TOP TEN
Mad Max: Fury Road
Miller is up there with Kubrick, Spielberg, Cameron and Jackson as one of the great conceptualists working on the largest possible scale. This film is the work of a singular balls-to-the-wall visionary.
Mommy
There are moments of sublime beauty that remind me of Scorsese and Tarantino, but directly proportional to their tonal temperature. As those guys can shoot a cold and funny murder, Dolan can shoot a warm and touching moment with no forced sentimentality whatsoever – and that is hard.
Love and Mercy
Deeply investigates the relationship of creativity and mental illness, the obsessive need for artists to please their fathers (and father figures), and, indeed, what it means to be a creative person.
CitizenFour
It’s thrilling, unbelievably thrilling. Even though we know Snowden is safe in Moscow (at least for now), the sense of danger (and paranoia, a huge theme of the film) is tangible.
Going Clear – Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Author Lawrence Wright did the hard yards, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t awesome. It’s a must-see.
The Martian
It’s a feel-good romp with lashings of science, a sci-fi flick with laughs, an ensemble comedy, a crowd-pleasing blockbuster.
Bridge of Spies
Heaven in the dark, an extraordinarily well-calibrated historical drama from storytellers par excellence, Steven Spielberg, the Cohen Brothers, and young Matt Charman.
Heaven Knows What
Excellent junkie-lovers-in-New-York flick. Find it on demand.
The Tribe
Ukrainian festival favourite about a shool for the deaf with criminal tendencies. Find it on demand.
Sam Klemke’s Time Machine
Matt Bate’s awesome “weirdo gonzo doco” about one ordinary American’s relentless self-documentation. Find it on demand.
BOTTOM FIVE
Absolutely Anything
Lord knows how and why anyone agreed to make this script into a projected image, but a projected image is all that it is.
The Walk
Don’t see The Walk. See Man On Wire instead. And if you’ve seen Man On Wire, see it again instead of seeing this completely redundant, ham-fisted, embarrassing (and boring!) re-telling of the same story.
Man Up
It’s not funny ironic, it’s not funny straight, it’s not funny anything.
Spy
Everyone looks strained, confused or downright desperate.
Burnt
Great chefs may be horrible, arrogant, violent, self-centred, pretentious, egomaniacal dickheads, but that doesn’t mean we want to spend an hour and a half with one.