It was a great year. A bunch of stuff happened. But let’s just go on with (t5!) My Year In Lists 2015: Everything Else!
As always, the same rules apply:
- This is a list of last year’s triumphs that happened in the world of sports, film, TV, Internet, gaming, that went viral the hardest. Basically everything that happened last year that wasn't music related.
- Emphasis on triumphs, so while the Paris attacks, Cecil the Lion, and Donald Trump made an impact on 2015, they won’t be making an appearance in this list.
- They had to happen in 2015. So even if What We Do In The Shadows may be the funniest movie I saw last year and “The Look Of Silence” may be the best documentary I watched last year , they won’t be making the list because they were released in 2014.
- I can't rank anything that I haven't experienced first hand. I’ve heard admiration about Fallout 4, Super Mario Maker, HBO’s Show Me A Hero, Netflix’s Bojack Horseman, Sundance’s Rectify, Phoenix, Bridge Of Spies, and Buzzard, but I haven’t had time for them, so they won’t be included in this list.
- Also, I can’t include here something in which I wasn't really involved enough (whether intentionally or not) to add anything to the discussion either way. So while #Lovewins, finding water in Mars, Justin Trudeau winning the Canadian Federal elections, and Caitlin Jenner revealing her true self are all terrific things, they won’t show up in this list.
- Entries are copy-and-pasted from Wikipedia.
- Spoiler alert.
Fight!
Pages: #50 - #41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - #21 | #20 - #11 | #10 - #01 | Full List
#50: Justise Winslow
Justise Jon Winslow (born March 26, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played small forward for the 2015 NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils before being drafted by the Miami Heat.
In the NCAA tournament, Winslow averaged 14.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game en route to a national championship.
"On the biggest stage, Winslow seized the opportunity and showed the nation how good he really is. Okafor is no doubt Duke's biggest name, but Winslow may just be its best player, with tournament averages of 15 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 54 percent from the field, including 7-of-12 from three-point range."
-- Bleacher Report
Highlights | Wikipedia | Bleacher Report
#49: DeAndre Jordan Free Agency
Hyland DeAndre Jordan, Jr. (born July 21, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Despite verbally agreeing to sign a four-year, $80 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks on July 3, 2015, Jordan began having second thoughts just days later, and on July 8, a number of Clippers personnel flew to Houston for a meeting with Jordan to convince him to back out of his Mavericks deal. Hours later, Jordan officially re-signed with the Clippers on a four-year, $88 million contract.
"The DeAndre Jordan saga represents the triumph of the emoji as a means of conveying information about trifling free-agency circuses."
-- Grantland
Wikipedia | Grantland
#48: UnREAL
Unreal (styled UnREAL) is an American dark comedy/drama television series that premiered on Lifetime on June 1, 2015. It stars Shiri Appleby as a young reality television producer pushed by her unscrupulous boss (Constance Zimmer) to swallow her integrity and do anything it takes to drum up salacious show content.
"UnREAL is a show for people who hate the inhumanity of reality television and yet still find themselves drawn to it. It's sharply critical of the old tricks, yet not above using some of them to entertain."
-- Ellen Jones, Independent
Scene | Wikipedia | Independent
#47: The Leftovers “International Assassin”
Season 2, Episode 8
The Leftovers is an American television drama series created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, airing on HBO. The Leftovers takes place three years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure", the inexplicable, simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people, 2% of the world's population, on October 14, 2011.
Kevin is plunged into the realm of the undead; a hotel full of people stuck between life and death. In this world Kevin is an international assassin, charged with assassinating presidential nominee Patti Levin.
"'International Assassin' has ripped open a hole in The Leftovers. A pathway, might be a better word. It put its cards on the table and made a dozen decisions about the type of story that is being told. Kevin will be forever changed."
-- Entertainment Weekly
Promo | Wikipedia | Entertainment Weekly
#46: Room
Room is a 2015 Canadian-Irish drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Emma Donoghue, based on her novel of the same name. The film stars Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, and William H. Macy. Held captive for years in an enclosed space, a woman (Larson) and her 5-year-old son (Tremblay) finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.
"A haunting, uncomfortable, occasionally voyeuristic movie, which ultimately serves as a life-affirming evocation of the durability and resilience of the human spirit. Brilliant."
-- Paul Mount, Starbust
Trailer | Wikipedia | Starburst
#45: Self-Balancing, Two-Wheeled Board
A self-balancing two-wheeled board, or self-balancing electric scooter, also commonly referred to as a hoverboard, is a type of portable, rechargeable battery-powered scooter. They typically consist of two wheels arranged side-by-side, with two small platforms between the wheels, on which the rider stands. The device is controlled by the rider's feet, standing on the built-in gyroscopic, sensored pads.
"Unlike the Segways that may have paved the way for them, hoverboards are actually cool. They’re being used by the right people, and seem to have little stigma attached. So prepare for them to stick around."
-- Buzzfeed
J.R. Smith | Wikipedia | Buzzfeed
#44: Shia LaBoeuf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor, performance artist, and director who became known among younger audiences as Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens.
In 2015 LaBeouf appeared in a 31 minute video for Central Saint Martins, an Art School based in London titled #INTRODUCTIONS, in which LaBeouf reads transcripts that students sent to him. One of the transcripts depicts LaBeouf screaming the words "DO IT!" at various points. This video had since become an internet sensation.
"The first time you see it, you can’t help having some reaction. The guy is just losing it. He’s like a Nike commercial delivered by Charles Manson. He’s Tony Robbins on a bad trip."
-- David Pogue, Yahoo
Just Do It Compilation | #allmymovies | Wikipedia | Yahoo
#43: Straight Outta Compton
Straight Outta Compton is a 2015 American biographical drama film that chronicles the rise and fall of the Compton, California hip hop group N.W.A.
"The first hour flies by in a haze of frenetic energy and exciting performances from all the main players."
-- Alex Zane, Sun Online
Trailer | Wikipedia | Sun Online
#42: Kung Fury
Kung Fury is a 2015 English-language Swedish martial arts comedy short film written, directed by, and starring David Sandberg. It pays homage to 1980s martial arts and police action films.
"A mixture of very broad and very sly that's quite simply a whole lot of fun."
-- Scott Weinberg, Nerdist
Full Movie | Wikipedia | Nerdist
#41: Fargo "The Gift Of Magi"
Season 2, Episode 5
The second season of the American anthology black comedy–crime drama television series Fargo premiered on October 12, 2015, on FX. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart and Ted Danson, the season consisted of ten episodes and concluded its airing on December 14, 2015.
The season is set in Luverne, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in March 1979, and follows beautician Peggy Blumquist (Dunst) and her husband, butcher Ed Blumquist (Plemons), as they cover up the hit-and-run and murder of Rye Gerhardt, son of Floyd Gerhardt (Smart), matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo. Meanwhile, Lou Solverson (Wilson), a Minnesota State Trooper who served as Swift-boat officer in Vietnam, and Rock County Sheriff Hank Larsson (Danson) are investigating three murders committed by Rye Gerhardt.
Floyd takes action and Charlie tries to prove himself; Peggy and Ed disagree about what to do next; Lou finds himself sidelined during Ronald Reagan's campaign tour.
"Let it never be said that a television show cannot simultaneously feature a modern and distinctly American examination of absurdism and a guy getting a meat cleaver slammed into his head."
-- Kevin P. Sullivan, Entertainment Weekly
Promo | Wikipedia | Entertainment Weekly
#40: The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed and Deconstructed
The Rap Year Book takes readers on a journey that begins in 1979, widely regarded as the moment rap became recognized as part of the cultural and musical landscape, and comes right up to the present. Shea Serrano deftly pays homage to the most important song of each year. Serrano also examines the most important moments that surround the history and culture of rap music—from artists’ backgrounds to issues of race, the rise of hip-hop, and the struggles among its major players—both personal and professional. Covering East Coast and West Coast, famous rapper feuds, chart toppers, and show stoppers, The Rap Year Book is an in-depth look at the most influential genre of music to come out of the last generation.
Complete with infographics, lyric maps, hilarious and informative footnotes, portraits of the artists, and short essays by other prominent music writers, The Rap Year Book is both a narrative and illustrated guide to the most iconic and influential rap songs ever created.
"Books about music history and pop culture can rarely be described as 'charming' or 'playful', so when one comes around that manages to be both educationally useful and shamelessly fun, it commands attention."
-- Popmatters, Colin Fitzgerald
Interview | Barnes And Noble | Popmatters
#39: Taraji P. Henson
Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. As of 2015, she stars as Cookie Lyon on the FOX drama series Empire, for which she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama in 2016, and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
"She elevates every scene she's in and every actor she plays against, brings music and truth and a whole person to even the least promising line."
-- Robert Lloyd, LA Times
Empire scenes | Wikipedia | LA Times
#38: Bill Simmons
William J. "Bill" Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American sports columnist, analyst, author, and podcaster. Simmons served as the editor-in-chief of Grantland, a website owned by ESPN covering sports and pop culture that launched on June 8, 2011.
Months after it decided not to renew its contract with Simmons, ESPN shut down the Grantland website on October 30, 2015.
On July 22, 2015, Simmons announced he had signed a new deal with HBO starting in October 2015.
"And now Simmons is gone, and you can't help but worry. Not to get all Mad Men on you, but the whole Bristol/Grantland dynamic feels a lot like McCann Erickson and Sterling Cooper: The tiny boutique producing high quality, small-scale work suddenly looks, to the massive behemoth who owns it, as a wild-card it needs to get under more control. It's no wonder that many in Bristol were supposedly "cheering" when Simmons got the ax last week; they saw a rogue employee attempting to challenge the Borg. But for those who worked with him at Grantland -- for those he protected from the Borg's influence -- he was the perfect boss."
-- Will Leitch, Sports On Earth
Dan Patrick Show | Wikipedia | Sports On Earth
#37: The Martian
The Martian is a 2015 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. The film is based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel The Martian, which was adapted into a screenplay by Drew Goddard. Damon stars as an astronaut who is mistakenly presumed dead and left behind on Mars.
"Damon has never seemed more at home than he does here, millions of miles adrift. Would any other actor have shouldered the weight of the role with such diligent grace?"
-- Anthony Lane, New Yorker
Trailer | Wikipedia | New Yorker
#36: Anomalisa
Anomalisa is a 2015 American stop-motion drama film directed and produced by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, and written by Kaufman based on his 2005 play of the same name. The film follows a lonely self-help author (voiced by David Thewlis) who perceives everyone as identical (Tom Noonan) until he meets a unique woman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in a Cincinnati hotel.
"Charlie Kaufman's animated feature is one of his best films yet, a haunting fable about the illusion of love."
-- Rafer Guzman, Newsday
Trailer | Wikipedia | Newsday
#35: Humans
Humans (stylised as HUM∀NS) is a British-American science fiction television series, with the first season debuting on 14 June 2015 on Channel 4 and AMC, and concluding on 2 August 2015. Written by the British team Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, based on the award-winning Swedish science fiction drama Real Humans, the series explores the themes of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on the social, cultural, and psychological impact of the invention of anthropomorphic robots called "synths."
"The exploration of artificial intelligence is interesting enough, but the moral and ethical problems raised are even more fascinating."
-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Gail Pennington
Trailer | Wikipedia | St. Louis Post-Dispatch
#34: Leon Draisaitl
Leon Draisaitl (born October 27, 1995) is a German ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).
As of 26 January 2016, Draisaitl collected 37 points (12 goals, 25 assists) in 40 games during his second NHL season with the Oilers.
"But a close look at Draisaitl’s ability to contribute to scoring chances and his luck when it comes to cashing in on goals and assists reveals that Draisaitl’s offensive game is the real deal. So long as he keeps getting thrown out on the power play and at even strength with other strong attacking players, and especially with a rejuvenated Taylor Hall, Draisaitl should be close to a point per game player this year."
-- David Staples, Cult OF Hockey
Leon Draisaitl | Wikipedia | Cult Of Hockey
#33: Review "Murder, Magic 8 Ball, Procrastination"
Season 2, Episode 8
Review is an American mockumentary comedy series starring Andy Daly as professional critic Forrest MacNeil, who provides reviews of real-life experiences.
Forrest allows a Magic 8-Ball to dictate his decisions for a day, runs into a paradox when faced with the task of procrastinating and faces his toughest review yet.
"Sacrificing a veto to escape a randomly assigned task, Forrest is free to plunge into a day of randomly assigned tasks. “Living life by the Magic 8-Ball, that I will do! It might actually be fun.” Will it? Outlook not so good."
-- Emily L. Stephens, AV Club
Promo | Wikipedia | AV Club
#32: It Follows
It Follows is a 2014 American supernatural horror film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, and starring Maika Monroe. The plot follows a girl pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter.
"Like the best horror films It Follows will stay with you, making you look afresh at those trailing behind. It'll take you back to your own teenage years, reminding you what a terrifying world it can be when the adults step back."
-- Emma Simmonds, The Arts Desk
Trailer | Wikipedia | The Arts Desk
#31: Superbowl XLIX
Super Bowl XLIX was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2014 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks, 28–24, to earn their fourth Super Bowl title.
"We’ll never understand it. I can explain some of the logic behind Seattle’s now infamous second-and-goal play call. I can show you why Russell Wilson threw the pass. I can point out why it might not have been quite as awful a decision as it seemed immediately afterward, when we judge such choices almost entirely based on their outcomes. I’ll even get to how Bill Belichick nearly screwed up the situation before being bailed out by his team’s fifth cornerback. I’ll do all that. You will probably never understand why the Seahawks just didn’t hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch in that situation and worry about trying anything else later. Truthfully, neither will I."
-- Bill Barnwell, Grantland
Highlights | Wikipedia | Grantland
#30: NHL 3-On-3 Overtime
Overtime is a method of extending an ice hockey game when the scores are tied after regulation. The idea of using 3-on-3 skaters for the entirety of a five-minute overtime period for a regular season game was adopted by the NHL on June 24, 2015, to be used in the 2015-16 NHL season.
"In the absence of a scientific poll of hockey fans on their feelings about 3-on-3 overtime as we approach the end of its first calendar month, we’re going to guess that it breaks down as follows:
NHL stars mostly in favour of 3-on-3 overtime to cut down on shootouts
Locals lose? 'What a stupid format!'
Locals win? 'I can’t remember when I had more fun watching hockey!'"
-- Cam Cole, National Post
Top 10 | Wikipedia | National Post
#29: The Last Man On Earth
The Last Man on Earth is an American post-apocalyptic comedy television series created by and starring Will Forte. The series premiered on Fox on March 1, 2015.
In 2020, Phil Miller (Will Forte) is seemingly the only human left on Earth after a deadly virus swept the planet one year earlier. An average man "who likes Star Wars, Twinkies, and sex", Phil searches North America in his RV for other survivors. After a long journey, Phil returns to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona believing that he is Earth's last surviving human. Just before he attempts suicide out of loneliness and a desire for a female companion, his prayers are answered, and he meets Carol Pilbasian (Kristen Schaal), a quirky and unusual woman.
"An ambitious and thoughtful comedy that features a great acting performance and asks viewers to ponder some big existential questions while giggling at the small-scale silly stuff."
-- Brad Oswald, Winnipeg Free Press
Trailer | Wikipedia | Winnipeg Free Press
#28: Parks And Recreation "The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show"
Season 7, Episode 10
Parks and Recreation, also informally known as Parks and Rec, is an American political comedy television sitcom starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana.
The last episode of Andy's TV show brings his friends together.
"The show’s use of the mockumentary format locks it into a far more rigid narrative aesthetic—unless you just say 'screw it' and shoot a whole damn episode on Apple products, I guess—but the conceit of building an entire episode as Andy’s last hurrah on public access lets the show try a far brighter, more hyperactive mode of storytelling. Which, as it turns out, makes it the perfect showcase for Andy’s worldview, one that rides a line here between adorably innocent and dangerously reckless, with more than a hint of unnecessarily self-absorbed."
-- Alasdair Wilkins, AV Club
Promo | Wikipedia| AV Club
#27: Miss Universe 2015
Miss Universe 2015, the 64th edition of the Miss Universe pageant, was held on 20 December 2015 at the The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
During the final segment of the telecast in which the Miss Universe winner and runners-up were announced, host Steve Harvey announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez as Miss Universe 2015 and Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, as the first runner-up. However, moments after Gutiérrez's crowning, Harvey was notified by the pageant's organizers that he had misread the result and should have announced Gutiérrez as the first runner-up and that Wurtzbach was Miss Universe.
"Why the fuck did nobody start breaking the crown and throwing it to all the other girls? DID WE LEARN NOTHING FROM MEAN GIRLS?"
-- Reddit
Crowning Moment | Wikipedia | IGN
#26: Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook Jr. (born November 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The point guard is a five-time NBA All-Star, and he was named the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2015.
"Westbrook finished with 49 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists. It was his fourth straight triple-double, which is something that hasn’t been done in 26 years. According to Elias, Westbrook’s string of consecutive 40-point triple-doubles is an arbitrary standard of excellence to which only Michael Jordan and Pete Maravich can relate. Give the man his MVP trophy, or watch as it explodes into a mound of fumed silica the second Adam Silver hands it off. What Westbrook has achieved in the past month or so is the rarest form of individual excellence we’ve seen in years. It deserves, and demands, the most proper of acknowledgements."
-- Danny Chau, Grantland
Highlights | Wikipedia | Grantland
#25: The Hateful Eight
The Hateful Eight is a 2015 American Western mystery film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern as eight strangers who seek refuge from a blizzard in a stagecoach stopover some time after the American Civil War.
"Tarantino is a show-off and a showman and both tendencies pay-off big time here."
-- Peter Galvin, SBS Movies
Trailer | Wikipedia | SBS Movies
#24: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is an American sitcom created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, starring Ellie Kemper in the title role, that has streamed on Netflix since March 6, 2015.
The series follows 29-year-old Kimmy Schmidt (Kemper) as she adjusts to life in New York City after her rescue from a doomsday cult in Indiana where she and three other women were held by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne (Jon Hamm) for 15 years. Determined to be seen as something other than a victim and armed only with a positive attitude, Kimmy decides to restart her life by moving to New York City, where she quickly befriends her street-wise landlady Lillian Kaushtupper (Carol Kane), finds a roommate in struggling actor Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), and gains a job as a nanny for the melancholy and out-of-touch socialite Jacqueline Voorhees (Jane Krakowski). With their help, Kimmy struggles to adapt to an unfamiliar world and jump-start the adult life that had been taken away from her.
"Kimmy believably trips, stumbles, and occasionally glides through her second lease on life, wielding her gumption, her dazzling grin, and her light-up kicks. She is believably unbreakable, both underground and in the big city."
-- Sonia Saraiya, Salon.com
Trailer | Wikipedia | Salon.com
#23: Mr. Robot
Mr. Robot is an American drama–thriller television series created by Sam Esmail. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker who suffers from social anxiety disorder and clinical depression.
"It's very good, cool, spooky and strong. Paranoia is its theme. And it's brilliantly done, one of those series that, although fiction, uncannily and eerily connects with very real current events."
-- John Doyle, Globe And Mail
Trailer | Wikipedia | Globe And Mail
#22: Fargo "Rhinoceros"
Season 2, Episode 6
The second season of the American anthology black comedy–crime drama television series Fargo premiered on October 12, 2015, on FX. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart and Ted Danson, the season consisted of ten episodes and concluded its airing on December 14, 2015.
The season is set in Luverne, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in March 1979, and follows beautician Peggy Blumquist (Dunst) and her husband, butcher Ed Blumquist (Plemons), as they cover up the hit-and-run and murder of Rye Gerhardt, son of Floyd Gerhardt (Smart), matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo.
Lou and Hank try to prevent an altercation, Peggy and Ed defend their choices and the Gerhardt clan attempts to get back one of their own.
"It's such a pleasure to watch a show where every element is at the top of its game, and that's how it felt watching 'Rhinoceros' play out. It's hard to pick out the one actor who stood out, because everyone -- from Kirsten Dunst to Patrick Wilson to Jean Smart to Ted Danson to Nick Offerman, and the list continues -- delivered fantastic performances. The way Fargo maintained the level of tension through every scene and hit climactic moment after climactic moment made 'Rhinoceros' another standout episode."
-- Terri Schwartz, IGN
Promo | Wikipedia | IGN
#21: Rebecca Ferguson
Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström (born 19 October 1983), known as Rebecca Ferguson, is a Swedish actress. She is best known for her lead role as Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen (2013), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and her starring role as Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015).
"There was probably more spectacular action in the last film but this one is just as much fun and could feasibly make a star of 31-year-old Ferguson, who steals scenes while everyone else is trying to steal memory sticks."
-- Brian Viner, Daily Mail [UK]
Featurette | Wikipedia | Daily Mail [UK]
#20: Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul is an American television crime drama series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. It is a prequel/spin-off of Breaking Bad, which was also created by Gilligan. Set in 2002, Better Call Saul follows the story of small-time lawyer James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill (Bob Odenkirk), six years before his appearance on Breaking Bad as Saul Goodman; events after the original series are briefly explored.
"The episodes bring back the glory of the Breaking Bad days without being cheesy or overly nostalgic; there are thrills, laughs, twists, and overall, a strong premise."
-- Cory Mahoney, Hollywood.com
Trailer | Wikipedia | Hollywood.com
#19: Rick And Morty "Total Rickall"
Season 2, Episode 4
Rick and Morty is an American adult animated television series created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Adult Swim. The series follows the misadventures of alcoholic scientist Rick and his easily influenced grandson Morty, who split their time between domestic family life and interdimensional travel.
While the family is eating breakfast, Rick kills an alien parasite who was posing as Jerry's brother Uncle Steve. Rick then warns the family that they might be infested with alien parasites, which are capable of creating and manipulating memories to convince their hosts that they have always been longtime acquaintances.
"And so we get 'Total Rickall,' a clip show in which the clips themselves are the enemy. Or at least representative of the enemy. The failing of past clip shows (even the self-aware ones) is that the plots are nearly always terrible, for the simple fact that it’s really fucking hard to build a good story when you have to keep coming up with reasons to cut away to a completely different story. Here, though, Morty and his family are beset by alien parasites who insert themselves into people’s lives by giving them false memories; which means that every time someone says, 'Remember when…,' another alien gets a chance to essentially come into being. Instead of groaning at each new flashback, or even appreciating them as ironic commentary on the phoniness of flashbacks, those memories create rising tension. They’re funny, but they’re also dangerous—which, thankfully, makes them funnier."
-- Zack Handlen, AV Club
Promo | Wikipedia | AV Club
#18: Aya Cash
Aya Rachel Cash (born July 13, 1982) is an American television, film and stage actress. In December 2015, she received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her lead role in the FX/FXX series You're the Worst.
"In 2014, TV viewers met Gretchen Cutler (Aya Cash), one half of the reluctant couple at the center of You’re The Worst. She was a dynamic new TV friend to laugh at and with, one who kept her belongings in trash bags, burned down her apartment with a vibrator, and put on other comedic displays of messily genuine humanity. And then in 2015, Gretchen went away. That’s the most affecting element of the way Cash portrays Gretchen’s clinical depression: Disappearing beneath blankets and blankness, the actor broadcast Gretchen’s pain and the pain of those around her, who just wanted the “real” Gretchen to return."
-- Erik Adams, AV Club
Season 2 Trailer | Wikipedia | AV Club
#17: NBA Playoffs, First Round, Clippers vs. Spurs
"On Saturday night, there was a title fight out west. Also, two guys [Mayweather and Pacquiao] fought a boxing match in the desert. Despite the flashing lights and celebrity cameos in Vegas, the real main sports event of the weekend was in Los Angeles, where the Clippers and Spurs finished their epic first-round playoff series. Game 7 capped a clash that was at different times revealing, maddening, and wildly entertaining."
-- Grantland
Highlights | Wikipedia | Grantland
#16: Cam Newton
Cameron Jerrell Newton (born May 11, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL).
Through the first 15 weeks of the NFL season, Newton led the Panthers to a 14–0 record. During that span, he also threw the second-most touchdown passes and led the NFL with 40 combined passing and rushing touchdowns. Newton was on the field for 660 of Carolina's 923 plays in which he was either the decision-maker or ball carrier after the snap, which accounted for 72 percent of the Panthers' total snaps. Further, Newton had the second-lowest percentage of passing yards gained after the catch among NFL quarterbacks and 40 of Carolina's 49 touchdowns this season were either thrown or run by Newton.
"It was undoubtedly a big year for the 26-year-old, who completely eviscerated the notion that he’d never develop into a consistent pocket passer. Newton made that evolutionary step while maintaining his importance in Carolina’s run game, which is built entirely around him."
-- Steven Ruiz, USA Today
Highlights | Wikipedia| USA Today
#15: Sicario
Sicario is a 2015 American action crime thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin. Written by Taylor Sheridan, the film is about a principled FBI agent who is enlisted by a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel.
"Horror masquerading as action-thriller; a desert-Gothic descent into the nightmare-grotesquerie of Mexico's narco-war. Brutal and dismal in its Stygian twists, Sicario indicts the drug-war as a relentlessly macho, end-justifies-any-means battle."
-- Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly
Trailer | Trailer | Vue Weekly
#14: Kristaps Porziņģis
Kristaps Porziņģis (born August 2, 1995) is a Latvian professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Knicks with the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft. Standing 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m), he plays the power forward and center positions.
"Nearly halfway through his debut campaign, the 'Kristaps Porzingis' chant has become a home game ritual, while the Latvian has garnered Rookie of the Year attention."
-- Henry Young and Don Riddell, CNN
Highlights | Celebrities Doing the Shmoney Dance | Wikipedia | CNN
#13: Marvel's Jessica Jones
Marvel's Jessica Jones, or simply Jessica Jones, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Krysten Ritter stars as Jessica Jones, a former superhero who opens her own detective agency after an end to her superhero career.
"It made my heart beat in ways that an addict knows only after unexpectedly encountering a conquered substance. It pulled me in, not because of any longing for any particular character, but because the entire world yearned to be watched."
-- Daniel Rasmus, Popmatters
Trailer | Wikipedia | Popmatters
#12: Master Of None
Master of None is an American comedy-drama television series, which was released for streaming on November 6, 2015 on Netflix. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, and stars Ansari in the lead role of Dev, a 30-year-old actor who attempts to make his way through life in New York City.
"'Master Of None' brings largely unaddressed issues of sex and race into a mainstream comedy with smarts to spare. It's hugely entertaining, but also cinematic, novelistic, and adventurous."
-- Erik McClanahan, The Playlist
Trailer | Wikipedia | The Playlist
#11: Making A Murderer
Making a Murderer is an American web television series that first streamed on Netflix on December 18, 2015. The ten-part documentary, written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, explores the story of Steven Avery, a Manitowoc County, Wisconsin man, who served 18 years in prison for the sexual assault and attempted murder of Penny Beerntsen, before being exonerated in 2003. In 2005 he was arrested in connection with the murder of Teresa Halbach, a local photographer, and convicted in 2007. The series also covers the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also charged in the murder.
"Few series pack a punch like this, and, further stoking your moral outrage, the tale this 10-hour docuseries tells is real."
-- Frazier Moore, Associated Press
Trailer | Wikipedia | Associated Press
#10: Creed
Creed is a 2015 American sports drama film, directed by Ryan Coogler and written by Coogler and Aaron Covington. A spin-off and sequel to the Rocky film series, the film stars Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Johnson Creed, Apollo's son, with Sylvester Stallone reprising the role of Rocky Balboa.
"While this film is basically Rocky VII, it's also much more than that, and perhaps the best in the series as it tells a standalone story with energy and skill."
-- Rich Cline, Contact Music
Trailer | Wikipedia | Contact Music
#09: Inside Out
Inside Out is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film[6] produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed and co-written by Pete Docter, co-directed and co-written by Ronnie del Carmen and produced by Jonas Rivera, with music composed by Michael Giacchino. The film is set in the mind of a young girl named Riley Andersen (Kaitlyn Dias), where five personified emotions—Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling)—try to lead her through life as her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco and she has to adjust to her new life.
"A melancholy minor masterpiece of dreamy originality, Inside Out is among Pixar's finest."
-- Edward Larenson, The Big Issue
Trailer | Wikipedia | The Big Issue
#08: Game Of Thrones "Hardhome"
Season 5, Episode 8
"Hardhome" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 48th overall. The episode was written by the series' creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Miguel Sapochnik. The episode aired on May 31, 2015 and features a climactic battle sequence at the episode's eponymous Wildling village, a battle mentioned but not seen in the original source material. It has since been hailed by many reviewers and fans as one of the series' best episodes.
"We get an episode of Game of Thrones that’s so good that it stands already severed heads above seasons of The Walking Dead. In those final moments during the Battle of Hardhome—a nightmare only hinted at via cryptically ominous letters in the books—Game of Thrones just became the best zombie show on television."
-- Robert Lloyd, LA Times
Promo | Wikipedia | Den Of Geek
#07: Ex Machina
Ex Machina (stylized as ex_machina) is a 2015 British science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Alex Garland in his directing debut. It stars Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. Ex Machina tells the story of programmer Caleb Smith (Gleeson) who is invited by his employer, the eccentric billionaire Nathan Bateman (Isaac), to administer the Turing test to an android with artificial intelligence (Vikander).
"Ex Machina's subtlest sleight of hand is that our eventual horror at her treatment only makes sense if she has passed the Turing Test. If Ava didn't look and emote like Vikander, her plight would seem as tragic as a toaster's."
-- Nick Hasted, The Arts Desk
Trailer | Wikipedia | The Arts Desk
#06: The Revenant
The Revenant is a 2015 American western epic film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The screenplay by Mark L. Smith and Iñárritu is based in part on Michael Punke's novel The Revenant, and is inspired by the experiences of frontiersman and fur trapper Hugh Glass in 1823 Montana and South Dakota. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass and co-stars Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter.
"The Revenant runs for a shade over two and a half hours, yet nary a minute feels wasted... Such beauty almost beggars belief, even as it reminds us what cinema-as-storyteller does best."
-- Chris Knight, National Post
Trailer | Wikipedia | National Post
#05: Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 action film directed and produced by George Miller, and written by Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris. The fourth instalment in the Mad Max franchise, it is an Australian and American venture produced by Kennedy Miller Mitchell, RatPac-Dune Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures. It is set in a future desert wasteland where gasoline and water are scarce commodities. It follows Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), who joins forces with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to flee from cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his army in an armoured tanker truck, which leads to a lengthy road battle.
"George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road upends all expectations-about how action sequences are composed, what themes a blockbuster can contain, or who a film's actual protagonist can be-and puts most other filmmakers working on this scale to shame."
-- Violet Lucca, Film Comment Magazine
Trailer | Wikipedia | Film Comment Magazine
#04: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (also known as Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens) is a 2015 American epic space opera film directed, co-produced, and co-written by J. J. Abrams.
Approximately 30 years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, has disappeared. The First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire and seeks to eliminate Luke and the New Republic. The Resistance, backed by the Republic and led by Luke's twin sister, General Leia Organa, opposes them while searching for Luke to enlist his aid.
"Abrams understands that a great Star Wars movie is not only about the whiz-bang external stuff, but also about the soul in its classic riff on the eternal struggle between the sides of light and dark (good vs evil)."
-- Matthew Pejkovic, Matt's Movie Reviews
Trailer | Wikipedia | Matt's Movie Reviews
#03: Toronto Blue Jays
The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 39th season for the franchise, and the 26th full season of play (27th overall) at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays clinched a playoff berth on September 25, their first since 1993, ending what was the longest playoff drought in North American professional sports at the time. On September 30, the team clinched the American League East Division and opened the playoffs by defeating the Texas Rangers in five games, in the American League Division Series. The Blue Jays were eliminated in a playoff series for the first time since 1991, losing to the Kansas City Royals in six games, in the American League Championship Series.
"And when all those factors come together, here’s what happens: After years of just trudging through the motions because you don’t have a better idea, life gets actively fun. There’s a huge difference between living because you have to and living because you want to, between waking up expecting something good to happen and hoping nothing bad happens.
You don’t get that feeling in sports when your team plays only once a week, and you only sort of get it when your team plays three times a week. But right now, Torontonians can turn on the TV every night and expect to witness something exceptional, because that’s what happens when you hit Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson, and Jose Bautista back-to-back-to-back in the lineup."
-- Michael Baumann, Grantland
Highlights | Wikipedia | Grantland
#02: Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey centre playing with the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). McDavid was named the top North American prospect by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, where he was ultimately selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers.
"When fans Photoshop a rookie phenom’s face onto that of Jesus Christ, as was the case in Section 122 at the Edmonton Oilers’ home opener, one senses that subtlety has no home among the expectations placed on Connor McDavid.
There’s a mania here for McDavid that goes beyond his label as a generational talent. It’s a sense of fanatic hope that should have been stomped out of the hearts and minds of these fans over the last several seasons of fired coaches and basement dwelling. Yet he arrives at a confluence of positivity for the franchise: The young superstar they didn’t expect to draft before winning the lottery, the management team that’s arrived to clean up old messes, the last year of a dilapidated arena in a geographically unappealing area."
-- Greg Wyshynski, Yahoo
Highlights | Wikipedia | Yahoo
#01: Stephen Curry
Wardell Stephen "Steph" Curry II (born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is considered by some to be the greatest shooter in NBA history. Curry won the 2015 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and is a three-time NBA All-Star.
"We are so mesmerized by Steph, so heartened by seeing someone perform at such a high level with such ease and grace, that it's downright transformative. Bill Russell has a famous passage in his memoir Second Wind about an idealized game between the sixties Celtics and Lakers where everyone plays so well that it goes on forever. Curry exists on that plane, where the aesthetics of the game overtake us."
-- Bethlehem Shoals, GQ
Highlights | Wikipedia | GQ
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