Since we’ve reached the end of the year that means it’s time for superlatives. There are Top 10 lists (be on the look out for more from our talented staff of writers), Best Performances, Best Director, but we like to look beyond those categories. We also have “miscellaneous,” and separately these categories don’t really warrant individual articles, but we still want to have some fun and acknowledge people and characters that left a lasting impression on us for the year.
With that in my and without further ado…
Best Villain: Immortan Joe - ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
2015 had its fair share of memorable baddies, but like most of Mad Max: Fury Road, there’s something inevitably enduring about his character. From his fearsome, grotesque design to the ugliness his very being represents, Immortan Joe may not be the most well-rounded villain in terms of motives or shading, and yet he’s one I can see people dressing up as in years to come.
Runner Up: “It” – It Follows
A Very Good Year: Alicia Vikander
This is almost a toss-up between the winner and the runner up, and yet I have to give the edge to Vikander because I feel like not only was Domhnall Gleeson was already an up and comer from 2014’s Frank and Unbroken, but Vikander seems like a shoe-in for at least one Oscar nomination if not two. This is the year where she becomes an A-lister with her excellent performances in Ex Machina, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Danish Girl (I didn't see Testament of Youth and we'll kindly ignore The Seventh Son), and she’s looking to have an equally exciting 2016 with Tulip Fever, The Light Between Oceans, and Bourne 5 on the way.
Runner Up: Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, Brooklyn, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Revenant)
Breakthrough Performance: Daisy Ridley - 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
Not to diminish the work of John Boyega, Adam Driver, or any of the other newcomers to the Star Wars franchise, but Rey is the hero of arguably the biggest sequel of all-time, and Daisy Ridley, who was basically a completely unknown, could have put the whole movie on her back if necessary (thankfully, there was an outstanding supporting cast alongside her to share the load). This isn’t the case of another Hayden Christensen where we’ll have to live with wooden performances or wonder if there’s a deep well of talent buried beneath the surface. Ridley showed she was the real deal, and while I’m eager to see her tear it up in a galaxy far, far away, I also can’t wait to see her perform outside of the Star Wars series as well.
Runners Up (in alphabetical order):
- Raffey Cassidy – Tomorrowland
- Emory Cohen – Brooklyn
- Rebecca Ferguson – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Biggest Disappointment: 'Tomorrowland'
Tomorrowland, a movie seemingly about a promising future was going to be a tonic against not only cynicism, but also against a non-stop deluge of franchises featuring white guys saving the day and blowing stuff up. And with Brad Bird at the helm, surely this was going to be an absolute slam-dunk.
But Tomorrowland added up to a whole lot of nothing, and while the finished film feels like it’s been slashed to pieces in the editing room, that doesn’t change the fact that the movie was a huge disappointment and ultimately felt like a lecture about how we need to go back to good old days that never existed. Yes, it would be nice if movies offered up messages of optimism, but Tomorrowland didn’t do that. If anything, it offered up a message of a chillingly objectivist future that’s best left forgotten.
Runner Up: Spectre
Most Pleasant Surprise: 'Paddington'
Following the awful trailers and The Weinstein Company pushing the film out of the lucrative Christmas weekend into the January wasteland, I had almost no interest in Paddington. But positive buzz on the film got me to attend the Atlanta screening, and I’m so happy I did because I ended up seeing an absolutely delightful picture. The movie is cute without being cloying, has a surprisingly wry sense of humor, and a whole lot of heart. Rather than try to do a British Yogi Bear (shudder), director Paul King embraced the character’s origins and nationality to make Paddington feel unique and lovable.
Runner Up: The Gift
Most Iconic Inanimate Objects
A) Guitar in Mad Max: Fury Road:
Mad Max borrows a lot from steampunk aesthetics, and the guitarist is truly the cherry on top of this deliciously dusty post-apocalyptic action flick. This multi-neck guitar doesn't really drive the plot forward in anyway BUT it shoots fire, comes flying at you in 3D, and provides a good soundtrack. Plus, its guitarist never stops playing it even during most dire times, which really speaks to his Show Must Go On work ethic.
B) Shell e-reader in It Follows:
It's such a small but ingenious little detail that director David Robert Mitchell included to isolate the film from a set time period. Throughout the movie Jay's friend Yara (Olivia Luccardi) is seen with a vintage shell compact case, except inside is an e-reader (this item, unfortunately, only exists in this movie and not in real life). We're adamant about reading books on paper—sorry no Kindle for us yet—but if it came in an adorable faded pink shell case, we'd consider switching over.
C) Stapler and pen in The Martian:
Donald Glover interrupts a big and important NASA meeting to show his big and important scientific finding via a crude re-enactment of how Hermes—represented by a stapler—can save Matt Damon's lost astronaut—represented by a pen. It annoys Jeff Daniels, but it convinces. SCIENCE!
D) Rotting salad in Queen of Earth:
Things left unattended are a great way to show the decay of the mind. In Roman Polanski's Repulsion, it's a dead rabbit on a plate. In Queen of Earth it's Elisabeth Moss' bedside dinner salad. Her mascara runs and her salad shrivels.
E) Gloves in Carol:
The delicate set of gloves Carol (Cate Blanchett) leaves behind in the department store becomes the catalyst for one of the greatest cinematic romances of the year. It's because of these gloves Therese (Rooney Mara) finds a reason to reach out to Carol, and the rest becomes Todd Hayne's masterpiece. The best part is—as this is a film built on subtext—it's never established whether Carol left them there on purpose or not. But the film's lingering gaze is telling enough.
F) Bad Tooth in Room:
If inanimate objects were up for the Oscars, we'd say Bad Tooth should win Best Supporting. In Jack's (Jacob Tremblay) great escape from Room, Ma (Brie Larson) gives her five-year-old son a piece of her (a rotten tooth), so he knows she's always with him. With that tooth as his safety blanket, Jack finds the strength within himself to pull off the impossible.
G) Heels in Jurassic World:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens' BB-8 is obviously oh so cute, but is also an oh so animate object. Therefore, though the think-piece fervor went over the top, Bryce Dallas Howard's heels are the most iconic movie object of 2015 (closing hammer nail for 2015: Howard showed up to work in heels—which started off as a normal work day—she didn't put on heels specifically to run away from manmade dinos). These iconic heels appear to be one and done, though. Howard told us that the beige pumps that launched thousands of angry words will not appear in the sequel.
~ Kristen Yoonsoo Kim and Brian Formo
Most Iconic Monologue: Keanu Reeves - 'Knock Knock'
Free pizza! "Starfish! Husbands! It doesn't matter!" Reeves went Nic Cage ballistic in Eli Roth's grindhouse grinder, Knock Knock, and this monologue was the glorious peak. The sexual politics—of a man being held hostage after letting two young women in and being seduced by them—are hazy, but this monologue definitely shows both the fun and the new acting heights that Reeves has with his role. ~ Brian Formo
Best Musical Performance (Tie): "Boyz in the Hood" Recording Session in 'Straight Outta Compton' / "Good Vibrations" Recording Session in 'Love & Mercy'
Both of these sessions show the genesis of touchstones on albums that are still influencing today (Eazy-E is coached by Dr. Dre to find his cadence for N.W.A.’s first single and Brian Wilson layers of a cornucopia of instruments, counterintuitive repetition, and spiraling arrangements that had never heard in a pop song before) and both highlight the totally in tune and lived-in personas of their performers, Jason Mitchell (E) and Paul Dano (Wilson). ~ Brian Formo
Best Trial: The Outdoor Tribunal in 'Arabian Nights: Volume Two—The Desolate One'
What begins as a hearing about stolen cows and the accident that they caused quickly turns into a labyrinth of culprits of cause and effect from living in a fractured society. There’s the landlord who routinely calls for an ambulance and the genie who makes him do it; the pharmaceutical company who benefits from those phone calls; the wives of a Chinese immigrant who heads the company and is taking advantage of a citizenship loophole; the imprisoned owner of the genie; the ghost of the cow who witnessed the accident; and a gang of thieves who were hired by land developers. It’s glorious satire of how everyone passes the buck about something minor, yet it reveals the bigger guilt of corporations and governments. ~ Brian Formo
Best Dance Scene (Tie): Oscar Isaac and Sonoya Mizuno in 'Ex Machina' / Channing Tatum and Stephen “tWitch” Boss in 'Magic Mike XXL'
We could describe these magnificent movements, but you should just watch and learn. High fives all around. ~ Brian Formo