Best of 2015: Top 10 Films of the Year

And here we come to the big list, my Top 10 Films of 2015. As I think back on the year that was, I'm reminded of an article by the great Courtney Small of Cinema Axis, who opined that too many cinephiles were being unfair to the year's films, claimint that they were "good" but not good enough. From where I stand, I would tend to agree with the masses that there weren't as many stone cold masterpieces as in year's past. But Courtney does raise valid points however, as the year was far from disappointing for me. By my estimation, no less than 30 films merited a 4-star rating, which certainly suggests a satisfying year at the movies indeed.

As for the outstanding films below, they reflected a year full of unexpected gems, just like the year's best performances. In a year when personal faves Ridley Scott, Joe Wright and Steven Spielberg brought new work to the table, my Top 10 instead comprised of 2 debut features, 2 documentaries and a wealth of variety in genres, countries and themes. And defiantly perched above them all was a trangender comedy that was shot on an iPhone. If that doesn't excited about the future of cinema, I don't know what will.

As we look towards another year, I therefore put forth the mantra to "Keep Calm and Enjoy The Movies". Too often critics over-analyze the art of films and forget that films are also entertainment.

So without further ado, here are my Top 10 Films of 2015, complete with gifs (we don't have the budget for a David Ehrlich video, sorry) and quotes from my reviews.

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Best of 2015: Top 20 Acting Performances

When I think back on the year's best acting performances in film, the first word that comes to mind is "surprise". Of the 20 performances I most anticipated at the start of the year, only 2 of them ended up on this final list. Instead, a slew of dynamic duos, breakout stars, comedians-gone-serious and A-listers at the top of their game came along and impressed me with their unforgettable turns. But most of all, 2015 was the year of the actress. Indeed, women dominated the top ranks of this Top 20, with a long line of other incredibly worthy performers just missing the cut. Compiling the following names was therefore as difficult as ever, but I'm happy with my choices. Here are the 20 performances that resonated with me the most in 2015:

Honorable Mention: Jason Mitchell in Straight Outta Compton

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Best of 2015: Top 10 Documentaries of the Year

In case you didn't know this already, documentaries are consistently some of the best films of the year. Like many cinephiles I've shamefully neglected non-fiction filmmaking in the past, but I've been making a concerted effort to seek them out as of late. For 2015, I watched more documentaries than ever - including 14 of the shortlisted Oscar contenders -  and therefore felt it appropriate to shine an extra spotlight with this Top 10 list.

This year was a uniquely interesting one for the form. Although the subjects weren't as inherently fascinating as year's past (like art forger Mark Landis or the eccentric filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky last year), documentarians continued to impress with their filmmaking technique. Indeed, my Top 10 includes films that could easily be classified as courtroom dramas, thrillers, biopics and romantic comedies, and in some cases they even exceeded their fiction counterparts in both style and impact. It's clear that even if mainstream cinema seems to be losing quality, the artform of non-fiction filmmaking is still going strong. Here are the 10 best examples of this from 2015:

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