Seeing Double, Bob Mondello Picks, 2015's Best Movies Two At A Time

I'm not sure why this happened, but as I assembled this year's best-of list, I kept seeing matched sets: Two terrific desert movies, two swoon-inducing romances, two single-minded crusades by men who think they're already dead, and even a pair of riveting mortgage crisis flicks (and what are the chances of that?). The doubleness is a good organizing principle, since my 10-best list nearly always turns into a 20-best — so here goes:

Two Desert Films: 'Mad Max: Fury Road' And 'The Martian'

Two Beautifully Realized Love Stories: 'Carol' And 'Anomalisa'

Two Cinematic Head Trips: 'Inside Out' And '45 Years'

Two Brutal Historical Epics: 'Son Of Saul' And 'The Revenant'

Two Eye-Openers From The Muslim World: 'Timbuktu' And 'Taxi'