a concise list of my favorite movies of 2015

1-Bone Tomahawk: Dialogue with its own poetry to it, and a story blending Western and Horror elements so well that it defies categorization. Kurt Russell is dignified and believable as the small-town sheriff tasked to retrieve hostages taken by a band of primitive cavemen. Richard Jenkins is heartbreakingly good as the mild-mannered deputy who accompanies him. I only watched it once because it contains the most brutal killing I've ever witnessed. It is, in a unique way, utterly chilling.

2-the Revenant

3-Mad Max: Fury Road

4-Star Wars: the Force Awakens: I can't resist it. After years of Lucas-resentment, I can't resist the possibly cheap but utterly joyful nostalgic pull of it. How about the zestful partnership between Rey and Finn? And what about that Kylo Ren, huh? Who can possibly resist?

5-Cop Car: A modern Tom and Huck steal the wrong patrol car and set off on an adventure. A superlatively well-told story using minimal dialogue. Kevin Bacon gets my Oscar for transforming himself into the tough and corrupt sheriff, managing somehow to look like Abraham from the Walking Dead while being half his size.

6-the Queen of Earth: Great opening. Great relationship between the two leads (Elizabeth Moss and Katherine Waterston). Masterful allowance of subtlety and the unspoken. The closest thing to a Bergman film that I've seen in a long time.

7-It Follows: Minimalist horror at its finest. There is much genius at work in horror these days, and this is a low-budget example.

8-Steve Jobs: Just when I was ready to give up on Danny Boyle entirely. I don't give a crap about Apple or Jobs, but this movie was inspired, and I can't get enough of Fassbender.

9-Slow West: The title says it all. Fassbender continues his ascendancy into zen-like mastery with his three unmissable performances this year: this, Jobs, and the bloody Thane of Cawdor.

10-Predestination: It's funny to think with what fury I used to hate Ethan Hawke. Nowadays, he's doing some of the best genre work around, including this one, the Purge, and Sinister. This is from a Heinlein story, and, flawed as it is, I love the boldness, the twistiness, the time travel stuff.