Top Ten Films of 2015

Been a bit slow with this one but I wanted to take my time, make a real considered opinion ya know? 2016 was big. Not just a lot of great films and a lot of big blockbusters, but a lot of great blockbusters. MI:5, Spectre, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, all big popcorn movies but all had storytelling at their heart rather than just wham-bam spectacle.

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2. Whiplash

3. Mad Max: Fury Road

4. Ex-Machina

5. Kingsmen: The Secret Service

6. The Martian

7. Spectre

8. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

9. Avengers: Age of Ultron

10. Straight Outta Compton

Remember when movie titles didn't have colons? Another byproduct of our current age of remakes, sequels and spin-offs. But 2015 was a strong year and other honorable mentions have got to go to - Macbeth, Legend, It Follows, Furious 7, Jurassic World and Ant-Man. 2016 has got a lot to live up to, but with the likes of The Revenant, The Hateful 8 and Captain America: Civil War, no doubt it'll fill those shoes and need a new pair.

Searching for Spitman

Vice's latest mini-doc is a nightmarish fairy tale called Searching for Spitman. In the council block stairwells, alleyways and dark parks of West London a notorious bogeyman pays young teens and disadvantaged youths to perform deviant acts on him. From rubbing their feet in his face, to pissing over him, these bizarre rituals last three-minutes and earn the participants five pounds a time.

With the West London narration and distorted audio interviews (keeping the contributors anonymous), this is the Brothers Grimm for Millenials. Midnight filming in locations like poorly-lit garages, narrow back roads and council block corridors gives Marlon Rouse Tavares's film a neo-noir style but with gothic horror themes - urban bogeymen and twisted trysts.

It's hard to believe such a character exists until you see the camera-phone footage of feet crudely massaging a pixelated face in a small corner bathroom. It's harrowing and hypnotising in equal measure, a hard watch but well worth it.