Movies in 2015 — Best, Worst, and Final Thoughts

A final round-up on the movies of 2015

The best:

Tied For First: “The Big Short” and “Chi-raq,” both all the more ferocious for being as funny and purely entertaining as they are angry
Tied For Second:
“Brooklyn”
“Carol”
“Ex Machina”
“Inside Out”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens”
“Bridge of Spies”

Runners-up: “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” “Creed,” “Trumbo,’ “Spotlight,” “Son of Saul,” “Mustang,” “The Shaun the Sheep Movie,” “Mustang,” “Girlhood,” “Straight Outta Compton”

A good year for: movies by and about women: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Miss You Already,” “Chi-Raq,” “Carol,” “Brooklyn,” “Inside Out,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Suffragette,” “Sisters”

Not such a good year for: romance, comedies, or romantic comedies

Popcorn pleasures: “Furious 7,” “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” “Magic Mike: XXL,” “What We Do in the Shadows”

Top five documentaries:

“Amy”
“The Look of Silence”
“Heart of a Dog”
“Iris”
“Best of Enemies”
“The Mind of Mark Defriest”

Breakthrough performers: Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina,” “The Man from UNCLE,” “The Danish Girl,” “Testament of Youth,” and more, Teyonah Parris (“Chi-Raq”), Jake Lacy (“Carol,” “Love the Coopers”), Raffey Cassidy (“Tomorrowland,” , Brie Larson (“Room”), Amy Schumer (as star and screenwriter of “Trainwreck”), and John Cena, very funny in “Trainwreck,” “Sisters,” and “Daddy’s Home”

And the worst:

“The D Train”
“Mortdecai”
“Unfinished Business”
“The Gunman”
“Blackhat”
“Vacation”
“Pixels”
“Fantastic Four”
“Stonewall”
“Hitman: Agent 47”