With one final massive, box office smashing movie, 2015 comes to end. And what a year it's been. Box office records have been proven as targets to be destroyed and cinema attendance is on the rise. Even with the threat of streaming and home cinema creeping in, film in its conventional form still has a place. In terms of quality, things have been a bit more mixed, a stark contrast to what we had in 2014. Many of the high-budget blockbuster releases arrived as thundering disappointments - all overblown plots and head-banging CGI - while there was little in the way of edgy pre-awards season knock-outs - no Nightcrawler or Gone Girl equivalents I'm afraid. But, despite a slew of tosh, that doesn't mean the past twelve months haven't offered up some brilliant stuff - we've just had to sift through a lot of mediocrity to find it. Here are the twenty best movies of 2015. A bit of bookkeeping. This list is based on UK release dates, so there are some films on this list that were released in 2014 in other countries and some big "2015" movies (Spotlight, Room) that have been omitted due to their late release in the British Isles (and vice versa). The list has hit later than some, primarily to ensure December releases (including a certain behemoth I'm pleased to say made the cut) could be considered for inclusion.
