Wednesday, February 24, 2016

The Best (and Worst) of 2015

Best movie: Mad Max: Fury Road
(2. Spotlight 3. Spy 4. The Big Short 5. It Follows 6. Steve Jobs 7. Room. 8. Sicario 9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 10. Queen of Earth)

The relentless, beautiful, insane and exhilarating film is such an anthem for freedom and a testament of human will to survive. Everything is perfect - the simple script brought to life with so much nuance and color by the actors led by incredible Theron and fantastic Hardy, the music, the action, Miller's astounding directing and the film's gorgeous cinematography. But what makes Fury Road stand out from other action films and blockbuster is how much heart it has - you genuinely care for and admire the characters and the film's final shot, as pictured above, is one of the most triumphant images ever put on film.

Best actor: Jacob Tremblay as Jack in Room
(2. Tom Hardy, Legend, 3. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs 4. Michael Keaton, Spotlight 5. Michael Fassbender, Macbeth 6. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant 7. Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Fury Road, 8. Steve Carrel, The Big Short, 9. Al Pacino, Danny Collins)

Man, is DiCaprio ultimately lucky when it comes to Oscars. He is finally winning one this year and his two biggest competitors aren't even nominated. While I did appreciate the effort DiCaprio put in The Revenant his work there isn't nearly on the level of Tom Hardy's double beast of a performance in Legend - work so good it remains brilliant even though it is surrounded by mediocre movie - and especially barely 7 year old (at the time of the filming) Jacob Tremblay who stole the show in Room. Brie Larson is winning for that film and he, who actually carries the movie, isn't even nominated. But it certainty is a win for me - a performance so beautiful, mature and convincing that shatters your heart into a million pieces.

Best Actress:  Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road
(2. Joséphine Japy, Respire 3. Emily Blunt, Sicario  4. Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens 5. Brie Larson, Room 6. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn 7. Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years 8. Elizabeth Moss, Queen of Earth 9. Melissa McCarthy, Spy)

When asked who is the best working actress today some will say Blanchett, many will say Cotillard. But could Blanchett or Cotillard play characters as varied as Aileen Wuornos, Mavos Gary or Furiosa? They could try but they wouldn't do as well as Charlize Theron, the best working actress nowadays, does. Her Furiosa goes against the trope of action heroine - yes, she is badass but she is very human.  Unlike Sarah Connor she is still capable of trust even though she was a slave for majority of her life. Unlike Ripley her traumas didn't kill her desire to belong, forgive and repent. As Furiosa Theron gets to express every single possible emotion and creates a character so fierce, so admirable and so instantly iconic. This is our Furiosa.

Best supporting actor: Benicio del Toro as Alejandro in Sicario
(2. Jason Statham, Spy 3. Ryan Gosling, The Big Short 4. Tom Hardy, The Revenant 5. Sylvester Stallone, Creed 6. Matthew Fox, Bone Tomahawk 7. Harrison Ford, Star Wars: The Force Awakens 8. Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight 9. Michael Sheen, Far From the Maddening Crowd, 10. Richard Jenkins, Bone Tomahawk)

I so wish I could give the award to Jason Statham's performance in hilarious Spy, but I cannot because Del Toro shatters all of the other competitors in the line up. The film is a hard one to steal but he does it with ease playing the most interesting male character in a long while. A merciless assassin with the bleeding heart and broken mind-  you simply cannot take your eyes off him.

Best supporting actress:  Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust in Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation
(2. Rose Byrne, Spy 3. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight 4. Lou de Laâge, Respire 5. Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs 6. Jessica Chastain, Crimson Peak 7. Shirley Henderson, Tale of Tales 8. Katherine Waterston, Queen of Earth)

It's truly incredible - an unknown actress enters the franchise in its 5th film and overshadows everyone. Her Ilsa is a very fun character but it wouldn't be nearly as great without great actress playing her. And Ferguson elevates the material so much - Ilsa is a kickass skilled agent but she is also a fine woman - elegant, classy and very feminine. She is like a femme fatale of Hollywood golden age movies. There is this moment when she lifts her dress, reloads the shotgun and positions it on her bare knee. I got lightheaded when that happened.

2015 was the year of: Tom Hardy, who delivered wonderful work in Child 44, London Road, Peaky Blinders, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant and Legend
Brokeback Mountain Award for the Most Important Movie of the Year: Spotlight
Best Ensemble: Spotlight (2. Mad Max: Fury Road 3. Spy 4. The Big Short 5. Bone Tomahawk 6. The Revenant  7. Hateful Eight)
Best director: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road (2. It Follows 3. Spotlight 4. Sicario 5. Bone Tomahawk)
Best adapted screenplay: Mad Max: Fury Road (2. The Big Short 3. Respire 4. Room)
Best original screenplay: Bone Tomahawk (2. Spy 3. Spotlight 4. It Follows 5. Steve Jobs)
Best music: Mad Max: Fury Road (2.  Macbeth 3. Queen of Earth 4. Lost River 5.The Revenant 7. It Follows 8. Brooklyn 9. The Hateful Eight)
Best use of song: Freebird in Kingsman (2. the ending, Steve Jobs)
Best track: Brothers in Arms, Mad Max: Fury Road (2. Chapter Doof, Mad Max: Fury Road 3. Carrying Glass, The Revenant 4. Turn Hell Hound, Macbeth 5. Discovering Buffalo, The Revenant, more here)
Best sound: Mad Max: Fury Road (2.The Revenant 3. It Follows 4. Sicario 5. Ant Man)
Best costumes:  Crimson Peak (2. Mad Max: Fury Road 3. Brooklyn 4. The Revenant 5. The Man from UNCLE)
Best production design: Crimson Peak (2. Mad Max: Fury Road 3. Macbeth 4. Krampus 5. The Hateful Eight)
Best cinematography:  Mad Max: Fury Road (2.Macbeth 3. Sicario 4.
The Revenant  5. It Follows)
Best editing:
Mad Max: Fury Road (2. Sicario 3. Kingsman 4. Spotlight 5. It Follows)
Best visual effects: The Revenant (2. Mad Max: Fury Road 3. Legend, 4. Ant Man 5. The Force Awakens)

Biggest Disappointment: The Revenant  
Worst Performance by an Actress: Ana de Amas, Knock Knock (2. Emily Browning, Legend 3. Lea Seydoux, Spectre)  
Worst Performance by an Actor:  Jaime Dornan, 50 Shades of Grey  (2. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl 3. Christoph Waltz, Spectre)
Most Overhyped: Me Earl and the Dying Girl
(2. Trainwreck)   
Worst Movie of the Year: Knock Knock
Underrated:  The Man from UNCLE
Best Scene of the year:
B
rothers in Arms, Mad Max: Fury Road  2. Freebird, Kingsman  3. The Dinner, Sicario  4. The ending, Mad Max: Fury Road  5. The final fight, The Revenant 6. Fitzgerald's story, The Revenant 7. It's time, Spotlight 8. The murder of the King, Macbeth 9. The pool scene, It Follows 10. Glass is discovered, The Revenant (more here)
Funniest scene: The coat vs the door, Spy (2. Fuck you Mars, The Martian 3. The coffee scene, The Hateful Eight 4. Solo and sandwich during the boat fight, The Man from UNCLE 5. "That's a messed up looking dog", Ant Man 6. The jack in the box hugs the elves, Krampus 7. What cloud?!, Creed 8."Oh, you're cold?", The Force Awakens)
"You Never Can Tell" award for the best dance scene: Ex-Machina (2. The Man from UNCLE 3. Cinderella 4. Crimson Peak 5. Final Girls)
The most I cried during the movie:  50% of Room (2. The ending, Mad Max: Fury Road 3. Max. That's my Name, Mad Max, Fury Road 4. The death of Han Solo, The Force Awakens)
The most shocking scene: You know damn well which scene, Bone Tomahawk (2. the dinner, Sicario 3. Han Solo is killed, The Force Awakens 4. the Rat and the scissors, Lost River 5. the face and the scalpel, Lost River 6. Glass crawls inside a dead horse, The Revenant)
Best Kiss: Jurassic World (2. Cinderella 3. Far From the Maddening Crowd)
Best Fight: The Revenant (2. The church scene, Kingsman 3. Furiosa vs Max, Mad Max: Fury Road 4. Rey vs Ren, The Force Awakens 5. Reggie vs Ronnie, Legend 6. Macbeth vs Macduff, Macbeth)

Best Chemistry: Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road (2. Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro, Sicario 3. Melissa McCarthy and everyone in the movie, Spy 4. Daisy Ridley and Harrison Ford, The Force Awakens 5. Arnie Hammer and Henry Cavill, The Man from UNCLE)
Best Quote:   At least that way we might be able to... together... come across some kind of redemption., Mad Max: Fury Road (2. Say hello to my wife. I'll say goodbye to yours, Bone Tomahawk 3. This is the land of wolves now, Sicario 4. And by the way, I can see your gun, unless you're SO extreme that you have a second dick coming out of your hip!, Spy 5. We gotta nail these scumbags! We gotta show people that nobody can get away with this; Not a priest, or a cardinal or a freaking pope!, Spotlight 6. One step. One punch. One Round, Creed)
Best Line delivery:  Home....get them home, Mad Max: Fury Road (2. It's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true, The Force Awakens 3. Max. That's my name, Mad Max: Fury Road  4. Don't forget about my daughter, Sicario 5. "GET YOUR MOTHERFUCKING ASSES UP HERE! NOW!", Spy 6. My wife tried that, Creed 7. I can't do that. He's my brother,  Legend 8. Fuck you, Mars, The Martian)
Best comedy performance of the year: Jason Statham, Spy (2. Rose Byrne, Spy 3. Paul Serafinowicz, Spy 4. Melissa McCarthy, Spy 5. Chris Hemsworth, Vacation)
Best performance under 20 minutes of screentime: Rachel McAdams, Southpaw (2. Peter Sarsgaard, Black Mass 3. Chris Hemsworth, Vacation)
Sweetest scene of the year: Max gives Furiosa his blood, Mad Max: Fury Road (2. BB-8 and the thumbs up, The Force Awakens)
Best Opening:  Mad Max: Fury Road (2. It Follows 3. The Revenant)
Best Ending: Mad Max: Fury Road (2. Spotlight 3. Respire 4. The Force Awakens 5. Spy 6. It Follows)

The Lisbeth Salander favorite hero award goes to: Furiosa, Mad Max: Fury Road (2. Rey, The Force Awakens 3. Han Solo, The Force Awakens 4. Agent Cooper, Spy 5. Scott Lang, Ant Man)
The Joker favorite villain award goes to: Fitzgerald, The Revenant (2. Reyna, Spy 3. It, It Follows 4. Krampus, Krampus 5. Lucille, Crimson Peak)
The Fly award for the single most disgusting thing in a movie goes to: the scalping and dismembering scene, Bone Tomahawk (2. It raping the guy, It Follows 3.  the dead horse, The Revenant 4. the umbilical cord, Mad Max: Fury Road 5. the poor lamb, Ant Man)
Pussy Wagon travel in style award goes to: Ant-hony, Ant Man (2. The Rig,, Mad Max: Fury Road)
Uggie's award for the best dog goes to: JB, Kingsman

Tub Scene award for the hottest sexy scene of the year goes to:  and in actual tub too - Margot Robbie in The Big Short (2. Ilsa Faust and the riffle in the opera, Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation 3. Han Solo at all times, The Force Awakens 4. Max doing something heroic, Mad Max: Fury Road 5. Reggie exhaling a smoke, Legend)
"I blacked out for a moment there' reaction for the hottest character of the year goes to: Ilsa Faust, Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation

JJ Abrams award for most shattering moment in film goes to: The Bridge scene in The Force Awakens
Amy Dunne award for the most influential haircut goes to: Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic World
"Am I high or did it actually happen?" question for the most ridiculous movie moment goes to: All the actions of Batsheba,  Far From the Maddening Crowd  (2. The entire movie, The Danish Girl 3. The main character googles herself, Truth)
The Jar Jar binks facepalm gesture statute for the most annoying character of the year goes to: Lili, The Danish Girl  (2. Amy Schumer basically playing herself, Trainwreck 3. Batsheba Everdeen, Far From the Maddening Crowd 4. Gerda, The Danish Girl)

Matthias Schoenaerts' characters in 2015 (in the films people actually saw) RUN award goes to: Matthias Schoenaerts' characters in Far From the Maddening Crowd and The Danish Girl. Dude, leave those people behind and don't turn around. Just go.
The shirt with the scarlet H letter for the Hypocrite of the year goes to:  Tarantino and whatever the fuck the treatment of Daisy was in Hateful Eight

"I wish it was a dream" award for the single dumbest plot manuever goes to: Natives ex Machina who showed up whenever the plot needed them to in The Revenant (2. Let's just leave Glass here with the guy who was mean to him, The Revenant 3. Yes, Leia let's just send Han to your psychotic son. Because what bad can possibly happen? Bitch, The Force Awakens 4. Let's just leave all these guys who could help and go search for Fitzgerald on our own, Captain, The Revenant)
Flaming dog poo and eternal shame goes to: Whoever planned Golden Globes ceremony and is responsible for Harrison Ford being on stage for about a minute time, total (2. D&D for finally fucking up Game of Thrones beyond comprehension 3. Jada Pinkett Smith for being herself 4. The Academy for not saying 'fuck off' and instead actually acting ashamed about this OscarsSoWhite thing when it's not their fault 5. A24 for taking their sweet time to bring The Witch to me)

Lars Von Trier award for the biggest piece of misogynistic shit goes to:
again Tarantino and whatever the fuck the treatment of Daisy was in Hateful Eight
Tree of Life bucket of coffee award for the most boring movie of the year goes to: The Revenant


Highest number of mentions (negative ones in ()):
 Mad Max: Fury Road =  32, wins - 16
Spy = 17, wins - 2
 The Force Awakens = 17 (-1) = 16, wins - 1
 The Revenant = 20 (-5) = 15, wins - 3 (-3) = 0
 Sicario = 12, wins - 1
 It Follows = 12
Spotlight = 11, wins - 2
 Bone Tomahawk = 8, wins - 3
Macbeth = 7
Ant Man = 6, wins - 1
 Room = 5, wins - 2
 Crimson Peak = 5, wins - 2
Kingsman  = 5, wins - 2 
The Big Short = 5, wins -1
 The Man From UNCLE = 5, wins - 1
Steve Jobs = 5

2015 films I've seen:

Mad Max: Fury Road, 99/100
Spotlight, 94/100
Spy, 93/100
The Big Short, 93/100
It Follows, 93/100
Steve Jobs, 92/100
Room. 92/100
Sicario, 92/100
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 91/100
Queen of Earth, 82/100
Bone Tomahawk, 85/100
Cinderella, 85/100
The Hateful Eight, 79/100
Creed, 77/100
Kingsman, 75/100
The Martian, 75/100
The Man from UNCLE, 75/100
Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation 75/100
Inside Out, 75/100
Crimson Peak, 75/100

The Revenant, 74/100
Brooklyn, 74/100
The Gift, 74/100
Respire 73/100
Ant Man 73/100
Burnt, 73/100
Macbeth, 73/100
Far From the Maddening Crowd. 73/100
Lost River, 72/100
Carol, 72/100
The Voices, 72/100
45 Years, 71/100
Black Mass, 71/100
Krampus 71/100
Ex-Machina - 71/100
Dark Places. 70/100
Legend, 70/100
Mortdecai, 70/100
Danny Collins, 70/100
Spectre, 69/100
Clouds of Sils Maria, 68/100
Youth, 67/100
Every Secret Thing, 67/100
Southpaw, 66/100
Suffragette, 65/100
Furious 7 65/100
The Intern 65/100
Our Brand is Crisis, 64/100
Predestination, 63/100
Truth, 62/100
Jupiter Ascending, 61/100
Jurassic World, 60/100
Avengers: Age of Ultron. 59/100
Final Girls, 57/100
Tale of Tales, 56/100
Irrational Man, 55/100
Vacation, 54/100
Focus, 53/100
The Danish Girl, 53/100
Me Earl and the Dying Girl, 52/100
Trumbo, 52/100
Everest, 51/100

Joy, 49/100
Trainwreck 48/100
Before I go to Sleep, 46/100
50 Shades of Grey, 45/100
The Boy Next Door, 36/10
Knock Knock, 15/100

32 comments:

  1. "Am I high or did it actually happen?" question for the most ridiculous movie moment goes to: The Danish Girl. Fucking Hilarious.

    I can't stop watching that GIF of Rachel McAdams. It's amazing.

    Great work here! I still can't believe Del Toro didn't get awards attention for Sicario.

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    1. Thank you! McAdams was just superb in Southpaw. She made the movie worth watching

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  2. Just be glad Aloha didn't make it to the U.K. I heard it was so bad, it didn't even bother make it in the U.K. for a theatrical release. That's my worst film of the year while Fifty Shades of Shit is also in my worst list as Jamie Dornan looks like he wants to take a shit or looked like someone shoved a dildo up his ass.

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    1. Oh, I'm sorry. Slap me in the face for my stupidity.

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    2. oh, it's OK, UK would be an improvement :)

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  3. Well, this is fucking badass post! And, as far as I can tell, your only real miss is Most important, which I would easily give to The Big Short over Spotlight. Not that Spotlight isn't important. It is totally so. The Big Short is just more important...right now, as we make our way down to the elections in November. Will somebody please stop these banks from destroying us? I applaud The Big Short for entertaining that into our heads.

    I wish I liked Mad Max as much as you. I appreciate it fully. I just don't love it. And, for the record, I was never bored watching The Revenant. I hung on every damn breath.

    Good call on Rebecca Ferguson. She was fucking fierce and hot as hell.

    Again, fantastic post!

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    1. Thank you! Well I suppose Spotlight is more globally important imho - as shown in the ending this kind of horrific abuse happens worldwide. Though the result of US elections can be terrible for everyone too.

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  4. Great post Sati. Love that Steve Jobs made your top ten. It's my favorite this year. But you should have listed it in adapted screenplay, instead of original, I guess :D

    Even though I've not seen some of the movies, I agree with most of nominations here. I'm really surprised by the number of mentions for The Revenant though.

    P.S. I have Jacob Tremblay as No. 1 too.

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    1. Thank you! That was based on something?! Damn, I thought it was original

      Me too, but it had a lot of shocking moments and a good score so that raised it stats

      So glad so many people give win to Jacob!

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    2. Yeah, it's based on Walter Isaacson's book of the same name. Just going to read it.

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  5. The Man from UNCLE really was underrated! I remember not even wanting to see it because it didn't really wow me with its promotional tour, and then when I did, I was so surprised!

    Great choices here.. I really need to see Room soon because then I've seen most of the good ones from last year.

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    1. Room is really good but it's a very moving film, you will need tissues!

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  6. What a tremendous list!! Man, I'm in agreement w/ so many of these here, esp your pick of the four acting award for Leading and Supporting roles. LOVE what you said about Theron! I love miss Blanchett but I can't imagine her playing Furiosa, whilst Theron could easily play Cinderella's stepmom and I think she could pull off Carol. I think people didn't realize just what a skilled & versatile actress Theron is and that's a shame.

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    1. Thank you! Theron is really the best actress we have, she can do everything, although I'm not sure how well she does in comedy, she is always very intense

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  7. Terrific post!

    LOVE all the Fury Road wins, and it's great to see such rewatchable films as Spy and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. get several mentions. And your acting wins are so awesome! I wish I had room in my Best Actor lineup for Tremblay. :(

    Thanks for all of the replies to my comment spam by the way. :)

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    1. What even is your line up if it doesn't include him?:D No, just kidding. But very excited to see it!

      Thank you for leaving comments in the first place, I love it when you stop by!

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  8. L
    O
    L

    Love these Sati. Love the serious awards (and we have the same Actor winner...like...OMG he was so incredible) and I love the not so serious ones. Love that you hated The Revenant so much and yet...it won so much!

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  9. Great list! Your best/worst list is one of those year-end lists I look forward to.

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  10. Looooove these lists, you always do a great job with them, and this is no exception. Awesome work! I love that you have Tremblay Best Actor, he deserved so much more awards attention. I also love what you said about Theron, she's really underrated.

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  11. Thank you so much! That Theron wasn't even nominated for major awards is a travesty

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  12. Great post! I was so thrilled to see Mad Max pick up so many awards at the Oscars; I almost believed it would take Best Picture home!

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    1. I knew they won't give it BP :/ The film is too good for them

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  13. Really fun post. Love all the different categories. My only real suggestion is two more noms for the Am I High? category, both from Jurassic World. First is BDH consistently outrunning men, women, children, and dinosaurs in high heels. Second, the US government's great military plan is to weaponize velociraptors. Sigh. Grea post!

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    1. I just found the whole movie so insanely stupid that these moments of pure moronic gold didn't stand out enough :) But great calls!

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  14. I love your list Sati. I always look forward to it every year. Our best lists are very similar. I just saw Spotlight and Creed over the past two weeks. Had I seen those two films I think they would have made my best list as well. Spotlight was excellent. Creed was great too...very entertaining.

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    1. Thank you so much! So glad you liked these two, very good films, especially Spotlight

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