Late last year, Talkhouse Film contributors and a select few friends of the site voted on their favorite theatrical releases of 2015. Below are the full results (for more on the scoring method, go here), followed by each individual ballot from the almost 60 filmmakers who took part in the voting process.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road 186
2. Tangerine 104
3. Carol 95.5
4. Ex Machina 79.5
5. The Hateful Eight 73
6. Sicario 72
7. Inside Out 70.5
8. Spotlight 67.5
9. The Look of Silence 67
10. It Follows 66
11. Heaven Knows What 65.5
12. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter 57.5
13. Anomalisa 54
14. Mommy 53
=15. The End of the Tour 45
=15. The Revenant 45
17. Star Wars: The Force Awakens 43.5
=18. Creed 42
=18. Magic Mike XXL 42
20. Listen to Me Marlon 38.5
21. Amy 38
22. The Diary of a Teenage Girl 37.5
23. Girlhood 37
24. Bridge of Spies 36
25. Clouds of Sils Maria 34
26. Jauja 33.5
=27. Entertainment 30
=27. Li’l Quinquin 30
29. (T)ERROR 28.5
30. Timbuktu 28
31. Maps to the Stars 27
32. The Assassin 26
33. Love & Mercy 25.5
=34. Son of Saul 25
=34. Straight Outta Compton 25
36. James White 24.5
37. Beasts of No Nation 23.5
=38. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation 23
=38. White God 23
=38. Wild Tales 23
41. Steve Jobs 22.5
=42. Kingsman: The Secret Service 22
=42. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck 22
44. Bitter Lake 21.5
=45. 45 Years 21
=45. Buzzard 21
=45. Cartel Land 21
=45. The Tribe 21
=49. What We Do in the Shadows 20.5
=49. The Mend 20.5
51. Hard to Be a God 20
52. The Martian 19
=53. God Bless the Child 18
=53. Stinking Heaven 18
=55. L for Leisure 17
=55. Shaun the Sheep Movie 17
57. The Duke of Burgundy 16
=58. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence 15
=58. La Sapienza 15
=58. Phoenix 15
61. Mustang 14.5
=62. Gangs of Wasseypur 14
=62. Mediterranea 14
=62. Spectre 14
=62. Victoria 14
=66. Finders Keepers 13
=66. The Gift 13
=66. Eden 13
69. Court 12.5
=70. Spy 12
=70. The Big Short 12
=70. The Forbidden Room 12
=70. While We’re Young 12
74. About Elly 11.5
=75. Crimson Peak 11
=75. Everest 11
=75. Queen of Earth 11
78. Sleeping with Other People 10.5
=79. Best of Enemies 10
=79. Ant-Man 10
=79. Approaching the Elephant 10
=79. Joy 10
=79. Mistress America 10
=79. Ricki and the Flash 10
=79. We Come as Friends 10
=86. A Poem is a Naked Person 9.5
=86. Seymour: An Introduction 9.5
=88. The Wolfpack 9
=88. Far From the Madding Crowd 9
=90. American Ultra 8
=90. Call Me Lucky 8
=90. The Peanuts Movie 8
=90. Trainwreck 8
94. Irrational Man 7.5
=95. Appropriate Behavior 7
=95. Chi-Raq 7
=95. Truth 7
=95. Welcome to Me 7
=99. Brooklyn 6.5
=99. Western 6.5
=101. blackhat 6
=101. Bone Tomahawk 6
103. Results 5
1. Listen to Me Marlon
2. It Follows
3. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
4. The Hateful Eight (roadshow version)
5. Best of Enemies
6. Maps to the Stars
7. The Peanuts Movie
8. When Animals Dream
9. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
10. Tie! A pair of beautiful love stories: The Duke of Burgundy/American Ultra
Comments
Of course few of us have seen all the eligible films and I feel I’ve been especially lax – films I haven’t seen but suspect could’ve been contenders for my list include Heart of a Dog, Anomalisa, Experimenter, Ant-Man and Carol, for starters. For me this was a great year for film, with numerous movies that managed to instill genuine emotion into the most severe conceptual styles. Two great tastes that taste great together.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
I liked the film more than he did (of course, I also have a much less personal stake in the material), but I enjoyed Bret Easton Ellis’ take on The End of the Tour.
I decided not to submit 10 films because I only saw around 10 movies! so it doesn’t feel fair. out of the movies I saw I would say that Heaven Knows What and In the Basement would be my top two. Then God Bless the Child. I did finally see Die Hard (the original one), only 27 years late. That was also right up there in the top 10.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
1. Li’l Quinquin
2. Girlhood
3. James White
4. Court
5. Heaven Knows What
6. The Revenant
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service
8. Mommy
9. Lost River
10. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Comments
It’s funny to me that my favorite film of the year was a mini-series in its country of origin. Guess it’s time to accept that the times they are a-changin’.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Abel Ferrara/Gaspar Noé talk
Simon Barrett
1. Cartel Land
2. The Hateful Eight
3. The Revenant
4. The Big Short
5. Tangerine
6. Inside Out
7. Mad Max: Fury Road
8. Steve Jobs
9. Finders Keepers
10. Shaun the Sheep Movie
Comments
I limited my list to U.S. theatrical releases as instructed, but Dude Bro Party Massacre III was a terrific non-theatrical release, and the not yet released Green Room and The Witch will undoubtedly top my list in 2016.
Based on what I’ve seen so far…
1. Carol
2. Anomalisa
3. Sicario
4. Out 1: Noli Me Tangere
5. Inside Out
6. Spotlight
7. White God
8. Amy
9. Mustang
10. The Wolfpack
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Abel Ferrara and Gaspar Noé
Carol
Inside Out
Steve Jobs
Tangerine
It Follows
Heaven Knows What
The End of the Tour
Girlhood
Queen of Earth
Nasty Baby
Comments
There are still a TON of films I need to see this year. This list is simply a reflection (unranked) of the best of what I’ve had the chance to see. Forgive me.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Anything by Terence Nance, Eugene Kotlyarenko or Alex Ross Perry.
1. Mommy
2. The End of the Tour
3. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
4. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
5. Sicario
6. James White
7. Unexpected
8. Entertainment
9. Creed
10. San Andreas
Comments
If it were a movie, I’d put Fargo Season 2 on my list, but it’s not so I won’t, but I still want to.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Nikole Beckwith (Stockholm, Pennsylvania) Talks Her Worst Date Movie Experience
1. Inside Out
2. L for Leisure
3. The Forbidden Room
4. Magic Mike XXL
5. Heaven Knows What
6. Jauja
7. Hard to be a God
8. Tom at the Farm
9. The Duke of Burgundy
10. Maps to the Stars
Comments
The single best thing I saw in a movie this year was the Rihanna sequence in Girlhood. I made a movie this year, so I’m way, way behind on stuff. There are too many movies that might have this list that I still haven’t seen.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Clay Liford on Paddington, David Lowery on Ted 2, Sophia Takal on Trainwreck, Terence Nance on Love, Cat Agent on Minions
1. Jauja
2. Stinking Heaven
3. L for Leisure
4. Approaching the Elephant
5. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
6. Amour Fou
7. Magic Mike XXL
8. Horse Money
9. Tu Dors Nicole
10. Western
Comments
I thought this was a particularly strong year for short films, so I’d like to mention a few: Ricky D’Ambrose’s Six Cents in the Pocket, Tsai Ming-Liang’s No No Sleep, Joanna Arnow’s Bad at Dancing, Dustin Guy Defa’s Review and Nathan Silver’s Riot.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Rick Alverson on Stinking Heaven
1. Magic Mike XXL
2. The Royal Road
3. The Look of Silence
4. Ricki and the Flash
5. La Sapienza
6. Clouds of Sils Maria
7. Seymour: An Introduction
8. Creed
9. Results
10. Timbuktu
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance Talks Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
1. Animals (DUH!)
2. Ant-Man (Double Duh!!)
3. Buzzard
4. Entertainment
5. Ex Machina
6. Anomalisa
7. It Follows
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
9. Sicario
10. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TRIPLE DUH!!!!)
Honorary Mention: Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films by Mark Hartley
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Great article – Stephen Cone talks Home for the Holidays
God Bless the Child
Breathe
Spy
Growing Up and Other Lies
Sufragette
Victoria
Beasts of No Nation
Comments
I saw very few movies this year. (In fact, I didn’t even see these last two films, but I believe I will really love them when I do get to watch.) Breathe stunned the shit out of me. It is like, real. So awful it’s real. So real we lived it. So real I am going to die from its real.
1. Carol
2. Son of Saul
3. Phoenix
4. Heaven Knows What
5. About Elly
6. Mad Max: Fury Road
7. A Poem is a Naked Person
8. Mississippi Grind
9. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
10. Sicario
Comments
2015 was the year for uneven cinema. Everything on my top ten comes with at least one reservation. Am I getting cynical in my old age? More likely just a down year in the cycle.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Onur Tukel talks The Avengers: Age of Ultron
A Hard Day
Bone Tomahawk
Bridge of Spies
Eden (#3)
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out (#2)
Knock Knock
Maps to the Stars
Son of Saul
Trainwreck
Wild Tales (#1)
Jeanie Finlay
1. Dreamcatcher
2. Carol
3. The Look of Silence
4. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
5. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
6. Bitter Lake
7. Of Horses and Men
8. Love & Mercy
9. Magic Mike XXL
10. Approaching the Elephant
Comments
Magic Mike XXL was the most joyous film experience I had this year but as always I have chosen the films that allowed me to cry in the dark with strangers
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
The notes on the Ryan Gosling film Lost River
1. Sicario
2. Timbuktu
3. Mad Max
4. Creed
5. Spotlight
6. Ex Machina
7. Victoria
8. The Big Short
9. Straight Outta Compton
10. Chi-Raq
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Straight Outta Compton
3. Spotlight
4. Ex Machina
5. Anomalisa
6. Creed
7. The Hateful Eight
8. Call Me Lucky
9. The End of the Tour
10. Bone Tomahawk
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Michael Mohan on Dangerous Men
1. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
2. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
3. 10,000 KM
4. Tangerine
5. White God
6. Welcome to Me
7. Spy
8. Infinitely Polar Bear
9. Straight Outta Compton
10. Appropriate Behavior
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) Talks F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton
I tried, but couldn’t do a proper 1-10 ranking:
3 ½ Minutes 10 Bullets
Brooklyn
Court
Bitter Lake
James White
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mustang
The Revenant
(T)error
Where to Invade Next
Comments
Court is a film that I saw contemporary India in. But, I also saw alot of America, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago in it too. Directed with such confidence, it makes me mad at why I can’t do something like it!
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) Talks F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton
1. Spotlight
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Ex Machina
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
5. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
6. (T)error
7. Mr. Holmes
8. White God
9. Ballet 422
10. Ant-Man
Comments
I know that my list ended up the way it did because I was just too damn busy in 2015 to actually see all the movies I wanted to see. I never made it to The Martian, or to Sicario. I missed out on the brief theatrical runs of Mustang and The Assassin. But I did see more than 10 films this year, so I’m glad to have some choice in the matter. I really, really wanted to like Dope, and put it on this list, but I was disappointed in the details. I really really wanted to include The Revenant but it isn’t playing in Dallas until January. I was surprised by how much Spotlight affected me, but I’ve thought about it more than any other film on this list. I was also surprised by how much I genuinely liked Ant-Man. I think there was enough of Edgar Wright’s vision still left in to satisfy me. I think my enjoyment of Mr. Holmes had as much to do with Carter Burwell’s score as it did with any other aspect of the filmmaking. And lastly, I just realized today that two of my top 5 films star Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson, which is largely meaningless, but nevertheless amusing to me, since I don’t have particularly strong feelings about either of them.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Michael Mohan’s piece on Steve Jobs, Aaron Katz’s piece on Mr. Holmes
1. Mommy
2. Girlhood
3. Heaven Knows What
4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
5. Blind
6. Wild Canaries
7. Ex Machina
8. The Duke of Burgundy
9. Far From the Madding Crowd
10. It Follows
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance on Stonewall
1. The Hateful Eight
2. Spotlight
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Everest
5. Son Of Saul
6. Listen To Me Marlon
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service
8. Bridge of Spies
9. Creed
10. Brooklyn
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Aaron Stewart-Ahn on Creed. Made me appreciate and see a movie I already loved in a whole new way.
1. The Hateful Eight
2. Spectre
3. While We’re Young
4. Magic Mike XXL/Mad Max: Fury Road (tie)
5. Chi-Raq
6. By the Sea
7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
8. Ricki and the Flash
9. Irrational Man
10. Creed
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Anything by Brian Trenchard-Smith
1. Tangerine
2. Ex Machina
3. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
4. The End of the Tour
5. Anomalisa
6. The Revenant
7. Beasts of No Nation
8. Entertainment
9. Mistress America
10. Cop Car
Comments
The thing all these films had in common was their ability to make me relate. Be the characters lovely or grotesque, I related and loved them all. The only slight exception might be found in Cop Car, which I selected for its craft and direction, first and foremost. Such a simple concept, so well executed! Each moment is so intently constructed. Super inspiring. All of these. Thank you filmmaking community 2015! (Best Screenplay is a tie: The End of the Tour and Ex Machina!)
1. Jauja
2. The Assassin
3. Magic Mike XXL
4. Far from the Madding Crowd
5. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
6. We Come as Friends
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Sicario
9. Tangerine
10. Grandma
Lloyd Kaufman (and Troma Entertainment)
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Creed
3. Ex Machina
4. It Follows
5. Kung Fu Elliot
6. Call Me Lucky
7. Peanuts
8. Inside Out
9. Welcome to Me
10. Tangerine
Honorable Mention: Dylan Greenberg’s Dark Prism
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger) Talks Ondi Timoner’s Brand: A Second Coming
1. The Look of Silence
2. Tangerine
3. Kingsman: The Secret Service
4. The Tribe
5. Bridge of Spies
6. It Follows
7. Inside Out
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
9. Wild Tales
10. Maps to the Stars
Comments
Middling films receiving great praise include — Anomalisa, The Martian, Spotlight, The End of the Tour
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance on Love, Bret Easton Ellis on The End of the Tour, Onur Tukel on Southpaw
1. Tangerine
2. Tangerine
3. Tangerine
4. Tangerine
5. Tangerine
6. Max Max: Fury Road
7. Max Max: Fury Road
8. Max Max: Fury Road
9. Max Max: Fury Road
10. Max Max: Fury Road
1. Tangerine
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Amy
4. Maps to the Stars
5. Appropriate Behavior
6. Sleeping with Other People
7. Five Star
8. I Believe in Unicorns
9. The Mend
10. The Final Girls
Comments
If I had more room: Dope, Magic Mike XXL, Straight Outta Compton. I left off any film my place of employ worked on which leaves out a few great options. Sorry White Queen of Bluebird, James Earth. Some of the best writing and directing I saw this year by indie filmmakers I love was via watching Transparent, UnREAL and The Leftovers.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
The podcast where Kris Swanberg chatted with that dude she’s married to about filmmaking and family.
1. The Hateful Eight
2. Listen to Me Marlon
3. Welcome to Leith
4. Finders Keepers
5. When Marnie Was There
6. The Wolfpack
7. Inside Out
8. Straight Outta Compton
9. The Big Short
10 Films I Saw & Liked in 2015 – not necessarily my “”top”” films since I have yet to see so many films
(in alphabetical order)
‘71
About Elly
Beasts of No Nation
Girlhood
Iris
It Follows
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
The Mend
What We Do in the Shadows
Wild Tales
Comments
I’m way behind in my movie-watching, so I’ve seen practically no Golden Globe nominees or Oscar contenders yet. The above list is just a list of films I happened to see and like this year.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance Talks Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall
1. The Look of Silence
2. Mommy
3. (T)error
3. It Follows
4. Paddington
5. Inside Out
6. Joy
7. Magic Mike XXL
8. Carol
9. Approaching the Elephant
10. Girlhood
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Bret Easton Ellis on The End of the Tour
1. Carol
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Cartel Land
4. 45 Years
5. The Assassin
6. Son of Saul
7. Inside Out
8. Hitchcock/Truffaut
9. Red Army
Comments
Cartel Land: If only the director had cut the specious narrative strand north of the Mexican border. …
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Dogged by dodgy technology, Abel Ferrara yelling down the phone at Gaspar Noé and vice versa.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Sicario
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. The Revenant
5. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
6. The Martian
7. The Hateful Eight
8. Truth
9. It Follows
10. Tales of Halloween
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Joe Lynch talks Mad Max: Fury Road
1) Mad Max: Fury Road
2) The Hateful Eight
Dope
It Follows
Crimson Peak
Everly
Shaun The Sheep Movie
Sicario
Joy
The Martian
Comments
2-10 are a nine way tie. Ranking random. Fury Road beats all. Also please note: I haven’t seen The Revenant yet.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Joe Lynch on Mad Max: Fury Road
I couldn’t figure out 10 truly great films to include from 2015 – it really seems like a so-so year. So instead, here is my top 10 from 20 years ago, 1995:
1. Safe
2. Kicking and Screaming
3. Welcome to the Dollhouse
4. Before Sunrise
5. Sense and Sensibility
6. City of Lost Children
7. Seven
8. Casino
9. Mighty Aphrodite
10. Rumble in the Bronx
(Runners Up: 12 Monkeys, Usual Suspects, Toy Story, Species, Dead Man Walking, Strange Days, Showgirls)
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
I really enjoyed reading Alex’s piece on The Green Inferno, because I was originally very curious to watch the film, and now I know I never have to see it.
1. 45 Years
2. The Look of Silence
3. The Assassin
4. Sicario
5. Ex Machina
6. Spectre
7. Best of Enemies
8. The End of the Tour
9. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
10. Creed
Comments
If I could, I would have listed 45 Years by Andrew Haigh for all ten slots on this list, just to convey what a sublime, near miracle of a film it is for me. It prompted one of the most heated question and answer sessions in the theater afterwards. Proof that it cut to the quick.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Aaron Stewart-Ahn on Creed and Terence Nance on Gaspar Noé’s Love
1.Timbuktu
1. (T)error
3. Mediterranea
4. Creed
5. Spotlight
6. It Follows
7. Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
8. Tangerine
9. Inside Out
10. Mad Max: Fury Road
Comments
The 3 best films of the year (Timbuktu, (T)error and Mediterranea) were unapologetically Black, yet universal and urgently contemporary in their themes, they were also criminally underseen and underexplored in the press.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Creed!
Kent Osborne
1. Entertainment
2. Shaun the Sheep Movie
3. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Kingsman: The Secret Service
6. Anomalisa
7. White God
8. Results
9. What We Do in the Shadows
10. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Comments
Have yet to see The Hateful Eight, Ex Machina.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Julia Pott talks The Peanuts Movie
1. Hard to be a God
2. Bridge of Spies
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Heaven Knows What
6. blackhat
7. While We’re Young
8. Jauja
9. Clouds of Sils Maria
10. Buzzard
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Chad Hartigan reveals his illogical fondness for Meet Joe Black.
1. Heaven Knows What
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. Mad Max Fury Road
4. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
5. The Tribe
6. Straight Outta Compton
7. Stinking Heaven
8. Trainwreck
9. Love & Mercy
10. Buzzard
Comments
I know my girlfriend would really love it if I included What We Do in the Shadows somewhere. I liked it, just not as much as she did.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Jim Strouse’s kids dogging on Fantastic Four
1. Carol
2. La Sapienza
3. Eastern Boys
4. Clouds of Sils Maria
5. Arabian Nights: Volume 1 – The Restless One
6. We Come as Friends
7. The Forbidden Room
8. Timbuktu
9. Shaun the Sheep Movie
10. The Assassin
1. Li’l Quinquin
2. Too Many Cooks
3. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
4. The End of the Tour
5. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
6. The Look of Silence
7. Manglehorn
8. Entertainment
9. Heaven Knows What
10. Roar
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Cat Agent on Minions
Amy
Ex Machina
Irrational Man
Listen to Me Marlon
Love & Mercy
Mad Max: Fury Road
Queen of Earth
Seymour: An Introduction
Tangerine
A Wonderful Cloud
In no particular order:
Spotlight
Wild Tales
The End of the Tour
The Revenant
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Amy
Buzzard
Sleeping With Other People
Inside Out
[First half of] Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Comments
Diary of a Teenage Girl was a massive discovery of a filmmaker and an actor for me. Wild Tales is most thrilling experience I’ve had in a movie theater in years. If a movie as good as Sleeping With Other People isn’t a massive hit, I truly fear for the future of indie film.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Drew Tobia (See You Next Tuesday) Talks Sebastiàn Silva’s Nasty Baby
Tangerine
Tangerine
Tangerine
Tangerine
Tangerine
Tangerine
Tangerine
1. Carol
2. Tangerine
3. Anomalisa
4. American Ultra
5. The Nightmare
6. Stinking Heaven
7. Entertainment
8. The Wolfpack
9. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
10. The Night Before
Comments
Why didn’t more people see American Ultra? It was absolutely amazing. It immediately made me feel like I was in a comic. The animation sequence at the end was also tops. Also, people should stop making films longer than 75mins. My back hurts. :'(
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Too many. Not fair. Stop making me pick favorites, Nick!! YOU PICK ONE.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. It Follows / Ex Machina
3. Amy
4. Mommy
5. James White / Mediterranea
6. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
7. The Tribe / Goodnight Mommy
8. What We Do in the Shadows
9. Tangerine / Heaven Knows What
10. The Mend
Comments
I had an extremely weird viewing year since I was traveling on the festival circuit for most of it. I’ve missed a TON of movies, so this is the stuff that I managed to see.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) Talks Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Douglas Soesbe
1. Carol
2. Spotlight
3. The Gift
4. Boulevard
5. The Martian
6. Steve Jobs
7. Truth
8. Room
9. Sicario
10. Irrational Man
1. The Duke of Burgundy
2. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
3. Anomalisa
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Hard to be a God
6. Ex Machina
7. Everest (3D)
8. Sicario
9. Slow West
10. Spotlight
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. The Revenant
3. The Look of Silence
4. Bitter Lake
5. Crimson Peak
6. Creed
7. Mommy
8. Heaven Knows What
9. Every Thing Will Be Fine (only in 3D)
10. blackhat
Comments
I saw so few movies in 2015, this is a compromised, unfair list of my favorite movies. I shamefully saw very few movies directed by women this year, which is entirely my own fault, and this list reflects that bias. Although Adam Curtis’ Bitter Lake was online only (though screened at True/False), it belongs here and will impact the medium irrevocably online and off. And Wim Wenders’ maligned Every Thing Will Be Fine showed me images I’d never seen before, via the now dying medium of 3D. There’s a single shot of a sunrise in that movie in 3D that felt like a new frontier that we’ve already abandoned.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Everything by Terence Nance
1. What We Do In the Shadows
2. Carol
3. Steve Jobs
4. Phoenix
5. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
6. What Happened, Miss Simone?
7. Finders Keepers
8. Inside Out
9. Spotlight
10. Mad Max: Fury Road
Comments
What We Do In The Shadows is the film I’m sure I’ll return to more than any other on my list. It has so many subtle comic pleasures and is easily the best 90 minutes I had watching a movie this year.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
I love everything Terence Nance has written. I don’t always agree with him but he’s passionate and articulate and I always come away challenged by ideas in his pieces.
Tangerine
The Mend
Mistress America
Bridge of Spies
The End of the Tour
Comments
I didn’t see that many movies this year. Really tired of movies that are based on true stories!!!!
1. Max Max: Fury Road
2. Inside Out
3. Sicario
4. Ex Machina
5. Gangs of Wasseypur
6. Love & Mercy
7. The Gift
8. The Martian
9. Carol
10. Straight Outta Compton
Comments
The screenplay for Inside Out still seems like a miracle.
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
Brian Trenchard-Smith is always worth reading, but I particularly enjoy hearing about his work with animals.
1. Mommy
2. Clouds of Sils Maria
3. Maps to the Stars
4. Girlhood
5. White God
6. Timbuktu
7. Tangerine
8. Sicario
9. Straight Outta Compton
10. The Gift
1. Li’l Quinquin
2. The Look of Silence
3. Clouds of Sils Maria
4. Carol
5. The Wonders
6. Eden
7. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
8. The Mend
9. The Assassin
10. Straight Outta Compton
Favorite Talkhouse Film piece(s) of 2015
1. Anything written by Terence Nance. 2. Anything written by Clay Liford.
In No Order:
Mille soleils
A Poem is a Naked Person
Buzzard
Stray Dog
Western
In Jackson Heights
Rupert Wyatt
1. Beasts of No Nation
2. The Hateful Eight
3. Gangs of Wasseypur
4. Anomalisa
5. Spotlight
6. Victoria
7. The Tribe
8. Cartel Land
9. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
10. Steve Jobs
Marina Zenovich
1. Love & Mercy
2. Listen to Me Marlon
3. Amy
4. Mustang
5. Bridge of Spies
6. Sicario
7. 45 Years
8. Clouds of Sils Maria
9. The Big Short
10. 99 Homes
