Well 2015 is in the past and I do feel like it was a good year for movies. It was at least the most financially successful year to date with a combined box office haul of over $11 billion. So here are my top ten movies of the year. The ones that I enjoyed the most, was affected by the most, or I thought were most important. But first, to ease your mind, here are the movies we didn’t get to see this year.

10. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

When tragedy strikes, people create mechanisms in their lives to make sense of it all. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl created an authentic and entertaining voice to this meaning-making process of struggle and grief. The characters were likable but flawed, they were relatable but unique. Overall, it was a fun and cathartic movie as the audience tries to make sense of the world through the lens of these somewhat bratty, creative, loveable emerging adults.

9. Dope

We all have categories or boxes that people put us into and we all put others into categories and boxes. It’s what we do as people. What I love about Dope is that it deals with characters that are wildly complex. I am a huge fan of writer, director, producer Rick Famuyiwa and, especially, one his earlier works, The Wood. Famuyiwa brought a similar tone and authenticity to Dope while asking questions about his characters and the world they live in that perhaps we should all be asking. And not just asking them of ourselves, but also in how we view others. I will say, even as I write this, I stand conflicted about this movie because there are a few sexually explicit and potentially exploitative scenes in the film. Hopefully, in a few years you can catch an edited for TV version of Dope so you can get the thematic weight without the, perhaps, unnecessary raunch.

8. Ex Machina

Where Dope asks questions of what does it mean to be categorized and stereotyped, Ex Machina asks what does it mean to be human all together. This movie is gripping and intense. As the tension builds, and as I wrestled with these larger questions of existence, I felt my heart beating and pulse pounding as if the film was trying to tell me that I was indeed alive. You can read more about Ex Machina in my review here: Artificial Intelligence and Isolation through the Looking Glass 

7. Inside Out

Emotions can be scary. They can be misleading, they can drive us to tears, some of us feel like they have complete control over us. It’s intimidating and humbling. Then Pixar sprinkled their magic on emotions and makes them personable and fun. What I love most about Inside Out is that it teaches us that our emotions are ok and they are part of what makes us human. A lesson children desperately need to learn…and adults too. Go deeper into Inside Out with my review here: From the Inside Out

6. The End of the Tour

I wish The End of the Tour was getting more awards attention. This film almost convinced me to read David Foster Wallace’s 1000+ page master work, Infinite Jest. That is saying something as I am rarely ever compelled to read anything. Not only that, Jason Segal’s portrayal of the author had me attentively fixed on him during the entire movie waiting for what he would say next, hoping that answers to life’s bigger questions would come. If Segal’s take on Wallace was at all correct, than he was an absolute genius tormented by an internal war between what he knows about the world and a desire to not act like he knows everything. It left me feeling like in Wallace, who was gripped by depression, we lost a potentially great truth teller that our world could definitely use. Here was his take in the late 1990’s on the growing porn industry:

“You’re having a fantasy relationship with somebody who is not real… strictly to stimulate a neurological response. So as the Internet grows in the next 10, 15 years… and virtual reality pornography becomes a reality, we’re gonna have to develop some real machinery inside our guts… to turn off pure, unalloyed pleasure. Or, I don’t know about you, I’m gonna have to leave the planet. ‘Cause the technology is just gonna get better and better. And it’s gonna get easier and easier… and more and more convenient and more and more pleasurable… to sit alone with images on a screen… given to us by people who do not love us but want our money. And that’s fine in low doses, but if it’s the basic main staple of your diet, you’re gonna die.”

5. Steve Jobs

A lot has been said and documented about the life and business of Steve Jobs, but this film chose to limit our interactions with him to three intense, impactful moments in his career. This was a choice that I loved and as Michael Fassbender’s performance carries you through the film, I felt like we got a new, creative, and interesting take on a man many of us feel like we already know because we have his life’s work buzzing around in our pockets and purses.

4. Creed

I still can’t believe how much I loved Creed. I can’t believe how smart, sensitive, and engaging a film in the Rocky series can be after the pitfalls of the latter installments. I can’t believe writer, director Ryan Coogler is 29 years old. I can’t believe this young man went to Sylvester Stallone and pitched the idea for this movie, got it made, and inspired one of Stallone’s best performances in years. It’s all hard to believe but when that familiar Rocky score hits and his beautiful film is built up to it’s climax, you will believe.

3. The Big Short

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby came out when I was in college and like any young, college male I found it hilarious. Oh to be young again. So when I heard it’s writer and director was making a film about the economic crash of 2008, I did what Adam McKay had trained me to do at his work…laugh. Then I watched the movie and I laughed and cried and got angry and lamented. The Big Short is deceptively brilliant because McKay approached the film humbly out his own ignorance of the topic and desire to help anyone understand what happened. Match that humility with career performances from Steve Carell and Christian Bale and you get a huge payoff.

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars is back, people! Weeks after I’ve seen the movie it still dominates my thoughts and conversations. I loved The Force Awakens so much but I will reserve the number one spot and a high grade for the movie because I believe and hope that there is still room to grow in this new trilogy. So I expect to love the next installments even more and I won’t let my fanboy emotions eclipse my number one movie that may have affected me on a different level. The Force Awakens is my favorite movie of the year, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was the best movie of the year. Read my spoilery thoughts on my favorite new character and the hope I have for the galaxy here: Star Wars: A Rey of Hope 

1. Spotlight

On our honeymoon, Heather and I, looking to relax for a couple hours after walking around Portland, ME’s hills and bay front, walked into a theater and watched Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station. I left the theater less than relaxed. I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually wrecked by that movie and this year that same feeling happened again as I watched Spotlight. The film is about the journalists that investigated and brought to light the Catholic priest child molestation scandal of the early 2000’s. As I watched this very tense film, filled with great performances, I felt the weight of an entire city all questioning their faith at once. It was convicting, haunting, and authentic. I left the theater weighed down by the sin of men I didn’t know, but ultimately lifted up by a force that isn’t afraid to bring such darkness into the light.

Here are our combined 2015 Top Ten Lists! Find Heather’s here!