12 Surprisingly Good Movies From 2015 (So Far)

5. Woman In Gold

What Everyone Expected: It's not so much that marketing made Woman in Gold look bad per se, it just didn't make it look particularly interesting. That and its extremely low profile on the cinematic slate, combined with the distinct lack of film festival buzz (despite screening at the Berlinale earlier in the year) suggested nothing but a by-the-numbers drama. What It Was: Far from the dry historical document it could easily have been, Woman in Gold mines the surprisingly solid odd couple chemistry between Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds for all it's worth. It's not the most electrifying plot in the world, but the film tells an interesting tale millions of viewers won't have known about previously, and its musings on the power of art are undeniable. Quietly emotional in a way that won't have audiences in tears but will nevertheless leave them with tremendous respect for Mirren's real-life figure, this is a low-flying drama that, surprisingly enough, made more than 4x its budget back, despite most people having never even heard of it.