10. Life itself
Of course the critics give a big thumbs up to the movie about the influential movie critic, but Steve James' documentary about Roger Ebert is about so much more than a man who had a skill for writing about movies - especially those he loathed. Based on Ebert's best-selling memoir of the same name, Life Itself is a raw, ribald, painful and inspiring personal story of a gifted communicator who couldn't be silenced by jaw cancer.
"We [...] learn he is morbid enough to take some pleasure in dying a dramatic death, in giving his movie a killer ending." - Michelle Orange
Life Itself review: Two thumbs up
Blog: Roger and me
Blog: Roger and me
Steve James' documentary profiles the life, love and career of esteemed movie critic, Roger Ebert. Source: SBS Movies
9. Wild Tales
This very guilty pleasure deals with ordinary people reacting to injustice and losing themselves in the ecstasy of unbridled payback. A bride gives her philandering groom a reception he'll never forget. A reflexive finger gesture has brutal repercussions for an Audi driver. An explosives expert gets one parking ticket too many. Argentine Damian Szifron was rightly nominated for the foreign language Academy Award for this wicked compendium of belly laugh-inducing vignettes. In a fitting footnote, he was robbed of victory. 
Revenge is hilarious in 'Wild Tales'. Source: SBS Movies
8. Girlhood
One of the year's quiet gems that you should seek out if you missed it's limited cinema run. Celine Sciamma (Tomboy) tells a gang girl story with a difference, that focuses less on knives and fisticuffs and more on the unifying power of BFFs. Sciamma swears the English title of the film was a happy coincidence, but she likes the contrast between her very French film about a teen's growing pains and Richard Linklater's Texas-based story of the same, Boyhood.
On 'Girlhood', 'Boyhood' and sending out an SOS to Rihanna: Céline Sciamma interview
Source: Movie still
7. 99 Homes
Michael Shannon gives one of the year's great performances as a self-made man whose empire sits atop a mound of foreclosed properties and shattered dreams, in Ramin Bahrani's riveting 99 Homes. Andrew Garfield is equally good as a shellshocked former homeowner forced into a contemporary deal with the devil: conducting surprise evictions to do unto others as was done to him.
"Well-constructed, courageous and savvy, 99 Homes is a warning to people who think the financial framework they set up during boom times, will serve them equally well during the inevitable bust." - Russell Edwards
Michael Shannon talks '99 Homes', deals with the Devil, and why he's never owned a house (interview)
99 Homes review: A fiery parable of income inequality
99 Homes review: A fiery parable of income inequality
Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon are outstanding in credit crunch drama '99 Homes'. Source: SBS Movies
6. Love & Mercy
Bill Pohlad's portrait of Brian Wilson shuns the bulk of the conventions of the 'musician biopic' to tell a convincing double narrative of creative wonder and crippling anxiety. Paul Dano and John Cusack play two incarnations of the tortured songwriter across two eras, with Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks rising above stock support character roles to fill out the drama.
Love & Mercy review: Portrait of musical man-child deserves the excitation
Paul Dano plays a young Brian Wilson in the acclaimed biopic 'Love & Mercy'. Source: SBS Movies
5. Inside Out
The year's most unexpected tearjerker was a bittersweet masterpiece from the experts on such things, Pixar. We fell for the bait and switch of the trailer, which played up the fun aspects of an internal competition for a tween's emotional equilibrium, and were transfixed when the full feature arrived and took us to some very deep places. Inside Out was masterful but never manipulative, for the way it articulated the knock-on effects of despair.
"Inside Out is a triumph of Joy and Sadness and – at the risk of agitating my own inner Disgust for saying so – it will make you feel ‘all of the feels’. " - Fiona Williams ★★★★★
Inside Out review: A core memory 
Big and little audiences experienced an emotional rollercoaster in Pixar's comedy tearjerker 'Inside Out'. Source: SBS Movies
4. It Follows
Hordes of humping teenagers aren't the only things that go bump in the night in this stylish take on a teen sex panic slasher. It features a breakout performance from Maika Monroe as a woman on the receiving end of a sex curse from a paramour who neglects to disclose that he's a carrier. Hands down the best horror movie of the year, It Follows came out of nowhere to hit you where it hurts, like some undead army of supernatural stalkers. Seek it out. Or wait til it finds you...
"An effectively creepy Indie chiller that relies more on suspense and dread than it does on blood and gore." - Rochelle Siemienowicz
It Follows review: Effectively creepy
Maika Monroe on 'It Follows' and Her 5 Favourite Scream Queens
Maika Monroe on 'It Follows' and Her 5 Favourite Scream Queens
A sexually-transmitted...something plagues teens in the year's best nailbiter, 'It Follows'. Source: Movie still
3. Leviathan
A fisherman takes on a corrupt Russian bureaucrat in Andrey Zvyagintsev’s mighty epic, Leviathan. The intelligent script breathes wind and fire into its source text (Hobbes' landmark three-part essay) and the result is a witty, withering portrait of political and personal failure in contemporary Russia.
Leviathan review: Portrait of political paralysis reels you in
In 'Leviathan', a lone man takes on the system in modern day Russia.
2. Birdman
Alejandro G. Iñárritu's weird wonder signalled a welcome return for its up-for-it lead, Michael Keaton. The film riffed on Keaton's own backstory to tell the tale of a fallen Hollywood star on the comeback trail, in a performance devoid of vanity.
"A strange and brilliant monster, Birdman is not only one of the year’s most technically ambitious films – made to look as if it’s filmed in one long almost unbroken take – it’s also one of the funniest." - Rochelle Siemienowicz
Birdman review: A must-see film 
The Best Film Oscar winner won over Australian audiences too/ Source: SBS Movies
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
Obviously. The triumphant return of George Miller's antihero was like an adrenaline shot to the heart of true believers. Where other franchise returns took the nostalgic route and played it safe this year, Max Rockatansky came back madder than ever, in a film that took an equal opportunity approach to its road warriors (in this film, the men are the helpless hood ornaments). More please.
"It’s a cranking, imperfect, delirious, loud, elegant, provocative, violent, dazzling, bizarre and truly, weirdly nutty movie chock full of ideas and teeming with so much detail it seems tooled for repeat viewings." - Peter Galvin ★★★★★
Mad Max: Fury Road review: See it, then see it again
George Miller's runaway hit was an unstoppable force in 2015. Source: SBS Movies
What gets your vote for the best movies of the year?
Tell us below.
How we voted
Our team of critics each voted for their favourite films of the year, and the votes were tallied into the top ten. Simple. Participants were: Rochelle Siemienowicz, Fiona Williams, Peter Galvin, Lynden Barber, Russell Edwards, Stephen A Russell, and Anthony Morris.
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