4) Mad Max: Fury Road
Who could have imagined that Mad Max: Fury Road would be as rip-roaringly good as it was? Beyond the eye-popping visual effects and awards-worthy editing, George Miller’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece is a triumph in every category, from the rich costuming to the immersive production design, firing on all cylinders to draw you into a world as meticulously detailed as it is deliriously insane. The score is a heart-pounding hurricane of sound, the makeup is absolutely jaw-dropping both in concept and execution and Miller himself is a maestro of destruction, presiding over utter chaos with a pointillist painter’s precision.
That’s to say nothing of the acting, which includes a wonderfully reticent but pitch-perfect performance from Tom Hardy and an absolutely fantastic turn from Charlize Theron as one of the most fully realized and thrillingly feminist heroes in cinematic memory. If Theron doesn’t get a Best Actress nod for her work, the Academy has legitimately fallen so far out of touch as to be from here on obsolete. I can count nine nominations Mad Max: Fury Road deserves – and with the thunderous acclaim it’s received not as a blockbuster but as a pop culture landmark, it could very well land all of them.