10 Most Unexpectedly Awesome Movies Of 2015 (So Far)

5. Far From The Madding Crowd

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85% Thomas Hardy's classic novel, Far From The Madding Crowd, has been adapted to both cinema and television a seemingly endless amount of times. So what hope did anybody have for this weird 2015 version, from - of all people - Thomas Vinterberg, the Danish director of incredibly dark movies such as Festen and The Hunt? Not to mention the fact that Julie Christie starred in what is perceived to be the definitive adaptation, in 1967. And yet, surprisingly, Vinterberg and his excellent cast - Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts and Michael Sheen - manage to bring something new to the table in what is now considered to be a thoroughly wonderful (and beautifully shot) take on Hardy's novel. As the fourth cinematic adaptation to date there was always cause to be relatively worried, but Far From the Madding Crowd manages to both embrace and subvert the original book on which it was based, and Mulligan is brilliant in what might be her best role to date.