Year-End Lists

Joshua Rothkopf: 20 Best Movies of 2015, as published by Time Out New York

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Brooklyn
   John Crowley
2. Son of Saul
   László Nemes
3. Heaven Knows What
   Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
4. Phoenix
   Christian Petzold
5. Sicario
   Denis Villeneuve
6. Spotlight
   Tom McCarthy
7. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
   Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz
8. The Look of Silence
   Joshua Oppenheimer
9. Carol
   Todd Haynes
10. Mad Max: Fury Road
    George Miller
11. Love & Mercy
    Bill Pohlad
12. Mississippi Grind
    Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
13. Democrats
    Camilla Nielsson
14. While We’re Young
    Noah Baumbach
15. Creed
    Ryan Coogler
16. 45 Years
    Andrew Haigh
17. The Big Short
    Adam McKay
18. Girlhood
    Céline Sciamma
19. Buzzard
    Joel Potrykus
20. Inside Out
    Pete Docter

A.O. Scott: 20 Best Movies of 2015, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Timbuktu
   Abderrahmane Sissako
2. Inside Out
   Pete Docter
3. Spotlight
   Tom McCarthy
3. The Big Short
   Adam McKay
4. Heart of a Dog
   Laurie Anderson
5. Carol
   Todd Haynes
5. Anomalisa
   Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson
6. Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
   Jafar Panahi
7. Out 1: Noli Me Tangere [1971]
   Jacques Rivette
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
9. Creed
   Ryan Coogler
10. Results
    Andrew Bujalski
10. Welcome to Me
    Shira Piven
11. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
    Stanley Nelson
11. What Happened, Miss Simone?
    Liz Garbus
12. The Kindergarten Teacher
    Nadav Lapid
13. Girlhood
    Céline Sciamma
13. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
    Marielle Heller
14. Grandma
    Paul Weitz
14. Tangerine
    Sean Baker
15. The End of the Tour
    James Ponsoldt

Stephen Holden: 18 Best Movies of 2015, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2016 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Carol
   Todd Haynes
2. The Big Short
   Adam McKay
3. Spotlight
   Tom McCarthy
4. The Fool
   Yuri Bykov
5. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
   Marielle Heller
6. The Look of Silence
   Joshua Oppenheimer
7. Truth
   James Vanderbilt
8. 45 Years
   Andrew Haigh
9. Tangerine
   Sean Baker
10. Brooklyn
    John Crowley

Runners-up

• Son of Saul
  László Nemes
• Li’l Quinquin
  Bruno Dumont
• Timbuktu
  Abderrahmane Sissako
• Love & Mercy
  Bill Pohlad
• Clouds of Sils Maria
  Olivier Assayas
• Wild Tales
  Damián Szifrón
• The Salt of the Earth
  Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
• Inside Out
  Pete Docter

Manohla Dargis: 37 Best Movies of 2015, as published by The New York Times

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Assassin
   Hou Hsiao-Hsien
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
2. Luminous Intimacy: The Cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler [retrospective]
   Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler
3. Bridge of Spies
   Steven Spielberg
4. Carol
   Todd Haynes
5. In Jackson Heights
   Frederick Wiseman
6. The Martian
   Ridley Scott
7. The Kindergarten Teacher
   Nadav Lapid
8. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
   Marielle Heller
9. The Big Short
   Adam McKay
10. Sixty Six
    Lewis Klahr

Another 26 Favorites

• ’71
  Yann Demange
• Amy
  Asif Kapadia
• Anomalisa
  Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson
• Blackhat
  Michael Mann
• Chi-Raq
  Spike Lee
• Ex Machina
  Alex Garland
• Experimenter
  Michael Almereyda
• Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
  Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz
• The Good Dinosaur
  Peter Sohn
• The Great Man
  Sarah Leonor
• Inside Out
  Pete Docter
• Joy
  David O. Russell
• Lost Landscapes of Los Angeles
  Rick Prelinger
• Magic Mike XXL
  Gregory Jacobs
• Office
  Johnnie To
• Results
  Andrew Bujalski
• The Revenant
  Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Seymour: An Introduction
  Ethan Hawke
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
  Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
• Spy
  Paul Feig
• Straight Outta Compton
  F. Gary Gray
• Tangerine
  Sean Baker
• Timbuktu
  Abderrahmane Sissako
• Trainwreck
  Judd Apatow
• White God
  Kornél Mundruczó
• The Wolfpack
  Crystal Moselle

Ann Hornaday: 29 Best Films of 2015, as published by The Washington Post

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

1. Spotlight
   Tom McCarthy
2. Love & Mercy
   Bill Pohlad
3. Brooklyn
   John Crowley
4. Carol
   Todd Haynes
5. Ex Machina
   Alex Garland
6. Chi-Raq
   Spike Lee
7. Son of Saul
   László Nemes
8. Creed
   Ryan Coogler
9. Inside Out
   Pete Docter
10. The Martian
    Ridley Scott

Could easily have ended up in the top ten

• Amy
  Asif Kapadia
• Beasts of No Nation
  Cary Joji Fukunaga
• The Babadook
  Jennifer Kent
• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
  Stanley Nelson
• Bridge of Spies
  Steven Spielberg
• The Diary of a Teenage Girl
  Marielle Heller
• The End of the Tour
  James Ponsoldt
• Joy
  David O. Russell
• Mad Max: Fury Road
  George Miller
• Meru
  Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
• Mistress America
  Noah Baumbach
• Mustang
  Deniz Gamze Ergüven
• Room
  Lenny Abrahamson
• Seymour: An Introduction
  Ethan Hawke
• Straight Outta Compton
  F. Gary Gray
• Tangerine
  Sean Baker
• Timbuktu
  Abderrahmane Sissako
• While We’re Young
  Noah Baumbach
• The Wolfpack
  Crystal Moselle

Entertainment Weekly: 40 Best Albums of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2011]

1. To Pimp A Butterfly
   Kendrick Lamar
2. E•MO•TION
   Carly Rae Jepsen
3. 25
   Adele
4. In Colour
   Jamie xx
5. AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP
   A$AP Rocky
6. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
   Courtney Barnett
7. Traveller
   Chris Stapleton
8. I Love You, Honeybear
   Father John Misty
9. Star Wars
   Wilco
10. Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz
    Miley Cyrus
11. Unbreakable
    Janet Jackson
12. Wildheart
    Miguel
13. Sound & Color
    Alabama Shakes
14. No Cities To Love
    Sleater-Kinney
15. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
    Florence + The Machine
16. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
    Drake
17. Purpose
    Justin Bieber
18. Currents
    Tame Impala
19. Multi-Love
    Unknown Mortal Orchestra
20. Summertime ’06
    Vince Staples
21. Surf
    Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
22. Mr. Misunderstood
    Eric Church
23. SremmLife
    Rae Sremmurd
24. Algiers
    Algiers
25. Froot
    Marina and the Diamonds
26. Every Open Eye
    Chvrches
27. II
    METZ
28. Sounds Good Feels Good
    5 Seconds of Summer
29. A Head Full of Dreams
    Coldplay
30. Days Gone By
    Bob Moses
31. Yours, Dreamily
    The Arcs
32. Revival
    Selena Gomez
33. Divers
    Joanna Newsom
34. Fading Frontier
    Deerhunter
35. Painted Shut
    Hop Along
36. Something More Than Free
    Jason Isbell
37. Feels Like
    Bully
38. The Story of Sonny Boy Slim
    Gary Clark Jr.
39. Vulnicura
    Björk
40. 1989
    Ryan Adams

The Center for Fiction: 2015 First Novel Prize

[see also 2016]

Winner

• The Sympathizer
  Viet Thanh Nguyen

Shortlist

• After the Parade
  Lori Ostlund
• Against the Country
  Ben Metcalf
• Bright Lines
  Tanwi Nandini Islam
• The Fishermen
  Chigozie Obioma
• The Turner House
  Angela Flournoy
• The Unfortunates
  Sophie McManus

Longlist

• The Beautiful Bureaucrat
  Helen Phillips
• Black River
  S.M. Hulse
• City on Fire
  Garth Risk Hallberg
• Eileen
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Find Me
  Laura van den Berg
• The First Bad Man
  Miranda July
• Girl at War
  Sara Novic
• The Girl from the Garden
  Parnaz Foroutan
• Gold Fame Citrus
  Claire Vaye Watkins
• The Heart of the Order
  Theo Schell-Lambert
• The Hopeful
  Tracy O'Neill
• I'd Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them
  Jesse Goolsby
• Landfalls
  Naomi J. Williams
• The Language of Paradise
  Barbara Klein Moss
• Make Your Home Among Strangers
  Jennine Capo Crucet
• Orhan's Inheritance
  Aline Ohanesian
• She Weeps Each Time You're Born
  Quan Barry
• The Star Side of Bird Hill
  Naomi Jackson
• The Sunlit Night
  Rebecca Dinerstein
• The Sweetheart
  Angelina Mirabella
• Under the Udala Trees
  Chinelo Okparanta
• You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
  Alexandra Kleeman

Powell's Books: Best Fiction Books of 2015

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Fiction of 2023 • Best Nonfiction of 2022 • Best Fiction of 2022 • The 14 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021 • The 18 Best Novels of 2021 • Best Fiction of 2020 • Best Nonfiction of 2020 • Best Fiction of 2019 • Best Nonfiction of 2019 • Best Fiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction of 2014 • Best Nonfiction of 2014]

• Beauty Is a Wound
  Eka Kurniawan
• The Book of Speculation
  Erika Swyler
• The Buried Giant
  Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Cartel
  Don Winslow
• Cult of Loretta
  Kevin Maloney
• Did You Ever Have a Family
  Bill Clegg
• The Fall of Princes
  Robert Goolrick
• Get in Trouble
  Kelly Link
• The Grownup
  Gillian Flynn
• In the Country
  Mia Alvar
• A Little Life
  Hanya Yanagihara
• A Manual for Cleaning Women

  Selected Stories
  Lucia Berlin
• The Meursault Investigation
  Kamel Daoud
• Our Souls at Night
  Kent Haruf
• People Like You
  Margaret Malone
• Purity
  Jonathan Franzen
• The Story of the Lost Child
  Elena Ferrante
• The Sunlit Night
  Rebecca Dinerstein
• The Tsar of Love and Techno

  Stories
  Anthony Marra
• The Visiting Privilege
  Joy Williams

NPR Music: 50 Favorite Albums of 2015 (roughly alphabetical by artist)

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

• Africa Express Presents… Terry Riley’s In C Mali
  Africa Express & Andre de Ridder
• Sound & Color
  Alabama Shakes
• Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano
  Anthony de Mare
• The Blade
  Ashley Monroe
• Describes Things As They Are
  Beauty Pill
• Amanecer
  Bomba Estéreo
• Andrew Norman: Play
  Boston Modern Orchestra Project & Gil Rose
• The Firewatcher’s Daughter
  Brandi Carlile
• Amor Supremo
  Carla Morrison
• E•MO•TION
  Carly Rae Jepsen
• For One to Love
  Cécile McLorin Salvant
• Traveller
  Chris Stapleton
• Stretch Music (Introducing Elena Pinderhughes)
  Christian Scott
• Captain of None
  Colleen
• Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
  Courtney Barnett
• Nueva Era
  Daymé Arocena
• Litany
  Dead To A Dying World
• Drippin’ For A Tripp
  DJ Sotofett & Jaakko Eino Kalevi
• I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album
  Earl Sweatshirt
• Elaenia
  Floating Points
• How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
  Florence + The Machine
• Morning / Evening
  Four Tet
• DS2
  Future
• The Documentary 2
  The Game
• Before the World Was Big
  girlpool
• Ibeyi
  Ibeyi
• Thorvaldsdottir: In the Light of Air
  International Contemporary Ensemble
• Ego Death
  The Internet
• In Colour
  Jamie xx
• Something More Than Free
  Jason Isbell
• Reality Show
  Jazmine Sullivan
• Over and Even
  Joan Shelley
• Divers
  Joanna Newsom
• Pageant Material
  Kacey Musgraves
• The Epic
  Kamasi Washington
• To Pimp A Butterfly
  Kendrick Lamar
• Ones and Sixes
  Low
• From Kinshasa
  Mbongwana Star
• Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
  Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Original Broadway Cast
• Servant of Love
  Patty Griffin
• Tomorrow Is My Turn
  Rhiannon Giddens
• The Fade in Time
  Sam Lee & Friends
• Adams: Absolute Jest & Grand Pianola Music
  John Adams, San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas
• Carrie & Lowell
  Sufjan Stevens
• Sprinter
  TORRES
• Free TC
  Ty Dolla $ign
• Break Stuff
  Vijay Iyer Trio
• Summertime ’06
  Vince Staples
• Imaginary Life
  Worriers
• Xaos
  Xaos

Richard Lawson: 17 Best Films of 2015, as published by Vanity Fair

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013]

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
   George Miller
2. Clouds of Sils Maria
   Olivier Assayas
3. Spotlight
   Tom McCarthy
4. Carol
   Todd Haynes
5. Ex Machina
   Alex Garland
6. Tangerine
   Sean Baker
7. The End of the Tour
   James Ponsoldt
8. Eden
   Mia Hansen-Løve
9. Steve Jobs
   Danny Boyle
10. The Martian
    Ridley Scott

Honorable Mention

• Son of Saul
  László Nemes
• Slow West
  John Maclean
• Brooklyn
  John Crowley
• A Little Chaos
  Alan Rickman
• Mistress America
  Noah Baumbach
• Iris
  Albert Maysles
• Phoenix
  Christian Petzold