide documentary auteur, with a style all his own (that utilizes archival footage and voiceover) and a keen eye for what makes us all so tragically human. This, the best documentary I saw in 2015, is a brutally raw exploration of the demons that powered Ms. Winehouse's voice and songwriting, and ultimately led to her untimely demise. Having plumbed the depths of every frame of video and every paparazzi's flash, Kapadia finds the moments that endear us to the lost singer; the passions and convictions we never knew, or perhaps, never thought to notice.
4. Anomalisa
The word "meticulous" gets bandied about by the film world often when describing particularly well-made films. But there is no other film - animated or live-action - from 2015 that deserves such a descriptor like Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's stunning Anomalisa. The exceptionally slow art of stop-motion animation and detailed facial and kinetic puppetry bring to life the simple story of a depressed author's serendipitous encounter with a woman, unsparing in its wealth of real, raw emotion. There has not been (and perhaps will not ever be) a more beautifully awkward sex scene in an animated movie.
3. Sicario
Easily the most ulcer-inducing movie experience of the year was thanks to Denis Villeneuve's Sicario, a thoughtful, beautifully rendered suspense flick. Villeneuve, a good Canadian boy whose careful, (*ahem*) meticulous film craft has catapulted him to the top tier of directors specializing in mature, R-rated fare - he will soon do Blade Runner 2. In this one, Emily Blunt is dragged into a classified mission to take down a powerful Mexican drug cartel, or is she? A ripping flick complete with powerful, expertly designed set pieces and a stellar turn from a near-wordless Benicio Del Toro.
2. Ex-Machina
28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland's first foray into directing is a mind-bender of the highest order; a science fiction that blends real anxieties about artificial intelligence, the evolution of our symbiosis with machines and the sexual allure of it all. Alicia Vikander puts in dominant, captivaing work as an android whose mad genius creator (Oscar Isaac) sets her up as a test subject for Domnhall Gleeson's wide-eyed programmer. Unexpectedly intelligent in the best ways possible, Ex-Machina signals the arrival of a badly needed voice in the world of original, ambitious cinema.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
The most pure, thrilling, enjoyable cinematic experience of the year, George Miller's magnum opus is the best action flick of this century so far. Adrenaline pumps like nitrous oxide through my veins as I watch this movie. It is complete sensory nirvana as George Miller fills every frame with colour, dirt, grime, fire and the roar of machines coming directly at us. We even give a crap about the plight of our heroes, played with assured, confident badassery by an unstoppable Charlize Theron and a primitive Tom Hardy. Singular images and moments from this movie are so original and crazy but make total sense given the dirty, post-apocalyptic universe; every detail is grounded by sound creative logic. Please: Hollywood and Mr. Miller, make more of this. Thanks.
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