2015 Favorite Films + Oscar Highlights
by Sparse | created - 07 Jun 2017 | updated - 01 Oct 2021 | PublicFavorite Films From 2015
IMDb’s 2016 Oscar Highlights
The titles on this list are loosely ranked according to my subjective tastes.
Watchlist:
• Buzzard
• Creed
• Girlhood
• Happy Hour
• James White
• Krisha
• Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
• Mountains May Depart
• Victoria
• White God
• Youth
2010-2019
2000-2009
2019 Favorite Films 2018 Favorite Films 2017 Favorite Films 2016 Favorite Films 2015 Favorite Films <— 2014 Favorite Films 2013 Favorite Films 2012 Favorite Films 2011 Favorite Films 2010 Favorite Films
2009 Favorite Films 2008 Favorite Films 2007 Favorite Films 2006 Favorite Films
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1. Paddington (2014)
PG | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.
Director: Paul King | Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 133,527 | Gross: $76.27M
#1: Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Paul King (Writer/Director)
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
R | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz
Votes: 1,085,761 | Gross: $154.06M
#2: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• George Miller (Director)
• Colin Gibson (Production Designer)
3. Anomalisa (2015)
R | 90 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.
Directors: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman | Stars: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Votes: 75,295 | Gross: $3.76M
#3: Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Charlie Kaufman (Writer/Co-Director)
4. Son of Saul (2015)
R | 107 min | Drama, War
A Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
Director: László Nemes | Stars: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont
Votes: 51,939 | Gross: $1.78M
#4: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Mátyás Erdély (Cinematographer)
5. Ex Machina (2014)
R | 108 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.
Director: Alex Garland | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
Votes: 588,939 | Gross: $25.44M
#5: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Alex Garland (Writer/Director)
6. The Look of Silence (2014)
PG-13 | 103 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A family that survived the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer | Stars: Adi Rukun, M.Y. Basrun, Volker Hanisch, Amir Hasan
Votes: 13,877 | Gross: $0.11M
#1 Documentary: Personal Pick
7. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
As a new threat to the galaxy rises, Rey, a desert scavenger, and Finn, an ex-stormtrooper, must join Han Solo and Chewbacca to search for the one hope of restoring peace.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson
Votes: 973,528 | Gross: $936.66M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• J.J. Abrams (Director)
• John Williams (Composer)
8. The Martian (2015)
PG-13 | 144 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Votes: 924,855 | Gross: $228.43M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
9. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | Stars: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman
Votes: 138,254 | Gross: $6.74M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
10. Room (I) (2015)
R | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
A little boy is held captive in a room with his mother since his birth, so he has never known the world outside.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 450,388 | Gross: $14.68M
Honorable Mention: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
11. Inside Out (I) (2015)
PG | 95 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.
Directors: Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen | Stars: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling
Votes: 785,033 | Gross: $356.46M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
12. The End of the Tour (2015)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'
Director: James Ponsoldt | Stars: Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Chlumsky, Mamie Gummer
Votes: 32,571 | Gross: $2.99M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
13. The Big Short (2015)
R | 130 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
In 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
Director: Adam McKay | Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt
Votes: 484,292 | Gross: $70.26M
Honorable Mention: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
14. Spotlight (I) (2015)
R | 129 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 502,030 | Gross: $45.06M
Honorable Mention: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
15. Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)
PG | 85 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When Shaun decides to take the day off and have some fun, he gets a little more action than he bargained for. A mix up with the Farmer, a caravan and a very steep hill lead them all to the Big City and it's up to Shaun and the flock to return everyone safely to the green grass of home.
Directors: Mark Burton, Richard Starzak | Stars: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Omid Djalili, Richard Webber
Votes: 43,421 | Gross: $19.38M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
16. The Revenant (I) (2015)
R | 156 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
Votes: 874,062 | Gross: $183.64M
Honorable Mention: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Emmanuel Lubezki (Cinematographer)
17. It Follows (2014)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
Director: David Robert Mitchell | Stars: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe
Votes: 268,864 | Gross: $14.67M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
18. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
R | 86 min | Comedy, Horror
Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav are vampires who are struggling with the mundane aspects of modern life, like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.
Directors: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi | Stars: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Jonny Brugh
Votes: 200,165 | Gross: $3.33M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
19. Crimson Peak (2015)
R | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam
Votes: 158,257 | Gross: $31.09M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Guillermo del Toro (Writer/Director)
• Fernando Velázquez (Composer)
20. Beasts of No Nation (2015)
TV-MA | 137 min | Drama, War
A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor, Andrew Adote
Votes: 86,813 | Gross: $0.08M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
Notable Names:
• Cary Joji Fukunaga (Director/Cinematographer)
21. Spring (I) (2014)
Not Rated | 109 min | Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi
A young man in a personal tailspin flees from US to Italy, where he sparks up a romance with a woman harboring a dark, primordial secret.
Directors: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead | Stars: Lou Taylor Pucci, Nadia Hilker, Francesco Carnelutti, Nick Nevern
Votes: 31,385 | Gross: $0.05M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
22. Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama
With an older brother in jail and living with their single mother on Pine Ridge Reservation, Johnny and his sister Jashuan's lives develop new challenges when their absentee cowboy father ... See full summary »
Director: Chloé Zhao | Stars: John Reddy, Jashaun St. John, Irene Bedard, Jessica Rowland
Votes: 3,836 | Gross: $0.03M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
23. Predestination (I) (2014)
R | 97 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
As his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.
Directors: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor, Madeleine West
Votes: 304,613 | Gross: $0.07M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
24. Bridge of Spies (2015)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan
Votes: 327,664 | Gross: $72.31M
Honorable Mention: Oscar Pick, Personal Pick
25. Steve Jobs (2015)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama
Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels
Votes: 178,469 | Gross: $17.77M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
26. Trumbo (2015)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.
Votes: 84,769 | Gross: $7.86M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
27. Advantageous (2015)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Family, Sci-Fi
In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter Jules do all they can to hold on to their joy together, despite the instability surfacing in their world.
Director: Jennifer Phang | Stars: Jacqueline Kim, James Urbaniak, Freya Adams, Ken Jeong
Votes: 5,963
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
28. Jurassic World (2015)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A new theme park, built on the original site of Jurassic Park, creates a genetically modified hybrid dinosaur, the Indominus Rex, which escapes containment and goes on a killing spree.
Director: Colin Trevorrow | Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Judy Greer
Votes: 679,241 | Gross: $652.27M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
29. Mistress America (2015)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Drama
A lonely college freshman's life is turned upside-down by her impetuous, adventurous stepsister-to-be.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Shana Dowdeswell, Shelby Rebecca Wong
Votes: 28,750 | Gross: $2.46M
Honorable Mention: Personal Pick
30. The Danish Girl (2015)
R | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Ben Whishaw
Votes: 199,209 | Gross: $11.11M
Mention: Oscar Pick
31. The Hateful Eight (2015)
R | 168 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins
Votes: 659,475 | Gross: $54.12M
Mention: Oscar Pick
32. 99 Homes (2014)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama
A recently unemployed single father struggles to get back his foreclosed home by working for the real estate broker who is the source of his frustration.
Director: Ramin Bahrani | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Laura Dern, Clancy Brown
Votes: 38,230 | Gross: $1.41M
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