In the Spotlight: A Year in Movies 2015

By Mark Pukalo

In my lifetime, there may not have been a year in movies better than 2015.

It provided another chapter to some amazing series, gave us a look at what journalism can be, produced perhaps the most beautiful non-human creature ever, gave us interesting looks at the music industry and one of the best cartoons ever.

It was filled with amazing acting efforts, whether on a big scale or a smaller one like RJ Cyler’s turn as Earl in “Me & Earl and the Dying Girl,” or Michael Shannon in "The Night Before." Leonardo DiCaprio will probably win the Oscar, but a 9-year-old named Jacob Tremblay could have won Best Actor after his incredible performance in “Room.” Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and Liev Schneider made you feel like you were in an actual newsroom with pitch-perfect performances in “Spotlight.” The world was also introduced to the talent and beauty of Swede Alicia Vikander in “Ex Machina” and others while Steve Carell was surprisingly terrific in “The Big Short,” Will Smith fantastic in “Concussion,” Matt Damon made “The Martian,” fun, Jennifer Lawrence was as powerful as ever in “Mockingjay Part 2” and “Joy,” John Cusack had a great take on a city priest in “Chiraq,” O’Shea Jackson Jr. burst on the scene in “Straight Outta Compton,” Mark Rylance couldn’t have been better as a Russian spy in “Bridge of Spies,” and Andrew Garfield was outstanding in “99 Homes.” There were so many more.

Here’s how much different 2014 was to 2015. The movies I rate between 30 and 40 this past year would have been in the running for around 14-16 in 2014.

The best of the best was Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight.” I was in the newspaper business for more than two decades and watching this movie brought back wonderful memories of those times when I couldn’t wait to get back to the office for work. As time went on, things changed. It became more of a job. Whether it was ultimately the price of paper, media conglomerates becoming tone deaf or just bad ideas, newspapers are not the same anymore. It’s more about sensationalism and interaction instead of news. It’s sad. Good, hard-nosed stories are hard to do because there are too many cooks in the kitchen, too many people to please. Report something that’s true, but hurtful, and you can expect to be vilified.

Cate Blanchett had a perfect speech at the end of “Truth,” -- another terrific movie about the media in 2015 – “If they don’t like a story, they scream, they question your politics, your objectivity, heck, your basic humanity. They hope to God that the truth gets lost in the scrum. And when it is finally over and they have kicked and screamed so loud, we can’t remember what the point was.”

“Spotlight” was smart, entertaining and produced emotions through a very distressing subject. It didn’t bash religion. It fought power. It shined light on people that made criminally poor decisions when they were supposed to be there to help the public. It showed what the media was, and should still be. It was – by far – the best movie of 2015.

Here’s a look at the Year in Movies 2015:

Worst of the year: Chappie – Had a lot of competition this year, but this weird robot movie took the cake.

Almost worst of the year: The D Train (Talk about a bad screen play. Ugh), Jupiter Ascending (Mila Kulis is cute, but I had no idea what was going on), Hot Pursuit (Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara not funny together), The Gunman (Could not figure out the plot and lost interest thinking about it), Air (A lot of nothing for an anti-climatic ending), American Ultra (Not even a fun mess)

Barely enough value to make it worth a $1.50 Redbox rent “when there is nothing else available”: Blackhat, The Avengers – Age of Ultron, Paul Blaart Mall Cop 2, Get Hard, Kingsmen, Focus, 71, True Story, Mistress America, Our Brand of Crisis (if it wasn’t Sandra, it would be in the next category down), Vacation (a very few laughs between cringes), Diary of a Teenage Girl (not as smart as it makes itself out to be), Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation (lots of chasing), Dope, Wild Card, The Stanford Prison Experiment

Most disappointing: No Escape (not that I expected a lot, but could have done way more with the story), Rock the Kasbah (Bill Murray with a dud).

Most over-rated: Sicario (Benicio Del Toro and the likeable Emily Blunt in a drug war story that is intense but hard to follow), Mad Max: Fury Road (It was ok for this type of movie, but an Academy Award nomination?)

Did not see (most not by choice): The Danish Girl, Son of Saul, 45 Years, Beasts of No Nation, It Follows, The Assassin, Duke of Burgundy, Tangerine, The Clouds of Sils Maria, Timbuktu, The Tribe, Burnt, Pawn Sacrifice, Captive, Minions, War Room, Selfless, The Gift, Tomorrowland, I’ll see you in my dreams, Pixels, Pitch Perfect 2, We are your friends, Ant Man, Fantastic 4, Heist, Grandma, My All-American, I Smile Back, Entertainment, Fifty Shades of Grey

Worth a Redbox rent (but slightly below high honorable mention): Spy (some funny stuff), Irrational Man (This Woody Allen movie is different), End of the Tour (unique with some good acting from Jesse Eisenberg, but a little thin), San Andreas (not a bad disaster movie), Zipper (Indy about a prosecutor that can’t keep it zipped), Black Mass (the Whitey Bulger story didn’t grab me totally), Woodlawn (a mix of football and religion which is more like an afternoon TV movie), The Walk (Isn’t great, but was better than anticipated), Everest (interesting, but why do these people do this?), Steve Jobs (intense, well-acted, but it didn't grab me), The Night Before (Got a kick out of it. Better than expected), Anomalisa (weird, but kinda good).

High Honorable Mention: Entourage (Heck, it was fun and Ronda was great), Jurassic World (Better than the last few in the series), Man from Uncle (one of Vikander’s other great performances), MacFarland USA (Kevin Costner coaches cross country), Ted2 (funniest movie of the year), Ricki & the Flash (Meryl Streep rocks out), Spectre (decent Bond would’ve been a top 20 in many other years), Mockingjay Part 2 (Finale of Hunger Games was fine, just not amazing), Aloha (Cameron Crowe’s script was lacking a bit, but I enjoyed it all more than most because of the likeable characters), A Walk in the Woods (Redford and Nolte tour de force), Amy (Fascinating documentary on Amy Winehouse was well worthy of oscar).

Joe Lunardi's first five out:

He Named Me Malala – An interesting, heart-wrenching documentary about the wonderful young woman; The Intern -- Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway are surprisingly good together; Trainwreck -- Second funniest movie of the year with an overplayed, but humorous, appearance by LeBron; Southpaw -- Good stuff overall, but Jake Gyllenhaal was a bit over the top as a boxer; Trumbo -- Bryan Cranston is terrific as the Communist script writer.

TOP 25

25. The Revenant – Leonardo was fantastic during his rough journey through the wilderness, but I just didn’t find it incredibly compelling enough to be higher. What a great performance by the bear, too!

24. In the Heart of the Sea – Ron Howard’s story about the inspiration that led to the writing of Moby Dick was much better than I expected.

23. Insurgent – The second in the new series with Shailene Woodley stealing the show again.

22. The Hateful Eight – Typical Quentin Tarantino flick with plenty of over-the-top moments during the bounty hunter’s journey. Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh are especially terrific.

21. Chiraq – Spike Lee’s in-your-face story of senseless crime in Chicago has some real interesting, thought-provoking moments. Teyonah Parris was a commanding presence.

20. Paper Towns – Compelling story about a young man’s quest to find and understand a girl he has idolized since youth. I think there was a Margo in every man’s life.

19. Me & Earl and the Dying Girl – Quirky coming-of-age story that educates and entertains. The young version of Earl -- Edward DeBruce III – spouted a line I may use some day as he walked into his friend Greg’s house and saw a kitty sitting on the porch. “You wanna fight cat? Didn’t think so, punk-ass cat.”

18. 99 Homes – The other, more ugly, side of the story addressed in No. 3 on this list -- about the collapse of the housing market. Michael Shannon is really good at playing villains.

17. The 33 – Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche star in the story of 33 miners in Chile trapped underground for 69 days.

16. Carol -- Rooney Mara certainly deserved her Academy Award nomination with her brilliant performance as the adorable Turesz in this unique drama about forbidden love in the 50s. 

15. Brooklyn – Saoirse Ronan shines as a wide-eyed Irish immigrant who creates a new life for herself before issues surface. Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy, Wild) wrote a terrific screenplay.

14. Bridge of Spies – Tom Hanks impeccably plays an American lawyer who is hired to defend a Soviet spy (Rylance) and work through Cold War tensions. Hanks asks Rylance often why he is not nervous or worried? “Would it help?” Rylance replies. Isn’t that the truth.

13. Love & Mercy – Paul Dano and John Cusack play the young and the older versions of the brilliant, but troubled, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson. Dano should have been nominated.

12. Truth – Blanchett plays CBS producer Mary Mapes with gusto in a story of the doomed (but probably totally true) 60 minutes report on George W. Bush’s military service. Robert Redford was also sharp as Dan Rather and Dennis Quaid as a “Jarhead.”

11. The Force Awakens: Star Wars Episode 7 – A terrific return of the amazing science fiction series, which pulls on the heart strings from the past and introduces appealing Daisy Ridley (Rey) to the mix. Good to see Chewy – the best wing man ever -- again, too!

10. Creed – Michael B. Jordan brings the series back as the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed while Sylvester Stallone provides perhaps his best performance since the original “Rocky.”

9. Joy – A fun mess about a dysfunctional family the first half and a smart final hour with Lawrence showing her talent and personality.

8. Inside Out – Amazing, funny, smart, heart-warming cartoon that pulls you in and makes you think. Probably the best animated movie since “Toy Story.”

7. Room – Brie Larson and Tremblay produce amazing performances in this harrowing story about an abducted young woman, who is trapped in a shack for five years with her young son. Have some tissues available.

6. Straight Outta Compton – Interesting look at the ground-breaking rap group N.W.A for those like me who did not know much about them, and for those who did.

5. The Martian – Damon kills it as an astronaut left on Mars, where he must figure out a way to live long enough for a rescue mission to arrive.

4. Concussion – Smith’s portrayal of Dr. Bennet Omalu should have at least garnered him an Oscar nomination in the story about the NFL’s criminal ignorance toward head injuries.

3. The Big Short – A maddening, yet entertaining, look at the way the big banks and Wall Street helped cave in the economy in 2008 with greed and stupidity.

2. Ex Machina – Vikander plays a gorgeous robot, who is the latest version of an A.I. built by a brilliant -- but sloppy -- rich recluse played creepily by Oscar Isaac. It is unique, interesting, intense and, whoah, what an ending.

1.  1. Spotlight – Impeccably written and acted work of art that perfectly depicts what a great newsroom used to be like.

Previous picks for Best of the Year

2014 – Birdman

2013 -- Nebraska

2012 – Silver Linings Playbook

2011 – The Descendants

2010 – The Social Network

2009 – Inglourious Basterds

2008 – Frost/Nixon (The Wrestler, a close second)

2007 – Once

Best of Decade 2000-2009 – Almost Famous

Hopes for Oscars (Those nominated)

Best Actor – Damon

Best Actress – Larson or Ronan

Best Supporting Actor – Rylance, but Ruffalo, Bale and Stallone were all spectatcular

Best Supporting Actress – Vikander for the Danish Girl, cause she should have won for Ex Machina

Best Picture – Spotlight

Cinematography – The Revenant

Directing – Lenny Abrahamson, Room

Documentary – Amy

Adapted Screenplay – Brooklyn

Original Screenplay – Ex Machina