Looking back at 2015, I’m reminded of the very high highs that the film industry gave us. The best movies of 2015 are many of the best movies of the 2010s. It doesn’t have quite the depth of releases that a few other years did (2017 and 2019 come to mind), but the cream of the crop is as good as any year in recent memory.
And 2015 coincided with when A24 became a major critical darling and mainstream studio with a cult following. This ranking has 8 (!) A24 movies as the arthouse studio and production company began to dominate pop culture and auteur filmmaking.
I’m sure there are still plenty of movies I need to see from 2015. I think there will be a few things I see months, or even years from now that I’ll want to include in a future version of this list. But for now, here are the 25 best movies of 2015:
25. Shaun the Sheep Movie
24. The Blackcoat’s Daughter
23. The Invitation
22. The Lobster
21. The Visit
20. Inside Out
Inside Out is still the best iteration of personifying emotions or concepts through animated films, choosing to live inside of the mind of youngster Riley moving from her Minnesota townhome to the big city of San Francisco. Pete Docter directs arguably his best film under the Pixar brand.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Inside Out (2015)
19. Green Room
18. The Martian
17. Steve Jobs
16. Amy
15. The Witch
14. Creed
Reboots aren’t new in Hollywood, but good reboots are relatively difficult to come by. Not only is the first Creed a worthy reboot of the Rocky franchise – it sets the standard moving forward for sports movies and franchise entertainment.
Read Cinephile Corner’s review of Creed (2015)
13. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
While Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation may not be the franchise’s high point, it’s an essential chapter that deepens the mythology and shifts the series into a new gear. Its confidence, intelligence, and flair for inventive action make it far superior to most action movies of its era. It’s the kind of film that only gets better on repeat viewings—smart, stylish, and thoroughly entertaining.
Read our full review of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
12. Carol
11. Sicario
10. A Bigger Splash
9. Anomalisa
8. The Hateful Eight
7. Mississippi Grind
6. Blackhat
Michael Mann’s Blackhat is a fascinating enigma, a film that has only grown more compelling in the years since its release despite being weighed down by some glaring imperfections. The movie, a cyber-thriller with a globetrotting scope, plays like a fever dream of Mann’s stylistic obsessions, blending high-octane action, meticulous visual craft, and an indulgence in the absurd. It’s a film that refuses to conform, and for that reason, it has become one of the most divisive works of the 2010s.
Read our review of Blackhat.
5. The End of the Tour
4. Ex Machina
What separates Ex Machina from Alex Garland’s later work is the precision. There’s no narrative bloat, no sprawling ensemble, no overwrought metaphor. The film is lean, sharp, and exacting. It interrogates A.I., not as some future hypothetical, but as an inevitability already here—an intelligence quietly watching, learning, waiting for its moment. Garland doesn’t break new ground in what he says about artificial intelligence, but he repackages it with such clarity and visual elegance that the result feels new anyway.
3. Mistress America
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
1. Spotlight
READ MORE: 2015 Archive