The Top 10 Films of 2015: Boxers, Hipsters, Doof Warriors and STDs
8. Ex Machina (Alex Garland)
The three actors in Ex Machina, effectively if not technically the only three, all had big years: Domhnall Gleason, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander each appeared in multiple films, including a new Star Wars for the boys. But none of them were better than in this simple, unnerving sci-fi discussion piece pitting a dissolute billionaire (Isaac), his advanced-AI robot (Vikander) and his programmer employee (Gleason) against each other in a three-way psychological duel. Also, Isaac pulls a total Sam Rockwell in the year’s best dancing scene.
7. While We’re Young (Noah Baumbach)
Typical Baumbach in his first of two features this year: more tenuous, tentative friendships across generations, this time between a fortysomething couple and a couple of twentysomething hipsters. I heard this derided as an extended Seinfeld episode. Wasn’t Seinfeld one of the funniest shows ever?