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2) Mad Max: Fury Road

The list format dictates that one film be ranked at one number and one film be ranked at another, but Mad Max: Fury Road creeps up so closely to the #1 spot for this year's films that we can for all intents and purposes consider it tied with Brooklyn. Which is more than appropriate, really. If Brooklyn represents the epoch of classical cinema in 2015, Fury Road represents all that is giddily, gleefully bold and almost experimental about it: whether the question is how dense and thoughtful and reflective you can make a sustained action sequence or how energetic and charged you can make a story about religious fanaticism and resource-sharing, this film is a headlong, 115-minute exclamation point of an answer. Not for a moment does it stop moving, nor does it ever feel rushed or any element feel misplaced. More than just an expertly-handled action film, what we have with Fury Road is an examination and celebration of energy, momentum, and consequence, populated by engaging characters, stunning desert-landscape photography, and a heroine in Charlize Theron's Furiosa that's instantly iconic. It's something truly special.

1) Brooklyn

Here is a film that keeps landing at the top of the list, no matter how I rearrange my criteria. Both of the entries that would otherwise slip by it for movie of the year aren't in consideration for Best Picture, so this is a bit of a win by default. Regardless, Brooklyn does just about everything right. Like my #7 entry, it concerns itself far less with a good-vs.-bad story and much more so with the simple act of survival (albeit in a much less urgent context here).

It tells this story in an unfussy and straightforward way that ends up having all sorts of little observations to make about identity: how much of your personality your location informs, what it means to “go home” again, family as support structure and family as liability. It's a timeless film to look at: shot digitally with a clear, bright aesthetic that nevertheless does an admirable job of reconstructing 1950s-era New York and Ireland, with a use of color and light that almost leaps off the screen. And it contains a truly brilliant performance by Saoirse Ronan as Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey. It is above all else a generous and beatific film, one that well earns its place on this list.

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