The 10 Most Entertaining Films Of 2015

The time has arrived to narrow down a fantastic slate of 2015 films into a thinly layered group of what I consider to be the most entertaining films of the year. I try to stay away from the term ‘Best’, simply because it just feels like elitist nonsense. What I like isn’t necessarily what you like, so how are my choices any ‘better’ than yours?

I prefer to instead focus on what I consider to be the most entertaining movies of the year. Some entertain me for artistic reasons, some for the action, some for the verbal sparring – Ya just never know, but they are my favorites regardless. It is a challenge every year to select these, but I have to admit that this one was harder than most. At one point, I had a difficult time deciding between 20 films for the final Top 10, where most years I have to struggle to even GET to 10. That’s a damn good year!

Before we start, every year when I compile this final list, some yahoo always feels the need to point out how ‘You rated X movie higher than that OTHER movie in your written review, so HOW can it be a better movie?!’, so let me address that right now: You are absolutely RIGHT! But it’s my list, so watch me do whatever I want with it. I might even throw Fantastic Four in here just to get crazy! The plain truth is that some movies play better the more times you have seen them, while others go the opposite way. Such is the way with life. So simmer down and whip up your own Top 10 and let’s compare. Until then, sit back and let daddy drive.

As I alluded to above and contrary to the naysayers, 2015 was a great year for movie buffs like you and I. Biographies astounded us. Nostalgia overwhelmed us. Independent films unnerved us. Movies were magic again, and like any good trick, it has come time to show all of you how it was done.

Aaron

Honorable Mentions:  The Man From Reno, Cinderella, Creed, Turbo Kid, Krampus, The Final Girls, Inside Out, Black Mass, A Gay Girl In Demascus, Tomorrowland, What We Do In The Shadows

See also: Aaron’s 10 Biggest Surprises In Film And Television For 2015, Justin’s Top Films For 2015

10. Furious 7

That’s right, the movie about flying cars and the dead men who drive them revs up my Top 10. If you would have told me 15 years ago that we would still be talking about this insane franchise in 2016, I would have gone all pretentious critic on you and laughed maniacally while stroking my overweight Persian kitty. Not only that, but who in their right minds ever thought that the SEVENTH film in this franchise would beat out dinosaurs, Avengers, Tom Cruise, and James Bond to land in the Top 10? Pass me the Corona, bruh, I’m ready for another one.

9. Gravy

Dammit, why do I love this tasty morsel of a cannibalistic horror-comedy so much? This is a movie with the most inane plot imaginable: a run-down Mexican restaurant is boarded up by a trio of sadistic deviants so they can carefully carve up the patrons inside and gleefully serve their own palettes. It is absolutely ludicrous. Yet I love it. So. MUCH.

Is it the macabre humor and deadpan delivery of genre stalwarts Jimmi Simpson and Michael Weston? Is it the random insanity and gratuitously over-the-top violence? The absurd tone shifts throughout the film that somehow establishes a perfectly cohesive balance by the movie’s conclusion? I can’t be quite sure, but I do know from the moment I began compiling this list, Gravy kept creeping back into my subconscious, tempting me to take another bite.

A modern-day Eating Raoul, Gravy is James Roday’s feature directorial debut and by the time that savagely brutal final reel hits, I was so ready for more. If you are a horror fan, hunt down this little hidden gem. As I said in my original review, this Gravy is absolutely delicious.

8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I’m not sure what more I can add to Star Wars that hasn’t already been written 1,000 times and dumped into about a billion memes. Is it derivative of the previous films? Yup. Does it copy plot elements? Sure (though Tarantino calls these homages). Do I care? Not even a little.

After the sting of the prequels, we needed a whole lot of fun to make up for the irreparable damage done, and with the resounding clang of cash registers worldwide, I think the world is as approving as I am. The Force has definitively been awoken, and J.J. Abrams crafted a film so fun, it almost made me feel better about Phantom Menace.

Then I remembered Jar Jar.

7. Mad Max: Fury Road

I’m going to let you in on a little secret – I’m in the minority of people who do not think Tom Hardy is much more than just an average actor. I mean, I like the guy, but he is NOT Daniel Day-Lewis, no matter how method he chooses to go. Therefore, Hardy being cast as Mad Max did not fill me with joy and excitement like most fans. For me, Mel Gibson IS Mad Max.

Guess what, Gibson still is. Hardy does fine work, grunting and grimacing with the best of them, but he didn’t impress me once in Fury Road. Hell, the ‘Max’ portion of Fury Road was the least impressive piece of this puzzle. That said, everything else in the film blew me away. For a movie that has no real story and only basic emotion – let’s face it, every character is a caricature and the plot is just Cannonball Run in the desert – it has some of the most heart-stopping, fist-pumping action of any film this year. It also boasts a shining performance from Charlize Theron and the second-best score of the 2015.

George Miller, you make our impending apocalyptic doom seem like it will be hell of a lot of fun.

6. Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingman would be 3 spots higher if Samuel L. Jackson had ditched that stupid lisp. I cannot remember the last time a character choice annoyed me as much as Valentine’th thupid lithp. Thankfully, Matthew Vaughn recruited that badass we all love in Colin Firth – yea, that sentence just happened – to carry us through a blistering whirlwind of a story that spirals forward from the very first frame.

Kingsman simply should not work. It is foul, violent, and ridiculous – it’s also an absolute blast! I have rewatched The Secret Service probably 5 times since it hit blu-ray, and every time it inches a little higher on my list. By the time June rolls around, it might have lunged to #1.

If you haven’t caught this one yet, stop punishing yourself and sign up now. It’s your sworn duty.

5. Spotlight

I hate saying a movie is important, because that terminology is tossed around WAY too frequently these days. Every mildly brave action makes someone a ‘hero’, and every movie about a serious topic or life-threatening illness is ‘important’. No. No, they are not. In fact, 99% of these ‘important’ films are the kind of pretentiously meandering Oscar bait that critics love, but audiences use as nap incentives.

Spotlight is that rare exception. It is a film that MUST be seen and experienced. Not because it covers the Catholic Church sex scandal, Lifetime could have handled that aspect. It is required viewing because the film puts a ‘spotlight’ on the importance that investigative reporting, TRUE journalism, plays in our lives. We have become a world of headlines and tweets, all style and no substance. We need men and women like those at the heart of this film, those of us who are willing to lay everything on the line just to get at the darkest truths in our culture. People like this are who make America the country it claims to be, and movies like Spotlight remind us that we all need to demand this from our journalists, even those on a 24-hour news cycle.

Every. Single. Day.

4. The Hateful Eight

Quentin Tarantino has made the world’s first Agatha Christie inspired Western, and once again he has achieved his trademark brand of visceral brilliance. Set exclusively in the snowy mountains just outside of Red Rock, Wyoming, The Hateful Eight follows a collection of nefarious characters holed up inside Minnie’s Haberdashery, each waiting for their own sadistic destiny to unfurl.

This is a film best left unspoiled, so just know you will spend near 3 hours listening to the most fascinating verbal buffet available at a multiplex this year. Each character carrying a diverse collection of tics and nuances, and long past the point of any chance for redemption. Every comment and glance has meaning as this mystery unfolds, and as it does, you will discover Tarantino’s most thoughtful and adult themed film in his quite illustrious career.

Do you still need more? Then know this has the most hauntingly perfect score for any film this year, as Ennio Morricone emerges from retirement for another rousing stab at genius.

This is the most magnificent gathering of hateful basterds in any theater this year.

3. Spy

Much like Kingsman, Spy is one of those movies I enjoy more with every viewing. Melissa McCarthy was coming dangerously close to becoming the joke instead of delivering it, and Spy – for this Joe anyway – saved her career. That’s right, I was sliding over to the bandwagon of ‘Stop playing the same loud and obnoxious character, Melissa, or I’m going to have to part ways.’ Apparently, she heard me.

Instead of mindless pratfalls and constant awkward yelling, McCarthy delivered her first fully realized character in Susan Cooper. She was always a talented spy, yet allowed herself to drown in the wallows of the CIA’s basement while she fawned after the coifed locks of Jude Law. As she infiltrates an organization run by Rose Byrne (who between this, Adult Beginners and Neighbors is quickly becoming my favorite actress working today), McCarthy is afforded ample opportunity to not only kick copious amounts of ass and save the world, she also gets to spar off with the completely absurd musings of Jason Statham.

Spy is easily my favorite comedy of the year.

2. Straight Outta Compton

I really do not care for biographies. Rarely is a person’s life story as riveting as the movie portraying it says it was. Most of the time, my neighbor’s obsession with his lawn is far more captivating then yet another drug habit or disability overcome not by science, but by the love of a strong woman.

Such is not the case with Straight Outta Compton. Even with choice details omitted (Dr. Dre was much less lady-friendly than the film portrayed), this was still one of the most riveting films of the year. As we watch the rise and fall of N.W.A. – and gangsta rap itself – we peer thru the looking glass at the authentic and raw men these troubled streets produced. A stunning film about one of the most polarizing music groups of our time, capped off by an enigmatically fascinating portrayal of Eazy-E by Jason Mitchell. This is one area of Compton I don’t mind cruising through again.

1. Ex Machina

Alex Garland. Welcome to the very top of my directors-to-watch list. This exquisitely simple premise – recruit a socially awkward coder to test the validity of the most extensive artificial intelligence ever conceived, wrapped up in the subtle beauty of Alicia Vikander – was so much more profound than I ever conceived. Vikander’s creator, played as a mix of wonder and icy resolve by Oscar Isaac, wants to push the boundaries of science, but Garland has a much more important question in mind: Should we?

For the first time in my fairly long life of soaking in the joy of every technical advancement that comes along, a film achieved what so many have valiantly failed to do before – it forced me to truly ponder our own societal acceleration. Yes, with modern science we can create artificial intelligence and even life itself…but SHOULD WE? Are we dooming our own existence by naively pursuing that which will relegate us all to unconscious slavery?

By the end of Ex Machina, Garland has offered his own opinion, and his answer stayed with me months after first witnessing his bold resolution. Alex Garland is a gifted filmmaker who confidently trusts his story to tell itself, without the need of mindless exposition or elaboration for the short-sighted. This is a movie that challenges us to think, feel, and especially contemplate.

It is also my most entertaining film of the year.

There you have it, my 10 most entertaining films of 2015. You have now heard both my picks and my reasoning. Now, it’s YOUR turn! Comment below and tell us what entertained or moved you this past year? No matter how big or how small, where was your movie magic? There just might be a few more gems in this wonder of a year.

 

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider