Year in Review: Top 10 Films of 2014

2014 was a lot like previous years in that there were an abundance of great films, but truly transcendent ones, not so much (only three 4-star movies). 2012 was absolutely the closest relative to 2014 in that way. The best films of the year were really great, but I still found myself hoping that they would be surpassed by some surprise films that came out of nowhere, but we can’t always be so lucky. In 2012, I had to wait until a mid March 2013 video release of a foreign film to find the best film of 2012 (Holy Motors). In 2011, it was all the way until June 2012 before I saw Margaret. It is frustrating that 95% of cities never get to see them on the big screen, but that is just the way of the industry.

Many of my most anticipated movies such as Child 44, Midnight Special, 99 Homes, the Cameron Crowe movie, and the Terrence Malick movies all got pushed back. While We’re Young, Trash, and Love & Mercy seemingly never surfaced. This just reminds us that even the most talented and successful indie directors do not always get the benefit of the doubt and get distribution, which is really unfortunate. I am sure that their eventual summer video release will give them a nice run on Netflix or wherever, but they are never going to get the audience and attention that they most likely deserve. Oh well… I digress.

I really did enjoy 2014, though. A little teaser: for the 2^nd time ever (and 1^st time in 62 years), a director has back-to-back #1 films of the year for me [Preston Sturges; Sullivan’s Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942)]. Without further ado, here are 2014’s best achievements in film:

Films seen: 99

Thumbs up percentage: 55.56%

Actor of the year: Mark Ruffalo (Begin Again, Infinitely Polar Bear, Foxcatcher, The Normal Heart)

Actress of the year: Julianne Moore (Non-Stop, Maps to the Stars, Still Alice, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1)

Best Actor: Miles Teller – Whiplash, Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler, Brendan Gleeson – Calvary, Macon Blair – Blue Ruin, Joaquin Phoenix – Inherent Vice

Best Actress: Emmanuelle Seigner – Venus in Fur, Kristen Wiig – The Skeleton Twins, Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin, Lika Babluani – In Bloom, Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons – Whiplash, Edward Norton – Birdman, Robert Pattinson – The Rover, Ethan Hawke – Boyhood, Takamasa Ishihara – Unbroken

Best Supporting Actress: Uma Thurman – Nymphomaniac: Vol. 1, Patricia Arquette – Boyhood, Sienna Miller – American Sniper, Mireille Enos – Sabotage, Carrie Coon – Gone Girl

Best Original Screenplay: Birdman, Nightcrawler, Boyhood, In Bloom, Calvary

Best Adapted Screenplay: Whiplash, Gone Girl, Jersey Boys, Inherent Vice, We Are the Best!

Best ensemble casts: Birdman, Fury, Inherent Vice, Gone Girl, Boyhood
Most underrated film: Jersey Boys

Most overrated film: Interstellar

Biggest surprise: Chef

Biggest disappointment: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Best sequel: The Raid 2

Great indie films that no one saw: Blue Ruin, Cold in July, The Guest, In Bloom, Joe

Bottom five of the year (from bad to worst): That Awkward Moment, This Is Where I Leave You, Blended, Draft Day, Gambit

Most anticipated unseen films: Boulevard, Coming Home, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Goodbye to Language, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, Life Itself, A Most Violent Year, Mr. Turner, Selma, Two Days, One Night, White Bird in a Blizzard, Wild, Winter Sleep

Others receiving votes: Calvary, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Gone Girl, The Raid 2, We Are the Best!

10. Foxcatcher (directed by Bennett Miller)

Kicking off the list is a movie that was among my most anticipated since I first saw the trailer in summer 2013. With every month that went by, my anticipation grew. Somehow, it met my expectations and exceeded them in some ways. The movie is the true story of Jon du Pont (Steve Carell), a millionaire who sponsors the Foxcatcher wrestling team for the Olympics in 1988. The union that he has with Mark Shultz (Channing Tatum) and mentor/brother David (Mark Ruffalo) becomes increasingly complicated and leads to tragedy. Director Bennett Miller has now made three films that were so in touch with their tone and real life characters that they have gotten high praise from all circuits. Watching Foxcatcher is not pleasant, but it is something that the audience will have a hard time forgetting. The performances will get under your skin, and the mood will leave you greatly unsettled and stunned. It is a special film and will only get better with age.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Original Screenplay (#5; Birdman), Best Ensemble Cast (#4; Birdman)

9. Big Bad Wolves (directed by Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado)

Thank you Mr. Tarantino for proclaiming that this was the best film he saw in 2013. Like many other movie buffs, when QT recommends something, I see it. I would likely have never come across this movie otherwise. It is a brutal and thrilling little film from Israel about a string of murders that cause a collision course with the father of the latest victim (Tzahi Grad), a vigilante cop (Lior Ashkenazi), and the main suspect in the case (Rotem Keinan). Much of the movie takes place in a basement with just these three characters trying to hash out exactly what is going on along with the audience. The movie is filled with twists and turns, none of which are too far-fetched or artificial. It is the best foreign crime drama of the year, a title that might not seem like much, but for someone who watches them constantly, that is a real achievement. Other than perhaps David Fincher, Hollywood does not have a director who consistently makes great crime dramas like this. They are all overseas.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Foreign Language Film (#2; In Bloom)

8. Snowpiercer (directed by Joon-ho Bong)

When Korean director Joon-ho Bong gets a movie made, I pay attention. Each of his last four films have wound up in or approaching my top 10, including my #1 film of 2005 (Memories of Murder). He is a master of suspense and complex characters. With Snowpiercer, we got his first effort in the English language, and not an ounce of his appeal or intensity was lost. The Snowpiercer is a train that represents the last of civilization. A climate experiment left most of the earth frozen over, so the speeding train is all that remains. What makes this different than any other runaway train film is the politics. A class system is developed on the Snowpiercer, and it becomes more and more evident that this is just a small representation of the current earth, just with a more extreme and small-scale scope. A couple Bong regulars (Kang-ho Song, Ah-sung Ko) have parts, but it is the work that Bong is able to get out of Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, among others that is really impressive. I hope that he can become the next Ang Lee and really take over the title of being the best Asian director in the world, but we will see. More people need to be exposed to this, The Host, Memories of Murder, Tokyo, and Mother for that to happen.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Cinematography (#4; Under the Skin), Best Sound Effects Editing (#3; The Raid 2)

7. The Guest (directed by Adam Wingard)

At first glance, this movie might not seem like much. As the movie begins, it doesn’t seem like much more. Maybe it really isn’t supposed to be. However, as the movie went along, violent scene after violent scene, twist after twist, I became hooked. The movie is about a soldier named David (Dan Stevens), who shows up at a family’s house claiming to be a friend from the military of their son who recently was killed in action. The more we see, the more clear that there is something sinister about David and his past. Bodies begin to pile up, as does the suspense. This is not a horror movie, although that description might imply that. The story is really in that Labor Day subgenre, but it has the panache of Nicolas Winging Refn and the visual style and queues of John Carpenter. It is absolutely a throwback, and I really had a hard time getting it out of my head. Pulling a movie like this off is really difficult since the audience really has to buy in and care enough to not write it off as unrealistic. It is fairly absurd, but then again, so was Breaking Bad. There are moments when the two are comparable. I could ramble on more, but just trust me. Find a way to see this. You will not regret it…I hope?

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Sound Mixing (#2; Whiplash), Best Editing (#5; Boyhood), Best Original Score (#1)

6. In Bloom (directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß)

It always seems like there is one obscure foreign film that I see every year that ends up on my top 10, and for 2014, it was absolutely In Bloom, a coming-of-age film from Georgia. It is the story of Eka (Lika Babluani) and Natia (Mariam Bokeria), two young girls who are constantly trying to break away from society and their overbearing family lives. It has a lot of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in it, as well as the visual style of A Separation. Coming from a couple first time directors and starring two young actresses giving their film debuts, it is really an astonishing feat to make a film this passionate and polished. It portrays coming-of-age and sexual awakening with as much authenticity as possible. For films like this, one of the best compliments you can give is that it feels like a documentary, and that is absolutely true of In Bloom. There is not a false note in it, and it is one of the most rewarding experiences I had watching a film in 2014.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Actress – Lika Babluani (#4; Emmanuelle Seigner), Best Original Screenplay (#4; Birdman), Best Foreign Language Film (#1)

5. Nightcrawler (directed by Dan Gilroy)

Nightcrawler represents the biggest surprise hit of the year. Think about it: a movie called “Nightcrawler” being one of the undisputed best movies of the year. It’s crazy, but it’s true. Jake Gyllenhaal gives the performance of his life in the lead role as Louis Bloom, a criminal who stumbles upon his calling, which is being a freelance crime scene photographer. He combines his street smarts with his obsessive and psychotic attitude to become the class of the very defined subculture and constantly shocks the other characters and audience with his behavior. First-time director Dan Gilroy outdoes himself with Nightcrawler. It is the best representation of Los Angeles at night since Crash. The movie blends elements of Dexter, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, and Drive to pull out every thrill and thought-provoking aspect imaginable. Throughout the movie, the audience is just spellbound and hoping that it never takes a misstep. It doesn’t. It is a special movie and one that will define 2014 in time.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Picture (#5), Best Actor – Jake Gyllenhaal (#2; Miles Teller), Best Director (#5; Richard Linklater), Best Original Screenplay (#2; Birdman), Best Editing (#2; Boyhood)

4. Whiplash (directed by Damien Chazelle)

Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash might very well be the best movie of the year. More than any other in 2014, this movie I could not forget. It was stuck in my head for days after first viewing, and with another, I might just have to put it at the top of this list. Miles Teller plays Andrew, an aspiring drummer with all the talent and motivation in the world. J.K. Simmons is Fletcher, the tough-as-nails instructor who pushes his students to the point of breakdown in order to achieve his musical vision. Both actors are at the top of their game and give the two best performances of 2014. Chazelle’s direction is furious, and the editing is as relentless as any movie I have ever seen. The movie has the grit and visual fury of a Darren Aronofsky movie, particularly Black Swan. It gets under your skin and stays there. Teller makes us care about Andrew, even though he is not all that likable. Chazelle hits us over the head and leaves the audience with a feeling similar to the title, and it is hard to recover. It is the best Sundance winner since American Splendor in 2003.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Picture (#4), Best Actor – Miles Teller (#1), Best Supporting Actor – J.K. Simmons (#1), Best Director (#4; Richard Linklater), Best Adapted Screenplay (#1), Best Sound Mixing (#1), Best Editing (#4; Boyhood)

3. Jersey Boys (directed by Clint Eastwood)

Go ahead, roll your eyes. I am not even a fan of musicals in general, but something about this movie about the rise of The Four Seasons in the 1960s really got to me. Eastwood directs it with such flair and beauty that you would think that it was a Scorsese picture. It is a mob drama on top of a music biopic. The performances are all top notch, particularly stage performer John Lloyd Young as lead singer Frankie Valli and veteran Christopher Walken in his scene-stealing supporting role. The movie is simply the most entertaining couple hours of the year, which is saying quite a lot. The music is outstanding, but that is not limited to the actual music scenes. It is a soundtrack to die for. It has the token Eastwood winks to Hollywood and other media, and it ends the story correctly and fully, like all of his films. Nobody loved this movie as much as I did, but I stand by it. It is in the argument with Yankee Doodle Dandy, Sid & Nancy, and Control for the title of the greatest music biopic of all time and is easily the best Eastwood movie of 2014, despite what audiences (and Oscar/any voters) may think.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Picture (#3), Best Director (#3; Richard Linklater), Best Adapted Screenplay (#3; Whiplash), Best Cinematography (#5; Under the Skin), Best Art Direction (#4; The Grand Budapest Hotel)

2. Birdman (directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

I really loved this movie. It was my prediction to win Best Picture back in March, and it is right there in the forefront of the Oscar race still. Upon hearing the premise, it was my most anticipated movie of the year. It sounded so bizarre and cool, but filmed by the most depressing director on the planet. It basically lived up to that as well as the hype. It is about a washed-up actor who once played a superhero and never got out of its typecasting. Riggan Thomson/Michael Keaton is that actor. He is trying to put on a stage play, while trying to balance family issues and conflicts with his costar Mike (Edward Norton). The movie is really funny, but it is also extremely dark and true. Few movies get the backstage life quite like this movie does. The actors are all up to the challenge of a film that is essentially one continuous shot, especially Norton, Keaton, and Emma Stone, all receiving nominations. There is something very Black Swan-ish in this movie as well. It blends the real with the surreal, making the audience really question exactly what they are seeing. Give the writers and editors credit here. To make this movie this way is a remarkable achievement. It burns in the memory. There is nothing like it.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Picture (#2), Best Supporting Actor – Edward Norton (#2; J.K. Simmons), Best Director (#2; Richard Linklater), Best Original Screenplay (#1), Best Cinematography (#3; Under the Skin), Best Makeup (#3; Under the Skin), Best Original Score (#4; The Guest), Best Ensemble Cast (#1)

1. Boyhood (directed by Richard Linklater)

Surprise, surprise. The best movie of the year is actually being hailed as such. Richard Linklater is officially a top five director working today. With his “Before” series, he won our hearts over and broke them, never straying from the flawless standard that he set. Here, he had a much larger leap of faith, not simply having nine years to go from film to film, but he had a short amount of time to shape his characters year by year, continuously filming for twelve. The end result is near impossible. It is the most rewarding movie-going experience I can remember. The movie centers on Mason (Ellar Coltrane), who ages on screen and before our eyes. Skipping ahead a year never seems out-of-place or forced. It is just the gradual progression of life, life looking back at a photo album and connecting the dots. The scenes we don’t see are vaguely explained, but for some reason we just know. Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, and Lorelei Linklater add to the astonishing and daring cast that really make us believe and feel what the characters do. It is hard to not see some of yourself in all of the characters. It is like watching a documentation of an actual family, but only seeing the highlights, the important parts of childhood and parenthood. I cannot fully express what this movie means to me in words, but I can say for certain that it is an experience that I have never had before, and while it is approaching three hours, it does not feel nearly that long, yet if feels like we have known the characters our whole lives. It is a near-flawless motion picture and clearly, almost without debate, the #1 movie of 2014.

 

Personal Nominations/Wins: Best Picture (#1), Best Supporting Actor – Ethan Hawke (#4; J.K. Simmons), Best Supporting Actress – Patricia Arquette (#2; Uma Thurman), Best Director (#1), Best Original Screenplay (#3; Birdman), Best Editing (#1), Best Ensemble Cast (#5; Birdman)

Thoughts? Your top 10? What are you surprised didn’t make my list? Let me know in the comments!

2015 Oscar Predictions: Final (Arts and Techs)

Here are my predictions for the rest of the categories, the ones where I try to act like I know what I’m talking about but in reality are nothing more than stabs in the dark…which is why my commentary is held to a minimum (none).

Link to the big 8 categories: http://almostsideways.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-oscar-predictions-final-major.html

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Birdman

2. Mr. Turner

3. Interstellar

4. Unbroken

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. Into the Woods

2. Birdman

3. Interstellar

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

5. The Imitation Game

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. Belle

 

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

3. Into the Woods

4. Mr. Turner

5. Inherent Vice

BEST SOUND MIXING

1. Whiplash

 

2. Birdman

3. Gone Girl

4. Into the Woods

5. American Sniper

BEST EDITING

1. Gone Girl

2. Boyhood

3. Birdman

4. Nightcrawler

5. The Imitation Game

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING

1. Interstellar

2. Transformers: Age of Extinction

3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

4. Fury

5. The Lego Movie

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Interstellar

 

2. Guardians of the Galaxy

3. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

4. Captain America: Winter Soldier

5. Maleficent

BEST MAKEUP/HAIR

1. Foxcatcher

 

2. Guardians of the Galaxy

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1. “Glory” – Selma

2. “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

3. “Big Eyes” – Big Eyes

4. “Split the Difference” – Boyhood

5. “Miracles” – Unbroken

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1. The Theory of Everything

 

2. Interstellar

3. Gone Girl

4. The Imitation Game

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1. Citizenfour

2. The Last Days in Vietnam

3. Virunga

4. The Case Against 8

5. Citizen Koch

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1. The Lego Movie

 

2. Big Hero 6

3. The Boxtrolls

4. How to Train Your Dragon 2

5. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1. Ida

 

2. Timbuktu

3. Accused

4. Wild Tales

5. Leviathan

Predicted Nominations Count

Birdman: 10 noms / 3 wins

The Grand Budapest Hotel: 8 noms

Boyhood: 7 noms / 3 wins

Gone Girl: 7 noms / 2 wins

The Theory of Everything: 6 noms / 1 win

The Imitation Game: 6 noms

Interstellar: 5 noms / 2 wins

Whiplash: 4 noms / 2 wins

Into the Woods: 4 noms / 1 win

Mr. Turner: 4 noms
Nightcrawler: 4 noms

Foxcatcher: 2 noms / 1 win

The Lego Movie: 2 noms / 1 win

Big Eyes: 2 noms

Guardians of the Galaxy: 2 noms

Inherent Vice: 2 noms

A Most Violent Year: 2 noms

Unbroken: 2 noms

Belle: 1 nom / 1 win

Citizenfour: 1 nom / 1 win

Ida: 1 nom / 1 win

Selma: 1 nom / 1 win
Still Alice: 1 nom / 1 win

Accused: 1 nom

American Sniper: 1 nom

Big Hero 6: 1 nom

The Boxtrolls: 1 nom

Captain America: Winter Soldier: 1 nom

The Case Against 8: 1 nom

Citizen Koch: 1 nom

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: 1 nom

Fury: 1 nom

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me: 1 nom

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: 1 nom

How to Train Your Dragon 2: 1 nom

The Judge: 1 nom

The Last Days in Vietnam: 1 nom

Leviathan: 1 nom

Maleficent: 1 nom

Snowpiercer: 1 nom

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya: 1 nom

Timbuktu: 1 nom

Transformers: Age of Extinction: 1 nom

Virunga: 1 nom

Wild: 1 nom

Wild Tales: 1 nom

 

That’s all I got! I am prepared for these to get torn up in a couple weeks, but whatever. It’s fun. Stay tuned for our 7^th Annual Oscar Challenge, as well as my yearly reactions to the nominations article. Comment!

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.