Sicario by Denis Villeneuve, 2015 (R)

with Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Victor Garber, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya

After rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) receives a top assignment. Recruited by mysterious government official Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), Kate joins a task force for the escalating war against drugs. Led by the intense and shadowy Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), the team travels back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexican border, using one cartel boss (Bernardo Saracino) to flush out a bigger one (Julio Cesar Cedillo).

And this is how you discover the entire thing is a trap. A trap which users all over the world participate in. As long as you will have users, you will have a business, and since the drugs are illegal, you will have traffic, and outlaws, and murder, and none of the justice. And since it is a risky but juicy business, you will have competition, interest and massacres.
What we witness in this movie is how a justice system decide to play its options, so the competition is less and they can have an illusion of control, but eventually, keep the business going. We are Emily Blunt and Daniel Kaluuya, innocent at the beginning, and eventually (SPOILER) in the end, feel dirty, used... It is not a feel-good movie, it is a slice in the life of drug trafficking, with no outcome. It is the prism mirror or Traffic from Soderbergh, except this time, Benicio Del Toro is not your friend.

What Happened, Miss Simone? by Liz Garbus, 2015

with Nina Simone

Classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist Nina Simone lived a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy.

I only knew her music, which I really admire. This documentary gave light and life to all her songs, and the person she was, the struggles, the ambition, the journey, the fame, the rejection... It is so complete you feel overwhelmed by the extraordinary being she was, how she wasn't a woman of her time but a visionnaire, an outstanding artist, and somehow too ahead of her time to sometimes be understood. The documentary portrays her at her best at her worse, with very personal notes and footage, never judging, and leaves us with a feeling of sadness for all what she gave us, but all that she had to sacrifice. Shaking.

The Danish Girl by Tom Hooper, 2015 (R)

with Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch

With support from his loving wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), artist Einar Wegener/Lili (Eddie Redmayne) prepares to undergo one of the first sex-change operations.

It is sad that the frailty of Lili is performed with too much similarities with Hawking by Redmayne. There was therefor no way to believe that he was Lili and not just another performance of Redmayne. On the other hand, Alicia Vikander (who is everywhere: Ex Machina, U.N.C.L.E., Burnt, The Fifth Estate...) is amazing as a woman who has to evolve ahead of her time in a men's world and has to go through the emotional journey of see her husband transforming into a woman and supporting him through, despite the social convention of the time. 

Steve Jobs by Danny Boyle, 2015 (R)

with Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterston, Sarah Snook, Adam Shapiro, Perla Haney-Jardine, John Ortiz

With public anticipation running high, Apple Inc. co-founders Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) and Steve "Woz" Wozniak get ready to unveil the first Macintosh in 1984. Jobs must also deal with personal issues related to ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan and their young daughter Lisa. Eventually fired, Jobs launches NeXT Inc. and prepares to release a new computer model in 1988. Ten years later, Jobs is back at Apple Inc. and about to revolutionize the industry once again with the iMac.

Great dialogues. Great great dialogues. A bit brainy and of course nerdy, but great. That said, it is strange to see the career span of Danny Boyle, and it is harder and harder to understand its trajectory. One of the unusual traits of this movie is almost the lack of climax... Because when the presentation starts, we are out. Because the success story outcome is not part of the movie. Because the movie focuses on the process, the personal journey and the relationships Jobs has over the year with his employees, collaborators, investors and family. Somehow after the end of the second segment, we get the pattern and the movie looses its rhythm, so attached to the structure it becomes a constrain. Kate Winslet's character Joanna Hoffman (and most likely the real Hoffman) is irresistible in clashing with Jobs, and the best part of the movie. And of course, as an Apple user since my first computer, I found the behind the scene of the development of what became a successful brand and product fascinating.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens by J.J. Abrams, 2015 (PG-13)

with Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Andy Serkis

Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights.

And we missed them so much... It was good to see them again. And finally, making fun of the Stormtroopers as they really deserve (they are the comic relief). And see some new characters emerge, intelligent, witty as Han Solo was. They chose a cast that is impeccable, with a mix of up-and-coming actors and Oscar winners and nominees, targeting the widest audience ever for a Star Wars movie. And as Star Wars fan, how could you miss Solo and Leia being back together?
Of course, that means there are a lot of things that you were sort of trapped to live as an audience, and the pattern of the story-line is getting a little old... But still, it was worth the watch... Now we have to wait another two years minimum to know more about Finn, Rey and Poe (Oscar Isaac). That is way too long...

Inside Out by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen, 2015 (PG)

with Amy Poehler, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Kaitlyn Dias

Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is a happy, hockey-loving 11-year-old Midwestern girl, but her world turns upside-down when she and her parents move to San Francisco. Riley's emotions -- led by Joy (Amy Poehler) -- try to guide her through this difficult, life-changing event. However, the stress of the move brings Sadness (Phyllis Smith) to the forefront. When Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley's mind, the only emotions left in Headquarters are Anger, Fear and Disgust.

This is quite a way of picturing the brain: very inventive, funny, imaginative. You really get transported into those visions of subconscious, emotions, memory. It is at the same time perfect, and on the other hand completely non-scientific. The outcome becomes almost a dream session, where not everything is logical, but everything makes sense, and it is fun, sad, intelligent, witty, all in one.

Carol by Todd Haynes, 2015 (R)

with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, Kyle Chandler

Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) spots the beautiful, elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett) perusing the doll displays in a 1950s Manhattan department store. The two women develop a fast bond that becomes a love with complicated consequences. Adapted from The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith.

This is a beautiful romantic comedy, where two women fall in love. The simplicity of it, and the almost awkwardness they showcase, their natural bound make us forget for a moment this is the 50s and homosexuality is prohibited, specially if you are a mother fighting for the custody of your child. But the movie is also a road movie, a portrait of winter, and of the two worlds Therese and Carol come from. The cinematography is perfect, (the lack of) dialogues exquisite, the performance so subtle it feels like everything might shatter at any second. Of course, there is the question of why it wasn't nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, perhaps it is too much to see a beautiful couple that is not following the convention of heterosexuality. Pity, I do wish they receive the awards for Best Actress in Leading and Supporting role, and best adapted Screenplay...