A Year in Review: Terry's Top 10 Films of 2014

I have a rule that I have developed over the last couple years.  I will not publish my top ten films of the year until I have at least seen all of the Oscar Best Picture nominees.  With the busy schedule I keep, this usually means I don't catch all of them until they are all out to rent or buy.  This week I finally saw the last of 2014's eight nominees (and I am glad I did as that last film made my top ten, but more on that later).  I am just happy I am able to put this list out before we reach the midpoint of 2015 ... barely.

Of the 37 movies I have seen from 2014, I gave seven 4 star ratings.  That is my lowest total of 4 stars since 2006.  There were not many great films, but I will say there were a whole lot of good films.  I may have only given seven 4 star ratings, but I also only gave seven ratings under 3 stars.  That is partially because, with a busy schedule, I am very selective in what films I see.  However, I also think there was a lot of quality.  Maybe not high quality, but quality nonetheless.  Anyways, here is the list.

Honorable Mention

Life Itself

Foxcatcher

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

A Most Violent Year

10.  Edge of Tomorrow

(dir. by Doug Liman)

I don't know how, but it feels like recently the phrase "Tom Cruise Movie" has become synonymous with mediocrity.  I honestly don't know how.  Outside of a couple duds (which, let's face it, everyone has), Cruise has been a steady and bankable action star especially recently with films like Jack Reacher, Oblivion, and the Mission Impossible franchise.  Edge of Tomorrow might be the best of the group.  It truly feels like a throwback action film that is just fun from start to finish.  Cruise and Emily Blunt are great as the two heroes out to save the world.  This is a strange action mix of Groundhog Day and Source Code as Cruise continually relives the same day that he always dies at the end of.  With each new reliving of that same day, he learns a little more about what he has to do to save the world, as he goes from clueless desk jockey to ultimate action hero.  My only two complaints with the film are the title and the timing.  The original title of Live. Die. Repeat. was such a better title for this film.  The timing was another issue I had.  Tom Cruise was just a little too old for this role.  If this had been made about 10 years ago (or with a different lead), it would have potentially been even better.  I can't complain too much about Tom Cruise though.  I would just love to see him throw in a few more critically acclaimed roles that could get him in awards talk again, but I don't see that happening in the near future.  As long as the quality stays up, I don't mind.

9.  Begin Again

(dir. by John Carney)

Possibly my favorite film of the last decade was Once, a small, simple love story with music at the center.  So when I heard director John Carney would be exploring a similar story with Begin Again, it quickly became one of my most anticipated films of the year.  I knew it would be different with big names like Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, Mos Def, and Catherine Keener (a far cry from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) being involved.  It definitely wasn't on the same level of Once, but it was very good in its own way.  Although the characters and details of the story are different, the basic stories of the two films are the same.  Two people develop an incredible bond with the help of music that forces each of them to reevaluate and reassess their lives.  The performances are great, the music is great, the film is great.

8.  Birdman

(dir. by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

I hate putting this film on my list, and it has nothing to do with the film itself.  It had no business winning Best Picture!  However, with that said, Birdman is very good in its own way.  It is such a strange and bizarre film to get the attention it got.  A movie star haunted (quite literally) by his career-defining role tries to reinvent himself through the theater.  It's a simple premise, but nothing about the execution is simple and conventional which is what makes this film endlessly interesting and engaging.  There are two things I love about this movie and one thing I hate.  First, I love the way it is shot.  Sure, there are several camera tricks involved, but it appears to be one continuous shot from start to finish of this movie.  We marvel at the brilliance of one continuous shot that will last 5 minutes or so in other films.  This is one continuous shot for a whole film!  Second, many of the actors seem to be playing slightly slanted (or dare I say ... almost sideways?) versions of themselves.  Michael Keaton plays a washed-out actor known for playing a superhero that is trying to resurrect his career.  Michael Keaton IS a washed-out actor known for playing a superhero that is trying to resurrect his career.  Edward Norton plays a neurotic method actor that everyone loves on stage but hates off stage.  Edward Norton IS a neurotic method actor that everyone loves on stage but hates off stage!!!  Add to that performances by Emma Stone and Naomi Watts that also don't stray too far from reality, and you have a cast playing with their own lives.  This could have been a lot higher on this list if it weren't for the ending.  I hated the ending.  The movie goes about 5 minutes too long.  Chop off that ending, and I would be a little more okay with this film winning Best Picture.  Never mind ... I will never be okay with this winning Best Picture.

7.  The Imitation Game

(dir. by Morten Tyldum)

This biopic is a story I feel has been told before.  In fact, there were two biopics (The Theory of Everything being the other) nominated for Best Picture this year that basically tell the same story.  This one just tells it a lot better.  The obvious comparison for these films about genius minds tortured from within is 2001's A Beautiful Mind, which is an all-time favorite of mine (RIP John and Alicia Nash).  Although The Imitation Game is nowhere near A Beautiful Mind, it is its own type of brilliance as the story plays out quite differently from its doppelganger.  Alan Turing is a genius mind obsessed with puzzles that is given the task of breaking the Nazi coding system during World War II.  With the help of his companions, played by the likes of Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode, he creates the first computer to do it.  All the time, he is haunted by the fact that he is homosexual, something that was illegal in England at the time.  I love watching brilliant minds solve puzzles.  It is one of the things that makes A Beautiful Mind so great.  However, what makes this film unique and special in its own way is Turing's "demon."  It is so different than any of the other similar films because of society's view of homosexuality then, society's view of homosexuality now, and ultimately, how the story is shaped by these perspectives.  It is a fascinating story that, much like John Nash, is one that needed to be told.

6.  The Lego Movie

(dir. by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller)

This movie was just plain fun.  Whoever came up with this idea is a genius.  From the very beginning, you realize this would be a movie unlike any other you have seen.  At no point does the LEGO-ness feel like a gimmick.  It stays fresh from start to finish in a way few films are able to accomplish.  All this can be said about many films, but what makes this one special is the ending.  The heart comes out at the end in a way changes your perspective on the whole film.  It gives this silly little LEGO movie meaning and purpose that puts it on par with the Toy Story franchise in how it can relate to multiple age groups on multiple levels.  To paraphrase it's Oscar nominated song, everything was awesome.

5.  Whiplash

(dir. by Damien Chazelle)

As a musician and a teacher, this film automatically appealed to me on a different level.  However, I was not fully prepared for the chaotic ride this film takes you on.  Miles Teller plays an ambitious young drummer looking to impress the dictatorial (emphasis on "dic(k)") band director played by J.K. Simmons.  Simmons's character seems to be never satisfied simply for the sake of never being satisfied.  His search for approval drives the young pupil to the brink of insanity.  Watching this train wreck spiral out of control is sad, frustrating, inspiring, exhausting, and absolutely enthralling.  This film also produced my favorite quote of the year.  "The two worst words in the English language are 'good job.'"

4.  American Sniper

(dir. by Clint Eastwood)

This was the last of the Best Picture nominees I needed to see to make this list, and I am so glad I waited for it.  Bradley Cooper plays real life Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in American military history.  This film basically becomes a sniper version of 2009's The Hurt Locker, as it tells of the troubled life of a successful military man in the middle of the most recent conflicts in the Middle East.  While Kathryn Bigelow's masterpiece focuses more on the exploits of the deployment, Clint Eastwood's masterpiece focuses much more on the struggle it is to come home.  Being a successful soldier does not necessarily translate to being a successful member of society.  Kyle's wife, played brilliantly by Sienna Miller, learns this fact the hard way as Chris struggles to turn off the instincts that make him such a great soldier.  What makes this so perfect is the subtlety it deals with the subject.  It addresses it without ever really talking about it.  Bradley Cooper gives the best performance of his already impressive career as he is becoming one of the best actors of his generation.

3.  Gone Girl

(dir. by David Fincher)

Some directors just know how to make a certain genre.  With Martin Scorsese, it is mobster drama.  With Quentin Tarantino, it is dialogue driven homage.  With David Fincher, it is crime drama.  From Se7en to The Game to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher has shown time and time again that he is the master of this domain.  Gone Girl is the latest to enter his canon, and it belongs solidly on his list of masterpieces.  Ben Affleck plays a troubled and shady character who is trying not to become a suspect in his wife's disappearance and possible murder.  This really feels like several different films thrown into one, as you are not really sure what is going on until halfway through the film.  Rosamund Pike gives a performance that should finally make her a household name.  Supporting characters played by Neil Patrick Harris, Carrie Coon, and Tyler Perry (yes, that Tyler Perry) round out a truly perfect cast.  This film leaves you guessing from start to finish at what is really going on, and it never seems to be what is expected.  It truly is Fincher at his best.

2.  Selma

(dir. by Ava DuVernay)

What an important story this is to tell, and what an important time to tell it.  Selma tells the inspiring story of Martin Luther King, Jr. leading his peaceful, non-violent march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery.  Led by David Oyelowo as MLK, this film does the very difficult task of blurring the lines between dramatization and reality.  You forget at times that you are not watching this happen live instead of watching a movie made 50 years later.  This film stirred so many emotions for me.  First, the story itself is so inspiring.  To see a group of people mistreated so universally by those around them, and to see a reaction come from such a place of strength and bravery is one of the greatest tales of the human condition I have seen in some time.  However, it also forces me to look at our current culture now and the issues with discrimination that have emerged once again.  People on every side of the current argument could learn from a film like Selma.  It is illogical to hate someone on the basis of something someone can't choose, like skin color.  However, whether any action is spurned by race or not, the other main lesson that can be learned from Selma is the way you fight violence towards minorities is through the strength of non-violence that Dr. King showed on that bridge leaving Selma.  How badly this generation needs their own Martin Luther King, Jr....

1.  Boyhood

(dir. by Richard Linklater)

With the strength of all the films on this list, there was no question what the top film on this list would be.  I cannot remember a movie-going experience quite like seeing Richard Linklater's Boyhood.  That is exactly what seeing this movie is too: an experience.  This film tells the story of growing up over a 12 year period.  The movie was filmed in short episodes with one being shot every year for 12 years.  We truly see the characters grow up.  This could have easily become just a gimmick of the film, but it truly worked and told a story from start to finish.  The best part was the story was very subtle, much like growing up actually is.  This is a film everyone needs to see.  It is a landmark achievement in filmmaking that should go down in history with some of the all-time greats.  It tells the story of a generation because, honestly, it took that long to make it.  It is one of the best films to come out in some time and will set a standard for films moving forward.

A Year in Review:Adams Top Movies of 2014

2014 has come an gone!  Its amazing how fast the year went too!  This year was so amazing I witnessed the birth of my beautiful baby girl and I got engaged to an amazing woman.  Also, I was able to be a part of a great group of fellow movie fans, and write my thoughts for all of you!  For that I say THANK YOU!  2014, brought us highs (Boyhood, Guardians of the Galaxy, Birdman, Whiplash) and some lows (Tammy, Oculus, Tusk, Transcendence), but over all, it was a great year for film.  I was introduced to a lot more indie and foreign films and I realized that I was missing out on a whole new realm of story telling. We all also witness the best movie that come out, was only 80 seconds long!!!  After waiting a long time we were given several new trailers for upcoming movies for 2015 (Star Wars VII, Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers 2) as well as a epic conclusion of the The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings universe.  We witnessed an attack on our theater experience as well as our right of free speech, that delayed the release of The Interview.  We took a journey that was 12 years in the making with Boyhood.  Two great actors went to very dark places for their roles, Steve Carrel and Jake Gyllenhaal.  An Michael Keaton made a huge come back!  We also lost some great actors to this business we all love.  Rest in Peace- Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, Bob Hoskins, Mickey Rooney, Harold Ramis, Shirley Temple, and many more.  2014 you will be missed.

Before we turn the page on 2014, lets see where it took us.
It took me back to being my Boyhood living on Jumpstreet.  I was in a spelling bee, surrounded by apes.  We were attacked by a huge monster, but we were saved by mutants, and a captain, and some guardians.  Birdman, however, was no where to be found, cause he was checking into a Grand Hotel.  I boarded a train, and pretend to be a cop.  I signed up at Foxcatcher and journeyed to North Korea and to space.  But when I was there I noticed that there was no fault in our stars.  But in the end, no turtles, transformers, a crazy band teacher, dragons, a sex tape, or even an evil doll could keep us from the woods.  We made some tracks, cause the ride along of life is a long way down.  So let us purge, with our neighbors, for this is where I leave you! Thank you 2014!

  I was able to see a lot of films this year in the theater.  I really enjoy the theater experience.  When you are watching a movie on the big screen or just at your house, it is an experience, for good or bad.  I had some of the most fun at a theater this year.  My good experiences would be laughing out loud with whats happening on screen (22 Jumpstreet, Guardians of the Galaxy, Top Five), gasping when something shocking happens (Foxcatcher, Gone Girl), being taken back to a time that I forgot (Boyhood), enjoying the action on screen (John Wick, The Purge: Anarchy)  or being scared out of my mind (Annabelle).

                                                                                                               

It wasn't all just good though.  My bad experiences included a drunk lady talking and filming the movie (Birdman), being grossed out to the point I couldn't eat (Tusk), bring our baby to a film and then she starts being fussy so my wife has to leave (Calvary), thinking one of my favorite actresses was overrated (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1) or just being bored (Tammy, The Amazing Spider-man 2, Transformers Age of Extinction).  But if a film is doing its job correctly it doesn't matter if its a good or bad experience cause the story will conquer.  I loved being sucked in and hooked on the screen.

So lets see what I thought was the best of 2014!!!

Total 2014 Films Seen: 109
Thumbs Up percentage: 60%
Movies I need to see, that could make my list: A Most Violent Year, Selma, Inherent Vice, and American Sniper

Actor of the Year:

Jake Gyllenhall

(Enemy and Nightcrawler)

Actress of the Year:

Scarlett Johnansson

(Captain America: The Winter Solider, Chef, Under the Skin, Lucy)

Best Actor: Michael Keaton - Birdman, Steve Carrel - Foxcatcher, Andy Serkis - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Brendan Gleeson - Calvary, and Miles Teller - Whiplash

Best Actress: Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl, Agata Trzebuchowska - Ida, Shailene Woodley - The Fault in Our Stars, Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything, and Mia Wasikowska - Tracks

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons - Whiplash, Shia LaBeouf - Fury, Ethan Hawke - Boyhood, Edward Norton - Birdman, and Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher 

Best Supporting Actress: Emma Stone - Birdman, Patricia Arquette - Boyhood, Carrie Croon - Gone Girl, Rosario Dawson - Top Five, and Tilda Swinton - Snowpiercer 

Surprises of the Year: Edge of Tomorrow, John Wick, 13 Sins, Snowpiercer, The Purge: Anarchy 

Best Laughs: 22 Jumpstreet, Top Five, Bad Words, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lego Movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Biggest Disappointment of the Year: Godzilla and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Worst of the Year (from bad to awful): Transcendence, Tammy, Tusk, Oculus, Leprechaun: Origins

Honorable Mentions for the Top 10: Snowpiercer, The Lego Movie, Chef,  Big Bad Wolves, Wish I Was Here, The Fault in our Stars, X-Men Days of Futures Past, Captain America: The Winter Solider, and Interstellar

-TIE-

10.

Calvary

(John Michael McDonagh)

Brendan Gleeson portrays Father James, a priest of a small community, in Ireland, and a good man.  As he begins to listen to his Sunday confessionals, he gets threat on his life.  He becomes deeply conflicted and troubled about what to do.  He tries to continue his life as usual, but as it gets closer to his confrontation with the mystery man, his life begins to fall apart.  I really enjoyed Gleeson in this role.  He is truly underrated as an actor.  This film has a great cast that play their characters so well, that you begin to believe that it could be anyone of them who wants to kill Father James.  Aidan Gillen and Chris O Dowd are also great in this and add some dark humor as well.

10.

Top Five

(Chris Rock)

I really didn't know anything about this film when I first walked into the theater to watch it.  When the credits finally rolled, I had a huge smile on my face.  This movie is really smart and really well directed.  I like how Chris Rock can poke fun at himself, basically plays a parody of himself.  This film follows Andre Allen (C.Rock), a recovering alcoholic, and comedian, who is tired of doing comedies.  He wants to branch out to more serious roles.  As he does this no one is taking him seriously.  As he is promoting, one of his dramatic roles, he is followed by a report, Chelsea Brown (R.Dawson).  The chemistry between Rock and Dawson is amazing. Its because of that chemistry that this movie finds it heart and its growth for the characters themselves.  

9.

Foxcatcher

(Bennett Miller)

Talk about totally disappearing into a role!  Steve Carrel has so much talent and brings a scary presence to the screen.  I was literally wondering what this guy was going to do next.  This film is very tense and methodical.  Every performance (Carrel, Tatum, Ruffalo) grips you.  Based on true events, Foxcatcher tells the story of the relationship between John du Pont and the Schultz brothers.  John du Pont, has to be one of the scariest people on the silver screen all year.  He is eccentric and trying to gain the approval of his mother, and respect from his fellow peers.  He wants to have the wrestler he coaches win a gold medal, more than anything.  The places the characters go, are truly remarkable.    

8.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

(Matt Reeves)

It is a rare feet to see a sequel build off the success of the previous film and be better than it in every way.  This is the Empire Strikes Back of this soon to be franchise.  Andy Serkis, has once again proven to every one that he is an actor not just a guy in a green suit.  His performance in this film, as Ceasar, should be nominated for a Golden Globe or an Oscar.  He brings so much depth to his character.  Also, Toby Kebbell, is just as amazing as Serkis.  It shows, that its not just Serkis who knows how to act in the suit.  This film takes placed 10 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  It shows an interaction between the apes and humans and the fragile peace, that is built.  It is the beginning of the war to determine the dominant species.

7.

Guardians of the Galaxy

(James Gunn)

When this movie was first announced, I was really skeptical.  How could a movie with a talking raccoon and and walking tree be any good?  Marvel, however took a big risk that paid off.  This was the most fun I had in a theater all year and was the only film I went for a second time to see.  I love the soundtrack.  The characters are fun and goofy.  Chris Pratt, proves that he is not just a comedy star but now an action star.  The chemistry between Pratt, Saldana, Bautista, and Cooper is what makes the movie fun. It had everything I wanted this movie to have, and a lot of things I didn't expect.  Just a good flick!  

 6.

Gone Girl

(David Fincher)

This has to be one of the most talked about films of the year.  I know I have had a good long discussion on this movie.  You can love it or hate it, but the fact remains that if you are talking about it outside the theater, the movie did its job.  A compelling story about a husband (Affleck) and wife (Pike) and the struggles of true love and the crazy things we will do.  I know its based on the Gillian Flynn novel, but I loved how it plays of some other real life murder cases that has happened in the past.  You also don't find many authors willing to write the screenplay based of their book, but I'm glad she did!  Cause I believe she will win her Oscar!  The performances are awesome, as we come to expect in Fincher movies.  But my favorite thing has to be the mastermind of Trent Reznor.  He once again sets up the scenes of this movie.  Watching this movie on the silver screen, was amazing cause the whole crowd was on the edge of their seat.   

5.

Fury

(David Ayer)

Fury, this isn't your typical war film.  This film isn't concerned with flashy battle sequences or explosions, but of the soldiers who fight in this wars and why.  I find that extremely refreshing.  As a fan of war movies, some of them feel like they are trying to be to Saving Private Ryan and not something unique and real.  Each character is unique and brings a totally different dynamic to this squad.  As you follow this characters, you start to feel for them and care about them.  They will piss you off one minute then do something totally redeeming that will make you realize that each one of them is like us, the viewers.  It was truly an experience that made me want to purchase another ticket as soon as the credits rolled.  The standouts for me were Shia LaBeouf and Jon Bernthal.  Shia LaBeouf, is a damn good actor when he wants to be! Thats all Ill say!    

4.

Nightcrawler

(Dan Gilroy)

Jake Gyllenhaal has slowly climbed up my favorite actors list the last couple of years.  Last year, I witnessed him, as Loki, in the movie Prisoners. In that film, he was one of two maybe three standouts (Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano) that made the films for me.  However, unlike that movie, Gylenhaal, stands above all the rest.  As you watch his performance as, Louis Bloom, his eyes go black.  He is totally that character and is totally lost in it.  Louis Bloom is a very driven character, who muscles his way into this world of journalism.  Not just any kind, mind you, crime journalism.  Nina Romina (Rene Russo) aides him in his effort to provide the most haunting visuals he can.  He blurs the lines of just observing and participating.  It is truly haunting.  Rene Russo, is also a sight for sore eyes!  She was also really good in this role and its a good surprise.  Going into this, I had no idea she was in this.  When she is on screen with Gyllenhaal, their interactions between one another will blow your mind!  As will Gyllenhaals performance! It was F***ing Amaze Balls!!! 

3.

Birdman

(Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

I said this about Top Five, but I really enjoy when actors can play parodies of themselves.  This movie was such an accomplishment to all involved.  Michael Keaton was so amazing in this role!  He totally had me cheering for him every second as the film rolled on.  Keaton, plays a washed up actor, who just so happened to play a superhero.  He must over come his ego and his family troubles as he tries to reclaim his past glory.  The other star of this film was Mr. Inarritu.  I have never seen a movie filmed like this before.  The camera seemed to be in one continual shot the entire movie.  I would say any other year he would get the Oscar but this isn't other year!  Emma Stone has an amazing monologue in this that totally made me almost stand up and clap!  This movie will really make you think, so pay close attention!    

2.

Whiplash

(Damien Chazelle)

Back in the day I use to play the trombone, and I thought I had a tough band teacher!  Well, I was totally out of my mind to have ever thought that!  J.K. Simmons, acts his ass off in this film!  He is your worst nightmare and is truly frightening.  Miles Teller is no joke either, as he is quick becoming one of my favorite actors as well.  Teller, plays a young drummer who is enrolled in a tough as nails, music school.  The only problem is his band teacher, Mr. Fletcher (Simmons), will stop at nothing to make him realize his true potential.  Fletcher will stop at nothing until he realizes it.  In a year with 5 super heroes movies, this is the ultimate test between good and evil!  The ending alone is breath taking!  Makes me want to play the drums, or just download the soundtrack and act like I'm drumming.  So, dare I say it, but, GOOD JOB!  

1.

Boyhood

(Richard Linklater)

When it all comes down to it, this was truly the best film of the year!  A movie that took me back to my child hood and into the brain of a child.  This film is such a unique experience, cause you are growing with the characters.  You follow a boy named Mason, through his life for 12 years.  He becomes apart of you.  He is you!  This movie might not take you to the flashiest events in his life, but where it takes him are the events that change his life!  The parents of Mason (Patricia Arqutte and Ethan Hawke) are some of the key characters that might be the most enduring of anyone on the screen this year!  Such powerful performances were given to such real characters.  If you see only one movie on this list or even all year, make it Boyhood.  Cause its not just a movie but it reminds you of where we have been, and where we hope to go in our life, even if we don't know yet!   

    

So there you go!!!  Thats my Top Ten of the year!  What are your thoughts? Disagreements?  What did you like? Share below!

Adam

Year in Review: Zach's Top Ten Films of 2014

            2014 began with Jonah Hill being nominated for an Oscar in a Martin Scorsese film and ended with Steve Carell likely being nominated for an Oscar wearing Nicole Kidman’s nose from The Hours, while Seth Rogan and James Franco have become ambassadors to liberty, free speech, and democracy around the world.  Meanwhile, Emma Stone is also an Oscar shoo-in and Don Draper still has unresolved feelings for Lindsay Weir.  The lesson?  Trust Judd Apatow.  Even when he’s not tapping into the great acting talent of the 21^st century, he’s producing hit TV shows and routinely becoming one of the most entertaining late night TV guests.  Even his teenage daughter is big.  Let’s face it: Judd Apatow owns Hollywood and most of the non-North Korean planet.  Right now, he is to America what Heisenberg was to the Czech Republic in Season 5 of Breaking Bad.  Let’s just be grateful he was prescient enough to have never cast Bill Cosby in any of his films.  In the words of Walter Cronkite, once you’ve lost Apatow, you’ve lost the American people. 

            Sadly, Judd Apatow did not direct any films in 2014 (although the jury’s out on whether he clandestinely went to France and directed Stranger by the Like), meaning that this year’s top ten list may look a little incomplete.  Fortunately, 2014 boasted some high quality, mature, original films although you would never guess it from looking at the highest-grossing films of the year (in case you’re counting, 12 of the top 16 movies were either sequels or remakes, while three of the other four were meant for children and family audiences).  That doesn’t mean that the future for movies isn’t bleak, as Mark Harris expertly articulated a few weeks ago.  Is it possible that when Newton Minow called television a “vast wasteland” five decades ago, he actually instead meant motion pictures?  And once again, this is where you can insert Apatow into this tragic milieu: Although “mature” may be a bit of a stretch, he undoubtedly makes high quality, original films that aren’t franchises or sequels (sort-of) or meant for kids.  In spite of his seeming ubiquity across multiple entertainment platforms, somehow 2014 still needed Apatow’s personal authorial stamp more than any previous year.

            Anyway, on to the business at hand: The ten best movies of the year.  In a year where going to movie theaters has become so irrelevant that Snowpiercer grossed less money at the American box office than Legend of Lemurs: Madagascar (IMAX) and something called Meet the Mormons, I’m proud to say that nine of these ten films were first seen at a theater.  Yes, the tickets probably cost too much and the people who talk uncannily always found a way to swarm around my seat, but I can’t deny that the experience of going to the movies is still worth it.  That opinion may change in the next few years, but for now I can reflect on the films that give me hope for the future.

Total 2014 films seen: 62

“Thumbs up” percentage: 59.67 percent

Movies I haven’t seen that could potentially make this list: A Most Violent Year, Selma, Inherent Vice, In Bloom, Mommy, Two Days One Night.

Movies I’m proud to say I didn’t see: Transformers 4, Dumb and Dumber To, Into the Woods, all of the freaking Bible movies.

Overrated: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Interstellar, Chef, Dear White People, Godzilla, Gone Girl, Pride, Birdman (not bad, just overrated), Under the Skin (the same).

Underrated: Fading Gigolo, If I Stay, Life of Crime, The Unknown Known.  Truthfully, not a lot of underrated movies in 2014.  Can I include Boyhood with only “99% Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes?

Best Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler

Best Actress: Agata Trzebuchowska, Ida

Best Supporting Actor: Ethan Hawke, Boyhood

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Worst Movies of the Year: This is Where I Leave You, Godzilla, The Giver.

Honorable mention: Nymphomaniac Volumes 1 and 2 (Lars von Trier); The Skeleton Twins (Craig Johnson); Belle (Amma Asante); Love is Strange (Ida Sachs); Ida (Paweł Pawlikowski).

10. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)

This was Full Metal Jacket meets a masochistic version of Mr. Holland’s Opus (with a tiny bit of Black Swan thrown in), and although hopefully few of us have ever encountered a teacher or boss as genuinely sadistic as J.K. Simmons’ Mr. Fletcher, director Chazelle does an incredible job of invoking the fear of public shaming that everyone feels on a daily basis.  Andrew, the talented young drummer played by Miles Teller, feels that fear in the first parts of the film when he’s lambasted by Mr. Fletcher, but soon that fear transitions into the same anger, aggression, and brutality that Fletcher displays in front of his music students.  In a roundabout way, Whiplash is an oddly moral film that asks serious questions about what degrees of sacrifice and personal harm are necessary in order to shape a prodigy.  These aren’t just questions of whether the end justifies the means, but to what degrees professional society permits abhorrent behavior at the expense of collectively turning the other cheek. I especially admired the last scene of the film, which depicts a climatic showdown between the forces of good or evil that isn’t resolved through words or fists, but through music.  Because in the end, that’s all Whiplash is really about, right?

9. A Most Wanted Man (Anton Corbijn)

Like The Lives of Others, this is a film that ostensibly dealt with espionage and police surveillance, but was really about how bureaucracies are not only barriers to human compassion, but forge alienation within even its own top members.  This was also a haunting and brilliant final performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing a German intelligence agent tracking a potentially dangerous terrorist suspect who has recently emigrated from Russia.  Hoffman’s foil is not the terrorist, but two women – one an immigration lawyer (Rachel McAdams) who has come to the aid of the suspect, and the other an American diplomatic attache (Robin Wright) skeptical of Hoffman’s rogue and detached demeanor.  Based on a John le Carré novel, the film deals with one of le Carré’s favorite themes, which is how politics get in the way of good old fashioned spy games.  Unfortunately, this fact is truly detrimental for a character like Hoffman’s – a (perhaps ironically) gruff, chain-smoking, heavy-drinking man whose job demands that he remain deliberately aloof from others, himself, and most tragically, even us viewers. RIP PSH.

8. Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund)

2014’s award for “most divisive film between men and women” shouldn’t go to David Fincher’s overrated Gone Girl (“hysterical” and “outrageous” are adjectives that men and women can agree on), but to this Swedish gem.  It’s the type of film Hollywood studios are probably too afraid to make because there’s not a lot of sex or violence – just dialogue that poses uncomfortably provocative questions about the lengths to which we will go (or not go) to protect those that we love.  It’s also a film about the funny ways that life makes us incapable of forgetting seemingly insignificant things, and as a result, brandishing them to an unforeseen level of importance in our every waking moment.  Is it our job to rehabilitate someone whose gut instinct is to do the wrong thing in a moment of desperation?  Or is the wrong thing to aggrandize that person to the point of extreme guilt and loss of self-worth?  I’ve been intentionally vague about the major plot points of Force Majeure because frankly the plot isn’t the thing that has stuck with me – it’s the questions raised by the plot, and the inevitable personal questioning (“What would I do?”) that make this film unforgettable.

7. Fury (David Ayer)

The previews made it look like another dumb war film not too distant from the likes of Monuments Men, but the truth is David Ayer (whose End of Watch appeared on my 2012 list) has become an intriguing filmmaker who deals with groups of men facing dangerous situations.  This time, it’s the 2^nd Armored Division of an Army squadron stationed in western Germany during the final months of World War II, where Staff Sargent Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt) commands a five-man unit aboard a M4 Sherman tank.  No, the movie isn’t too radically different from the 1940s war pictures of John Wayne, but some of those films like Sands of Iwo Jima actually hold up pretty well today, and Fury executes the formula of the classical war picture to perfection.  In the post-modern world of the 21^st century, it’s become increasingly difficult to make a movie like this – one that isn’t overwhelmed by nostalgia or simplistic and conservative interpretations of American military interventionism, or where the uncouth demeanor of army units is conveniently pushed under the rug.  Fury is successful because like End of Watch, Ayer is most concerned with complex characters and relationships, and the reasons behind why these men are drawn to the heat of battle.  The standout sequence of the film isn’t the climatic shootout, but an extended scene in the middle of the film when Pitt and Logan Lerman find an abandoned apartment and share a rare moment of peace and relaxation.  Fury is a “war film” inasmuch as that it is set during a war, but it’s much more accurate to bestow it with the more revered title of “character study.”

6. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)

Like Fury, this was a film I didn’t have a lot of high hopes for going into it, but in the end was rather shocked by how good it really was.  There may not have been a better performance in a 2014 film than Jake Gyllenhaal as Norman Bates Lou Bloom, a loser who starts the movie unemployed but finds a passion for shooting videos at crime scenes and selling the footage to local news.  The movie is an entertaining mix of Taxi Driver and Breaking Bad, showing the ways that an anti-social sociopath is able to find a profitable niche, and quickly move up the ranks through coercion, deception, and extremely questionable professional ethics.  It wouldn’t be inaccurate to call Nightcrawler a portrait of modern America where television audiences are addicted to sensationalistic crime from the vantage point of their living rooms (as a TV personality says in the film, “think of our news cast as screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.”)  But that message alone would make the film passe; Gilroy seems to be more interested in how getting ahead in America has less to do with genuine hard work than with the ability to manipulate on individual and mass levels.  Nightcrawler may bite off more than it can chew, but with a film this enjoyable and unpredictable, who cares?

5. Life Itself (Steve James)

Ever since his death in April 2013, I’ve asked myself the question, “What would Roger Ebert have thought of this film?” (Hold that thought for a second).  So what would Roger have thought about the documentary made about his own life and influence?  OK, OK, I’m sure he’d recuse himself from officially reviewing it, but not without first admiring James’ skill for balancing Ebert’s passion toward film with his complex relationships with friends, family, and certain professional TV colleagues.  There was no way I wasn’t going to love this film, but I was surprised at how little of Life Itself actually dealt with movies (this is also true of Ebert’s autobiography from which much of this film is drawn).  Who cares whether Roger really liked Robert Altman and Mike Leigh but didn’t like David Lynch and Adam Sandler?  Those who are interested can read his archived reviews.  What doesn’t show up in those reviews is a man whose alcoholism nearly led him to a personal and professional collapse; whose personality led to unhealthy competitiveness; and most importantly, how his marriage and his battle with cancer at the end of the life transformed him into a better man.  Sure, he was giving out a ridiculous amount of four star movies toward the end, but that’s because Roger Ebert loved movies and loved life.  If the movies really are a machine that generates empathy, as he beautifully states in the film, there could be no greater empathetic portrait of Roger than this exceptional documentary.

4. The One I Love (Charlie McDowell)

So remember that question I alluded to above, about which 2014 movies Roger Ebert would have liked?  I would make the argument that he would have named The One I Love his #1 film of 2014.  Roger loved movies like this, and it’s easy to see why: Movies that challenge conventional definitions of story and character, and movies that aren’t afraid to be completely daring and experimental even if the result might appear gimmicky at first (let’s remember that Roger’s #1 film of the last decade was Synecdoche, New York).  Earlier on this list, Force Majeure was a film I didn’t want to spoil too much of, and it is the same thing here; all I can say is that The One I Love stars Mark Duplass and Elizabeth Moss as a couple experiencing great difficulties in their marriage, and are recommended by their counselor (Ted Danson) to take a mini-vacation for a weekend to a remote cabin in the country.  That’s all folks, I’m sorry.  Once you see this film, you’ll understand why going into this movie with any partial notion of its story thwarts the total experience that it gives its viewers.  It is funny, sad, unpredictable, moving, frightening, and above all else, completely and utterly original.  I’ll also say that it’s a lot like Force Majeure in the way that it causes you to rethink meaningful personal relationships, and whether putting up with someone’s flaws and blemishes is ever really worth it in the end.  This is also the kind of movie that most American audiences probably won’t like (P.S. That’s probably a good thing). And you probably won't stop thinking about it.

3. Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier)

Inviting comparisons to the Coen Brothers, Brian De Palma, and Abel Ferrara, Blue Ruin began as a Kickstarter campaign, was shot for under $500,000, and grossed under $1 million theatrically.  And as anyone who has seen the movie can attest to, the visuals are on par with any multi-million dollar behemoth manufactured from the Hollywood studio factory output.  Of course, Blue Ruin is more than simply impressive visuals and special effects; the film tells the harrowing story of a vagrant named Dwight (Macon Blair) who is forced to carry out an act of vengeance upon hearing that a murderer has been released from prison.  For much of Blue Ruin, we remain in the dark about Dwight’s real motives, but the movie is so suspenseful, taut, and engaging that the backstory almost takes on secondary importance.  When light is finally shed upon the facts leading up to the film’s startling climax, Blue Ruin reveals itself to be a story that deeply questions the motives behind vigilante justice, and the ripple effects it causes.  There are also moments of very dark humor too, and the movie’s beguiling final line is the dialogue equivalent to the spinning top at the end of Inception.  Jeremy Saulnier and Macon Blair are serious talents on the rise, and movies like Blue Ruin serve as reminders that American independent cinema is not totally dead yet.

2. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)

The most important movie of 2014, if for no other reason than that it captures history in the making, as it profiles the week leading up to Edward Snowden’s infamous interview and outing as the NSA whistleblower in June 2013.  If Islamic terrorism was the defining issue of the 2000s, than cyber-security and cyber-terrorism are making a strong case as the defining issue of the 2010s, and Poitras’s documentary explores the ways in which it is misunderstood and misrepresented by both governments and mass media.  Although Poitras believes that Snowden’s actions were justified, she is not an apologist and Citizenfour does not necessarily absolve Snowden but rather points to the problematic circumstances that led to Snowden’s release of classified NSA documents.  Like Michael Moore and Barbara Kopple, Poitras is successful at making audiences rethink their unquestioned loyalty to a country that is so hypocritical and corrupt in its policies at the highest levels of governance.  It may go down as “the Edward Snowden documentary,” but the truth is, in wake of The Interview fiasco and looming threats of compromising online security by rogue hackers, Citizenfour is the most unexpectedly relevant and important film of 2014.  It captures not only history in the making, but suggests what kind of future we will see if transparency and public access are discarded for the sake of upholding “national security.”  Snowden and others rightly suggest that what we need security from most is our own government.  Quick, someone call Seth Rogan and James Franco!

1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)

I don’t want to say what everyone else has already said, so let’s look at what has been overlooked.  First of all, this is an incredibly well-written motion picture, which gets forgotten because much of the dialogue was written on nights prior to shooting, which for some unknown reason makes it less admirable from a critical perspective.  It’s not the type of movie that readily contains inspirational speeches, but Ethan Hawke explaining the Beatles Black Album, Brad Hawkins’ description of his military service in Afghanistan, and Patricia Arquette’s speech at the very end of the movie are three examples of extraordinary dialogue – dialogue unmatched by any other 2014 film. Then there’s Ellar Coltrane, whose performance may be less flashy than Hawke’s and Arquette’s, but is no less astonishing.  Watching this movie, especially in the second half, I couldn’t help but thinking: “There is no way this is acting.  This is the way this kid actually is.”  I love how Coltrane’s character, Mason, is unconventional and doesn’t conform to our normal expectations of what a 21^st Century American teenager “should” be.  He has piercings, likes photography, and doesn’t play for the football team.  He drinks and smokes, but is in no way a bad kid.  Boyhood doesn’t show him going to prom or getting his first kiss or getting expelled.  It also doesn’t show weddings or funerals or those other rudimentary markers of significant events in our life.  It shows a father taking his kids to a baseball game, and a mother attending a college class to prepare for a new career.  It shows a son riding a bike and a daughter singing Britney Spears.  It shows a high school graduation party.  The events are of such little significance, and yet we glean so much from observing them. 

Boyhood reminded me of two lines of beautiful dialogue from other movies.  The first is spoken by Wallace Shawn at the end of My Dinner With Andre: “I treated myself to a taxi.  I rode hom through the city streets.  There wasn’t a street, there wasn’t a building, that wasn’t connected to some memory in my mind.  There, I was buying a suit with my father.  There, I was having an ice cream soda after school.”  Boyhood reminds you that it’s the little things we remember so much more than the Important Life Events.  Is it weird that riding my bike to the local lake when I was 10 years old remains a much more vivid memory than my grandfather dying?  Boyhood doesn’t think so.  The second line comes from a much more unlikely source – You’ve Got Mail: "The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something, but I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."  That is the way I feel about Boyhood.  The movie is so profound precisely because it is so mundane.  It does not deviate from that strategy for a moment because it has tremendous self-assurance in its story and characters.  When the movie is over, the cumulative effect is overwhelming.

If movies are indeed machines that generate empathy, like Ebert said, then Boyhood is perhaps the closest experience I have ever had into being transported into the life of another person.  It is almost insulting to think the breadth of that experience can be reduced to a handful of words of a film review, or for that matter a handful of minutes captured by a camera.  All I can really describe is the way I felt watching it, which was profoundly and deeply moved. Not moved to the point of tears, because that is not the intention of Boyhood.  It restrains from manipulating viewer emotions too dramatically.  We feel for Mason, Samantha, and their parents because we feel for the important people in our own lives.  And by the end of this film, they have become precisely those people.  Linklater has said that Boyhood is about the ambiguous time when "growing up" turns into "growing older."  Although you may not see it, every scene in Boyhood is a small component of that larger paradigm shift -- that shift which is so notoriously difficult to pin down in real life, but so much more translatable in great literature and art.  Why is that?  Charles Bukowski said the difference between art and real life is that art is more bearable.  Boyhood blurs those lines with extreme precision and uncanny nuance.

Thoughts?  Disagreements?  Omissions?  Why are you still reading this if you haven't seen Boyhood yet?  Let me know below.