15) The Good Dinosaur – Circle Of Family
Let me get this out of the way right now: I think The Good Dinosaur is the best Pixar movie of 2015. Gasps over? Okay, let me try to explain.
On a purely storytelling perspective, I get that Inside Out is running circles around Arlo and Spot, no doubt there. But Inside Out left me somewhat cold back in June (yeah the finale still got me, and yeah subsequent viewings are slowly winning me over), but the minute I left The Good Dinosaur I was in love.
That’s probably mostly due to the fact that I have a soft spot for animated movie characters that aren’t dogs, but act like them (How To Train Your Dragon, Lilo and Stitch, too many others). I appreciated The Good Dinosaur‘s slower pace and simpler tale after the amount of explanation Inside Out needs to successfully win you over. And it’s that aspect of the film that’s at the center of my top moment of 2015 here.
Once Arlo and Spot have braved a few prickly situations together, the two take a reprieve on a beach. Arlo talks about missing his family, while dialogue-free Spot looks at him confusingly. In an attempt to bridge their language barrier, the baby apatosaurus uses stick figures, knocking over the one for his dead dad.
It connects, and the toddler does the same, burying both of the taller parent figures, leaving lonely Spot alone in the circle in the sand. It extends the wordlessness of Wall-E‘s opener in a targeted emotional wave of devastation and culminates in the story’s second-to-last scene (bonus top moment of 2015!), where Arlo uses that sequence on the beach to give an Iron Giant-esque you stay, I go, no following order that, call me crazy, trumped the death of any imaginary cotton candy creature.
– Mitchel Broussard
14) Avengers: Age Of Ultron – Â The Ultimate Pissing Contest
Arguably the most powerful Avenger, Thor has everything going for him. Not only is he next in line for the Asgardian throne, but Thor’s rippling physique and long flowing locks set him far apart from the rest of us mere mortals… which is why it’s so funny when the other Avengers try to pick up his hammer and nearly succeed in doing so.
After the team have had a few drinks at a party, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes compete to see who’s worthy enough to lift Mjolnir. Surprisingly, each in turn fails to lift the enchanted hammer until only Captain America remains. For a moment, it seems like Steve Rogers may actually have a chance, and the look that appears on Thor’s face is priceless.
For a movie that many chastised as too serious, this remains one of the funniest moments yet in the MCU. What we don’t realize at the time is that the banter also has serious plot implications, setting up a scene later in the film when the team learn to trust the Vision, Ultron’s android creation.
– David Opie
13) Spy – It’s The Bulgarian Clown In You
Since the worldwide success of Bridesmaids made Melissa McCarthy a leading lady in the world of comedy, subsequent films like Tammy and Identity Thief have been somewhat hit and miss. All of that changed though when Spy hit cinemas earlier this year, finally showing off McCarthy’s true potential in a gut-busting parody of classic spy movies.
The real surprise of the movie though was Rose Byrne, whose performance as the spoilt daughter of a criminal mastermind stole every scene. To repeat the film’s best jokes here would do you a disservice, so instead, just sit back and watch the scene embedded above. All you need to know is that McCarthy’s character is working undercover as Rayna’s bodyguard and so has to endure every barbed insult that Byrne’s character can throw at her.
Trust us. You’ll never look at Bulgarian clowns the same way again.
– David Opie
