The Best Movies Of 2015

It’s almost time for the Oscars, which means we will find out definitively what the best movies of 2015 were. But as I’m an impatient sort, and all we know for sure right now is that no black people starred in any great movies this year, I’m going to make my own list to tide me over.

Now as many of you know, I recently returned from China, which means that instead of watching a Transformer movie and Percy Jackson, I’ve seen almost all of the major nominated films. For the first time in more than a decade, I’m actually qualified to have an opinion about the best movies of the year.

I haven’t seen everything, so certain movies won’t appear on my list, including The Danish Girl, Youth, Beasts of No Nation, and 45 Years. I also don’t have anything to say about a lot of the technical categories. My opinions will be reserved for the categories where I actually know what I’m talking about.

For most of them, I’ll be including my runners up as well. However, for the first couple of categories, Documentary Feature and Live-Action Short, I’ll only be listing my top choice, because I haven’t watched a sufficient breadth of movies to say anything more than, this was my particular favorite.

Without further ado, the best movies of the year:

Live-Action Short: Ava Maria (I did just recently watch all five nominees. This was my favorite)

Documentary Feature: Tyke Elephant Outlaw

Editing

Honorable Mention: Spotlight, Bridge Of Spies, Chi-raq, The Revenant

Winner: The Big Short

Writing, Original Screenplay

Honorable Mention: Inside Out, Bridge Of Spies, Hateful Eight, Ex-Machina

Winner: Spotlight

Supporting Actor

Honorable Mention: Michael Keaton (Spotlight), Tom Hardy (The Revenant), John Cusack (Chi-Raq), Samuel L. Jackson (Chi-Raq)

Winner: Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Supporting Actress

Honorable Mention: Angela Basset (Chi-Raq), Joan Allen (Room), Tessa Thompson (Creed), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Hateful 8),

Winner: Rachel McAdams (Spotlight)

Best Actor

Honorable Mention: Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Michael B. Jordan (Creed), Johnny Depp (Black Mass), Tom Hanks (Bridge Of Spies)

Winner: Michael Fassbender (MacBeth)

Best Actress

Honorable Mention: Rooney Mara (Carol), Cate Blanchett (Carol), Daisy Ridley (Star Wars-The Force Awakens), Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

Winner: Brie Larson (Room)

Best Director

Honorable Mention: J.J. Abrams (Star Wars-The Force Awakens), Justin Kurzel (MacBeth), Spike Lee (Chi-Raq), George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Winner: Alejandro Iñárritu (The Revenant)

Best Picture

Honorable Mention: Star Wars-The Force Awakens, Spotlight, Carol, Creed, MacBeth, Inside Out, Chi-Raq, Brooklyn, The Revenant

Winner: Room

You can read my review of Room here.

But for all of that being said, my favorite movie of the year, by a factor of ten, was Star Wars-The Force Awakens.

That is all.