Brian Truitt's 10 best movies of 2015
USA TODAY’s Brian Truitt spent much of his year in a dark room watching many, many movies, both big and small, original and remade, good and bad. Here is his top 10, starting with the year’s best movie, the surprising return of an apocalyptic antihero.
MOVIE OF THE YEAR
Mad Max: Fury Road
Amid comic-book superheroes, rampaging dinosaurs and the return of Star Wars, director George Miller pulled off the greatest action film in recent history by dusting off the doomsday car of one Max Rockatansky, played by Mel Gibson in 1979 and in excellent laconic fashion by Tom Hardy 36 years later.
However, Max really isn’t even the real star of his own movie, a two-hour chase scene involving a water-starved desert civilization, the car-worshipping cult of War Boys and their leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a masked metaphor for man killing the world.
Instead, it’s Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa who rules this explosive masterwork. The bionic-armed warrior who wants to return home and rescue the Immortan’s five wives from an enslaved life redefined the action heroine in modern cinema, becoming not only a feminist icon but also a well-crafted character beloved by both genders.
That’s just the deeper stuff. Operatic and completely bonkers, Miller’s Fury Road also unleashed a highway full of mind-blowing special effects, killer vehicles that looked like they just took the expressway from hell and one bungee-corded guitarist with a flaming axe lending a soundtrack to a memorable symphony of destruction.
THE REST OF THE TOP 10 (in alphabetical order)
Black Mass. Remember when folks were wondering what happened to Johnny Depp’s career? His answer was transforming himself into Whitey Bulger, one of Boston’s scariest, most notorious gangsters. The tense and gritty crime drama also showcases the talents of Joel Edgerton as Bulger’s old childhood friend and FBI ally John Connolly.
Brooklyn. The sweet and intimate coming-to-America story of Saoirse Ronan’s Irish immigrant tugs on all the right heartstrings as she has to choose between a new love and life in 1950s New York City or the familiarity and traditions of her homeland seemingly a world away.
Creed. The Rocky franchise received a muscular pick-me-up from Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed, whose youthful attitude plays so well off Sylvester Stallone’s iconic Rocky Balboa, and director Ryan Coogler, a filmmaker who mixes his own swagger with what made the Rocky films great in the first place.
The Hateful Eight. Quentin Tarantino takes the pressure-cooker situation of Reservoir Dogs, rubs in some Western flavor and puts it in a snowy post-Civil War cabin that houses eight highly unpredictable hombres and a murder mystery to boot. Agatha Christie, you have met your ultra-violent, banter-laden match.
Inside Out. Kids love the colorful animated emotions Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust that inhabit young Riley’s mind in the heartwarming Pixar comedy. And their parents are wrecked — in a good way — by the thought of time as fleeting and their children growing up too quickly.
It Follows. The rare horror movie that gets better upon repeat viewings. Director David Robert Mitchell crafts an extraordinarily freaky yet thought-provoking tale about a 19-year-old (Maika Monroe) with a sexually transmitted curse who can only get rid of a supernatural force by choosing to sleep with someone else, thereby dooming them.
The Martian. Director Ridley Scott takes us into space for a rousing adventure that keys into our innate need for exploration, while Matt Damon has one of his best turns ever as a “super-botanist” stuck on Mars with a penchant for space potatoes and signature one-liners. “In your face, Neil Armstrong,” indeed.
Spotlight. In an era where journalism involves listicles and GIF-laden prose, director Tom McCarthy’s masterful look at a high-profile Boston church scandal, with seriously awesome performances by Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton, is a reminder that good old-fashioned reporting can sometimes change the world for the better.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Sci-fi nerds may have initially been psyched by the return of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill to the galaxy far, far away, but what history will remember most about J.J. Abrams’ insta-classic addition to the canon is the introduction of rookies Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. Episode VIII can’t come soon enough.