Happy New Year fellow film fan,
A lot has been happening at AroVideo which we will update you about very soon, but in the meantime we want to focus back on something that got a little neglected amid all the business hoopla: the films themselves!
It might have been our annus horribilis, but 2015 yielded a suprisingly solid crop of films on DVD/Blu-Ray. Our Top 50 ranking might be less democratic in process than it is in spirit, but it’s designed to give reliable guidance to what might be a "typical" AroVideo customer. We usually favour those "outside the box" over the formulaic, though sometimes the formula can be exceptional in execution.
Agree? Disagree? We’d love you to add your own star-rating and review/comment on any film to our website, or add any of those listed here to your personal wishlist when logged in to your My-Aro account.
AROVIDEO TOP 50 DVDS RELEASED IN 2015:
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1. Salt of the Earth
Peerless portrait of fearless artistry and humanitarianism
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2. Mad Max: Fury Road
This propulsive, epic freak show was the event picture of the year
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3. Nightcrawler
A bracing, razor-sharp satire of news media cynicism
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4. Inside Out
Immaculate Pixar animation about the human mind and maturity
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5. Pride
A broadly appealing yet authentic account of 1980s gay activism
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6. Birdman
Oscar-winning backstage drama that wrestles art and commerce |
7. Boyhood
A bold cinema experiment 12 years in the making
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8. Interstellar
Bravura space epic from the dir. of Inception |
9. Whiplash
Intense, dynamic melodrama of musical obsession
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10. Ex Machina
Sterile but sensationally stylish sci-fi drama
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11. Gone Girl
Brilliantly twisted Hollywood thriller for our times
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12. Wild
Vividly cinematic account of one woman’s lone trek |
13. Force Majeure
Piercing Swedish black comedy about gender politics
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14. Love is Strange
Delightful NY drama about modern family dynamics
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15. The Drop
First-rate, slow-burn NY crime drama
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16. Kingsman: The Secret Service
Dazzling "politically incorrect" secret agent spoof |
17. Spy
Hilarious, girl-empowered secret agent spoof
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18. Man Up
London-set romantic comedy packed with wit and chemistry
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19. Love and Mercy
Sensitive and nuanced portrait of troubled Beach Boy Brian Wilson
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20. Marshland
Gritty yet sumptuous Spanish noir thriller set in the 1980s
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36. Inherent Vice
Faithful adaptation of Thomas Pinchon’s barmy novel
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37. Paddington
Adorable, affecting reboot of the beloved Brit bear
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38. Dior and I
Fabulous fly-on-the-wall film for fashion freaks |
39. Foxcatcher
Mature meditation on the American dream gone awry |
40. Slow West
Off-beat, stylish Western shot in NZ
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46. The Guest
Gleefully ghoulish comic-thriller about an unhinged war vet
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47. The Homesman
Haunting, auteur Western from Tommy Lee Jones |
48. Song One
Overlooked indie gem boasts sentimental restraint
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49. Night Moves
Satisfyingly low-key indie eco-thriller
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50. The Congress
Live/animated hybrid is a weird/wonderful film biz deconstruction
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2015 was a particularly strong year for Children’s cinema, with these additional contenders: The Boxtrolls, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Cinderella, Big Hero 6, Tomorrowland, Minions, Paper Planes, Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot, Alexander, Japan’s When Marnie Was There and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and France’s Nicholas on Holiday.
These also made the not-so-short list for the Best of 2015 ~
In Drama (US): Selma, Still Alice, The Immigrant, The Skeleton Twins, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. In Drama (UK/Ire): The Imitation Game, Theory of Everything, Mr. Holmes, Far from the Madding Crowd, Testament of Youth, X+Y, Noble, Jimmy’s Hall, My Old Lady, Lilting, and The Falling. In Comedy: While We’re Young, What We Did on Our Holiday, St. Vincent, Obvious Child, Results, Dope, Dear White People. In Documentary: Particle Fever, Advanced Style, Women He’s Undressed, Dinosaur 13, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Rewind This!, Tim’s Vermeer, National Gallery, Finding Vivian Maier, Sunshine Superman, Gore Vidal: United States of Amnesia, Banksy Does New York, The Green Prince, Citizenfour, Life Itself. In Foreign language: Diplomacy, Eden, Eastern Boys, Siddharth, The Nightingale, Love at First Fight, In Bloom, The Keeper of Lost Causes, In Order of Disappearance, The Mafia Kills Only in Summer. In Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Ant-Man, The Hobbit - Battle of Five Armies, Jurassic World, Chappie, Coherence, Spring. In Action/Crime: Fury, A Most Violent Year, American Sniper, Rosewater, The Salvation, The Gift, John Wick, Cop Car, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Black Sea. In Music: Into the Woods, God Help the Girl, Get On Up, Jimi: All is By My Side, The Punk Singer, Cobain: Montage of Heck, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. In Young Adult: Trash, The Kings of Summer, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Maze Runner, Project Almanac. On from the Edge: Turbo Kid, Deathgasm, Wetlands, Welcome to New York, Maps to the Stars, Amer, Love 3D, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?, Paradise: Love.
For further recommendations, you can browse the AroVideo Top 50 Films of 2014 newsletter and stand-by for our Best TV shows of 2015 and also our Staff Picks of 2015 (the jury is still in session)...
Speaking of "Best of’s", the inaugural release of Utu Redux on our own AroMedia label received a significant accolade from the world’s most famous videostore clerk, Quentin Tarantino, who dropped by NZ last week and named Utu as "absolutely, hands-down the best New Zealand film of all time" in this interview. Thanks, QT!
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