JANUARY 26, 2016
Now that I’ve got your attention… (Calm down. We’ll get to “Magic Mike XXL” in a second.)
It’s been a long road to get to the end of the 2015 film season. This was an unusual year, in that there were so many different kind of films vying for our attention. And so many were really good… it seems a shame to leave it at just a 10 Best list.
So here’s my 10 Best List — Runner-up Division. These are terrific films that, while they just missed making my personal Top 10, are great options for a night at home with Netflix. Let’s get going.
20. “It Follows”
By far the scariest horror movie of the year, and one of the very smartest. The “it” in the title of Robert David Mitchell’s acclaimed film is a curse. If you have sex with someone who has the curse, it is transferred to you through intercourse, and then you (and only you) can see a being following you with the aim to kill you. The only way to lose the curse is to have sex with someone else and pass it on to them. Whether it’s a metaphor for HIV/AIDS, transmitted diseases or fear of intimacy, it’s that unique scare film that you’ll be arguing about over coffee an hour afterward.
19. “Best of Enemies”
It is no slight to Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville’s documentary to say that it’s also one of the funniest films of the year. The filmmakers trace the origin of the shouting talking heads on cable news today back to 1968, when ABC News, which was in the crapper at the time, as an act of desperation hired two intellectuals, right-wing William F. Buckley Jr. and left-wing Gore Vidal, to comment on that year’s two political conventions. It would be an understatement to say that these two men absolutely loathed each other, and their catty insults night after night turned into must-see trainwreck television. It’s all here — the filmmakers have done a great job of finding all the key exchanges that changed television news as we know it. Buckle up, and enjoy.
18. “Magic Mike XXL”
In the follow-up to the 2012 male-stripper classic, “Magic Mike XXL” attempts something radical. If the first film was all about the sexual exploits of men, the second is all about the sexual pleasure of women. After a perfunctory Act 1, screenwriter Reid Carolin has structured the rest of the film as three lengthy set-pieces about women — at a Southern bordello run by Rose (Oscar boycotter Jada Pinkett Smith) whose clients are African-American women who are looking for men to turn them on, at a Southern mansion where the guys do the sexiest thing they can to aging Southern housewives by simply listening to them, and at a stripper competition where our men single out shy or unattractive women in the audience and give them the night of their lives. There’s still writhing ripped bodies to enjoy, but “XXL” turns the politics of the “Magic Mike” films on its head and is much the better for it.
17. “Bridge of Spies”
Another Cold War drama didn’t exactly make me hopeful for a memorable night at the movies, but in the hands of Steven Spielberg, “Bridge of Spies” is a crackling thriller that is an example of old-fashioned studio filmmaking at its finest. Add to that the power of movie stars, as Tom Hanks lends his attractive Jimmy Stewart everyman persona as an insurance investigator called upon by the government to offer a defense of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel for a show trial. But when he tries to give Abel a genuine defense, the American public turns on him. The wild card here is the Oscar-nominated performance of British stage actor Mark Rylance as Abel whose carefully understated work manages to steal every scene that he’s in. Very good stuff.
16. “Clouds of Sils Maria”
Olivier Assayas’ acclaimed show-business drama has been compared to “All About Eve,” but I don’t buy it — it’s a film unto itself. Juliette Binoche (simply wonderful) plays veteran stage and movie star Maria Enders who has been asked to star in a revival of a play about the complicated relationship between a younger and older woman. Maria became a star 20 years ago with her performance in the same play as the younger woman, but now she’s been cast as the older woman, and she’s not sure how she feels about that. She turns for support to her harried American assistant Valentine (Kristin Stewart). If you know Stewart only from “Twilight,” see this — her Valentine is alternately eager but cautious, smart but distant. “Twilight” made Stewart a star, but “Clouds of Sils Maria” allows us to see the real actress that has always lurked behind the movie star.
15. “Paddington”
Possibly the most unlikely movie to make my list, it’s also the best live-action family film in years. Paul King’s film has wit and style to spare, and the script by King and Hamish McCall is a delight for kids and parents alike. After a brief origin story in the jungles of Peru (we need to know why Paddington loves marmalade, after all), we find our bear in London, where he is taken in by the Brown family (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters) and threatened by an evil taxidermist (Nicole Kidman in her best Cruella mode). It may sound just a bit silly (and it is), but as one of the year’s best-reviewed films (98% favorable on Rotten Tomatoes), that smile that will crawl across your face is well-earned, with clever writing, smart direction (with a touch of Wes Anderson thrown in) and a cast that is firing on all cylinders.
14. “Trumbo”
Jay Roach’s immensely entertaining biopic of the Hollywood life of writer Dalton Trumbo features big performances (and in some cases, big BIG performances) by actors who know how to pull it off. Central to the film’s success is the top-notch work by Cranston who, with cigarette holder and devastating wit, is worlds way from “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White. With fine dramatic work by Diane Lane, Michael Stuhlbarg and a surprising Louis C.K., the film is grounded in the drama and tragedy of the 1950s Hollywood blacklist, but Roach punctuates the drama with moments of enormous comedy from John Goodman and especially Helen Mirren as witchy anti-communist Hedda Hopper. It’s a risky combination of tones to combine, but here the flavors merge into a richly satisfying stew.
13. “Brooklyn”
Directed by John Crowley, this lovely drama of the immigration experience in the 1950s has been charming audiences all winter, and it’s not difficult to see why. Nick Hornby’s delicate adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel follows Eilis, a young woman sent by her family in a small Irish town to Brooklyn in order to find a better life in the United States. Granted, it’s a very romantic view of immigration that certainly doesn’t resemble the much more challenging path to a new country that exists today, but Saoirse Ronan as Eilis makes you feel every difficult step of trying to fit into a new life that feels so unfamiliar. At only 21, Ronan already is regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. But “Brooklyn” is where Saoirse Ronan has become a real movie star.
12. “The Martian”
Perhaps the year’s most surprising blockbuster. Director Ridley Scott, who has had his string of duds in the last decade, comes roaringly back to form in this hugely entertaining space opera. Screenwriter Drew Goddard took Andy Weir’s acclaimed but scientifically dense 2011 novel and manage to cut through the jargon to create a story that is suspenseful while being relatably funny (“I’m going to science the shit out of this”). Scott has attracted a first-class cast (Jessica Chastain, Cheitel Ejiofor and Kristin Wiig among the stand-outs), but this project would have fallen on its face without the very special talents of Matt Damon, who can make you laugh at the very same time he can make you believe.
11. “Carol”
Some people have described Todd Haynes’ “Carol,” adapted by Phyllis Nagy from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, as “chilly,” but I think a more accurate description is that it’s “studied.” Every element of the film — the lighting, the costumes, the camera angles — feels deliberately chosen by Haynes so that he can tell you the story in just they way he wants to tell it. You can fight that directorial control, or you can go with it. But if you choose to go with it, you’ll get a beautifully-made character study of the forbidden relationship between a 1950s New Jersey housewife and a young shopgirl who risk it all to be together. Superb performances by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara build to a wonderfully ambiguous ending that will have you talking for days.
What good movies could possibly be left? Find out tomorrow as I reveal my 10 Best Movies of 2015.
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