Best movie of the year so far?

Cafe Society
1

I’ll do my annual “best of 20xx” at the end of the year, but I’m curious what the best 2015 movie you have seen so far?

Bonus: worst movie so far?

If you saw it in December, I’d count it since those movies tend to get a good amount of their money in 2015. For me, only two stand out.

  1. Mad Max: Fury Road - It turns out they do make them like that nowadays. This movie is one of the best action movies of all time and is even a good movie outside that genre. Also, it has best score of the year and I hope Tom Holkenborg gets an Oscar nod for it.

  2. Inside Out - Wow, Pixar’s greatest movie, unless the Toy Story’s are tied with it. Hilarious, moving, beautiful. One of the great animated movies and probably the best script for an animated movie ever. It’s not that much for kids. Adults go nuts for it, though.

  3. Spy - not a great, great movie, but a very good one and a huge surprise. I assumed it sucked until I heard otherwise. It was very funny. I actually laughed several times and most comedies today can’t get me to do that.
    Worst:

Jurassic World - it’s a total dud.

Avengers 2 - it was OK, but Joss Whedon should have let someone else do the sequel while he did other things.

2

Kingsman: The Secret Service. A Bond parody and a tribute at the same time.
I’m dying for a sequel.

3

It was OK. I had higher hopes, but wasn’t as impressed as I hoped I’d be.

4

Ex Machina. It’s not just my favorite of the year, but one of my all-time favorites. A thriller that has tension you can cut with a knife, that’s incredibly thought-provoking. The special effects were also great and the acting was fantastic.

5

I loved both Mad Max and Ex Machina. They are the only ones so far that I’ve seen more than once. Very different movies and hard to compare, but they’re both amazing.

6

Southpaw opened today, with reviewers calling it probably the best movie that will come out this year.

Pixels, on the other hand, was given an F+ along with Sandler.

7

Not so much

8

Mr. Holmes. Wonderful performance by Ian McKellen, and a plot that’s a marvel of great story construction, as seemingly random events all turn out to have important meanings as they are tied together. It’s a movie that has important things to say.

9

Ex Machina is a pretty clear winner for me thus far. I’m a pretty big Oscar Isaac fan at this point, and I hope he has time in between making all of that Star Wars money to keep taking parts like his last couple.

I’d go with Inside Out as a strong second, and then a third place group that includes Furious 7, Kingsman, and Spy. Ant-Man and Mad Max were also both really fun. Really good year for the blockbusters thus far.

(I’m also in the “however long my list is, Jurassic World is pretty much last” club, though.)

10

I liked it quite a bit and I especially liked(and agree with plot-wise) the ending, which we should not spoil here.

However, I was not a huge fan. I do like that it stars two actors from the new Star Wars movie that is coming in December.

11

I stand corrected. It won’t keep both movies from making huge amounts of money, of course.

12

“Mad Max: Fury Road” was as good an action movie as I have ever seen. So far it’s the winner.

“Inside Out” was excellent, but I can’t say it was the best Pixar film I’ve ever seen, much less the best animated film I’ve ever seen. I can say Fury Road was the best action movie I have ever seen. So it’s #1.

13

Best action movie of all time deserves its own thread. I’d actually say Fury Road is up there, but unlike many other, I loved Wanted a few years ago and put it up there as well.

14

If Mad Max is the best of the year, it shows you how bad this year is for movies.

IMO, Mad Max had great action, but nothing else. Definitely not Oscar consideration.

15

Ex Machina, for all the reasons given.

It’s not every film where all three main characters are both the good AND bad guy depending on how the viewer feels at the moment.

Nothing else even comes close.

16

I didn’t like Inside Out much at all. To paraphrase the best movie I’ve seen so far, I found it mediocre.

17

I haven’t seen enough 2015 movies to say. I’m still puzzled by the love for Ex Machina. It’s not bad, but it’s also highly derivative, predictable, and not particularly deep like some claim. It’s basically a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode padded out to two hours.

Probably a bad sign if the other consensus best movies are a popcorn action flick and a cartoon.

I really liked It Follows, although it’s just a stupid horror movie. But after years of James Wan, found footage non-sense, and terrible remakes it’s like a breath of fresh air to a beleaguered horror fan.

18

I was also disappointed by Ex Machina. Mostly it was I had really high expectations from all the love it has gotten and I just found it okay. Not bad, just okay. I had the same reaction to It Follows which I had also heard great things about.

I had the opposite experience with Jupiter Ascending. I thought I was walking into a Shit Heap but found the movie entertaining, engaging and creative. I don’t think it was my favorite movie of the year but it was a pleasant surprise.

As far as my favorite…this has been a disappointing year for movies over all so far. I guess I would have to go with Avengers 2 or Mad Max, both of which I enjoyed a lot but can’t say I loved.

19

Of what I’ve actually seen, Inside Out was the best. But then, I haven’t seen very many new movies this year.

20

“Deriviative and predictable”? Did we see the same movie?

Sure, it’s not amaaaaaaazing, it’s not like the ‘best flick ever man’, but it is very, very smart. The dialog, and the writing in general, were extremely clever and, IMO, highly original and unpredictable. I thought the sets were superb and complemented the movie in a way that other films and their directors can only wish for. And, the acting was perfect - each person, in every role, nailed it.

So, not The Godfather but the best I’ve seen this year.