Wow, and I thought that 2014 had been pretty great. It's been another fantastic year for cinema in 2015, a fairly consistent quality (bar a few stinkers) interrupted by soaring highs at frequent intervals, from films that have showcased new talent in-front and behind the camera to films that prove there is still life in long-running or dormant franchises. Box office be damned, we're talking pure quality here, and it's worth being able to know which films you should have seen in 2015.
As such, below is a list of films that I would consider the "Must See" films released in the UK in 2015. These aren't necessarily the best films of the year, the most artistic or the most "worthy" - these are just great films that I can see having a certain amount of longevity to them, films that impress in a variety of different ways by doing something or multiple things so well that it would a crying shame to have missed out on them.
Bearing in mind that I haven't seen every film released this year, in release date order...
Whiplash
A film about both the risks and rewards of extreme ambition, Whiplash follows aspiring jazz drummer Andrew Neiman as he is tutored by esteemed conductor Terence Fletcher at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory. With brilliant performances from both Miles Teller and J K Simmons, a great jazz soundtrack and a director who manages to make an extended drum solo one of the most captivating sequences of 2015, Whiplash was an early addition to this list and has firmly remained here ever since.
You can read my full review of Whiplash here.
Despite the lengthy gap between Mad Max: Fury Road and the previous instalment in the series, not much has changed for our titular character. His world is fire and blood, and as always he finds himself begrudgingly helping those that need his help - this time, a woman named Imperator Furiosa who is leading a small group of women previously held as 'breeders' as they flee from the clutches of their oppressor, Immortan Joe, the leader of a cult-like tribe of bandits known as the War Boys.
The set-up is simple but the pay off is magnificent. Essentially, Mad Max: Fury Road is a two hour long version of the final chase sequence from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior,
but with everything turned up to 11. The wasteland is bigger and badder
and madder than it has ever been, and there is frequently more
imagination in one shot of Mad Max: Fury Road than there is in
some entire films. Even better, the film doesn't blow all of it's creativity in the
opening chase sequence - new ideas are being introduced throughout, constantly upping the ante as the chase rages on.
