By Matt Mueller and Colton Dunham   Published Dec 13, 2014 at 12:16 PM

2014 was an impressive year for movies, made even more so by the fact that 2014 was supposed to be simply a layover year. The box office may have reflected that fact (only one movie – "Guardians of the Galaxy" – has currently grossed over $300 million), but the quality sure didn’t, with great films ranging from smart, slick blockbusters to mind-bogglingly brilliant indies filling cineplexes all year.

2015, on the other hand, is absolutely stacked with big movies. If there’s a movie you’ve been looking forward to in the last few years, it’s probably coming out in 2015. There’s "Star Wars." There’s "Mad Max." There’s "The Avengers." There’s a new Scorsese, a new Spielberg and a new Tarantino. "Mockingjay" will finally end.

Bond will be back, along with Pixar after a rare year off. The McConaissance rages on with a new movie directed by Gus Van Sant, while the indispensable Emily Blunt finally has a starring role in a new thriller that reteams the "Prisoners" duo of director Denis Villeneuve and brilliant cinematographer Roger Deakins. You like Shakespeare, too? Because there’s a new big screen adaptation of "Macbeth" coming, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, two of the finest actors working.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

You’d have to be a mad man to try to narrow down the plethora of exciting new movies into a list of merely 10. Luckily, OnMilwaukee.com happens to have two such insane individuals: movie guys Matt Mueller and Colton Dunham. The choices weren’t easy – we won’t say tears were shed, but yes, tears were shed – but here are the 10 movies you should be already buying tickets for in 2015.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" (May 15)

Back in 2000, director George Miller began planning for a fourth Mad Max film with no script, just a ton of storyboard panels. He had a particular vision for his return to the franchise, a vision that seemingly would never make it to the screen. The attacks on 9/11 and the ensuing Iraq War made the film an economic and logistical question mark. Even God seemingly wasn’t going to let the movie see the light of day, wiping out its Australian desert shooting location with unprecedented amounts of rain.

Fifteen years later, however, Miller’s vision is finally complete. And oh my, what a vision it is.

Judging by the two trailers released, "Mad Max: Fury Road" looks like absolutely insane action movie bliss. The footage looks gorgeous, star Tom Hardy fits the character like a glove and the action … oh, sweet movie gods, the action. According to Miller, 80 percent of the action sequences are done practically and without CG, and it shows. In an era of CG overload, seeing actual cars flip, explode and crash into beautiful dust-kicking fireballs is a heavenly sight. Also, there’s a brief scene in the trailer where Tom Hardy fights off an apocalyptic hooligan with a flamethrower guitar.

It’s safe to say this will be very different from Miller’s last two directorial efforts, aka the "Happy Feet" movies. – Matt Mueller

"Jurassic World" (June 12)

A lot of us have that one movie that we watched religiously when we were growing up. For me, it was Steven Spielberg’s "Jurassic Park." Not only did I watch the movie over and over and over, but I also created my very own sequels in my backyard using "Jurassic Park" action figures and plastic dinosaurs. It’s been over 13 years since the largely disappointing "Jurassic Park III" was in theaters and finally, a new sequel is on its way, and it looks very promising. 

Before I even watched the awesome and nostalgia-inducing teaser that was unleashed online around Thanksgiving, I deemed this as the one movie that I’m looking forward to the most next summer (sorry, Marvel). Now that I’ve seen the teaser, that’s even more of a bolded fact. My anticipation for "Jurassic Park" is making me feel like I’m 7 years old again, eagerly anticipating the direction that indie director Colin Trevorrow ("Safety Not Guaranteed") takes with a new cast and a genetically modified dinosaur that has Star-Lord himself Chris Pratt running for his life. – Colton Dunham

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (Dec. 18)

I don’t know if you heard, but rumor has it that there’s going to be a new "Star Wars" movie next year. The seventh film has already earned enough online buzz and headlines to make the Kardashians look comparatively like hermits, and it’s easy to be cynical toward such overenthusiastic hype and mayhem (especially when we saw this happen just a bit over a decade ago with "The Phantom Menace," and how’d that work out?).

Then again, how can you not be somewhat excited for a new "Star Wars," especially one with a cast as strong as "The Force Awakens"? Forget the old guys; Oscar Issac is a terrific young actor, and it’s awesome seeing John Boyega of "Attack the Block" get such a hugely deserved spotlight. Add in Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong’o – and subtract a George Lucas – and you’ve got yourself one promising looking movie.

I’ll admit that I was skeptical of "Episode VII," what with the hype and the fanboy-gasming coming off a bit overbearing. But after seeing the first trailer and feeling the excitement of seeing these old cinematic icons – the lightsaber (regardless of the logistics of a cross design), the Millennium Falcon, the X-wings, the stormtroopers and the droids – brought back to the screen in such a tangible fashion (no George Lucas CG overload so far!), I’m on board. – MM

"Trainwreck" (July 17)

A few people may not agree with me when I write this, but Judd Apatow is one of the greatest comedy directors working today. Not only has he produced the ended-too-soon series "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared" and a slew of hilarious comedies such as "Superbad," "Step Brothers" and "Bridesmaids," he directed some of the best comedies over the last decade such as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up" and "Funny People."

In terms of what it’s actually about, not much is known about his latest comedy "Trainwreck." With the talent involved, however, it’s sure to be better than his last movie, the troubled "This Is 40." This time around, he’s working off a script by comedienne Amy Schumer, who also leads a cast including Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Daniel Radcliffe, Tilda Swinton, LeBron James, Ezra Miller and John Cena. That's a potpourri of people you’d never expect to work with each other. Sign me up. – CD

"The Avengers: Age of Ultron" (May 1)

"The Avengers" isn’t just a really entertaining blockbuster; it’s one of the great pop cultural events of the 21st century. And really, it seems crazy that it worked as unbelieveably well as it did. Smashing all of those characters into one movie, giving every major character significance and making it not feel crowded or heavy is an incredible feat. Writer/director/nerd king Joss Whedon pulled it off, and now he’s off to do it again with "Age of Ultron."

The first trailer looks impressively massive, moving things in a dark direction – the eerie use of "I’ve Got No Strings" is a good touch; thanks Disney copyright! – and adding more and more to the infinitely growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. And really, Marvel is a lot of the reason to be excited for this sequel. They’ve mastered the art of the modern blockbuster, taking smart risks, getting strong actors and directors with personality mixed with consistently quality scripts and creating serialized entertainment that still feels rewarding in individual doses.

There may be a lot of pretenders (*glaringly fake cough* DC *another glaringly fake cough*), but Marvel is still the king. It’ll be exciting to see if they can keep up this unprecedented streak going into its even riskier Phase 3. – MM

"Crimson Peak" (Oct. 16)

Master filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro is taking a brief break from directing giant robots fighting giant monsters in "Pacific Rim" to hone back and go a bit smaller like the good ol' days of "Cronos" and "The Devil’s Backbone."

His latest, "Crimson Peak," is a gothic horror tale that stars Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") as a young author who discovers that her new husband (Charlie Hunnam, "Sons of Anarchy") is not who he appears to be. Del Toro has assembled an impressive cast that includes Jessica Chastain ("Interstellar") and Tom Hiddleston ("The Avengers"). With Del Toro behind the camera, I can only imagine that this is going to be twistedly beautiful. – CD

"Spectre" (Nov. 6)

2012’s "Skyfall" easily inserted itself into the conversation as one of the best Bond movies in the character’s history. It was a smart, slick and cool story with impressive set pieces and even more impressive visuals, thanks to director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins (honestly, where’s this man’s Oscar?). It made Bond cool again, without having to resort to stealing Bourne’s moves or shooting characters into space or having Bond parasail on some ice flows in the Arctic (I have no idea what that was about, "Die Another Day").

Now, the same team is back for "Spectre," and if you’re a Bond fan, that title – and the poster, craftily teasing at the devious organization’s octopus logo – has you all sorts of excited. This is a big foray into one of the major parts of 007 canon, and I’m thrilled to see how Mendes, Craig and Deakins play with it.

Is Christoph Waltz playing the infamously cat-stroking villain Blofeld (he says no, but come on; you don’t hire Christoph Waltz to not play your big bad)? Or perhaps is it’s actually Andrew Scott, who made an creepy imprint as another famous baddie – Moriarty – on BBC’s "Sherlock"? And how will Spectre work with the previous stuff done with Quantum? Does anyone even care about Quantum? No, probably not. And perhaps the best news of all: With Dave Bautista playing a character named Mr. Hinx, all signs point to audiences getting evil Bond henchmen again! – MM

"Chappie" (March 6)

Five years ago, up-and-coming sci-fi filmmaker Neill Blomkamp made the visually dazzling and powerful "District 9," which solidified him as a talent to keep an eye on. His follow-up "Elysium" was not-as-impressive. It reached a new level for Blomkamp’s range of talent in terms of the film’s much larger scope and complexity, but failed to hit the same gratifying mark that "District 9" did.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long to start work on "Chappie," which is, of course, another movie that fits in the sci-fi genre. The movie centers on an artificially intelligent robot that is kidnapped by two gangsters. This looks supremely entertaining and original, which nowadays is something that seems far too gone. Leave it to Blomkamp to bring a sense of daring originality to the genre. – CD

"Tomorrowland" (May 22)

Brad Bird is one of the best big-time directors you probably don’t know all that well. That’s probably because his big-name stuff came as an animation director, crafting animated greats like "The Iron Giant," "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles." He made a great switch to live action with "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" and its incredible action pieces. Now, it’s time for round two with "Tomorrowland," a sci-fi story about a world of science and, according to the trailer, jetpacks.

Obviously, anything with jetpacks is a guaranteed four-star review, but the idea of Bird’s creative, energetic and spirited mind taking on a new original idea is very exciting news – even if that new original idea comes co-written by Damon "Logic and Answers are for Losers" Lindelof. The trailer comes with a sense of unknown wonder about it; hopefully "Tomorrowland" delivers on that intriguing promise. – MM

"While We’re Young" (March 27)

Over the last several years, Noah Baumbach has made some great movies including "Kicking and Screaming," "The Squid and the Whale" and "Frances Ha" – as well as a couple not-so-great movies like "Margot at the Wedding" and "Greenberg."

His latest, "While We’re Young," looks like his most accessible and mainstream movie yet, with the likes of Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts portraying a middle-aged couple who become friends with a much younger couple played by Adam Driver ("Girls") and Amanda Seyfried ("A Million Ways To Die In The West"). Baumbach is great at taking dysfunctional, messy characters and giving them purpose, or at least a sense of it. And in an even rarer twist for Baumbach, it looks like these characters will even have fun while doing so. – CD