The best films of 2015 so far – UK
JanuaryBirdman
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Running time: 119 minutes
Certificate: 15
One-shot, double-Oscar-winning comedy starring Michael Keaton as an actor who tries to put his movie superhero past behind him by classying it up on Broadway.
The Theory of Everything
Director: James Marsh
Running time: 123 minutes
Certificate: 12A
In an Oscar-winning turn, Eddie Redmayne plays physicist Stephen Hawking, whose relationship with wife (Felicity Jones) is tested by his motor neurone disease.
Foxcatcher
Director: Bennett Miller
Running time: 134 minutes
Certificate: 15
Brooding true story of eccentric billionaire John du Pont, who invited a down-on-his-luck wrestler (Channing Tatum) to train at this estate, with tragic results.
American Sniper
Director: Clint Eastwood
Running time: 134 minutes
Certificate: 15
Clint Eastwood’s most commercially successful film to date stars Bradley Cooper as US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who became one of the most lethal snipers in American history.
Whiplash
Director: Damien Chazelle
Running time: 106 minutes
Certificate: 15
JK Simmons picked up the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as a tyrannical music teacher who finds himself challenged by a new student, played by Miles Teller.
Watch a video review of Whiplash Guardian
Ex Machina
Director: Alex Garland
Running time: 110 minutes
Certificate: 15
A young computer programmer is chosen to spend time with his company’s reclusive CEO, played by Oscar Isaac, who reveals a humanoid robot with her own agenda.
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Running time: 129 minutes
Certificate: 15
This box office comic book adaptation stars Colin Firth as an agent who mentors a rufty-tufty youth training to become a super-spy.
Big Hero 6
Director: Chris Williams
Running time: 102 minutes
Certificate: PG
Disney’s hit animated adventure, based on a Marvel comic, tells the story of a boy who forms a team of superheroes to battle a mysterious villain.
Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Running time: 149 minutes
Certificate: 15
Woozy, polarising adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s cult novel, with Joaquin Phoenix as a perma-stoned PI investigating the disappearance of an ex.
February
The Interview
Director: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Running time: 112 minutes
Certificate: 15
Controversial comedy with James Franco and Seth Rogen as a TV host and producer who are recruited to assassinate Kim Jong-un during an interview.
Selma
Director: Ava DuVernay
Running time: 128 minutes
Certificate: 12A
The story of Martin Luther King’s struggle to get African-American people the right to vote without fear of discrimination by focusing on a march in Alabama.
Watch a video review of It Follows Guardian
Shaun the Sheep the Movie
Director: Mark Burton & Richard Goleszowski
Running time: 85 minutes
Certificate: U
In the Aardman creation’s first big screen outing, Shaun heads to the big city with his flock to save the farmer.
Love Is Strange
Director: Ira Sachs
Running time: 100 minutes
Certificate: 15
Alfred Molina plays a music teacher who is fired from his Catholic school job after it’s discovered that he married his longterm partner, played by John Lithgow, and the pair must try to cope with a reconfigured living situation.
The Duke of Burgundy
Director: Peter Strickland
Running time: 105 minutes
Certificate: 18
An unconventional romance between two women is tested when a disparity between their sexual appetites results in tension over what is most important in their relationship.
It Follows
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Running time: 107 minutes
Certificate: 15
After a sexual encounter goes wrong, a young woman finds herself afflicted with a deadly curse that can only be passed on through intercourse.
White God
Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Running time: 121 minutes
Certificate: 15
A hit at last year’s Cannes film festival, this drama follows a dog who joins a canine revolution against humans after being taken away from his owner.
March
Watch a video review of Wild Tales Guardian
Appropriate Behaviour
Director: Desiree Akhavan
Running time: 86 minutes
Certificate: 15
A young bisexual Persian women finds herself at a lowpoint after her relationship dissolves and she must carve out a new direction for her life, including finally letting her parents know about her sexuality.
Home
Director: Tim Johnson
Running time: 96 minutes
Certificate: U
Animated comedy with Rihanna voicing a young girl who befriends an alien that helps her to find her mother after the human population is relocated.
Mommy
Director: Xavier Dolan
Running time: 140 minutes
Certificate: 15
A widowed single mother struggles to look after her teenage son, who has ADHD, but finds help from a strange new neighbour.
Wild Tales
Director: Damián Szifron
Running time: 122 minutes
Certificate: 15
A collection of darkly funny tales from Argentina, revolving around themes of anger and revenge that was nominated for the best foreign language film Oscar.
April
Watch a video review of Fast and Furious 7 Guardian
Fast & Furious 7
Director: James Wan
Running time: 140 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Already one of the five most successful films of all time at the worldwide box office, this action-packed sequel brings back Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, in his final role, as they are pitted against a revenge-seeking Jason Statham.
While We’re Young
Director: Noah Baumbach
Running time: 97 minutes
Certificate: 15
Hipster satire starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a couple stuck in a rut who befriend a younger couple, played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, causing them to reassess their outlook on life.
Watch a video review of While We’re Young Guardian
Force Majeure
Director: Ruben Östlund
Running time: 120 minutes
Certificate: 15
An uncomfortable and darkly funny Swedish drama (that’s heading for a US remake) about a marriage that faces collapse after the fallout from an avalanche shines a light on pre-existing problems.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Running time: 141 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Smash hit Marvel sequel which brings back the supervillain-fighting band of heroes who are faced with a new enemy, played by James Spader via motion capture, intent on destruction.
Watch a video review of The Falling Guardian
The Falling
Director: Carol Morley
Running time: 102 minutes
Certificate: 15
A psychological British drama set at an all-girls school where a mysterious fainting epidemic causes one girl, played by Maisie Williams, to seek the truth.
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Director: Roy Andersson
Running time: 110 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Winner of the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice film festival, this dark Swedish comedy has two salesmen observe a variety of strange scenes while they try to peddle novelty goods.
May
Unfriended
Director: Levan Gabriadze
Running time: 82 minutes
Certificate: 15
A horror film that takes place via a laptop screen, it’s a tale of kids who find themselves, and their social networking profiles, haunted by the vengeful spirit of a girl who killed herself.
Girlhood
Director: Céline Sciamma
Running time: 113 minutes
Certificate: 15
A Parisian girl stuck in an abusive family situation finds solace after meeting a gang of local girls who take her into their friendship group.
Rosewater
Director: Jon Stewart
Running time: 103 minutes
Certificate: 15
The true story of a broadcast journalist, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, who is held captive and tortured for 118 days in Iran by a man who refers to himself as “Rosewater”.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Director: George Miller
Running time: 120 minutes
Certificate: 15
Long-awaited reboot of the dusty apocalyptic action saga with Tom Hardy taking on the lead role, with support from a one-armed Charlize Theron.
Clouds of Sils Maria
Director: Oliver Assayas
Running time: 125 minutes
Certificate: 15
Juliette Binoche plays an actress who is forced to examine her life when she takes on a role in a play that she starred in 20 years before.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Running time: 107 minutes
Certificate: 15
This black-and-white Persian take on the vampire movie is a striking break from the norm with a skateboarding blood-sucker preying on men who disrespect women.
Clouds of Sils Maria star Juliette Binoche: ‘I’ve never been part of the system’ – video interview Guardian
The Goob
Director: Guy Myhill
Running time: 84 minutes
Certificate: 18
Atmospheric British drama set in East Anglia, with Liam Walpole as the skinny teen adrift in the hardscrabble rural landscape.
Timbuktu
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Running time: 96 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Beautifully constructed plea for tolerance and humanism, in the story of the inhabitants of the fabled Malian city after it is overrun by jihadis
June
Listen Up Philip
Director: Alex Ross Perry
Running time: 108 minutes
Certificate: 15
Tortured writer becomes torturer in a cold satire about a promising author (Jason Schwartzman) who’s defiantly, unapologetically foul.
Second Coming
Director: Debbie Tucker Green
Running time: 105 minutes
Certificate: 15
Idris Elba stars in a drama about a family bundled into existential angst after mum gets pregnant without having sex.
London Road
Director: Rufus Norris
Running time: 91 minutes
Certificate: 15
Tragedy set to song as the National Theatre’s musical about the murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich in 2006 gets a film adaptation starring Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy.
Slow West
Director: John Maclean
Running time: 83 minutes
Certificate: 15
A veteran bounty hunter (Michael Fassbender) leads a naive, lovestruck Scottish kid through the wilderness of 19th-century Colorado. Directed by former Beta Band member John Maclean.
Going Clear - video review Guardian
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Director: Alex Gibney
Running time: 120 minutes
Certificate: 15
Documentary on the Church of Scientology detailing the religion’s strange history, militant doctrine and celebrity pull.
July
Amy
Director: Asif Kapadia
Running time: 128 minutes
Certificate: 15
The story of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, told - right through to her tragic death at 27 from alcohol poisoning - by Senna director Asif Kapadia.
Dear White People
Director: Justin Simien
Running time: 108 minutes
Certificate: 15
War erupts on the campus of a US college when an offensive party creates yet more of a divide between black and white students.
Love & Mercy
Director: Bill Pohlad
Running time: 121 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Paul Dano and John Cusack play Brian Wilson at different ages in a biopic looking at the Beach Boys singer in the 1960s and 1980s.
Song of the Sea
Director: Tomm Moore
Running time: 94 minutes
Certificate: PG
Oscar-nominated Irish animation about the adventures of a young boy, his mute sister and supernatural creatures.
Eden
Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
Running time: 131 minutes
Certificate: 15
The story of an EDM DJ called Paul and the countries he visits, women he meets and songs he plays.
August
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Director: Marielle Heller
Running time: 102 minutes
Certificate: 18
British newcomer Bel Powley makes an impression as a girl discovering her sexuality as she begins an affair with her mother’s boyfriend.
The Gift
Director: Joel Edgerton
Running time: 108 minutes
Certificate: 15
Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall star as a couple whose idyllic life is threatened by the arrival of a figure from the past with a sinister agenda.
Hard to Be a God
Director: Aleksei German
Running time: 177 minutes
Certificate: 18
The final film from Russian auteur Aleksei German is an adaptation of a sci-fi novel by the Strugatsky brothers about the violent planet Arkanar,
Mistress America
Director: Noah Baumbach
Running time: 86 minutes
Certificate: 15
A lonely college freshmen befriends her ambitious future stepsister, played by Greta Gerwig, and is pulled into a leftfield scheme.
Precinct Seven-Five
Director: Tiller Russell
Running time: 104 minutes
Certificate: 15
The “dirtiest cop in NYC history” takes centre stage in this documentary about police corruption in 80s Brooklyn.
The President
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Running time: 119 minutes
Certificate: 15
Satire from exiled Iranian auteur following a Georgian strongman dictator who is ousted in a coup and has to go on the run.
45 Years
Director: Andrew Haigh
Running time: 95 minutes
Certificate: 15
Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are a couple whose marriage hits a crisis on the eve of their 45th wedding anniversary.
September
A Syrian Love Story
Director: Sean McAllister
Running time: 75 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Heartrending documentary chronicling a Syrian family’s struggle to stay together in the face of the civil war and emigration.
Tangerines
Director: Zaza Urushadze
Running time: 85 minutes
Certificate: 15
Oscar-nominated study of two farmers caught up in the Abkhazian war, who take in two wounded soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict.
99 Homes – video review Guardian
99 Homes
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Running time: 112 minutes
Certificate: 15
Hardhitting drama about construction worker Andrew Garfield who is forced to take a job with the predatory foreclosure specialist who evicts him and his family.
Mia Madre
Director: Nanni Moretti
Running time: 107 minutes
Certificate: 15
Italian auteur back on form with this comedy drama drawing on his own experiences looking after his terminally-ill mother.

October
Macbeth
Director: Justin Kurzel
Running time: 113 minutes
Certificate: 15
A gritty reinvention of the Shakespearean tragedy with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard starring as the doomed central couple.
Sicario
Director: Denis Villenueve
Running time: 121 minutes
Certificate: 15
Emily Blunt plays an idealistic FBI agent who becomes part of a mysterious task force hunting down a powerful drug cartel.
The Nightmare
Director: Rodney Ascher
Running time: 91 minutes
Certificate: 15
A creepy documentary that focuses on people suffering from sleep paralysis and the nightmares they face when they’re unable to move.
Crimson Peak
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Running time: 119 minutes
Certificate: 15
Mia Wasikowska takes the lead in this gothic romantic horror as a woman unsure of the intentions of her mysterious new husband.
Spectre
Director: Sam Mendes
Running time: 150 minutes
Certificate: 12A
The 24th James Bond adventure has Daniel Craig’s rebellious secret agent on the hunt of a villain with shadowy links to his own past.
Taxi Tehran
Director: Jafar Panahi
Running time: 82 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi turns taxi driver in this revealing film about the people and culture around him.
November
Brooklyn
Director: John Crowley
Running time: 112 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Saoirse Ronan is a girl torn between her home in Ireland and the new life she had made for herself in America.