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Cape Town – It’s been an exciting year at the box office.
Big blockbusters, riviteting biopics, sequels, big budget animations and local flicks were all on offer.
We asked our reviewers to list their top 3 movies of the year (it was very, very difficult).
Ilan Preskovsky
The best music biopic in years traces both the life and the music of one of pop's greatest geniuses, Brian Wilson, by focusing on two crucial periods in his life, each brilliantly portrayed by two very different actors. It earns its place here for the way it depics the Pet Sounds sessions alone.
Pixar back on their finest form in years with a beautiful film that works equally well on totally different levels for the young and the old alike. Funny, exciting and overflowing with heart, it's a coming of age story unlike any other.
A movie about drumming that is more thrilling than any action thriller else released this year - or most years, for that matter. JK Simmons and Miles Teller as phenonemal as the year's most unlikely, but most captivating double act.
Gabi Zietsman
This spy movie blew me away with its British wit, its ability to laugh at itself and the spy genre in general, and most importantly it amazed with one of the best action choreography and cinematography of all time, that left you giddy afterwards.
It was a tough choice between this and Inside Out for my favourite animation, but The Little Prince was an outstanding amalgamation of two animation styles and its two parallel stories got to the heart of the book and a very important message: to grow up to be a good adult and not forget what it is to be a child.
More than just a space movie, The Martian could have easily been a very depressing survival story, but instead it reflected how most of us take adversity head-on: with a little dash of humour. Matt Damon's performance was brilliance itself and if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor then for shame.
Herman Eloff
It was a toss-up between The Martian and Mad Max: Fury Road. At the end I had to go with Mad Max. I’m sure The Martian will be on someone else’s list. For me Mad Max is what cinema is all about. It’s an escape from reality. Getting lost in a make-believe world so far from my own that I almost forget that I exist.
On a personal level this film captured the essence of everything I love in both film and life. If Mission Impossible is the steak, then Man from U.N.C.L.E. is the truffle infused mushroom risotto.
2015 was a great year for local films and I fell madly in love with this beautiful movie based on the popular TV show. I had almost forgotten how beautiful Afrikaans can be and this film artfully, tastefully and oh-so-romantically reminded me of it.
Leandra Engelbrecht
The biggest movie of the year turned out to be everything I expected and more. The characters, the witty dialogue, the action scenes, the score, all work together to create the ultimate movie going experience.
In my opinion this is one of the most underrated movies of the year. Somehow this movie got lost in between everything else that was showing. It is witty and funny. It is unlike any other coming of age drama I have seen in a long time.
I was totally blown away by this film! The setting, the story, the filmmaking ushered in a fresh way of telling compelling, award winning local movies.
(Photos: Facebook, Twentieth Century Fox)
