Best Films of 2015

The Big Short

Adam McKay's comedy film about the humongous fall of the world economy and how a group of people saw it already coming and profited from it is a refreshing take on its genre. Powered by its amazing dialogues and a great ensemble cast, the film will never cease to amaze. The Big Short takes the cinematic experience in an informal way, with celebrities explaining economics stuff to the audience, the characters breaking the fourth wall while inside a scene, and lots and lots of mainstream media just appearing out of nowhere. This film is the best comedy of the year.

Ex Machina

Rich on ideas about the technological advances of the world and its consequences, Ex Machina is the science fiction of the year that lingers through the mind of the audience. It successfully use its four main and supporting characters to create a character driven plot. Alicia Vikander is the star of this movie and her performance although very gentle is just a magnificent take on the silver screen. It is full of eerie, strange and claustrophobic scenes and all in all sticks to an excellent study of the human race. Also, Oscar Isaac dancing!

The Hateful Eight

It's a Tarantino film, no doubt it would be great. The movie revolves around eight strangers stuck in a cabin because of a blizzard. All hell will let lose when the eight people turn to fight each other, finding who is the bringer of the trouble. As usual, the movie boasts common Tarantino tropes: ultraviolence, tension between dialogues, nonlinear storytelling, out of this world score and music, and goddamn Samuel L. Jackson being a bad-ass motherfucker. Only Tarantino can do a western flick set on the winter season.

Inside Out

Very genius plot and colorfully animated. The film centers on the emotions inside Riley's mind while Riley is undergoing a big shift in her personal life. It's a Pixar film so expect a bucket load of tears after watching this film.

Mad Max: Fury Road

This is just epic. From the cinematography, practical and visual effects, to awesome acting from the cast, this is the blockbuster film worth watching. Visceral and haunting, Fury Road is a film that tells a message through its visual components. It is a case on case criticism of capitalism, glorification of gasoline, booming of environmental issues, ridiculous religions and beliefs, and (ironically) adoration of violence. Although this is a film fueled by brutality, the women are the center of this movie. George Miller deserves a Best Director win for this.

The Martian

Based on the book with the same name by Andy Weir, the film tells the story of a man left alone on Mars that struggles to find a way back to Earth. Although the plot seems depressing, the film has a lot of funny moments and the entire tone is light (but still doesn't make it a comedy, Golden Globes).  Overall I enjoyed this film because it brings justice to its source material. Also, the science in this movie is pretty accurate. Matt Damon is again, needed to be saved, but this time, with SCIENCE!

Room

This is just phenomenal. Room deals with a mother and a child held captive in a small room for years. The entire film is told on the kid's perspectives for the movie centers on how he cope up in the larger world he's living in, now that he have escaped the "room." Brie Larson gave great performance which I guess will ultimately win her an Oscar because she deserves it in this film. But it is Jack Tremblay's acting that won me over in this movie. I was speechless the entire time I am watching this movie because of the kid's character. And I can't believe he's just 9. I tell you, a bright future awaits for this kid.

Spotlight

Holy shit. For me this is the best film of the year. Spotlight revolves on the journalism team of Boston Globes and how they uncover the cases of Catholic priests molesting children not only on the city of Boston, but the whole world. The ensemble cast are so good and they share good performances with each other. Every dialogue in this movie will gave you the shivers, for the screenplay is phenomenal. Everything just escalates to the ending until it reaches the point of no return. Spotlight is one of the reason why I watch film, because they can practically change one's perspective and beliefs in life. The whole world should watch this film because it can change it for the better.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The greatest treat for all the Star Wars fan is living in a generation when Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released. J. J. Abrams deconstructs what the fans like about the original trilogy, and combines all of it to recreate its awesomeness. New characters all have chemistry with every characters, old and new, the visual effects are amazing, the plot is amazing, the score is amazing, everything is amazing! Star Wars truly is back on i's feet on becoming the most influential and the best movie franchise of all time.

Straight Outta Compton

Here's a fun fact: I don't listen to rap song because for me it's a bad music genre. But because of this movie, I changed my mindset and listen now to a bunch of song in the rap genre. The movie's role was to tell the life of the members of N.W.A. and the path they took to reach stardom, centering on Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Easy-E mainly. But the film managed to do more than that: and that is to let the audiences appreciate rap music as an art, and rappers as artists. This is a musical done right with excellent direction and screenplay. Phenomenal indeed.

Remark: This is a subjective list. If one of your favorite films is not on the list, maybe I haven't watched it yet.