1) The Tribe
A distillation of pure cinema (no dialogue, no subtitles), this story of a young man entering a corrupt school for the deaf still haunts me.2) Son of Saul
Capturing the madness of everyday life in the concentration camps with unflinching intimacy, this is the very definition of tour-de-force cinema.3) Sicario
Director Denis Villeneuve continues to amaze, and this white-knuckle film about the ongoing war on drugs is both beautiful and hopeless.
4) Spotlight
Man, they don’t make ’em like this anymore. A great ensemble cast chews into a well-paced masterpiece on journalistic investigation.5) Mustang
A repeated middle finger and subsequent Molotov cocktail to oppressive sexual conservatism, five sisters come of age in a rural village in Turkey.6) Room
A film of intense performances, Room is a compulsively compelling film, filled with light and compassion, seeking to break the dark while never negating it.7) A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
This closing chapter to Roy Andersson’s “Living” trilogy is an epic tale of love, death, and novelty vampire teeth.8) Best of Enemies
Forget Creed – this was the can’t-miss boxing match of the year as Vidal and Buckley spar for the ideological future of America.
9) Phoenix
A haunting study of identity and loss in post-World War II Germany that culminates in one of the year’s most perfect endings.10) Slow West
A lyrical and precocious gem, this Western fable charmed me to my toes, before ripping out my heart.
Near Misses
Anomalisa, The Big Short, Joy, Love & Mercy , YouthMost Overrated
Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Ex MachinaMost Underrated
The Gift, The Overnight, ResultsWild Card
Gold-mine TV: I’d be hard-pressed to note a better year, with the final season of Mad Men sticking the landing, HBO’s The Leftovers finding new life here in Texas, and season 2 of Fargo just fucking killing it.Acting Kudos (Male)
Paul Dano (Love & Mercy), Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Géza Röhrig (Son of Saul), Jacob Tremblay (Room)Acting Kudos (Female)
Brie Larson (Room), Rooney Mara (Carol), Elisabeth Moss (Queen of Earth), Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria), Karidja Touré (Girlhood)Best Director
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), László Nemes (Son of Saul)Best Original Screenplay
Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler), Results (Andrew Bujalski), Inside Out (Peter Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, Ronnie Del Carmen)Best Adapted Screenplay
The End of the Tour (Donald Margulies, based on book by David Lipsky), The Big Short (Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, based on book by Michael Lewis), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Marielle Heller, based on book by Phoebe Gloeckner)Worst Film
She’s Funny That Way. Peter Bogdanovich made a couple of really good movies in the Seventies, but this Thirties screwball throwback pastiche is horribly flat and an embarrassment for everyone involved.This article appears in 2015.