Favorite Movies 2015

I saw depressingly few movies this year and a lot of the one's I really want to see are coming out as part of the 'Oscar Crowd' in the next couple of weeks (and most of those don't fall under the 'geeky' banner anyway) so here's the best of what I did see.

10. It Follows- The best horror movie I've seen in a while (granted I don't watch a lot); one of the more original and disturbing premises though.

9. The Martian- This comes in so low because of how disappointed I was with it.  I'm not typically a "the book was better" person but, in this case, 'the book was better'



8. Vacation- Again, I didn't see a lot of movies this year--- but this one made me laugh the most.  I saw it the same day as Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and I enjoyed this one much more.

7. Spectre- (SPOILERS)Not as solid as Skyfall and it drags a bit in places but Christoph Waltz as Blofeld was a brilliant choice.

6. Trainwreck- It is basically the same old romantic comedy where the person who refuses to settle down finally meets someone they want to settle down with--- only in this case, it's the woman who doesn't want to settle down. Which, in it's own quiet way, is kind of revolutionary.

5. Inside Out- Pixar delivers its most inventive tale yet.



4. Avengers: Age of Ultron- Kind of a mess, but still stunning visually with jump-off-the-panel action sequences.

3. Ant-Man- More than any of the Marvel movies that have been produced under Disney's ownership, this feels the most like a 'Disney' movie (I mean the old school live action ones--- Magical World of Disney)--- and I don't mean that in a bad way at all.  It's not doing anything original in terms of it's structure but sometimes the reason a formula is a formula is because it works.

2. Mad Max: Fury Road- It's amazing how entertaining seeing people drive one way and then turn around and drive the other can be in the right hands.  It's basically a 2 hour car chase that doubles as a critique of hypermasculinity that embraces feminism.  Not what you'd expect of a summer blockbuster of this type but--- there you go!



1. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens - The biggest complaint people seem to have about the movie was that it 'unique enough' but, given what we went through with the prequels, we needed reassurance that we were back in the world that we loved and that it was in good hands.  Also, when you consider everything they had to accomplish (set up new characters with unique story-arcs and motivations, re-introduce old characters, reacclimate us to a changed galaxy) this could have very easily have been a gigantic mess--- instead it's the best movie of it's kind (sorry Guardians of the Galaxy--- you were great--- but Star Wars is my BAE) since The Empire Strikes Back.