2015’s best films: ‘Movies 101’ has its say

In the 17 years we've been producing "Movies 101" for Spokane Public Radio, we've posted best-films-of-the-year lists. And though the show's principal members have varied over time, we've continued to boost the films that we think were the past year's best efforts.

On Friday's edition of "Movies 101," which airs on KPBX at 6:30 p.m. (on KSFC Saturday at 1 p.m.), we run through our lists. In doing so, we provide ample reasoning for why we include the films we admire — and exclude those we don't. For the sake of brevity, I'll just include the lists here.

First, we have the Top 5 films that reflect our consensus picks (those that showed up on somewhere all three of our lists):

"Spotlight," "Inside Out," "Mad Max: Fury Road," "Sicario" and "Tangerine."

Now, I'll run down our specific lists. You can access the picks that Nathan Weinbender wrote for The Spokesman-Review, including his explanations, by clicking here. But his basic list, in numerical order, follows:

10, "Brooklyn"; 9, "Room"; 8, "The Look of Silence"; 7, "Ex Machina"; 6, "Spotlight"; 5, "Inside Out"; 4, "About Elly"; 3, "Carol"; 2, "Phoenix"; 1, "Mad Max: Fury Road."

And Nathan's honorable mentions (don't judge him too harshly for stretching his list to 14 films): "The Big Short," "Bridge of Spies," "Creed," "The Diary of a Teenage Girl," "The End of the Tour," "It Follows," "The Martian," "Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation," "Queen of Earth," "Sicario," "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Tangerine," "The Tribe," "White God."

Next up, Mary Pat Treuthart's list (which she offered in alphabetical order):

"Clouds of Sils Maria," "Inside Out," "The Martian," "The Revenant," "Sicario," "Spotlight," "Tangerine," "Timbuktu," "Trainwreck," "Wild Tales" ("Relatos Salvages").

And Mary Pat's honorable mentions: "The Big Short," "Mad Max: Fury Road," "45 Years," "The Look of Silence," "White God," "The Gift," "Straight Outta Compton," "Phoenix," "Brooklyn," "Red Army."

Now my list:

10, "The Revenant"; 9, "Carol"; 8, "The Martian"; 7, "Tangerine"; 6, "Inside Out"; 5, "Mad Max: Fury Road"; 4, "Sicario"; 3, "The Big Short"; 2, "Brooklyn"; 1, "Spotlight."

And my honorable mentions: "Phoenix," "Room," "The Look of Silence," "The New Girlfriend," "We Come As Friends," "Beasts of No Nation," "Straight Outta Compton," "Steve Jobs," "I'll See You in My Dreams," "Love & Mercy."

Finally, the three of us took about two seconds to agree on our pick for the year's worst movie: Barry Levinson's "Rock the Kasbah."

That's it for 2015. The new year has commenced. The fun never stops.