Top 10 Films of 2015

You got the touch! This is Stan Bush and you're

listening to the Geek Cast Radio Network. Dream

the dream, August. 78 of the Cinema Geeks. I

am one of your Cinema Geeks optimists, Solo.

Joining me today is another Cinema Geek movie

revolt. Dan, hello. Hey, how's it going? Not

too bad. And of course, Hard Candy Mandy is here

as well. Hello. What's up? Not much. And today,

like we talked about last week, we're bringing

you finally our top 10 films of 2015. So now

that we finally got done with our half decade

list, it's time to sum up 2015 before we can

move on to 2016. There's also been the beginnings

of a series of blogs and whatnot that are available

on the website, also giving more movie thoughts

on 2015. Usually Dan handles those blogs, but

I kind of helped him out. I have been posting

those myself, but we have all kinds of interesting

stuff there that you can talk about or look at

as far as male performances, female performances,

genre awards, and some other miscellaneous awards

as well. So be sure to check those out and comment

on the website and give us your feedback on those.

But of course, as every movie podcast does, we

have to have a top 10 list of the year. So that

is what we're bringing you guys today. Dan, what

are your thoughts overall, first off, before

we kind of get into... into any type of criteria

films we haven't seen and unveiling the list.

How would you sum up your movie experience with

2015? I mean, I know you had a different situation

as far as the way you watched films and how many

you were able to get through. But for the films

that you have seen, what do you think about the

year as a whole when it came to the cinema? I

thought it's actually been quite a really good

year. Even I know I have not seen nearly as many

as I usually do like I usually watch about like

150 170 movies a year this year I watched 60

some but I would say even with that my top 10

is relatively really strong and Even my top 20

it would say and there's still a lot of really

great movies I've yet to see which which which

says a lot to me. I do think it's kind of a down

year For definitely down you for comic book movies,

which is not necessarily a bad thing there's

only three of them and I think you know there

I Not to give anything away, but I did enjoy

them, but they weren't necessarily to the level

of past years and overall though I think like

there it was a good year for genre films again

in not necessarily just the comic book movies,

but westerns to Action films. There's a lot of

really good action films this year. But yeah,

I don't know. It was interesting too and just

seeing how films have changed in distribution

things, like how Netflix is playing a bigger

role with films and definitely more on demand

stuff, and how a lot of good movies are not getting

distributed widely, but which is good for someone

like me who can watch them in the comfort of

my own home. So I don't know, I thought this

year was quite good overall. Yeah, I'm in agreement

with that. Like, man, just looking at like my

top, not just top 10, my top 20 maybe even stretching

out to like top 30, 35. It's just like I still

feel pretty strong about most of those films.

Like, I really think that like something in my

top 20 or top 30 probably would have been in

my top 10 last year. And that's just, for me

personally, I know a lot of people feel last

year was a strong movie year as well. I think

the interesting thing about this year is... It's

strong in a bunch of different ways, like you

said. Where it's weak maybe in the prototypical

comic book film or something that we're used

to with some of the blockbusters, it was strong

in a lot of different ways. You're talking about

the different genres. You're talking about the

different films being distributed in different

ways. And then you look at the box office and

an actual up year at the box office. So we talked

about that early on that it might be a year that

saw the most 200... million -dollar films the

most 300 400 500 etc and it's I don't know if

it's got the 200 mark but it definitely has the

most 300 million dollar films 400 and on up more

than any other year and thanks to Star Wars of

course it's an up year overall at the box office

setting records on that front so I mean it's

a good thing for as far as tickets sold and people

be into the theater but then like you said it's

also good for the people that are trying to view

their movies from home or through other means.

So I think it's strong on a whole bunch of different

fronts and it's just made for a good mixture

of films in my opinion. Amanda, this is probably

the most films you've ever seen in a given year

as far as new releases. What was your thoughts

on it overall? I'm definitely a product of getting

too excited for things. I definitely had quite

a few disappointments but on the same turn a

lot of surprises and I think that I was... taken

aback by some things that I did enjoy that I

didn't expect, so definitely an unpredictable

year for me. When you touch upon box office -wise,

it's kind of telling when you realize that...

Fast and Furious 6 made more money than any other

movie that came out last year and that was like

the fourth film this year or something like that

So it just it tells you like if Fast and Furious

7 came out last year It would have been the biggest

movie of the year, which is a scary scary thought

not that that movie's bad, but just considering

it I mean, there's not many people and we'll

get into this when we probably get into our 2016

predictions and whatnot, but I mean, I don't

know how many people had the Avengers Age of

Ultron not even you know not in the top two and

you know you had Hunger Games which wasn't necessarily

in the top three or four I mean maybe it will

be once all of a sudden done but you know even

from a predictability standpoint I mean nobody

predicted Jurassic World to do what it did people

predicted Star Wars to be number one but I don't

think anybody predicted how fast it would shatter

all box office records and become the number

one domestic film of all time. So yeah, it's

just a crazy, crazy year. How would you think

that we'd have box office records when you only

have three comic book films and one of them completely

tanks? So that's just an interesting predicament.

We're not we're only given a half for a fantastic

movie so yeah So yeah, I mean and that was kind

of telling to in my blog for the genre films

that I didn't even put a Marvel or DC or anything

like that for the comic book pick I had to Go

with the Kingsman route since it was based on

a comic book and go against Marvel. So But hey

anybody that is a die -hard comic book movie

fan Don't fret if 2015 was a down year because

you have a lot to look forward to in 2016 I think

there's a comic book coming out every month of

the year. You have a major one too. That's going

to be interesting. When it comes to box office

predictions or anticipated films or whatnot,

I mean, man, I guess you're going to have to

break it down to what people's personal preferences

are and what kind of comic book film they like

for some of those lists. There's a little bit

of... something in there for every different

type of comic book fan for sure. Dan, before

we kind of get into our overall list, I wanted

each of us to give a little bit of a chance to

at least highlight what films, what major films

we haven't seen because I know the internet likes

to react very quickly and very profusely and

I don't want them to get... on our case too hard

about movies that we actually haven't seen, because

unlike a lot of people, we don't usually rank

films that we haven't seen. So we're not the

academy. Yeah, yeah, no, definitely not. That

is so disturbing. It really is. Yeah, there is

a good section of films I have not seen. Probably

just some major ones. Carol, Tangerine, The Big

Short. Spotlight is probably the one I am most

upset I haven't caught up with yet, just because

it has so many things about it that I think I'm

gonna love. So, Off the Bridge of Spies, just

looking at movies, not major, best picture. The

Assassin, which I know a lot of people loved.

Looking at, you know, some of the foreign films

that have not been released yet, like at least

in my part of the woods, like Son of Saul, which

I thought got a lot of love in different lists.

But I'll actually what I'll be doing to I think

is on letterboxed. I Bring basically everything

I saw in 2015 So I've been updating that periodically

once after this is released I maybe will make

that list public and people can see if I didn't

rank something they'll be able to see Okay, I

didn't see it. So that's why I didn't necessarily

didn't rank it But I am still trying to catch

up with even considering that though. I'm really

really feel good about my top ten Alright, yeah,

I've also been updating the Letterboxd account

as well. I have a few last -minute viewings that

I have to add, but I basically made a whole bunch

of different lists because in my... like you

Dan with my excel spreadsheets and what not I

have uh... grades that I give every film and

then I eventually translate it to the star rating

so I have a list for all my half star films one

star one and a half two etc all the way up so

I haven't released the last two lists I don't

believe since I wanted this to be at least somewhat

of a surprise so once this goes live I'll probably

release those to the public as well not that

anybody follows me on letterbox but I think there's

a couple people that do as far as films that

I have not seen and some of these will be obviously

the same for Amanda Unfortunately, and this is

another reason why my female performance list

is going to be a little bit lacking because a

bunch of the main films that are getting most

of the love for the lead and supporting actress

nominations are from films that I haven't seen.

So we have not seen Carol. We have not seen Joy.

We have not seen The Room or Room. I don't want

to confuse those types. I have not seen that

either. Yeah, I didn't include that. I haven't

seen Phoenix. I know that was getting a lot of

love from a few different podcasts. 99 Homes.

Well, with Michael Shannon, I haven't seen that.

Anomalisa, we both definitely have that high

on our list, but we haven't had any way to view

that yet. Some other ones, like you said, Son

of Sol, Tangerine, the Assassin, the Danish Girl.

We haven't seen that as well. Youth, Trumbo,

so those are probably the main ones that we haven't

caught. Not to mention a few, just even if they

didn't get good reviews that we haven't caught,

like Legend, Black Mass, and another one that

I guess, I don't know if I said it before or

not, but Macbeth I did not get a chance to view

as well. So those are probably the main ones

that we haven't, did I miss any Amanda? Are those

kind of the main ones that we haven't seen? Yes,

the main ones. All right, so don't judge us too

harshly. Did we get freeheld too? Oh yeah, we

haven't not seen freeheld either. So all right,

well let's get this thing started then. Amanda,

ladies first, what is your number 10 best film

of 2015? Oh man, well this is... My criteria

is this is just things that affected me, my enjoyment

level, what I gleaned from them, what I could

connect to, all that good stuff. So don't judge

me here. My number 10 though is Danny Collins.

This was my first big surprise of the year that

I really didn't think I was gonna like it going

into it. I didn't expect to... Get into this

movie as much as I did and be able to really

feel for a Pacino in this and I found that Definitely

on my list from the get -go Yeah, I definitely

I had Danny Collins in my top 10 probably for

90 % of the year. I absolutely, that was a surprise

that I did not expect to like to the level that

I did and Al Pacino was fantastic in it. I thought

the humor was great in it. I thought it had one

of the best endings of the year. It just missed

out on being in my top 10. It comes in for me

at number 11. So I won't be including it on this

countdown, but that is, it literally was in the

top 10 until Hours before this podcast so it

got it got booted within the last 24 hours into

the number 11 spot So that's where I would have

that but in complete agreement, but that's a

great film from this year And I have not seen

it so I can no problem Dan What have you seen

and what would you like to put up head number

10? Well, my number 10 is also one that I just

caught up with Today that ended up making my

top 10 also i'll uh say start with a caveat that

I feel like my 9 10 11 I went back and forth

like four or five times trying to space these

all out and I think I finally figured it out.

But um It's probably the most pretentious title

in the history of film, but I think it's Purposely

that way because it's much more comedic than

you would think is the movie a pigeon sat on

a branch reflecting on existence I heard that

title when somebody did a review on anything

in session film. It's just like what is going

on? It's it is And it sounds pretentious because

I think it's very much much more comedic than

you would expect It's also I'll put it in the

category of movies that I really enjoyed that

I would recommend to no one because I under the

skin because it's a certain sensibility I think

a lot of people would be immediately turned off

it's kind of like I guess the best way to describe

it is has similar like the setups of curb your

enthusiasm with the execution of the far side

comic it is you know drier than a box of saltines

with its comedic style it's super you know just

I don't know there's series of vignettes really

that kind of go from moment to moment really

none are longer than five to ten minutes and

it's some of them connect and some are ongoing

it's it's I don't know it's almost like Monty

Python esque in a way so I know that'll probably

turn you off Kevin but it's I don't know it was

I was there with far side yeah it's more so in

just like the non sequiturs and how it goes from

one thing to the next but I definitely think

there's a lot going on it and even a lot of commentary

on film in general that I definitely enjoyed

so it's actually currently streaming on Netflix

but like I said I think give it maybe 10 minutes

and if you're not digging it I would I would

stop watching it but I ended up really being

a huge surprise for me so hey 10 minutes is not

that much of an investment I think it's not that

long it's like hour and a half two hours something

like that so okay For my number 10, I know Amanda

will probably enjoy this and probably will hold

off comments until a later point in this podcast,

but for my number 10 I have to go with probably

the movie that made me laugh more than any other

film, or at least in there in the top couple,

and that is What We Do in the Shadows. I am a

humongous fan of Flight of the Conchords. I'm

a huge fan of Jermaine Clement, and I'm going

to forget the other guy's name right now. But

I love just about everything that they do. And

I thought he was hysterical in this film. I thought

from just the screenplay and then the writing

for this film was so intelligent, so clever.

I'm not necessarily big up on the vampire scene

and everything about that, and maybe that made

me even enjoy it more. I don't know. I don't

know if all die -hard fans of those types of

that genre would like it more or less, but I...

was in Stitches most of this film. I thought

it was absolutely hilarious. And it was just

something that I want to watch again and again.

I have not watched it a second time yet, but

I did buy it for Amanda for Christmas. So we're

definitely looking forward to the next watch

of What We Do in the Shadows. I would just say

good choice. All right. All right. That means,

Amanda, it is your turn for your number nine

best film of 2015. I think this is going to be

the biggest shocker on my list. In a good or

bad way. In a bad way. Oh, God. I've got Star

Wars, The Force Awakens at number nine. Pretty

low. Hey, it's in your top ten. Yeah, it did

make the top ten. You know, I'm not as big on

the nostalgia train as everybody else. Wasn't

alive when they came out. I'm a product of the

newer part of the series there. And as much as

I love Star Wars and, you know, love the... we're

gonna call it the universe, the Star Wars universe,

the Star Wars -verse. I wasn't blown away by

this. I mean, I loved it because it was Star

Wars and I love Star Wars, but I can't put it

any higher than this. I mean, nine's pretty good.

Ninth film out of the year and what did you see,

like 130 films or something this year? I mean,

I expected a lot more wowing out of it and I

definitely liked a lot about it, but this is

just as far as I can... We'll have to let everybody

wait and see how much of my personal bias affected

my Star Wars ranking and how objective I was

able to be with it for where it may or may not

show up on my list, but I will save those comments

until that point. Dan, what about you? What is

your number nine pick? My number nine, I think

I maybe missed out on opportunity here, because

my number nine is the hateful eight. Mike hates

you right now. Yes, the hateful eight, which

is I guess maybe considered a disappointment

considering it's Quentin Tarantino. It's only

number nine for me. Though when Django came out,

it was like around the same time and I ended

up enjoying that a lot more. The Hateful Eight

was a lot different than I expected just based

upon Django and the fact that it was nothing

like that. Definitely more conversational, much

more of a limited scope. But I ended up just

really, you know, we did the Quentin Tarantino

retrospective, so it kind of explained everything

I love about Tarantino. I thought a lot of that

wasn't the Hateful Eight, but also really enjoyed

a lot of the new performances like Pret McKenzie.

um not perfect kency but uh that's the other

guy i was trying to play to the concords but

you know overall you know Bruce Dern was great.

I just I just love the characters in general.

I did have some issues with it It's maybe wasn't

as suspenseful as I was hoping but I felt like

in a way it was more of a dark comedy than anything

else which is I think a lot of a lot of Tarantino

stuff and then also it one of the best scores

of the year by far Hopefully we'll be roughly

winning an Oscar this year, you know Not much

more you can say about it than that has not been

said. I would probably still not put it in the

Nearly the top echelon of of Tarantino is probably

lower, you know lower half, but lower half Tarantino

was still top ten in the year for me Yeah for

sure I have a question for you because a lot

of people seem to have had issues with Now I

didn't get to see it in the road show format

with the actual intermission and whatnot But

I did they a lot of people you did see it. No,

I saw it Okay, a lot of people obviously are

breaking it into three parts. You have the the

stagecoach ride And then you have the initial

scene up until the Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern

showdown, and then you have from there to the

rest of the film, or I guess the intermission

before they kind of show the arrival of the initial

party that came to the haberdashery. Do you have

as much of a problem with that final act as everybody?

did or, because I know you said you had some

issues with it, but I know a lot of people really

got kind of turned off or soured by that last

act. No, that wasn't more so my issue. My issue

was more so that I was hoping for, what I liked

about the last act was with Samuel L. Jackson

getting into that investigator mode and kind

of uncovering these different things. Right.

And what I enjoyed about the last act too was

just how different the violence was depicted

in the beginning without giving too much away

when you see kind of how the setup begins. But

no, I didn't feel like it was that different.

Yeah, I didn't either. I don't know. I also thought

there'd be a little bit more suspense there because

I know a big thing that Tarantino did was compare

it to like the thing and you know, the thing

is just tension filled from start to beginning.

And that wasn't really hatefully for me, which

I thought was OK. I just thought it was just

hugely entertaining. And one guy I was thinking

of was Walter Goggins, who I thought to me was

maybe the best actor in the entire franchise

and entire film. And I think it's deserving because

I've loved him and justified. So I think he's

a great actor and I was glad to see him in a

big role like this Tarantino film. All right,

we'll have to see if the hateful eight makes

any other appearances on anybody else's countdown

or not for my number nine I'm going to go with

the film Brooklyn the thing about 2015 is there's

a couple a handful of films that are excellent

and Top ten worthy for me or at least in the

conversation Mostly based on how simple they

are like how simple the story is told, how it

doesn't need to rely on flash or fake dramatic

beats or things like that, how it's, you can

just put a few characters into a story and just

tell the story and let the actual story and the

performances win the day for you and not have

to manufacture anything. And I think there's

a couple different movies like that that you

can point out to kind of. in that vein, and I

think Brooklyn's one of them. I was not necessarily

expecting anything from this film. I mean, I'd

heard some good things about it, but I mean,

we saw it fairly early in its release life, and

I was just shocked at how much I liked this film,

actually. I love... kind of the depth that they

go with the Searsha Ronan character. I said that

right, right, Amanda? Searsha? Yeah, okay. But

kind of how they go with that and the decisions

that she has to make or not make and just kind

of the motivations behind that. And for a couple

different reasons, not just for the relationship

choices that she has to make, but I think there's

some other commentary that the film makes in

regards to your ability to not just see your

own life and your own little bubble, but then

what happens when your eyes are open to the bigger

world outside and how your choices impact others

and things like that. I don't want to get into

it too much because there might be some people

out there that haven't seen it and I don't want

to spoil anything, but there's a lot that I respected

about Brooklyn and it was good enough to make

my top ten in it number nine. Well, I am not

going to say anything yet on Brooklyn. All right.

We're giving away all of our picks. I did see

Brooklyn. It is currently in my top 25. I loved

the first two acts. I had some issues with the

final third, which is why I wasn't able to find

a spot for it in my top 10. That makes sense.

There was just part of that final act, which

I guess the best way I can... can kind of illustrate

it is there's that moment where she comes into

contact with a former boss and for some reason

that moment really resonated with me because

it was it was that moment like I said that kind

of opened her eyes and kind of stopped her tunnel

vision in a way And I thought that's just an

interesting illustration of how sometimes people

can get so wrapped up into the moment or in their

everyday, you know, where they're at and who

they're interacting with or whatever that sometimes

they don't get to necessarily see what's going

on in real life around them and how their decisions

are. Not just... light decisions that they're

just letting happen to them but that's something

that they're consciously deciding on and they

have to make those decisions. That's interesting

because that's a good point on that. I think

I had an issue with that in a sense of how it

less, not less, it's hard with getting anything

away but basically like I wanted her to make

that choice on her own and I felt it. I can see

that kind of having that other element kind of

It's we're speaking in code here, but yeah But

I do think you'd make a good point that even

kind of consider it that way so I think you just

didn't want her to have to have that catalyst

of the conversation that she has She she wanted

her to realize that owner one without this which

I think that's a valid I think that's a valid

point I think it lessens the impact when you

kind of have an excuse to make that decision

like it's like oh now I know you know I mean

like it's like it's like if that person hadn't

done that you would have not made those choices

and then you know not necessarily the same person

that you have to come to the decision yourself

rather than someone prompting to you that I know

thematically there's a lot of reasoning there,

but I guess I not it just made It felt like a

way to make that decision without us having to

feel bad, you know. I like that, I like that

take because it's interesting. You can definitely

kind of interpret that a couple different ways

and it's not necessarily saying that either one

of them is wrong. So I kind of find that interesting

too and I can definitely see where you're coming

from. I was really happy though it was nominated

for Best Picture though because hopefully more

people will see it because it is the small little

film that should get more loves. Absolutely.

Alright, that means it's time for everybody's

number eight starting with Amanda. What do you

got? This was a super recent watch and I had

to run and put it on my list right away. That's

a Testament of Youth. Alright, that is a recent

watch. Another one of the last minute film going

experiences or rentals that is impacting our

list. I'm going to have one that's similar to

that. So why Testament of Youth? I think that

it pulled on your heartstrings a lot and pulled

her or pulled you into her situation and her

grief and her motivations and her struggle and

I think that their depiction of her falling in

love it's always these small little flashbacks

of these moments and you see her reflecting on

those moments and her kind of reveling in the

feeling and the emotion of falling in love. And

that's not a huge part of the film by any means,

but I really liked that. I thought that was so

true to form. Even myself thinking about in those

first few interactions with somebody who you

really have a connection with and you really

kind of fall for how you step back and you're...

you're lost in that moment still, even when you're

not in the moment anymore, and I thought that

was really well done, and that hooked me into

her and her situation right from the get -go.

Yeah, I think it was a big year for period piece

romances, I think, or period piece films that

centered on a leading lady. We definitely had

a lot of them, and we just talked about one in

Brooklyn, you bring out Testament of Youth, there

was Far From the Maddening Crowd, in a way, Madame

Bovary, There was quite a few that you could

throw out there that are kind of in that same

vein, I think. I definitely like that testament

of youth more than most of those other ones I

mentioned outside of Brooklyn. So I can definitely

see that. I think it's an interesting situation

that obviously she finds herself in. I think

there is some good performances in there. It

was just weird for me to try to come to terms

with the fact that that was Jon Snow. It did

not look like him whatsoever. Man, if I would

have seen that first, I would not have bought

Jon Snow as the character that he was supposed

to be portrayed as. Does he also know nothing

in that as well? He doesn't know much and he

has absolutely no facial hair whatsoever. He's

like this baby face. It's weird, but no, I think

there's some pretty good performances. Obviously

Alicia Vikander's got a little bit of praise

for her role in that. I mean, a pretty good year

for her, I would say. But yeah, I enjoy Testimony

Youth. I don't think I'm quite as high as you

are on it, but I can definitely see your reasoning

for that one. Obviously not, if it's not on your

list. I apologize. All right, Dan, what do you

have up next? My number eight already has already

been mentioned. And for me, it is by far the

funniest movie of the year, the funniest movie

in the last few years. And it is what we do in

the shadows. You know, the idea of doing a mockumentary

about vampires sounds kind of ridiculous. And

but then you look at people involved and it's

simply hilarious. And it's, I don't know, they

finding interesting ways to handle that genre.

And I just think it was just unique in I love

it when funny people are simply funny and I think

that's what made what we do in the shadows really

great. It just they had a basic enough concept

and then they just kind of went with it and it

did kind of remind me of Flight of the Concord

with that where it was just you know kind of

hilarity from beginning to end and uh now it

was great and there have not been a lot of great

comedies I think this year personally and I think

you know even in the last couple years comedy

is kind of You'll get some things here and there

and I think, I don't know, I don't think there

has been a movie that I enjoyed more in the comedy

realm than this. Most of my favorite comedies

this past have been like those, you know, dramedies,

but think this was a straightforward comedy that

was greatly successful when it tried to be. Yeah,

I mean, obviously I'm in agreement since it was

on my list as well. I would not have predicted

that I would ever be able to do your genre. list

in the genre blog and somehow match your best

comedy of the year because I think comedy is

such a hard genre for a lot of people to line

up on and You know, I'm not saying we usually

disagree on comedies, but it's just I'm pretty

impressed that we both had that as our as our

favorite comedy I like that and I think Amanda

will continue to hold her thoughts off on on

that film So as far as my next pick for number

eight, this is again This is what bumped Danny

Collins out of my top ten in it did that this

week just less than 24 hours ago and that was

when I viewed infinitely polar bear with Mark

Ruffalo. I had wanted to see this film for the

better part of the year, and it was always on

my radar and on my list because I've been super

impressed with Mark Ruffalo over the last couple

years, and I think he's had a lot of phenomenal

roles, and I just, it looked interesting, and

I wanted to check it out, but I really didn't

know what to expect as far as if I would enjoy

it or not. I more so just wanted to see it so

I could, you know, come closer to completing

his filmography, but man. this movie might not

have made me laugh as much as what we do in the

shadows and it's i don't think it's necessarily

meant to be a comedy but i was in stitches a

couple different times with mark ruffalo whether

it was his outfits whether it was his mannerisms

whether it was the words that were coming out

of his mouth it was absolutely ridiculously funny

at times the people he chose to flip off just

any outburst that he had against anybody i mean

he plays a manic depressive uh... individual

who is somewhat estranged from his wife and put

in the care of his two daughters in a way and

after a breakdown has cost him his job etc and

the interactions that he has with the children

with his wife with neighbors with anybody he

comes into contact, it's just ridiculously funny.

But at the same time, there is a lot of emotional

beats to this one. There's a lot of depth to

make you feel different things about the different

characters, especially for his character. I mean,

I don't know the last character I can mention

in a film that you at the same time love, hate,

are rooting for, are angry about, are, you know,

disappointed by. But impressed by, like he runs

the absolute gamut in this film as far as what

you feel for him emotionally. So if anybody has

not seen Infinitely Polar Bear, I would highly

suggest you guys seeking it out, especially if

you're a Mark Ruffalo fan. So that is my number

eight. I'm going to jump in and say that's my

number seven. So I super enjoy that as well.

Had to run and put this on as soon as we saw

this as well This is one of those that we just

literally saw last night, and I'm really glad

that we caught up with it because Like you said

it was hilarious. He just has this complete range

of everything that you you said from liking him

hating him to being disgusted to to rooting for

him really I mean in the heart of this movie

is just so deep and It keeps it very light but

It doesn't take you out of the gravity of the

situation whatsoever and the relationships that

he has with his daughters and his wife and really

everybody around him was just awesome. His performance

was great and he chain smoked the entire fucking

time. He chain smoked and drank like a fish the

entire time. Yeah, the whole movie and I super

enjoyed it. Alright, so obviously some agreement

there. I think that means that it's back to you

Dan for your next pick What we talked about like

how was good year for different genres. I think

one I know if we mentioned was science fiction

I think there was a lot of great films within

that realm One of the best for me this year was

my number seven, which is Ex Machina science

fiction is a great honor to delve into a lot

of different subject matter, a lot of different

things like artificial intelligence, but I think

that's part of Ex Machina. I think there's a

lot more in there as well. I think it has...

A great deal to say about humanity in general

and kind of our existence. And I think the performances

overall are all fantastic. And it's production

design, you know, even for a movie that mainly

takes place in a couple rooms. I think it uses

that space in a really inventive ways and with

a great score and the special effects that are

there are pretty impressive in the sound design,

too. I think it really kind of ties it all together.

I just I was kind of I don't know. It's a movie

that I feel like. Every time you watch it, you

can kind of view it with a different perspective,

which to me is the best Type of science fiction.

So that's why it made my number seven. I think

this is one of those films that has been probably

interpreted or described in the most variety

of different ways, like I have seen so many different

interpretations of this film, some of which I

can't even fathom, and some of which maybe I'm

more in line with, but I mean, I've seen people

slam this film because they think it's racist

and different things like that. Was it the dancing

sequence? I think it was just the choice of different

ethnicities as far as the different women that

are used and things like that. I've seen people...

Call it sexist and all the different things and

that those all blow my mind because I don't quite

get that but I Really appreciated this film as

well and we might have to talk more about it

a little bit later Even if Amanda doesn't want

to so All right for my number seven pick. I Know

a lot of people might be mad because I don't

have this high enough So I apologize especially

to Barry and to DJ but my number seven is Mad

Max Fury Road I don't think there was any action

film more impressive than this, maybe one of

the most impressive directing performances of

the year. It set the stage early on in 2015 for

breaking expectations, for films that would just

surpass what anybody thought that they were going

to be able to do. It set the stage for a lot

of themes in 2015, whether it be... super impressive

roles by actresses or whatever it might be. It

set some precedents early on and I think those

carried through for the most part for the rest

of the year but it's just a thrill ride. I mean

anybody that watches that film and isn't entertained

from beginning to end no matter how. maybe thin

the actual plot or story might be, you should

be able to just sit back and enjoy the ride,

and I think it's a good enough ride to land it

into anybody's top ten. I know a lot of people

have it number one, number two, or probably in

their top five. It slipped a little bit for me

over the course of the year down to number seven,

but hey, it's still in the top ten for me. So,

Amanda. I already did my number seven. Yep, we're

on to your number six. Already? Okay. That's

how numbers work, I don't know. Oh my gosh, I

can't do math at the time. Number six I have

Sicario. I think this was such a gritty, emotional,

raw, suspenseful thriller movie. I loved a lot

about this. I think Emily Blunt really kicked

ass at this role. Another one of those, you know,

really really awesome female leads that we got

going on if she could even be called the lead

I would call her the lead of that I love an easy

little toro and every fucking thing that he does

and this was no exception by any means I think

that This movie was so true To the actual situation

that's going on with what they were dealing with.

I think that it was real enough to to kind of

be a little bit mind -blowing. I mean, it was

so real, it was mind -blowing, I think is how

I should say that. I think, two, the thing with

that film, and it didn't quite make my top 10,

it is in my top 20, but what an ensemble that

they put together for that film as well, from

Josh Brolin to Venetia del Toro to Emily Blunt,

et cetera. I mean, there's a bunch of other ones

I could name, but man, Venetia del Toro blew

me away in that film as well, because it's someone

that... Like I've said on the blog post that

you want you're not quite sure where you're supposed

to sit with this character Is he someone you

like is he someone you don't like is he someone

that is making? Good decisions is someone that's

making immoral decisions like you and I think

the film does a good job of not telling you what

you're supposed to think and it just sets up

a reality of the situation without taking a side

necessarily and allows you as a viewer to see

that and then think about it yourself and think

about the fact that life isn't made out of black

and white there's a whole lot of gray area and

I think there's some definitely some great lines

in this film kind of revolving that especially

when it comes to the drug war and different things

like that. So definitely support your pick of

putting Sicario into the discussion. Actually,

my number 11, I said like my 9, 10, 11 were kind

of interchangeable and I was really trying to

find a spot for it. But I think it has some of

the best directed sequences of the entire year

like supporting crossing sequences is amazing

and just the consistent threat of violence that's

always there. For a film that doesn't have a

lot of action, there's always that underlying

mood of tension throughout, so it's quite good.

I really think if I watch it again, I may not

be giving it enough credit, and maybe I should

have it higher. It's definitely one of those

that I want to rewatch too. I mean, it's so hard

when you only get to see a film one time and

sometimes it's more recent, sometimes it's further

away. And I have a feeling with that one that

if I watched it again, I'd probably pick up on

a few more things even than I did the first time.

And like I said, it was number 19 for me. So

maybe it would have been boosted up by another

watch. But I think we're all in agreement that

that's definitely a high quality film worthy

of being in the discussion. So doubt. All right,

Dan. That means it's your turn for your number

six 2015 certainly had its number of reviews

free launches sequels all that and You know if

you told me they're making another rocky movie

and be like, come on now, like why are they doing

that? But it's oh, it's about his son, but not

his son Creed's son like, okay But then you tell

me it's from the director of fruitful station

starring Michael B Jordan I'm a little bit more

interested and I was no Creed as a movie than

is so much better than it has any business being.

I think at least the fighting sequences, the

boxing matches, especially the first long one

is I was just, I thought it was one of the best

directed fights in that entire franchise. Just,

you know, the continuous take just from the choreography

was, I was just blown away in that end. And I

thought. Performances wise, you know Stallone

just getting nominated for an Oscar recently

I don't know if I'd go that far but he certainly

shows that he can be a legitimate actor and you

know You reminded of that Stallone from the first

Rocky series and remember that no Rocky was and

is a great film that kind of you know Maybe gets

bogged down with some lesser sequels and Stallone

can be a good actor, you know, he was in this

he was in Copland and I think Michael B Jordan

though too is is a great, you know, pastor of

the torch to take the series and kind of go in

a new direction and you know has that that underlying

great message and I thought It brought new life

to this franchise while staying true to the original

and it kind of held that balance, you know, maybe

almost better than a lot of films. And I don't

know, I just felt really great watching this

movie and, you know, it's like I said, I'm looking

forward to seeing where it goes, but if it never

has another sequel or anything like that, I think

I'd be satisfied where it leaves off. So that's

what made my number six. I think that's just

another one of those films that... You know,

people knew it was happening. I don't think anybody

was jumping up and down necessarily about it.

I don't think people were just like losing their

shit about that. Same with Mad Max For Your Road.

I mean, there was a few people that were excited

about it, but I mean, I don't think it was just

like an overwhelming anticipation for it compared

to how well it was received once it did finally

come out. And I think there is a lot to love

about Creed. And I agree with you on the Sylvester

Stallone part. You know, he's not necessarily

seen as this great actor. He's more of that action

star, kind of like an Arnold or, you know, Jean

-Claude Van Damme, I guess, in a way. Let's not

put him down all the way down there, but... Whoa.

But I think he opened up a lot of people's eyes

to his acting ability. Does he deserve necessarily

to be the supporting actor of the year in all

the different award things? Maybe not, but it's

a feel -good story, so... You know, whatever.

I think there's a lot to like about this movie.

The score and the soundtrack are phenomenal.

Michael B. Jordan's phenomenal. I think, like

you said, the choreography and the direction

of the film and the fight scenes, et cetera,

are really good. I think for me, it becomes somewhat

hard to separate the choreography and the artful

crafting of the actual fights from... the separation

of reality of how fights actually go. I know

that's not fair, but I always have a problem

in boxing films with how they are depicted in

a way that is not necessarily always true to

real life. I thought it looked really real. It

looks really real, but it's like there's never

been a boxing match like that. Like ever. Maybe

I mean I haven't seen every boxing match in the

entire history of the world, but people saw Creed

but people don't watch boxing See so I get it

from like a movie standpoint and anybody that

doesn't know anything about boxing like it's

it's excellent and and it's still excellent even

for those people that I have but I Couldn't help

that little thing in the back of my head being

like this is so fake and this is there's literally

That's your problem with everything. You can't

ever step out and just be like oh, it's fake

cool You're like I can't get over the physics

and gravity and shit like that I guess but I

don't know but outside of that I still had this

film in my top 25 I think it's and I should and

it's the one film that I kept looking over my

list and thinking this should really be higher

like I should put this film higher and I just

I when I was looking at the films that I had

ahead of it I couldn't convinced myself to bump

it up above those but i think it's very much

deserving of being in the top ten conversation

and i think it's a great but you said uh... passing

of the torch or bridging of the gap from the

other rocky films and it can stand alone and

be the last of the series or like you said it

could maybe lead into other great movies down

the road i think it's in good hands regardless

of which direction they go regarding the consequences

i think what it did i i agree they're not super

realistic but i felt like it was a good update

it stated within the realm of The classic rocky

fight so like they weren't to like the level

of rocky form where they're like hitting each

other with chairs and stuff like that But you

know, they're not like, you know looking like

I think the fighter probably has some of the

most You know realistic type of fighting where

it is very more technical in that end But I thought

it that's what I wasn't pressed by because it

it it felt like the original Rocky without, you

know, with but still being updated in modern.

So I could see why if you're, you know, boxing

aficionado and be like, no, that's not, that's

not how it works. Like if you're a vampire and

thinking, you know, what we do in the channel

is nothing like it is in real life. See, there's

something I was able to separate reality from

a vampire story. Yeah, but I have definitely

an agreement with that. So, all right, my number

six. My number six already has been talked about.

I guess none of us put it at our number eight,

so. Curse Us All, but it is the hateful eight

for me at number six. I think I like this film

maybe more than a lot of people did because I

know it got a lot of hate and a lot of, not necessarily

hate, let's put hate in quotations like we do

when we say a bad Tarantino film, but I think

a lot of people didn't necessarily like it as

much as a lot of the other Tarantino films out

there, but I disagree that it's his worst. I

disagree that it deserves to be at the bottom

because... I don't know, I just had a ton of

fun with this. I enjoyed all the sequences. I

enjoyed the stagecoach ride. I know a lot of

people had problems with that. Oh right, I loved

that sequence. Yeah, I loved it. I enjoyed the

last act, and I know other people had problems

with that. I didn't see it as them having all

these themes that they were building up and then

disregarding them and throwing them away and

just going a different route. I didn't get that

when I watched it. Maybe I need to watch it again.

But regardless of any of that, it was just an

entertaining... Like, I was invested into those

characters, into what was going on, whether I

liked the character or didn't like the character.

I still wanted to know what was going to happen.

And I'm a huge fan of the dialogue part of Tarantino

films, and I think it had it in spades. Samuel

L. Jackson was incredible. I think Bruce Dern

was good in a limited role. Like you said, Walter

Goggins was good. I think maybe if I had to very

much nitpick, and I'm not trying to say anything

bad about Tim Roth, but... It was somewhat distracting

thinking that the whole time that this role was

supposed to be for Christoph Waltz. You can kind

of, yeah, you can kind of see that, yeah. I was

like, is Tim Roth intentionally just trying to

be Christoph Waltz here, or was that how the

character was written? Like, would he be better

in this role, even though Tim Roth's a really

good actor? So I mean, that maybe somehow subconsciously

was messing with me a little bit, but I still

loved the film. I loved the aspect of putting

these people in this setting. regardless of the

you know the humor with the door and all these

different things but you have these characters

in this secluded environment and you are trying

to figure out which one's bad or how many people

are bad not necessarily bad but are are on one

side or on the other side and it's very much

that whodunit type of thing and I love like you

said the investigative part of the character

of Samuel L. Jackson how he's trying to like

figure things out and his calling out on people

and kind of putting the pieces together. I think

that's fun. That's kind of classic movie making

there from decades gone by. I could see how some

people might have a problem with the violence

and the gore, but that's Tarantino as well. For

a Tarantino movie, the violence is really dialed

back. Right, but I mean, I can see if someone

doesn't know Tarantino, maybe they'd be turned

off by that, but anybody that doesn't know Tarantino

should not be watching Tarantino films in the

first place. Go back, start from the beginning,

and catch up. I feel like it's gonna be like

the Jackie Brown where you know with Jackie Brown

people saw Pulp Fiction and thought Jackie Brown

would be the same Kind of same and I feel like

that's what's happening with people eight where

people saw Django and wanted something along

the same lines and it's not that at all So I

you know, I feel like it might get a deeper appreciation

as years go on I mean, that's hard to say because

you never know but I don't know like I agree.

I feel like a lot of the Criticism is I don't

agree with it And from a filmmaking standpoint,

I mean, the cinematography is ridiculous, obviously,

not just because of the way it was filmed and

all that type of stuff, but just landscapes and

the shots that they were able to capture and

the way they're filming some of these things

from different angles. I mean, it was just a

fun thing to watch from a filmmaking standpoint.

It was fun from a dialogue standpoint, from a

humor standpoint. from a character standpoint

like I like this on almost every level so that's

why I have it up this high at my number six so

that means it's time for the top half our top

five films of 2015 starting with of course Amanda

what is your fifth best film of the year okay

so remember way back when when I said that Star

Wars and number nine is probably going to be

the one like the most hate for I take that back

because this is probably going to be it but I

don't care my number five is Chappy Oh man, people

are gonna come after you for this one. I loved

it so much. I super felt for that goddamn robot

and I think that even all the relationships that

he had with people were just amazing. I'm going

to just act like the ending really wasn't as...

You're just gonna act like Hugh Jackman was not

in that film? I... he was... Can we and I can...

I can't ignore those fucking shorts. I can't

ignore their shorts. I can't ignore that sweet

ass haircut or the fact that he can carry around

his sidearm in an office full of cubicles. Admittedly,

there was a lot of issues with that film for

being such a top. almost like a top -secret place

or a very high -clearance place. Their security

was very lacking and Hugh Jackman was ridiculous.

I agree that Chappie as a character was one of

the most fun characters to kind of watch and

get to know in a film this year. I loved the

character of Chappie and I didn't mind the whole,

what were their names? Yolande and Ninja in America.

Okay, I didn't mind them too much in that part

of the story I thought if they could have done

something different with the whole Hugh Jackman

and maybe just eliminated that I love this movie.

I was so pumped for this movie. I got the straight

feels I cried when they were mean to him. I you

know you want to say it No, I can't I can't right

now She says the I am chappy thing all the time

Still I can't help it But I mean that even the

music was awesome They freaking did the music

these are real rappers and I just want to be

fucking besties with Yulani and shit like I think

we can do some damage bro some pink uzi's and

stuff some jumpsuit Who are you right now? I

don't even know Alright, so I mean I had fun

with Chappie. It didn't make my list, but I think

there are some problems with it But I think Chappie

as a character is pretty cool. So I won't hate

on you too much. I'll let DJ and Hiro and Barry

do that All right, Dan, what do you got up next

at your number five? My number five is the movie.

I feel like a lot of people love to hate and

It is The Reverent. I'll preface this by saying

that I am Luke warm not even I would say that

a fan of eerie to like I was not a fan of 21

grams Babel was kind of pointless and I was I

was I enjoyed Birdman I I did not hate it as

much as some people I did not love it as much

as some but the revenant I think to me is by

far his best movie it Is just brutal intensity

from start to finish and I know there are a lot

of the there's so much just craziness regarding

this movie from everything like it's it was filmed

in the cold to people eating fish and whatnot

and Yeah, that's that's kind of crazy and I that

stuff is what what is it is what it is But at

the end of the day I think what matters is does

your movie work and it did for me from the performances

and I do think it does look phenomenal I I can

see the complaint worse drag some in the middle

but didn't really happen for me. And I just,

I don't know. I felt it also has a lot to say

more than I was expecting. I thought it would

just be this kind of movie of just, you know,

in every two, just putting people through brutal

exercise after brutal exercise. In some ways

it is that, but I think it does have a lot more

to say than just that. Definitely about mercy

and definitely about just, you know, the... Certainly,

I think in some elements faith, and you know,

Lido Notner Caprio is probably going to win an

Oscar for this, hopefully, or he may just implode,

and I thought he was quite good, and Tom Hardy

was just there as well, Brendan Gleeson, and

the kid from, I can't think of his name, but

overall, I just, as cliche as it sounds, it was

one of the better experiences I've had this year,

and I was, kind of just had that, similar to

Sicario, in the sense of where you have that...

underlying film form and tension. It wasn't necessarily

tension as it was just kind of, I don't know,

felt beat up by the end, but beat up in a good

way. Tired. Tired and worn out. I don't think

it was, for me it didn't have that dragging or

the slow moments at all. I mean, I was pretty

captivated throughout the whole thing. I was

shocked that Inner E2 was the one that directed

this. But I think the reason this film works

so well is two people, and it's DiCaprio and

it's Tom Hardy. I mean, obviously they're the

main two roles, and I think they're deserving

Oscar nominations for best actor and best supporting

actor. I actually prefer Hardy probably a little

bit more than DiCaprio in the film, but... I

feel his character is much more interesting.

Right. I mean, obviously DiCaprio has somewhat

limited ability to... In the bear attack scene,

I thought that's probably one of... We're to

say favorite scenes, because you're seeing a

dude getting eaten by a bear, but it was, I thought,

I wasn't just... That bear didn't want to eat

him. He just wanted to mess in the scuff. Yeah.

But I think, too, what worked in this film was,

like you said, that underlying tension, that

ability to keep you interested in what was going

on and what was going to come next. I mean, just

like Hateful Eight, it has a lot of great...

cinematic shots and artistic shots. I think maybe

my only complaint for The Revenant or my biggest

complaint, well, okay, let's say that there's

one big one and there's one minor one, because

it did make my, it's in my 20 to 30 range. It

didn't quite make it as high as I thought it

might at certain points during the film, but

I don't know if every single flashback scene

was necessary. Some of the dreams? Not necessarily

the dream, but the different sequences to his

wife and everything that happened or what he's

seen. I get why it was there and I'm not having

a problem with that. I think the frequency they

went to it might have been a little bit too high.

That's somewhat of a minor nitpick, though, I

guess. But I think they could have shaved some

time off by shaving some of those sequences out

of there. And then, like we had talked about

a little bit on Twitter, the Native American

lip syncing, dubbing, whatever that was, was

a little bit weird because every time one of

them talked, I was like, that's not... that person

talking. That was a little bit weird for me.

But other than that, I mean those are two minor

nitpicks. It was pretty entertaining overall.

I think it does have some great thematic resonance

as far as mercy, as far as revenge, justice,

survival, and the human spirit in a way, I guess

you could say. Loyalty and honor. I think there's

a bunch of that stuff that does go into it. And

I think there's quite a few scenes that are pretty

memorable from it. And like I said, I love Tom

Hardy on it. Were you shocked that I stayed awake

the whole time? I mean, we saw it at 11 .45 in

the morning. It normally doesn't matter. And

that go to hundreds or 50 plus movies a year,

I guess be aware that if you're going to go the

day after Golden Globes or the Oscars, apparently

at 11 .45 in the morning you'll be... subjected

to a packed theater of old people. Oh my gosh,

and when I was in the bathroom afterwards, this

old lady goes, well, you didn't ride off into

the sunset. And I'm like, it's not that kind

of Western, lady. Well, that just happened. I

mean, we go to a lot of Monday films because

they're cheaper and because we're both off on

Mondays and usually we're the only ones in whatever

theater we go to. I need at least four seats

to stretch out. I mean, there was probably over

50 people in that theater for that film. I'm

like, no, and they're all old. I'm like, none

of these people know what they're about to watch.

We got to the theater and there was tons of cars.

Who is this? And we get in there and it's all

old people. I'm like, who could possibly be here?

It's old people. Like, oh, that Revenant movie

got a lot of buzz. They're getting prepared for

their podcast later that night. I want there

to be an old people film podcast out there somewhere.

I hope there is. Alright, so I have no idea where

we're at. We're at number five. Okay, I'm glad

you're keeping track. For my number five I won't

get too far into, Dan, because I know it's one

you haven't quite caught up with. with yet but

it basically everything I said about Brooklyn

where it's a simple story that doesn't need the

flash would apply to this film and that is my

number five which would be Spotlight another

absolute phenomenal performance by Mark Ruffalo

probably one of the best ensembles of any film

for the year but like I said the impressive thing

is is that and I heard some people on a different

show comparing this to Concussion in a way because

they're saying You know, they're both stories

of real life events and reporting basically just

on the facts and what happened. But I haven't

seen Concussion, but from what I've heard, they

do a lot more, not necessarily Hollywoodizing,

but a lot more trying to kind of point you in

a certain direction. And whether that's true

or not, they definitely do not do that in Spotlight.

It just tells you the story. It doesn't... point

you in any direction it gives you the story from

the reporters what they're observing from the

victims from the church and it lets you kind

of put all the pieces together yourself and and

kind of come to your own emotional conclusions.

And I think there's just a lot to love about

this film. I think the performances around the

board, I think the story, I think probably one

of the most jaw -dropping endings of any film

I've seen this year just let... I don't know

how anybody could leave this film and walk out

of the theater and say a word to anybody. Like,

it's just a literally speechless exiting of the

theater. At least it was for me, and I... Love

this film. So spotlight is my number five. Well,

uh, it is my number four. We've done that twice

Yes, so I definitely agree with that. I think

that Mark Ruffalo really stole the show for me

for a little bit That's and that's not to discount

some of the other performances that are out there

It was full of great performances and I mean

it it did the heavy really well I mean it wasn't

too heavy -handed it It didn't It didn't just

throw things out there. It was a definite, really

awesome showing of investigative reporting and

the work that they put into it. what they really

accomplished with that and those ending credits

are just kind of boggling too. And the other

thing too is how true to life it was because

it doesn't do what a lot of things would do and

skip over events that happened during that that

aren't necessarily pertinent to the story. Like

they took the time to acknowledge what was going

on in the world around them and how that also

affected the story and I really appreciated that.

A lot of people would probably say well that

had nothing to do with anything why even have

that in the film but I think it adds another

element of reality and authenticity. Authentic

-ness is probably not a word, but I think authenticity

is a good word to put with this film, a very

authentic approach. It made it more relatable

to you as a person, even though you were in that

situation. Maybe you weren't even in Boston,

but it helped you connect to that. Yeah, and

definitely also was very artfully crafted to

the point where, and I'm not the first one that

has said this, but that Boston almost becomes

a character in the film, and the way that they're

able to do that is pretty impressive. Alright,

so we're definitely in agreement with spotlight.

That means Dan is up to your number four Well

when number four is I don't think it's a movie

a lot of people heard of or have seen It is this

little film called Star Wars The Force Awakens

It yes, obviously it's like the biggest movie

ever and it I don't think there is a movie that

was ever as Hyped as this film even more so than

Phantom Menace when you consider the the hype

machine We live in today at the Star Wars filming

bringing back the old cast I don't think there

was a movie that probably had more pressure on

it than any other film in history Arguably and

somehow some way it was able to overcome that

and make a really great time for the film I mean

there's I mean certainly some issues some some

plotting issues I have with it but the end of

the day what it does really well it just reminds

you of why you love why many of us love Star

Wars and The new characters are great. I love

how it didn't necessarily rely on those those

characters of the past and while these new characters

that kind of really Forged their own destiny

really take it over. Daisy Ridley is probably

the biggest breakout star of the year. She is

phenomenal It's hard not just to fall in love

with her immediately even and uh, you know, um,

boy, I guess is no slouch himself and and then

running it out with you know, um Another yes,

definitely who was also fantastic. So it some

great action set pieces a lot of fun movie I

saw twice in the theater and I didn't get to

out to the theater very much that says a lot

so it is You saw it twice in the theater before

I saw it twice. I know. Part of that was I went

with my brother and nephew and then my wife also

wanted to go see it. So I'm like, sure, I'll

see it twice. I'm not going to complain. But

yeah, there's so much for it. And I think, too,

what it does really well, a lot of people complain

about it being kind of... played it safe what

have you i thought it it did what it had to do

and did it really well and now it's set the stage

perfectly for what can come next which i i can't

wait episode eight seems like forever From now

on, it kind of bugs me. For one, if I see one

more stupid post about who can this father be,

who can their parents be, stop it. Just give

it some time. Can we not make another post about

that? The episode eight rumors immediately being

posted. Just give it a sec. Let's find out. We

got some time. Right. Don't rush. Amanda and

I have done it a couple times, so Dan and I can

do it now because that is my number four as well.

I know people might be shocked. It's not my number

one. I tried to separate a little bit of the

fanboying me out, so it's only at my number four

spot. But most of what you said, there is...

We talked about the level of hype in that probably

no other movie had the stakes that this one did.

I mean, the closest you maybe could possibly

come would be the first Avengers film, but I

think even this has way more, had way more pressure

and way more at stake. I mean, we're talking

about billion dollar investment that could have

either flopped or skyrocketed based on this film.

And especially with how much hype everybody had

for episode one and then what happened there.

there was a lot to live up to but it was everybody

was ready everybody was willing to give it another

shot and it definitely paid off and Man, I think

the way that they were somehow able to Bridge

the old and then also give us characters that

we actually care about along the way and They

were smart about it because they realized which

of the old characters they were going to be able

to do that with It wouldn't have worked with

a bunch of them and they found the right person

in Harrison Ford to bridge that gap for him.

And not to say anything against Mark Hamill,

I think that story is obviously still to come

as far as another... gap that will be bridged

in the future episodes. Carrie Fisher, we're

looking at you, bitch. They limited the amount

of Carrie Fisher exposure. They didn't just bring

in everybody and anybody from the old films.

They focused it on Harrison Ford, and I think

that was very smart. I think the level of comedy

in here that doesn't necessarily feel forced.

I think the nostalgia for the most part, maybe

outside of one or two little minor things, doesn't

necessarily feel forced or shoehorned in there.

Maybe the only one that I thought did was the

chess set of hearing in the morning Falcon that

was maybe a little bit but most of them you just

kind of went in stride and like you said but

at the same time giving us characters that we

care about moving forward in Oscar Isaac John

Boyega Daisy Ridley and even some more minor

characters that we don't really know much about

yet I mean there's no absolutely no way that

this should have lived up to the hype there's

no way that this should have been as successful

as it was and it is like you there's so many

ways that this could have just completely collapsed

on itself and I agree, the people that are faulting

it, I mean, let's face it, it wouldn't have mattered

what they did. There was gonna be people that

were gonna try to rip it apart, no matter what.

So that's just how the internet and Geek Dumb

works and fandoms and stuff like that. So everybody's

gonna have a problem with something. But I don't

think J .J. Abrams really... could have done

much more than he did. This is not the film to

be the inventive one. This is not the one to

do what episode one did and just kind of go off

in all different directions and create all this

stuff from scratch. It had to bridge the gap.

He did it successfully. And thanks to him, now

we have the stage set for other directors to

kind of go in different directions. So I think

it'll be interesting to see where it goes. And

I am super excited that... the blue alien guys

are not sitting atop the all -time box office

anymore, so I think Star Wars is much more deserving

than Avatar. It took me a second and I was like,

blue alien guys. It's my fault. My fault. I haven't

seen Avatar in a long time. I guess I shouldn't

hate on it too much. The movie was legit. Don't

hate on that movie. All right. Talk about plots

that are completely ripped out of other things.

But yeah, so I'm in complete agreement. Star

Wars The Force Awakens is my number four, which

means it's time for the top three. My number

three is something that's already been talked

about. That means it's a good pick. Yeah, I would

say so. The consensus says it is a good pick.

That's Brooklyn. I didn't think I was gonna like

this movie really and it is another one of those

surprise movies that kind of got me by the boo

-boo. What did you just say? Got me by the boo

-boo. What does that even mean? I thought we

were getting rated X here for a second. Wow,

don't make it dirty. It definitely gave me a

solid case of the feels, and I really connected

with Saoirse Ronan's character, and I put myself

in her shoes, and I was just like, what would

I have done? And that was a hard one, really,

it was. And I'm proud of her, she made the right

choice. But at the same time, I would have been

in the same kind of conundrum if I was in that

situation. It was really awesome to see Don Maglis

in another role because I like to see anything

he's involved in now. I've really become a fan

of his and Well, it's hard because he's in every

single film. Sort of, yeah. Him aside, I think

her relationship with, what was the... I don't

know what the Italian gentleman's name was. He's

been in other stuff. We know that. I think that

her relationships... were amazing and the times

that they They really tugged on your heartstrings

It worked, you know what I mean? And I was completely

emotionally invested in this from the get -go

and I really liked it All right. Obviously I'm

in agreement since it was in my top ten as well

And it's getting interesting. We only have a

few picks for everybody left. I have no idea

What is on the top of either of your guys's list

and what do you have at number three every year?

There's those movies I feel like it will probably

all of us that we like more than anyone else

and this year I have Coming up on my number three

as well. This year I have two of them, one being

my number three. And I have two Westerns at my

top end, if you want to call the Reverend a Western.

And I'm actually going to have a third with what

I think is the best of all of them, in my opinion,

and that is Slow West. I scant 90 minutes of

filmmaking that I think I would put up against

anything. And I think, you know, a lot of it

is praised. with the way the Revenant looks and

I think Slowest is no slouch. I find it to be

the most complete out of all the Westerns this

year. I love what it says. I love movies that

kind of build, make you feel part of a larger

world and within Slowest I love how it is very

apparent there's so much more going on on the

outskirts that you're not even aware of and how

it develops in that nature. Michael Fassbender

I think is great. It has some of my favorite

scenes of the year. creating store -and -counter

the final suit at the end. And I think I love

what it says kind of about the naivete of America

during that time and as we expanded on further

in our relationships with everything from Native

Americans to Emirates. I love Westerns and I'm

glad to see that, you know, we're kind of getting

this random resurgence of them. I don't know

what will last, but I'm enjoying it for now.

So, I realized the West is, like I said, a movie.

I probably like more than a lot of people, but

I don't know, it just hit me in the right spot.

I am also a huge fan of the Western genre and

I'm also very happy that we were getting a handful

of them here this year. I think you can point

to Slowest, The Revenant, Bone Tomahawk in a

way. I think it's a genre I would love to see

more of because I think there's a lot of different

types of angles you can go with Westerns and

I just enjoy that setting. So this is one that

I immediately didn't have as positive as the

reaction as I did after I had a chance to kind

of resonate on it, digest it, think about it

more and it's definitely one that that's very

high on my list to see again, because I think

there's a lot of little things that you'll catch

on every additional viewing. It was good enough

to make my top 15. I didn't have it in my top

10, but again, that's mainly because I think

I need to see it again. I think Michael Fassbender's

great. I think the scenes that you're talking

about are great. I think the montage, I guess,

for lack of a better term, was clever and entertaining

as well and somewhat unique. I think there's

just a lot to like about this film, especially

if you're a fan. of Westerns and I think it's

a great pick. I think more people should watch

this than probably did and I think it deserves,

like you said, a little bit more love than maybe

it's getting because it's definitely a well -crafted

film. Yeah, and I think it does as much, if not

more, than in 90 minutes than a lot of films

do in two hours, almost three, four hours in

some cases. And it's available streaming on Amazon

if you want to watch it. There you go. For my

number three pick, like Dan said with his, this

is definitely a film I championed more than most.

It's a film a lot of people didn't like as much

as I probably did and it just stuck with me the

entire time. It's the one that never went away

and I had absolutely no expectations about this

film. I knew it existed. I knew what the name

of the film was. I knew who was in it. I kind

of knew a basic premise way back in the beginning

of the year because I know it was on certain

people's most anticipated list and different

things like that. But I didn't really have any

expectations of it. I kind of knew it existed.

And then one day we were checking out, I think,

On Demand or something. And I'm like, hey, let's

check this film out. And I was enthralled through

the entire film. It was immediately something

that I wanted to talk about. And it stayed at

the top of my list for most of the year. I had

no idea what was going to end up. I knew it was

going to end up somewhere in my top five. I wasn't

sure quite where it was going to fall. And it

ended up falling here at the number three spot.

And that is Z for Zachariah. with Margot Robbie

and Chris Pine, and of course, I'm forgetting

his name. Well, I can never say his name. Ejiofor.

Chewie, as we like to call him, since I can't

say his name. But, I mean, it's, again, somewhat

of a simple story. I mean, it's just, there's...

a lot of films like this where there's only a

few people involved kind of like you were talking

about with Ex Machina and a couple other ones

we talked about where there's only two three

four people that it really is focusing on in

this case three people in a very secluded environment

and setting and just telling the story and it

has so much to say about the what what kind of

decisions we would make and what kind of people

we become when we know that nobody's watching

when we know there's no public there's no media

when you know that it's just you and one or two

other people and what that might turn you into

or not turn you into. And then just a lot of

just human decisions as far as choices that you

would make in those situations, whether it's

stuff that you're clinging onto, even though

maybe it's not feasible anymore, whether it's

faith, whether it's family, nostalgia, anything

like that. And I just think that there's a ton

to glean out of this film. And I think with,

especially with additional viewings, you might

get even more out of it. I mean, I know - What

the issues are that some people had I didn't

quite have the same issues But I just like those

films that kind of focus in on a few characters

and really kind of dissect What goes into their

decision -making process and what are the what

are the effects? What are the repercussions because

of those decisions and things like that? So it's

just a film that stuck with me So I wanted to

keep championing and Z for Zachariah is my number

three Amanda that was an honorable mention for

me. I did like that a lot more than I thought

but as much as I really enjoyed it. I was wowed

by a few more things. Fair enough. What's one

of those things that wowed you at number two?

Number two... You both have been... Trying to

steal your thunder? Yeah, you've already taken

the wind out of my sails and that is what we

do in the shadows. I fucking love this movie.

I lost my shit when I saw it. I am so excited

that we own it now and I just... wanted to champion

this movie. I think that it was so fun and funny

and if you are a fan of that genre like I am,

I am such a die -hard vampire fan that seeing

this probably was a little bit more for me than

anybody else maybe. And I like to think that

this movie was for me because it's so in line

with what I liked and there's not a whole lot

of movies that I feel that after I see one if

it's in the comedy realm that I can keep watching

in the still be funny and I know for a fact that

I'm going to crack up every time I see this movie.

This was one of probably the biggest surprises

of the year for me what had nothing to do with

me was the fact that she enjoyed this because

she hasn't seen any of the flight of the concords

and she doesn't have any of that background with

the actor involved with this and I was I wasn't

sure how she was going to take that brand of

humor and the fact that she loved it as much

as she did was awesome to me. So we're definitely

going to have to check out Flight of the Conchords

and a couple other things now. I think that it

looked super freaking real too, like their whole,

all their vampire antics. I'm like, yes. fucking

spot on. I mean I even love the Jim Carrey movie

Once Bitten from like the 80s I think it is.

So I mean it's another spoof kind of vampire

feel but this just totally took the cake for

me and this is at the top of my list for a long

time and a little saddened that I didn't put

it at the tippy top. I'm surprised that it's

not your number one that would have been my only

guess for you so now I am lost. I think that's

probably why I had to switch it up because I

didn't want to be too fucking predictable. Dan,

there's only two spots left. What are you going

with? It is tough. And my number two, I'm probably

not going to say much about it because it's been

talked about so much just in general. If you

listen to any top 10 list, it's probably going

to be on there someplace. And it is Mad Max Fury

Road. I know the number one complaint I see people

have with this is that there's no plot. And I

hear that. I'm like, you don't get what it's

doing at all. But what I love about it is just

it's so willing to be weird, which I think is

such a lost art, especially when it comes to

blockbusters. where everything is clean and kind

of, you know, fits into a nice little box for

everyone to digest easily. But Mad Max is just,

it was like, you know what? We're gonna have

mutated people and they're gonna be just being

milked for the fun of it, I guess, I don't know.

But there's just so much going on. I love how

it just drops you into this world and lets you

kind of just... Go on out and kind of figure

things out as it goes and you know, George Miller

What other seven -year -old in the world would

direct the movie of this nature? Crease with

that type of creativity. Yeah, and I know a lot

of people praising it for practical sense, which

it does have but also There is much more CGI

in this film than people give it credit for but

it's just really good CGI use Effectively and

rightfully and merging well with practical effects

and I think it it shows you how to do that And

it's just an insane film and the fact that I

love the fact that it's getting the praise it

is enough And it is an Oscar nominated movie,

which is which is insane One of the precursors

and then none of the other Mad Max would have

even been taken serious by the Academy. I really

love World Warrior, the other ones I'm not as

big a fan of, but I think this by far is the

action movie of this. this generation of action

films at home may be. There's always that Die

Hard, that Rambo, the Terminator 2. I think it's

clearly that of this time period, so I'm curious

to see what effects it has going forward. And

I think, too, to clarify something I said, because

I'm not necessarily one that is faulting it for,

I don't think it's thin on themes or anything

like that. I think what people get stuck on is

the physical story is somewhat... Simple you

know what I mean like it's somewhat straightforward

as far as the the journey goes and I think people

mistake that for all it's saying and I think

there is more that it's saying on a lot of different

levels and You kind of have to be able to see

past the action and this and the fireworks to

get to that And you can't just necessarily be

stuck on it's you know from point A to point

B type of story. I think people confuse plot

and story. There's not much plot, but there is

a story here and I think one that has a lot to

say. Furiosa is definitely one of the heroes,

like her and Rey for this year, a great year

for really female heroes. Female heroes that

are not just the sexualized action stars or something

like that. They're legitimate characters and

I think it's a great thing to see. And I think

the other thing that George Miller did very well

was kind of the same way that we're talking about

Star Wars was bridging the people that had seen

the other films to this one and including nods

to that stuff without making it forceful or without...

shoehorning them in there. They were very natural

and half of them you probably don't even know

existed. It was almost like Tarantino like the

way that the attention to detail that he was

using to put this thing in there or that thing

in there that some people might not even know

are in there but are nods to the earlier film.

So I think that's another thing to appreciate

about it. Obviously a lot of people in the camp

with the Mad Max love and I don't think any of

them are wrong. For my number two, it's been

talked about once already and it was my number

one for a good majority of the year. no matter

how much Amanda and Hiro hate it, and that would

be Ex Machina would be my number two pick. Again,

just like Z for Zachariah, three actors put in

a secluded environment and dealing with decisions

and discussions between them and the repercussions

for what they do, what they think, what they

decide, and I think it was captivating. I'm also

a huge, obviously, science fiction fan, so I

think what you were saying, Dan, really is true

to form here, that there's a lot of different

messages that you can get from this, and I think...

I think it's a fitting thing for technology and

different things that are on the forefront or

being discussed or in the realm of possibility

within a certain amount of time. So I think there's

a lot of fun stuff. I think there's some humor

in there. There's some drama. There's a lot of

interesting aspects to it. And I look forward

to seeing this one again. But hey, at least you

like the dance scene, right Amanda? For real.

Alright. So that means it's the moment of truth.

We all have only one slot left and I think none

of us know where any of the other one is going

with it. So, Amanda, what is your best film of

2015? So my number one, I might be a little high

on this compared to everybody else and that's

Suffragette. I think that I was completely enveloped

in this entire story and her struggle and what

it really meant to be a woman and still means

to be a woman and all the struggle that comes

along with that and how far we've come and how

that journey was for this this particular woman

and I can't say enough good things I don't think

about this but I said a lot already because I

got into it a little bit with in session I think

about this on Twitter and I think that even seeing

the preview with that version of landslide I

was like crying this whole movie I was in some

kind of state of tears and I loved the fact that

these women wanted to be so real, they're like,

no makeup, we don't want any of this, we don't

want it to be glamorized, we want it to be as

greedy and real as it was, and it just made you...

kind of break down a little bit in some pieces

to to know that's how it was and how they felt

and And kind of how she she kind of got caught

up in all of it She didn't choose it and that's

probably how it was with quite a few I think

the biggest pitfall for this film and I have

it in my I think it's number 22 on mine I think

the biggest pitfall that this film unfortunately

suffered were people and Misinterpreting what

it was supposed to be about and what its message

was trying to be I think too many people wanted

this to be about a specific person and they wanted

it to be like a figurehead or the person that

was leading the movement or they were focusing

too much on the individual and not realizing

the title of the film. And it's about a movement,

it's about a type of person, it's about a group

of people. And I think... For that reason, a

lot of people got thrown off because there might

be this character, that character that they felt

was more important to the movement. But it wasn't,

it didn't want you to be distracted by that.

It didn't want you to be distracted by who's

doing the most dramatic thing or who's the leader.

It wanted you to know what it was like to be

an everyday woman in this situation, in this

time period, dealing with these set of circumstances,

joining a movement like this and what it was.

What was the struggle for that everyday person?

What, what kind of things did they come up against?

How did it affect their personal life, their

family life, their professional life? And I think

for that reason, you've got to take yourself

away from being too focused on any one individual

because it's about the story of the suffering

of the suffragettes in general over anything

else. And I think that was unfortunate where

a lot of people kind of got sidetracked with

it, thinking that it was going to be this or

expected it to be something that it wasn't. And

I appreciated the... way that it did that and

the choices that it made to do a more subtle

approach to kind of a statement of what the movement

was in general. So I think it was a great film

as well. I didn't quite rank as high as me for

who knows what reason, but I didn't quite rate

number 22 is a far stretch from number one here.

That's still real good. It's like I said, my

one through 30, I loved every single one of them.

So Dan, have you had a chance to see Suffragette?

I can't remember. No, I have not seen it now.

OK. All right, Dan, what is the best film of

2015 out of the films you've seen? I said there's

movies, you know, those movies that I like more

than most people or like some of the slowest.

And my number one is I think one that's getting

praised, but I don't see many people leaving

it at number one. And I can see that. And it's

a movie that maybe not super ambitious per se,

but I think it's very effective and one it tries

to accomplish. And it's Ridley Scott's The Martian.

I just. Like it. I love problem -solving in general

and what I love about the Martian is that it

is very much that it's smart people solving really

complex problems and I think I I was surprised

this was my number one honestly when I was putting

my list together and I'm like Trying to go back

and forth but I think this one really really

stood with me for a lot of reasons and I think

mostly it's kind of the underlying message it

has of just hope in the evidence of what humanity

can accomplish when it works together. What I

really love about it, too, is there's no villain

in this movie. The villain is just certain circumstance.

And I think it's that compelling story to me.

And it represents what I feel like. We need more

of when it comes to studio films like this is

a movie I think you can legitimately watch with

the entire family, but it doesn't feel generic

It's you know, it has really strong comedy, but

it really it can has dramatic residents as well

It has strong meanings behind it and it's really

Scott making a good movie again, which is great

to see Matt Damon is phenomenal. I think acting

overall is really on point and I don't know I

guess I have like no movie I walked out of or

watch but in this year that I feel better, just

better about the world that we live in within

The Martian, and I think it, you know, it may

not have the, kind of the ambition of something

like Inception, not Inception, but Interstellar,

it may not be the spectacle of gravity, but I

feel like it falls really nice in the middle

and takes the best of both of those types of

films, so that's why it's my number one. If you

were to tell me at the beginning of the year

that we would have had films by Ridley Scott

and M. Night Shyamalan that got general positive

reactions to, I probably would have thought you

were insane, but both things happened and I absolutely

loved The Martian. Was a film that was in a group

of about five films battling for my eight through

like 14 13 spot I think I ended up putting it

at 13, but I had a great experience with this

one It's definitely one that I want to own and

want to rewatch. I love Matt Damon, and I think

he's phenomenal in this role I think the humor

is well done. I don't know if necessarily is

the best Comedy of the year? Yeah, that I'm not

sure of. But hey, it's the Golden Globes. They

define things a little differently. But just

everything about it from the... It's one of those

films this year, and a lot of them did it, that

were able to do the emotional beats in a way

that didn't feel forced, didn't feel fake, felt

natural, felt authentic, and resonated. And I

like... The same thing that you like about it,

you know from the problem -solving standpoint

the humor the adventure the Not necessarily tenseness,

but the still Not sure of how things are gonna

work out or what direction things are 100 % gonna

go and just kind of waiting to see it's it's

not even about If it's gonna end this way or

that way. It's more about how is it gonna get

to that point? How is how is he gonna get from

this point to that point successfully what you

know and How is he going to navigate the field

from point A to point B? So I think there is

a ton to love about The Martian. I'm super glad

that it's in this discussion and that it's on

your list. Amanda, you liked this one too quite

a bit, didn't you? Yeah, I enjoyed it. I couldn't

find room for it on my list, but it was definitely

one that I was excited to see and not disappointed

by. Yeah, so great pick and number one for The

Martian. For my number one, a lot of people have

talked about this film, but weirdly, I think

there's a lot of people that haven't seen it,

even though there's no excuse not to have seen

it, and there's nothing stopping most people

from seeing it. It's also obviously not in a

lot of the discussions when it comes to the awards

because of certain reasons that the academies

are probably using against it, and my number

one is Beasts of No Nation. Man, I don't know

how much I can recommend it. I don't know how

many times in my life I will actually watch it.

But just from that one viewing alone, it almost

had that effect almost of like a film like Schindler's

List or something like that. It's just, I don't

know, it rocks your world, I guess, in a way

because the story is so heartbreaking, yet real.

The performances by Idris Elba and Abraham Atta

and all of them involved are freaking phenomenal.

It's a world that we don't know much about it's

a story that we don't aren't exposed to and can't

relate to in a way you would think but the way

that it's crafted in this picture you can relate

to it somehow and I can't even explain how but

and and there's some people that probably are

somewhat depressed by the film or think that

you know it doesn't give you anything to Feel

good about or there's not a sense of hope, but

I think there is a sense of hope that it does

leave you with But I think it's a story that

needs to be told. And I don't know, from an emotional

standpoint, I couldn't find much to blame it

for. And all the different things that I rate

a movie on, whether it be acting, the writing,

the directing, kind of the thematic resonance,

or the overall story and the themes going with

it, cinematography, my emotional response to

the film, how... Unique it is in the year or

in the decade as far as not having a bunch of

carbon copies I mean I would rate this one high

marks in all of those categories so I Wasn't

expecting it to be my number one until I started

going through those all those different categories

and really thinking about the film And I'm like

I can't say anything bad about this film I fully

expected ex machina to be my number one or possibly

letting the fan Boy in me of Star Wars let it

catapult to number one, but in the end I couldn't

deny beasts of no nation so It is my number one

film of the year. Amanda, you didn't have quite

a strong reaction to Beasts in No Nation, but

I think maybe someone... I had a strong reaction,

just not a strong positive reaction. I'm not

going to deny the powerful nature of the film

and the amazing actors' performances in this,

but it just was so brutal and I know how... close

to real that situation probably is. So it was

just a little too real for me. And I don't really

like seeing kids have to go through that kind

of thing. So not something I would recommend

to most people. Definitely anybody that's watching

films to escape reality should not check this

film out. It's not going to help you escape reality.

Dana, have you had a chance to watch this one

yet? I did. It's actually number 13 on my list.

I had a hard time keeping it off. I think it's

great. I think Idris Elba is really phenomenal.

I do love the direction. It definitely reminds

me of City of God. I don't think it's quite to

that level, but it's very close. It's a brutal

watch, for sure. It's definitely an important

film. I do think that Idris Elba got robbed and

should have been nominated because he's the driving

force of the entire movie. Right and I said this

in the blog too. He's almost getting to the point

where I could just listen to him say anything.

Yeah Whether it's a speech whether it's a cheer.

I don't know whether he's reciting a poem. Okay,

I could just listen to him talk He's almost on

Morgan Freeman level with me So just breaking

down our list just quickly like we normally do

so everybody can see the list all in one without

everything being broken up Amanda What is your

ten through one before we get to honor roll mentions?

Danny Collins, Star Wars, A Testament of Youth,

Infinitely Polar Bear, Sicario, Chappie, Spotlight,

Brooklyn, What We Do in the Shadows, and Suffragette.

Damn. My list number 10 a pigeon sat on a branch

reflecting on existence Story of my life Nine

eight hateful eight eight what we do in the shadows

X Machina Creed the revenants Star Wars the force

awakens slowest Mad Max Fury Road and lastly

the Martian Alright, and my ten through one are

What We Do in the Shadows, Brooklyn, Infinitely

Polar Bear, Mad Max Fury Road, The Hateful Eight,

Spotlight, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Z for

Zachariah, Ex Machina, and Beasts of No Nation.

Amanda, which ones that we haven't talked about

just missed your list? What are some of the ones

that you'd like to give a shout out to? I was

actually surprised at a few things that didn't

make it on my list. Probably the most surprising

would be Mad Max. I just got so fucking sick

of hearing about it like everybody just going

I'm over this But also Kingsman I really did

like Kingsman it just bumped off my list also

magic Mike XXL. What up? I really really had

fun with that In the theater by myself and still

was like what I had a definite reaction that

that movie Kevin, I even got him to catch up

with it, so. Hey, I'm not going to pass the chance

to watch Kevin Nash. Not dance? I highly disappointed

that he didn't dance. Something else that I really,

really enjoyed was the gift. I got a lot of good

stuff out of the gift. I did like Z for Zachariah,

Southpaw. That movie was, if anything, motivated

me to go to the fucking gym, which - I need to

watch that again because I have not been to the

gym for a while. Yeah, I need to watch it. It

was the last time. We've been to the gym. Insidious

3, too. I am s - I'm still messed up by that

movie. When you left the other day and it was

dark at like six in the morning and I had to

turn all these lights on. I'm still scared of

that. I just sit there and think about all the

ways that - It's not healthy. No, it's not. It

creeps me the hell out. Yeah. That's what you

got? That's my honorable mention. All right,

Dan, anything that just missed the cut for you

that you'd want to give a shout out to? Someone

we already talked about, Sicario, Beasts of No

Nation. Also Inside Out was very close. It was

number 12 for me. Straight out of Compton. Again,

another movie that was... way better than it

probably should have been. Steve Jobs, which

is a movie I don't think I gave enough credit

after the first viewing, but the more I thought

about it, I think it's better than I gave credit

for. Buzzard, a movie came out earlier this year.

Also really like Mission Impossible, Rogue Nation.

I'm a fan of that franchise, and I thought it

was a good representation. I didn't include documentaries,

but if I did, there's still a lot I have to catch

up with, but I really like Cobain, Montage of

Hack, Tig, which is currently available on Netflix,

so I thought... Maybe my surprise of the year

just a documentary that I just thought it was

gonna be one about like a comedian and Ended

up being a lot more Brooklyn as we mentioned,

but uh, yeah, that's pretty much it and it follows

which I liked but not nearly as much as a lot

of people No, I have not I like that more than

mission impossible I didn't see it, so I can't

speak to that. Don't even need to speak to this,

but seriously, I think it did the spy thing way

better. I liked it a lot. The action, I think

that everything looked really awesome in it,

and I don't care if it got hate, I liked it better

than Mission Impossible. Alright, I didn't see

it, so I can't comment. Most of my 10 through

20 have already been mentioned. Danny Collins,

The Martian, Inside Out, Slow West, Kingsman,

The Secret Service was in my top 10 for a long

time. I think that's a lot of fun. Sicario, Bridge

of Spies, I think the only ones that weren't

mentioned would be Love and Mercy, and that's

probably more so because of how much I loved

The Beach Boys growing up, so it kind of struck

a chord for me in certain ways. Mr. Holmes, I

was super impressed with. Ian McKellen is awesome.

I loved that entire film. was actually my number

12, so that was real close to making it. Some

other ones that were in my top 10 earlier on

in the year that just kind of got weeded out

would be like Cinderella, You Talked About Suffragette,

and Creed. I actually liked The Water Diviner

quite a bit. And then my fun pick with The Visit,

I think I liked that more than I was supposed

to, but I don't like horror films, I just had

fun with it. I was so shocked that you liked

it. That's probably the third most I laughed

in a movie. We probably have What We Do in the

Shadows, Infinitely Polar Bear, and then The

Visit, because that was just cracking me up a

lot of the time. those are probably the ones

that I would want to mention any kind of flipping

it a little bit what were most like some of the

films that were most disappointing to you overall

like something that you were really looking forward

to and just kind of the way is to wrap up and

talk about the other side of the coin Amanda

what what really disappointed you this year boom

witch hunter seventh son Jupiter sending that

this year unfortunately what else does like soup

Oh Crimson Peak Crimson fucking peak that should

have been on my top list and it was not. What

else? That's a bunch, that's good, that's good.

I would echo all of those things. Oh, Pan? Yeah,

Pan was gonna be the one that I also threw out

there. Pan was definitely not good. Dan, what

do you got? Anything that disappointed you in

a major way? Uh, in a major way. Or in a minor

way. I was actually quite disappointed with the

good dinosaur. I thought that was, after seeing

Inside Out, I was, you know, like, oh, on a Pixar

high and that kind of really, I thought it's

maybe, to me, one of the... Bottom three for

Pixar. I was really disappointed with that the

documentary the wolf pack, which I thought had

a great premise But it ended up being just really

me meandering and kind of pointless the cobbler

I thought it might I love Thomas McCarthy and

you know He's getting a lot of praise for spotlight

and I thought the cobbler could could be something

and it was nothing it was And it wasn't even

Adam Sandler faults. You can't even put it on

him. He was actually okay in it and I don't know

That's pretty much it for disappointments for

the most part I think the only other ones I would

throw in because I was not necessarily that they

were terrible but that I was expecting for them

to be pretty good and I don't think they reached

that level would be something like Everest. I

thought that was going to be much better than

it ended up being The Gunman and that was just

a debacle. I thought there was maybe 30 minutes

of a good movie in there somewhere but overall

not impressive and even a film like The Walk.

I don't think it's a bad film. but I expected

it to be a lot better than it was. I would say

it's a good film overall, but for some reason

I wasn't as high on it as I thought I would be

at the beginning of the year. One that I don't

know if it's disappointing, one I tend to not

like as much as a lot of people would be, Me,

Earl and the Dying Girl. It felt a movie made

up of other people's ideas. Gotcha. You know,

I thought it was okay, but like I felt like a

lot of the other coming -of -age movies from

Perks Being Wallfowl are just spectacular now.

I put it far above those and I could see, completely

see why. Sundance loves it because it feels like

a movie specifically made for that audience.

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that does a good

job of kind of hitting both ends of the spectrum.

Dan, any last thoughts on movies of 2015 or what

you're looking forward to as far as which films

are next on the list that you haven't seen that

you want to see the most? I think Spotlight's

the number one on my list of what I want to see

the most right now for sure and Broom and some

of the ones that you guys mentioned as well.

So I will have to definitely... Check it out.

And I find it interesting that we only had what

one movie that was on all three Top tens with

what we do in the shadows, which is kind of funny

and Star Wars. Oh and Star Wars, of course But

yeah, I thought I was surprised. I mean, we did

have quite a few that were on at least two of

our lists, but I think we did a good job of covering

quite a few films within the all three of our

top tens and a bunch of legit choices. I think

as movie podcasters and movie quote unquote people

that review and try to critique movies, we always

reserve the right to change our list every month

and every week as we see more films and think

about films. So hey, our list six months from

now could differ very much from the list we just

gave you. But I know if you go back to our best

of the decade list, like those even looking at

that might. Obviously, I didn't just do my top

10s from each year, so if they change from re

-watching things, opinions, they change. Definitely,

definitely. Through conversations, through re

-watches, all kinds of different things. I think

that pretty much wraps up 2015 for us. I think

the only other thing that you might be hearing

from us in regards to 2015 is when it comes to

the Oscars and things like that. That's really

the only thing left to be decided is who takes

home those statuettes. Obviously, the nominations

are out there, so we'll have to see how that

goes. and if Leo can bring home his first statuette.

So outside of that, we're going to be shifting

our focus to 2016. So I always look forward to

these episodes. I haven't done all my research

yet, so I definitely have my work cut out for

me. But we will be looking at our most anticipated

films of 2016. We'll be doing some box office

predictions, and then we'll be getting into actual

films that are coming out in 2016. So that's

always exciting. As always, let us know how your

pick stacked up against ours or what you thought

about our top 10 where you agreed and where you

disagreed. The best way to do that is to go to

the website geekcastradio .com and check out

the episode post comment there and Dan, Amanda,

and I will probably all reply to that or at least

one or two of us will reply to those messages.

We can definitely start a conversation and keep

the discussion going there. If you want to talk

to us directly, you can do that via Twitter.

Amanda, what is your Twitter handle? HardCandyMandy,

eyes, no eyes. Mine is at OptimusSolo and Dan,

yours is? I'm at MovieRevolt. And if you just

want to do a general comment to the show, you

can do that by tweeting at CinemaGeekCast. Otherwise,

that does it for 2015, and we will see you next

time when we shift our focus to 2016. So stay

tuned for us. A new episode of CinemaGeeks next

week.