It was a year of comebacks. The Avengers! Mission: Impossible! Mad Max (concussion inducing level of exclamation marks)!!!! And, of course, the highest grossing domestic film of all-time (sans inflation): Star Wars. What’s great is that almost everything was good.  Almost.

I recommend all on the list except the starred.

In Theater

I was on a movie poster!

Selma

The Imitation Game

*The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

My Last Wife

Starring: Me!

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Tom Cruise did that stunt.

*Jurassic World

Ant-Man

*The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II

Why the final Hunger Games movie is disappointing.

Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens

When you’ve seen it (because spoilers!), read this take on the movie, the storytelling, and what could be next.

Home Theater (previously unseen)

Big Hero 6 (On Airplane)

LA Confidential (On Airplane)

The Fountain

Bring a box of tissues.

Gone Baby Gone

The Fall

The Interview

Inside Out

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Three Takeaways

1. The one movie on this list you must see: Inside Out.
2. Praise Gandalf The Hobbit monstrosity is over. A summation of the films can be distilled into No Apologies Advocate answer to the question, “What was your favorite part?” when coming out of the first Hobbit: “I really like Gandalf’s hat!”
3. The Interview is stupid funny. Have a bad week, grab an adult beverage and laugh at it more than it deserves.

Acknowledgements

My Last Wife Cast/Crew: Alicia, Amati, Brandon, Casey, Dalton, Jonathan, Kirstin, Mike, Sally, Thomas, and Trudy. Thanks for the fun time.

Fellow Cinephiles: Amanda, Andy, No Apologies Advocate, Sarah, Susan. And Brian, David, and Ebo because I love talking movies with them.

(Note: The post “Movies 2015” was originally posted on January 9, 2016 via the author’s Facebook page. Updates have been made.)