2016 Oscars: A Viewer's Guide

Welcome to Movie Porti's 3rd annual Oscars Viewer's Guide!

It's a wide open race for the top prize tonight! That means two things, one good and one bad. First, that the winner will probably be a less memorable film than in the past 2 years(12 Years a Slave in 2013, and Birdman in 2014), but secondly, that the Oscars telecast as a whole will probably be more entertaining, as the uncertain Best Picture race could produce more surprises and possibly historic upsets. Just like last year, we have 8 films battling it out in the Best Picture category. Last year I divided them into 4 tiers of 2, but this year I'm going 3-2-3.

First off, back from last year, it's the "If Grand Hotel won Best Picture, then so can we" category, featuring Brooklyn, in 8th place with 3 total nominations, Bridge of Spies, in 7th place with 6 total nominations, and The Martian, in 6th place with 7 total nominations. All 3 films have an acting nomination and a screenplay nomination, two important categories that one of the movies in the next tier got shut out of, but they failed to get nominated in either of the 2 most important categories that predict the eventual winner: Best Editing and Best Director. It's possible to win Best Picture without one of those two, as Argo did in 2012 without a Best Director nomination and Birdman did last year without a Best Editing nomination, but not both. The last film to win Best Picture without a nomination in either one of those categories was Grand Hotel way back in 1932. So those 3 movies are out, and it's looking like they'll be completely shut out too, something different from last year where every Best Picture nominee took home at least one Oscar.

On to the next tier, the "I really hope one of these movies wins, but they face an uphill climb" category, featuring Room, in 5th place with 4 total nominations, and Mad Max: Fury Road, in 4th place with 10 total nominations. Both these movies were universally adored by critics and viewers alike, including me, but both are missing some key nominations. Room is missing nominations, period. If it pulls off the shocking upset and wins Best Picture it would be the winner with the fewest total nominations since Cavalcade(also 4) in 1933. It was also left off the Best Editing shortlist, and even though Birdman pulled off the win last year, the last film to win without an Editing nomination before that was Ordinary People in 1980. 

Mad Max: Fury Road is trying to go the Gravity route by racking up technical nominations, but no screenplay nomination. But Gravity had 2 things going for it that Mad Max doesn't, first, that it was the co-favorite to win Best Picture heading into Oscars sunday, and also that it received at least one acting nomination(for Sandra Bullock's lead role). Even with those 2 factors, Gravity didn't win(it lost to 12 Years a Slave). Without a screenplay nomination, there have still only been 2 winners in the past 50 years: The Sound of Music in 1965 and Titanic in 1997. Also, there have only been 11 films to win Best Picture without an acting nomination, the last one being Slumdog Millionaire in 2008(remember that one?). And without both, the last film to win was, again, Grand Hotel in 1932.

*Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle

But the reason Mad Max belongs in this tier and not the previous one, and why I believe it has a chance to pull off a historic upset, is because it is a very strong contender in the Director and Editing categories, and the clear favorite in at least 3, if not more, of its other nominations. If it wins for Director and Editing it will most likely be the movie with the most Oscars won by the time the Best Picture winner is announced. And if the 3 frontrunners split the vote amongst themselves, which is very likely to happen, it could leave the door wide open for a movie with strong support, be it Mad Max or Room, which would also still be alive if it can beat The Big Short for Best Adapted Screenplay, to pull off the shocking win.

Speaking of the frontrunners, in 3rd place, with 5 total nominations, we have The Big Short. It's only the favorite in one category, Best Adapted Screenplay, but like I just said, watch out for the Room upset there. If that happens, it's likely that The Big Short goes home empty-handed. But I'll go with the safe prediction and say that it will hold on and win that award at least. It also has a chance to surprise in the Best Editing and Best Supporting Actor categories. If that happens, that would be the worst possible outcome of the night for me(I have The Big Short as the most overrated Best Picture nominee this year), because that would mean that the movie got a late push in the voting and would probably be the one called when the Best Picture winner is announced. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

Then we have the 2 remaining contenders, 1A and 1B you could say, and that's not a good thing for either of them. I'm gonna say that The Revenant, with the most total nominations at 12, is actually in 2nd place. There are 2 main reasons for that. First, is the fact that history is not on this movie's side(more on that later), and second, is the fact that Alejandro G. Iñarritu won Best Director and Best Picture last year for Birdman and I don't see the Academy members wanting to reward him like that 2 years in a row. If you gave me a choice, I'd say Iñarritu is more likely to win Best Director than Best Picture, seeing as how The Revenant joins Mad Max without a screenplay nomination, but my official prediction for the Best Director category is that Mad Max's George Miller will be rewarded, one, for the excellent job he did, but two, because the old white voters at the Academy love to reward old white filmmakers

*George Miller celebrating his win for Happy Feet in the Best Animated Feature category

Even if The Revenant loses in those two categories, it will still have a pretty good night. Leonardo DiCaprio is a lock to win his first Oscar, on his 5th try, in the Best Actor category, and once again, for a 3rd year in a row(first time ever for the category), Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki is a lock to win the Best Cinematography Oscar(Aside: Is there anyone else in the world dominating their craft like Lubezki is doing right now? Maybe Lin-Manuel on Broadway? Steph Curry in the art of 3-point shooting? This shot from last night would be the equivalent to Lubezki's work in The Revenant. Speaking of the NBA, this is starting to resemble Jordan's dominance in the 90s. I'll bet that Roger Deakins dreams about Lubezki one day suddenly retiring and deciding to play Minor League Baseball). The Revenant also goes head to head with Mad Max in 5 other technical categories. If it starts to rack up 2 or 3 wins early in the night in those categories, it's likely that the late voter push went in The Revenant's direction and it would be the one most likely to win Best Picture. But I don't believe that will happen. If one movie sweeps the technical categories, it's going to be Mad Max, and that will leave the door open for option 1A, with 6 total nominations, Spotlight.

This one reminds me too much of Argo 3 years ago. That year there was no clear frontrunner and it came down to 3 choices. Out of those 3, the Academy voters went by the book. They chose a "based on a true story" procedural film about a group of people working together in the face of difficult odds, with an excellent ensemble cast, great editing that keeps you on the edge of your seat even though you already know how it ends, and excellent attention to period-specific details. That's Spotlight! It's the safe choice. It might not get the most #1 votes, but it'll get plenty of 2s and 3s. It's only a lock to win one category, Best Original Screenplay, so I could be completely wrong with this prediction, but it also has a strong chance to win Best Editing, and both Mark Ruffalo and Tom McCarthy could surprise in the Best Supporting Actor and Best Director categories respectively. If any of these wins happen then you can take this prediction to the bank, if not, it would still be alive with only the screenplay win. The 2 total wins would be the fewest for a Best Picture winner since 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth, but hey, crazier things have happened.

And now, other fun facts ...

*Again this year, none of the movies were nominated in all 5 of the major categories: Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, and Screenplay, so the 3 member club to have swept those prizes will stay as: 1934's It Happened One Night, 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and 1991's The Silence of the Lambs

*If Mad Max: Fury Road wins Best Picture it would be the first film that premiered before Labor Day to win since The Hurt Locker in 2009

*If Mad Max: Fury Road or Room wins Best Picture it would be the first film to win the Academy's top prize without winning any of the major guild's(Actors, Writers, Directors, and Producers) top prize since Braveheart in 1995

"History is not on The Revenant's side" segment

   -If Iñarritu wins Best Director, he would become just the 3rd person ever to win in consecutive years. The other 2 occurrences were: John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley in 1940-1941, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve in 1949-1950.

   -If The Revenant wins Best Picture, Iñarritu would become the first person *ever* to direct 2 consecutive Best Picture winners.

   -If The Revenant wins Best Picture it would be the first film *ever* to win without receiving at least one of these two nominations: The SAG Best Ensemble Cast nomination, or a Writer's Guild Best Screenplay(Original or Adapted) nomination.

*Honestly, I don't get how so many Oscars pundits are saying The Revenant will win. If you're a betting man, or woman, after reading these stats there is no way you put your money on The Revenant. You can thank me later.

* Two more The Revenant-related fun facts ...

   -Iñarritu is the only one of the Best Director nominees who isn't a first-time nominee in the category. In fact, this is his 3rd career nomination in the category out of a total of 6 Full-Length Feature Films he's directed. Not a bad batting average.

   -The Revenant features the only 2 actors to appear in multiple Best Picture nominees: Domhnall Gleeson, who also stars in Brooklyn, and Tom Hardy, who also stars in Mad Max: Fury Road, which makes him the Acting MVP of 2015.

* Two other nominees competing against themselves ...

   -Andy Nelson, in the Sound Mixing category, for his work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Bridge of Spies(he'll lose for both)

   -Sandy Powell, in the Costume Design category, for getting to dress Cate Blanchett in Carol and Cinderella(which I'm picking for the win, although she could also lose both to a Mad Max or The Revenant sweep in the below-the-line categories)

*Other two-time nominees tonight ...

   -Alejandro G. Iñarritu, in the Best Director and Best Picture categories for The Revenant

   -George Miller, in the Best Director and Best Picture categories for Mad Max: Fury Road

   -Adam McKay, in the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories for The Big Short

   -Tom McCarthy, in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories for Spotlight

   -Pete Docter, in the Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature categories for Inside Out

*Inside Out, Up, and Monsters Inc. director Pete Docter

*Inside Out is the 8th Pixar film, out of 16 total films, to receive an Oscar nomination for its Screenplay(all Original except Toy Story 3). Again, not a bad batting average. Sadly, none of them have won. They have won 7 Best Animated Feature Oscars(most of any studio by far), and Inside Out is very likely to give them win #8.

*John Lasseter receiving a Special Achievement Oscar for Toy Story in 1996

*Charlie Kaufman's nomination in the Best Animated Feature category for Anomalisa is his 4th career nomination, but first that isn't for one of his Screenplays. He lost for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and won for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(my Favorite Movie of All-Time)

*Anomalisa Co-Director, and All-Around Genius, Charlie Kaufman

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride" segment ...

   -Diane Warren receives her 8th career nomination for co-writing, with Lady Gaga, "Til' it Happens to You" for the documentary The Hunting Ground. She finally looks like the frontrunner to win her first Oscar.

   -Roger Deakins receives his 13th career nomination for his cinematography in Sicario. Again, he'll lose to Lubezki.

   -Thomas Newman also receives his 13th career nomination for composing the Bridge of Spies Original Score. Again, it looks like he'll lose. At least he can feel proud of extending his family's legacy in the musical categories. This is the Newman family's 89th career nomination.

*Thomas' cousin, Randy Newman, celebrating one of his 2 career wins out of 20 total nominations

Speaking of legendary composers ...

*Ennio Morricone, at 87 years old, becomes the oldest person ever nominated for an Oscar. He already won an Honorary Oscar in 2007, but now he's the frontrunner to win his first competitive Oscar out of 6 career nominations for his work in The Hateful Eight.

*John Williams receives his 50th career nomination(take that, Streep!) for his work in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He's still 9 nominations shy from the All-Time leader ... Walt Disney.

One more Old-Timer ...

*Bridge of Spies is the 8th film directed by Steven Spielberg to be nominated for Best Picture, tying him with Martin Scorsese for most among living directors. It also gives him his 9th nomination as a producer, the most among living producers. His one Best Picture nominee that he didn't direct? Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima. Who knew, right?

*Spielberg celebrating his Best Picture and Best Director wins for Schindler's List and his Best Director win for Saving Private Ryan

"Other A-Listers you didn't realize were nominated" segment

   -Ridley Scott was snubbed for a Best Director nomination, but at least he gets a nomination for producing The Martian, his 1st of 4 career nominations that's not in the Director category(he lost for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down).

   -Brad Pitt receives his 3rd career nomination as a producer for The Big Short(he lost for Moneyball and won for 12 Years a Slave). That ties his 3 career Acting nominations, for 12 Monkeys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Moneyball.

   -The Coen brothers receive their 14th career nomination each for the Original Screenplay to Bridge of Spies. It's their 6th career nomination in one of the Screenplay categories, but first for a movie that one, or both, of them didn't direct.

*The Coen brothers celebrating their Oscars sweep in 2008 with No Country for Old Men

"Multiple Academy Award Nominated Actors" segment

   - Saoirse Ronan receives her 2nd career nomination for her lead performance in Brooklyn, 8 years after being nominated as a supporting actress in Atonement

   - Rooney Mara receives her 2nd career nomination for her supporting performance(she was really a lead, but whatever) in Carol, 4 years after she was rightly nominated as a lead actress in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

   - Michael Fassbender receives his 2nd career nomination for his lead performance in Steve Jobs, 2 years after being nominated as a supporting actor in 12 Years a Slave

   - Eddie Redmayne receives his 2nd consecutive Best Actor nomination for his performance in The Danish Girl, after winning last year for his performance in The Theory of Everything

   - Sylvester Stallone receives his 2nd career acting nomination, and 3rd total(he was also nominated for writing the Original Screenplay for Rocky), for his supporting performance as "Rocky Balboa" in Creed. He sets the record for the longest wait between nominations for playing the same character at 39 years. The record was held by Paul Newman, at 26 years, for playing "Fast" Eddie Felson in The Hustler and The Color of Money. A good sign for Stallone is that Newman won his first Oscar on that second nomination(He did have 5 other nominations in between, a little better than Stallone's 0).

*Hollywood Icon Paul Newman

   - Mark Ruffalo receives his 3rd career Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Spotlight. He was previously nominated in 2010 for The Kids Are All Right and last year for Foxcatcher

   - Christian Bale receives his 3rd career nomination for his performance in The Big Short, 2 years after being nominated for his lead performance in American Hustle, and 5 years after winning in this category for his performance in The Fighter

   - Matt Damon receives his 3rd career acting nomination, and 4th overall(He won for writing the Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting with his pal Ben Affleck), for his lead performance in The Martian. This is his first nomination in the category since he was nominated for his performance in Good Will Hunting 18 years ago(my, how time flies!). He was also nominated for his supporting performance in Invictus in 2009

   - Jennifer Lawrence receives her 4th career nomination, and 3rd in the lead actress category, for her performance in Joy. I'm not doing a "Jennifer Lawrence fatigue" section this year, but that's only because I didn't even see Joy. So I guess that speaks for itself

   - Leonardo DiCaprio receives his 5th career acting nomination, and 6th overall(He was nominated for producing The Wolf of Wall Street), for his lead performance in The Revenant. It's Leo's time this year, as he's an absolute lock to win Best Actor in a relatively weak year for the category.

And finally, we have the 2 Cates/Kates with a DiCaprio connection ...

   - Cate Blanchett receives her 7th career nomination, and 4th in the lead actress category, for her performance in Carol. In a not so surprising coincidence, this is the 4th time that DiCaprio and Blanchett have been nominated in the same year. 2 of those times, in 2004 when they co-starred and were both nominated for The Aviator and in 2013 for Blue Jasmine, DiCaprio had to watch Blanchett walk up to the podium to accept her Oscar as he lost. This year, it's Cate's turn to watch Leo win.

   - Kate Winslet also receives her 7th career nomination, and 3rd in the supporting actress category, for her performance in Steve Jobs. Of course, you all know about Kate and Leo's Titanic connection(she was nominated, he wasn't), but Kate has also been nominated twice in the same year as both DiCaprio and Blanchett: in 2004 for one of my All-Time Favorite performances in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and in 2006 for her lead performance in Little Children. Her nomination this year is her first since she won the Best Actress Oscar 7 years ago for her performance in The Reader. I was starting to think that maybe I had jinxed her when I named my new dog "Winslet" in honor of my favorite actress back in 2010.

A final note on the host ...

In a year where the predictions in some of the main categories, particularly Best Picture, are tougher than usual, there is one prediction that I'm 100% certain will happen: Chris Rock will mention the #Oscarssowhite controversy in his opening monologue. The only uncertainty with that is just how quickly he'll mention it. My money's on the first 30 seconds. If I get that prediction correct right off the bat, I'll know that I'm going to have a pretty good night prediction-wise, which means that Spotlight will have a good night Best Picture-wise. But honestly, this year I'm rooting against myself because I want the Academy to make the bold, and right, choice of naming either Room or Mad Max: Fury Road as the Best Picture of 2015.

And the Oscar Goes To ...

10 Best Movies of 2015 (A Double Take)

Another movie year is in the books. This is my 3rd year doing this list(along with my brother, again), and out of those 3 years, 2015 has certainly been the weakest so far. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that it was a bad year overall, just that 2013 and 2014 were greater at the top, which is what we're highlighting here. Last year, for example, I struggled choosing between 10 different movies for the #10 spot. That didn't happen this year. Only 2 movies from my *11-20* tier(which I'll mention quickly) were close contenders for the Top 10. That being said, I'm extremely pleased with how my Top 10 ended up. Any one of these movies could certainly be Top 10 movies any other year. And I'll go so far as to say that at least 5 of them will be considered classics 5 or 10 years from now.

Which ones will those be? That's where my brother's second opinion comes in. Movie rankings are extremely subjective, and in this case, 3 of the movies that I believe will be classics in a few years don't even appear in his Top 10. Vice versa, 2 of his Top 5 movies don't appear in my Top 10. And speaking of supposed "classics", there are only 4 Best Picture nominees in my brother's Top 10, and 3 in mine, and only 2 of those make an appearance on both of our lists: Mad Max: Fury Road and Room. Speaking of Room, that is the only movie this year to appear in the Top 5 in both our lists(we agreed on 2 movies each of the past 2 years). One of us has it at #2 and the other at #1, so it's pretty clear who we're rooting for to win the top prize tomorrow night.

Who will you be rooting for? The answer to that question is what makes these lists so fun. We all have our personal preferences that affect how we watch movies, but the truly great ones are able to transcend those differences. In these 2 brother's humble opinions, these rankings represent the greatest movies of 2015. So let's get on with it, shall we?
Starting with my brother's 10 Best Movies of 2015 ...

Honorable Mentions
Ant-Man
Inside Out
The Lobster
The Revenant
Sicario

10) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / Paper Towns 

I’m pairing these for being 2 of the smarter teen movies of the year. They break tradition by not being about happy endings and the boy and girl ending up together, instead they just present us 2 different groups of friends navigating through their adolescence.

9) The End of the Tour

This movie was the closest thing to what I experienced watching Boyhood last year. A movie that you can connect with and makes you reflect. We have a great (Oscar snubbed) performance from Jason Segel to thank for that.

8) Mad Max: Fury Road

Don’t think about it too much. Don’t get into analyzing a script with this one. Just sit back and enjoy the 2 hours of awesomeness!

7) The Hateful Eight

If only Tarantino would’ve cut about 30-45 minutes from the 1st half of this movie, it may have had Pulp Fiction/Inglourious Basterds potential. Still, as usual we get a great script from Tarantino, some great action, and incredible acting (here’s hoping Jennifer Jason Leigh pulls off the upset for Best Supporting Actress).

6) Beasts of No Nation

I wonder if this wasn’t a “Netflix” movie if it would be nominated for Best Picture, or if it gets Idris Elba a nomination, or ANY nomination. If you saw season 1 of True Detective you already saw director Cary Fukunaga’s brilliance, and he’s at it again here. A must watch!

5) The Big Short

It’s always great seeing comedic actors or directors make the jump to more dramatic work and succeed doing it. In this case, Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, etc…) delivers and hits close to home with his take on the financial crisis.

4) Sleeping With Other People

Such a smart rom-com, I just loved this movie. Every couple of years we get this type of movie, a few years ago it was “Friends with Benefits” or “Going the Distance” and before, it was classics like “Annie Hall” or “When Harry met Sally”. This movie has the laughs, the smarts, the reality aspect, and at the end, the heart that just pulled it all together (Alison Brie’s coming out party, a star in the making!).

3) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Ahhh nostalgia… I understand it had it flaws (too familiar to the original Star Wars), but JJ Abrams did a great job at re-creating the Star Wars universe and introduced great new characters and stories in the process.

2) Spotlight

The ensemble cast, the directing, the editing, all delivers here. Such a great job of taking you through the entire process of investigative reporting. The beauty is in the details which are fantastic and spot on. Plus, bonus points for unmasking the darker aspects of the catholic church.

1) Room

The bond between parent and child has never been done better in a movie. It’s called Room, but this movie is more about what happens the 2nd half of the movie outside of the room. Seeing Jack experience the outside world for the 1st time is the most beautiful (and best acted) thing I saw in a movie this year. How does Jacob Tremblay not win an Oscar for his performance here, let alone get nominated?!?

And now, my 10 Best Movies of 2015 ...

Honorable Mentions

20) Tangerine

19) Straight Outta Compton

18) Sleeping With Other People

17) 45 Years

16) The Night Before

15) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

14) The End of the Tour

13) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

12) Creed

11) Spotlight

10) Mad Max: Fury Road

"Wow!" That's the one word that best describes this one. I must've said it at least 30 times while watching it.It's nominated for Best Picture, with an outside shot at winning, and it's likely to win in a bunch of technical categories, but the one award it won't win is the one it probably deserves the most: Best Stunt Coordination. The last Special Achievement Oscar was given to Toy Story in 1996 for its revolutionary animation, but the award was discontinued after that. The stuntpeople in Mad Max: Fury Road deserved that award.

9) Clouds of Sils Maria

An intimate character study of an aging actress and her assistant(Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in 2 of my favorite performances of the year). Olivier Assayas, the film's writer/director, does an excellent job all around here. The cinematography and editing were some of my favorites from any movie this year. But what really made me love this movie was the screenplay. All the characters are beautifully drawn out, which adds to the emotional impact of the mostly dialogue-heavy scenes. But there's also some biting humor to this script, particularly in its critiques of young Hollywood ingénues and big-budget Sci-Fi movies.

8) The Hateful Eight

I'm gonna have to totally disagree with my brother on the runtime of this movie. I believe the opening 30 minutes set the mood perfectly for the rest of the film. The musical overture, the beautiful 70mm cinematography, the sound, the horse carriage, all perfect. During those opening moments I thought to myself: "Tarantino has reached a new maturity level as a director." And then in the 2nd half, the film turned into a Tarantino movie. Of course, that isn't a bad thing. There's a great script, great action, and incredible acting, as my brother mentioned, and I loved the whodunnit plot and the stage-like feel of the second half.

7) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

"I for one cannot wait to see what JJ Abrams does with the new Star Wars trilogy. He was the perfect pick to take us back to a galaxy far, far away."
-Proof that my brother can be right sometimes, from his 10 Best Movies of 2013 description of Star Trek into Darkness
He's also right about the nostalgia factor, which was the best, and worst, thing about the movie. If they had deviated just a bit from the almost identical note-for-note plot elements of the original, this movie could've been even better. But Abrams played it safe, and it worked. Along the way, we're introduced to a couple of cool new characters: "Rey"(pictured), "Finn", "Poe", "BB-8", etc, say goodbye to old ones, get the funniest Star Wars script to date, an awesome Millennium Falcon intro, some intense lightsaber battles, and are left on a literal cliffhanger that perfectly sets up the Star Wars franchise for a new generation of fans.

6) Ex Machina

I loved this movie! So smart, so chilling, so claustrophobic. This movie is three people ... well ... two people and one A.I. robot, stuck in a remote mountain estate trying to figure out what each one is up to. We have billionaire recluse "Nathan", young programmer "Caleb", and A.I. robot "Ava", played respectively by 3 of 2015's hottest breakout stars: Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander. I won't go into any more details of the plot, but if you research the origins of the film's title you'll find all the foreshadowing you'll need. This is a modern Sci-Fi classic!

5) Inside Out

Pixar is back! After 2010's Masterpiece, Toy Story 3, the studio had been in a bit of a slump. Inside Out changes all that. Directed by a member of Pixar's original braintrust, Pete Docter(Monster's Inc., Up), Inside Out brings back everything that makes Pixar special: the heart, the humor, the story that works for adults as well as kids, the always excellent computer animation, and a terrific voice cast, led by Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith as "Joy" and "Sadness" respectively. This one is destined to become an Animation/Family classic, and it will also stand the test of time as a tool to understand the psychology of a pre-teen's mind.

4) The Martian

An old-school crowdpleasing Hollywood blockbuster, but with a modern touch thanks to Drew Goddard's very funny adaptation of the best selling novel. It also has: one of the best ensemble casts of the year, led by Matt Damon in an Oscar nominated performance, but also featuring in-demand stars like Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Michael Peña, Donald Glover, and others, the best soundtrack in any movie this year, and of course, the excellent direction from Sci-Fi maestro, Ridley Scott. I saw this one with my family in the theater, and it was the most fun I had watching any movie all year. I just saw it again last night for the 3rd time with other family members who hadn't seen it, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. This is the kind of smart and entertaining movie that Hollywood is capable of making when it puts its mind to it. So Hollywood, less Transformers, and more of this please.

3) Anomalisa

I love Charlie Kaufman. I love Dan Harmon. So it's no surprise that I loved the result of Kaufman's collaboration with Harmon's Starburns Industries. Co-director Duke Johnson, who previously directed an Emmy Award-winning stop motion animated episode of Dan Harmon's Community(my favorite TV comedy of this decade), teamed up perfectly with Kaufman to give us this beautiful, existential adaptation of Kaufman's stage play, but with puppets. The voice cast, all 3 of them, are excellent: David Thewlis as main character "Michael Stone", Jennifer Jason Leigh as the title's "Lisa", and Tom Noonan as "everyone else". Only Charlie Kaufman!

2) Room

I'm gonna slightly disagree with my brother here. First, in that I have Room just one spot lower than him, and second, in the fact that there are many, many classic Father & son movie relationships: The Lion King, Kramer vs Kramer, The Godfather, The Pursuit of Happyness, etc. But mother & son relationships on film? Now that's another story. The top tier consists of The Sixth Sense, Terminator 2, and not much else. But with Room, mothers & sons finally have an All-Time classic portrayal on screen. What a connection between Brie Larson's "Ma" and Jacob Tremblay's "Jack"! And what incredible performances by both! Larson is the frontrunner to win the Best Actress Oscar tomorrow night, but unfortunately, Tremblay wasn't even nominated. But history has the final say, and I believe that 10-20 years from now Tremblay's performance will be remembered as one of the best of the year, and as one of the greatest child performances of All-Time.

1) The Lobster

Speaking of All-Time greats, I believe The Lobster has a chance to be recognized as such as more people get a chance to see it when it premieres in the U.S. next month. It is truly a one-of-a-kind film. Greek writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos "out-Kaufmans" Charlie Kaufman with this one. The Lobster has everything I love about watching movies. Starting with a complex, very funny, *original* story about a dystopian near-future that grabs my attention from the very beginning and never lets go, and also presents themes that explore the human condition, particularly our intense desire to find a partner by any means necessary, and even more broadly, societal pressures to conform to certain rules and restrictions. This is contrasted perfectly in the film by the group that prohibits people from being single, and an entirely different group that prohibits people from being in a relationship. When a movie gets me thinking about topics like these in such a profound way, that's when I know it could end up as one of my All-Time favorites. Add to that the impeccable technical aspects: great direction, editing, cinematography, production design, score, and an A-list international cast, led by Colin Farrell in his best performance to date, and featuring excellent supporting performances by Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux, Angeliki Papoulia, and others, and you get one of the best films of the decade so far. It's that good!

8 Top 8 Lists for 2015

Welcome to the 3rd edition of my year-end 8 Top 8 Lists! This is my chance to talk about everything I loved from the past year in movies. Every performance, every character, every quote, moment, funny scene, fight scene, death scene, and 8 more random categories just so I could mention a bunch of other peculiar movie moments I loved from 2015. The first time I did these lists, for the movies of 2013, I only mentioned 15 movies in a positive light(2 of the 8 lists were negative). The next year, for the movies of 2014, I forgot about the negative stuff and the number of movies mentioned positively more than doubled to 34. This year, I continued that positive trend and the number of movies mentioned has reached 43, exactly half of the total of 86 movies I've seen from 2015.

I've come to the realization that talking about the movies I love and why I love them is much more fun than bashing on movies that most people already know are pretty bad. Plus, one of my main objectives for this blog is to shine a light on the movies I love so that whoever reads it can discover some titles they might've never heard of, or maybe reconsider their views on a movie they already saw.

One movie in particular that you'll see mentioned a couple of times on these lists matches that description of a movie that most people haven't seen that I want to shine a light on: The Lobster. Now, the reason most people haven't seen this movie is because it premieres in the U.S. in march(hopefully in Puerto Rico too). But ever since it made its world premiere last may at the Cannes Film Festival and I saw the film's trailer it became my most anticipated film of the year. After that, I waited and waited some more for the film's release date, but by year's end that date never came and I got so desperate that I searched through every corner of the internet until I finally was able to watch it. Because I loved the movie so much, I'm definitely going to see it in theaters whenever it premieres, so whoever feels compelled to watch it after reading these lists, you're welcome to come with me.

I'm still not sure if it qualifies for next year's Academy Awards(in which case I'll probably write about it again next year), or if it already missed its chance at any Oscar nominations since it received 7 British Independent Film Award nominations(and 1 win) this year, plus a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film alongside 5 other films that are 2015 Oscar nominees: 45 Years, Amy, Brooklyn, The Danish Girl, and Ex Machina. 4 of those other 5 movies make at least one appearance in my 8 Top 8 Lists, and one of those movies also joins The Lobster in my 10 Best Movies of 2015 list, which I'll be posting this week.

Of course, you can get a sense of which movies are in my Top 10 by the number of times they make an appearance on these lists. Pretty simple, right? The more I mention it, the more I loved it. On that note, here are my 8 Top 8 Lists for 2015. Enjoy!

*WARNING:SPOILERS*

I Best Performances of the Year

8) David Morse as "Mike Webster" in Concussion

      The heart and soul of the film, even though he's only on screen for about 5 minutes. Fitting since Webster was the heart and soul of the offensive line of the 1970s Steelers championship teams. And just like Webster's presence on those teams, Morse automatically makes every movie he appears in better(I put him at #6 in my Top 25 "that guys" list two years ago), and this role is no exception. Here's hoping the Academy recognizes this great actor one day, but if it didn't happen for this role, which was also the best Physical Transformation of the Year for me, then that day might never come.
7) Alicia Vikander as "Ava" in Ex Machina
      2015's breakout star makes my list, but not for her Oscar-nominated role in The Danish Girl(which is also great), but for playing an AI robot in this Sci-Fi gem. Her deep & sultry Swedish voice is perfect for the part(and in real life too), and she also pulls off the expressions and mannerisms of an artificial being who, more than anything else, wants to be real. It was like a perfect combination of Scarlett Johansson's performances in Her and Under the Skin.
6) Jason Segel as "David Foster Wallace" in The End of the Tour
      This could be the most overlooked performance of the year, and that's a shame. Maybe the majority of people didn't consider it because they think of Segel as the lovable goofball from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You Man, How I Met Your Mother, and Freaks and Geeks, but in my mind that kind-hearted trait that all his characters share is what propels him to greatness here. There's an edge to Wallace that Segel presents perfectly. You don't know whether to love him or feel intimidated by him. This made it difficult for Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky(Jesse Eisenberg) to conduct his interview with him. But with every facial tick and mannerism, Segel brilliantly conveys Wallace's duality: that reticence whenever Lipsky turned on his tape recorder, but also his every-man appeal that made him approachable. Two scenes in particular stand out: the "social strategy" car discussion and the "heroin thing" discussion.
5) Jennifer Jason Leigh as "Daisy Domergue" in The Hateful Eight
      Another of 2015's breakout stars was 54 year old Leigh, who after 30+ years of excellent, yet overlooked, supporting performances was finally just too terrific to ignore in this role and is now a first-time Oscar nominee. Leigh inhabited this character so fully that I could never take my eyes off Daisy Domergue, even though for the first half of the movie she's mostly lurking in the corner of the screen, away from the action. Then in the second half, after having mostly just taken a beating up to that point(with a brief guitar interlude), her manic brilliance chews up the 70mm scenery and Leigh makes sure that out of all these quirky characters, Daisy Domergue is the one you remember the most(more on that later).
4) Juliette Binoche as "Maria Enders" in Clouds of Sils Maria
      From one veteran actress to another, but in a role-reversal sort of way, Binoche is now the one being snubbed by the Academy(after 2 previous nominations and 1 win) for her excellent work here. Speaking of role-reversal, Binoche plays a famous actress who signs up to play the older female role in a revival of the play that launched her career when she played the young female role 30 years earlier. Binoche's connection to the character was so strong that she was actually the one who pitched the idea of the film to the director. And that connection is evident every second she's on screen. We see Maria be strong in the public eye but struggle with insecurities about the role in private with her assistant Valentine(more on both later). In that sense, it's a bit similar to Michael Keaton's role last year in Birdman.
3) Brie Larson as "Ma" in Room
      Larson gave what was, for me, the #1 Female Lead Performance of 2013 in Short Term 12, and 2 years later, even though she's #2 in that category, she actually moves up one spot in the Best Performances ranking. Even though it came two years too late, she is now a first-time Oscar nominee and is looking like the clear frontrunner to take home the prize at the Academy Awards. And she is absolutely deserving! This is a tremendously powerful performance, but done in such a naturalistic way that it never feels forced. This is essential here since the emotional impact comes from Ma's relationship with her son Jack(more on him in just a bit) and from their first moment together inside "Room" to their last, their bond feels 100% authentic(I should know since my oldest son is turning 5 this summer).
2) Charlotte Rampling as "Kate Mercer" in 45 Years
      I know about raising an almost 5 year-old boy, but I have no idea what it's like to be in a 45 year-old marriage(I'm at 6 years and 2 months now, only 39 to go). But after seeing Mrs. Rampling's devastating performance in this film, I'm making sure there are no skeletons in the closet between my wife and I now, instead of waiting for them to pop up around year 45. Rampling completely nails this performance. It wouldn't appear that difficult, but to show that type of vulnerability at that age(she just turned 70) really qualifies as a fearless performance from the actor. So fearless as to include a passionate sex scene, but even more so in the quieter scenes, like when Kate finds some old photographs of her husband's past relationship in the attic, or when after that she has to dictate her anniversary party's music playlist over the phone, until finally the moment comes in the party when she has to dance with her husband in front of all their guests. In each of those scenes we never know exactly what she's thinking, but that's only because her face beautifully expresses a bevy of conflicted emotions.
1) Jacob Tremblay as "Jack" in Room
      This performance broke me. I was crying like a baby the entire 2nd half of this film, primarily because that's when Tremblay completely takes over. But let's not forget about the first half inside "Room", up to the point of Jack's escape, where he's also brilliant. As I mentioned with Larson, the connection these 2 actors formed felt 100% authentic, but I'm giving bonus points to Tremblay for giving such a genuine performance when he was only 8 years old. Adding to the degree of difficulty was the fact that he had to convincingly portray a 5 year-old(nearly half his age) who's never experienced the real world. Where does an 8 year-old kid even begin to comprehend something like that?

II Best Characters

8) "Vladislav", "Viago", and "Deacon", played by Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, and Jonny Brugh in What We Do in the Shadows

      That's 2 straight years with vampires on this list, but unlike the more brooding and romantic "Adam" & "Eve" from 2014's Only Lovers Left Alive, these vampires are actually the funniest characters from any movie I saw in 2015. Some of their funniest moments include: "Deacon" complaining about having to clean the *bloody* dishes(get it?), "Viago" explaining how some of his clothes come from victims: "You might bite someone and then, you think, Ooh, those are some nice pants!", and last but not least, "Vladislav" explaining why they prefer to drink virgin blood: "I think of it like this, if you're going to eat a sandwich, you would just enjoy it more if you knew no one had fucked it." Hilarious!

7) "Eilis", played by Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn

      A young Irish immigrant fresh off the boat who's living in an all-girls home in 1950s Brooklyn. This is understandably a difficult situation for anyone, but "Eilis" handles it all with exceeding grace and maturity. Ronan, with her beautiful Irish accent, gives an excellent Oscar-nominated performance that keeps you connected to "Eilis" for the whole film. Eventually she meets a young Italian named "Tony"(Emory Cohen) and falls in love with him after a couple of movie dates and after meeting his family. After the sudden death of her sister back in Ireland, "Eilis" is forced to make a choice between her new life in Brooklyn or her old life back home, and just like with everything else up to that point, she handles the situation just right.

6) "Maria Enders" and "Valentine", played by Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria

      The veteran actress and her assistant, who share an ambiguous and sort of symbiotic relationship. Who actually gains the most from the relationship? I'm not so sure. During the rehearsal scenes between "Maria" and "Valentine" there's always a sense that they're not actually rehearsing but talking about themselves(very Bergman-like). It's pretty clear that "Maria" is drawn to "Valentine", similar to how her character "Helena" is drawn to the alluring young "Sigrid", which was the role that made "Maria" famous in the first place. Then in the end, when both women are hiking up the mountain to get a glimpse of the movie's titular "clouds", "Valentine mysteriously disappears. No explanation. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that moment, kinda like with these characters, and I absolutely love it like that.

5) "Rey", played by Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

      A hero for a new generation! Ridley, in her best Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean 1 impression, turns "Rey" into a complex and compelling new lead character in the Star Wars universe. From the moment we meet her scavenging in a sand-buried Star Destroyer and then sliding down the sand dune like a kid in her backyard, I was hooked. Then she gets even cuter when she puts on that X-Wing pilot helmet(maybe Luke's?) while sitting at the foot of the collapsed AT-AT. After that, she rescues BB-8, tells Finn to stop taking her by the hand, pilots the Millennium Falcon, bonds with Han Solo, is drawn to Luke's lightsaber in Maz Kanata's basement, Jedi-mind tricks a stormtrooper, fights Kylo Ren(more on that later), hugs Leia, and finally returns Luke's lightsaber to him. Why was she drawn to that lightsaber? Why is she able to learn the ways of the force so quickly? And what is her exact relationship to Luke, if any? All questions that will probably be answered in Episode VIII.

4) "Major Marquis Warren" and "Daisy Domergue", played by Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight

      I already talked a bit about what Leigh did to make "Daisy" so fascinating, but I also wanted to single out Jackson's "Major Warren". He opens the film sitting on top of three bodies in the middle of a snowy road just waiting for a ride. By the end, he's single-handedly responsible for 3 more deaths, plus 2 other deaths with the help of Walton Goggins' "Sheriff Mannix". So I guess I'm choosing these 2 characters because they're the most responsible for everyone in this movie winding up dead, "Major Warren" working on his own, and "Daisy Domergue" being the catalyst for the movie's entire chain of events.

3) "David", played by Colin Farrell in The Lobster

      Recently divorced at the beginning of the film, "David" is now forced to stay at a hotel where single people have 45 days to find a partner or else they're turned into an animal of their choice. David chooses a lobster. After an unsuccessful attempt to seduce an extremely cold-hearted woman(more on that later), "David" has no choice but to escape from the hotel. Once outside, he encounters a group of loners in the woods where he meets and falls in love with a woman who is short-sighted, just like him. But when their forbidden relationship is discovered by the group's leader, she punishes the short-sighted woman by having her permanently blinded. "David" and the woman manage to escape to the city, where, in a restaurant, he takes a steak knife and goes to the bathroom to permanently blind himself as well ... just like a lobster.

2) "Joy" and "Sadness", voiced by Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith in Inside Out

      I wrote about both in my Best of 2015(so far) rankings back in August, and 6 months later here they are again, this time together. Fitting since from the moment "Sadness" pops up in Headquarters to make newborn Riley cry, these two are inseparable. Once they're accidentally discarded from Headquarters, they have to work together to make their way back and restore Riley's emotional balance. Their funny back and forths turn them into another classic Pixar duo like Mike and Sully or Marlin and Dory. And just like those duos, the emotional(pun intended) connection "Joy" and "Sadness" form is a deep and poignant one. More importantly, these two characters will help young boys and girls to better understand and express their emotions by learning that it's ok to cry from time to time, because after that "Sadness" you might feel some "Joy".
1) "Michael Stone", voiced by David Thewlis in Anomalisa
      A British, middle-aged, motivational speaker specializing on customer service relations, who is having trouble relating to people all around him because they all sound exactly the same. And he's also a stop-motion animated puppet. He arrives in Cincinnati for a one-day conference, and in his hotel he finally listens to a different voice in the hallway belonging to a woman named "Lisa". Of course, he's instantly attracted to her, but even after an intimate night between them in his room(more on that later), the next morning "Michael" appears to only notice Lisa's negative aspects and little by little she starts to sound like everybody else. Why does this happen to Michael, and why can't his connection to Lisa change it? In true Charlie Kaufman form, it's never quite clear, and that's why he's my favorite screenwriter working today, maybe of all time.

III Best Quotes

8) Starting off with the best opening line I heard in any 2015 movie, from the sexually explicit coming of age indie The Diary of a Teenage Girl:

      Minnie: "I had sex today ... Holy shit."

7) From an indie opening scene, to a Spielberg ending with Tom Hanks on a bridge that reminded me a bit of Saving Private Ryan. But instead of Hanks saying "Earn this.", in Bridge of Spies we get Hanks' James Donovan apologizing to Mark Rylance's "Rudolf Abel" before he crosses the bridge for not thinking of getting him a gift, to which "Abel" responds:

      Rudolf Abel: "This is your gift. This is your gift."

6) Back to another indie, this time the transgender comedy Tangerine. "Sin-dee" and "Alexandra" are walking down the L.A. streets on Christmas Eve when "Alexandra" starts to reminisce about a sad moment from her childhood involving a Barney doll. That leads to this unscripted exchange:

      Alexandra: "The world can be a cruel place."

      Sin-dee: "Yes, it is cruel. God gave me a penis."

5) This exchange between Kingsman agent "Harry Hart"(Colin Firth) and his new protegé "Eggsy"(Taron Egerton) about becoming a spy in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service:

      Hart: "Did you see the film 'Trading Places'?"

      Eggsy: "No."

      Hart: "How about 'Nikita'? ... 'Pretty Woman'? ... All right, my point is that a lack of a silver spoon has set you on a certain path that you needn't stay on. If you're prepared to adapt and learn, you can transform."

      Eggsy: "Oh, like in 'My Fair Lady'."

      Hart: "You're full of surprises."

4) Two Noah Baumbach quotes about his specialty, young adults. First, from While We're Young, it's Ben Stiller's "Josh" talking to his wife "Cornelia"(Naomi Watts) about Adam Driver's "Jamie":

      Josh: "He's not evil, he's just ... young."

Then, from Mistress America, it's Greta Gerwig's "Brooke" explaining her young adult sickness:

      Brooke: "I think I'm sick, and I don't know if my ailment has a name. It's just me sitting and staring at the internet or the television for long periods of time, interspersed by trying to not do that and then lying about what I've been doing. And then I'll get so excited about something that the excitement overwhelms me and I can't sleep or do anything and I just am in love with everything but can't figure out how to make myself work in the world."

3) This emotional exchange in Creed between "Rocky"(Sylvester Stallone) and "Adonis"(Michael B. Jordan):

      Adonis: "This shit for real?"

      Rocky: "Doesn't matter. What you should be thinking about is that fight coming up. That's the only thing that should be on your mind, nothing else."

      Adonis: "What you mean, don't think about this? When you starting treatment?"

      Rocky: "I'm not doing no chemotherapy. No."

      Adonis: "If you don't jump on this quick, you're gonna end up dying."

      Rocky: "I know."

      Adonis: "And you're all right with that?"

      Rocky: "I am."

      Adonis: "Man, you sound crazy, man. Give me the keys. I'll take you to the hospital right now."

      Rocky: "I'm not crazy at all. If I could take everything that was good and put it into a bowl or something ... and say, 'Hey! Here, I'd like to buy one more day with my wife' ... I'd do it. I would die a happy man, right then."

2) Jack's(Jacob Tremblay) touching gesture for his Ma, with some help from his grandma(Joan Allen) in Room:

      Jack: "Grandma."

      Grandma: "Yes?"

      Jack: "I need the scissors."

      Grandma: "What for?"

      Jack: "For cutting my hair."

      Grandma: "You really want to do that?"

      Jack: "I want to send it to Ma."

      Grandma: "Why?"

      Jack: "She needs my strong more than me."

1) #1 in August, and still #1 at the end of the year is "Alice Klieg's"(Kristen Wiig) stream of consciousness that opens her first live show after winning the lottery in Welcome to Me:

      Alice: "This morning I woke up and there was a pubic hair on my pillow shaped like a question mark. And it really got me thinking of unanswered questions, like all the times in my life when I was supposed to feel something but I felt nothing and all the other times in my life where I wasn't supposed to feel anything but I felt too much and the people around me weren't really ready for all of my feelings."

IV Best Moments

8) "The ending" in Spotlight

      "Robby Stewart"(Michael Keaton) and "Mike Rezendes"(Mark Ruffalo) arrive at the Boston Globe offices on the sunday that their investigative report is being printed, even though they have the day off. In the main office, everything is calm, but the receptionist tells them she's had to send some people down to Spotlight to help answer the phones. "Robby" and "Mike" immediately rush down and are informed by "Matty"(Brian D'Arcy James) that it's mostly victims calling reporting more cases. First "Mike" picks up a phone, then "Robby" enters his office, picks up the phone, answers "Spotlight", and the screen cuts to black, followed by a couple of ending titles revealing the global extent of the catholic church's cover-up. Perfect ending.

7) "Eazy E looks at the billboards" in Straight Outta Compton

      This scene comes near the end of the film, when Dr. Dre's career is skyrocketing and Eazy E's is spiraling downward. And at this point, we, the viewers, know that Eazy E's AIDS diagnosis is gonna pop up at any moment. So we get "E" just cruising by himself at night when suddenly he spots a billboard for Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" album. It's at this moment that Jason Mitchell's excellent performance takes over. In E's face, we feel his jealousy, frustration, anger, but also a sense of pride and happiness at seeing his friend's success and remembering how it all started. In the end, it's really a tragic scene, without any dialogue, that presents the power of cinema when done right.

6) "Rachel's film" in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

      Speaking of the power of cinema, in this scene a film literally puts someone into a coma. But seriously, this is a beautiful scene where "Greg"(Thomas Mann) changes his Senior Prom plans in order to be with "Rachel"(Olivia Cooke) in the hospital and show her the movie he and "Earl"(RJ Cyler) made for her. You can see the joy in Rachel's face as the film starts and Greg lies down in the bed to watch it with her. But after about a minute, Rachel has trouble catching her breath and Greg rushes out to the hall to get help. We're left with Rachel, in her final conscious moments, receiving help from the nurses, but her eyes fully transfixed by the images in front of her. Great way to go if you ask me.

5) "The walk" in The Walk

      The best use of 3D since Gravity! The box office numbers on this one were low, and that's a shame because Robert Zemeckis took Philippe Petit's unbelievable real life accomplishment and turned it into the "Magic of the Movies" moment of the year!

4) "Rescue in space" in The Martian

      This is a classic Hollywood feel good ending that borrows from movies like Apollo 13, Cast Away, and more recently, Gravity. But when a formula is done right, I have absolutely no problem with that. The excitement, the drama, the humor, this ending had it all. It was a big reason why watching The Martian was the most fun I had in a movie theater last year.

3) "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in Anomalisa

      A perfect moment of connection between two human-looking puppets, Jennifer Jason Leigh's voiceover performance as "Lisa" here couldn't be more different from her Daisy Domergue performance in The Hateful Eight, and I think she should've been Oscar-nominated for both. The scene is a bit humorous due to the song choice and the awkward pauses, but more importantly, the emotions feel completely genuine, which leads to one more moment between Lisa and Michael that I'll get to later.

2) "Joy's / Riley's breakdown" in Inside Out

      This is a 2 part moment which begins when "Joy" falls in the memory dump with "Bing Bong". Sensing she's lost Riley forever, Joy begins to look at Riley's early childhood memories one by one, gets incredibly sad in the process, and gives them all a big hug. If you're a parent of young kids like I am, then you know why this scene is so powerful. I have that moment all the time where I hug my 2 boys and I wish they would stop growing up so fast. But back to the movie, from one of the memories, Joy realizes that it was "Sadness" who actually made Riley feel better. So she escapes from the dump, with an assist from Bing Bong(more on that later), finds Sadness, and gets back to Headquarters just in time to put Sadness in charge of the control panel. This causes Riley to change her mind about running away, and she returns home to her parents, where, in part 2 of this moment, Riley starts to cry uncontrollably in front of them when she talks of how much she misses Minnesota. Immediately her parents both give her a hug and that's when Sadness brings Joy to the control panel with her, which causes Riley to let out a smile while in her parents' arms. This results in a brand new core memory, where both "Joy" and "Sadness" are the central emotions.

1) "Jack's escape" in Room

      An instantly iconic movie moment. What a performance by young Jacob Tremblay! This moment is inspiring, it's terrifying, suspenseful, but most of all, powerful. When Jack and Ma are finally reunited and they scream at each other through the car window, I couldn't have been more riveted. If you want to experience the power of cinema, this is the scene for you.

V Funniest Moments

8) "Drugs in the soup" in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

      A classic movie misunderstanding where a couple of drugged-up high schoolers start hallucinating and blame their high on the soup their history teacher gave them for lunch, forgetting all about the cookies they'd gotten from the drug dealer in front of the school.

7) "Donut time" in Tangerine

      I usually don't like this type of scene where all of the movie's plotlines converge in one wacky final discussion(cough*Crazy Stupid Love*cough), but in this case it worked for me. A very funny ending to one of the best comedies of the year.

6) "Killer sneeze" in Spy

      Just when you think you've seen every imaginable death in a spy movie, we get this accidental killing by super-spy Jude Law, who complains to his assistant, Melissa McCarthy, that there was a ton of pollen in the room. Unfortunate for the bad guy, funny for us.

5) "BB-8 thumbs up" in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

      I had to get BB-8 in these lists somehow, so I chose this interaction with "Finn"(John Boyega), which got the biggest laughs in the theater on opening night.

4) "Hydrazine explosion" in The Martian

      After "Mark Watney"(Matt Damon) realizes he's gonna have to "science the shit out of this", he starts to grow a potato farm in his Mars habitat station. But first he needs to create water with the help of some hydrazine rocket fuel. Unfortunately, Mark's calculations are off the mark(bad pun, I know), and on his first attempt to ignite the hydrazine ... BOOM! What could've been a scary scene in another movie is worked for laughs here when Mark appears in front of the camera with his hair charred kind of like Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons.

3) "Sci-Fi movie talk" in Clouds of Sils Maria

      "Maria" and "Valentine"(Binoche and Stewart) go to see Jo Ann Ellis'(Chloe Grace Moritz) new space movie. Afterwards, they discuss the merits of the film and her performance. I dare you not to laugh, like Maria, at the dialogue in this scene.*Cut to the 1-minute mark in the clip*

2) "Midnight mass" in The Night Before

      It starts with "Isaac"(Seth Rogen) talking to "Spencer" and his "pets" in the nativity scene outside the church, and then once he's spotted by his wife and her family, he has no choice but to join them inside, even though he's extremely high.

1) "I killed your brother" scene in The Lobster

      Dark comedy at its best! David's(Colin Farrell) attempt to seduce the cold-hearted woman fails when she wakes him up in the middle of the night with a bloody knife in her hand after having killed his dog/brother(he had previously failed to find a mate at the hotel). Yes, it's cruel, but cruel can be funny sometimes. And in a satirical movie that asks key relationship questions like: how much are we willing to change who we are in order to be with somebody, how they answer that question for "David" couldn't be any funnier.

VI Best Fight Scenes

8) "Statham vs Diesel street fight" in Furious 7

7) "Jobs vs Sculley" in Steve Jobs

      A verbal fight, not a fist fight, but nevertheless extremely intense. If only the rest of the movie were just as good.

6) "I-Rex vs T-Rex" in Jurassic World

5) "Max vs Furiosa" in Mad Max: Fury Road

4) "A Fight at the Opera" in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

3) "One-take boxing match" in Creed

2) "Leo vs the Bear" in The Revenant

1) "Rey & Finn vs Kylo Ren lightsaber battle" in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

      The entire movie builds up to this point, and man, does it deliver. When that lightsaber wooshes past Kylo Ren and into Rey's hand, I experienced one of the loudest collective cheers I've ever heard in a movie theater.

VII Best Death Scenes

8) "Lily's death" in The Danish Girl

7) "Ava kills Nathan" in Ex Machina

6) "Furiosa kills Immortan Joe" in Mad Max: Fury Road

      Enjoy the awesomeness!

5) "Fitzgerald's death" in The Revenant

4) "Opening scene" in The Lobster

      Who was that woman? Who did that donkey use to be? Why did that woman shoot that donkey/former human? This scene perfectly sets the tone for the whole movie.

3) "Kylo Ren kills Han Solo" in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

      Poor Chewbacca.

2) "Death for dinner" in Sicario

      Benicio Del Toro's "Alejandro" gets his revenge, and then some, in this intense scene

1) "Bing Bong's sacrifice" in Inside Out

      "Take her to the moon for me." How does Pixar keep doing it? This ranks right up there with Ellie's death in Up as their best ever. Although technically, since "Bing Bong"(Richard Kind) is only a figment of Riley's imagination then he's never actually alive, right? Well, it doesn't matter. Since he figuratively died inside Riley's head, then I'm putting him at #1 here, because this moment was just too perfect.

VIII Random Awards

1) Most "over the top" Death Scene

      Tie between *Everyone* in The Hateful Eight, including my favorite movie stat of the year: This is the 3rd straight Tarantino movie where a character gets shot in the testicles(The guy's got issues)

      and

      The "Church Massacre" in Kingsman: The Secret Service

2) Best Action Set-Piece

      3 way tie, all featuring cool quotes, between the "Sandstorm Chase"(even more awesomeness!) in Mad Max: Fury Road, with Nicholas Hoult's "Nux" excitedly proclaiming the film's tagline in the middle of it: "What a day! What a lovely day!"

      and

      The "Underwater Mission", immediately followed by a "Car/Motorcycle Chase" in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, in which, after the first part, but before the second, Simon Pegg's "Benji" asks Tom Cruise's "Ethan Hunt": "Are you okay to drive? A minute ago you were dead!"

      and

      The "Tunnel Scene" in Sicario, which puts you right in the action with what could be the best night vision cinematography I've ever seen. The scene ends with Benicio Del Toro's "Alejandro" being a bad ass again telling Emily Blunt's "Kate": "Don't ever point a weapon at me again." right after shooting her in the chest, twice.

3) Best Dance Scene

      Another 3 way tie. First we have "Nathan"(Oscar Isaac) informing "Caleb"(Domhnall Gleeson) that he's gonna "tear up the fucking dance floor" with his mute robot partner in Ex Machina.

      Then, we have Magic Mike XXL's "Big Dick Richie's"(Joe Manganiello) "Mini-mart Strip Dance" to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way", all to make the lady behind the counter smile. After grabbing a couple of items off the shelves during his dance, Richie reaches the counter and asks: "How much for the Cheetos and water?", and mission accomplished!

      And finally, we have "Lainey"(Alison Brie) and "Jake"(Jason Sudeikis) arriving at a friend's kid's birthday party high on molly in Sleeping With Other People. After some awkward hellos, "Lainey" quickly assesses the disastrous situation with the kids and puts her natural teaching abilities to use, getting the kids together for an impromptu dance class. She instructs her friend to play track 7 in her workout mix, and gets in the zone with a little help from Bowie's "Modern Love".

4) Best Sex Scene

      A 6 way tie(sound kinky), featuring a wide variety of sexual experiences.

      First, again from Sleeping With Other People, we have "Jake" using a jar to teach "Lainey" the art of female masturbation.

      Then, from I Smile Back, we have Sarah Silverman's "Laney" using her daughter's teddy bear to masturbate on the floor, in her daughter's room, while her daughter sleeps on the bed next to her. 

      Thirdly, we have "Carol"(Cate Blanchett) and "Therese's"(Rooney Mara) woman-on-woman sex scene that is the literal climax of Carol

      After that, we have a man-and-woman, but in puppet form, sex scene between "Michael" and "Lisa" in Anomalisa that is the culmination of their intimate night in Michael's hotel room.

      Followed by a real life man-and-woman sex scene, in old people form, between "Geoff"(Tom Courtenay) and "Kate"(Charlotte Rampling) in 45 Years

      And finally, we have a man-and-woman-and-man-and-woman sex scene that ends a wild night between two married couples in The Overnight.

5) Best Cameos

      Tie between the Nutcracker Ball cameos in The Night Before, featuring James Franco as himself as the mysterious dick pic guy that Seth Rogen's "Isaac's" got a crush on, and Miley Cyrus as herself as well, giving horrible relationship advice to Joseph Gordon Levitt's "Ethan", leading to a very funny "Wrecking Ball" performance.

      and

      Every celebrity personality that stops by to explain complicated financial terms in The Big Short. First among them is Margot Robbie in a bubble bath, which was, by far, the best scene in the film for me.

6) Best Character Intros

      3 way tie between a new character and two familiar, vehicle related characters.

      First, we have the opening scene in 99 Homes, which presents Michael Shannon's "Rick Carver", the ambitious-to-a-fault realtor(similar to Jake Gyllenhall's Lou Bloom from last year's Nightcrawler) who works with Terminator-like efficiency.

      Followed by a Paul Walker scene from Furious 7, but not the goodbye that everyone was talking about, but his Minivan Intro which starts with a closeup of the hands on the wheel, then the eyes, then the foot on the accelerator, like in the first Fast and Furious movie, but this time when the shot cuts to the outside, we see a minivan move about 6 inches forward in front of the school where he's gonna pick up his kid. 

      And finally, we have the "Garbage will do" scene from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which "Rey" and "Finn's" first option to escape Jakku gets blown up. That's when "Rey" turns around, decides that their only option is the first ship they ran by, and then the camera quickly pans right, and voila, it's the Millennium Falcon! This moment got the second loudest cheer in the theater, and from this point forward the film's nostalgia effect was in full force(see what I did there?)

7) Best Generational Gap Joke

      "Rocky Balboa's" Cloud Confusion in Creed.

8) Best Kid being a Kid Scene

      Tie between the opening montage in Inside Out, where "Joy" describes the other emotion's functions inside Riley's brain, and we see toddler Riley's corresponding actions, like jumping naked on the sofa after her bath(something my kids love to do), scoring her first hockey goal, drawing her imaginary friend "Bing Bong" on the walls, throwing a plate of broccoli on the floor, and then eating some after being amazed at her father's airplane move, not wanting to sit in the car seat, etc.

      and

      Every "first" that "Jack" experiences after he and Ma escape from "Room" in Room. Forget about DiCaprio crawling through the snow, give me Tremblay learning to climb the stairs, or getting his first hair cut, or petting a dog for the first time, or looking up at the sky for the first time, or, even better for a kid, experiencing the wonder of Legos for the first time. 

      I ended these lists last year talking about my favorite moment of the year, which also involved Legos, and this year the only difference is that my favorite moment also features my favorite performance from 2015. So if you haven't seen Room, hurry up and see it before the Oscars this Sunday. Better yet, go see all these movies.