Even though none of us really have the time anymore to make this site what we (parts of us, anyway) would want it to be, I'm glad that something of a tradition has formed where we at least come back every year to share our best-of-the-year lists, and maybe a few Top 5 Movie Guides while we're at it. Really, that's enough to get us through the year. It's a good outlet for sharing some of our feelings on the year in film.
Over the last five days, each writer on this year's panel has unveiled their individual Top 15 Films of 2015 lists. As I've said many times before, what's great about our site is that we do have five different writers active at the same time providing their own perspectives on film. This not only gives five separate views on film and gives you, the reader, more chances to connect with certain voices and opinions, but it gives us all kinds of data to then build into composite lists. And really, that's what we want to give: each of our personal opinions, but at the end of the day, a group of films that we, as a collective, most appreciated and enjoyed. It's two very different but equally important views on the matter. And what's nice about having the individual lists first is we don't have to have any discussion for our group list - we simply plug in the titles each of us selected, give weight (point values) to higher picks, and let the formula do the rest. There's no debate or arguing over what we want to showcase - the rankings are what they are.
Last year, we only provided our Top 10 in this post because picks were all over the place. The year was so scattered that when we put the data in, after the first ten titles or so, everything was pretty similar. This year, the separation from the pack by the top 15 titles (top 16, actually - sorry "Sicario") was significant enough that it was worth providing the full list and keeping in theme with our 15 selections. And it really is a great, diverse collection of films; I'm quite proud of us, as a group, for coming up with these 15 as our favorites from 2015. The film that ended up in the #1 spot is slightly surprising, but I don't think any of us have any complaints about it.
One last note before we jump in: no explanations are provided in this post because everything on this list was featured on multiple individual lists over the last week. If you're interested in more information on each film, check out the last five posts on this site.
14. The Big Short
13. Staten Island Summer
12. Inside Out
11. The End of the Tour
10. Spotlight
9. Room
8. Kingsman: The Secret Service
7. Mad Max: Fury Road
6. Ex Machina
5. It Follows
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. The Martian
2. Jurassic World
1. Creed
That puts a cap on our commentary on 2015 in film. Thank you for following along with us - I hope you had as much fun reading these posts as we've had writing them. As we have settled into this nice little routine with these yearly posts, you can expect us back again this time next year for another round of discussion. As always, happy watching!