:00:00. > :00:00.Why are you smiling? People make mistakes on live television. It
:00:00. > :00:00.happens. I should know. Now we have Mark Kermode with his review of the
:00:07. > :00:20.year in film. Welcome to this review of the year
:00:21. > :00:27.in film. We are here in south London and over the next 30 minutes I will
:00:28. > :00:34.be looking back over the best films to play in 2015. I know that it is
:00:35. > :00:38.fashionable to complain that today's Cinema is formulaic franchises and
:00:39. > :00:39.dreary blockbusters. Back in July, Dustin Hoffman complained that
:00:40. > :00:45.cinema was currently at an all-time cinema was currently at an all-time
:00:46. > :00:49.low. He said in the 50 years I've been doing it, it is the worst.
:00:50. > :00:53.Sorry to disagree but if you think modern cinema has nothing to offer
:00:54. > :00:58.you are looking in the wrong places. From where I'm sitting, the films
:00:59. > :01:11.that played in UK cinemas range from black-and-white to colour, from
:01:12. > :01:16.French to Farsi. There has been few years that have been more diverse.
:01:17. > :01:40.There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
:01:41. > :01:48.Surprise. As always, the year kicked off with awards season. Rather than
:01:49. > :01:52.one movie running away with the trophies the gongs were scattered
:01:53. > :02:02.between several films. Here in the UK the BAFTA for best film went to
:02:03. > :02:14.Boyhood, an extraordinary movie in which we watch a boy grew up. In
:02:15. > :02:20.America, Birdman was the weather, starring Michael Keaton. I liked
:02:21. > :02:28.that poster. You wrote this adaptation? I did. You are directing
:02:29. > :02:34.and starring in it. Other victories included Eddie Redmayne, who won the
:02:35. > :02:42.best actor BAFTA and Oscar for his starring role as Stephen Hawking.
:02:43. > :02:53.Well done, Doctor. An extraordinary theory. Thank you. He is in the
:02:54. > :02:58.awards running once again for playing the title role in the Danish
:02:59. > :03:00.Girl, in which he plays one of the earliest recipients of gender
:03:01. > :03:08.reassignment surgery. When it comes to the Best Actor category all eyes
:03:09. > :03:20.are on Leonardo DiCaprio, who was famously snubbed for Titanic. He is
:03:21. > :03:24.among the frontrunners for his role in The Revenant. It opens in UK
:03:25. > :03:56.cinemas in January. For me, the most hotly contested
:03:57. > :04:04.category at the Oscars was that of Best animated feature. The award
:04:05. > :04:12.went to Big Hero six but among them were some of my favourites. This was
:04:13. > :04:20.a sublime version of a 10th century folktale told with charcoal lines.
:04:21. > :04:30.You could almost feel the Brush Strokes as the proudly hand drawn
:04:31. > :04:36.animation unfolds. Also in contention...
:04:37. > :04:46.This was rooted in folklore and was a ravishing tale of fairies blending
:04:47. > :04:59.magical visuals with music to touch the hearts of young and old alike.
:05:00. > :05:04.Those stories are all true. It opened in July in UK cinemas
:05:05. > :05:09.providing yet further evidence that we are enjoying a golden age of
:05:10. > :05:14.animation, despite the fact that no animated feature has ever won the
:05:15. > :05:18.Best picture award. It continues to be the most exciting and adventurous
:05:19. > :05:26.area of cinema, constantly pushing at the boundaries of the artform. My
:05:27. > :05:29.very favourite film of 2015 is an animation I have re-watched several
:05:30. > :05:34.times since it opened in the summer which has never failed to provoke
:05:35. > :05:41.laughter and tears, the brilliant Inside Out. The moving van will not
:05:42. > :05:48.be here until Thursday. You are kidding. You said it would be here
:05:49. > :05:56.yesterday. That is what they told me. They are stressed out. I don't
:05:57. > :06:09.know what to do. I've got a great idea. She is closing in. Watch out.
:06:10. > :06:18.Grandma... She put her hair up. We are in for it.
:06:19. > :06:27.Taking place almost entirely within the head of its young protagonists,
:06:28. > :06:33.it is like a supercharged version of an old comicstrip but turned into
:06:34. > :06:37.something genuinely profound. When it came to blockbusters, 2015 is
:06:38. > :06:41.Ridley Scott back at the top of his game with The Martian, an adaptation
:06:42. > :06:48.of a book about an astronaut stranded on the red planet trying to
:06:49. > :06:50.stay alive. Matt Damon was terrific in the title role, provoking
:06:51. > :06:58.laughter and empathy in equal measures. This will come as quite a
:06:59. > :07:03.shock to my crewmates and the entire world but I'm still alive. It is
:07:04. > :07:10.going to be four years for another mission to reach me. I've got to
:07:11. > :07:15.make water and grow food on a planet where nothing grows. If I can figure
:07:16. > :07:27.a way to make contact, none of this matters. We've got an incoming
:07:28. > :07:33.message. In your Armstrong. Elsewhere we had the usual superhero
:07:34. > :07:44.movies, from the money spinning Avengers, which opened here in
:07:45. > :07:54.April... To the summer flop revival of the Fantastic Four, almost
:07:55. > :07:57.disowned by the director. We cannot change the past but we can change
:07:58. > :08:17.the future. This is the end of your world and
:08:18. > :08:21.the beginning of mine. Then there was Ant-Man, which many believed
:08:22. > :08:22.would have been better if the original director, Edgar Wright, had
:08:23. > :08:59.not been replaced. On the plus side, the most talked
:09:00. > :09:04.about action fantasy was something really rather remarkable. My name is
:09:05. > :09:17.Max, my world is fire. And blood. Mad Max made technically be a
:09:18. > :09:23.revival but there is something very modern and original about George
:09:24. > :09:31.Miller's dystopian movie which saw Tom Hardy's almost speechless
:09:32. > :09:39.character upstaged at every turn by Charlize Theron. I was born there.
:09:40. > :09:46.Why did you leave? I did not. I was taken as a child. Stolen. Mad Max
:09:47. > :09:53.was just one of several films released in the UK in 2015,
:09:54. > :10:02.suggesting cinema's long established gender bar might be starting to
:10:03. > :10:04.crack. The key of the London film Festival which opened with
:10:05. > :10:09.Suffragette was the role of women in film. There's no doubt that cinema
:10:10. > :10:16.has long suffered from a male biased. It took the Oscars eighth
:10:17. > :10:21.decades to give the top prize of best director to a female director.
:10:22. > :10:25.Perhaps we can take heart from the fact that so many of this year's
:10:26. > :10:32.best films have been directed by women. One of my favourite films of
:10:33. > :10:37.the year was The Falling, an electrifying British tale of mass
:10:38. > :10:41.fainting written and directed by Carol morally. That one person is
:10:42. > :10:44.like three people. The person you think you are, the person other
:10:45. > :10:50.people see and the person you really are.
:10:51. > :11:01.Also from Britain came Second Coming, are wonderfully ambiguous
:11:02. > :11:14.drama about a possible miracle in a secular age with standout turns.
:11:15. > :11:21.Dad, do you wanted to be a boy or a girl? The baby.
:11:22. > :11:33.From France came Girlhood, a vibrant and colourful tale of girls in the
:11:34. > :11:38.food which redefined Morrissey and Street cinema.
:11:39. > :11:49.-- redefined piracy and -- Paris Street cinema.
:11:50. > :12:00.The most unexpected of all, from Iran via America... It was a
:12:01. > :12:05.boundary crossing film, shot in black and white with a Farsi
:12:06. > :12:34.speaking Kast. It is worth remembering that one of
:12:35. > :12:41.the most controversially successful films of 2015 was written and
:12:42. > :12:51.directed by women. 50 Shades of Grey may have won few plaudits but this
:12:52. > :12:57.was scripted by Kelly Marsell and directed by Sam Taylor Johnson.
:12:58. > :13:11.Sadly she will not be returning for the sequels.
:13:12. > :13:27.It may not be a good film but it proved that a movie can be a good
:13:28. > :13:32.hit without being primarily aimed at teenage boys. More importantly, most
:13:33. > :13:36.of the truly great performances in this year were by women. In recent
:13:37. > :13:45.months we've seen Cate Blanchett doing her best work in Carol. Back
:13:46. > :13:51.in February, Julianne Moore picked up the Oscar and BAFTA for her role
:13:52. > :14:02.as a woman with early onset Alzheimer's. I cannot find myself.
:14:03. > :14:09.I've always been so defined by my intellect, my language, my
:14:10. > :14:13.articulation and now sometimes I can see the words hanging in front of me
:14:14. > :14:18.know who I am and what I'm going to know who I am and what I'm going to
:14:19. > :14:31.lose next. Then, the screen was dominated in
:14:32. > :14:36.Brooklyn, the story of a woman torn between her past and Ireland, and
:14:37. > :14:43.her future in America. Hello, mummy? Everybody has gone, a lush, I have
:14:44. > :14:49.nobody. I'm afraid I would not come back. As the Charlotte Rampling, she
:14:50. > :14:55.gave what was hailed as a career-best performance in 45 Years,
:14:56. > :15:00.a film about a marriage threatened by the ghosts of the past. I did not
:15:01. > :15:06.see the point in taking pictures of ourselves. It is a shame. Come on.
:15:07. > :15:13.What are you doing? I'm not prancing around in the living room at this
:15:14. > :15:19.time of night! From Italy, we had me a mandrake, the most rewarding film
:15:20. > :15:25.to date from the director. It is the film-maker struggling to direct a
:15:26. > :15:33.drama while facing up to the loss of her mother. Emily Blunt took the
:15:34. > :15:36.lead in this film, about an FBI agent unwittingly dragged into a
:15:37. > :15:46.cross-border battle with Mexican drug cartels. FBI! You are part of
:15:47. > :15:54.the team! What is our objective? I'm not American. Who do you work for
:15:55. > :16:04.now? While it was a work of fiction, Matthew Hyndman's documentary Cartel
:16:05. > :16:22.Land, provided a dramatic account on drug wars.
:16:23. > :16:29.Produced by Kathryn Bigelow, Cartel Land was one of the highlights of an
:16:30. > :16:33.exceptional year for film-making. Other standouts included Sean
:16:34. > :16:37.McAllister's heartbreaking and timely Assyrian love story, focusing
:16:38. > :16:51.on a family torn apart by political repression and corruption. Look. My
:16:52. > :16:56.God. Mr President. Bashar al-Assad. The president of the Syrian Arabian
:16:57. > :16:57.republic. What you think, when you see that picture? I remember my
:16:58. > :17:09.mother. These boys take my mother. Do you know why they took her?
:17:10. > :17:13.Because she wrote a book. This was also the year where Amy, a portrait
:17:14. > :17:20.of singer-songwriter Amy Whitehouse, became one of the most successful
:17:21. > :17:23.documentaries ever in UK cinemas. I had nothing new coming out at the
:17:24. > :17:30.times that represented me or how I felt, I started writing. I won't
:17:31. > :17:34.write anything unless it was directed personal to me, I would not
:17:35. > :17:39.be able to tell the story right. -- directly. I'm not a girl trunk to be
:17:40. > :17:46.a star or be anything other than a musician. How big do you think you
:17:47. > :17:53.are going to be? I don't. I don't think I'm going to be at all famous.
:17:54. > :17:58.I don't think I can handle it, I would probably go mad, you know what
:17:59. > :18:03.I mean? I would go mad. Personally, my favourite documentary of the year
:18:04. > :18:13.was the man who would be King, an unexpectedly moving account of Jimmy
:18:14. > :18:21.Ellis. Wedged you come from? I was born in the studio. -- where did. Do
:18:22. > :18:26.you take off your mask? Only when I go through customs. Julian
:18:27. > 0:11:34Terminator Genisys selector for a late ecstasy of Wilco Johnson, a
0:11:35 > 0:11:34film that discovers its own mortality, and discovers the
0:11:35 > 0:11:34prospect of death makes him feel more alive than ever. When I
0:11:35 > 0:11:34received the verdict, it told me I had ten months to live, and with
0:11:35 > 0:11:34chemotherapy, perhaps one year. Chemotherapy makes you very ill.
0:11:35 > 0:11:34Actually, I feel fine right now and would rather have my last months
0:11:35 > 0:11:34feeling as good as I can. What cannot be killed must be endured. --
0:11:35 > 0:11:34cured. Despite a terminal diagnosis, he survived the ordeal, and is
0:11:35 > 0:11:34working harder than he did then in the days of Doctor feel-good,
0:11:35 > 0:11:34apparently never feeling better. There it is, I'm not dead, I'm
0:11:35 > 0:11:34actually on my roof with my telescope and my guitar. And a few
0:11:35 > 0:11:34more years. What more could you ask for? Another screen hero who simply
0:11:35 > 0:11:34refuses to die is James Bond. Back again in fine style this year,
0:11:35 > 0:11:34Inspector. Sam Mendez returned to direct Daniel Craig once again. --
0:11:35 > 0:11:34in Spectre. It leads me to speculate exactly why you came? So, James, why
0:11:35 > 0:11:34did you come? I came here to kill you. I thought you came here to die.
0:11:35 > 0:11:34It is all a matter of perspective. 007... Please excuse the mess.
0:11:35 > 0:11:34Everything is a bit up in the air, with the changes and all. Spectre
0:11:35 > 0:11:34divided audiences, I admit I am a fan, but in terms of ticket sales,
0:11:35 > 0:11:34it was a sure-fire hit. But with sky-high expectations, JJ Abrams's
0:11:35 > 0:11:34Star Wars film had the edge. When advanced tickets went on sale,
0:11:35 > 0:11:34websites crashed with the weight of traffic. It seems that the force was
0:11:35 > 0:11:34not with them. We can't outrun them! We can. We need a pilot. We've got
0:11:35 > 0:11:34one. There are stories about what happened. It is true. They are real.
0:11:35 > 0:11:34The force. It is calling to you. All in all, 2015 has been a pretty
0:11:35 > 0:11:34impressive year for film, but remember, if you want to get the
0:11:35 > 0:11:34most from cinema, you need to independent cinemas that are often
0:11:35 > 0:11:34showing the most interesting comes around. Streaming services like net
0:11:35 > 0:11:34flicks are making waves with films like Beasts of Nope Nation,
0:11:35 > 0:11:34featuring Idris Elba. He is just a boy. Hey, boy... The boy is nothing.
0:11:35 > 0:11:34The boy is harmless. Does the boy have two eyes to see? Two eyes, Sir!
0:11:35 > 0:11:34He has hands to strangle and fingers to pull triggers. Why do you say
0:11:35 > 0:11:34that he is nothing? He is very dangerous, you understand me?
0:11:35 > 0:11:34Finally, a few years ago industry insiders were predicting the death
0:11:35 > 0:11:34of celluloid, saying that films would be shot and shown in digital
0:11:35 > 0:11:34only. But Star Wars: The Force Awakens erected JJ Abrams is part of
0:11:35 > 0:11:34a growing group of film-makers who remain committed to the idea of
0:11:35 > 0:11:34shooting on film. Todd Haynes's Carroll, one of the best films of
0:11:35 > 0:11:342015, was shot on 2016, to give the story grain and texture that it
0:11:35 > 0:11:34required -- Carol. And if you want to see the new venting Tarantino
0:11:35 > 0:11:34film, you have two C it in the director's referred format. --
0:11:35 > 0:11:34Quentin Tarantino film. I don't know, you would be surprised at what
0:11:35 > 0:11:34a man would do. You're starting to see pictures,
0:11:35 > 0:11:34aren't you? I will leave you with a clip from one of my favourite's of
0:11:35 > 0:11:34the year. The classic novel that was shot
0:11:35 > 0:11:34using a mix of high-resolution digital and 65 millimetres
0:11:35 > 0:11:34celluloid. The past and the future, hand in hand, in Sunset Song. Folks
0:11:35 > 0:11:34that once walked, talked, they had taken their pleasure here. She tried
0:11:35 > 0:11:34to tell you, but all he said was aye.
0:11:35 > 0:11:34And while she thought there would not be a thing they would not
0:11:35 > 0:11:35understand together...