--- title: Best Movies 2015 So Far: Top Films of the Year description: As the summer blockbuster season gets underway, a look back at the strongest flicks to hit theaters in 2015 so far canonical: https://time.com/3927082/best-movies-2015-so-far/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-23T13:00:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:57.756Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Best Movies 2015 So Far: Top Films of the Year og:description: As the summer blockbuster season gets underway, a look back at the strongest flicks to hit theaters in 2015 so far og:url: https://time.com/3927082/best-movies-2015-so-far/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Best Movies 2015 So Far: Top Films of the Year twitter:description: As the summer blockbuster season gets underway, a look back at the strongest flicks to hit theaters in 2015 so far twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here Are the Best Movies of 2015 So Far by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 23, 2015 1:00 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 23, 2015 1:00 PM CUT It may be true that the last five years’ Best Picture winners were released in the last quarter of the year, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t gems to be found in the months before summer chills to fall. From film festival darlings to action reboots, new adaptations of classic literature to dual-manned biopics, 2015 has already offered a wealth of inspiring fare for the cinephile. Here are TIME’s picks for the top movies of the year (so far): ### _Mad Max: Fury Road_  Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron star in Mad Max: Fury Road Jasin Boland—Warner Bros. In a summer full of CGI dinosaurs and robots, _Mad Max: Fury Road_ proves that action blockbusters can still be the sort of high art that gets a standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Director George Miller not only perfected the form, building the rickety fire-shooting vehicles from scratch, but adds narrative heft, taking on serious issues like sex slavery in a nuanced way. _—Eliana Dockterman_ ### _It Follows_  IT FOLLOWS, from left: Lili Sepe, Maika Monroe, 2014\. ©RADiUS-TWC RADiUS-TWC As a premise, “pretty teen girl running from certain doom” may not sound like the makings of an inventive horror film. Yet David Robert Mitchell’s indie sensibility makes the movie unlike any thriller you’ve seen before, while still paying homage to the best traditions of the form. _—Sarah Begley_ ### _Far From the Madding Crowd_  FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, Carey Mulligan, 2015\. ph: Alex Bailey/TM & copyright © Fox Searchlight. All rights reserved Alex Bailey—Fox Searchlight The new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel appeals to the _Pride and Prejudice_ set, but with more subtlety and sadness than most Austen films, plus a hearty heaping of rustic drudgery. Carey Mulligan’s gutsy Bathsheba gets swept off her feet like the best of her 19th century romantic peers, but without their usual histrionics—somewhere between _Lean In_ and _Wuthering Heights_. _—Sarah Begley_ ### _Love & Mercy_  LOVE & MERCY, (aka LOVE AND MERCY), Paul Dano, as Brian Wilson, at drums: Kenny Wormald, as Dennis Wilson, 2014\. ph: Francois Duhamel/©Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions Paul Dano fulfills the promise of roles in _Little Miss Sunshine_ and _There Will Be Blood_ as a young Brian Wilson, the Beach Boy who’s going slowly mad while recording the group’s landmark album _Pet Sounds_. John Cusack shows us the older Wilson, now paralyzed by overmedication at the hands of a villain. It’s a gripping story of mental illness, which is sadly all too common, and true musical genius—which is extremely rare. _—Sarah Begley_ **MORE** [The Top 10 Best Movie Performances of 2015](http://time.com/collection-post/4134970/top-10-best-movie-performances/ "undefined") ### _Furious 7_  FURIOUS 7, (aka FAST & FURIOUS 7), from left: Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Paul Walker, Ludacris, 2015\. ph: Scott Garfield/©Universal Pictures Scott Garfield—Universal Each _Fast & Furious_ movie has gleefully attempted to outdo the previous one. Brought down a plane in the last movie? How about making cars fly out of one in the next? While _Furious 7_ doubled down on its self-consciously corny lines and over-the-top stunts—crashing cars through not one, not two, but three high rises—it also took a moment to give a surprisingly moving send off to star Paul Walker, who died in 2013\. While he will be missed, this increasingly diverse franchise has a bright future. _—Eliana Dockterman_ ### _Ex Machina_  EX MACHINA, Alicia Vikander, 2015\. ©A24 A24 Alicia Vikander’s breakout year hinged on her spooky turn as a robot who may or may not have motives of her own. But this sci-fi thriller got its thrust from the creepy bond between the two men obsessed with Ava: tech billionaire Oscar Isaac and humble employee Domhnall Gleeson. _—Dan D’Addario_ **MORE** [The Top 10 Best Movies 0f 2015](http://time.com/collection-post/4134913/top-10-best-movies/ "undefined") ### _Clouds of Sils Maria_  CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA, Kristen Stewart, 2014\. ph: Carole Bethuel/©IFC Films IFC Films Freed from _Twilight_, Kristen Stewart showed flashes of both savage intelligence and newfound sensitivity as the personal assistant to Juliette Binoche’s pampered, neurotic actress. The film works as both insider moviemaking satire and an enigmatic tribute to intergenerational bonds between women. _—Dan D’Addario_ ### _Welcome to Me_  WELCOME TO ME, Kristen Wiig, 2014\. ph: Suzanne Hanover/©Alchemy Suzanne Hanover—Alchemy Kristen Wiig, at her best, has always had a far more barbed edge than her comedy contemporaries; there’s real bite, and pathos, to her most memorable characters. Add Alice Klieg to that pantheon. Wiig commits utterly to the story of an ill woman who spends her lottery winnings on a five-day-a-week talk show dedicated to praising herself and shaming her enemies. It works as comment on our media age, but soars as a portrait of suffering that only Wiig could make hilarious. _—Dan D’Addario_ ### _Dope_  Open Road Films Writer-director Rick Famuyiwa’s tale about a nerdy black teen obsessed with ’90s hip hop culture rejects the trappings the typical coming-of-age flick, starting with its setting: Inglewood, Calif., otherwise known as “The Bottoms.” Newcomer Shameik Moore’s portrayal of Malcolm, who’s stuck between his ambition for a spot at Harvard and the whac-a-mole of obstacles that keep popping up to thwart him, thrusts the rising star into the well-deserved spotlight. _—Eliza Berman_ ### _Me and Earl and the Dying Girl_  ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL, (aka ME,& EARL & THE DYING GIRL), from left: Olivia Cooke, Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, 2015\. ph: Anne Marie Fox/TM & copyright © Fox Searchlight Pictures. All rights reserved Fox Searchlight Pictures Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ young adult novel is a love letter to his late father and a tribute to the cinema greats who professionally reared him—and the movie’s labor-of-love origins are felt throughout. Though its plot, in which a high school senior is forced by his parents to befriend a classmate with leukemia, begs comparisons to _The Fault in Our Stars_, the movie defies categorization as a typical teen cancer rom-com by keeping its quirky protagonists in the realm of friendship. _—Eliza Berman_ ### _The Boy Next Door_  Universal No, you didn’t stumble onto the list of worst movies so far, and no, this wasn’t included to make a larger point about how _The Boy Next Door_ is the rare thriller that lets a middle-aged heroine objectify a _dude_ for a change. (In that way, it’s basically the “I Luh Ya Papi” video of thrillers.) _The Boy Next Door_ gets its due here because the cheap twists and unintentionally laugh-out-loud dialogue (first edition of _The Iliad_, anyone?) made for one of the most deliriously _fun_ theater-going experiences of 2015. _—Nolan Feeney_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3927082/best-movies-2015-so-far/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3927082/best-movies-2015-so-far/"},"headline":"Here Are the Best Movies of 2015 So Far","datePublished":"2015-06-23T13:00:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:57.756Z","description":"As the summer blockbuster season gets underway, a look back at the strongest flicks to hit theaters in 2015 so far","url":"https://time.com/3927082/best-movies-2015-so-far/","keywords":["movies","2015"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3927082/best-movies-2015-so-far/","name":"Here Are the Best Movies of 2015 So Far"}}]}] ```