There are dozens of great and not so great films that will unspool before 2015 ends, but here are 10 films that you really have to watch, from lesbian love affairs to transgender hookers and punk rockers trying to survive a Nazi skinhead rampage.
CRIMSON PEAK – GUILLERMO DEL TORO
Just in time for halloween, Guillermo Del Toro drops a romantic gothic horror. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, she plays the character of an aspiring author who falls in love with a mystery man played by Tom Hiddleston.
DOPE – RICK FAMUYIWA
This 90s hood film references the Golden Age of rap and the outdated notions of “blackness”, Dope is a coming of age film that brings a breath of fresh polyracial air. The film is set in LA and stars Nigerian-American nerd Malcolm, played by Shameir Moore who’s obsessed with getting into an Ivy League while also struggling to lose his virginity. A$AP Rocky also makes an appearance as a drug dealer in this pretty dope teen film.
THE END OF THE TOUR – JAMES PONSOLDT
This film unveils the myth surrounding American author David Foster Wallace who took his own life in 2008. Adapting Rolling Stone’s write up memoir about their iconic five day interview with Wallace, Podst takes a stab at it. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel.
LIFE – ANTON CORBIJN
Life is a biographical 1950s-set drama that centers around James Dean and Life Magazine photographer Dennis Stock, played by Dane Deenan and Robert Pattinson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMMwg4RoaRU
THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT – KYLE PATRICK ALVAREZ
If the idea of prison sends chills down your skpine, you might want to skip this painful show of an infamous 1971 psych study gone wrong by a Stanford professor. The film features an intense performance by Ezra Miller.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTOM – F. GARY GARY
The film everyone has been talking about, Straight Outta Comptom is a N.W.A biopic that highlights how little has changed since Ice Cube, Dr.Dre, McRen, DJ Yella and Eazy-E first rocked the airways in the Mid-80s with “F*** Tha Police” and their other angry anthems of hood life and institutionalised Racism. Using music as their sole weapon, N.W.A made their message clear: Black Lives Matter.
THE DANISH GIRL – TOM HOOPER & LASSE HALLSTRÖM
This film follows a love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. The film follows the couple’s groundbreaking journey during Lili’s transition as a transgender female.
I AM MICHAEL – JUSTIN KELLY
Religious extremism doesn’t get more queer than Michael Glatze, played by James Franco, a gay activist and magazine editor who lived with his long-term boyfriend played by Zachary Quinto. Michael Glatze then makes a sudden turn from being a gay activist to a Christian pastor who is “saved” from his sexuality after turning to God.
GREEN ROOM – JEREMY SAULNIER
The film follows a struggling punk band from Oregonian that takes a last minute gig in a backwater venue filled with white supremacists.
CAROL – TODD HAYNES
The film is a 1950s New York set drama about a married woman who falls for a young deportment store clerk played by Rooney Mara.