Movies are about moments – big moments that erase our cynicism about cinema and remind us of its capacity to dazzle as well as touch us. This happens in a way only possible with a medium that seamlessly combines so many other art forms. There are instances that prompt us to consider things in a different light, encourage us to think about issues from a different perspective and empathize with others in a way we could never expect.

While sometimes memories of the overall plot of a film or its minute details may escape us, certain scenes stand out like a beacon in a bland cinematic landscape. What follows is a list of the 10 best scenes from the movies in 2015. While some of the films they’re from might not have been completely successful, during these moments perfection was achieved and they’ve proven powerful enough to stay with this viewer long after the credits have rolled and the lights have come up.

99 Homes – Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) and his mother Lynn (Laura Dern) open the door to their home to be greeted by a real estate agent and armed officers telling them they must vacate immediately as it’s being foreclosed upon that morning. As the scene quickly escalates from denial to disbelief and finally anger, director Ramin Bahrani brilliantly encapsulates the experience millions of Americans felt during the financial crash of 2008, one that blindsided many and left most of us uncertain as to how to proceed.

Avengers: Age of Ultron – Raging out of control in the streets of a South American city, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) forces Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to bring out the big guns, outfitting himself in his Hulkbuster suit. The fight that ensues is one for the ages as Stark’s efforts at containment result in even more collateral damage, threatening the lives of thousands of innocents. While director Joss Wheadon succeeds in delivering an exciting throw-down, the subtext is startlingly clear as he questions whether any sort of involvement of U.S. forces on foreign soil does more harm than good.

Black Mass – Having been invited over for a get-together by his sycophant FBI friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), coldblooded mobster Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp) takes offense when his host’s wife Marianne (Julianne Nicholson) refuses to join him. Taking it upon himself to pay her a call in her bedroom, Bulger mentally violates her with veiled threats that leave her shaken to the core. Depp’s power as an actor has never been more obvious than it is here. His quiet approach, coupled with Nicholson’s genuinely fearful response, results in one of the most chilling moments of the movie year.

Grandma – Dropping in on old friends and acquaintances in an effort to raise money for her granddaughter’s abortion, Elle Reid (Lily Tomlin) pays a visit to her old partner Karl (Sam Elliott), a meeting that finds them wearily circling one another and mending old injuries only to have them opened anew with a startling revelation. No histrionics are necessary as these two screen veterans quietly and expertly rip your heart out.

Inside Out – In an effort to get back to the brain from which she’s been unexpectedly expelled, young Riley’s dominant emotion Joy (Amy Poehler) is forced to leave the girl’s imaginary playmate Bing Bong (Richard Kind) behind, the creature fading from her memory forever. This poignant moment proves to be one of the most emotionally devastating of the year as it so quietly and effectively encapsulates childhood’s end.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – Superagent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is determined not to let the payload he and his Impossible Missions Team have been pursuing escape him, even if it means clinging to the door of an aircraft where it’s contained as it lifts up off the ground and quickly ascends thousands of feet in the air. No one gives more than Cruise on screen and even though the stunt calls attention to itself and takes you out of the story, that doesn’t make it any less spectacular to witness.

The Revenant - Scout Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) has the grave misfortune of stumbling upon a mama grizzly and her cubs, an event the bear takes as a threat, resulting in her attacking the tracker, rending his body, flailing him about and attempting to crush his skull in the process. The most frighteningly violent movie moment of the year, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, his special effects crew and DiCaprio rendered this scene with such realism that the illusion of the cinema disappears, if just for a moment.

Spy – Desk jockey Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is thrilled that she’ll finally be going out in the field. With her friend Nancy (Miranda Hart) in tow, she visits the CIA equipment lab, eager to see what sort of high-tech gadgets she’ll be given. Needless to say, sports cars with machine guns and flamethrowers are not to be issued to her. McCarthy proves what a great comedic performer she is as she shows Cooper’s elation being steadily deflated as she suffers one hilarious indignity after another.

Trainwreck – Sports physician Aaron Connors (Bill Hader) talks about his romantic troubles while engaged with an exercise in futility akin to Sisyphus’ eternal boulder-rolling punishment – a game of one-on-one with his star patient, basketball legend LeBron James. The humorous sight of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation seeing the wiry Hader attempting to push-off and get around the massive James is topped by only one thing – the character’s elation when he manages to actually shoot and score on the All-Star.

What We Do in the Shadows – Viago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jermaine Clement) and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) have let a human, Stu (Stu Rutherford), into their tight circle and are stunned when the human introduces them to home computers and the Internet. The first thing they want to see – and a sight they watch again and again – is pictures and films of the sunrise. While this movie is chockfull of one hilarious moment after another, this brief scene effectively reminds the viewer of the humanity that still resides in these cursed men.

Other Great Moments – Director Robert Zemeckis takes us out on the wire strung between the World Trade Center Towers with aerialist Phillippe Petit in The Walk… Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack (Jacob Tremblay) are reunited after the boy has escaped and brought back help in Room…Agent Macer (Emily Blunt) and her cohorts descend into a system of underground tunnels to flush out Mexican druglords in Denis Villeneuve’s harrowing Sicario…Laney Brooks (Sarah Silverman) comes face-to-face with the damage her addiction has done to her family at the end of I Smile Back…Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld) makes the startling realization that his wife Nelly (Nina Hoss) is still alive in Phoenix…Dawn (Holly Hunter) suffers through a humiliating date with A.J. (Al Pacino) in Manglehorn…A lost and orphaned bear creates havoc in the bathroom and all throughout the Brown household in Paddington…Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi) comes to the end of her quixotic journey in Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter…Gordo (Joel Edgerton) reveals all he’s done to Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) in The Gift…That really big moment involving you-know-who in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. –Chuck Koplinski