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
12. Carol
11. Sicario
10. A Bigger Splash
9. Anomalisa
8. The Hateful Eight
7. Mississippi Grind
6. Blackhat
5. The End of the Tour
4. Ex Machina
3. Mistress America
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
1. Spotlight
READ MORE: 2015 Archive
More Rankings and Lists from Cinephile Corner
- The Brutalist Review: Brady Corbet’s 3+ Hour Epic Falls Short of Greatness
- A Complete Unknown Review: Timothée Chalamet’s Pinpoint Imitation of Bob Dylan Overshadows a Biopic With Messy Plotting
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig Review: Mohammad Rasoulof’s Tense Family Thriller Earns Its Runtime
- Small Things Like These Review: Cillian Murphy Stumbles Through Christmas in Small Town Ireland
- Carry-On Review: Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman Play Cat and Mouse in New Netflix Airport Action Thriller
- Nightbitch (2024)
- Flow Review: Latvian Animated Movie Uses Blender Graphics to Unique Effect
- Nickel Boys Review: RaMell Ross’ Film Adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel is a Major Achievement
