My Favorite Movie Moments from 2015

This was a hard list for me this year. Why? I started this list with 12 moments. 12 moments! After much sacrifice, I rattled that list down to 7. Yes I may have cheated a bit on number 5, buuuuuut bite me. This post is always one of my favorites in the year in review lists, so I can do what I want. (Sassy Joe is sassy) Ok enough of me talking, let's talk about my picks for my favorite movie moments of 2015!

WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR STAR WARS AND SPECTRE. I mean at this point if you haven't seen Star Wars you have no excuse to be upset for something being spoiled, but I just wanted to give you fair warning. Alright moving on!

Honorable Mention: Dino Porn

The only great moment from this film, the final dino fight in Jurassic World is a fun scene to watch. Does it making forcing yourself through 100 minutes of dino crap to get to it? No. Does it justify this film being the 4th highest grossing film of all time? Absolutely not. But I cannot deny that this is a fun scene, and there's even a great ode to Steven Spielberg with this scene attempting a famous Spielberg oner, which, by the way, is filming a shot in one take but hiding the one take in the background so you don't necessarily notice it. (There's a 70 second take starting at 1:45 if you didn't know) Buuuuuuuuut even this is a superficial ode at best since it failed to incorporate arguably the most important aspect of the Spielberg oner: the fact that the camera basically stays in one place. That's how he hides it. The only reason the single take might get by you here is because there's a sensory overload on screen and among the 18 million things happening you may let slip the fact that there isn't a cut. But I digress. Still a fun scene, but let's talk about some good scenes in good films now, shall we?

Honorable Mention-Steve Jobs is Removed from Apple

God I love Aaron Sorkin dialogue. His know-it-all style makes any scene awesome, and never was there a moment where this was more prevalent in Steve Jobs than when the man is removed from Apple. The music swells and is dramatic, there's great symbolism outside the board room in the raging storm, and, of course, there's that sexy Sorkin dialogue. Just narrowly missing my top 5, Steve Jobs removal from Apple is certainly the pinnacle of this great film and extremely deserving of a spot on this list.

5) The Long Take (SAn Andreas, Creed, Jurassic World, ETC.)

So if there's one thing that will be remembered in 2015, it is the long take. Several films employed fairly obvious oners throughout the year to varying degrees of success, but the long take was definitely employed more this year than it has been in a long time. See back in the early days of cinema directors would employ the long take to help speed up the pacing of their story, but their long takes would often be hidden, like what we know as the Speilberg oner today. However nowadays, it's all about having as much crap happening during your long take as humanely possible. Like this. (Which, holy crap please do yourself a favor click on that link....that may be the best long take ever filmed.) While several of these were great, the one that really stood out to me as the best of the year was from San Andreas. I've heard a lot of people bash this film, and I really don't know why: yes, it's a mindless disaster movie. But it KNOWS it's a mindless disaster movie. And the filmmakers actually cared about what they were making! If not, then why would they have filmed the scene above the way they did? They were just going for trying to be as crazy and fun as possible, and this scene certainly succeeded at that. Check it out!

4) Spectre-Blofeld's Reveal

(Sorry couldn't find the actual scene, but it's way better than this one.) So, note the part where I said these were my favorite movie moments of 2015. Not the best. Because the scene where Blofeld reveals himself is definitely not a technically awesome scene or anything. It's just exposition. I mean Khan's reveal in Into Darkness was a better scene from a "technical" standpoint. But I've also waited YEARS for Blofeld to return to this beloved franchise, and now that the Fleming estate has FINALLY won the legal battle with scumbag Kevin McClory, I knew the stage was set with this film. And anyone with a brain could see through the thin veil of Christoph Waltz's character to know who he really was, but hiding his true identity till the end of the movie made that moment so much sweeter. I almost cried when we first saw his iconic Persian cat in the scene. It's a beautiful moment, and it made the rest of this otherwise fine Bond film just that much better.

3) Room-Jack's Escape

(Once again I couldn't find the original clip. But this one is just as good!) Honestly this entire film could be on the list, and most years a moment like this would be number 1 on my list. Definitely would've been in 2013 for sure. I was balling my eyes out as Jack made his courageous escape from Old Nick and rolled himself out of the carpet he was in and saw trees for the first time. (That photo at the top of this post encompasses that moment.) The music was beautiful, the cinematography was perfect, and Jacob Tremblay was exceptional. All in all, this moment was one of the best in a film that had great moment after great moment and made me cry more than any other film in 2015. The emotional struggle is real.

2) Star Wars-Han Solo's Death

Ya. Anyone with a brain could see this one coming. So let's talk about this scene. First off, it's not on here because it's the best moment of Episode VII. I know I saw it coming from the moment Kylo Ren's identity was revealed. It's on here because of all the great technical decisions that were made in the filming of this scene. Anyone who says J.J. Abrams is a bad director is an idiot, and this scene is why. So many directors nowadays feel like they have to have noise all throughout their film. They have come to fear the idea of silence. Smart directors know when to use it, and to say J.J. Abrams used silence to perfection is an understatement. When you remember that Star Wars is a space opera with one of the great composers of Hollywood at its disposal, this use of silence becomes even more daring and impressive. Not only that, there is an awesome symbolic moment that happens here too as darkness encompasses the scene in the moment Kylo Ren gives himself to the dark side. Sure this symbolic gesture may have been a little heavy-handed, but it was still a great allegory. And Harrison Ford and Adam Driver are at their best here, making for my second favorite moment of 2015.

1) Mad Max-Sandstorm Scene

I'll keep this one short and sweet, because you better believe this was not only my favorite moment of 2015, it was the BEST moment of 2015. If you don't understand why this film is as good as it is, (and one of the best of the year) you need only watch this clip. The sandstorm is beautiful and terrifying. The score is perfect, and the visuals are second-to-none. I watched this moment over and over again all throughout 2015, and there was never another moment all throughout the year that could beat it. It is the quintessential scene of the film, and the perfect visual summary of the mastermind that is George Miller. Oh what a day. What a lovely day!

So that's it! My favorite moments of 2015. Did you disagree? I'd love to hear what your favorite moments were! Let me know in either the comments here or on my Facebook page. Next up are the most disappointing films of 2015. I'm going all out and putting 10 films on the list this year, so this one might take a few days. But I guess we all have to face the sadness eventually, right?


Image Credit
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTE2MDcwMDMwNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzAxMDY3NjE@._V1_.jpg