I love reading lists, but I don’t like making them. Choosing the “best” movies of the year is a little like trying to pick your “best” day. Would it be that day when you woke up at the perfect time and ate your perfect breakfast and everything seemed just completely right with the world? Or would it be that horrible day when you had to make that painful decision that, nevertheless, turned out to be exactly the right decision to make? Or would it be that otherwise unremarkable day wherein something small happened that changed the whole trajectory of your life? A lot of it depends on how you define the word “best.”
And so it is with movies. Some of my favorite movies aren’t necessarily great works of art. Some artistically brilliant films don’t do much to feed my soul or spirit. The Hateful Eight, for instance, is both a deft piece of cinema and a morally bereft piece of trash—a movie I liked almost as much as I hated.
It didn’t make this list, by the way. In my selection process, I chose these films because they touched me in some way—sometimes through their artistry, sometimes through their message, sometimes because I just flat-out enjoyed ’em—and often a combination of all three. (Click on the links embedded in the title to see a more thorough discussion of the movie.)
1. Room. I loved this movie. Absolutely loved it. It’s a simple, harrowing and ultimately inspiring story of a young woman and her son locked, literally, in a situation unimaginable for most of us. Yes, it’s rated R, for both language and for its awfully tough subject matter. But it’s also a deeply moral story with a strong Christian undercurrent. When it comes time to argue at Plugged In over the year’s very best movies, I’ll be pushing hard for this one to make the cut—R rating or no. And in my opinion, it’s one of two must-see movies (for adults) of the year.
2. Inside Out. The other must-see, of course, would be this delightful, deeply moving animated gem. I don’t think this is my favorite movie from Pixar—there are so many good ones to choose from, after all—but it’s the studio’s most ambitious, most thoughtful and (maybe by default, given its cast of characters) most emotional movie to date. Watching Inside Out made me a better person, because it gave me an entirely new framework with which to discuss thoughts and feelings, memories and personality. And if you didn’t stifle a sniffle when Bing Bong—well, you know—I feel a little sorry for you. (Just for kicks, feel free to see what my friend Jake Roberson and I had to say about the movie here.)
3. The Revenant. So very, very violent. If Quentin Tarantino turns blood into a plaything in The Hateful Eight, director Alejandro González Iñárritu treats it in deadly earnest here. And yet underneath the carnage, there’s a deep sense of purpose. Life is precious, we’re told. Stubborn. Mysterious. And, in some hard-to-place way, transcendent. The Revenant somehow manages to juxtapose the harsh, brutal biology of existence with a spiritual sense of being and meaning—and it does so beautifully. (I’ve not written about the film for Patheos yet, since it hasn’t rolled wide, but you can check out my Plugged In review here.)
4. The Martian. We’ve been graced with a barrage of great, intelligent sci-fi flicks as of late, from 2013’s Gravity to 2014’s Interstellar and now The Martian. Like The Revenant, it’s a story of survival—of life after death, in a way—set in a world even more forbidding than Iñárritu’s land of ice and blood. And yet The Martian, helmed by Ridley Scott, never loses its sense of fun or humor. This is, admittedly, not an overtly complex movie, nor is it particularly spiritual (though it does have its moments). But it does honor God’s greatest earthly creation—us—by telling us that every single life has value. And it’s worth $200 billion to save even one.
5. Spotlight. This is not a movie one loves, precisely, if movie-love is defined by seeing the thing 15 times. This can be a difficult film to sit through once, given its subject matter. But as a journalist and religion wonk, I so appreciated the craft brought to the subject—the Catholic pedophilic priest scandal of the early aughts. The acting is superb, the storytelling taught and creative. And it reminds us all that we cannot overlook evil, especially when it takes place in an entity that professes to be, and should be, so good.
6. Bridge of Spies. There were a lot of spy movies at the multiplex this year, from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Spectre to Melissa McCarthy’s Spy. But Bridge of Spies, brought to us via movie maestro Steven Spielberg and one of his favorite leading men, Tom Hanks, was the best of the bunch. This story, based on real Cold War events, is as taut an espionage thriller you’ll see where no one ever shoots someone or swallows a cyanide pill. And like The Alien, it honors the idea that every life is precious, no matter who they are. (Oddly. I don’t think I’ve written about Bridge of Spies for Watching God, but I did type up some thoughts on this and other movies at Christianity Today.)
7. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. Speaking of spies … One of my pet peeves about awards season is how we critics and voters always seem to honor “important films” and completely forget about, y’know, movies that most folks actually want to see. Rogue Nation, starring Tom Cruise in his fifth turn as nigh indestructible Ethan Hunt, doesn’t have much explicitly to say about gender equity or the nature of existence. But it’s a wonderfully well-crafted adventure filled with exotic locales, thrilling set pieces and beautiful nods to Hitchcock. Of all the movies here, this might be the one we’ll be most excited to see in our Netflix cue five years out.
8. Amy. This documentary of the life and death of pop/jazz singer Amy Winehouse was neither a fawning eulogy nor brutal take-down piece, but a straightforward narrative of a terrific talent gone terrifically wrong. This is a tragedy, no mistake: In a year in which so many of my favorite films took life so seriously, this is the real counterpoint—a life wrecked through and through by a litany of bad decisions. It’s a harsh movie to watch, and is rated R for much reason. But when you’re talking about a story like this, I think the adult content reminds us that, while we can celebrate Winehouse’s voice, we should steer well clear of romanticizing her life.
9. Brooklyn. This PG-13 romance feels like an old-fashioned movie, and not just because it’s set in the 1940s. It feels restrained, precise—the sort of movie where glances and gestures speak more effectively than a bevy of Michael Bay explosions. It’s a love story, of course, but not just the love between Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) and Tony (Emory Cohen). It’s about the complex love of family, too, and of home, both old and new.
10. Mad Max Fury Road: So, I feel a little guilty sticking yet another R-rated movie—and an adventure flick, no less—on this list instead of the much cleaner, nicer and even buzzier Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But while I really enjoyed The Force Awakens, it felt a little derivative to me—something that took pains to follow so closely in its forebear’s footsteps that it felt terrified of making a misstep. Fury Road, also sequel with a long pedigree and history to consider, managed to both feel completely in tune with its ancestors and yet be so original and daring at the same time. And frankly, I think that Fury Road was surprisingly spiritual, too: While most of the world saw Imperator Furiosa as the central character in this Mad Max movie (and, of course, she was), I was drawn to Nux, a man following a false faith who, eventually, finds meaning in love and sacrifice.
Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order): The 33; Concussion; Carol; Southpaw; Star Wars: The Force Awakens; The Walk
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