Top 10: 2015

Last year, I kind of punted on an introduction for my top ten. I was still processing my dad's death - I am still processing it, but it was still very fresh - and I needed to just enjoy movies without feeling pressure to explain or defend why I like the stuff I like. I'm past that point now, but the way I look at movies and why they matter to me has changed a lot in the past few years, both because of my dad and because, this year, I made a movie. I've made things before, but this was the first legit production I've led, with a professional crew, fancy equipment and 12-hour production days (or more). The movie's finished now; we've got exciting news ahead that I can't share yet, but I can't wait for all of you to have the chance to check it out. I was at the start of this experience a year ago, and now that I'm on the other side of it, it's also changed the way I look at movies and, especially, film criticism.

This isn't going to turn into an anti-criticism screed that amounts to "You think you can do better than me?" There are a number of critics I read regularly, and a handful that have helped shape the way I look at movies. But going through the filmmaking process has made me realize how often people writing about movies make assumptions about a filmmaker's choices that have little relation to how movies are actually made. I realize now that even the most brilliant filmmakers, the ones that seemingly orchestrate every tiny detail in advance, must have to make a hundred choices a day that they weren't anticipating because of the countless variables beyond their control. The best critics understand this, but more and more, I find myself rolling my eyes at the ones who make assertions about a director's intentions when they couldn't possibly know what was going through the filmmaker's mind when they made a particular choice on the day (if it was even their choice to make). Even Kubrick had to wing it sometimes.

Editing was a particularly eye-opening experience; as I was obsessing every day over, say, whether to make a particular shot twelve frames longer or eight frames shorter, I couldn't watch other movies without being extremely conscious of every cut and wondering about the balance of artistic and practical considerations behind each one. In the case of my favorite movie of the year, Mad Max: Fury Road, I marveled at how George Miller and his editor, Margaret Sixel, took a gargantuan amount of raw footage from what was, by all accounts, a grueling shoot, and fashioned it into a film that is not just coherent but will serve as a model of thrilling, economical and emotionally compelling action moviemaking for years to come. But a smaller movie like my runner-up choice, Carol, is as much of a marvel in its own way, a delicate masterpiece of gestures, glances and subtle details that accumulate to devastating effect.

I started this blog a little over ten years ago - looking back for my top tens last month was a little awkward, and I hope that I'm a better writer and have stronger judgment than I did then. Obviously, I don't write here as often as I used to. Between making a movie and trying my best to keep up with the different sites I contribute to, there's not a lot of time left over for the blog, which is a good problem to have. I like to keep it open for this and other annual traditions like Halloween (which I whiffed last year) and the White Elephant Blog-a-thon, and for old times' sake. When I started this blog, I never imagined anyone other than my close friends would read it, and I'm grateful for the opportunities it's led to and, especially, the people I've gotten to know because of it. The Muriel Awards, and the people I've met through them, were one of the first of those opportunities, and it's been exciting to watch them grow to the point where the company I'm in as a voter is frankly ridiculous. I'm not sure when the Muriels begin announcing their winners this year, but keep an eye on their blog for the results.

My top ten:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road 
2. Carol
3. Creed
4. Crimson Peak
5. Magic Mike XXL
6. Brooklyn
7. Straight Outta Compton
8. Mistress America
9. It Follows
10. Inside Out

The rest of my Muriels ballot:

Best Lead Performance, Female

1. Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
3. Rooney Mara, Carol
4. Cate Blanchett, Carol
5. Nina Hoss, Phoenix

Best Lead Performance, Male

1. Samuel L. Jackson, The Hateful Eight
2. Michael B. Jordan, Creed
3. Tom Hanks, Bridge of Spies
4. Michael Keaton, Spotlight
5. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Best Supporting Performance, Female

1. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
2. Jada Pinkett Smith, Magic Mike XXL
3. Rose Byrne, Spy
4. Sarah Paulson, Carol
5. Jessica Chastain, Crimson Peak

Best Supporting Performance, Male

1. Sylvester Stallone, Creed
2. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
3. Tom Noonan, Anomalisa
4. Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina
5. Rick Springfield, Ricki and the Flash

Best Director

1. George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Todd Haynes, Carol
3. Ryan Coogler, Creed
4. Guillermo del Toro, Crimson Peak
5. Gregory Jacobs, Magic Mike XXL

Best Screenplay

1. Phyllis Nagy, Carol
2. Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, Mistress America
3. Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington, Creed
4. Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley, Inside Out
5. Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa

Best Cinematography

1. Edward Lachman, Carol  
2. Fernando Velázquez, Crimson Peak
3. Emmanuel Lubezki, The Revenant
4. Matthew Libatique, Straight Outta Compton
5. Mike Gioulakis, It Follows

Best Editing

1. Margaret Sixel, Mad Mad: Fury Road
2. Claudia Castello and Michael P. Shawver, Creed
3. Eddie Hamilton, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
4. Mary Ann Bernard, Magic Mike XXL
5. Ryan Denmark and Hye Mee Na, Chi-Raq

Best Music

1. Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
2. John Williams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. Disasterpeace, It Follows
4. Junkie XL, Mad Max: Fury Road
5. Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham, Mistress America

Best Documentary

1. Call Me Lucky
2. The Look of Silence
3. Amy

Best Cinematic Moment

1. Magic Mike XXL - "I Want It That Way"
2. Mad Max: Fury Road - Furiosa's scream
3. Creed - "I'm going to knock that son of a bitch down."
4. Ricki and the Flash - "Drift Away"
5. Anomalisa - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
6. Kingsman: The Secret Service - "Manners maketh man."
7. It Follows - Opening shot
8. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Kylo Ren vs. Finn & Rey
9. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - Turandot
10. Furious 7 - Skyscraper jump

Best Cinematic Breakthrough

1. Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, Tangerine
2. Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. Marielle Heller, The Diary of a Teenage Girl
4. David Robert Mitchell, It Follows
5. Céline Sciamma, Girlhood

Best Body of Work

1. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight, Anomalisa)
2. Matthew Libatique (Straight Outta Compton, Chi-Raq)
3. Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
4. Kurt Russell (Furious 7, Bone Tomahawk, The Hateful Eight)
5. Richard Jenkins (Bone Tomahawk, Spotlight)

Best Ensemble Performance

1. Straight Outta Compton
2. What We Do in the Shadows
3. Brooklyn
4. The Hateful Eight
5. Magic Mike XXL