In 2014, we basked in the warm, soothing glow of genre films. While a number of them veered toward the dark and macabre, many of our absolute favorites — like The Grand Budapest Hotel and our #1 of the year, Under the Skin — were divorced from reality — fascinating and brilliant, obviously, but in the realm of the fantastic rather than in the now. 2015 was a tough year, and just a glance at its major news headlines was enough to make us shudder. Our favorite films of the year tended to reflect our increasing anxieties and disillusionment, as our knowledge of rigged systems and fraudulent institutions reached its peak, causing us to feel even more powerless at our inability to combat them.
If the cinema of 2015 was anything for us, it was the year of the social outsider. Disenchantment with reality morphed itself into empowerment via cinematic proxy, giving a voice to the voiceless and face to those normally lost in the crowd. From those thrust into society’s margins due to their race or sexual/gender identities (Field Niggas, Carol, Tangerine, Chi-Raq), drug addiction (Heaven Knows What, Stinking Heaven), or inborn disabilities (the deaf kids in The Tribe) to those forcibly cut off from the outside world (Room) or who simply reveled in giving it a giant, perpetual “fuck you” (Buzzard), characters in our favorite films of the year just flat-out struggled to navigate reality.
Even the settings and environments in this batch of films were unrelentingly vicious and challenging. From the brutal blasts of icy winds in The Hateful Eight and The Revenant and the unforgivingly dry desert landscapes of Mad Max: Fury Road and Timbuktu to land soaked in blood (Crimson Peak), mud, and feces (Hard to Be a God), Mother Earth wasn’t taking any more of our shit and felt compelled to inform us. Even the reliability of good, old-fashioned sex to come through with a little unfettered pleasure and joy came at a hefty price, leaving its characters as reticent sadists (The Duke of Burgundy), with a supernatural being or gang of dominatrices hunting them down (It Follows, R100), or defenseless in a dark, damp European corridor (Spring). Forget about it being hard to be a God; in this year’s cinema, it was hard enough to be a fucking person.
Yet despite all this doom and gloom, our favorite films never wallowed in misery and instead met the trials and tribulations of existence head-on in wildly entertaining and innovative ways, transcending struggles and leaving behind inspiring treatises that left us richer and stronger in the process. No, this was not a defeatist year at movies — quite the opposite, despite the dark shadow cast by its films. Cinema ran into the face of adversity and came away with its fair share of victories that empowered the powerless and touched us all deeply on an experiential and intellectual level. The significance of cinema was exemplified, to loosely paraphrase Godard, not only in its uncanny ability to reflect reality, but in that reflections’ reality to change us for the better. 2015 took us into some dark new territories, but the light it shed upon them may just have made the path ahead a bit clearer." –DEREK SMITH
Source: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/2015-favorite-30-films
List of Nominees and Winners
BRYAN CRANSTON "Trumbo"
MATT DAMON "The Martian"
LEONARDO DICAPRIO "The Revenant" - WINNER
MICHAEL FASSBENDER "Steve Jobs"
EDDIE REDMAYNE "The Danish Girl"
CHRISTIAN BALE "The Big Short"
TOM HARDY "The Revenant"
MARK RUFFALO "Spotlight"
MARK RYLANCE "Bridge of Spies" - WINNER
SYLVESTER STALLONE "Creed"
CATE BLANCHETT "Carol"
BRIE LARSON "Room" - WINNER
JENNIFER LAWRENCE "Joy"
CHARLOTTE RAMPLING "45 Years"
SAOIRSE RONAN "Brooklyn"
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH "The Hateful Eight"
ROONEY MARA "Carol"
RACHEL MCADAMS "Spotlight"
ALICIA VIKANDER "The Danish Girl" - WINNER
KATE WINSLET "Steve Jobs"
"ANOMALISA" Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
"BOY AND THE WORLD" Alê Abreu
"INSIDE OUT" Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera - WINNER
"SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE" Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
"WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE" Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura
"THE BIG SHORT" Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
"BRIDGE OF SPIES" Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
"BROOKLYN" Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Producers
"THE MARTIAN" Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam, Producers
"THE REVENANT" Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon, Producers
"ROOM" Ed Guiney, Producer
"SPOTLIGHT" Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers - WINNER
"CAROL" Ed Lachman
"THE HATEFUL EIGHT" Robert Richardson
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" John Seale
"THE REVENANT" Emmanuel Lubezki - WINNER
"SICARIO" Roger Deakins
"CAROL" Sandy Powell
"CINDERELLA" Sandy Powell
"THE DANISH GIRL" Paco Delgado
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Jenny Beavan - WINNER
"THE REVENANT" Jacqueline West
"THE BIG SHORT" Adam McKay
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" George Miller
"THE REVENANT" Alejandro G. Iñárritu - WINNER
"ROOM" Lenny Abrahamson
"SPOTLIGHT" Tom McCarthy
"THE BIG SHORT" Hank Corwin
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Margaret Sixel - WINNER
"THE REVENANT" Stephen Mirrione
"SPOTLIGHT" Tom McArdle
"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey
"EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT" Colombia
"MUSTANG" France
"SON OF SAUL" Hungary - WINNER
"THEEB" Jordan
"A WAR" Denmark
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin - WINNER
"THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED" Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
"THE REVENANT" Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini
"BRIDGE OF SPIES" Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich
"THE DANISH GIRL" Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson - WINNER
"THE MARTIAN" Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
"THE REVENANT" Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Mark Mangini and David White - WINNER
"THE MARTIAN" Oliver Tarney
"THE REVENANT" Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
"SICARIO" Alan Robert Murray
"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" Matthew Wood and David Acord
"BRIDGE OF SPIES" Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo - WINNER
"THE MARTIAN" Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth
"THE REVENANT" Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson
"EX MACHINA" Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett - WINNER
"MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
"THE MARTIAN" Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
"THE REVENANT" Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
"BRIDGE OF SPIES" Thomas Newman
"CAROL" Carter Burwell
"THE HATEFUL EIGHT" Ennio Morricone - WINNER
"SICARIO" Jóhann Jóhannsson
"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" John Williams
"BRIDGE OF SPIES" Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
"EX MACHINA" Written by Alex Garland
"INSIDE OUT" Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
"SPOTLIGHT" Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy - WINNER
"STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON" Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
"BODY TEAM 12" David Darg and Bryn Mooser
"CHAU, BEYOND THE LINES" Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
"CLAUDE LANZMANN: SPECTRES OF THE SHOAH" Adam Benzine
"A GIRL IN THE RIVER: THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS" Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy - WINNER
"LAST DAY OF FREEDOM" Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman
"AMY" Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees - WINNER
"CARTEL LAND" Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
"THE LOOK OF SILENCE" Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
"WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?" Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes
"WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM" Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor
"BEAR STORY" Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala - WINNER
"PROLOGUE" Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
"SANJAY’S SUPER TEAM" Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
"WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT COSMOS" Konstantin Bronzit
"WORLD OF TOMORROW" Don Hertzfeldt
"AVE MARIA" Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
"DAY ONE" Henry Hughes
"EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY (ALLES WIRD GUT)" Patrick Vollrath
"SHOK" Jamie Donoughue
"STUTTERER" Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage - WINNER
“Earned It” from "FIFTY SHADES OF GREY"; Music and Lyric by The Weeknd, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
“Manta Ray” from "RACING EXTINCTION"; Music by J. Ralph, Lyric by Antony Hegarty
“Simple Song #3” from "YOUTH"; Music and Lyric by David Lang
“Til It Happens To You” from "THE HUNTING GROUND"; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
“Writing’s On The Wall” from "SPECTRE"; Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith - WINNER
"THE BIG SHORT" Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay - WINNER
"BROOKLYN" Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"CAROL" Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
"THE MARTIAN" Screenplay by Drew Goddard
"ROOM" Screenplay by Emma Donoghue
Movies and TV Shows
Movies nominated for the 88th Annual Academy Awards.
The 88th Academy Awards nominees list of movies.
The complete list of nominees.
73rd Golden Globe Awards Winners
New DVD Releases
Movies to watch
by dardar4