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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2016 edited
    Time to list your favourites of the year! (and please, I'd appreciate it if this thread wasn't filled with the typical "I didn't see any films this year! Everything sucks these days! I'm miserable!"-type posts).

    Personally, I saw 260 films last year, 150 of which were from 2015. I think that's a personal record of some kind.

    Anyway, you can read my Top 20 here (text in Norwegian):

    http://montages.no/2016/01/thor-joachims-topp-20-2015/

    Or the complete list of all 150 films here:

    https://mubi.com/lists/2015-films-ranked
    I am extremely serious.
  1. I have submitted a top ten over at the Filmtracks scoreboard, where Craig Lysy does a survey every year. But in all honesty I have grown tired of such rankings. It's like deciding if Mozart is the greater composer or Beethoven. One reason here is that I have listened exactly to 11 scores of 2015. That's no real basis for any judgement. I very much appreciate what Jonathan Broxton does, providing rankings sorted by regions.

    smile Volker
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2016
    This is about FILMS, though, not scores.
    I am extremely serious.
  2. Ooops. Well, the same applies. I think I have seen about five new films last year.
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2016
    Captain Future wrote
    Ooops. Well, the same applies. I think I have seen about five new films last year.


    Curious to see which five, though, and how you rank them.
    I am extremely serious.
  3. Terminator Genisys above Inside Out? lol

    I'm also a little surprised (well, not really...you are Thor...but I'll play along) to see how low you've ranked Selma. Haven't seen it, but heard nothing but good things...

    I haven't seen too many movies this year, certainly none of the big awards contenders. Mad Max: Fury Road would almost definitely top my list, with The Force Awakens and Inside Out hovering somewhere beneath. I wouldn't say I love any of those, though (okay, Mad Max is hella good at what it does, but it's such a singular experience that I find I have to be in a specific mood).

    Jupiter Ascending is definitely objectively the "worst" film I saw in theaters (I know shame ) but that was still such an entertaining moviegoing experience that I have zero regrets. Best so-bad-it's-good film in years. punk

    Oh, crap, I forgot I saw Insurgent. sleep
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2016 edited
    Yeah, SELMA and INHERENT VICE are two of the critically acclaimed films I didn't like (I absolutely HATED the latter).

    Agreed, JUPITER ASCENDING is pretty bad, but the more movies I saw, the more it kept its place ahead of many other films (eventually landing on 100th out of 150). I guess because of the insane, visual spectacle. There's never a dull moment, at the very least!
    I am extremely serious.
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      CommentAuthorErik Woods
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2016
    I didn't see any films this year! Everything sucks these days! I'm miserable.

    -Erik-
    host and executive producer of THE CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO PODCAST | www.cinematicsound.net | www.facebook.com/cinematicsound | I HAVE TINNITUS!
  4. Seem I only saw four new (Hollywood) films in 2015:

    1. Spectre

    The Force Ascending
    Jupiter Awakens
    Jurassic World

    Oh, well ...
    Bach's music is vibrant and inspired.
  5. You're having a hard time deciding whether Jupiter Ascending or The Force Awakens is better? Oh well indeed! dizzy
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      CommentAuthorWashu
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016
    My top 10 in no particular order:

    Ex Machina
    Star Wars: The Force Awakens
    En man som heter Ove
    The Revenant
    Mad Max: Fury Road
    The Assassin
    Victoria
    It Follows
    Sicario
    Bridge of Spies

    Nightcrawler and some other titles on your list are 2014 to me.

    Eight other movies that I especially want to see but either missed or couldn't find a way to see: Son of Saul, Spotlight, The Hateful Eight, The Embrace of the Serpent, Carol, The Martian, The Witch & Beasts of No Nation. I have probably forgotten some titles too.

    Blackhat looks "good" but not more than that so i'm not really excited to see that one even if Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors. I'll eventually get to it I guess. Same thing can be said about Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups, but i'm maybe even more skeptical about that one.
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016
    I saw The Force Awakens, which was excellent!
    I saw Jurassic World, which had dinosaurs.
    I saw Jupiter Ascending, which was a mistake.

    That's it, I'm afraid. sad
    I rarely go to cinemas these days.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016 edited
    I tell a lie! shocked

    I also saw Ant-Man, which was...OK. Aside from snagging Michael Douglas for acting power and Evangeline Lilly for eye candy, this was hardly the best in the Marvel superhero movie stable. Beck's score is excellent though!

    And I was very pleasantly surprised by Inside-Out, which was one of the most clever and most imaginative Pixar movies to date, with very fine voice performances all round!

    So: little list in order of preference:
    1 - (By a mile): The Force Awakens. Cinema simply was no more pleasurable than this in 2015.
    2 - Inside-Out
    3.1962 - Ant-Man
    16 - Jurassic World
    47,519 - Jupiter Ascending.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016
    In this day and age, it's also possible to watch brand new films on services like Netflix etc. So this isn't necessarily only about theatre going. FYI.
    I am extremely serious.
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016
    Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm an just an old-fashioned kind of guy.
    And I simply haven't *seen* any other 2015 films.
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
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      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016 edited
    I will reply later because I've seen never so many movies in one year and haven't really thought about a list wink. But overall I think 2015 was great.
    Kazoo
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      CommentAuthorchristopher
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2016 edited
    I'll start with this caveat: I have three kids under the age of 9 in the house, so my movie-watching habits have changed some. It's also harder to get a babysitter and go out to the theater than to wait for a film to hit blu-ray and watch it at home, so there are several films that I'm sure I will really enjoy from 2015 that I haven't seen yet (THE MARTIAN, BRIDGE OF SPIES, and SHAWN THE SHEEP come to mind). Watching more children's films has also helped me appreciate more lighthearted fare than I used to enjoy. Also, I tend to see the big blockbuster films much more often than the art house films. Finally, I don't like grisly films, or films that are full of vice or profanity. I'm a man of delicate sensitivities and am easily offended by those kinds of things, so there are a lot of critically lauded films that I just never even try to see because I know I won't enjoy them.

    That said, here are my top films from 2015 that I've seen so far:

    1. INSIDE OUT. This film, in my opinion, marked a glorious return to the kind of thing that made Pixar movies so great: wildly original idea, great characters, moving themes and resolutions. And this one had a lot to say about mental trauma and stress. I understand that a lot of therapists are using it to teach their youngest clients about depression and anxiety. It's the best Pixar film in quite a while.

    2. PADDINGTON. Yes, another children's film. But have you seen it? It's delightful, and hilarious, and sweet, and I admit that it's sometimes a little juvenile, but mostly it's just a lot of fun.

    3. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Seeing this on an imax screen was just a treat. I felt like a kid again. I kind of hate what they did at the end, which knocks this down a peg or two, but it was a great time at the movies, such as I haven't had in quite a while.

    4. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. McQuarrie knows how to write and direct a film. It might actually be my favorite film in the franchise. I was impressed at how well the stakes kept growing as the film progressed. That was one problem that Brad Bird's MI film had - the Dubai sequence was so good that the finale was a bit of a let down (although the film was still very enjoyable). I worried that this film might have the same problem, but it didn't. I was thoroughly entertained by the whole thing. I'll be watching it again this weekend, and maybe my opinion will change a little, but after one viewing, I have to rate this one pretty highly.

    5. MR. HOLMES. This is just quality acting and story. Much slower and more grounded in reality than anything else on my list. It took its time and got everything right. A very well-made film, in my opinion.

    6. THE WALK. The recreation of the twin towers in this film was perfect, and the wire scene was just dazzling. I had seen MAN ON WIRE (the documentary about the story) previously, so not much of the film was surprising or new to me (it may have been higher on my list otherwise), but they sure pulled it off well.

    7. JURASSIC WORLD. The film has flaws, but for pure escapist fun I thought it was quite enjoyable. Better than either of the other sequels, though still not in the same league as the original.

    That's the end of what I saw that I would call good films. I saw some others that were fine, though I wouldn't recommend them: MAN FROM UNCLE fits that description. I think JUPITER ASCENDING, though it had some major problems, was still worth seeing. I'm kind of a sucker for original sci-fi, so I'm glad when someone tries something new. SAN ANDREAS was just what you would expect from that kind of film, but I sort still liked it despite that (my guilty pleasure of the year), and while I was very disappointed with AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, there's still a lot about that film that like and can appreciate. I think Joss Whedon is a very good story-teller, writer, and director. MINIONS was fun, I thought, if inconsequential.

    Worst films of the year for me (and I didn't bother with a lot of films that I knew were going to be super awful) were:

    5. ANTMAN. After all the positive buzz I was expecting a lot better out of this. It was just kind of dumb, I thought. A guy can shrink himself down, ride ants like horses, and somehow has more strength as a tiny person than as a big person? In theory that's no dumber than a guy who can fly when we swings his big hammer in circles, or a man that shoots arrows as his primary weapon, but this one just didn't do anything for me, and I usually enjoy Marvel films.

    4. CINDERELLA. I like Branagh, and Doyle's score is gloriously romantic, but the film was waste of time. It's almost no different than the original Disney animation, except that they hit you with the "have courage and be kind" mantra 400 times.

    3. TOMORROWLAND. This was the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I think Brad Bird is one of the best filmmakers out there. And I love Clooney. I thought there could be no way this film wouldn't be great. It actually started out really well. I thought the whole first half was really good, but as the film went on it just kind of came off the tracks, I think. It's probably only so low on my list because my expectations were so high.

    2. HOME. This Dreamworks animation was just awful. I didn't go out of my way to see it, but the kids found it on Netflix and I watched most of it. I wouldn't recommend anyone see it.

    1. ALOHA. I heard about how bad this one was, and sought it out just for that reason. Cameron Crowe is hit and miss for me, but with that cast, and after Crowe's last film (the very nice WE BOUGHT A ZOO), I thought the film surely couldn't be as bad as everyone said. But it is. How this film escaped all kinds of Razzie nominations is a complete mystery to me.

    That is all.
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      CommentAuthorBregt
    • CommentTimeJan 19th 2016
    Do we have this thread for scores as well btw?
    Kazoo
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      CommentAuthorsdtom
    • CommentTimeJan 19th 2016
    I'm way out there because my favorite film of 2015 was "Mr Holmes." I saw it twice and would see it again. Nothing else impressed me at all. Also it has a fine Carter Burwell score. https://wordpress.com/post/sdtom.wordpress.com/3916

    Tom
    listen to more classical music!
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 19th 2016
    Bregt wrote
    Do we have this thread for scores as well btw?


    Nope. I urged people to post their favourite scores in my Celluloid Tunes thread (in correlation with with my annual round-up), but nobody reads that anyway. So yeah -- there's room for a new one.
    I am extremely serious.
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      CommentAuthorMartijn
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2016
    Thor wrote
    Bregt wrote
    Do we have this thread for scores as well btw?

    Nope. I urged people to post their favourite scores in my Celluloid Tunes thread , but nobody reads that anyway.


    biggrin
    I think it's rather that most people are a little list-weary.
    I know I am!
    'no passion nor excitement here, despite all the notes and musicians' ~ Falkirkbairn
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      CommentAuthorThor
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2016
    Yeah, it's funny. I used to dislike list threads myself, but these days I find it surprisingly rewarding. I guess because most of the 'film music discourse' has turned to discussions about complete and chronological releases, speculation on upcoming releases etc. etc., which I find mindnumblingly boring. So lists have actually become interesting -- who would have thought?
    I am extremely serious.
  6. Martijn wrote
    Thor wrote
    Bregt wrote
    Do we have this thread for scores as well btw?

    Nope. I urged people to post their favourite scores in my Celluloid Tunes thread , but nobody reads that anyway.


    biggrin
    I think it's rather that most people are a little list-weary.
    I know I am!


    I love end-of-year lists, but I don't feel like I've heard enough of the 2015 scores yet to make an informed opinion.