Friday, January 8, 2016

Noteworthy Performances of 2015



By chance, I came up with nine names in each of the lead categories and eight names in each of the supporting categories. I've also identified the best comic and dramatic ensemble casts of the year.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #1



#1

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #2



#2

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #3



#3

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #4



#4

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #5



#5

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #6



#6

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #7



#7

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #8



#8


Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” treads much of the same terrain the master covered in “Django Unchained,” and a late plot twist comes straight out of the opening set piece from “Inglourious Basterds.” But damn if he doesn’t keep you entertained for three hours as nobody else can, with the most daring and subversive dialogue in the current cinema and a nonpareil talent for filling the wide screen with sight and sound.

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #9



#9

The Top Ten Films of 2015: #10



#10:

The Top Ten Films of 2015: Honorable Mentions




Before revealing each of my top ten films of 2015, here are two titles that just missed a spot on my list:

Friday, January 1, 2016

Complete List of Star Ratings to 2015 Films


Below, a complete guide to my star ratings for the 270 new releases I saw theatrically in 2015.

(D) beside a title denotes a documentary.





About Elly - 2 stars

The Age of Adaline - 1 star

Alex of Venice - 2 ½ stars

All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (D) - 3 stars

Aloha - 1 ½ stars

American Ultra - 1 ½ stars

Amy (D) - 3 stars

Anomalisa - 1 star

A Ballerina’s Tale (D) - 2 ½ stars

Ballet 422 (D) - 2 ½ stars

Batkid Begins (D) - 3 stars

Beasts of No Nation - 1 star

Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery (D) - 2 stars

Best of Enemies (D) - 3 stars

The Big Short - 3 stars

Black Mass - 2 stars

Black or White - 2 ½ stars

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (D) - 3 stars

Black Sea - 2 stars

Black Souls - 2 stars

Blackhat - 1 ½ stars

The Boy Next Door - 1 ½ stars

Breathe - 2 stars

Bridge of Spies - 2 ½ stars

A Brilliant Young Mind - 1 ½ stars

Brooklyn - 2 ½ stars

Burnt - 1 star

By the Sea - 3 ½ stars

Carol - 3 stars

Cartel Land (D) - 2 stars

Censored Voices (D) - 1 ½ stars

Chappie - 2 ½ stars

Cinderella - 2 ½ stars

Clouds of Sils Maria - 3 ½ stars

Coming Home - 1 ½ stars

Concussion - 2 ½ stars

The Connection - 2 ½ stars

Cop Car - 2 ½ stars

Creed - 2 ½ stars

Criminal Activities - 2 stars

Cut Bank - 1 ½ stars

The D Train - 2 ½ stars

Daddy’s Home - 1 ½ stars

The Danish Girl  - 1 ½ stars

Danny Collins - 3 stars

Dark Places - 1 star

The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? (D) - 1 star

Deli Man (D) - 3 stars

Diary of a Teenage Girl - 2 ½ stars

Digging for Fire  - 2 ½ stars

Dior and I (D) - 2 stars

Dope - 2 stars

Dreamcatcher (D) - 2 ½ stars

Dream/Killer (D) - 3 stars

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (D) - 2 stars

The Duff - 2 stars

The Duke of Burgundy - 2 ½ stars

Eden - 1 ½ stars

Effie Gray - 1 ½ stars

The End of the Tour - 3 stars

Entourage - 1 star

Everest - 3 stars

Ex Machina - 1 ½ stars

Experimenter - 2 stars

The Face of an Angel - 1 star

Far From the Madding Crowd - 1 ½ stars

The Farewell Party - 2 stars

50 Shades of Grey - 2 ½ stars

The Film Critic - 2 stars

Finders Keepers (D) - 3 stars

5 to 7 - 3 stars

Flowers - 2 stars

Focus - 3 ½ stars

Fort Tilden - 2 ½ stars

45 Years - 2 stars

Freeheld - 3 ½ stars

Furious 7 - 3 ½ stars

Gemma Bovery - 2 ½ stars

Get Hard - 2 stars

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem - 3 stars

The Gift - 3 ½ stars

Girlhood - 2 ½ stars

Glass Chin - 1 star

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (D) - 2 ½ stars

The Good Dinosaur - 1 ½ stars

Good Kill - 2 ½ stars

Goodbye to Language 3D - ½ star

Grandma - 2 ½ stars

The Gunman - 1 ½ stars

The Hateful Eight - 3 ½ stars

He Named Me Malala (D) - 2 stars

Hitchcock/Truffaut (D) - 2 stars

Home - 2 stars

An Honest Liar (D) - 2 ½ stars

Hot Pursuit - 1 star

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 - 1 star

Human Capital - 2 ½ stars

The Hunting Ground (D) - 3 ½ stars

I Am Michael - 2 stars

I Smile Back - 3 stars

I’ll See You in My Dreams - 3 stars

In the Heart of the Sea - 2 stars

In the Name of My Daughter - 2 stars

Infinitely Polar Bear - 1 star

Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words (D) - 2 stars

Inside Out - 1 ½ stars

The Intern - 1 ½ stars

Iris (D) - 2 ½ stars

Irrational Man - 3 stars

Jafar Panahi’s Taxi - 2 ½ stars

James White - 2 stars

Janis: Little Girl Blue (D) - 2 ½ stars

Jimmy’s Hall - 1 ½ stars

Joy - 2 ½ stars

Jurassic World - 1 ½ stars

The Keeping Room - 1 ½ stars

Kingsman: The Secret Service - 1 star

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter - 1 ½ stars

Labyrinth of Lies - 2 stars

The Lady in the Van - 2 ½ stars

The Last Five Years - 2 ½ stars

Learning to Drive - 2 ½ stars

Legend – 3 stars

Lila & Eve - 1 ½ stars

Listen to Me Marlon (D) - 2 ½ stars

A Little Chaos - 1 ½ stars

Live From New York! (D) - 1 ½ stars

The Loft - 1 ½ stars

Loitering with Intent - 1 star

Lost River - 1 star

Love & Mercy - 2 ½ stars

Love at First Fight - 1 ½ stars

Love the Coopers - 1 star

Mad Max: Fury Road - 1 ½ stars

Madame Bovary - 2 ½ stars

Magic Mike XXL - 2 stars

Man From Reno - 3 stars

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - 1 ½ stars

Man Up - 1 star

Manos Sucias - 1 ½ stars

The Martian - 2 stars

Match - 1 ½ stars

McFarland, USA - 2 ½ stars

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - 1 ½ stars

Meadowland - 1 ½ stars

Meet the Patels (D) - 3 stars

Merchants of Doubt (D) - 3 stars

Meru (D) - 3 stars

The Messenger (D) - 2 ½ stars

The Mind of Mark DeFriest (D) - 1 ½ stars

Miss You Already - 2 ½ stars

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation - 2 ½ stars

Mississippi Grind - 1 ½ stars

Mistress America - 2 stars

Monkey Kingdom (D) - 2 ½ stars

Mortdecai - 1 star

Mr. Holmes - 1 ½ stars

A Murder in the Park (D) - 3 stars

Mustang - 3 stars

The New Girlfriend - 2 ½ stars

The Night Before - 2 stars

1971 (D) - 3 stars

99 Homes - 3 stars

No Escape - 1 star

October Gale - 2 ½ stars

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared - 2 ½ stars

An Open Secret (D) - 1 ½ stars

Our Brand is Crisis - 3 stars

The Outrageous Sophie Tucker (D) - 2 ½ stars

The Overnight - 3 ½ stars

Paddington - 3 stars

Paper Towns - 2 ½ stars

Paulette - 1 star

Pawn Sacrifice - 1 ½ stars

Peace Officer (D) - 3 stars

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (D) - 2 stars

People Places Things - 2 stars

Phoenix - 1 ½ stars

Pixels - 2 ½ stars

Predestination - 2 ½ stars

Prophet’s Prey (D) - 2 stars

Queen & Country - 2 stars

Queen of Earth - 1 ½ stars

Red Army (D) - 3 stars

Results - 1 ½ stars

A Reunion - 1 star

The Revenant - 2 ½ stars

The Rewrite - 1 ½ stars

Ricki and the Flash - 2 ½ stars

Room - 1 ½ stars

Rosenwald (D) - 2 ½ stars

Run All Night - 1 ½ stars

The Salt of the Earth (D) - 2 stars

The Salvation - 2 ½ stars

Samba - 2 ½ stars

San Andreas - 3 stars

Sand Dollars - 2 stars

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - 1 ½ stars

The Second Mother - 3 stars

Secret in Their Eyes - 3 ½ stars

Self/less - 1 star

Sembene! (D) - 1 ½ stars

The Seven Five (D) - 3 stars

’71 - 2 ½ stars

Seymour: An Introduction (D) - 2 ½ stars

Shaun the Sheep Movie - 2 ½ stars

She’s Funny That Way - 1 ½ stars

Sicario - 3 ½ stars

Sisters - 3 stars

Sleeping with Other People - 2 stars

Slow West - 2 stars

Son of a Gun - 3 stars

Son of Saul - 1 ½ stars

Song of the Sea - 2 stars

Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story (D) - 2 ½ stars

Southpaw - 2 ½ stars

Spectre - 2 stars

Spotlight - 4 stars

Spy - 3 stars

The Stanford Prison Experiment - 3 stars

Staten Island Summer - 1 ½ stars

Steve Jobs - 3 stars

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (D) - 1 ½ stars

Straight Outta Compton - 2 ½ stars

Suffragette - 1 ½ stars

Sunshine Superman (D) - 2 ½ stars

Tab Hunter Confidential (D) - 2 ½ stars

Taken 3 - 1 ½ stars

Tangerines - 3 stars

Ted 2 - 2 stars

Ten Thousand Saints - 3 stars

Terminator Genisys - 2 ½ stars

(T)error (D) - 2 stars

Testament of Youth - 1 ½ stars

The 33 - 1 ½ stars

3 ½ Minutes, 10 Bullets (D) - 2 stars

3 Hearts - 1 ½ stars

Timbuktu - 3 stars

Time out of Mind - 2 ½ stars

Tom at the Farm - 1 ½ stars

Tomorrowland - 1 star

Top Spin (D) - 3 stars

Trainwreck - 3 stars

True Story - 1 ½ stars

Trumbo - 3 stars

Truth - 3 ½ stars

24 Days - 3 stars

Two Days, One Night - 2 stars

Unexpected - 2 stars

Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists (D) - 2 ½ stars

Victoria - 2 stars

The Walk - 1 ½ stars

A Walk in the Woods - 2 ½ stars

We Come as Friends (D) - 1 ½ stars

The Wedding Ringer - 3 stars

Welcome to Leith (D) - 3 stars

Welcome to Me - 2 stars

We’ll Never Have Paris - 1 ½ stars

What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy (D) - 1 ½ stars

When Marnie Was There - 3 stars

Where to Invade Next (D) - 3 stars

While We’re Young - 1 ½ stars

A Wolf at the Door - 1 ½ stars

The Wolfpack (D) - 1 ½ stars

Woman in Gold - 2 ½ stars

The Wonders - 1 ½ stars

The Wrecking Crew (D) - 3 stars

Youth - 3 stars

Z for Zachariah - 1 ½ stars

Zero Motivation - 2 stars



Totals: 587.5 stars – 270 films

Average: 2.18 stars



Number of Star Ratings:

4 stars – 1

3.5 stars – 13

3 stars – 52

2.5 stars – 66

2 stars – 48

1.5 stars – 66

1 star – 23

0.5 stars - 1

0 stars - 0


45 Years, The Hateful Eight, Concussion, Where to Invade Next, The Revenant, Joy, Daddy's Home, Anomalisa, What's Coming Soon to Jordan On Film


45 Years
The Hateful Eight




Concussion
Where to Invade Next





The Revenant
Joy





Daddy's Home
Anomalisa







Quick capsules on the final at-bats for a year with many singles and doubles but few home runs: