Best films of 2015
Ex Machina
Novelist Alex Garland of The Beach (1996) fame makes an auspicious directing debut with this cool, stylish and deeply unsettling sci-fi drama.
Programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is tasked by his mercurial boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac) to probe the thin line between human and artificial intelligence, and artificial intelligence just happens to come in the shapely android form of Ava (breakout Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, above).
The questions come fast and furious: Why was Caleb chosen? What is Nathan hiding? Are deception and seduction uniquely human traits? The disturbing ending is just perfect.

The Theory Of Everything
While only Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar, he and Felicity Jones gave two of the year’s best performances in this warm, honest biopic of famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking directed by James Marsh.
Redmayne’s Hawking was a layered one – cheekily charming, prey to doubts and frustrations and someone capable of falling in and out of love. Jones was just as compelling as the fiercely supportive first wife who was very much his equal.

The Songs We Sang
Film-maker Eva Tang’s documentary about the Singapore music movement known as xinyao is both heartfelt and meticulously researched. It is ambitious in scope as it traces the roots of today’s glittery Mandopop to the music written by students in the last days of Nanyang University before it merged with the University of Singapore in 1980.
Besides interviews with key musicians such as Billy Koh and Liang Wern Fook, there is also rich use of archival material from televised performances and newspaper articles.

Worst
Blackhat
For a movie that was supposed to be a globe-trotting cyber thriller, Blackhat was deadly dull. The story made little sense and wasted the international A-list cast assembled, from Chris Hemsworth to Tang Wei. The director responsible for this travesty was Michael Mann, whose previous work included well-regarded titles such as historical epic The Last Of The Mohicans (1992).
(ST)