THE BEST OF 2017 - The Best MOVIES Of The Year

THE YEAR IN MOVIES - 2017

- 2017 was one of the best years for movies in a long time - maybe the best overall since 2007. And thank god, because this was a year in which we really, really needed great films. We needed them to help us reflect on and make sense of the world around us. We needed them to escape. We needed them to get inspired, to get motivated. And we needed them to remind us that there can still be great art that gives us hope, even in occasionally hopeless-seeming times. 

Some of the best movies of the year were not just great movies, but urgent and hyper-relevant commentaries on the world we live in today. Films like The Florida Project, The Big Sick, and Get Out held up a mirror to our present-day reality. These films shed light on sometimes harsh truths - exposing an America that struggles with poverty, racism, and bigotry. But these films weren't just preaching at us - they wove complex themes into incredibly well-realized narratives, and they did so with humor, horror, and heart. At the same time, films like The Post, Darkest Hour, and Mudbound used history to reflect back on today - showing us times in the recent past where politicians, leaders, and ordinary people faced similar challenges as we do today. They warned us of the dangers of repeating history, and inspired us that change is possible - that the arc of time bends towards justice, or so we hope. And then there were the big, epic, blockbusters - some of the best ever. War For the Planet of the Apes concluded one of the best trilogies in modern cinematic history with an action-packed, at times heart-wrenching finale filled with biblical overtones. Logan was one of the best superhero movies ever, period. A dark, intense, brutal odyssey that finally gave us the Wolverine movie we've always wanted. Wonder Woman finally brought some much-needed light to the DC cinematic universe - reminding us why Wonder Woman is an icon that's lasted 75 years and counting, and inspiring women, girls, and really, all of us to aspire to the never-give-up ideals of Diana of Themyscara. Finally, there was Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Like Wonder Woman, it felt like a movie that we needed in 2017 - a surprisingly layered and complex re-tweaking of the Star Wars mythology for a new era. No longer was Star Wars the story of a single, messianic "chosen one." Rian Johnson wisely molded the saga into a story about how The Force is in all of us - about how each of us must channel that Force to rise up and resist. As I think about how these blockbusters collectively - sometimes overtly, sometimes less so - told the story of 2017, I keep coming back to the ending sequence of The Florida Project - probably the most powerful moment of any movie this year. No spoilers, but the sequence, to me, was all about how fantasy can lift us up out of ruts, gives us hope even when there is none, gives us a dream to aspire to.  

Like I said ... thank god for the movies. 

DANNY'S BEST MOVIES OF 2017:

1.) The Florida Project

- I'm not sure how to talk about The Florida Project, except to say that no other 2017 movie left me as breathless, as floored, as moved as this one did. Director Sean Baker crafts a film that feels like a documentary, but he knowingly subverts the film's aesthetics at key moments in ways that surprise and exhilarate. The film tells the story of a young mother and her precocious daughter who live on the outskirts of Disney World in Florida. They are part of a sort of tribe of impoverished, barely-scraping-by people who live off the local tourism trade - always living in the shadow of the just-out-of-reach theme park wonderland that fuels their well-being. Willem Dafoe, in an amazing turn, plays the owner of one of the area's gaudily-colored motels, who takes in and cares for the various vagrants who nomadically wander from block to block, each day worrying about where they'll spend the night. The Florida Project is a quintessentially American story, and one that particularly resonated in 2017. It's about the juxtaposition of artifice with reality, of poverty with middle class consumerism, of hopelessness with hope. Kid actor Brooklynn Prince is amazing in this film - hilarious and scary and sad and tragic all at once. Bria Vinaite who plays her mother is similarly amazing - this doesn't even feel like acting, it feels like we're peering in on a real person's life. Sean Baker accomplishes something remarkable with this film.

2.) Dunkirk

- Dunkirk is disorienting at first. It's hard to wrap your brain around the film's various timelines, events, and characters. And the movie's breakneck pace and constant you-are-there intensity doesn't help. But by the time the credits roll, it's clear that we were in good hands all along. Christopher Nolan weaves together the various threads of the film brilliantly, and when all is said and done what we're left with is an absolute marvel of immersive, visceral, unforgettable filmmaking. This is Nolan re-asserting that he's one of the most talented directors on the planet. In Dunkirk, he puts you in the heat of battle - you'll feel like you've been through hell by movie's end, and feel all the better for it. Because Dunkirk is intense-as-hell, sure - but it also puts you squarely in the middle of one of history's most remarkable battles - in which the under-siege British forces escape annihilation by the skin of their teeth (and thanks to the last-minute aide of a legion of civilians who helped to evacuate soldiers). Seen in glorious 70MM IMAX, Dunkirk was an unparalleled movie-watching experience.

3.) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

-Writer/Director Martin McDonagh has a way with words that few others working in film can match. His third film, Three Billboards, is not just a pleasure to watch, but a pleasure to listen to. Every word its characters utter feels deliberate and carefully chosen. And McDonagh uses his skill as a playwright to make this film into something truly special - a smart, witty, darkly comedic look at small-town America and the struggles of people who have been hurt, been screwed, been forgotten. It's a film about their anger and their pain, but also about their grit and determination and persistence. Frances McDormand absolutely kills in this one, in an all-timer performance. And she's surrounded by an all-star cast doing their best work - led by a great Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, supported by the likes of Peter Dinklage, John Hawkes, Clarke Peters, and more. This one floored me.

4.) The Shape of Water

- How can one not love Guillermo Del Toro? The man bleeds passion for film. He's a walking encyclopedia - an expert on fantasy, folklore, myths, and monsters. And he makes movies that radiate that passion - his films, always, are lovingly crafted, visually rich, and rife with imagination. I always look forward to a new Del Toro movie - but the man has truly outdone himself with The Shape of Water - a film I'd dare say might be his best movie yet. It's got his trademark visual splendor, but it's also got a huge heart - it's a monstrous love story in the classic horror tradition, but also a story that's uniquely Del Toro. Sally Hawkins is phenomenal here. Michael Shannon plays the year's best movie villain. And Doug Jones (not the politician) is his usual awesomeness as the mysterious sea creature at the center of the film's plot. Absolutely loved this film.

5.) The Big Sick

- Kumail Nanjiani is one of those people whose career I've followed to the point where he almost seems like a personal friend. I became a fan of his years ago via the podcast he and his wife used to record weekly - The Indoor Kids. Each week, Kumail and Emily Gordon talked video games, movies, TV, and pop-culture. They were the cool, hilarious friends that everyone wants to have - the ideal couple who everyone aspires to be like. But in listening to the podcast, you'd get bits and pieces of their backstory and realize that their story had its share of heartache and challenge. And that story was amazingly, wonderfully told in The Big Sick. The movie is slice-of-life, but it's a slice that everyone, everywhere, can relate to in some way. It deals with complicated issues like religion and intolerance with hilarity and nuance and self-aware humor. It gives its characters humanity and depth, but isn't afraid to show their flaws, or to show them at their worst. It's super funny and it's a great comedy, but it's also one of the most important films of 2017.

6.) Lady Bird

- It's about time that Greta Gerwig got her due. Not only is Gerwig a fantastic actress, but she's helped create some of the best indie comedies of the last several years - having written Frances Ha and Mistress America. Now she's outdone herself with the amazingly realized, brilliantly written Lady Bird - which Gerwig also directed. Lady Bird is one of those great small movies that tackles the big issues. It's a coming-of-age story that's one of the best films in recent memory about finding one's place in the world while temporarily trapped by the expectations of where you were born and what you were born into. Saoirse Ronan - who's quietly been one of the best actresses of the last few years - does maybe her best ever work here. She brings humor and a boatload of depth to the titular character.

7.) Phantom Thread

-We know that director Paul Thomas Anderson and actor Daniel Day-Lewis make for a potent combo - their previous collaboration, There Will Be Blood, still stands as one of the great films of the last twenty years. And their latest (and supposedly Day-Lewis' swan song - let's hope not!) does not disappoint. Phantom Thread is a gorgeously-directed, impeccably acted gothic romance/thriller that is, in a word, mesmerizing. It's a movie that's best to go in cold, so I won't say too much about the plot. But I will say that Daniel Day-Lewis crafts another iconic character - and he's so good here that it's next-level. And I will say that leading lady Vicky Krieps is equally astounding - giving us a character who surprises us with her hidden layers. This is just such a spellbinding, intense, unpredictable film. You're never quite sure where it's going - but you know that you're in good hands with PTA at the helm.

8.) Logan

- Logan doesn't quite fit into any broader narrative about the films of 2017, so perhaps that's why it feels like it's not being praised quite as much as it should be. But the fact remains: Logan is pretty incredible - a gritty, badass, brutal symphony of violence that ranks as one of the greatest superhero films ever made. The funny thing is, until this year, I never actually loved Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. But Jackman has now aged into the role, and he's aged even further in Logan, playing a grizzled version of Wolverine that easily trumps every previous cinematic incarnation. This, finally, is the character done right. This is not just Jackman's best performance as Logan, but maybe his best performance ever. The film gives Patrick Stewart his best showcase to date in the X-films as well. And what can be said about Dafne Keen - the young actress who kicks ass seven ways to Sunday as the berzerker-in-training X-23. Director James Mangold really outdoes himself as well. In a year that saw several excellent comic book movies, Logan reigns supreme.

9.) War For The Planet of the Apes

- In a perfect world, the Apes films would be perennial Oscar favorites and star Andy Serkis would have a closet full of trophies for his genius portrayal of Caesar, king of the apes. And so too would these modern Planet of the Apes films be heralded as the new classics that they are. In any case, War made for an epic finale to the trilogy - as good of an ending and as profound of a conclusion as anyone could have hoped for. Director Matthew Reeves really needs to be commended for what he did with these last two Apes films - they look incredible, both in terms of overall aesthetics and in terms of the way in which Caesar and his simian ilk are brought to life. Credit to Serkis for being the master of mo-cap acting. And credit to Woody Harrelson (between this and Three Billboards he had a hell of a year), for being a great final villain in Caesar's saga. What I love about this series is that it takes big narrative swings. This one isn't playing franchise paint-by-numbers - it's making art. So for the last time: hail, Caesar!

10.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi

- It's always difficult to know how to rank big franchise blockbusters like Star Wars. By their nature, these kinds of movies tend to be imperfect beasts - forced to be more than just movies, they've also got to tie up loose ends from previous films, set the stage for subsequent chapters, and please corporate overlords who have their own particular agendas. But that makes what Rian Johnson accomplished here all the more impressive. Rather than just give us the obvious next chapter following JJ Abrams' The Force Awakens, Johnson recognized the need to shake things up. JJ painted the franchise into several hard-to-escape narrative corners, and Johnson saw that and decided to make necessity the mother of invention. With humor, wit, and infinite cleverness, Johnson coalesced the scattered, only-hinted-at thematic threads of The Force Awakens into a retooled and refocused film - and in doing so he reshaped the entire Star Wars saga. He doubled down on the idea that Rey comes from nothing, yet has within her the power to be something special. He expanded on that theme, to show that The Force is not just for a select few that are chosen, but for anyone willing to tap into their own latent potential. The Force can and will be strong in those ready to fight the good fight, to rebel, to resist. And so, The Last Jedi arrived as the most thematically rich and deeply textured Star Wars film to date. At the same time, it gave us enough genuine holy-$&%& moments that stand among the year's best cinematic geek-outs. The Last Jedi didn't just give us a Luke Skywalker cameo for a bit of nostalgia - it gave us a whole new Luke Skywalker story, with a complete arc of failure and redemption. And gave us Luke's epic final battle that was not at all what I expected yet more than I could have hoped for. It raised the stakes of the Rey / Kylo Ren rivalry, giving it a surprisingly charged and personal dynamic. It gave a fitting send-off for Carrie Fisher, whose Leia got to have the last word, and in so doing bid farewell to the old guard and welcomed the next generation. The Last Jedi was not just a repetition of familiar Star Wars tropes, but the introduction of a whole new vocabulary to the franchise. And that made it one of the year's most exciting, riveting, and yes - thought-provoking! - films. 

 
JUST MISSED THE CUT:


11.)  Ingrid Goes West

- A pitch-black social satire, Ingrid Goes West looks long and hard at our obsession with social media and shows us the consequences of going too far down the online rabbit hole. Audrey Plaza is fantastic in this one as an unhinged stalker - and man, what a year it's been for her (she also killed it weekly on Legion). O'Shea Jackson Jr. also kills it as Plaza's smitten accomplice. This one flew under a lot of people's radars, so check it asap if you've yet to watch it.

12.) IT

- It was such a perfectly-executed, insanely fun horror film. The movie felt more like quintessential Stephen King than any other King adaptation ever. The kid actors were all fantastic, Bill Skarsgard was iconic as Pennywise the Clown, and director Andy Muschietti 100% nailed it - giving the film equal measures of horror and adventure - and giving IT some of the most audience-pleasing, applause-worthy moments of any movie this year. Bring on Part 2. 

13.) Baby Driver

- Edgar Wright gave us the coolest action movie of the year in Baby Driver - a breakneck, amped-up, kinetic movie that also had the year's best soundtrack. Wright has long been a master at delivering genre-bending, high-concept, pop-culture savvy films - but he outdoes himself here. He gets out of his comfort zone and gives us some of the best car chases ever put to film, a unique protagonist in Baby, and a memorable cadre of villains led by Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx - in their best movie roles in years.

14.) Coco

- Pixar stumbled earlier in the year with the meandering Cars 3 - but man, what a rebound in the form of Coco - a masterful animated film that will make even the most hardened of hearts leave the theater with a tear in their eye. Coco is a visual stunner, bringing Day of the Dead aesthetics to colorful, eye-popping life. It's also a moving story about death and legacy that pulls very few punches in the name of being kid-friendly. And it's exactly that kind of sophistication and respect for an audience's emotional intelligence that tends to make Pixar films a cut above. Coco is one of their best. 

15.) The Post

- The Post is a movie that I can imagine being used as a teaching tool in classrooms for years to come. And I mean that in the best way possible. Steven Spielberg's latest is just that vital - an urgent reminder about a democracy's need for a free press that holds all institutions, including our own government, accountable for its actions. Spielberg directs this one with soaring aplomb - and he's aided by a triumphant John Williams score, a crackling screenplay, and awards-worthy turns from Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. Americans and people around the world need to see this movie, and need to heed its lessons.

THE NEXT BEST:

16.) I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore

- Blue Ruin star Macon Blair makes his writing and directorial debut with this Netflix original film, and the result is one of the year's best and most badass (and darkly funny) movies. Melanie Lynskey is fantastic as an ordinary women driven to take extreme measures when her home is robbed, and Elijah Wood is hilarious as her would-be sidekick.

17.) Get Out

- What a brilliant directorial debut from Jordan Peele. As a longtime Key and Peele fan, I was primed and ready for Peele's first film - but the end result far exceeded my expectations. Get Out is an instant-classic horror-comedy that is one of the sharpest, funniest, scariest, and most spot-on social commentaries on race that I've ever seen on film. Aside from that, it's just a flat-out great horror movie. Can't wait to see what Peele does next. 

18.) I, Tonya

-  A darkly funny, in-your-face roundhouse kick of a movie, this one hits hard from the outset and never lets up. Director Craig Gillespie, he of Lars and the Real Girl fame, gives us a tragicomic look at disgraced figure skater and tabloid news punching bag Tonya Harding - and makes us empathize with this woman who lived a hard-knock life and fell from grace just as she was nearing the top of the mountain. It's a cautionary tale that will stick with you, and Margot Robbie is fantastic in the lead role.

19.) Lucky

- Lucky is, sadly, the final role for the late great Harry Dean Stanton. But man, what a showcase for the consummate character actor and his unique and inimitable presence. Harry Dean looks every bit his 90 years in the film, but then again, he was never the embodiment of youthfulness. But it was his sunken eyes, craggy face, and cantankerous attitude that made Harry Dean such a beloved, iconic actor - and Lucky is a fitting swan-song. It's a sad, funny, moving look at one man coming to terms with his own mortality. It's a great hang-out movie, a thought-provoking film with a lot of big ideas, and a story that will leave you with a smile on your face and a tear in your eye. RIP Harry Dean.

20.) Darkest Hour

-Gary Oldman - unrecognizable under layers of prosthetics - delivers an acting masterclass in Joe Wright's stirring drama. Wright gives a sense of epic theatricality and gravitas to this fascinating look at Winston Churchill's tumultuous early days as Prime Minister - during which he was faced with the choice of a truce with Nazi Germany or continued hostility in a war they might very well lose. It's a thrilling history lesson and a wonderful character study. It's also a rousing call to action - at a moment when our President calls Nazis "very fine people," Darkest Hour is a reminder of a time when a Prime Minister had to rally a country to fight against the evils of Nazism, despite of the high cost to do so.

21.) Colossal

- Director Nacho Vigalondo is one to keep an eye on. With Colossal, he's crafted a unique film that's one part giant monster movie, one part dark comedy, and one part character study about a women struggling not to fall off the wagon. Anne Hathaway surprised me in this one - she's fantastic, playing against type as a down-on-her-luck everywoman trying to overcome her demons. Such an interesting, original film. We need more like this.

22.) Brawl In Cell Block 99

- Pure badassery, plain and simple. I was a huge fan of writer/director S. Craig Zahler's previous film, the horror-western mash-up Bone Tomahawk. But he matches that movie's awesomeness with Brawl - another pulpy, slow-burn grindhouse flick that feels like it's channeling the nihilistic spirit of John Carpenter. And who knew that Vince Vaughn could be so good at playing a badass hero? He destroys here - in my opinion it's his best role ever. This movie is just so brutal and shocking. It's got some stuff that will leave even the most jaded action fan's jaw on the floor.

23.) Logan Lucky

- Here was one of the year's more underrated films - a frequently hilarious heist film from Steven Soderbergh that, to me, hit higher highs than the director's more celebrated Oceans movies. I loved Logan Lucky because it had great, endlessly quotable dialogue, some of the year's most laugh-out-loud moments (that Game of Thrones joke ... amazing!), a top-notch cast (Channing Tatum doing best-ever work), and unexpected levels of heart.

24.) Okja

- Let's face it, it's going to be tough for director Bong Joon-Ho to ever top the out and out insanity that was Snowpiercer. But he comes close with Okja, his Netflix original film (one of many great ones in 2017) that again combined high-concept sci-fi with dark humor, frantic action, and inspired lunacy to make for a fairly unforgettable film. No one else makes movies quite like Bong Joon Ho, and I hope we get many more of them.

25.) mother!

- Darren Aronofsky's latest was probably the year's most divisive film - and to be honest, I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about it. Part of me wonders if it has a point. Part of me wonders if it crosses the line into pretentiousness. But part of me also acknowledges that of all the movies I saw in 2017, mother! stuck with me more so than most, and found its way into my dreams and nightmares. This is a profoundly disturbing, uniquely unnerving film that had me on the edge of my seat for its entire running time. I don't know what it all means - and it might very well mean nothing! - but man, watching this one was an experience. Aronofsky remains one our most interesting, risk-taking filmmakers.

MORE GREAT FILMS OF 2017:

26.) Wonder Woman

- Powerful and inspiring, Wonder Woman gave new life to the DC cinematic universe and was a legit star-making turn for Gal Gadot. The already-legendary "No Man's Land" sequence is, I think, among the best moments yet out on film in any superhero movie.


27.) Thor: Ragnarok

- A complete blast from start to finish, Thor: Ragnarok paid loving homage to the cosmic acid-trip aesthetic of the late great Jack Kirby, while also staying true to director Taika Waititi's uniquely quirky sense of humor. One of the best, most fun Marvel movies to date. Definitely the funniest.

28.) The Disaster Artist

- Oh, hai! The Room has fascinated me for many years now, and so too has its iconoclastic and enigmatic creator Tommy Wiseau. Wiseau is parodied to hilarious effect in James Franco's look at his life and his most famous creation. But the film is also an at-times poignant look at how legit creative spark can make even the most misguided art have value. It's also a cautionary tale about hitching your wagon to the wrong person. Most of all though, it's a celebration of one of the all-time best worst movies.

29.) Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2

- All hail James Gunn, and the sense of fun, imagination, and subversive humor he brings to Marvel's infectiously entertaining cosmic odyssey franchise. Vol. 2 upped the ante with cooler visuals, memorable new characters, and Kurt freaking Russell as Peter Quill's mysterious long-lost dad. I had a blast with this one.

30.) The Beguiled

- Sophia Coppola directs the hell out of this new take on the classic Clint Eastwood film. I loved her darkly funny take on the material, and firmly believe that this one is deserving of more big-awards love than it's getting. I mean, the entire cast is fantastic, with Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning killing it as the movie's warring "vengeful bitches," and Colin Farrell in top form as their object of desire-slash-vengeance. 

31.) John Wick: Chapter Two

- While it didn't wow me quite as much as Part 1, the second John Wick movie still delivered some of the year's most kick-ass action. And the world of John Wick is still cool, slick, and full of ruthless assassins eager to make their next kill. Keanu is so great in these films too - I wouldn't mind of this series just continues ad infinitum.

32.) Brigsby Bear

- This is a quirky, oddball gem of a film - a wonderfully weird movie from SNL's Kyle Kinane. It's about a guy kidnapped at birth and raised in isolation in a bunker, whose oddly endearing kidnappers (hello, Mark Hamill!) force him to watch a kids' TV show called Brigsby Bear, which ... okay, nevermind, I'm not going to explain the whole plot. Just trust me on this one - it's well worth a watch, and it's an amazing, oddly affecting ode to the creative spirit and the way in which our favorite stories can shape our lives.

33.) Alien: Covenant

- And here is my pick for the year's most unfairly-criticized film. I'm not sure why critics were so harsh on Ridley Scott's latest Alien installment. To me, it was a vast improvement over Prometheus - matching that movie's awe-inspiring visuals while giving us a much tighter script that focused on character-driven moments rather than go-nowhere mystery boxes. Scott gave the movie some great action and some memorable horror beats. And Michael Fassbender owned, doing double duty as identical androids David and Walter. Here's hoping we get one more film to close out the franchise.

34.) Blade Runner 2049

- Yet another highly divisive 2017 movie. The original Blade Runner is one of my favorite films of all time, so I was highly excited yet highly nervous for this thirty-five-years-in-the-making sequel. In many ways, BR2049 was a stunner. It was maybe the year's most visually impressive movie - with eye-popping direction from Denis Villeneuve, and jaw-dropping cinematography from the legendary Roger Deakins. The movie had so many cool moments and interesting ideas. It had a great central performance from Ryan Gosling, and a motivated Harrison Ford, back as Deckard, bringing his A-game. That said, I did feel disappointed by just how self-serious the movie was. Ridley Scott relishes sci-fi pulp (think of Rutger Hauer's insanely over-the-top, eminently quotable villain in the original), whereas Villeneuve deals primarily in dour, somber, humorless tonality. I wanted a movie that had dialogue to match the original's "tears in rain" soliloquy. And I didn't quite get that. But what we did get is one of the most interesting and discussion-provoking sci-fi films in a long while. We'll be talking about this movie and debating its merits for a long time to come.

35.) Mudbound

- This Netflix original was directed by Dee Rees, who impressed me a few years back with her debut film Pariah. This one is a big change for her - while Pariah was focused and personal, Mudbound is a sprawling, years-spanning epic that tells the story of two families and how their relationship embodies the racial struggles and conflicts of post-WWII America. It's a movie filled with great performances and layered characters. It's not subtle and can get a bit melodramatic at times, but the film at its best is powerful, affecting, and tells a story that's sadly felt all too relevant in 2017.


36.) Roman J. Israel, Esq.

- Many critics panned this one, but I really dug the latest from Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy. Based on the marketing, I expected a traditional feel-good film about an unlikely success story. But what I got was a super-dark neo-noir about a man who trades in his ideals to achieve success, only to find that it can all just as quickly come crashing down. Denzel Washington is terrific here - he's over-the-top, sure, but so is the movie as a whole. It's a heightened morality tale. I really dug it.

37.) It Comes At Night

- 2017 didn't have quite as many great indie horror films as the previous couple of years, but one real standout was It Comes At Night - a post-apocalyptic paranoid thriller that's just a great genre exercise in tension and creepy atmosphere. Joel Edgerton leads a strong cast, and the film keeps you guessing right up until the end. If you dig a horror movie with a great premise, be sure to seek this one out.

38.) The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

- Noah Baumbach's latest is yet another standout Netflix original that launched on the streaming service in 2017. I've long been a fan of Baumbach, but I'll admit that my favorite movies of his have been his collaborations with Greta Gerwig. Obviously Gerwig had a breakout year with the success of Lady Bird, but Baumbach's new film was no slouch either. The Meyerowitz Stories is a funny, affecting tale of a fractured family coming together again after their father falls ill. It's got some great acting - Dustin Hoffman is particularly great as the family patriarch, and Adam Sandler turns in his best acting in many years.

39.) The Foreigner

- This is one of those movies that, while not a new classic or anything, is exactly what the doctor ordered if you're in the mood for an old-fashioned action/thriller with an extra helping of badassery. Basically, this is Jackie Chan's Taken, with the added bonus of an ultra-hammy Pierce Brosnan as the main antagonist. The movie has Chan play a very meek-seeming dude who looks over-the-hill and by no means superheroic - which makes it all the more exciting when Chan does finally get to kick ass and show glimpses of the legendary martial arts wunderkind of old. It's all done in a supremely fun and satisfying way. This is the year's best "watch it on a rainy Sunday afternoon" sort of movie.

40.) Happy Death Day

- I wanted to include Happy Death Day somewhere on my list because, for me, it was one of the year's most pleasant surprises. I went in with minimal expectations, and left with a big ol' dumb smile plastered across my face. Because, as it turns out, Happy Death Day is a ridiculously fun, deceptively clever, slyly subversive horror-comedy that's legitimately funny and that actually makes great use of its Groundhog Day-meets-Scream premise. A great audience movie, I can see this one being a midnight movie favorite for a long time to come.

HONORABLE MENTIONS - OTHER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIES FROM THIS YEAR:

Battle of the Sexes
Gerald's Game
1922
Atomic Blonde
Raw
All The Money In the World
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Power Rangers
The Little Hours
The LEGO Batman Movie
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
The Fate of the Furious
American Made
I Do ... Until I Don't
Murder on the Orient Express
Split
The Great Wall

INDIVIDUAL 2017 AWARDS:

BEST LEAD ACTOR:

1.) Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
2.) Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour
3.) Kumail Nanjiani - The Big Sick
4.) Hugh Jackman - Logan
5.) Harry Dean Stanton - Lucky

BEST LEADING ACTRESS:

1.) Sally Hawkins - The Shape of Water
2.) Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3.) Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird
4.) Vicky Krieps[ - Phantom Thread
5.) TIE: Bria Vinaite - The Florida Project, Margot Robbie - I, Tonya

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1.) Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
2.) Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3.) Mark Rylance - Dunkirk
4.) Patrick Stewart - Logan
5.) Michael Shannon - The Shape of Water

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1.) Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
2.) Helen Hunt - The Big Sick
3.) Nicole Kidman - The Beguiled
4.) Kirsten Dunst - The Beguiled
5.) Alison Janney - I, Tonya

BEST DIRECTOR:

1.) Sean Baker - The Florida Project
2.) Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
3.) Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape of Water
4.) Paul Thomas Anderson - Phantom Thread
5.) Edgar Wright - Baby Driver

BEST SCREENPLAY:

1.) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2.) Lady Bird
3.) The Big Sick
4.) The Florida Project
5.) The Shape of Water
6.) Get Out
7.) Darkest Hour
8.) I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore
9.) The Post
10.) Ingrid Goes West
  
And there you have it. It was fun writing about movies a long break. Hopefully you discover some new films from this list, and hopefully there are many more great films to come in 2018.

THE BEST OF 2015 - The Best MOVIES Of The Year

THE YEAR IN MOVIES - 2015

- It's been quite a year at the movies. But let's face it, this will forever go down as the year of Star Wars. All year, the anticipation built for The Force Awakens. And since December 18th, it feels like all anyone who's a movie fan can talk or write or think about is The Force Awakens. So what does it all mean for movies? First of all, let's take a step back and acknowledge that Star Wars is much more than just a movie - it's a giant multimedia franchise with decades of cultural history and baggage. When we see a new Star Wars movie, we're not *just* watching a movie - we're practically watching the next chapter in our collective pop-mythology. From a critical standpoint, it's hard to talk about The Force Awakens and not get caught up in all the other *stuff* that is tangential to the movie itself. Hence, endless think-pieces that, while interesting food for thought, are often merely projecting the writer's predisposed feelings about Star Wars (and George Lucas, JJ Abrams, Disney, the prequels, the merchandising, and blockbuster movies in general). The fact is though - The Force Awakens was a pretty amazing piece of pop entertainment. It may have had some issues with its storytelling (too much contrived mystery, too much choppy plotting), but let's also admit that the film's story has been analyzed far beyond that of most big blockbuster films. If we'd put the original trilogy and/or any number of other big blockbusters through a similar microscope, we'd find as many (and likely many more) holes. The Force Awakens works so well though because it has the kind of character, heart, visual artistry, and old-fashioned "movie magic" that so many big films today lack. It's a movie that begs for a second or third viewing. It's a movie that will inspire people. That to me is the ultimate takeaway from the movie's success - the epic sci-fi stories, superhero sagas, and fantasy worlds that were once for a select few are now, officially, for everyone. Ultimately, I think that's a big net positive.

And yet ... there is another. The best big blockbuster of 2015 was, no question, the superlative Mad Max: Fury Road. It's hard to describe to skeptics just why the movie works so well - you just have to see it to understand. But no other movie this year so completely floored me. The combination of incredible characters, amazing world-design, propulsive action, and thematic depth made this one of the best action/adventure movies of all time. Prior to Fury Road, the Mad Max franchise was iconic. Now, it's a whole new level of legendary.

Indeed, 2015 was a landmark year for genre film. It Follows was one of the best horror movies of the last several years - a low-budget indie that was so creative and fun that it made you want to go make your own horror movie immediately (seriously: the movie inspired me to take a stab at my first-ever horror screenplay). Ex Machina was exactly the kind of high-minded sci-fi film I love - dark, boundary-pushing, and thought-provoking. Same goes for the future cult-classic Predestination. The Martian mixed real science with a near-future sci-fi premise to achieve greatness - and it marked a welcome return to space for the great Ridley Scott. We got a new Western from the king of genre mash-ups, Quentin Tarantino - and man, The Hateful Eight was a rip-roaring exercise in awesomeness, with an all-star cast of badass actors. And it wasn't even the only badass Western this year starring Kurt Russell! As if his role in The Hateful Eight wasn't enough, Russell also starred in the certifiably kick-ass Western/horror mash-up Bone Tomahawk, and appeared in Furious 7. 2015 was a full-on Kurt Russell Renaissance. For someone like me who grew up on movies like Escape From NY, this was cinematic bliss. Speaking of Furious 7, it was one of a couple of great action movies this year. Another standout was Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - it was a franchise-best installment, full of some of the coolest set-piece action scenes I've seen in this or any year.

If 2015 had a failing, it's that the big, prestige, Oscar bait-ish movies in many cases fell flat, at least for me. Only a handful - Spotlight, Room, Brooklyn - really lived up to their full potential. Interestingly, one of the year's best high-minded dramas came from Netflix. I was late to watch Beasts of No Nation - I mean, how good could a movie created by Netflix really be? Turns out, it could be amazing. Beasts was a true cinematic tour de force and one of the year's best.

Another underdog that proved to have championship potential was Creed. I wasn't among the doubters - I love the Rocky series, and knew it was in good hands with director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan. And Creed did not disappoint - it was not just a great Rocky movie, but a great film, period. Pixar too proved itself again to be the reigning champ of animation. Inside Out was one of their best-ever films - a shockingly sophisticated, amazingly-crafted look at human emotion that was a great film for both kids and adults.

As always, I didn't see everything. But I did see a lot - and overall, I felt really good about the films of 2015. Here are my favorites.

DANNY'S BEST MOVIES OF 2015:

1.) Mad Max: Fury Road

- With Mad Max: Fury Road, director George Miller delivered a master class in how to do sci-fi/action filmmaking right. The action is non-stop and unrelenting, but never boring. It escalates in the same manner as a great song - slowing down, picking up again, and then bringing it all home like some sort of cinematic power ballad. I could talk for paragraphs just about the world of this movie. The characters, the vehicles, the mythology, the look and feel of the movie's post-apocalyptic wasteland. But I could talk just as much about how powerful the movie is thematically: it's one of the best-ever movies about breaking free from oppression and fighting for the right to free will. The battle of wills between Imperator Furiosa and Immortan Joe is one for the ages - an epic chase through the wasteland with life itself at stake.

2.) Room

- There was no moment more tense for me in a movie theater in 2015 than the "escape" scene in Room. It was one of the most edge-of-your-seat moments I've ever experienced while watching a movie. Room completely and utterly makes you root for its characters to get away from the hellish place they're trapped in. And then, it makes you root almost as hard for them to conquer the emotional trauma that they're left with in the aftermath. Room is amazing. Brie Larson's acting here is next-level - even better than her turn in Short Term 12. Kid actor Jacob Tremblay is phenomenal - a truly affecting performance. This is brave, bold storytelling that counterbalances its darkness with life-affirming hope and joy. Go watch Room if you haven't yet seen it.

3.) Spotlight

- Spotlight works on two levels. One, it's an old-school paranoid thriller, a crackling investigative procedural that is a tribute to the power of real, nose-to-the-grindstone journalism. In a world where real journalism is increasingly rare, it's a potent reminder of what we've lost. Second, it's a jaw-dropping reminder of the evils of institutionalized abuse. It shows you the full extent of the Catholic priest abuse scandal with mind-numbing reminders about just how far-reaching the problem was and just how much effort was put into keeping it out of the public eye. The movie has a true ensemble cast. It's not a showy movie, but it has a building intensity that, by the film's end, has built to a fever pitch. Extremely powerful filmmaking.

4.) Inside Out

- Inside Out is an amazing achievement from Pixar. Somehow, it distills complex emotional truths into easy-to-understand concepts and characters. It captures the way we think and feel with startling accuracy. But it doesn't stop there - the film's representation of our thoughts and feelings shows us how alike we all are on the inside. To that end, the film is a remarkable meditation on the power of empathy. Plus, it's also a lot of fun - with a fantastic voice cast and lots of humor. Not to mention, it's got incredible visuals that fully immerse you inside the movie's literal mind-trip. To me, this stands among the finest films Pixar has ever produced - and that says a lot.

5.) The Hateful Eight

- It's a violent, brutal, mean movie, but man, The Hateful Eight is a rollicking good time. With Tarantino, you know you're in the hands of a great storyteller, and this is a story that's got a lot to say. About justice, about race, about revenge, about war, about America. But it says its piece via dynamite dialogue, via larger-than-life characters, with a style and flair and sense of showmanship that are the trademarks of a great Tarantino film. The cast here is populated by all-time badasses doing career-best work. Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Kurt Russell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh are all fantastic. This is a movie I won't soon forget, and it's a more-than-worthy entry in the Tarantino cannon.

6.) Ex Machina

- I was an early supporter of Ex Machina, and I'm glad to see that its fanbase has only grown in the months since its release. If nothing else, Ex Machina was further proof that writer/director Alex Garland is one of the best and most interesting filmmakers working today. The guy earned geek-cred for writing movies like 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd. But man, what a directorial debut with Ex Machina. In a world where sci-fi is too often equated with overblown blockbusters in which lots of stuff blows up, here was a smaller-scale, more intimate movie that really got into the science fiction of it all: here is this new technology - what does it say about us as humans, and how can it be used for good or ill? The movie's got three fantastic leads - Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Issac, and, in a breakthrough performance, Alicia Vikander as an instantly-iconic android with an agenda. One of the best modern science fiction films, no question.

7.) Creed

- My hope for Creed is that this is the new template for how to continue a franchise. Enough with soulless reboots that lack respect for the source material. If you're going to revive a franchise, do it the right way, and do it in a way where the torch is properly passed. Creed is the ultimate passing-of-the-torch movie. It introduces a new franchise with a new star (a great Michael B. Jordan) and a new director (Ryan Coogler) that could theoretically be the driving forces behind many more movies in the series, for years to come. But it also never forgets its Rocky legacy, and in fact, it gives the Rocky character a great role to play and Sylvester Stallone the opportunity to turn in one of his best-ever performances. Creed feels right. It's a new generation of Rocky movie that's new and fresh and different, and yet it encapsulates all that makes Rocky great. The champ is here, and his name is Creed.

8.) Beasts of No Nation

- A lot of the big, sprawling dramas of 2015 left me feeling a bit empty. But Beasts of No Nation shook me to my core. A moving, powerful, unforgettable story - it's the fictional tale of a young boy in a war-torn African country, who is recruited by an unhinged general to be a soldier in his child army. The details are fictional, but the core truths at the movie's center are all too real - an affecting, eye-opening look at the world we live in today. Idris Elba is in acting beast-mode here, turning in the performance of a lifetime as the fearsome Commandant. And child actor Abraham Attah is phenomenal - showing us how a wide-eyed, innocent kid is turned into a soulless killer. Director Cary Fukunaga shows us the unrelenting chaos of war in absorbing, can't-look-away detail. The movie is a gut-puncher, but it's one of the year's best.

9.) It Follows

- Over the last couple of years, I've been really digging the indie-horror movement that's been completely subverting expectations about what the genre can be. Now, in the wake of films like House of the Devil, You're Next, and The Babadook comes It Follows - one of the freshest, coolest, most creative horror movies I've seen in years. The movie's premise is killer - a spectral force that can look like anyone stalks its victims anywhere and everywhere, and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on through sex. It's the ultimate STD. But aside from that hook, what makes It Follows work so well is the atmosphere director David Robert Mitchell creates - a creepy homage to the works of John Carpenter, and other 80's horror movie icons that emphasized mood and tone over cheap jump-scares. To cap it all off, the movie features a great lead performance from Maika Monroe, who is quickly becoming an iconic Scream Queen of modern cinema.

10.) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

- What other movie generated as much pure excitement in 2015 - or ever? - as The Force Awakens? As I said up top, this is a hard one to talk about purely as a film, because there's so much baggage and weight of expectation that comes with this being the continuation of a saga that fans have waited decades for. But I will say this: the enthusiasm that people have for this movie is no accident. The secret of the film's success is taking the sort of classic, mythic storytelling of the original Star Wars and combining it with new, modern, diverse characters that feel vital and relevant for the times we live in. Star Wars has always had space-opera on a grand scale. But now it's also got a beating heart that, at times, eluded even the original films. Yes, JJ Abrams and team are building on the universe and themes that George Lucas created. But they've also launched a new era for Star Wars in epic fashion. That is no small feat. The movie is imperfect, yes. But at the end of the day, The Force is undeniably strong in this one.

JUST MISSED THE CUT:


11.)  The Martian

- A riveting journey into space and a harrowing survival story, this movie mixes humor, high-adventure, and a real respect for the science of it all, The Martian is a reminder of why Ridley Scott is one of the greatest of all time when it comes to epic, immersive sci-fi. It's got incredible visuals, a smart and witty script courtesy of Drew Goddard, a great leading-man turn from Matt Damon, and a stacked supporting cast.

12.) Wild Tales

- An anthology film about extremes of human behavior, this Argentinian movie is so good that it was nominated for an Oscar last year. It wasn't watchable in America until 2015, but man, I'm glad it was finally made available. It's a funny, shocking, highly-entertaining set of stories in the tradition of things like Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone - twisty morality plays that have to be seen to be believed.

13.) Brooklyn

- Even if you don't like romance, this movie is such a well done one that I guarantee it will win you over. Why? Because this absolutely charming period-piece is a winner - featuring a star-making turn from Saoirse Ronan, as an Irish immigrant in Brooklyn looking to start a new life, but still drawn back to the comfort and familiarity of her home country. The movie's got a smart, funny script from Nick Hornby - and really surprised me with just how much it drew me in and made me cross my fingers for a happy ending for its characters.

14.) Bone Tomahawk

- What's so cool about Bone Tomahawk is that it would still be pretty badass even if it was just a straight-up Western. The movie's first half is just that - and even then, it kicks ass thanks to a fantastic cast (Kurt Russell in top form as the gruff sheriff, Richard Jenkins ruling it as the bumbling deputy) and old-school solid filmmaking chops. But then, the movie kicks into overdrive when it's revealed that the guys Russell and co. are chasing are actually ... wait for it ... deadly mutant cannibals! Hells yeah. If you like badass movies, then this one is essential viewing.

15.) Sicario

- A grim n' gritty descent into hell-on-earth, Sicario is a harrowing look at the violence and chaos that can erupt in Mexican border towns like Juarez as part of the covert but deadly drug-wars being raged. With her intense turn here as an FBI agent recruited for a secret mission over the border, Emily Blunt solidifies herself as cinema's reigning most-badass-female. Meanwhile, Benicio Del Toro turns in a searing performance as an operative whose emotional scars have turned him into a stone-cold killer.

THE NEXT BEST:

16.) Predestination

- Predestination launched unceremoniously on VOD and digital-download services in January, but being a sucker for anything time-travel related, I gave it a look. As it turns out, this Ethan Hawke-starring adaptation of a Robert Heinlein story is actually really great - a well-acted film (in addition to Hawke, there's an incredible central performance from Sarah Snook that deserves to be talked about) with an absolutely killer twist ending. For me, this is a new sci-fi favorite.

17.) Crimson Peak

- Guillermo Del Toro's latest is an atmospheric gothic romance that also happens to be a ghost story. But this movie is pure Del Toro - which means its visuals are jaw-dropping, with unmatched attention to detail and an eye-popping artfulness. If you ever dreamed of a Del Toro-directed haunted mansion movie, well, here it is. And as an added bonus, Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Jessica Chastain are all amazing here, gothing it up like nobody's business. This movie deserved to do better at the box office, but like other Del Toro films it will live on as an all-time cult classic.

18.) Dope

- Dope is the sort of under-the-radar breakthrough that you love to see as a film fan. It's a Lebowski-esque crime caper, in which a geeky inner-city teen accidentally gets stuck with a bag full of drugs that makes him a target for criminals and cops alike. Shameik Moore breaks out big-time here as nerdy Malcom, and director Rick Famuyiwa shows that he is one to watch.

19.) Kingsman: The Secret Service

- "Manners maketh man." So goes the super-spy credo of Kingsmea's dapper agent played by Colin Firth. Firth kills it in this one - an insanely fun, wonderfully vulgar, over-the-top, action-packed spy movie satire that is one of 2015's best blockbusters. Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book actually improves on the source material, delivering an applause-worthy deconstruction of the Bond archetype that deserves sequels of its own. Vaughn again proves that he's one of the best, most interesting action directors working today.

20.) Cop Car

- A down n' dirty grindhouse flick featuring a killer turn from Kevin Bacon, this movie casts Bacon as a psycho cop on a rage-filled quest to find his stolen vehicle. As it turns out, his police cruiser's been taken by two runaway kids, who have no clue to what extent they've messed with the wrong guy's car. I really dug this movie - it's a total showcase for director Jon Watts. It's no wonder he's been tapped to direct the next Spider-Man movie, because Cop Car shows that he's the real deal.

21.) Steve Jobs

- I had mixed feelings about this one upon exiting the theater, but over time, I really began to warm up to it. I think the key to appreciating this effort from director Danny Boyle and writer Aaron Sorkin is to realize that it's by no means a literal biography of Jobs, but a theatrical, representational microcosm of his life's defining work. It's a smart, thought-provoking look at the cost that great success and insatiable drive can take on one's soul. Michael Fassbender is electric in the leading role, and the supporting cast is also amazing - Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, and Seth Rogen each more than hold their own delivering Sorkin's hard-charging, hellfire-and-brimstone dialogue.

22.) Furious 7

- If I'm being honest, I've got to say this: Furious 7 is one of the most viscerally awesome and kick-ass action movies I've ever seen. Sure, it's all big, dumb fun - but what fun it is. Director Justin Lin cranks things up to eleven with this one, delivering some all-time great action set pieces that left me with my jaw squarely on the floor. The movie's just got a great sense of propulsive fun, with a lovable cast of action titans, including Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Michelle Rodriguez, Ronda Rousey, and The Rock. Plus, it has an unexpected element of heart as well. The death of Paul Walker while the movie was still filming was an unbearably sad tragedy, but the movie pays tribute to Paul in a way that is honestly and sincerely moving. I'm sure few ever expected to shed a tear at a Fast & Furious movie, but this one both kicks ass and tugs at the ol' heartstrings.

23.) Mr. Holmes

- In this tale of an aged Sherlock Holmes' final case, Sir Ian McKellan delivers an acting master class. Playing both a younger, spry-er Holmes as well as an older, more brittle version, McKellan is absolutely phenomenal. An interesting, emotionally-involving twist on the Sherlock Holmes legend, this one is a must-watch for fans of the character and/or of McKellan.

24.) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

- Another great action movie that surpassed expectations, this one excels thanks to the back-to-basics direction of Christopher McQuarrie. McQuarrie understands the fundamentals of constructing a great action scene, always clearly establishing the stakes and creating a palpable sense of danger for the characters. Tom Cruise brings his usual high-intensity to the movie as Ethan Hunt, but this one finally makes us care about his supporting cast as well. Plus, Rebecca Ferguson is superb as the movie's deadly femme fatale. I guarantee we'll be seeing a lot more from her in the years to come.

25.) Mistress America

- Another home run for the creative combo of Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. The two created a great film with Frances Ha, and they craft another winner here with Mistress America. They really seem to be making a play to be the modern-day Woody Allen - telling witty, funny, keenly-observed stories about young people in the big city. Gerwig also continues to shine as an actress - here, she is a barely-held-together ball of manic energy that isn't quite the queen of New York she thinks herself to be. I can't wait to see more movies from this team.


MORE GREAT FILMS OF 2015:

26.) Bridge of Spies

- Steven Spielberg tackles the Cold War in this poignant tale of a decent man doing his best to uphold the best of America's values, during a time when those values seem all but lost. The movie gets off to a slow start, but builds towards a whopper of a finale that has a lot to say not just about the Cold War, but about where we are today as a country. Tom Hanks is reliably excellent, but it's Mark Rylance who is the show-stealer - delivering a quietly amazing performance as a Soviet Spy who wants simply to be treated with dignity.

27.) Carol

- Director Todd Haynes makes Carol a powerful story about forbidden romance - less so with words and more so with subtle gestures, glances, and subtext. The always-great Cate Blanchett is a force of nature here, but the real star is Rooney Mara - in a nuanced, understated, memorable performance that boils over with bubbling-beneath-the-surface emotion. An effective look at how beneath the surface of idyllic 1950's America lay harsh realities of social oppression and emotional repression.

28.) Straight Outta Compton

- At times, Straight Outta Compton feels a little too much like a standard-issue biopic. But when it really pops - showing us the big moments in the career of NWA that changed music and pop-culture forever - it's chill-inducingly good. The cast here is universally excellent, and the movie effectively shows how the NWA were at the forefront of a culture war that still rages today. But when the focus is on the music, the movie really shines - capturing the sonic alchemy and lyrical power that made the NWA hip-hop revolutionaries.

29.) Spy

-  Spy is Melissa McCarthy's best-ever movie, and the one that most takes advantage of her considerable comedic skill-set. Paul Feig's witty, playfully subversive send-up of the spy genre was one of 2015's biggest surprises - a film that was really funny, had shockingly great action scenes, and had a lot to say on a meta level about how a great female comic like McCarthy can be used and abused by a Hollywood system that tends to typecast her in unflattering roles. Spy gave me great hope for Feig's upcoming Ghostbusters relaunch. This guy gets it.

30.) The Big Short

- Adam McKay's foray into more serious-business filmmaking - a look at the mid-00's housing market crash that led to financial crisis - is both commendably educational and satisfyingly pissed-off. The film features excellent performances from Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and more - each playing guys who saw the crash coming, but were faced with a system that couldn't see or didn't want to admit that it was on the way. The movie goes a bit off the rails at times, with random cutaways and ADD-pacing. But it also felt like the chip-on-its-shoulder movie we needed going into the 2016 election season.

HONORABLE MENTIONS - OTHER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIES FROM THIS YEAR:

The Night Before
While We're Young
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
What We Do In the Shadows
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Goosebumps
Ted 2
Trainwreck
Sleeping With Other People
Trumbo
Everest
Unfriended

INDIVIDUAL 2015 AWARDS:

BEST LEAD ACTOR:

1.) Ian McKellan - Mr. Holmes
2.) Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
3.) Abraham Attah - Beasts of No Nation
4.) Matt Damon - The Martian
5.) Michael B. Jordan - Creed

BEST LEADING ACTRESS:

1.) Brie Larson - Room
2.) Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn
3.) Charlize Theron - Mad Max: Fury Road
4.) Rooney Mara - Carol
5.) Emily Blunt - Sicario

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1.) Idris Elba - Beasts of No Nation
2.) TIE: Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies, Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight
3.) Sylvester Stallone - Creed
4.) TIE: Samuel L. Jackson and Walton Goggins - The Hateful Eight
5.) Jacob Tremblay - Room

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1.) Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
2.) Sarah Snook - Predestination
3.) Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina
4.) Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs
5.) Jessica Chastain - Crimson Peak

BEST DIRECTOR:

1.) George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
2.) Lenny Abrahamson - Room
3.) Quentin Tarantino - The Hateful Eight
4.) TIE: Cary Fukunaga - Beasts of No Nation, Ridley Scott - The Martian
5.) David Robert Mitchell - It Follows

BEST SCREENPLAY:

1.) Spotlight
2.) The Hateful Eight
3.) Brooklyn
4.) Ex Machina
5.) Steve Jobs
6.) Inside Out
7.) Dope
8.) Room
9.) Bone Tomahawk
10.) Creed

And that's it for 2015 - here's to an amazing year ahead, and to a year full of great movies.

THE BEST OF 2015 - The Best COMICS Of The Year

THE BEST COMICS OF 2015:

- 2015 felt like the year that Image Comics and other like-minded publishers began to seriously dominate the comics industry. This was a year in which Marvel and DC had a lot to live up to. Not only were they competing with each other, but they were competing with the more-popular-than-ever movie and TV versions of their characters and stories. In years' past, the comics always had the better stories. But this year, The Flash TV series seemed to better capture the essence of what DC Comics is all about than maybe any comic that DC themselves put out. On the Marvel side, there were some huge comic book bright spots (Ms. Marvel continues to be something special), but little in the comics seemed to match the fever-pitch excitement that the Marvel movies have been able to generate. I'm not sure what's going on with the Big Two, or why their books have felt so relatively lackluster of late. But what I do know is that Image happily stepped up to fill the void. The publisher has been on a roll for a while now, but in 2015 the amount of great books they were putting out seemed to reach critical mass.

The Image revolution has led to more great comics than I can keep track of. Seemingly every other week, a new #1 comes out that comes highly recommended. New books from old favorites, and new books from fresh new voices. In 2015, we got not one, not two, but three ongoing comics from one of comics' premiere writers, Brian K. Vaughan. Given that he had completely disappeared from the industry for an extended period, following the conclusion of Y: The Last Man, this felt like a minor miracle. And his latest series, Paper Girls, is on its way to becoming a new classic. Other favorite writers - from Greg Rucka to Jeff Lemire - came out with great new comics. Rucka's Black Magick was an out-of-the-gate dose of awesomeness. Lemire's latest, Descender, is one of the coolest sci-fi comics in years. If there was one newer writer who seemed to own 2015 though, it was Jason Aaron. Aaron has been around for a little while, but in 2015 he kind of became "the man." He wrote maybe the best ongoing comic out there, Southern Bastards. He launched a new, edgy book that is shaping up to be something great in The Goddamned. He wrote a few superhero books, including the newly-launched Dr. Strange. And as if that wasn't enough, he anchored the launch of Marvel's new Star Wars line of comics, writing the flagship Star Wars book and making it way better than it had any right to be.

Speaking of Star Wars ... there were a metric ton of Star Wars comics this year (big surprise, right?) now that Marvel gained publishing rights by way of the almighty Disney empire. What was actually a surprise though was how good the books all were. It helped that Marvel got top-notch writers - like Aaron, Rucka, Kieron Gillen, Mark Waid, and more to pen the books, and amazing artists to seal the deal. I am sort of shocked at how much Star Wars stuff I read in 2015. I didn't intend to, but every time a new book launched, I saw one of my favorite writer's names on the cover.

It's going to be an interesting 2016 - not just in terms of comics, but in terms of movie and TV show adaptations. Garth Ennis is one of the best-ever comic book writers - up there in stature, in my opinion, with the greats of the medium. And yet, his comics have never really been adapted for any other medium. That's going to change big-time with the launch of the Preacher TV series in 2016. Will the show maintain the comics' extreme nature and no-holds-barred social commentary? And what will happen when Ennis' even more extreme series, The Boys, becomes a TV show? As a big Ennis fan, I'm excited to see his works go mainstream in the coming year. And yeah, there will be a bunch of Marvel and DC movies and TV series, but hey, you don't need *me* to tell you about 'em.

Back to comics though - the best books that are out there at the moment are all great examples of what the medium has to offer. Diverse characters, diverse genres, diverse creators - something for everyone. Sure, comics still have a long way to go in this respect. But the strides made in 2015 are also nothing to sneeze at. In any case, I've talked at length before about the ease with which one can now buy, read, and even binge-read great comics series. So if you've got an iPad or Kindle then hurry up and get to readin'. I mean, you could simply consume the same entertainment as everyone else, and just get the stuff that's been focus-tested, massaged by executives, and primed for four-quadrant success before it ever hits a screen. Or, you could read comics and get the good stuff when it's hot and fresh and unfiltered.

So here are my picks for the best books of the year. All come highly recommended, and all are a few mere clicks away from your reading enjoyment.


DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2015:

1.) Southern Bastards

- I jumped on the Southern Bastards bandwagon earlier this year, and never looked back. With this ongoing comic, writer Jason Aaron has created a world that calls to mind the violent, hard-boiled Western-noir of TV series like Justified - albeit with a hyper-pulpy, over-the-top twist. It's Friday Night Lights on acid - a dark tale of Southern justice in a small Texas town where football is life and where the local high school coach is also the de facto crime boss who rules over the citizenry with an iron fist. The first story-arc of the book centered on Earl Tubbs, who returns to town to try to rid it of the man known as Coach Boss. The second arc centered on Boss and his backstory. But in 2015, the series took some surprising left turns - branching out to tell one-off stories about the book's various supporting characters. In doing so, each new issue of Southern Bastards helped to fill in the book's tapestry of colorful characters and dark secrets. In any case, this feels like the new comic to beat. Aaron has raised his game and is crafting what is, to me, *the* must-read book of the moment.

2.) Paper Girls

- It still feels like writer Brian K. Vaughan is just getting ramped up with his epic space adventure Saga. But in the midst of churning out new issues of that book, Vaughan late this year launched Paper Girls - and the first issue was one of the best #1's I've read in years. The story - about a group of teenage newspaper delivery girls in 1980's suburbia, who find themselves caught up in a crazy time-travel adventure - is a rip-roaring nostalgia trip that feels like a lost Spielberg movie from back in the day. Vaughan has perfectly captured the sense of wonder mixed with slice-of-suburbia Americana that those classic Amblin movies embody, but he's also given the book an additional post-modern twist. By giving his papergirls a glimpse of our future, Vaughan puts this more innocent era into new perspective. Really though, Paper Girls is just a fun, smart, incredibly creative sci-fi adventure. It's Vaughan at the top of his game.

3.) Multiversity

- Multiversity kicked off in 2014 and wrapped up this year with its final four issues, plus a sprawling Guide to the Multiverse special. In a year that was, overall, a bit lackluster for DC, Multiversity stands as the publisher's crowning achievement. It's Grant Morrison's love-letter to DC's weird and wild history - a tour through multiple worlds, each with its own unique attributes, each with its own looping commentary on comic book history. Morrison has long been obsessed with metafiction and fourth-wall-breaking experimentation with narrative. And those obsessions are fully realized here, with comics that speak directly to the reader, making the very act of reading the comic integral to the fates of the characters inside. It's a head-trip, but head-trips are what Morrison does best - and Multiversity is among his trippiest - and best - works yet.

4.) The Fade Out

- Ed Brubaker's maxi-series is a moody look at Hollywood's golden age - a film-noir murder mystery that positively immerses the reader in a world of glitz, glamour, lies, and scandal. The story centers around an it-girl starlet whose murder prompts her writer friend to uncover the conspiracy behind her death. And the book is another example of why Brubaker is one of the best writers working in comics today. Following up on his fantastic series Fatale, The Fade Out re-teams the writer with artist Sean Philips. Philips is a master at doing atmospheric noir art, and he's also at his best with this one. If you're a fan of Brubaker and Philips' previous collaborations, then The Fade Out is a no-brainer. If not, it's high time to get onboard with these guys and their comics - they're one of the best teams in the biz.

5.) Ms. Marvel

- In a relatively short time, writer G. Willow Wilson has made Kamala Kahn - aka Ms. Marvel - into one of the best, most endearing, most vital characters in the entire Marvel stable. Ms. Marvel quite simply overflows with humanity and heart. It's funny, witty, action-packed, and relatable. It's classic superheroics in the grand Marvel tradition, but it's also something entirely new and fresh and so very needed. In a world that tells us that we should hate Muslims, Kamala is a Muslim hero and a legit inspiration in the way that the best superheroes always are. She's a hero who shows us that there *is* a better way, that we *can* find common ground, and that we're *all* in this fight together. I'll go so far as to say that Kamala is giving inspiration to girls, to Muslims, and to a generation of superhero fans (me included!) in the same way that Superman and Captain America once did. She's awesome. But I'm not just a fan of what Ms. Marvel represents - all that aside, this is consistently the best superhero book out there.

6.) Saga

- Saga has been *the* comic for the last few years, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. This is the comic you give to your non-comic-reading friends to show them what comics can be. This is the comic that gets people talking. This is the real-deal big-deal of the comics world. Part of the secret to its success is that, as he did with Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, writer Brian K. Vaughan is crafting a sci-fi epic that's *really* about the everyday issues that we here on planet earth are facing right now. The characters in Saga may have wings and/or horns, but they are more real-seeming than just about any other fictional characters I know. The other big reason for the book's success is the consistently stunning art from Fiona Staples. Oh man, is this book amazing to look at. And it's the same thing - a mix of characters that feel real with stuff that's totally unreal - from aliens who have TV's for heads to giant tree-spaceships. Finally, Saga isn't afraid to change things up. Recent issues have seen a multi-year time-jump that poses a lot of questions about what's happened and where this is all going. I can't wait to find out.

7.) Black Magick

- Okay, I'm sort of ranking this one highly based on speculation that it's going to be really good for a long while. But two issues in, and I'm totally sold on the idea that Black Magick could be the next big thing. Writer Greg Rucka is always reliable as a source of great comics (his other book, Lazarus, has been a favorite for the last few years) - and this story, about a police detective who's also a witch, is a great blend of vintage Rucka (gritty police drama!) with new territory for the writer (magic!). Also - holy lord - the artwork! Artist Nicola Scott is *killing* it so far. I've been a fan of hers for a while from her DC work. But with Black Magick, she's taking it to a whole new level, with an eye-popping black and white style that mixes in selective splashes of color. This one is one to watch - but it's already on a course to be something very special.

8.) The Walking Dead

- I've been pretty frustrated with The Walking Dead TV series of late, but man, the comic that started it all is still going strong. In fact, I've been really digging recent plotlines involving a group of zombie-emulating antagonists known as The Whisperers, and a brewing war between them and Rick's crew. Robert Kirkman remains a writer who knows how to craft a story that has you desperately turning pages in order to find out what happens next. I don't know how he does it. I say this often, but it bears repeating - if you are disillusioned with the TV show, you owe it to yourself to check out Kirkman's comics. There's a reason why it's one of the top-selling comics year in and year out - it's quite simply the best book out there at keeping you on the edge of your seat and wondering what the hell is going to happen next.

9.) Descender

- There's been a resurgence of real sci-fi in comics of late, and Descender is leading the charge. Writer Jeff Lemire is another perennial favorite, but this is definitely something different from him. In the past, with books like Sweet Tooth and Trillium, the world-building was always secondary to the character stuff. But here, Lemire is really going for broke - crafting a future-verse full of rich mythology. The story centers around a lifelike android who finds himself on the run - chased across the universe by forces who believe he holds the key to explaining a great disaster that befell humanity decades earlier. There's some sprawling, Mass Effect-scale world-building going on here, but Lemire is also layering in great characters and emotional stakes. Plus, the art from Dustin Nguyen is the artist's best-ever - fluid, expressive line-work that really brings Lemire's story to life.

10.) Invincible

- Invincible has been one of my favorites for years now, but I'm still a constant advocate for it because it still sometimes seems to be a bit under-the-radar. Robert Kirkman's other big epic (begging to be a TV show for whoever is willing to spend the money) is so consistently good because it's a superhero comic with no corporate obligations. Whereas Superman or Spider-Man will always, inevitably, return to the status quo, Invincible is constantly evolving. This year, Kirkman cleverly played with this idea in his "Reboot?" story-arc, in which a back-to-basics continuity-wipe was teased out as a sort of jab at how frequently the reset button is pushed over at Marvel and DC. It's a perfect example of how Invincible can be wonderfully tongue-in-cheek. At the same time, the book can be legitimately dramatic when it wants to be. But month in, month out, it's a great read. I hope that Robert Kirkman keeps telling Invincible stories for a long time to come.

THE NEXT BEST:

11.) Alex + Ada

-My pick for the best book of 2014, Alex+ Ada - the incredible story of a man who falls in love with an illegally-modified android - wrapped up this year with its final chapters. I'll admit, the book lost a little momentum as it came to its conclusion. But it was still, overall, an amazing read. Can't want to see what's next for this creative team.

12.) Sex Criminals

- Sex Criminals would definitely be ranked higher on my list, if only it came out more frequently. But when new issues have graced us with their presence, it's always a reminder that Sex Crims is fantastically good reading. It's funny, it's bold, it's got some of the best writing - courtesy of Matt Fraction - in all of comics (or anywhere, for that matter). If you're not familiar with the book - well, just read it. Don't be intimidated by the title. Just trust in Fraction. Here's hoping for much more of this one in 2016.

13.) Lazarus

- Lazarus is another favorite that still kicked a lot of ass in 2015 - it just seemed to lose some of its narrative momentum by coming out less frequently. But hey,  I still love it. It's Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games - if Katniss was a genetically-altered warrior who wielded a razor-sharp sword. In any case, I'm excited to see where the story goes in 2016 following the war-between-families that raged for much of this past year. And also, Lazarus is going to be a TV show!

14.) Jupiter's Circle

- This is sort of an interesting one. A while back, prolific writer Mark Millar did a comic called Jupiter's Legacy - all about the rebellious sons and daughters of a Justice League-esque group of superhero legends. But Legacy was cut short after only several issues, set to return at some unspecified point in time. But in the meantime, we've gotten a whole series called Jupiter's Circle, which gives us the backstory of those superheroic parents. Really though, this is an excuse for Millar to do a story about supers in 50's America who pretended to be clean-cut role models but were actually involved in all sorts of scandal. It's classic, Watchmen-esque superhero deconstruction, but done really well.

15.) Star Wars

- Marvel's Star Wars comics have been really good. And Jason Aaron's title - simply titled "Star Wars," has been the best of the bunch. Taking place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, the Star Wars comic, at its best, has felt like a missing movie in the Star Wars saga - a brisk, cinematic adventure involving all the main Star Wars players. It cleverly fills in story gaps from the original movies, and, in 2015, was just what the doctor ordered to get the hype machine rolling prior to The Force Awakens.

16.) Escape From NY

- Here's one that I had zero expectations for, but that became one of my favorite monthly reads. Spinning off from the cult-classic John Carpenter movie, the Escape From NY comic takes place in the aftermath of the original film - detailing the further adventures of the legendary Snake Plissken. The comic is a ton of fun, and totally captures Carpenter's subversive spirit. There's even a story-arc that serves as a direct sequel to the movie - in which Snake returns to the prison-state of New York - that feels every bit like a lost Carpenter movie we never got.

17.) Silver Surfer

- A consistent favorite since the team of Dan Slott and Mike Allred took over, The Silver Surfer continued to delight in 2015. Sure, there was some sort-of forced tie-in to Marvel's overarching Secret Wars event, but Slott used the story as an opportunity to have the Surfer face an end-of-universe cataclysm. Mostly though, the pairing of a humanized Surfer with his human companion Dawn Greenwood gives the book a whimsical, space-adventure feel. Mike Allred's one-of-a-kind art (seriously, the guy is simply the best) only adds to the cosmic grooviness of it all.

18.) Batman

- Under the watchful eye of writer Scott Snyder, the monthly Batman book has been DC's most consistent source of quality storytelling for the last five years, since the dawn of the "New 52." This year, Snyder aimed high and took risks. After an apocalyptic final confrontation between Batman and The Joker, both go missing. To fill the vacuum, Commissioner Gordon assumes the roll of Batman - donning a mechanized Bat-Suit to help him fight Gotham's criminal element. The result is a new kind of Batman - part policeman, part hero. And it's been a wild ride so far - following Gordon's struggles as The Bat, following the mystery of what happened to Bruce Wayne, and following Snyder and artist Greg Capullo as they continue to redefine and re-shape Batman.

19.) The X-Files: Season 11

- Yeah, I'm incredibly psyched that The X-Files will be back on TV in January. It's been a long time coming. But luckily, the excellent comics series has done a good job of keeping the fire burning and the quest for the Truth going in the show's absence. In particular, "Season 11" has been a step up from previous X-Files books, delivering sequels to fan-favorite episodes like "Home," as well as a very compelling myth-arc about a returned, grown-up Gibson Praise who's gone over to the dark side even as he's become more powerful than ever. The series does a great job of capturing the voices of the characters, and has set the stage nicely for things to come - both on and off the air.

20.) Bitch Planet

- Kelly Sue DeConnick's grindhouse feminist sci-fi women-in-prison story is, you guessed it, one of a kind. Insane in the best way possible, the series is wildly and blatantly about female empowerment, even as it plays with the cliches and extremes of vintage exploitation flicks and grindhouse tropes. The book is powered by a righteous sense of anger and purpose, even as the storytelling is unabashedly fun and over-the-top. I'm digging it, and it no-doubt affirms DeConnick - who created a legion of fans via her work on Captain Marvel and its Carol Corps - as one of the brashest, brassiest voices in comics.

RUNNERS UP:

Harley Quinn
Velvet
Batgirl
Plutona
Sinestro
Howard the Duck
Darth Vader
Secret Wars
War Stories
Chrononauts
We Stand Our Guard
Superman/Wonder Woman
Planet Hulk: War Zone
East of West
Grayson

SPECIAL MENTIONS:

New Comics:  THE GODDAMNED and JACKED

- There were some GREAT brand-new comics that launched at the very end of 2015 that I think deserve mention, if only because they got off to such great starts and will very likely be on the 2016 list. One is the latest from Jason Aaron, THE GODDAMNED - a violent, brutal, uncompromising look at life in the ancient biblical world, pre-Flood, when it was kill or be killed. There's never really been a story like this (save maybe for parts of Darren Aronofsky's movie Noah), and it's clear that this is going to be a hell of a ride. Meanwhile, writer Eric Kripke has made JACKED one to watch in 2016. The story of a middle-aged schlub who gets superpowers, this is a great twist on the classic superhero origin story, written with a distinct comedic voice. I can't wait to see where it goes.

Finales: FABLES and HAWKEYE

- Two all-time classics came to an end in 2015 with one-shot final-issue specials. After a long delay, the final issue of Matt Fraction and David Aja's acclaimed run on Marvel's Hawkeye finally came out, and man, it was a bittersweet moment. The team's run on Hawkeye is one of the best runs of a superhero book - hell, of any comic book - I've ever read. Funny, poignant, poetic, visually-incredible - it's an indisputable modern classic. The finale wrapped up Fraction's take on Clint Barton and Kate Bishop with style and pathos - a fitting exclamation point for an amazing run.

Similarly, the long-delayed Fables finale came out in 2015, ultimately released as an entire volume of the series - in the form of a giant-sized final-issue that featured an epic ending to the long-running series. Saying goodbye to Fables was, for me, a big deal. I'd been reading it since the beginning, having picked up the first trade paperback while in college in Boston. I read Fables every month since, enjoying the main series as well as the spin-offs like Jack of Fables and Fairest. The series had its ups and downs over the years, but I will say that it went out on a high note, with a compelling final storyline that pitted sister against sister, culminating in a final showdown between Snow White and Rose Red. At its peak, Fables was truly something special - a subversive take on classic fairy tale characters, now living in secret in New York City after having been exiled from their homeland. Its versions of classic characters became classic in their own right - with Fables' Snow White, Rose Red, Bigby Wolf, Flycatcher, Boy Blue, Cinderella, Jack of Tales, and countless others becoming all-time favorites of mine as the years went on. And man, talk about all-time great comic book runs. Not only did writer Bill Willingham write hundreds of issues and dozens of story-arcs, but artist Mark Buckingham - his work on Fables - penciling nearly every issue of the series - is one of the greatest ever artistic achievements in comics. Buckingham's incredible, evocative art - with its themed page designs and iconic character looks - was perhaps my favorite thing about this series. In any case, the book is now closed on Fables - happily ever after, etc. No question, one of the great comics of all time.


WRITERS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Jason Aaron (Southern Bastards, Star Wars, The Goddamned)
2.) Brian K. Vaughan (Paper Girls, Saga, We Stand Our Guard)
3.) Ed Brubaker (The Fade Out, Velvet)
4.) Greg Rucka (Lazarus, Black Magik)
5.) Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible)
6.) G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel)
7.) Jeff Lemire (Descender, Plutona)
8.) Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals, Hawkeye)
9.) Mark Millar (Jupiter's Circle, Chrononauts)
10.) Grant Morrison (Multiversity, The Nameless)

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Nicola Scott (Black Magik)
2.) Fiona Staples (Saga)
3.) Sean Phillips (The Fade Out)
4.) Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls)
5.) Mike Allred (Silver Surfer)
6.) Babs Tarr (Batgirl)
7.) Dustin Nguyen (Descender)
8.) Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals)
9.) Ryan Ottley (Invincible)
10.) Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Sets The Stage For a Bold New Generation of Intergalactic Adventure

 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Review:

- We are all Star Wars. That's where we find ourselves in 2015. Growing up, Star Wars was a generation's gateway drug into a universe of sci-fi and fantasy. Before I'd even seen the movies, I knew the characters and the mythic storyline via books and toys and pop-culture pervasiveness. I was too young to have seen the original trilogy in theaters, but it didn't matter - the scope and scale and iconography of George Lucas' creation seeped into my impressionable young mind, as if pushed via Jedi mind-trick. Star Wars gets to you early on. When you're too young for headier sci-fi fare, the larger-than-life world of Star Wars still manages to grab you. And it wasn't even the movies themselves. When I think of my earliest Star Wars memories, I think of paging through childrens' books adapted from the movies. I think of staring at the iconic poster art painted by The Brothers Hildebrandt. I think about the Star Wars-themed episode of Reading Rainbow, about boarding Star Tours at Disney World and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. These experiences were all mostly had in isolation. I don't remember talking about Star Wars with other kids. It was something that spoke to me, but I never thought of it as something that could speak to everyone.

Then the lead-up to the prequels happened, and now, finally, we had *new* Star Wars movies to call our own. In retrospect, the prequels were ... weird. My brother and I went to see all of the special-edition re-releases of the original trilogy as they were released in theaters, and they got me more hyped for all things Star Wars than I'd ever been. Quibbles with Lucas' tinkering aside, seeing the original movies, finally, on the big screen gave me a whole new appreciation for the films - they now entered my teenage consciousness in a fully-formed way. I was chomping at the bit for the next chapters. I vaguely remember leaving Episode I on a total cinematic high. But despite all the build-up, finding a fellow Star Wars fan to geek out with in small-town CT suburbia was still pretty difficult. These still felt like a niche thing. These were movies for fans of the originals, they were movies for fans who held onto Lucas' vision and were willing to go wherever he took us. At the time, I was mostly just so excited for more Star Wars that I barely paused to think about the good and the bad of the actual movie. Caught up in a Duel of the Fates-induced euphoria, I was convinced that Episode I was the bomb-dot-com ... Jar Jar and all.

Enter the internet ... and the rise of fan-sites and the neverending daily conversation about movies and pop-culture - with Star Wars, of course, perpetually front and center. Suddenly, my eyes were open to a world of geek cinema fandom, and the endless cycle of anticipation and nerd-rage that came when a big movie disappointed. I began to read more and more about film. I began to see more movies. Eventually, I went to college and began to study film, and screenwriting, and met all kinds of film fans who could talk about these things intelligently. My enthusiasm for Episode I began to fade the more critically I thought about it, and seeing Episode II - and reacting to it (to a Star Wars movie!) with a resounding "meh" was a low point in my (and many others') relationship to Star Wars. Once, Star Wars was this mysterious, fascinating, tantalizing thing. By the time Episode II came out, it was emblematic of what can happen when a once-storied film franchise takes a turn for the worse. Episode III fared a little better. By the time it came to theaters, I had moved to LA, and found myself surrounded by film fans and Star Wars nerds - and routinely went to movies with packed crowds that cheered and clapped and stood in line for hours to see the next big thing. But by the time Episode III came out, Hollywood movie-making had irrevocably changed. All of that nerd-rage that was born of the prequels was channeled into a new culture of film fandom - one that demanded that blockbuster filmmaking be done with the fans top-of-mind. Internet bloggers and reviewers helped topple big films, and prevent big film franchises from ever even getting off the ground. JJ Abrams himself fell victim to this, when a leaked script of his planned Superman revival was met with such harsh internet criticism that the whole project was scrapped. The increasingly vocal fan community became increasingly influential, and the movies that came out began to reflect it. The embarrassingly bad blockbusters of the 90's gave way to the proudly geeky movies of the 00's and '10's. The lukewarm reaction to the Star Wars prequels was drowned out by the rapturous reaction to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Then came Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and then the Marvel movie empire. The prequel-driven nerd-wars of the 90's ended with the geeks victorious, living in a self-styled world in which nerd-culture was omnipresent. We find ourselves today in a world in which men, women, old, young, black, white - everyone is into this stuff. This is a world in which TV's biggest series no longer star doctors and lawyers, but dragons and zombies. This is a world in which Marvel is a box-office titan. It's a world where sci-fi icons have officially become our universal myths. People used to joke about Star Wars being a religion. It's no longer really a joke. A New Hope was a modern-day creation myth, and from it was spawned the quintessential tale of good and evil for our time. And into this time comes THE FORCE AWAKENS. Into a time when multiple generations have grown up with Star Wars as a way of life. It's a different world then the one I knew as a kid, where this stuff was the secret province of nerds and outcasts. As I said, now: we are all Star Wars.

With all of that said ... the weight of expectation is heavy on THE FORCE AWAKENS. The prequels had the advantage/disadvantage of telling a story whose ending we already knew. Meanwhile, we've been left wondering for years - decades - of what happened *after* the events of the original trilogy. That tantalizing mystery made the choice of the notoriously mystery-loving director JJ Abrams seem all the more appropriate. Abrams has always opposed revealing too much in the marketing of his movies. This has earned him a reputation as a guy who loves to utilize - sometimes to a fault - the proverbial "mystery box" method of storytelling. But it seemed right somehow to give the mystery box guy the keys to the ultimate cinematic mystery box - the box that would finally reveal to us just what the hell happened to Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest after Return of the Jedi.

The power of that mystery - and the thrill of finally seeing this story play out - gives an initial watch of THE FORCE AWAKENS a kinetic thrill the likes of which I've rarely ever felt at the movies before. After seeing the movie, I kept wondering - is this Episode I all over again? Was the thrill of seeing a new Star Wars - one where we had *no idea* what to expect in terms of story (in part thanks to savvy marketing) - so great that it overrode any capacity to properly judge the movie on its own merits?

My initial reaction, upon gathering my thoughts, is that THE FORCE AWAKENS is legit. This is JJ Abram's Star Wars movie through and through, for good and bad. But the good of that is such that it far outweighs the bad. The good is, in fact, the perfect counterbalance to the core problems with the prequels. The thing is: the prequels had a lot of cool stuff in them. They had some memorable action scenes, some fantastic imagery, and a story that - high-level - was a pretty epic tale about a would-be hero's tragic fall from grace. But in the prequels, the devil was in the details. The plotlines were horribly marred by wooden dialogue and characters that felt cut out of cardboard. The prequels were all myth-arc. We never really cared about the characters, because they felt like chess-pieces rather than human beings. But where THE FORCE AWAKENS powerfully pivots is that it's *all about the characters.* The characters in this film - old and new - are holy-crap awesome. And in many ways, that's enough. Is there some sketchiness to the plot? Sure. Are there some plot-points that are frustrating? Yes. But at the end of the day, all is forgiven because the characters take center stage and they are great and memorable and instantly set-up to be fan-favorites forever. If THE FORCE AWAKENS has any one thing going for it, it is this. Its characters are iconic, larger-than-life, but ultimately ... they are *human.* Whereas the prequels often felt cold and alien, THE FORCE AWAKENS bleeds with raw humanity.

In many ways, THE FORCE AWAKENS reminds me a lot of the project that, for me, first put JJ Abrams on the map - Lost. It's interesting, because Lost was one of the first big TV shows that a.) ushered in the age of high-concept, serialized, binge-able TV that we're in today, and b.) because the show, with its pulpy aesthetic and sci-fi mysteries, managed to achieve mass appeal by always keeping the focus on its eclectic and diverse cast of characters (also, much like Lost, THE FORCE AWAKENS is rife with characters who have daddy-issues). If Lost set the template for the modern day pop-cult sci-fi aesthetic, then THE FORCE AWAKENS very much follows suit. It's pop-y, it's full of mysteries, it's seemingly designed to send viewers rushing to the internet to debate its intricacies and attempt to solve its puzzle-box plot-points. In many ways, it feels like a really good and hook-y TV pilot. It's a stage-setter. It's a first chapter. It's a movie that will one day be binge-watched alongside its forthcoming sequels. It ends on exactly the kind of "OMG what-happens-next/what-does-it-all-mean?" cliffhanger that an episode of Lost might have ended on.

The good of this is that the movie propels forward with a nonstop energy. You can't help but hang on every moment, because everything feels new and exciting and not-quite-predictable. The movie darts from set piece to set piece, doling out clues to the bigger-picture storyline in a fashion that will send viewers rushing to Wikipedia post-movie. I mean, you know this is a JJ Abrams movie in the opening seconds. Traditional Star Wars opening crawls have been standard place-setting affairs. Not this one. No, here, there was an audible gasp in my theatrical audience as the first words of the text-crawl became visible onscreen. "Luke Skywalker has vanished." Oh damn. THE FORCE AWAKENS poses and leaves you with *a lot* of questions. If this were a TV show, we'd wait a week for answers. But this is a movie, and so the bad of all this is that we aren't quite sure what is being saved for Episodes 8 and 9 and what's just not there at all. We're not sure what vital info is to be found in the current and future tie-in books and comics and videogames and animated series, and what is just not there because JJ likes his mysteries, dammit. We can't be sure whether to call out some seemingly sloppy storytelling because we're not sure, exactly, what is actually sloppy and what's just being kept intentionally vague because all is yet to be revealed. I've already read a bunch of criticisms of certain coincidences and contrivances where my gut reaction is to say: "yeah, but that will probably be explained in the next movie." But, here's the thing: what if it isn't? And so, in many ways, THE FORCE AWAKENS is a movie that, like a TV series pilot, may only be able to be properly and fully judged in retrospect. And that is, in a way, frustrating. Should not a movie be a complete and closed story in and of itself? Or should we simply embrace the serialized aspect of it all - especially in a world where we are getting things like The Hunger Games and Harry Potter finales split into two movies - and just go with it? The original trilogy, after all, took many cues from old movie serials. And yet ... I've got to wait years for those ever-elusive "answers" (that post-Lost, we know may never even come)? Don't let us down, JJ (and/or Rian Johnson, to whom the Episode 8 reigns will be passed).

But again, all of this trepidation about getting satisfying plot resolution is mostly negated by the awesomeness of the character stuff. As I write this, I am reminded of my own instinctual cringing at the pleas of "it's all about the characters!" that were a perpetual, automatic reply from the Lost showrunners to fans who complained about plot holes and unanswered mysteries. But this is a much different beast, so I'll happily declare that THE FORCE AWAKENS nails its character beats, and nails all of the space-opera stuff in grand fashion. I mean, Star Wars is space opera, and so ultimately this is what matters most. So about those characters ...

Look, I sort of get where some people are coming from when they say that THE FORCE AWAKENS has a lot of echoes of A New Hope - maybe too many. But to me, that complaint is pretty much offset by how fresh its heroes and villains are - and how different they are from any we've seen before in the Star Wars movies. So let's get this out of the way now: Daisy Ridley and John Boyega completely kick ass in this film. They are the next generation of Star Wars heroes, and they are pure rock n' roll, baby. Going in, I was pre-excited about Boyega. He was so great as the lead in cult-favorite Attack the Block that I knew he would be great here. And he exceeds expectations. His character, Finn, is something totally new for Star Wars - he's a stormtrooper who turns against his indoctrination into evil and joins the side of the light. You see, it's been thirty years since the events of Return of the Jedi, and in that time a new incarnation of the evil Empire has arisen. The First Order is a growing threat, and its ranks are populated by a stormtrooper legion comprised of brainwashed soldiers who were kidnapped as children, stripped of free will and free thought, and trained for a single purpose and a life of unquestioning servitude. But Finn breaks free, and in a joyous moment of rebellion he breaks rank and decides that he doesn't want to be a murderer. Boyega expertly conveys the fear and disorientation that comes with breaking free and running away from everything you were. But he also conveys the joy and pride that comes from acting independently and forging one's own identity. Finn is an everyman in a world of larger-than-life heroes and villains. But his unassuming manner can't hide the remarkable strength of will it took to break away from The First Order. Finn is outmatched at every turn. But his basic decency and heart give him a fighting chance. I can't wait to follow Finn in future movies. I can't wait to see where this journey ultimately takes him. He's one of the best-ever characters we've seen in the Star Wars universe, and Boyega delivers one of the most likable, funniest, most heartfelt performances we've yet seen in a Star Wars movie.

I can't wait to see where Finn goes from here. But the single most badass journey within the confines of THE FORCE AWAKENS belongs to Daisy Ridley's Rey. Ridley is fantastic from moment one, giving us yet another totally new character type for the Star Wars films. Rey is a scavenger - a scrappy loner on the desert planet Jakku, a place littered with the ruins of old and long-forgotten battles. Like Luke Skywalker before her, Rey lives a humble life before getting swept up in intergalactic adventure. But unlike Luke's gee-whiz farmboy, Rey is a tough, self-sufficient, highly-capable prodigy who doesn't need the combined mentoring of Obi-Wan and Yoda to forge her into a badass - she already is one. To that effect, I have heard some gripes about Rey actually being *too* competent and awesome. Please. I say it's about damn time that Star Wars gave us a badass female character who's as tough as Han Solo, as determined as Luke Skywalker, and as adept at ass-kicking as Darth Maul. That's not to say that Rey is flawless. Ridley does a fantastic job of portraying Rey as a girl with a hardened shell, who is so single-minded in her own personal quest to find her family that she misses the bigger picture around her, and leaves no room to let others in. It's what makes the burgeoning friendship between Rey and Finn so cool and fun and easy to root for - they are two people who have basically been forever alone realizing the power of human connection and goodness. Aside from all that, Ridley pretty much just breaks out hard in THE FORCE AWAKENS. The entire film is like one giant I'm-a-movie-star-now moment for Ridley. She scales walls like Spider-Man, lays the smackdown with her bo-staff with moves that would make Donatello jealous, and uses force-powers like it's her job. So all hail Daisy Ridley's Rey - the new Queen of the Force.

Before I go further, I'll simply add this: it is pretty damn cool to have a Star Wars film with kick-ass lead characters who aren't all white males. I said it before: it's 2015, and we are all Star Wars. And finally we have a Star Wars movie that reflects that. I love this stuff, and I want everyone to be able to feel the same kind of inspiration that I felt from the original movies. I want there to be no barriers of entry for girls and women and people of color to dig these movies just like I do. And THE FORCE AWAKENS goes a long way towards making that a reality and knocking down those walls.

THE FORCE AWAKENS not only gives us two very unique new heroes, it also gives us a very different kind of villain in Adam Driver's Kylo Ren. Unlike the commanding, imposing, and regal Darth Vader ... Ren is a whiny, temper-tantrum prone, sniveling, emo, mentally-unstable brat. And Driver completely kills it in the role. I've become a fan of Driver over the years, but I wasn't sure how he'd fare as a Star Wars villain. The thing is, Driver brings a level of nuance and depth to Kylo Ren that we haven't really seen in this series so far. Sure, the prequels tried to give Vader/Anakin a more layered backstory, but even with the prequel's origin story, Anakin's flip to the dark side still felt a bit out-of-nowhere and contrived. But in a very short time, Driver completely sells us on Kylo Ren's fractured mental state, making him at once sinister-as-hell yet also oddly sympathetic - with hints that perhaps he has been manipulated into his current state against his will.

Combine the performances of Driver, Boyega, and Ridley and the result is a Star Wars movie that in a short time gives us more genuine emotional investment than all three prequels combined. It's not just that the characters work well in and of themselves - it's that, already, they've got incredible chemistry between them. I'll be honest, I don't know that THE FORCE AWAKENS has any fight scene as intricately-choreographed or as technically-impressive as the big Duel of the Fates face-off from Episode I. But what this movie has - that the prequels and even the original trilogy never quite managed - are big, epic moments that elicit gasps, applause, cheers, and even tears - because they are 100% driven by the characters. I mean, even the original trilogy - I love it - but you sort of watch it at a bit of a remove. It's high-fantasy. But a pivotal scene in THE FORCE AWAKENS between Kylo Ren and Han Solo - holy crap - I was on the edge of my seat, feeling all the feels (as the kids say). THE FORCE AWAKENS works so well because it works on a personal, grounded, emotional level - not just a mythic one.

So ... about Han Solo. As great as all the new characters are, THE FORCE AWAKENS does cash in a lot of nostalgia chips in its strategic utilization of old-favorites. Luckily though, this is not merely a cash-grab for Harrison Ford. In what is undoubtedly the movie's most grin-inducing surprise, Ford comes to play here, and by god he brings it. I mean, this is what we've dreamed of. This is Han Solo returning to action, Chewie by his side. This is Han Solo thrust into two-fisted action, squaring off against hostile aliens, cracking wise, and being awesome. But ... we all know what can happen in the worst-case scenario here. We've all seen Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Luckily, THE FORCE AWAKENS does its returning hero proud. Not only is Han Solo's return a memorable and triumphant one for Ford, but Solo is front-and-center, in many ways the heart and soul of the film. The movie does a lot to ensure that Ford comes out looking good. Solo is written as older and wiser and maybe a bit more sentimental and scarred - but still tough-as-nails and quick with a blaster and quicker with a good quip. And Ford gets to play off of Ridley and Boyega and Driver and feed off of their energy and general awesomeness. But even still, give credit to Ford for suiting up and going all in. The film gives us the Han Solo we wanted and needed and dreamed that maybe one day we'd see again - and for that alone you've got to give it props.

Solo isn't the only returning 'Wars vet, and I will say that THE FORCE AWAKENS very effectively layers in its other big original-trilogy returns. Carrie Fischer is used sparingly but effectively as now-General Leia Organa. Mark Hamill ... well, his biggest new-trilogy moments are clearly yet to come, and I absolutely can't wait to see them. Of course, it's always a pleasure to see Anthony Daniels' C3PO - it's no accident that his big return elicited maybe the biggest round of affectionate applause of the film.

There are also tons of great secondary and tertiary supporting roles in the film. On the side of good, Oscar Isaac is a huge standout as the Resistance's ace fighter pilot Poe Dameron. Poe is a pretty major character here, but I'm guessing he'll have an even bigger part to play in future installments. Isaac brings a charm and swagger to Poe that makes him a lot of fun. But the best thing about Poe may be his infectiously-fun camaraderie with Boyega's Finn. It's very easy to imagine a whole Star Wars movie just about the duo's misadventures. Oh, and of course there's BB-8, a really fun, awesomely-designed droid who is destined to live alongside R2 and C3PO as an all-time fan-favorite and kid-favorite. He's great. On the dark side of things, I really dug Domnhall Gleeson's turn as General Hux - the young face of The First Order, who rallies the regime's troops with entertainingly venomous evil-dictator hate-speech. Hux and Kylo Ren make for a great one-two punch, and their strange sibling-like rivalry is going to be interesting to watch evolve over the course of the new films - very curious to see how it plays out.

There are also a lot of wild cards in the film - characters with a lot of potential that we'll just have to wait and see if they live up to. Chief among the characters in this category is the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke. As played by Andy Serkis, Snoke is a Voldemoort-esque Big Bad who leads The First Order from afar. He appears only as a projection to Hux and Kylo Ren, further adding to his mysterious nature. At first glance, Snoke doesn't have quite the iconic look of Emperor Palpatine - or inspire the same level of awe and fear. But I'm willing to reserve judgement for now. Certainly, I'm incredibly eager to learn more about the guy, and I'm fairly certain that fans will be speculating about Snoke's true nature for many years to come. Meanwhile, there was a lot of early hype about the potential for badassery in the character of Captain Phasma - particularly since she was to be played by fan-favorite Gwedoline Christie of Game of Thrones fame. Phasma emerges from THE FORCE AWAKENS still being all potential. The fact is, she doesn't get much to do in the movie - I kept expecting her to have a major fight scene, but it never came. I've got to figure something was cut out for time. For now, I'll have to keep dreaming of the Phasma/Chewbacca brawl that never came.

Now, as great as most of the characters in THE FORCE AWAKENS are, there are, sadly, some duds. I'm thinking primarily of Maz Kanata, a diminutive, ancient alien creature voiced by Lupita Nyong'o. If Maz is supposed to be this movie's Yoda - well, she sort of misses the mark. The character is hurt from a lack of backstory. Presumably that could be forthcoming, but knowing so little about her makes it frustrating that this previously-unseen character is suddenly presented as an incredibly close confidante of both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. As is, the film leaves us hard-pressed to understand who this character is, exactly, and what her deal is. Plus, she's just not that visually interesting of a creature-design. It's sort of a shame, because Nyong'o is such a striking and powerful on-screen presence that it makes you wish they had just used the actress to deliver a live-action performance, rather than just her voice. The other puzzling character here is Max Von Sydow's Lor San Tekka. Here is another instance where it feels like some kind of important backstory was left on the cutting room floor. Described as an "old ally" of Leia Organa's, we learn so little about Lor that his small but pivotal role is more confusing than intriguing.

THE FORCE AWAKENS feels new and different, but it also nails the original-trilogy aesthetic that seemed sort of off, at times, in the prequels. Abrams and his team clearly took great pains to match the rust-and-dirt, lived-in look and feel of the originals, and all the locations - from the interiors of the First Order's ships to the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon feel just as they should (the Falcon even gets to keep its old-school, 70's-era vector graphics-based targeting system). Despite the fresh coat of paint, this is Star Wars, no question. Overall, Abrams melds the classic Star Wars staples (wipe-cuts, for one) with a shooting style that is notably Abrams'. Mainly, the slickly-directed action scenes and set pieces feel familiar to those who've seen Abrams' two Star Trek films - themselves a sort of direct descendant of Star Wars and Spielberg and 70's/80's big-action filmmaking. But what I touched on earlier definitely holds true - whereas the prequels often tried to wow us with dazzling lightsaber duels and ostentatious, CGI-filled eye-candy, THE FORCE AWAKENS seems to reign things in a bit and really put character first. That leads to multiple action beats designed to be the same sort of big-applause, splash-page moments that have become a staple of modern blockbusters, from LOTR to Marvel movies. What the action here lacks in terms of memorable choreography, it more than makes up for in emotional stakes. That said, there are moments that suffer from Abrams clearly looking for those emotional stakes somewhat at the expense of logical stakes. The introduction of Han and Chewie is a lot of fun - but the whole logistics of how they happen upon the other heroes feels a bit shoddily constructed (the scene also doesn't take advantage of The Raid's Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahmanas as hostile space-baddies - give them their own Raid-in-Space spin-off, dammit!). Similarly, one of the big, climactic Resistance airstrike attack scenes is lacking the sublime simplicity of A New Hope's X-Wing raid on the Death Star. And in general, Abrams has a weird tendency to make space travel between planets feel like a mere hop, skip, and jump. It sort of undermines the concept of a universe filled with hidden secrets and backwater outer reaches.

In some ways, the way that characters in THE FORCE AWAKENS hyper-jump in seconds from planet to planet is emblematic of Abrams' overall approach to the movie. It moves along at a breakneck clip - and because there isn't really time to let things simmer, some of the film's literal and metaphorical journeys feel rushed. Like I said, I don't have a problem with Rey being an uber-competent badass. But there is still some wonkiness in terms of how quickly she develops - abilities-wise and relationship-wise. Similarly, the movie has a lot of plot contrivances - stuff that is, on one hand, great fodder for future writers and directors to more fully flesh-out, but on the other hand, frustrating in terms of the feeling of randomness and coincidence that sometimes pervades the film. Again, this is the good and bad with Abrams. He has a knack for world-building, for character creation, for propulsive narrative - but he tends to leave a lot for others to clean up and make sense of. I suppose that part of my general okay-ness with all of the outstanding questions I have about THE FORCE AWAKENS is that I have a lot of confidence in Episode 8's Rian Johnson to really deliver the big payoffs on this film's set-ups.

THE FORCE AWAKENS ultimately works because it gives us the Star Wars movie that was needed to reignite the franchise. In some ways, it reminds me a bit of Man of Steel. That film had flaws, but for me it was such a satisfying counter-punch to the issues I had with Superman Returns that I was more than willing to overlook them. This one is similar in that, at the end of the day, where the prequels felt flat emotionally, THE FORCE AWAKENS is overflowing with emotion and humanity and spirit in a way that even the original trilogy sometimes lacked. Certainly, this is a post-Game of Thrones, post-Marvel Studios Star Wars. In a referential culture, it was inevitable that this new film would have some wink-y references and some Whedon-esque humor. And it was perhaps inevitable - but not unwelcome - that this Star Wars, in an era where we are all Star Wars - would broaden its thematic scope to include more emotional stakes, more diverse characters, and more something-for-everybody-ness. Does it lose some of the George Lucas-infused auteur-ness in the process? Yeah, no question. But it gains a crowd-pleasing, can't-help-but-root-for-it aesthetic that also pushes the kind of nerd-buttons that we've developed in a post-Lost world. This is a Star Wars that seems designed to inspire endless internet-fueled speculation and think-pieces. Already we see the flood of "10 Questions We Want Answered in the Next Star Wars" clickbait articles. In a way, it's annoying. But in a way ... I mean, my god, we're all (emphasis on *all*) excited about Star Wars again - and we can't wait to see what the hell happens next. Is this all a calculated corporate move, or it is just JJ being JJ? A mix of both, I'd guess. But the bottom line is that this is a Star Wars movie that gives us a lot to be excited about, a lot to guess about, a lot to dream about. It takes me back to those early years when I would sort of piece together the plots of the original films on my own - without having even seen them, by looking at pictures and browsing books and imagining what was going on a long time ago in a galaxy far away.

Time will tell how we view this film years from now. But I want to say that the force is strong here. I want to say that THE FORCE AWAKENS has given us the raw materials needed for what may be a very awesome, very epic journey ahead. If nothing else, it's successfully passed the torch to a new generation of super-cool, infinitely potential-filled characters. This is their story now, just as it is all of ours.

My Grade: A-