The Panda's Best 15 Films of 2015 - Number 1 Film Revealed!

[The Panda]

Number 9

Sicario

 

 

"You should move to a small town, somewhere the rule of law still exists. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and this is a land of wolves now."

 

My Original Grade: B+

Most Valuable Player: The Cinematography by Deakins

Box Office: 46.8m

Tomatometer: 93%

Reasoning: I never actually got around to reviewing, and if I had, I may have given it a slightly better grade, as the longer this movie sits in your memory, the better it gets.  Deakins does some more phenomenal work here, especially near the end of the film, but that's only touching on what makes this movie so great.  Sicario is a suspenseful and claustrophobic film, told through the eyes of Emily Blunt.  Wherever she goes, you never feel safe, especially around Benicio Del Toro who creates one of the most interesting characters in cinema this year.  Sicario feels like a true story, as the realism is high.  The score does a great job of setting a brilliant atmosphere that lasts the whole film.  The story twists and turns, albeit quite slowly, until the conclusion where it rockets off and leaves you speechless.  The more the story unravels, the more dangerous it feels, and the more it twists your stomach to watch.

Fun Fact: Villeneuve estimates they cut 90 percent of what Del Toro was originally intended to say by screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Like Del Toro, Villeneuve saw power in stripping the character down to a brooding silence, stating that dialogue belongs to plays and "movies are about movement, character, and presence, and Benicio had all that."

 

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by The Panda Menace

[The Panda]

Number 8

Creed

 

 

"Time takes everybody out; time's undefeated."

 

My Original Grade: A

Most Valuable Player: Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa

Box Office: 98.8m+

Tomatometer: 93%

Reasoning: Creed is truly a return to form for the Rocky franchise. Ryan Coogler took a franchise with more poor entries than good, and pumped out something near phenomenal.  Creed follows many of the same beats as the original, while also managing to be a fresh and poignant entry to the franchise, possibly even the best of the franchise.  Stallone gives one of the best performances of his career as an aged and broken Rocky Balboa who decides to mentor a young Adonis Creed.  The boxing scenes are invigorating, and very creatively shot, some of the most interesting action scenes to watch this year. Creed is infused with humor and some genuinely moving sequences.  While it is by no means a perfect film, it is a very sincere one, and does what any good sports based movie should do.  Creed inspires you.

Fun Fact: Following in the tradition of his father Apollo, Adonis is named after a character in Greek mythological history. Where as Apollo was named after the Greek sun god, Adonis is named after the demi-god of beauty and desire.

 

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by The Panda Menace

[4815162342]

2 hours ago, CJ Ren said:

 Peanuts seems like something super boring and a for small kids only movie. I will see it sometime at home. 

 

You need to see it in order to continue working the playground

[Plain Old Tele]

Clearly a terrible mistake has been made. @The Panda Menace, someone obviously hacked your file and pasted the info from a Worst Of list.

[The Panda]

Just now, Obi-Wan Telemachos said:

Clearly a terrible mistake has been made. @The Panda Menace, someone obviously hacked your file and pasted the info from a Worst Of list.

 

Must have been @CJ Ren or @Baumer Fett, who else would hack my account and put Jurassic World on my best list?

[4815162342]

It'll be great in February when I do my best of 2015 list. I had fun last year pissing people off because I dared to have Amazing Spider-Man 2 at #50 

[The Panda]

Number 7

Bridge of Spies

 

 

"Would it help?"

 

My Original Grade: A

Most Valuable Player: Mark Rylance as Rudolf Abel

Box Office: 70.3m

Tomatometer: 91%

Reasoning: Bridge of Spies is one of Spielberg's strongest efforts of this century, and also one of his most subtle.  Part of what makes the movie so great, is despite the big name cast, the Coen Bros at the script, and Spielberg at the directing helm, it never feels showy.  It is a very human film, and one with core themes that society greatly needs to listen to at its heart.  Bridge of Spies is a movie about the humanity in someone perceived as an enemy, how despite our cultural barriers, we are all still humans, and should treat every human with the same decency.  It's about removing prejudice to accomplish a job, and pushing to do what should be done, and not what others might want to be done.  The production design is beautiful, there are gripping segments, moving segments, the score is beautiful, and Mark Rylance delivers a terrific standout performance.  Bridge of Spies shows there is still a lot of live in a genre I thought was done to death going into.

Fun Fact: When James Donovan makes arguments to the Supreme Court about Rudolf, the words used in the movie were the same as the arguments presented to the Supreme Court.

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 6

Ex Machina

 

 

"Isn't it strange, to create something that hates you?"

 

My Original Grade: A+

Most Valuable Player: Alicia Vikander as Ava

Box Office: 25.4m

Tomatometer: 92%

Reasoning: Ex Machina is the most suspenseful thriller of the year, and it also manages to be the quietest.  The film is filled the brim with tight dialogue, and a gripping atmosphere that sucks up your interest and leaves you thinking well after the film ends.  At the heart of the film is Alicia Vikander's character Ava who makes you ponder everything the film says it's supposed to make Caleb ponder.  Is she man or machine?  Does she have emotions or just a viscous, programmed will to escape?  Despite the film being sci-fi, there are many moments where it doesn't feel so, as it is written so ingeniously.  The film slowly builds to coming climax, and when you finally reach it, your mind is slightly blown.  The ending is quite haunting, and it only leaves you to wonder, as well as realize many of the complexities placed throughout the film.  The film is visually wonderful, especially with how well it limits itself in order to really perfect each of the effects in it.  Ex Machina is an example of how sci-fi should be done.

Fun Fact:  After the power lock down, Caleb exits his room, along the walls are versions of Ava's face and Greek masks used in classic Greek theater, a nod at "Deus ex Machina" used in classic Greek theater.

 

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by The Panda Menace

[The Panda]

Number 5

Spotlight

 

 

"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse them. That's the truth of it."

 

Original Grade: A+

Most Valuable Player: The Ensemble of Every Piece

Box Office: 25.7m+

Tomatometer: 97%

Reasoning: Spotlight is a gripping film about the press, and it plays out so quietly, yet also so powerfully.  There really isn't a standout in the film, as everything manages to work together as one unit, and that is extremely impressive.  The wheel of the film starts turning slowly at the beginning and as the film moves onward you become more and more interested in the outcome of the situation, and when the paper is finally published, you're almost caught off-guard at how quickly the time managed to go.  Spotlight manages to shock you, but it never beats anything over your head, it really is the cinematic equivalent to the investigative journalism piece the team published.  Spotlight does everything it intends on doing, and I honestly don't have any flaws or problems with it.  It is a near-perfect film, and one of the must sees of the year.

Fun Fact: The real Walter Robinson said on Michael Keaton "It is like watching yourself in a mirror, yet having no control of the mirror image."

 

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by The Panda Menace

[The Panda]

And that's it for the day, my top 4 films (which I interchanged quite a bit), will be revealed tomorrow! (Mostly because I need to get ready to leave for a New Years Party now)

 

In the meantime, here are my 5 most anticipated movies of 2016

 

Spoiler

1.Rogue One

2.Passengers

3.The BFG

4.Hail, Caesar!

5.Finding Dory

 

[CJohn]

Ex_Machina is one of those movies I absolutely loved when I saw it but now I am more like "good, not great" about it.

 

Spotlight might show up in my 2016 list  only opens on January 28.

[DAJK]

Liking the list so far Panda! Will probably start my own mid January once I've caught up with The Big Short, Revenant, and Brooklyn.

[chasmmi]

Only 1 film I have seen so far on this list that I would put (a lot lot lot) lower. In general though a lot of good films here from my perspective.

 

I would argue thought that Rocky at absolute worst had a 50/50 fantastic/not fantastic ratio before Creed. 1, 2 and 6 are all pretty much classics in my book. Although I would personally also class 3 as very very good, 4 as very good and 5 as kinda entertaining  

 

So even if I do have Creed as the 4th best rocky film (and I may even place it 3rd), that is is still actually a darn fine film in my eyes.

 

Look forward to putting my usual late list together at the end of February. 

 

 

[Kalo]

Great list so far! 

[The Futurist]

Spotlight, the wikipedia page movie.

 

Also, Deakins > Lubezki.

 

 

[The Panda]

I'm just going to say, for these next four, I interchanged them quite a lot.  I could put my spots 4-2 in a variety of different orders and be happy with it.  I've literally been flipping them to this point.  My number 1 is pretty solid in place though.  But, I have to give a specific order, so here's my number 4, and I'm giving it a special

recognition.

 

Number 4 + The Panda's "Must See" Award

The Big Short

 

 

"Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I'll have my wife's brother arrested."

 

My Original Grade: A+

Most Valuable Player: Adam McKay and his Directorial Passion

Box Office: 21.9m+

Tomatometer: 87%

Reasoning: I was very conflicted about putting this movie at number 4, after seeing it, I really felt like it deserved to be placed even higher.  When it comes to a film being an "important viewing" I would normally scoff at that, but The Big Short is a very important viewing.  If you hadn't have seen any movie on my list, the one I would say is the biggest priority to see would be this one.  The Big Short is an important tale of the greed and fraud within the American system as a whole, sure it mostly focuses on the banks and hedgefunds, but it speaks to everything in our system.  It speaks to how we've allowed those who were not elected power, to cease much of the countries political and economic power to themselves, and it didn't turn out well.  The script is phenomenal, as it takes the opening quote in the book and applies it, it takes a very complicated concept and makes it understandable to anyone open to listening and understanding.  And on a technical quality, Adam McKay stitches together a powerful, tightly edited, and strongly acted narrative that feels as if you're watching real life unfold before you.  The movie manages to play as a funny comedy, a riveting drama, and by the end give you the harrowing feeling a horror film is supposed to give you.  The only reason this is not higher, is there are just three movies I loved a little bit more for different reasons, and if it came to re-watching a film, I would put them in the Blu-Ray player before I put this in.  Still, The Big Short is a fantastic movie, that everyone see, no matter how much they understand the fiscal crisis of 2008.

Fun Fact: The real Michael Burry cameos in the office scene.

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 3

Mad Max: Fury Road

 

 

"I am the one that runs from both the living and the dead."

 

My Original Grade: A- (It honestly would have been lower, but I gave it a benefit of the doubt it was the all of the conditions of the day and the bad theater experience, not the movies fault)

My New Grade: A+, this was the movie I was talking about when I said there was only one film I changed my original grade for.  I gave this movie a re-watch, and it was perfect!  Perfect in every way.

Most Valuable Player: George Miller and his crazy vision

Box Office: 153.6m

Tomatometer: 97%

Reasoning: Like I said above, I originally didn't dig this movie too much, in fact I fell asleep the first time I saw the movie (which I think was just more of a testament of how exhausted I was and not the film's fault).  I won't go too much into details, but I didn't have a great first viewing, and I didn't love this movie until I finally gave it the re-watch it deserved a few days ago.  Had I not re-watched the film, I doubt I would have even put it in my top 10, but I did, and wow is this a flawless movie.  Not only are there mindblowing action sequences that reminded me why I love the action genre in the first place, the film is also incredibly human in such a bizarre environment.  It's a movie I feel like I could re-watch countless times because even with all of the loud excitement, there are quiet moments and moving sequences that speak to the humanity in those who may at first appear inhuman.  It carries powerful symbols in the chaotic fun, and it strikes strong themes in the weirdness.  Even the performances are strong, especially from Charlize Theron, who I am definitely voting for to get a BOFFIE nomination.  Mad Max: Fury Road is going to be one of the definitive post-apocalyptic movies that truly shapes the genre.

Fun Fact: The flame-shooting guitarist is Australian artist/musician Sean Hape, better known as Iota. In an interview on Vice (2013), he said the guitar weighed 132 pounds, and shot real gas-powered flames, which he controlled using the whammy bar.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2016 by The Panda Menace

[Ethan Hunt]

I know what onw of the next two is (I think)... Thw other one I'm at a complete loss...

[The Panda]

Number 2

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 

 

"Chewie, we're home."

 

My Original Grade: A+

Most Valuable Player: Daisey Ridley as Rey

Box Office: 652m+++

Tomatometer: 94%

Reasoning: Maybe it's just the fanboy in me talking that got Star Wars this high up on my list, or maybe it's the fact that this is honestly a great movie that deserves to be this high on a list.  Either way, after much deliberation, Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes in at number 2 in my list because it is a purely fun and quality spectacle that has lived up to its hype.  The new cast is phenomenal, has great chemistry, and quite possibly the best part of a movie that has a lot of great things going for it, they breathe a fresh life into an already vibrant franchise.  The film has emotional grounding, and adds so much more characterization than any Star Wars movie we've seen since Empire Strikes Back.  The action sequences are a joy to see, even if they aren't as technically great as Mad Max, and that final lightsaber fight is some of the best choreography of the year.  Even with some retreading of a New Hope, J.J. Abrams is able to take the franchise into a new direction that has had people talking since the films release.  As a Star Wars fan, it's just great to see the franchise finally get an addition that can live up to the Star Wars name after the mediocre prequels.  But not only that, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is able to stand on its own as a new start to an exciting new trilogy.

Fun Fact: After he was cast, Oscar Isaac revealed to director J.J. Abrams that his uncle is a huge Star Wars fan. As a result, arrangements for Isaac's uncle to visit the film set were made. To the great surprise of both Isaac and his uncle, Abrams then asked if he would be interested in appearing in the film as an extra. Isaac's uncle quickly agreed.

 

 

[Ethan Hunt]

Should've known that one