The Screen Life

It’s time for my annual ranking of all the new films of the past year… or at least the small handful I was able to squeeze into my schedule.

Once again I saw fewer movies this year than last. I write an article like this one every January, and most of the time it begins with that same disclaimer. People, being an adult sucks. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to return to the glory days of college, when I would watch a movie or two almost every night and spend entire weekends in the theater. I just checked back through some old notes: In 2005, I caught over 65 new movies. Now, ten years later, it’s less than half that.

But enough reminiscing about the past: I’m still a fan of movies, and I have a blog, and I love making lists. So here is my rundown of 2015 in film.

Tomorrow I will post my Top 10, which is almost 1/3 of my total list. With a little deductive reasoning you can probably guess some of them. But for now, I present the remaining 2/3, ranked in fairly broad categories and then listed alphabetically….

Very Good

Each of these (as well as a few of my Top 10) actually covers territory that has been fairly thoroughly examined before, but they prove that artistry and skill can breath new life into old stories.

• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• Creed
• Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
• Sicario

Good

There’s actually some really stunning work on display, but some of these are brought down by a few serious issues, while others are simply missing that special something to elevate them above the crowd. And then a couple are just empty fun.

• Brooklyn
• The Hateful Eight
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
• Krampus
• Magic Mike XXL
• Mr. Holmes
• The Revenant

Nothing Special

Pixar and Marvel have some of the best track records out there. But all of these blockbusters were like being stuck in a traffic jam trying to leave ‘Meh’ City.

• Ant-Man
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Everest
• The Good Dinosaur
• Tomorrowland

Avoid

I actually had high hopes for some of these. I should have known better.

• Hotel Transylvania 2
• Jurassic World
• San Andreas
• Southpaw
• Spectre

And finally, no list would be complete with out the disclaimer of all the movies that I wanted see but just never found the time. In descending order of length of title…

• Straight Outta Compton
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• In the Heart of the Sea
• Beasts of No Nation
• The Danish Girl
• Pawn Sacifice
• Crimson Peak
• Concussion
• Son of Saul
• Steve Jobs
• Anomalisa
• Cinderella
• Macbeth
• Chappie
• 45 Years
• Legend
• Trumbo
• Youth
• Truth
• Amy
• Spy
• Joy