My Top 25 Movies of 2014
My argument remains the same this year as it has done for the last five plus years I’ve been doing this… When the national average here in the UK is roughly 4 new releases per week, resulting in potentially 1408 new films a year (not counting straight-to-dvd fare, VOD releases, etc. etc.), it’s not the most unfair thing in the world to pull 25 from 1408 and give them their moment in the sun. 10 feels too harsh.
The criteria for my Top 25 is that all of the films need to have had releases in the UK between January 1st 2014 and December 31st 2014. Of my list of films that I was highly anticipating, THE WIND RISES, THE DIRTIES, SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON, JOE, GOD’S POCKET, THE ROVER, OBVIOUS CHILD, A MOST WANTED MAN, A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU, ’71, THE HOMESMAN, FURY, THE SKELETON TWINS, THE DROP, DUMB & DUMBER TO and EXODUS: GODS & KINGS were all ones that I sadly never got round to seeing so they’re not going to be putting in appearances on the list – if they were at all good enough to do so in the first place.
In honour of 2014 being such a fantastic year in cinema, here’s 25 films that make up a Top 50 for me and all battled it out for a place in my end of year list at some point:
50. THE EQUALIZER
METRO MANILA was a 2013 release that only got a limited two-day appointment up in my neck of the woods ahead of its DVD/Blu-Ray release in the Spring of 2014. I thought it was an engrossing, tension-soaked masterpiece straight out of the gate with a brilliant, natural, moving lead performance from Jake Macapagal.
WAKE IN FRIGHT was finally given a limited cinema release and DVD/Blu-Ray release after 44 years of being semi-lost, abandoned and/or forgotten about on these shores. It is every bit the unarguable classic that it has been made out to be – An uncomfortably effective ‘fish-out-of-water’ screw-turner!
SNOWPIERCER is the best film I saw this year that has not seen the inside of a cinema or a DVD/Blu-Ray release in the UK. Inexplicably so. Currently lost in transit through some arbitrary ‘producer/director argument over cuts that isn’t even relevant anymore’, this is a thrilling and thrillingly original piece of science-fiction with Chris Evans delivering one of the best performances of the year.
BIG HERO 6 is, on face value, a nakedly commercial endeavour from Disney as they amalgamate the best components from THE AVENGERS and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. But on top of that it is a gorgeously-realised, funny, moving, exciting adventure film. I saw it on my honeymoon in America in November. Continuing the absurd trend of huge release windows between the UK and the US, it will have a UK release at the end of January 2015.
STRETCH still sits without any sort of UK cinema, DVD or VOD release but those who know ways to access US Netflix will have experienced Joe Carnahan’s return to low-budget filmmaking. Its reputation as an abandoned underdog taking on the mighty villainous studio gives cause to worry that its background might supersede its actual quality but thankfully that proves not to be the case. Carnahan’s made a gonzo, quirky, relentless AFTER HOURS homage for the attention-deficit generation. It most definitely deserves to be seen.
And, enough’s enough! I’ve thrown out 1,818 words so far in adoration of films that – for me – don’t even make up the absolute best of the best that 2014 had to offer. Enough digression and jibber-jabber. Without further ado, here’s my Top 25 of 2014:
25. CHEAP THRILLS
E.L. Katz’ darkly comic indie is the story of a scheming couple who put a struggling family man and his old friend through a series of increasingly twisted dares over the course of one long evening. The always excellent Pat Healy and the underrated Ethan Embry lead proceedings with aplomb but it’s the terrific David Koechner, playing absolutely against type, who steals this grim, twisted but blackly amusing indie gem!
24. X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Taken as a sequel to X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, this probably excited no true fan of the franchise thus far. A mediocre and a fair pair of standalone Wolverine movies weakened enthusiasm also. But there was no one who came away from X-MEN: FIRST CLASS who wasn’t champing at the bit to see more of that part of this franchise’s world. And it’s by arching the narrative back round that way and holding the course steady via a terrific screenplay and assured direction that this ended up as one of the biggest surprises in terms of quality from the whole of this year’s ‘Summer Silly Season’.
23. GODZILLA
Everyone and their mother seems to have gone to town on this film since its release, tearing away at its plot holes with glee. To do that is to do an injustice to one of this years’ best blockbusters – A film whereby the tremendous special effects fall second to some of the most well-executed and exciting set-pieces (The monorail! The bridge! THAT ‘halo’ jump!) that 2014 had to offer.
22. CALVARY
This films plot synopsis – “After he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.” – doesn’t come close to selling what an absolutely great drama this is. Calling it *just* a “drama” feels like a disservice also as there’s a dark strain of humour that courses through its veins too. Brendan Gleeson (who continues to be one of the greatest working actors out there at the moment!) is every bit as excellent (and more!) as you’ll have come to expect, and it’s becoming more and more obvious as we head through the awards season that his performance here has been all but forgotten. However, the film’s true stand-out is Chris O’Dowd. If you only know him from his work in THE IT CROWD or BRIDESMAIDS then this is going to drop your jaw! It doesn’t matter who wins ‘Best Supporting Actor’ this year. Because the title will always have been O’Dowd’s anyway!
21. KON-TIKI
The Academy Award’s Best Foreign Language nominee from 2012 finally got a cursory and long-overdue UK release at the tail end of 2014. I imported the Region 1 DVD late in 2013 and paid mention to it in my Top 25 of last year. Here, I finally get to rightfully sing its virtues properly. This is the true story of Thor Heyerdahl and his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands using only the materials and technologies available to the South Americans in pre-Columbian times. As dry as that description might sound, the film is actually a stirring boys-own adventure film full of storms, sharks, hardships, bonding and seemingly insurmountable odds that is absolutely worth seeking out.
20. UNDER THE SKIN
I came to Jonathan Glazer’s acclaimed science-fiction art-house effort very late in the day (I saw it for the first time only two weeks ago!) but from the minute it concluded I knew I had seen something really rather special. This film moved me, made me think, startled me, made me feel very uncomfortable and pushed me to talk about it a lot afterwards in ways I did not think it would. 2014 was most definitely Scarlett Johansson’s year and UNDER THE SKIN was the cherry on top of a cake’s whose ingredients were diverse enough to also include HER, LUCY, and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. It would appear that unless you release your film very specifically in the lead up to nomination time then you have little chance of being remembered and, like Brendan Gleeson’s work in CALVARY, it seems Johansson’s sublime work here has all but been forgotten.
19. EDGE OF TOMORROW
You can blame whatever the hell you like – bad marketing, bad-sentiment towards Tom Cruise, ill-timed release, terrible title changes, etc. – but the truth is this simple: Sometimes people just don’t make an effort to see great films. Sometimes it’s on us. Just like with BLADE RUNNER, THE THING, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and WARRIOR, this was a genuinely great piece of cinema (with a truly brilliant piece of comedic work from Tom Cruise!) that deserves all the love that it’s now starting to get but should have had from the get-go. Yes, the third act is a little ‘rote’ but it’s forgivable in the face of all the tremendous entertainment that’s gone before it.
18. 22 JUMP STREET
The first movie made my Top 25 back in 2012 based on the very thing that this film didn’t have going for it – The surprise factor! I had such low-expectations going in, first time around, and the absolute reverse was true this time out. And you know what? This film absolutely surpassed all expectations that I had for it. It was consistently laugh-out-loud funny with some extremely clever and well-thought out gags. It had THE best end credits sequence of the year and, in Jillian Bell, it had the scene-stealing role of the year! Bell’s work here is akin to what Jack Black pulled off in HIGH FIDELITY. I can only hope that the same barrage of studio-backed big comedies come her way like they did for Black.
17. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
I had low expectations for this, if I’m honest. I adore Martin Scorsese and will watch any film he makes but the marketing didn’t do anything for me – the Jonah Hill ‘caricature’ schtick grated on me in the trailer (a little less so in the actual movie admittedly, but his subsequent run of nominations for his work in this surprised the shit out of me as I thought he played the character like a cartoon throughout!) and I didn’t have much enthusiasm to spend three hours celebrating and glorifying the real life past conduct of a sociopathic scumbag who ruined so many people’s lives. Conflicted emotions about what is done with the protagonist aside, Scorsese has unarguably delivered an utterly riveting and very funny film full of stand-out moments and a star-making turn from Margot Robbie. If you’d ever wondered what it’d have been like if Marty had made CASINO or GOODFELLAS as comedies then this is your strongest indicator.
16. THE GUEST
The first of two really rather brilliant ‘John Carpenter tribute films of sorts’ that will appear on the list, this is a cracking little genre-jumping ode to the VHS era with a fantastic soundtrack and a plethora of top-drawer performances from a roster of “Hey It’s That Guy” style character actors… and DOWNTOWN ABBEY’s Dan Stevens! It starts as a drama, becomes a thriller, starts to evolve into a horror and is never less than very dryly funny throughout. It’s a real treat.
15. THE LEGO MOVIE
There is absolutely nothing about this film that should have worked at all. If ever there was a case of empty “It’s based on a toy!” studio desperation it would have to be this… And yet somehow one of the funniest, sweetest, most inventive and just thoroughly delightful films of 2014 emerged from such dubious foundations.
14. GONE GIRL
David Fincher is one of the greatest working directors and most definitely the greatest director of my generation. His remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was his attempt at “playing around with the airport potboiler novel as source material”. This is him apparently “having fun” and “making a romantic comedy”. Dear God. GONE GIRL is Fincher at his most cold and acerbic, and that is saying something. Ben Affleck is superb and Rosemund Pike delivers a career-changer of a performance. It’s engrossing and disgusting and funny and… and… and it’ll make you want to fear ever crossing any woman ever again.
13. INTERSTELLAR
Hype did this film a disservice and when hype was done unnecessary comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 took over thereafter. It’s not perfect and it’s not the pinnacle of the science-fiction genre and it seems to inexplicably have its detractors for those reasons. But it needs to be judged on what it is and not what it failed to be in the eyes of some critics and audience members – and that’s big, bold, inventive, epic, interesting, emotional filmmaking that falls outside of being a sequel, prequel, comic book, adaptation or spin-off. Lost within the cool-down from INTERSTELLAR’s pre-release hype is the recognition Jessica Chastain deserves for what is one of my favourite female supporting performances of the year.
12. BLUE RUIN
I’m a ‘revenge movie’ junkie of the highest order and it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to this particular sub-genre as, quite frankly, there’s just not a lot left with the revenge movie you can do that’s not been done time and time again. BLUE RUIN impressed the hell out of me because it simply found that all important new angle – What if the revenge-seeking protagonist wasn’t some ex-CIA agent or some rogue special forces type? What if he was just a troubled everyman who had no discernible skill or stomach for revenge but felt compelled to push himself through with the act? Macon Blair stands out as one of the most riveting, soft-spoken and natural leads of this year!
11. COLD IN JULY
One of the most ingeniously well-marketed films of 2014, this revenge thriller audaciously managed to put out a plot synopsis and trailer that expertly hides what it is actually about. You go in expecting a cat-and-mouse thriller between a befuddled family-man who kills a burglar in his own home and the burglar’s ex-con father who wants revenge. Instead you get… … a whole heap of action-packed surprises spear-headed by a trio of fantastic performances from Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and (the star of the show!) Don Johnson!
10. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
This is the story within a story of the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. And if ever there was a point to be tired of the Wes Anderson “style” now would be it. Instead he circumnavigates audience-weariness to his whimsy and delivers a ‘man on the run’ chase movie like you’ve never seen before. In the process he invigorates affection for the normally staid Ralph Fiennes and gets from him one of the most deftly comic displays of the year!
9. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Apes. On horses. Holding TWO machine guns. Charging at human camps. What more do you want? Come on! Seriously? … Ok, come for the apes on horseback firing machine guns at humans and stay for the genuinely outstanding FX work, jaw-dropping motion capture performances from Andy Serkis and his “players” and totally breathtaking blockbuster filmmaking. DAWN could have easily been drowned out by much bigger movies this summer, especially the audacious two-hander Marvel expertly played. Instead it held its own and, like those two aforementioned Marvel movies, left me exiting the cinema absolutely desperate to see where this franchise could and would go next.
8. THE BABADOOK
Forget whichever actresses name is called out at the 2015 Academy Awards as the “best”. Because I can almost guarantee it won’t be Essie Davis for her work in this movie and to me that will be one hell of a travesty. Davis’ delivers the years’ best performance by an actress in what is easily the years’ best horror film by a mile. It is a consistently jump-inducing, efficient chiller that works on multiple levels and expertly crawls underneath your skin. That the likes of Stephen King and William Friedkin consider it to be of the modern greats of the genre should tell you everything you need to know.
7. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLIDER
A sequel to a super-hero movie that too few seem to have any real affection for (I love it!)? A homage to 70s style conspiracy thrillers? A balls-to-the-wall action blockbuster? Part NINE of an ongoing cinematic series? Did ANYONE actually think this was going to be as outstanding as it was? I prayed it would be good. But BOY did they really go out of their way to deliver on this one. They surpass each and every action sequence they lay up to the point of giddiness and end up delivering the best mainstream action movie of the year!
6. THE RAID 2
Gareth Evans made the best action movie in over 10 years back in 2011 so as a follow-up he decided to set himself a whole new batch of challenges by escalating absolutely everything about this sequel – size, scope, tone, set-pieces, choreography – and he systemically surpassed himself on each and every one. This is THE action movie of the year and the best action movie since… Gareth Evans’ THE RAID three years ago. It’s relentless, gory, astonishing, complex stuff that demands to be seen. There is some truly astounding sequences on show here that have definitively raised the bar in action cinema.
5. BOYHOOD
Believe absolutely everything you’ve heard about this. Nothing I can say about it will add anything to all that’s already been written. There’s a reason this stands within the Top 5 of EVERY critic’s review of 2014 and that’s because it really is the wondrous, majestic piece of cinema that you’ve heard it to be. Patricia Arquette has always been one of the most underappreciated actresses in the industry. This is going to change that.
4. LIFE ITSELF
Roger Ebert was ‘dad’ to anyone who ever wanted to write seriously about cinema. He also transcended the form in which he was made famous and became justifiably recognised as not just one of the best writers on film in the history of its form but also one of the most endearing and captivating writers on any subject he decided to sit down and throw out some words on. So what better tribute to this man then the most endearing, captivating, lovely, life-affirming and inspiring documentary you’ll see out of all of 2014’s documentary releases. This isn’t just about the life of a film critic. This is about the importance of cinema, the power of love, the tenacity of the human spirit and the boundless enthusiasm and courage of a beautifully flawed man!
3. NIGHTCRAWLER
In Dan Gilroy’s ‘TAXI DRIVER for the social media generation’, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom is an ambitious man desperate for work who muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism and in the process blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. NIGHTCRAWLER is a fascinating and grim piece of work that shines a spotlight on the maggot-infested carcass of modern media and ends up as one of the very best films of 2014 thanks to a committed performance from Gyllenhaal that is as fascinating and grim as the film as he’s starring in. It’s a wholly unique performance that stands as the best I saw from an actor in 2014 and gives a driven movie a nitrous oxide boost!
2. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
Remember that first ever time you saw STAR WARS? What about JURASSIC PARK? Or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK? That’s what it felt like to see GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY for the first time. It never felt like it was in service to the greater ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ and instead concentrated on being a funny, exciting, blockbuster thrill-ride full to the brim with imagery and design that hadn’t been seen before and a level of wit and inventiveness that had been sadly lacking in mainstream studio filmmaking for a long time. There’s not a single bum-note in the film from start to finish. Everything about this had the underdog stamp on it with a lot of critics sneering that it was to be Marvel’s first flop and that it was too big a project for the director of films like SUPER and SLITHER. It says a lot about the character of director James Gunn that he’s thus far resisted the urge to go around blowing raspberries in the face of everyone who ever doubted him. I absolutely adored this film. And in Chris Pratt we’ve been hand-delivered a brand new ‘everyman’ movie star genetically forged from the DNA of Harrison Ford, Tom Selleck and Bruce Willis (but grandmaster late 80s/early 90s Willis… not slumming, new crown-prince of the dodgy VOD cheapy action movie Willis!)
- - -
… And that’s it. No one will have read through to the very end. You’ll have skimped through to see what was #1 and then clicked back straight away. So, well, safe in the knowledge that there’s little to no chance of anyone actually getting this far, let me tell you about that time I killed a man. It was 1998 and…..
Comments
Post a Comment