Last updated March 2024
On the hunt for sensationally awesome Best Movies 2015? See our compilation of 30 marvelous, universally beloved Best Movies 2015 handpicked for your viewing pleasure. Critically celebrated by revered IMDB reviewers and widely adored by our own legion of savvy users, these world-class titles simply have no equal. Lend fellow viewers a hand by voting up the titles you feel are keepers. We appreciate your stellar contributions showcasing the finest entertainment available!
Thani Oruvan (2015)
Plot Summary:
An idealistic cop and an ambitious scientist-businessman indulge in a high-stake battle of wits
Duration: 160 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: police officer, good versus evil, police, revenge, heroes, violence, scientist, death, murder, crime boss, brutality, chase, vengeance, rivalry, society, mob boss, gang war, mad scientist, arch villain, crime family, criminal heroes, gangster, genius, secret service, cop
Premam (2015)
Plot Summary:
Three stages in George's life, and three girls he encounters in each stage
Duration: 156 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: India
Plot tags: unrequited love, love and romance, unfulfilled love, romantic friendship, relationships, friendship, romantic relationship, fall in love, in love, couples, love affair, relationship problems, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, love interest, couple relations, amnesia, love, teenage love, teacher, tragic love, coming of age, butterfly, time, childhood sweetheart, dance
RangiTaranga (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mysterious events begin to unfold after a reclusive novelist and his wife move back to her ancestral village, followed by a journalist
Duration: 149 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Mystery, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: writers, novelist, investigation, undercover, investigative journalism, secret, investigative reporter, estrangement, whodunit, murder, memory loss, murder mystery, reporter, nightmare, pregnant woman, wife, husband wife relationship, missing father, mystery
The Sight (2015)
Plot Summary:
A simple, street-smart man tries to protect his family from a tough cop looking for his missing son
Duration: 163 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: murder, police, investigation, pursuit, accident, blackmail, danger, plot twist, travel, family relations, rape, murder mystery, morality, sexual harassment, great ending, hidden camera, false evidence, teenager, construction, cinema, bad cop, police station, witness, cover up, trip
Talvar (2015)
Plot Summary:
A hardened cop deals with three conflicting perspectives involving a brutal double murder. The case is complicated as the prime suspects are the parents who supposedly killed their teenage daughter
Duration: 132 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: investigation, murder, twists and turns, suspect, police detective, police, domestic servant, danger, planting evidence, crime scene, murder mystery, renaissance, cosa nostra, plot twist, based on real people, innovation, murder investigation, true crime, biopic, bollywood, hindi, crimes, netflix, female director
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Plot Summary:
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order. There's Max, a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos. And Furiosa, a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland
Duration: 120 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Australia
Plot tags: post apocalypse, survival, apocalypse, desert, post apocalyptic, chase, car chase, distopia, car, dystopian future, dystopia, on the run, dark hero, rescue, female warrior, tough girl, lone hero, tough guy, danger, carsploitation, good versus evil, female protagonist, escape, slavery, feminism
Room (2015)
Plot Summary:
Jack is a young boy of 5 years old who has lived all his life in one room. He believes everything within it are the only real things in the world. But what will happen when his Ma suddenly tells him that there are other things outside of Room?
Duration: 118 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 443000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Ireland, Canada, UK, USA
Plot tags: kidnapping, isolation, captive, kidnapped, escape, mother son relationship, rape, room, child born of rape, abduction, survival, imprisonment, female protagonist, boy, child protagonist, locked in a room, rescue, kidnapped woman, captivity, psychology, child, birthday, father daughter relationship, little boy, pickup truck
Spotlight (2015)
Plot Summary:
In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations against John Geoghan, an unfrocked priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys. Led by editor Walter "Robby" Robinson, reporters Michael Rezendes, Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer interview victims and try to unseal sensitive documents. The reporters make it their mission to provide proof of a cover-up of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church
Duration: 129 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 494000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Plot tags: journalism, investigation, lawyer, investigative journalism, conspiracy, sexual abuse, newspaper, journalist, catholic church, pedophilia, catholicism, child abuse, cover up, expose, catholic, child molestation, lawsuit, newspaper reporter, pedophile priest, corruption, reporter, religion, dialogue, cardinal the priest, twists and turns
Inside Out (2015)
Plot Summary:
Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 766000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA, Japan
Plot tags: imaginary friend, memory, creativity, dream, joy, childhood, parents and children, life philosophy, subconscious, coming of age, friendship, happy ending, imagination, erased memory, sadness, psychology, moving, imaginary, anger, mind, family relations, fear, new house, tomboy, hockey
Fly Away Solo (2015)
Plot Summary:
Four lives intersect along the Ganges: a low caste boy in hopeless love, a daughter ridden with guilt of a sexual encounter ending in a tragedy, a hapless father with fading morality, and a spirited child yearning for a family, long to escape the moral constructs of a small-town
Duration: 109 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama
Country: India, France
Plot tags: love, caste system, guilt, religious differences, father daughter relationship, social differences, class differences, class conflict, relationships, religion, life is a bitch, society, male female relationship, social problems, relationship problems, couple relations, taboo, discrimination, dying, punjabi, blackmail, small town, police officer, police, magician
Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015)
Plot Summary:
A young mute girl from Pakistan loses herself in India with no way to head back. A devoted man with a magnanimous spirit undertakes the task to get her back to her motherland and unite her with her family
Duration: 163 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: love, love story, revenge, manipulation, forbidden love, love and romance, fall in love, love affair, religions or cults, indians, torture, patriot, loss of father, war, religion, politics, femininity, on the road, journey, feminist, child, road trip, hindu, indian war, innovation
Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)
Plot Summary:
The young Shivudu is left as a foundling in a small village by his mother. By the time he’s grown up, it has become apparent that he possesses exceptional gifts. He meets the beautiful warrior/princess Avanthika and learns that her queen has been held captive for the last 25 years. Shividu sets off to rescue her, discovering his own origins in the process
Duration: 159 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 134000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: hinduism, beautiful scenery, medieval, kingdom, politics, vengeance, warrior, dual role, battles, love interest, love and romance, save the kingdom, ruler, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, mortal combat, brother brother relationship, ancient, fantasy world, knight, fight, duel, vigilante, war crime, entertainment, indian war
Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015)
Plot Summary:
Dashrath Manjhi was a poor man from the lowest of the low castes, living in a remote village cut off from the world by a rocky mountain range. Life for him was a daily struggle for survival. He loved his wife, Phaguniya, beyond belief. One day, while climbing the mountain to bring him food, his wife slipped, fell and died. Overwhelmed by grief, Dashrath decided to carve out a path through the mountain, so that no one else would suffer his fate. For 22 years, all by himself, with just a hammer and a chisel, he hammered away at the rocks, till the path was carved out from the mountain
Duration: 120 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: India
Plot tags: mountain, love, determination, village, poverty, husband wife relationship, caste system, loss of wife, struggle for survival, mining, tragic event, family tragedy, travel, indians, discrimination, punjabi, biopic, based on real people, bollywood, hindi, mud, axe, mallet, mountain road, netflix
The Revenant (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling
Duration: 156 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 854000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA
Plot tags: survival, wilderness, revenge, vengeance, native american, snow, bear attack, life & death, nature, winter, hunter, obsessive quest, violent, father son relationship, bravery, beautiful scenery, lost in the woods, old west, river, lone hero, danger, gunfight, violence, left to die, grizzly bear
Charlie (2015)
Plot Summary:
A young, nonconforming woman named Tessa gets entangled in a cat-and-mouse chase in the by-lanes of Kerala, hunting for a mysterious artist who previously lived in her apartment
Duration: 130 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: love, art, woman, twists and turns, relationships, death, love and romance, chase, escapades, male female relationship, danger, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, dishonesty, couple relations, travel, women, humanity, female protagonist, inspiration, fake death, comic book, faked death, malayalam, hindi, apartment
The Martian (2015)
Plot Summary:
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive
Duration: 144 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 904000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Hungary, Jordan
Plot tags: survival, mars, astronaut, space travel, stranded, nasa, isolation, outer space, science, scientist, loneliness, struggle for survival, left for dead, space, food shortage, alone, rationing, rescue, trapped in space, distant planet, space station, space and aliens, deep space, spaceship, space exploration
Ivy (2015)
Plot Summary:
After months without pay, the already disgruntled crew on a Turkish cargo ship arrives in an Egyptian port and learns that the Port Authority is foreclosing on them. Ordered to anchor offshore, the remaining skeleton crew has their passports seized and must maintain the vessel until its owner’s debts are paid. Tensions quickly arise between the authoritarian Cypriot captain, his devoutly religious second-in-command, an affable cook, and a trio of newcomers to the ship—a pair of druggie ne’er-do-wells and the near-mute, hulking Kurd. As months pass, food and entertainment dwindle, alliances shift, and the men take out their raw frustration on one another
Duration: 104 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: Turkey, Germany
Plot tags: ship, society, workplace intrigue, isolation, working class, confined, realism, workplace, dishonesty, workplace situations, survival, mental disorder, art, trapped, ocean, surrealism, nature, psychological drama, deadly
Who Killed Captain Alex? (2015)
Plot Summary:
Recognized as Uganda’s first action film, Who Killed Captain Alex? is about the aftermath of a police raid in Kampala in which a police captain (Alex) and a drug racketeer’s brother are killed. Both sides seek revenge, escalating into war
Duration: 64 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Crime, Mystery, War
Country: Uganda
Plot tags: battles, gory, vengeance, drug dealing, strong violent content, police raid, police officer killed, rivalry, danger, exploitation, fish, shootout, who done it, jungle, violence, mercenary, death, monk, soldier, singer, amnesia, television, slum, shooting, bombing
Baby (2015)
Plot Summary:
An elite counter-intelligence unit learns of a plot, masterminded by a maniacal madman. With the clock ticking, it's up to them to track the terrorists' international tentacles and prevent them from striking at the heart of India
Duration: 159 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 60000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: terrorism, terrorist, fighting crime, danger, law enforcement, tough heroes, violent content, spy, terrorist plot, behind enemy lines, war on terror, graphic violence, hindu, patriot, anti terrorism, heroes, government agency, state affairs, commando unit, kurd, espionage, commando, tough law enforcer, counter terrorism, islamic terrorism
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Plot Summary:
Thirty years after defeating the Galactic Empire, Han Solo and his allies face a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren and his army of Stormtroopers
Duration: 138 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 963000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Plot tags: star wars, alien, space opera, space travel, obesity, resistance fighter, fantasy world, space, space and aliens, female protagonist, super weapon, good versus evil, outer space, destiny, crash landing, death, telepathy, cloning, sabotage, exploding planet, one woman army, anti heroine, monster, battles, desert
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Plot Summary:
In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today
Duration: 147 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 215000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, Music
Country: USA
Plot tags: hip hop, racism, music, gangster, ghetto, rags to riches, profanity, rap, rapper, african american, biopic, fighting the system, police brutality, violence, gangsta, marijuana, aids, musician's life, black, musician, vengeance, feud, redemption, racial slur, civil rights
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Plot Summary:
Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception
Duration: 168 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 645000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Western
Country: USA
Plot tags: bounty hunter, murder, winter, snow, gang, stagecoach, twists and turns, cold weather, old west, brutality, prisoner, dark humor, gore, criminal, revenge, blizzard, hitman, dialogue, coffee, deception, plot twist, massacre, violent, blood, projectile vomiting
The Big Short (2015)
Plot Summary:
The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown
Duration: 130 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 471000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, History
Country: USA
Plot tags: finance, wall street, business, financial crisis, money, economics, stock market, greed, economic crisis, fraud, loan, analysis, banking, expose, bank, financier, manipulation, corporate crime, capitalism, creativity, honest, trading, marketing, real estate, entrepreneur
Boruto: Naruto the Movie (2015)
Plot Summary:
Boruto is the son of the 7th Hokage Naruto who completely rejects his father. Behind this, he has feelings of wanting to surpass Naruto, who is respected as a hero. He ends up meeting his father's friend Sasuke, and requests to become... his apprentice!? The curtain on the story of the new generation written by Masashi Kishimoto rises!
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Plot tags: friendship, teamwork, father son relationship, naruto, heroes, teacher, battles, trap, competition, training, contest, interview, martial arts, master warrior, danger, youth, warrior, supernatural ability, mentor, team, good versus evil, young heroes, heroic mission, fraud, superhero
Land of Mine (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war were handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent out to the West Coast, where they were ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys were forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of the Danish sergeant, Carl Leopold Rasmussen
Duration: 100 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark, Germany
Plot tags: world war two, german soldier, child soldier, prisoners of war, beach, minefield, survival, teenager, nazi, war, boy, childhood, pow, war crime, wartime, moral ambiguity, beautiful scenery, brutality, courage, life & death, unlikely friendships, soldier, abuse of power, world war, dog
Embrace of the Serpent (2015)
Plot Summary:
The epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-transcending friendship, between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people, and two scientists that, over the course of 40 years, travel through the Amazon in search of a sacred plant that can heal them. Inspired by the journals of the first explorers of the Colombian Amazon, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes
Duration: 125 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina
Plot tags: shaman, amazon tribe, amazon river, jungle, amazon rainforest, nature, wilderness, friendship, existentialism, genocide, self discovery, indigenous people, amazon jungle, dream, scientist, medieval, surrealism, boat, hallucination, explorer, cultural difference, religion, native, magic realism, death
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country. Follows the journey of a young boy, Agu, who is forced to join a group of soldiers in a fictional West African country. While Agu fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination Depicts the mechanics of war and does not shy away from explicit, visceral detail, and paints a complex, difficult picture of Agu as a child soldier
Duration: 137 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Plot tags: war, civil war, child soldier, life is a bitch, children in wartime, survival, adaptation, violence, justice, military, culture clash, moral ambiguity, violent, anti war, power relations, against humanity, black, father son relationship, innocence lost, rape, brother brother relationship, children, army, politics, genocide
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
Plot Summary:
Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia
Duration: 105 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 137000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: high school, cancer, adolescence, teenager, terminal illness, friendship, coming of age, dying, school, leukemia, teenage boy, illness, death, friends, teenage girl, grief, relationships, heartwarming, high school student, best friend, filmmaking, dating, father son relationship, husband wife relationship, chemotherapy
The little prince (2015)
Plot Summary:
Based on the best-seller book 'The Little Prince', the movie tells the story of a little girl that lives with resignation in a world where efficiency and work are the only dogmas. Everything will change when accidentally she discovers her neighbor that will tell her about the story of the Little Prince that he once met
Duration: 108 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: France, Canada, Italy, USA, China
Plot tags: imaginary, stop motion, imaginary kingdom, life philosophy, philosophy, little boy, friends, little girl, children, child, coming of age, surrealism, prince, desert, self discovery, life & death, adaptation, social differences, escapades, old man, animal, mentor, mysterious planet, strong female lead, beast
A Man Called Ove (2015)
Plot Summary:
Despite grumpy 59 year-old Ove being deposed as president of his condominium association, but he keeps looking over the neighbourhood with an iron fist. When pregnant Parvaneh and her family move into the terraced house opposite Ove and she accidentally back into Ove’s mailbox, it sets off a series of unexpected changes in his life
Duration: 116 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 67000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Sweden
Plot tags: unlikely friendships, suicide attempt, love, death, aging, swedish, mentor, life & death, pregnant woman, friendship, cancer, destiny, adaptation, elderly man, dark humor, loneliness, disability, neighbor neighbor relationship, old age, elderly, nordic, husband wife relationship, competition, flash forward, suicidal thoughts