By Brett Blake As we leave behind 2014, and as I begin to put together my personal “Best of” list (coming soon!), I feel it’s important to take a moment here to highlight some noteworthy films from 2014 that, for whatever reasons, didn’t get the kind of exposure they deserved, which is just a long-winded way of talking about movies I think more people should see; movies which are (for the most part) nowhere to be found on most critics’ “Top 10” lists, or which did not find huge audiences when they were released, but which should be part of the overall discussion about what kind of year we just had for cinema. I’m not arguing that any of the following movies were among the absolute very best of 2014, but they all represent solidly entertaining and worthy films that more people should check out. I did a similar article last year (which you can read HERE). Some of the following movies (most of them, actually) were received well by critics, but they’ve been mostly forgotten in the big conversations about the films of 2014. And frankly, this piece gives me an excuse to highlight some very good movies that aren’t quite going to make the cut of my “Best of 2014” list. All that having been said, here are seven underrated/underseen films from 2014… THE GUEST From the filmmakers who brought us last year’s similarly underrated YOU’RE NEXT, THE GUEST is a terrifically fun throwback to the vaguely-exploitative action-thrillers of the 1980s. The filmmakers don’t fully ape a 1980s style or aesthetic, but they do pay homage to it in many ways, and the outlandish yarn they spin is brought to life primarily through a tremendous lead performance from Dan Stevens. Stevens manages to be both deeply charming and profoundly creepy, and he carries the movie with total ease. The movie was well-liked by most who saw it, but it was hampered by a very limited release pattern, thereby limiting the amount of good buzz that could be generated in its favor. In any event, fans of intense-but-fun genre films are in for a treat. A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES Another throwback to an earlier filmmaking era, this film feels more akin to the serious adult dramas/thrillers that were commonplace in the 1970s. It’s a hard-nosed, no nonsense crime story with a great lead performance from Liam Neeson, continuing his streak of playing older badasses, but what sets this performance apart is the weariness that Neeson brings to the role. This is a dark tale, full of unpleasantness, but Neeson anchors it all in a way that’s easy to stomach and buy into. Director Scott Frank emulates a classical (and classy) style of filmmaking, and the look of the film - somewhat cold, somewhat contemplative - lends the movie an elegiac tone that works well against the seedier nature of the crime plot being told. When people say “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore,” this is the kind of movie they’re talking about. Very solid thriller cinema. WILLOW CREEK A bigfoot story in the style of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. That’s WILLOW CREEK in a nutshell, but what makes it a truly unique experience is the sense of humor it brings to the table. Yes, it does hit all the marks you expect from “found footage” chillers, but the opening section - particularly - is a legitimately funny and warm look at the bigfoot aficionado community, and it is this lightness that makes the eventual darker turn in the story work so well. And once we get into that darker section, we are treated to a bravura sequence involving our heroes being trapped in their tent at night while something - bigfoot, or something else? - stalks them from outside; it’s a spectacular scene (running well over ten minutes), one that is really frightening and which makes the movie worth a look entirely on its own. Luckily, the stuff that comes before it is good in its own way, too. In a year that featured several Sasquatch-related films (and at least one other that was found footage), this was the clear standout. LOCKE LOCKE is a textbook example of a film that lives or dies in the hands of its lead actor, as the entire story is occupied solely by one character and in one location. Tom Hardy rises to that challenge and delivers the performance of his career as a man dealing with simultaneous personal and professional crises as he makes a late night drive to take care of some pressing matters. It’s a credit to both Hardy and the filmmakers that a story which takes place entirely inside a car is as dynamic and engrossing as it ends up being; we witness a man under pressure from various sides, and watching Hardy navigate and deal with this pressure is truly captivating. Some might complain that the story and style of the movie would lend itself better to a stage play (and, indeed, it would work incredibly well on the stage), but there’s an immediacy and intimacy that comes from being inside the car with Hardy’s character that can’t be matched by what the stage could offer. Hardy’s work here is some of the finest of 2014. GRAND PIANO A stylistic marriage between the films of Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock. GRAND PIANO is enormously entertaining, with masterful camerawork, razor-sharp editing, and a superb musical score that would have been right at home in any of Hitchcock’s “golden period” films. The exact plot is a puzzle which gradually reveals itself to the audience, but the central narrative - involving Elijah Wood’s concert pianist dealing with a deranged psycho threatening to kill him during a performance - provides for many great moments and beats. The suspense is finely-tuned throughout, and the movie as a whole is a classy thriller that deserved a wider release than it got. Any fan of Hitchcockian cinema will find a lot to enjoy in this one. IN FEAR One of the best horror films of the year (though I guess some would argue it’s more a thriller than an outright horror movie), IN FEAR - like LOCKE, in a way - features characters primarily inside a car as outside forces conspire to do them harm on an overnight trip through the English countryside. The lead performances from Iain De Caestecker and Alice Englert are very strong, and the staging of the action by director Jeremy Lovering is rock-solid; he creates an overwhelming sense of unease, and the atmosphere generated by relatively simple shots of things like dark, winding roads and shadowy figures just on the edge of the frame are incredibly effective. The ultimate reveal of what’s happening to the protagonists might not work for everybody, but I found it to be a thematically satisfying conclusion to a cracking suspense yarn. EDGE OF TOMORROW If we’re talking strictly about box office, there is no film from 2014 that deserved more of an audience than it got than this one. It is the kind of blockbuster we all wish every blockbuster could be, and it’s got everything you could want: strong characters, fun action, a healthy (but not obtrusive or gross) sense of humor, and a genuinely intelligent execution of its ideas. Tom Cruise has never been better (at least in an action capacity), and he’s given a great character arc to play; Emily Blunt matches him step for step and gives one of the most badass performances of the year as a no nonsense soldier who is gradually revealed to have more layers than one might expect. It’s a massively satisfying and entertaining movie, which makes its under-performance at the box office all the more puzzling; one could lay the blame at the feet of its marketing campaign, which was - frankly - terrible, as it sold a totally different (and far more dour) movie than the one we really got. If you only see one film that I highlighted in this article, make it this one; if I could offer you some kind of money back guarantee, I would, because I can’t imagine most people not having a blast with this one. So those are just some of my picks. I could probably come up with several additional lists of underrated or under-seen films from 2014, but these seven are the ones I feel the strongest about. What would some of your picks for under-appreciated films of the past year be?
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