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3. Inside Out

It has been a while since an animated movie makes it this high up my favorites of the year, but repeated viewings of Inside Out leave no question that it deserves whatever accolade it receives, and more. It was arguably Shrek that began the series of movies that can appeal to adults while being aimed at children that have mercifully carried on to this day. But to say that Inside Out has transcended that genre into the genre of animated movie for adults that may also appeal to children is no exaggeration of its merit. You can praise the animation itself and the delightful voice-acting, particularly of Phyllis Smith as the central pro-antagonist Sadness, but it is in the beauty of its symbols where the brilliance of this movie lies.

It is not just the allegories about mind and memory, the thoughtful message about the importance of sadness to one’s psyche, that make this movie so memorable. It’s the particles of each element that display its brilliance. The analysis of the psyche, both in its wit and its cleverness, are unparalleled, and the overall embrace of what it means to be a growing child in a rapidly changing world, without the “oh it was so much better in my day” cynicism that has come to characterize many a young adult picture, complete a perfect circle, and what is nearly a perfect movie.

2. Carol

Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven was among the best movies of the 2000s, and his return to the… 1950s sexual repression genre? is among the most memorable of 2015. You’ve heard of the stunning portrayals by both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara of two closeted lesbians living in upper middle class society in the 1950s. You’ve heard of the haunting cinematography, the blurry use of colors and the touchy sentimentality that colors the movie. You’ve heard of the powerful screenplay adaption by Phyllis Nagy of the Patricia Highsmith novel, and of the nuanced scenes that evoke love and beauty with artistic perfection. But what’s really worth looking for in the unforgettable Carol is the complex relationship between the self and the other, between the growing love for oneself and for another being.

Therese, Mara’s character, is the young ingénue that for the first time is discovering her sexuality. As she does so, she discovers herself, she inspires herself, she learns things about herself. The character is so simple and yet so vastly difficult to read it is almost impossible to believe it is flanked by an equally layered, if slightly more enigmatic Carol, the experienced yet slightly troubled married woman living trapped in suburban society. In doing what he does best - exploring what every day humans in every day olden society were like - Haynes delivers an emotional counterpunch that is as timely as the issues of gay marriage that arose in 2015, as important to the history of queer cinema as Brokeback Mountain, and is accomplished in its craft as any other movie on this list.

1. Steve Jobs

But it is undoubtedly the much-maligned Steve Jobs that I have returned to with the most intrigue in 2015. The story, as you likely know, centers on three discrete chapters of Jobs’ life, preceding the launch of three products in his illustrious career. I have written a lengthy defense of Steve Jobs piece for the Oscar column already, and won’t repeat all that rant here. Suffice to say, however, that the key to realizing the brilliance of this movie is to view it not as a story about a real man you think you know and about whom you have undoubtedly strongly-held views, but as a soap opera about a fictional character who is intriguing, brilliant, as well as truculent and coarse.

The most perfect element of this intellectual diatribe is undoubtedly the Aaron Sorkin script, his best since The Social Network. It has been correctly called a companion piece to that movie, in fact, given that it analyzes in non-redundant ways the manner in which flawed geniuses can captivate, and theorizes that brilliance and good moral character may not always be compatible. Not to be forgotten, of course, are Michael Fassbender’s performance as the megalomaniac entrepreneur, and Kate Winslet as his anchoring advisor. Despite Danny Boyle’s at times flamboyant direction, the movie overall is tight within its three-act structure. It is, at times, impossible to look away.

Two scenes, in particular, serve as (not accidentally, if you pay attention to the infinite references) operatic crescendos and denouements - the Jeff Bridges fight scene at the heart of the movie, and the climatic look between Jobs and his alienated daughter, as the music rises to deafening levels. The movie ends up working at every level, and is constructed so meticulously as to be an analogy for Jobs’ compulsive visions himself. Fassbender is Jobs, but not really. The real Jobs is an enigmatic man, but what we got in the fictional one on screen is much more interestingly so.

These are the movies that moved me in particular in 2015. Undoubtedly they are different than yours. And, even more undoubtedly, they will be different than those which will soon prove to move the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Let the hatred begin.

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