It’s already getting to be a little late in the year, but here’s my quick roundup of the movies released in 2015 that I’ve been able to see so far. You can follow my movie-watching progress on Letterboxd.
My Favorites
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- As I’ve had more time to think about this movie, I realize that it’s probably not the masterpiece I thought it was when I walked out of the theater, but man was it fun to watch. I really didn’t want it to end. Probably at least part of what makes it seem like such a great movie is the fact that the last three Star Wars movies released were so bad, and this one felt a lot more like it belonged with the original trilogy.
- Inside Out
- Pixar at its best. The idea for this movie is so crazy that only a studio such as Pixar would be able to pull it off. I read a little about the backstory of how the film originated in Ed Catmull’s excellent book Creativity, Inc.
- The Good Dinosaur
- While maybe not quite as unique as Inside Out, this is another solid Pixar film. The style may seem a little odd at first, but it really is one of Pixar’s most beautiful movies. You can read a little bit more about the visuals in the article “How Pixar Changed All The Rules To Make The Good Dinosaur A Stunning Masterpiece”.
The Rest
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- I’m probably one of the very few people who didn’t just love this movie, which makes me want to watch it again. It was very good-looking, but perhaps I just wasn’t ready for all the strange elements of the film.
- The Martian
- A good movie that got a little goofy in parts. The part with The Lord of the Rings made me laugh though.
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- Another good addition to the franchise. It was a pretty fun one to watch in the theater.
- Jurassic World
- This was one of my biggest disappointments of the year. It’s not that it was absolutely horrible (even though at times it seemed like it was very poorly written), but it just came nowhere close to matching Jurassic Park. Though, now I realize that would be an impossible task for any of the sequels.
- Tomorrowland
- Enjoyable, but not great. Disney nerds will probably enjoy it a little more than others.
- Shaun the Sheep Movie
- I didn’t realize this movie had no dialogue until after I started watching it, and they pulled it off really well.
- A Very Murray Christmas
- Somewhat fun one to watch for the holidays. The scene with Chris Rock singing will forever be burned into my mind.
Watch List
Here are some of the other films from 2015 that I’m looking forward to watching soon:
- The Hateful Eight
- The Revenant
- Ant-Man
- The Big Short
- Ex Machina
- Kingsman: The Secret Service
- Bridge of Spies
- Steve Jobs
- Strait Outta Compton
- Sicario
Bonus: Older Movies
Here are the movies made before 2015 that I watched for the first time last year:
- Birdman (2014)
- Robot & Frank (2012)
- Big Hero 6 (2014)
- American Sniper (2014)
- The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
- Whiplash (2014)
- Gone Girl (2014)
- Winnie the Pooh (2011)
- Admission (2013)
- Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
- The Judge (2014)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Interstellar (2014)
- Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
- The Princess and the Frog (2009)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
- Taken 3 (2014)
- Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)
- Arthur Christmas (2011)
- Horton Hears a Who! (1970)