2015 Dream Oscar Ballot.

For the last piece of the puzzle in completing this year's Best Of lists, I've written up my dream Oscar ballot for 2015. The Academy announces its nominees this Thursday and, while they always get plenty wrong, this year threatens to be particularly egregious. Two of the most beloved and clear masterpieces of the year, Mad Max and Carol, could be honored or mostly left in the dust in favor of some of the year's most generic prestige fare. But not at the Patty's (patent pending) where they and a number of other movies are justly celebrated! Oh, what a lovely day!

As usual, I've extended each category to six rather than five contenders (I'm sure I watch more films than the Academy does) and added a few of my own personal superlatives at the end of the list. The winners are bolded and runners-up italicized. Read below and agree or disagree as desired. Enjoy!

The Best Films of 2015.

The time has come! 2015 has come to an end, and a few days into the new year, after having caught up on the last few titles I was missing, I've decided on my favorite films of the year. This year I managed to catch 110 movies and the year offered more pleasures than I expected. As it stands, instead of doing my usual top 20, I've elected to go to 25 this year to reflect just how great I think the year was. I've ranked them all this year so you know exactly where everything falls into place, but given the quality of the year's films, I can confidently look at all the films listed here and give them a passionate recommendation. So take a look below and enjoy my favorite films of 2015!