By Brett Blake 2014 was an unusually strong year for cinema. Despite not having a huge number of films that I completely “loved,” it did have many, many movies I liked a great deal. Some of these may prove to be all-timers (movies that I’ll return to over and over), some may not, but there was far more good than bad to come from the world of film over the past year. Being the hopeless movie buff that I am, creating my end-of-year favorites list is always a lot of fun for me. It also usually involves a bit of hard work as I try to determine my preferences (did I like this film over that film, and by how much?), but this year things seemed to slot into place easily, and I arrived at ten films that - for whatever reasons - truly spoke to me, or frightened me, or thrilled me, or moved me. With that said, I’d like to give a quick shout-out to a few “Honorable Mentions,” and then dive right into my “Top Ten” list. In the interest of full disclosure, and so you can view the following list with a bit of context, here are some of the notable movies that I have yet to see: AMERICAN SNIPER, SELMA, WILD, MR. TURNER, THE LEGO MOVIE, THE INTERVIEW, and BIG HERO 6. Honorable Mentions Each of these are very good/great movies that just barely missed out on making it into my top ten:
My Ten Favorite Films of 2014 10. GODZILLA (directed by Gareth Edwards) Imagine a giant monster movie by way of JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and you have Gareth Edwards’ modern interpretation of Godzilla. Some complained about the lack of screentime for the titular “King of the Monsters” himself, but even when he’s not around, the action is so engaging, so inventively staged that I have no problem with Godzilla’s scarcity, and when he does show up, it’s absolutely worth the wait. Alexandre Desplat’s thundering score is one of the best of the year, and the sound design for the monsters in the film is Oscar-worthy, lending the beasts a weight and ferocity that helps them achieve a kind of verisimilitude. 09. THE IMITATION GAME (directed by Morten Tyldum) Alan Turing’s story has been unfortunately little-known in the decades since his death, and by wrapping it inside a World War II espionage tale, the filmmakers have made the man’s enormous contributions to history - as well as his somewhat tormented personal life - accessible to the masses. The film is handsomely made (it evokes the 1940s particularly well), it has a quite witty screenplay (which brilliantly highlights Turing’s homosexuality without making it the focus of the narrative), and it features tremendous work from Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing. Cumberbatch’s performance is one of his very best, and he embodies the complex Turing in ways that are both compelling and sympathetic. He’s also surrounded by one of the better supporting ensembles of 2014 (led by the likes of Keira Knightley, Mark Strong, and Charles Dance). 08. THE BABADOOK (directed by Jennifer Kent) The finest horror film of the year, THE BABADOOK is at once supremely chilling on a narrative level and enormously satisfying on a thematic level. It deals heavily with issues of depression and resentment, with the titular creature acting as a metaphor for one woman’s complicated feelings towards her young son. Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman form this mother/son pair, and they’re great in quite demanding roles. Director Kent creates an unsettling atmosphere, and it is from this tone that most of the scares spring. This is not a jump-out-of-your-seat-style scary movie; it’s a film in which the ideas - and the implied feelings of the characters - are as creepy as any of the visuals. The editing and sound design are accomplished, and the design of the title character is very effective, vaulting him/it into the ranks of the all-time classic screen boogeymen. 07. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (directed by J.C. Chandor) A spectacular mood piece, and a rumination on the compromises one must make (or perhaps not make) in order to prosper in life. Oscar Isaac provides one of the best performances of 2014 as a fundamentally good man under huge pressures from all sides as he tries to finalize a make-or-break deal for his upstart company. The 1981 period detail is great (though not overplayed), and the atmospheric cinematography is truly beautiful, using shadow in an intellectual - rather than shallow or gimmicky - way. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR is deliberately paced, and it lacks many of the things one would expect from a conventional crime thriller (as the central question is really whether Isaac’s character will allow himself to become morally compromised), but for those willing to go along with the contemplative storyline, it’s quite a rewarding and powerful film. 06. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (directed by James Gunn) This is what a big popcorn blockbuster should look like. Easily 2014’s most fun film, a refreshingly upbeat blast of excitement that has more laughs than any outright comedy released in the last year. Marvel’s C-list motley crew of unlikely heroes provided the studio with yet another feather in the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” cap, and a big part of the movie’s success has to come down to the chemistry between the five lead characters (two of whom are digital creations). Director Gunn was able to capture such a sense of camaraderie, of genuine affection between the characters, that you can’t help but like them all. Much like GHOSTBUSTERS, a great part of the movie’s appeal is in the interplay between our heroes, and GUARDIANS nails it. That the movie also has a surprising amount of heart only adds to its effectiveness. 05. NIGHTCRAWLER (directed by Dan Gilroy) Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as Lou Bloom is truly something special. It is not only Gyllenhaal’s best work to date, but it’s also one of the most singularly strange characters to be featured as the lead of a film in quite some time. Alternately charming and repellent, creepy and goofy, Bloom is a fascinating creation, a man totally lacking any ethical boundaries, willing to do whatever it takes to climb the ladder upwards. Even just purely on the level of a character study, NIGHTCRAWLER would be an amazing film, but it also has an additional layer of media satire which adds extra richness and resonance to the story. One of the great pleasures of going to the movies is when you get to see something original, something you haven’t seen before; Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom is most certainly original, and I guarantee you’ve never seen a character quite like him in any film before. 04. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (directed by Matt Reeves) 2011’s RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES was a pleasant surprise, but its sequel, DAWN, takes things to a whole other level. It adds social commentary (without being stridently political), complex characterizations, and a nuanced storyline about the tragic inevitability of conflict and violence between societies. Intellectually, the movie has a lot going on, which makes it thematically satisfying, but it also has a visceral punch that fulfills the expectations of a blockbuster. The action, though sparse, is hard-hitting, and the visual effects are frequently spectacular. Andy Serkis and the other members of the ape cast are able to fully emote in ways that are entirely convincing, and the computer imagery often borders on being completely photo-realistic. That, in itself, would be a great accomplishment, but the movie has more to offer than just amazing special effects, and that’s why it’s one of the great science fiction films of this decade. 03. BIRDMAN (directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu) BIRDMAN, with its extraordinary cinematography, is the visual, cinematic achievement of the year. The usage of long takes has often been seen as a gimmick, and perhaps an argument could be made that it still is a gimmick in this case, but it lends the movie such a dynamic energy that I can’t imagine the movie working the same without it. But even if you take the photography away, you still have a biting, darkly funny story about the pursuit of respectability, and you still have Michael Keaton at the center of it all, on the doorstep of a sure career resurgence (not that he really needs one, but he certainly hasn’t been as present in movies of late as I would have liked, for example) in a role seemingly tailor-made for him and his own personal baggage. Then on top of Keaton, you also have Edward Norton at his most humorous and Emma Stone as good as she’s yet been so far in her (relatively) young career. On a technical level, the film’s almost a masterpiece, but the story it's telling is just as deserving of recognition as the filmmaking that brings it to life. 02. GONE GIRL (directed by David Fincher) If GONE GIRL had nothing else besides Rosamund Pike’s extraordinary lead performance, it would still be one of the year’s better films. Add to that David Fincher’s precise direction, sharp writing, moody cinematography, a game cast (led by under-appreciated work from Ben Affleck, who himself is backed up by great turns from such people as Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Neil Patrick Harris, and - shocker of shockers! - Tyler Perry), and a deliciously twisted plot, and the result is not simply one of 2014’s better films, it is one of 2014’s best films. The narrative has the veneer of a prestige thriller, but underneath it all, we have a pretty pulpy (some might say trashy) story that is handled with just the right balance of ultra-black humor and seriousness to make the whole package enormously entertaining. Still, this really is Pike’s film, and she deftly pulls off a complicated balance of tones that could have made the character - in lesser hands - into a preposterous, misogynist caricature. It’s a phenomenal performance, and (in my opinion) the single best piece of acting of 2014. 01. WHIPLASH (directed by Damien Chazelle) I was skeptical going into this film. A story about a young jazz drummer? That can’t be anything too special, right? How incredibly wrong I was, because WHIPLASH is a triumphant, exhilarating (it even says so right on the poster!) movie, a movie that makes jazz rehearsals and performances into mini-setpieces of excitement, tension, and suspense, aided by tremendous, flashy (in a good way) editing and camera work. Even beyond the construction of the filmmaking, the story offers a fascinating portrait of an unusual and combative (to say the least) relationship between the characters played by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons (in the performance of his life, and one of the most memorable of 2014). The story does not play out in a conventional way, and the contours of the narrative ebb and flow beautifully as the movie drives towards its absolutely stunning, virtuosic climax; the final fifteen (or so) minutes represent the most magnetic and thrilling cinema of the entire year. WHIPLASH is an incredible film, an amazingly vibrant and energizing experience that I can’t wait to revisit.
So there it is! Taste being, of course, subjective, I'd love to hear what some of your favorite movies of 2014 were, and whether you think I'm way off-base on any of my picks. Also, keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a podcast featuring the Celluloid Dog Blog crew going into even more detail about the movies of 2014!
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