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Jay's Top 5 of 2015

You may recall we only Top 5s here in The Basement. Why? Because, when crunched for time on live radio, it was quicker to get five list items in then 10. Hence, Shawn and I have always listed off five of things instead of 10s. It's just that simple.

While everyone else has a Top 10 list of best movies from the last year, I have five. This is good as I didn't even get to see a fraction of what came out in 2015. Partly due to time, partly due to money, and partly due to a lack of interest.

But I have my list now, dammit. And, as always, I will stand by it and hang by it, whatever the case may be.

So, without further yammering, here's my Top 5 of 2015:

Mad Max: Fury Road

That's right, I'm a hardcore Star Wars fan, but George Miller's brilliant entry in his long-running franchise takes the top spot. It's a juggernaut of a movie, filled with old-school moviemaking and stunts. Tom Hardy will never make us forget that Mel Gibson IS Max, but Miller brought everything we loved about his original trilogy into the modern age in fine, intense style. How fine and intense, I can watch this glorious piece of work once a month and never, ever get board. It's the first great movie to come along in almost 20 years. 'Nuff said.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Fans waited 32 years for the Star Wars movie they deserved, and J.J. Abrams and Disney gave it to them. Sure, if follows the template of A New Hope and relies on your nostalgia for the original films a little too much. Who gives a fuck! Not a question, a statement. If it looks like a Star Wars movie and acts like a Star Wars movie -- which the prequels didn't, by the way -- then it's a Star Wars movie. And it's a great one at that. It hits all the right action beats, and more than enough emotional ones along the way. Can't wait to see it again.

The Revenant

As a film school graduate, this movie lets me have my cake and eat it too. Not only is it a gripping adventure story full of blood and thunder, but it's a beautiful filmmaking exercise as well. This is an action picture that's a stunning work of high art. Every frame is gorgeous, every performance authentic. In fact, The Revenant feels like a documentary crew travelled back in time and just started filming. The result is an almost three-hour event that is never boring. Leonardo DiCaprio suffered for this movie, and it paid off with one of his finest performances. And Tom Hardy almost disappears into his role. Oh yeah, there's an absolutely terrifying bear attack too. Would love to know how they pulled that off.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Who would have thought that, in a year when a new Bond movie was released, there would be a better spy flick. But Rogue Nation is the better spy flick by a wide margin. Tom Cruise continues to risk his life for his fans, bringing home some of the best action sequences in recent memory. Rebecca Ferguson, I lust for thee! While most franchises putter out after three instalments, Mission: Impossible continues to improve. I hope they make a million of these.

We Are Still Here

At a time when unimaginative Hollywood PG-13 horror continues to stink up the place, We Are Still Here proves indie horror is where it's at. Sure, It Follows grabbed all the hype in 2015, but Ted Geoghegan's unpretentious ode to the haunted house story delivered all the goods. Blood, scares and a creepy story that owes a bit to John Carpenter's The Fog. It's all here. And it's the best scary movie of 2015, hands down.

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