Top 20 Movies of 2014

Here is my "Top 20 Movies of 2014" list. This list is as of the date this entry was posted and has probably changed if you are reading this much later. I barely got out to the movies at all this year, but I've seen enough to make this list relevant. 2014 brought a lot of films that surprised me with how original they are. As always, this is only my opinion.

#20 Frank - Frank is a fictionalized story of the real life Frank Sidebottom, the comic persona of Chris Sievey, the late English musician and comedian. Frank is the lead singer of an eccentric band who is trying to make it big. He wears a papier-mâché mask on his head all of the time, though, even while he eats, sleeps, sings, and bathes. This leads the main character and the audience to believe that Frank must suffer from traumatic experiences in order to be such a good, but odd musical talent. This dark comedy stars the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, Domhnall Gleeson, as well as Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Fassbender as Frank. And if you want to know right now if there is a payoff at the end, let me just say yes.

#19 Nightcrawler - Nightcrawler was a sleeper hit that came out of nowhere. It was written and directed by Dan Gilroy who has helped write such movies as The Fall, Real Steel, and The Bourne Legacy. What makes Nightcrawler good is Gilroy's completely original script and Jake Gyllenhaal's creepy performance. Gyllenhaal plays a man desperate for a job in L.A. and starts putting all his chips behind freelance news filming. Lying, blackmailing, and eventually staging are all ways Gyllenhaal's character gets what he wants.

#18 Calvary - Back-to-back Gleeson anyone? Bethany and I are huge fans of 2011's The Guard. Writer and director John Michael McDonagh's sophomore feature isn't quite as good, but the entertainment is still there with a strong cast and a mysterious story. Brendan Gleeson plays a priest who is threatened to be killed while in a confession right at the beginning of the movie. We do not know who it is, but he does. The rest of the film is about him dealing with the townsfolk who slowly close in on him and how he's going to deal with his threat.

#17 Guardians of the Galaxy - What makes Guardians a pleasure to watch is that us non-comic book fans don't know much about them. They are so unique compared to your typical humans with super powers that we are so used to seeing. I mean, Groot and Rocket are some of the best characters of the year. The action is fun and well-made and the soundtrack is a blast.

#16 The Raid 2: Berandal - The Raid: Redemption was great in that the fighting was brutal and practically all takes place in one apartment building. The Raid 2 goes outside into the world and really causes a lot of chaos. If you didn't like The Raid or don't care much for the martial arts genre, this movie isn't for you. But if you do like that kind of stuff, this series should be one of your favorites right now. The Raid 2 fits more into the old Hong Kong gangster style of martial arts cinema, but with a richer story and better characters. I'm looking forward to The Raid 3, especially considering that it takes place two hours before the events of Berandal.

#15 The Theory of Everything - It was just this past September that Stephen Hawking declared himself an atheist. This makes The Theory of Everything a fascinating exploration of his life, his love, and his family. Obviously, he has questioned and doubted God from early on in his life, but up until this year, at the age of 72, he has never fully come out and said that God does not exist. The movie chooses the right moments to talk about religion and science and doesn't hit the audience over the head with either. Of course the movie is more about Stephen Hawking and Jane Hawking and the challenge that his deteriorating health put on their relationship. Everything you heard or assume about Eddie Redmayne's performance as Mr. Hawking is true. He is brilliant. Felicity Jones also holds up her end in remarkable fashion.

#14 The Skeleton Twins - I keep telling people that this movie is about 10 years too late. That doesn't make it a bad movie, but it feels like a movie that would have been so much better during another time, or maybe another age for me. You would think a movie starring two SNL alums would be pretty comical, especially with the likes of Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. But it's not. The Skeleton Twins deals with some pretty serious stuff. It does well to lighten the mood when it needs to with Hader and Wiig improving off of each other often.

#13 The Double - Writer and director Richard Ayoade proved that he was so much more than Moss the bumbling nerd on The IT Crowd, after his 2010 film, Submarine. A lot of comparisons were made to Wes Anderson's style of work. I believe that The Double does a better job of distinguishing himself, though elements of Anderson still exist. That's okay though because we need more stuff like this. The Double stars Jesse Eisenberg who plays an agency clerk who has to deal with a new co-worker who is his exact physical double. It's so weird to the point that it becomes comical sometimes, and that's a good thing.

#12 The Tale of Princess Kaguya - This is really the only chance I'm going to get to say this, so let me say that I did not like The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki's apparent "last film." I found it boring. Beautiful animation, as usual, but incredibly dull. However, Studio Ghibli totally made up for it with The Tale of Princess Kaguya. It is directed by Isao Takahata who produced a couple of Miyazaki's classic films like Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The first thing a Studio Ghibli fan will notice is that the animation style is different. Takahata opted for watercolor rather than the traditional hand-drawn anime due to the age of the 10th century folktale that the movie is based on.

#11 The Signal - The Signal is about three MIT students who follow a hacker out to an abandoned shack in a desert in Nevada. They black out and wake up in a strange underground research facility where they are questioned by Dr. Wallace Damon, played by Laurence Fishburne. From there, things get crazy. Watching The Signal reminded me a lot of the 2012 movie Chronicle, minus the found footage technique. It's one of the better hidden gems of the year that probably asked more questions than it answered.

#10 Big Hero 6 - It just wouldn't be a list of mine without a proper Disney movie on it, but here is yet another great example of why I am in love with the Mouse House. They are taking more chances with things. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, barely anyone knew what Big Hero 6 was. Yet Disney Animation took a chance to create a movie about the Marvel superhero team and they did a brilliant job with it. Big Hero 6 feels so original despite it being an adaptation and that's what makes it truly shine.

#9 Foxcatcher - Bennett Miller has a thing for biopics as he has directed Capote, Moneyball, and now this. Foxcatcher is based on the true events around Olympic wrestling champion Mark Schultz and his training with philanthropist and wrestling enthusiast, John du Pont. The makeup department gets big props on this one, especially with their transformation of Steve Carell as du Pont. The cast definitely seemed to meet the makeup team halfway because their likeness and characteristics are completely different. Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo are practically unrecognizable.

#8 Interstellar - Folks seemed split down the middle on this movie, but I was captured by it. The two hour and 49 minute running time zipped right by for me as the story for Interstellar is incredibly entertaining. Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors and his abilities are so excelled now. The movie is about a farmer who goes through a black hole to find another place for humans to colonize as Earth slowly dies. This sci-fi film stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine who all do superb jobs. Another thing worth mentioning is the musical score by Hans Zimmer, which is another triumphant piece.

#7 The LEGO Movie - My favorite animated movie of the year. LEGO media has come a long way and it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to capture their audience. A big reason why The LEGO Movie was so good is because of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The writing and directing duo have senses of humor like no other since they also made the hilarious Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Jump Street series. Lending their humor to the voices of Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Alison Brie, and Charlie Day, The LEGO Movie is a great family film.

#6 Gone Girl - Based on the novel by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tyler Perry. It's about a woman who goes missing and her husband who is shortly accused of murdering her. It's the amazing storytelling method that director David Fincher chooses to use that makes the movie flow so well. I know there was some controversy around the film and being pinned as misogynist, but I think that's wrong. First off, the novel and screenplay are written by a woman. Second, Ben Affleck's character is a bastard in the movie. Third, the idea is not to point out the fear of female behavior, but to show that women are just as violently minded as men can be.

#5 Edge of Tomorrow - Edge of Tomorrow, Live Die Repeat, All You Need is Kill... or whatever the heck this movie is called, I never would have predicted that it would break my top 5 films of the year. Based on a Japanese manga (which is a bit different, short, and totally worth the read), Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt as two soldiers reliving the same war-filled day. It's like the movie Groundhog Day, but if you applied it to a battle setting in the future. I'm a sucker for time travel films and Groundhog Day is a classic in my mind. So, this just did something right for me.

#4 Birdman - Birdman  is about a play, and it plays out very much like a play itself. That's because the Alejandro González Iñárritu film is shot and edited to look like it is one continuous long take. Hence, lots of dialogue, lots of actor blocking, and lots of well-timed movements. For me, Birdman is the best film of the year in a technical sense. Shot mostly in and around the St. James Theatre on 44th Street in New York City, Birdman stars Michael Keaton in what is undoubtedly his best performance of his career. Maybe that's because just like his character in the film, he has portrayed a superhero before and was on the brink of being forgotten. Joining Keaton on this ride is a fantastic cast which includes Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Ryan.

#3 What If - This is a film that you won't find on very many people's list and I understand why. To most people, this is just your average romantic comedy. To me, it was an absolute pleasure of a film that brought laughter, excitement, and charm. Neither my wife nor I have been following Daniel Radcliffe's career post-Harry Potter very closely, but being the indie film fan that I am, I wanted to see this film starring him, Zoe Kazan, and Adam Driver. The comedy in this film is very fun and the chemistry between Radcliffe and Kazan is top-notch. This is a great date movie.

#2 I, Origins - 2014 was quite the year for religious movies (Noah, Exodus, The Theory of Everything). That's not to say that I, Origins is based on any religious stories, but rather it is another film that brings up the debate between science and religion. I didn't get what I was expecting with I, Origins, and I love it for that. The film is about a graduate student looking to prove evolution using the human eye. After a major breakthrough, things begin to change for Ian Gray, who is played by Boardwalk Empire's Michael Pitt. I, Origins is another sci-fi film brought to us by the same director responsible for 2011's Another Earth.

Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for...





#1 - I, Frankenstein - Sike!

#1 Whiplash - Without a doubt, my favorite movie of the year is Whiplash. This was my #2 most anticipated indie film this year. Writer and director Damien Chazelle's script for Whiplash first hit the 2012 Black List before it was turned into an 18-minute short film that screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. After securing funding, Chazelle got funding to make the feature-length version, which is about a young drumming student hoping to become one of the greatest drummers in the world. The feature lost Johnny Simmons as the drummer and replaced him with Miles Teller. Teller is great in the film, but it is J.K. Simmons, the actor who plays the hard-ass conductor, who really shines. This is the first time where I think Simmons deserves a nomination for a film, and I hope he wins. Along with the brilliant performances are some great music, cinematography, and a couple of twists and turns.

Movies I didn't see that received good reviews: Inherent Vice, Selma, A Most Violent Year, American Sniper, Blue Ruin, The Babadook, Snowpiercer, Wild, The Immigrant, Under the Skin, Top Five, Chef, The Guest, Only Lovers Left Alive, Leviathan, Winter Sleep, Ida.

Past lists:
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005