HIGHLIGHTS: 2015 (Witness Me)

2015 was an incredible year for me. Here are my highlights.

My first piece for Vanity Fair was an in-depth interview with director Daniel Askill, focuses on his striking music video for Sia's "Elastic Heart."

When reviewing the Alzheimer's drama Still Alice, I couldn't help but get personal. Thankfully, the commenters were with me on that.

I was pullquoted on the box art for one of my favorite 2014 films The Boxtrolls!

Also for Vanity Fair, I explored the treatment of telekinetic women in horror. 

For Mental Floss, I've penned a series about amazing women too often forgotten by history.

In the spring, I loved Ex Machina even more than playing FMK with its stars. 

Slow West kicked off a year of eye-catching Westerns, and gave me the opportunity to speak to Ben Mendelsohn in one of the most thrilling interviews I've done to date.

Speaking of Slow West and Ex Machina, I folded these and big summer blockbusters Mad Max: Fury Road and Avengers: Age of Ultron into a VF.com piece about how White Knights are faring in contemporary cinema.

Later, I looked back to Beauty and the Beast and what its vicious villain teaches kids about toxic masculinity.

I dedicatedly recapped (for better and rough) Game of Thrones over at Spinoff, and spoke with  Kit Harrington about Game of Thrones, Testament of Youth and why he doesn't like being called a "hunk." Later I spoke with his former onscreen paramour Rose Leslie about her time of Game of Thrones and The Last Witch Hunter. 

Un-ironically, I sang the praises of Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell's Lifetime TV movie A Deadly Adoption. 

Another big first: I took on San Diego Comic Con with the Comic Book Resources crew, interviewed Ron Perlman and the cast of Doctor Who, and had an absolute blast. Then we re-teamed for NYCC! 

For Billboard, I revisited Jem to rank the five best eps. I also reviewed the flopped reboot, and detailed why its failure is bad news for female moviegoers. 

For IndieWire, I dug into gender politics with Suffragette director Sarah Gavron,  and Danish Girl's helmer Tom Hooper and star Eddie Redmayne.

I reveled in the chance to interview Trick 'r Treat helmer Michael Dougherty about his stupendous follow-up Krampus. 

But it wasn't all good times. I absolutely loathed a few films this year, like Adam Sandler's atrocious action-comedy Pixels, the infuriating thriller The Gift, and David O. Russell's painful misfire Joy. But my frustration can be your entertainment, right?

Yet, there was lots to love this year, from the totally charming Cinderella, to the deliciously decadent Crimson Peak, positively exhilarating The Martian, and the harrowing yet humane Spotlight. 

All in all, 2015 was outstanding. And I'm hopeful 2016 will be even better.

Let's do this.