Top 10 - 2015

Because you demanded it.....wait, no you didn't.  Well, here it is anyway.  My favorite movies of 2015!

Better late than never, right?  I wanted to get this out earlier, but tried to get a few more 2015 releases squeezed in.  So many movies I missed like Sicario, Spotlight, Room, Brooklyn, Carol.....man, there were a lot of highly praised one-word titles out there.  But, I digress.  I still managed to get in 90 new releases.  Some were good, some were bad, some I probably should not have even bothered.  Overall it was a pretty good year in movies, and these are the ones I enjoyed the most.  Yeah, you're going to see a lot of crossover with other people's Top Tens.....there's probably a reason for that.  Go check 'em out!  Enough jabberin', on with the show.

Like many, I thoroughly enjoy the Rocky series.  The first one is simply a great film.  The third and fourth are dumb, but oh so enjoyable.  (Yeah, I nearly wore out my Survivor record playing "Eye of the Tiger" repeatedly.....yeah, I said record.)  All the rest are somewhere in between.  What Ryan Coogler was able to do was bring it back and make another great that belongs up there with the original Rocky.  Stallone gives one of his best performances giving old fans what they want, while Jordan continues to impress by bringing a great new character to the fold to take the series in a new direction.

After a few movies that ranged from bad to pretty good, Pixar jumped back up to it's former greatness.  (I have not seen The Good Dinosaur yet, so I'm not sure if they stayed up there.)  This year they bring us "Herman's Head"....for kids.  This film may be a little much for the real young ones, but it was so well written and thought out.  There are still some things for the young ones to enjoy while also giving older kids a valuable lesson about their emotions.  And like all the best Pixar films, there are a few scenes that get you right in the feels.

I enjoy myself a good love story sometimes.  What's that?  This one has a bit of a horror element to it?  I'm sold!  This movie really surprised me.  I came for the horror....stayed for the love story.  Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker were just fantastic in this film.  The monster bit could have been exploitative and overpowering.  Instead, what it did was enhance the story and the stakes of the relationship between the two.  If you enjoy a good romance check this one out.  Don't let the horror bit in the description scare you away.  It took a different approach and really made it work.

Tarantino has always been hit or miss for me.  I think this may be one of his best films.  I've always been a fan of his dialogue, and that is where this film really shines.  There are great characters and wonderful cinematography.  The violence can get a little over the top, but is thankfully a little restrained for a Tarantino film.  Every character in it is truly hateful, but you can't help but still enjoy watching the actors shine in their roles.

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I absolutely love the 80's.  That's where I spent my childhood, so I got a lot of nostalgia going on.  So many directors have been trying to appeal to that nostalgia to varying degrees of success as of late.  There have been a lot of movies paying homage to the 80's.  Turbo Kid went beyond that.  This movie feels like it came straight out of the mid-80's in all the best ways.  It has a fun story, great practical effects and gore, and Michael Ironside as the one-eyed villain.  Oh, and how awesome is Laurence Leboeuf as Apple?  Answer: Totally awesome!

You would think I'd have comic book movie fatigue by now, but I don't.  Keep bringing the Marvel....and give me that DC.  Sooo many characters in this one.  It could have been a jumbled mess.  And admittedly there were a few places where it walked the line, but Joss Whedon kept me on board.  I'm sad to see him leaving the MCU.  His quippy dialogue is one of the things I like most in these Avengers films.  This movie is a little messier than the first, but it was still a lot of fun.

What a glorious symphony of destruction!  What this movie lacked in story, it made up for with fantastic vehicle stunt work and amazing cinematography.  This was an adrenaline-fueled action flick that goes full speed from start to finish and never let's up.  Miller gives us his colorful Mad Max world full of insane characters minus any of the dull bits that were in the original trilogy.

Who doesn't love a good rescue Matt Damon movie?  This one has a stellar ensemble cast, and at the same time it mostly a Damon solo act.  Boy, does he deliver.  I think this may be one of Matt Damon's best performances.  I mean, you're never bored watching one man try and grow potatoes on an uninhabited, desolate planet.  Most of the credit goes to him.  It's also just a feel good movie.  A bunch of people trying to rescue this one man, knowing the odds are stacked against them.  Gives you a little faith back in humanity.

Alex Garland has already established himself as a writer.  This film proves that is not his only talent.  He takes the well-used plot device of AI and not only writes a fantastic story, but also directs the hell out of it.  Every bit of this film seems so well-thought out even down to the deliberate set design.  To top it off, the three leads take Garland's slick screenplay and give some of the best performances of the year.  This directorial debut blew me away and I can't wait to see what else he brings to the table.

Abrams did it.  He gave us the Star Wars movie that we were hoping for back in 1999.  This movie re-captured the magic of the original trilogy.  The practical effects had a lot to do with that.  Like Creed above we get a passing of the torch.  Us older fans got to see familiar faces back in the roles we love them in, while also being introduced to some great new characters.  It's the start of a whole new set of adventures for a new generation of Star Wars fans.  This was the first Star Wars theatrical experience for my two girls and I loved being able to share that experience with them.

These were 10 of my favorite films in a year that proved pretty good for movies.  Here's a few runner-ups that just didn't make the cut:  Kingsman: The Secret service; Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation; Straight Outta Compton; The Gift; Mr. Holmes

Happy viewing, and here's to hoping for another great year at the movies!