Top 5 American Films of 2015 “Carol” “Anomalisa” “It Follows” “The Mend” “Heaven Knows What” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Foreign Films of 2015 “Ex Machina” “Taxi” “Mad Max: Fury Road” “Hard To Be a God” “Clouds of Sils Maria” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Documentaries of 2015 “The Look of Silence” “Heart of a Dog” “We Come as Friends” “Amy” “The Russian Woodpecker” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Directors of 2015 Todd Haynes, “Carol” George Miller, “Mad Max: Fury Road” Hou Hsiao-Hsien, “The Assassin” Sean Baker, “Tangerine” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, “Mustang” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Actors of 2015 Michael Shannon, “99 Homes” Géza Röhrig, “Son of Saul” Rory Culkin, “Gabriel” Liev Schreiber, “Spotlight” Steve Carell, “The Big Short” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Actresses of 2015 Rooney Mara & Cate Blanchett, “Carol” Brie Larson, “Room” Elisabeth Moss, “Queen of Earth” Kristen Stewart, “Clouds Of Sils Maria” Alicia Vikander, “Ex Machina” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Screenplays of 2015 “Anomalisa” “Carol” “Spotlight” “Steve Jobs” “The Big Short” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Cinematography of 2015 “Carol,” Ed Lachman “The Assassin,” Mark Lee Ping Bin “Sicario,” Roger Deakins “In the Shadow of Women,” Renato Berta “The Revenant,” Emanuel Lubezki —Ray Pride
Top 5 Composers of 2015 Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips, “Mistress America” Jean-Louis Aubert, “The Shadows Of Women” Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, “The Revenant” Carter Burwell, “Carol,” “Anomalisa,” “Legend,” “Mr. Holmes” Daniel Pemberton, “Steve Jobs” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Shorts “Sanjay’s Super Team,” Sanjay Patel “Bad at Dancing,” Joanna Arnow “Bite Radius,” Spencer Parsons Last 25 minutes of “The Walk,” Robert Zemeckis “Blood Below the Skin,” Jennifer Reeder —Ray Pride
Top 5 Fascinating Misfires of 2015 “By The Sea” “Ned Rifle” “Aloha” “Youth” “Chi-raq” —Ray Pride
Top 5 Endings of 2015 “Phoenix” “Carol” “45 Years” “Ex Machina” “Steve Jobs” —Ray Pride
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
