Evan's Top 10 of 2015

10 – The Martian Thank god Ridley Scott remembered how to make a movie. Adapted from the novel by Andy Weir, “The Martian” is the story of Mark Watney (Matt Damon), a botanist / astronaut trapped on Mars after a horrible accident. Watney uses only his wits and scientific acumen to survive on the inhospitable world, while also trying to find a way home. It's a gripping movie without a hint of cynicism or anger; it's a movie science-fiction needed, after being largely trapped in a dystopia revival for the past decade. Sometimes it's nice to feel good about humanity, and what we're capable of, at our best.

9 - Ex Machina – "Ex Machina," on the other hand, is an equally important, if a less rosy entry, into the science-fiction canon. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is brought to the home of hermit tech-guru Nathan (Oscar Isaac), who has been trying to create artificial human intelligence in the form of Ava (Alicia Vikander). Nathan's home is built into a hill, the ceilings and walls of natural stone clashing with the sterility of his modern architecture laboratory. Writer / director Alex Garland's command of the environment is only one example of the loving attention to detail; equal attention is paid to the characters and how the movie handles the central question: Just what, exactly, is humanity? "Ex Machina" is one of this decade's best works of science-fiction.

8 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens – “The Force Awakens” has plenty of flaws but for the sake of this list, who gives a damn? It is as close to a religious experience as cinema comes today. "Star Wars" all but created contemporary blockbuster cinema; it remains a touchstone of American popular culture. "The Force Awakens" captures its feeling perfectly. I use the word "religious" because, well, the movie itself isn't that great. But in the moment, sitting in a theater among three or more generations of moviegoers who have shown up just to experience that nice, warm, gooey feeling of this shared cultural mythology — what else would you call it? For a few weeks in December (and it looks to be going on for quite some time), the movie theater became a holy place again not only for film lovers but for whole swaths of audiences that usually sit at home, on Netflix or Games or what-have-you. It's nice to share what you love, and worth appreciating the kind of movie that can facilitate that.

7 – Spotlight - “Spotlight” is about the Spotlight investigative journalism team at the Boston Globe that worked to uncover the Catholic priest sex abuse scandals. It's a riveting journalism drama with a lot of well-played roles by big actors, including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber. It's up there with classic tales of truth-seeking journalists coming up against the system to reveal the truth at all costs. “Spotlight” is probably going to win the Oscar for Best Picture, and deservedly so; it's a good movie that handles an important subject with care.

6 – The Big Short - “The Big Short” feels kind of like "Spotlight," another movie exposing corruption during the mid-2000s. Whereas "Spotlight" approaches its topic with care, "The Big Short" plays like a pissed-off, scatterbrained rant against the system. And I loved it. Writer-director Adam McKay is a man who just can't take it anymore, and he uses every trick in the book to explain why. “The Big Short” is, at times, a bit more documentary than it is drama, consistently breaking down the way banking products work. It takes some patience. The performances are good, but none stand out; Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Steve Carell all play characters who saw the 2007 financial collapse coming and profited from it. McKay's sharp mastery of editing and narrative make the film's zig-zag course between documentary and drama captivating even as it gets deeper and deeper into how our system failed.

5 – Inside Out - “Inside Out” is a masterful story of a how a little girl named Riley deals with the trauma of her family moving to a new city. That's it. It's simple, gorgeous, beautiful. Of course this wouldn't be a perfect Pixar movie without some cleverness, and so the story is told from the perspective of her five prevailing, anthropomorphized emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black). Joy, the primary emotion of Riley's childhood, has to deal with the rising prominence of sadness and new feelings in Riley's growing brain. Once again: simple, gorgeous, beautiful.

4–The End of the Tour – David Foster Wallace was a difficult man who wrote about loneliness like nobody before or since. “The End of the Tour” is based on a book of interviews between journalist David Lipsky and Wallace. The interviews were conducted on the last leg of Wallace's “Infinite Jest” book tour, at a time where his popularity had risen to new heights while his actual personal life was in a state of disarray. Jason Segel's standout performance as Wallace is sure to receive awards recognition. “The End of the Tour” is a touching look at creative idolatry, the experience of meeting someone whose work you love and learning to regard them, and yourself, as merely human — and all the significance that entails.

3 – The Hateful Eight - “The Hateful Eight” is an instant Tarantino classic. With six previous masterpieces under his belt, that's saying a lot. “Eight” is a pocketbook mystery with an all-star cast of Tarantino regulars including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen, along with notable newcomers Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bruce Dern. Each performer gets a chance to chew the scenery, playing fully fleshed-out characters who leap off the screen and into all-time cinematic canon. “The Hateful Eight” does not feel three hours long. Violence, humor, depravity, perverse redemption, dour social commentary about contemporary America ... this is Tarantino firing on all cylinders. He's said it's the best script he's ever written; he's right.

2 – Crimson Peak – Guillermo Del Toro's movies are as imperfect as they are beautiful. “Crimson Peak” is a ghost story, and a love story, a romance. It plays with the narrative conventions of gothic romance to a T — oh well. You know what's likely going to happen from the start — oh well. It is a visually stunning experience of breathtaking majesty. When Edith (Mia Wasikowska) enters the vast gothic mansion of Crimson Peak and sees, by the light of caved-in ceilings, red clay bubbling up like blood through the floorboards ... it's incomparable. "Crimson Peak" is a unique visual experience delivered by a genius cinematic mind.

1 – Mad Max: Fury Road – . “Fury Road” is immaculate. Max (Tom Hardy) has become a hermit, speaking to nobody for an indeterminate amount of time, traveling the wastes, a road warrior. He's captured by the WarBoys of Immortan Joe's Citadel, an Oasis. Furiosa (Charlize Theron), one of Joe's war leaders, captures his slave-wives to take them from the Citadel to Safety, wherever that is — as long as it's free. “Fury Road” has the clearest action scenes of any movie this year, the clearest characters, the most well-built and fleshed-out cinematic world. It's a perfect movie, a true cinematic experience, using every possible bit of film language available to tell its story. Without a doubt the best movie this year.