I start my best films of the year list the same way every year, by mentioning the movies I had no capability of seeing and therefore weren't eligible for this list. Many of the year's best and most acclaimed films often get released late in December in New York and Los Angeles only, in order to qualify for awards season. Because critics get early screenings for these films, they appear on end of the year lists, but I'm not an official critic so I don't get that luxury! It's very frustrating. So here are some movies that could have possibly made my list were it not for the fact that they're not truly out yet: Anomalisa, 45 Years, The Look of Silence, James White, The Revenant, The Assassin.
Due to having less time this year and trying to focus more on older films, I saw slightly less new movies than I did in 2014, but enough to say with confidence that 2015 was a fantastic year for film. We got great films of all shapes and sizes: blockbusters, animated films, foreign films, middle budget movies, horror, non-theatrical releases. There were some massive disappointments -- looking at you, Spectre! -- but 2015 batted a pretty high average overall. Here's to hoping 2016 is even better.
The rules: As long as a film got an official release in 2015, it was eligible for placement on this list. This is an important thing to remember, since many of the films that appear in my top 20 premiered at film festivals in 2014, but didn't get released in theaters until this year. And in the case where a film got no theatrical release, then a VOD debut in 2015 will make it eligible. Now that all of that has been cleared up, on to the actual list...
