2015 was a great year for craft beer and not a bad year for movies either. Yes, last year had its share of predictable sequels, high-profile duds and disappointments. But overall last year provided us with plenty of reasons to feel good about shelling out twenty bucks at the local multiplex…

So here are, in no particular order, our Favorite Movies of 2015.

Mad Max Fury Road – It’s been 30 years since George Miller made a Mad Max movie, which makes the success of Fury Road all the more amazing. Like The Road Warrior, Mad Max: Fury Road is primarily one long non-stop road chase through a post-apocalyptic world. And, thankfully, it never relies on CGI – all the mind-blowing high speed stunts in this film are for real. Tom Hardy takes over for Mel Gibson as Max in Fury Road – but it’s Charlize Theron who stars as avenging warrior, Imperator Furiosa, who owns this long awaited and audacious sequel.

Spotlight – At a time when many newspapers are floundering and journalism has become a waning enterprise – It’s wonderful to be reminded of the importance of both. Spotlight isn’t just a great film about journalism – it’s a great film, period – right up there with All the President’s Men.

The Martian – Ridley Scott is a great director and he may never have made a truly bad film. But in The Martian he takes a best-selling book of SCIENCE-fiction and distills pages of dry scientific exposition, into an entertaining and humane adventure. It doesn’t hurt to have Matt Damon as you lead and to surround him with a great supporting cast.

Inside Out – Heartfelt and high concept, Inside Out is an animation triumph and a return to form for the Pixar Studios. Constructed with intelligence and sense of humor that appeals to both young and old (sometimes for entirely different reasons), this brilliant film tells the story of a little girl and the five emotions (Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger) that together make up her psyche.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Clearly the most anticipated film of the year (and maybe even of the decade) JJ Abram’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a long lost love letter to the first two films. It cleverly manages to capture much of the spirit of the originals and set an entirely new course for the saga at the same time.

Brooklyn – Simple, quiet and unashamedly old-fashioned, Brooklyn is an immigrant’s tale set in the 1950s. Saoirse Ronan stars as a young women, from a small Irish village, forced to choose between her homeland (and the people she’s loved there) and a new life (and love) in New York City. A lyrical and haunting snapshot of another…

Creed – In a year full of film franchise remakes and reboots, resurrecting the sequel-damaged Rocky saga, seemed like a longshot at best. But by shifting the focus away from Sylvester Stallone’s famous fighter, to the son of his legendary rival, Ryan Coogler’s Creed reminds you why this franchise was so thrilling in the first place.

Sicario – 2015 was the year of the narcotics saga.  Don Winslow’s The Cartel and Sam Quinones’ Dreamland were two of the best books of last years and Netflix brilliantly took on Pablo Escobar in Narcos. Unrelenting and morally resonant, Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario takes place in the lawless U.S./Mexico frontier of today, where US government black-ops operations fight a dirty war that may never be over. Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and James Brolin star in this cynical thriller – and they’re all great.

It Follows – From the bracing tension of its opening sequence, David Robert Mitchell’s horror opus plays like a classic John Carpenter flick. Playfully subversive and fueled by an almost suffocating sense of impending dread, It Follows is a low-budget masterpiece that takes the time-tested “sex-equals-death” formula and amps it up to 11 – The best scary movie of 2015!