The Finest Films of 2014

[The Killer Snark]

One thing is for certain. 2014 was by far the worst year for music in living memory. Aside from Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence and Elbow's The Take Off and Landing of Everything no truly outstanding albums were released. There were a handful of other good ones, but a total dearth of new talent, and it was a pretty poor showing overall. Another thing to bear in mind, though, is that it was a majestic year for movies. Better than the last few years before it, film for film, in terms of movies surely destined to be classics, Last year gave us The Wolf of Wall Street, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Nymphomianiac Part 1 and 2, The Desolation of Smaug, Her and Gravity. The year just passed has given us this bunch:

Boyhood

The Lego Movie

The Grand Budapest Hotel

300: Rise of an Empire

The Imitation Game

Map to the Stars

Edge of Tomorrow

Stranger by the Lake (released in France in 2013, released in 2014 in the UK)

The Boxtrolls

Calvary

Gone Girl

Frank

Leviathan

Under the Skin

The Babadook

Mr Turner

Nightcrawler

Interstellar

Birdman

Whiplash

Bringing up the rear on family films is Paddington, though it's not actually one of my favourites of this years movies. The sequel to 300 is probably a film that will appear in no-one else's best of list, but it was outlandishly entertaining. Same thing goes for Sin City 2, though it was a trifle less consistent. The Maze Runner was the finest by some distance of the young adult fiction based films, unless you count The Giver, based upon a much older book, and a timely warning of the dangers posed to humanity by modern conformity with political correctness. Horrible Bosses 2 was an underrated joy, and overall I can't think of very many useless films this year. More runners up to my primary list are as follows:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Guardians of the Galaxy

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The Guest

Selma

Inside Llewyn Davis

The Inbetweeners 2

The Skeleton Twins

Lucy (which was totally preposterous but highly entertaining)

The Zero Theorem (Terry Gilliam's best film in over a decade, which I may be wrong about including here. It says 2013 on Google but I think it came out in the UK last year.)

The quality overall, month by month, was very consistent. The worst films were mostly consigned to the Christmas period after The Babadook, Mr Turner, Nightcrawler and probably the best film here, Interstellar, were all released in the same month as one another, the strongest quartet of movies over a single month there has probably been in movie history. Timothy Spall and Jake Gylenhaal were my picks of the year's finest performances until I saw Birdman, which features three of the finest pieces of acting (by Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone) of the year in a single film.

So what are everyone else's favourites? Use the space below.

[Nictarion]

The Grand Budapest Hotel was by far my favorite from last year. I also really enjoyed Days Of Future Past, and Guardians Of The Galaxy.

I really didn't see much last year, so I can't comment on many from your list. Although I'd have to disagree with you on Rise of an Empire, and A Dame to Kill For, I was extremely dissapointed with both. Especially the latter.

I've been meaning to see some of the movies you listed, particularly Birdman, Gone Girl, Edge of Tomorrow, and Zero Theorom.

[Mark Antony]

I'm pretty sure the only new film I saw last year was Grand Budapest and I loved it

Nothing else intrigued me really

[HexMachina]

Of the relatively few new films I saw last year, my three favourites were:

1) Gone Girl (probably my favourite of the year. The only one I went to see twice)

2) Guardians of the Galaxy

3) The Grand Budapest Hotel (I only watched this New Years Day actually)

I do agree that this seems to have been a pretty good year for film though. Well, at least from the perspective of someone who is really pretty casual about what she watches. There have certainly been many films that I would have gone to see, had it not been so expensive to go to the cinema

[JonArryn]

Agreed that 2014 was a great year for movies. It's a lot stronger than 2013, and probably one of the best years for movies in quite a while.

My favorites from the year:

Nightcrawler

Interstellar

Predestination

Captain America 2

Guardians of the Galaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Edge of Tomorrow

Grand Budapest Hotel

Movies that I was dissappointed at:

Gone Girl

X-Men: Days of Future Past

300: Rise of An Empire (not to hack on OP's opinion, only because I thought this movie was complete crap, all of it)

Movies I haven't seen yet but that probably has a shot at getting into the list:

Birdman (I'm pretty sure that this movie is just gonna be completely awesome)

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

A Most Violent Year

Whiplash

[Mexal]

I had a lot of fun with movies this year. A lot of the blockbusters actually lived up to the hype and that's pretty exciting.

Movies I really enjoyed:

Boyhood

Nightcrawler

Whiplash

Edge of Tomorrow

Grand Budapest Hotel

Gone Girl

Movies that entertained me:

Captain America 2

Guardians of the Galaxy

Interstellar

John Wick

Godzilla

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Lucy

Mockingjay

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Movies that I will see soon:

Birdman

Foxcatcher

A Most Violent Year

The Imitation Game

Inherent Vice

Selma

American Sniper

[Veltigar]

This was a great year for film. I think I went to the theatre about twenty times which was great. I don't live in the US though, so I also saw a lot of 2013's great movies in 2014, because they only came out in 2014 where I live (For example: 12 Years a Slave, Her and American Hustle). There are some movies I missed (the Lego Movie, because I refuse to see a shitty dubbed version) and a lot that I'm still eagerly anticipating, but I'm pretty sure I'll love.

Boyhood: A remarkable film. Really a great experience, what a masterpiece. I don't think this is a movie I'll rewatch very often, but I now that when I'll do a rewatch, it will be a very profound experience.

Edge of Tommorow: Easily the best summer blockbuster in years imo. The action was expertly shot. It was funny. Tom Cruise has made a good film again. The real star imo was Emily Blunt though, that woman can kick ass. Also, it wasn't a remake, reboot or sequel.

John Wick: Best action movie in years (yes, better than the Raid). Not a big fan of Keanu, but he brought it in this film. The action choreography was superb (Especially The Red Circle sequence), the worldbuilding great and again it was so funny at times.

GotG and Cap 2: I'm putting these two together. They were better than the usual fare Marvel churns out.

Begin Again: Lovely musical comedy. The music was great and the cast was just endearing. It did look a lot like Once storywise (the director's previous effort), but I can't hold that against him. John Cairney is great.

X-Men: DoFP: Really enjoyed this superhero movie (feels odd to say that really). That scene with Quicksilver. Mostly though, I loved the cast. Fassbender, McAvoy, McKellen, Stewart, Jackman, ... that's just great.

Maleficent: This takes the cake as biggest turd of the year for me (yeah, I know Transformers, TNMT and a load of others were probably even worse. I didn't see those, so the horrible Maleficent takes the cake for ruining a classic disney villain).

The Salvation: I love Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green. I don't love this movie. I love the idea that it can exist (a Danish Western) and Eric Cantona rocked an awesome beard in this flick, but the movie itself (despite excellent performances) was pretty generic and forgettable.

22 Jump Street: Best credits ever, do I need to say more? I'll say more. This was one of the few comedy sequels that actually deserve to exist imo.

Interstellar: This gets my price for biggest disappointment. Visually stunning and McConaughey is excellent, as we have come to expect of him. The rest of the movie is bad though. It's predictable in the extreme, bloated and it should have ended like 20 minutes before it did. Also, wasting Casey Affleck should be a crime from now on.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: My first Wes Anderson movie (technically, I saw the Darjeeling limited years ago, but I hardly remember it so I discount it). I have since seen three of his other movies and with the exception of one I loved them all. Ralph Fiennes was marvellous in this movie. I hope he at least gets a nod from the awards.

Gone Girl: David Fincher's latest. Loved it. The plot was a bit predictable, but the performances were great. I'm glad that Rosamund Pike has finally gotten her chance to shine. She's usually relegated to smaller roles, but she's always good. Also, Tyler Perry I knew everybody hated him before this movie and only having this movie to go on, I couldn't for the life of me understand why (note: please don't link to any Medea clips). It also looks perfect, like Fincher movies usually do.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Probably the best movie in the Apes franchise after the 1968 original. I don't think this one will hold up on repeated viewings, because the humans were bland. The ape characters were outstanding though. CGI, acting and directing (ape wielding two machine guns) were great for them.

How to Train Your Dragon II: Loved this. It was a great animated movie, even better than the first one. The villains were a bit weak, but the rest of the movie was certainly of a higher standard than usual in movies for children.

The Drop: I really wanted to love this, but the story just isn't up to standard. It's not bad or anything. It's competently shot, acting is great and all, but the story just falls short.

Godzilla: I almost forgot about this one. I think that says it all really. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. Just depressingly average. The main character was incredibly bland and there just wasn't enough Zilla really. When we did get full on Zilla action, it was amazing.

Movies that haven't come out yet and I still want to see (I'll put this in spoilertags, because it's quite a long list):

3) Mr. Turner: I'll probably miss this one in theatres due to circumstances. Will catch this on DVD

5) Leviathan: Seems to be a great movie

9) Beyond the Lights: The trailer peaked my interest
10) Watchers of the Sky: Read a glowing review of this and the metascore is quite good.

12) The Lego Movie: Still haven't seen this, will come around to it eventually.
13) Winter Sleep: Won Palme d'or, which puts it on my list automatically.

15) Last Days in Vietnam: Read some great things about it.

16) Adieu au langage: I didn't even know Goddard was still amongst the living :blushing: Shame on me. This movie seems to be received favourably, so I'd like to see what he can do as a modern filmmaker.

[GallowKnight]

Edge of Tomorrow

Guardians of The Galaxy

Boyhood

Pride

The Guest

Why Don't You Play In Hell

Rudderless

Captain America: The Winter Solider

Snowpiercer

Begin Again

[The Killer Snark]

Veltigar - You seem to have very similar taste to me with movies. I'm in a similar position. I have a yearly cinema pass, but live in the UK, where we get some of the artier or less commerical American films late, or straight to DVD, and the same goes for European films unless they've been especially sponsored by the critic board behind the European releases of Cineworld, which is mostly based around which releases have been both respected and commercially successful abroad. I agree with you on Suspiria; it is by far my least favourite of Argento's classic period films. It simply doesn't continue its momentum after the brilliant extended opening sequence. All four of Argento's first giallos, especially Deep Red, and also Inferno, Tenebrae and Phenomena are arguably superior films. The Salvation wasn't even released here last year and I hadn't actually heard of it. I'll download that just for Eva Green.

May I just introduce The Guest and Calvary to my list, as I'd forgotten about those films. I've added them both to my OP.

My pick of favourite perfomances are as follows:

300: Rise of an Empire - Eva Green. She is absolutely terrific in this movie. It's a solidly enjoyable 3 or 4 star film, but what gives it an additional star and makes it truly memorable as one of the secret joys of the year is Green's highly sexy scene-chewing. She is basically playing the same part as she's been given in her other roles since she's hit the big time, but with far more restraint in terms of the hamminess she's prone to and with more of an eye on her actual character. The result is a total masterclass in credible OTT. She was utterly wasted in the risible aborted series Camelot, but hits a real career peak here.

Gone Girl: A fantastically believable performance against type as a stone cold sociopath by the lovely and very talented, but mostly hitherto underused Rosamund Pike.

Mr Turner: Timothy Spall is one of those actors whose amiable ugliness (which he himself admits to) had him resigned for a while to quirky background roles before producers really cottoned on to the fact that he is a brilliant character actor. Not only does he share Turner's noted physical eccentricities but he models his performance on what is known of Turner to a T, to the extent that if you were transported back in time to meet Turner, you'd imagine he'd remind you of Timothy Spall. A tour de force piece of acting that effectively carries the whole film on its back, and a definite contender if all's right with the world for the Oscars later this year.

Nightcrawler: This is probably the movie that has stayed with me most. Jake Gylenhaal's performance is the first thing that you'll think of: as a gaunt, Internet self-improvement marketing spiel spouting sociopath with a saucer-eyed, dead-eyed stare and a fixed Theon Greyjoy smirk, at once unnerving and hilarious. Gylenhaal lost 30 pounds for the role to give the impression of a character who's constantly, in a metaphorical sense, hungry. The most rivetting portrayal of a total alien among us since de Niro's in Taxi Driver, a film Nightcrawler is as good as, and it's destined for a sizable long term cult.

Birdman: Where to begin? Michael Keaton is astonishing in a bravely self-parodic role as a supposedly washed up ex-superhero franchise character, simultaneously psychotic and also the smartest person in the room. Edward Norton is astonishing as an arrogant and obviously mentally unstable, but charismatic, Method Actor prima donna. Emma Stone gets a bit less screent time, but is brilliant as Keaton's sexually aggressive snark of a daughter, a recovering druggie who walks around blithely with enormous ladders in her tights. Whiplash has had a lot of hype around it, and I hope it will be good, but Birdman is so exceptional in every are I don't believe it will be as good as this. It's the sort of film that requires a high intelligence to find it funny, but it's also perhaps the funniest movie of the year. Just editing in to say that Naomi Harris is sensational in Birdman also. Like Rosamund PIke, she's always been a first rate actress who has been criminally underused.

[Nictarion]

If we're talking 2013, The Wolf of Wall Street and Nebraska were my favorite films from that year. Loved them both.

[The Killer Snark]

Leap - Frozen kind of disappointed me. I hated about half of the soundtrack, and I found it too music oriented over characterisation and plot. I preferred Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, but my favourite animated film of the last five years is easily the magnificent Wreck It Ralph. 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle I'd forgotten about in my OP. Both were brilliant. Inside Llewyn Davis underwhelmed me. It came across as a well made but philosophically empty cinematic exercise in 'kick the dog'. Nebraska I've not seen yet. I've not seen All is Lost either, but which I know also got great reviews. I found Captain Philipps overrated. I liked a lot, but didn't love, Dallas Buyers Club. Blue Jasmine was wonderful. I loved both Rush and Philomena. Don't get me wrong. 2013 was indeed a great year for movies. But the best of the year list tends to segregate the films that were terrific from the films that were just good or watchable to pretty good a bit more clearly than the last year, which I think was more quality consistent over a broader spectrum, the really outstanding releases notwithstanding. Both 2013 and 2014 were evidently better years for movies, film for film, than 2012.

Editing in: Having said the above, I'm not really too sure of my footing re the difference between the past two years. I completely forgot about Only god forgives (2013), which is a masterpiece. A lot of people would also list the second Hunger Games movie in that year's best of list, although I personally very much enjoyed it but not to the same extent as the first.

[Castel]

Otherwise, I mostly agree with your assessment of the year. Although you're forgetting The Theory of Everything, which I hear has done pretty well.

Anyone seen this? Because I've heard some negative things about both ToE and The Imitation Game. Basically, they're supposedly sugary Oscar fare using the formula of films like A Beautiful Mind.

I want to see at least one of them before they're gone, but don't really know whether to prioritize them over other films.

12 Years a Slave and American Hustle I'd forgotten about in my OP

Really? I thought American Hustle was pretty...just there.

Anyways, will second the likes for:

Calvary

Nightcrawler

Edge of Tommorrow- I mean LIVE.DIE.REPEAT :rolleyes:

Snowpiercer (thank you Weinstein :bang: )

Grand Budapest Hotel

Interstellar

Gone Girl.

GotG was also pretty good.

Can't believe I forgot The Raid 2. Seems like it came out last year. The best action movie of the last few years, even better than The Raid imo.

Will be getting Birdman, Foxcatcher and Boyhood soon so can't wait to see those.

[The Killer Snark]

Castel - American Hustle to be honest wasn't in quite the same league as 12 Years a Slave, Only God Forgives, The Wolf of Wall Street or any of the films of '13 I would unhesitatingly give 5 stars to, but I still think it was a highlight of the year. I've not heard anything yet about Foxcatcher. You're going to love Boyhood and Birdman. Boyhood is that absolute rarity: a three hour movie that once it's ended actually feels like it could do with another half hour.

[Veltigar]

Veltigar - You seem to have very similar taste to me with movies. I'm in a similar position. I have a yearly cinema pass, but live in the UK, where we get some of the artier or less commerical American films late, or straight to DVD, and the same goes for European films unless they've been especially sponsored by the critic board behind the European releases of Cineworld, which is mostly based around which releases have been both respected and commercially successful abroad.

European releases is mostly alright here. The only problem is they only play for a very short amount of time and most of the time not in my preferred theatre. There is also zero advertising, so I sometimes miss movies just because I didn't know they played here (leviathan for instance).

I agree with you on Suspiria; it is by far my least favourite of Argento's classic period films. It simply doesn't continue its momentum after the brilliant extended opening sequence. All four of Argento's first giallos, especially Deep Red, and also Inferno, Tenebrae and Phenomena are arguably superior films.

I'll take your word for it, but I won't be checking them out any time soon. Aside from the music, which was good, I hated this movie.

The Salvation wasn't even released here last year and I hadn't actually heard of it. I'll download that just for Eva Green.

Don't expect anything good. It's a pretty unremarkable movie.

the magnificent Wreck It Ralph.

It's criminal that Frozen is so much more succesful than Wreck-it Ralph.

Only god forgives (2013), which is a masterpiece.

I agree. It's a difficult film to love and I needed two viewings, but this is indeed a great movie.

Disagree on Inside Llewyn Davis though. That was one of the best films of the last few years.

Anyone seen this? Because I've heard some negative things about both ToE and The Imitation Game. Basically, they're supposedly sugary Oscar fare riding off the legacy of films like A Beautiful Mind.

I want to see at least one of them before they're gone, but don't really know whether to prioritize them over other films.

I haven't seen either of them, but I heard that The Imitation Game is a better film (duh, Cumberbatch :) ). They both get a lot of flack for twisting the facts, but TIG gets at least some praise for Cumberbatch. I might see TIG eventually, but I don't think I'll ever watch ToE.

Edge of Tommorrow- I mean LIVE.DIE.REPEAT :rolleyes:

No. Edge of Tommorow forever :p

Can't believe I forgot The Raid 2. Seems like it came out last year. The best action movie of the last few years, even better than The Raid imo.

You might want to check out John Wick. That was a ridiculously good action movie.

Boyhood is that absolute rarity: a three hour movie that once it's ended actually feels like it could do with another half hour.

:agree:

[Castel]

Castel - American Hustle to be honest wasn't in quite the same league as 12 Years a Slave, Only God Forgives, The Wolf of Wall Street or any of the films of '13 I would unhesitatingly give 5 stars to, but I still think it was a highlight of the year. I've not heard anything yet about Foxcatcher. You're going to love Boyhood and Birdman. Boyhood is that absolute rarity: a three hour movie that once it's ended actually feels like it could do with another half hour.

Thanks. Really glad someone close is showing them, the response alone means I have to see them.

You might want to check out John Wick. That was a ridiculously good action movie.

I've heard good things and liked what I saw. Unfortunately, as with Whiplash, it's likely going to have to wait until it shows up on Amazon or something :(

[Veltigar]

Another movie that probably deserves a mention is Ida. That has won quite a lot of awards over here.

I've heard good things and liked what I saw. Unfortunately, as with Whiplash, it's likely going to have to wait until it shows up on Amazon or something :(

I know the feeling with Whiplash. I'm going to buy the Blu-ray when it comes out (no date set yet).

XMEN: Days of Future Past

I thought this was a great film. The Quicksilver scene probably takes the cake for my favourite scene in a film from this year. The film really benefits from having James McCavoy, Michael Fassbender, Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart though. It was a pretty dark film considering how half of it takes place in the 60s (?),

The seventies I think.

[Raja]

I liked Boyhood, but I don't think i would watch that film again, neither do I think it comes close to my top 10. I was fairly indifferent on the film.

I'll have to think about my top 10, will probably post later.

[williamjm]

Best:

Guardians of the Galaxy - the most entertaining of Marvel's films so far. Doesn't take itself too seriously and has a good ensemble of entertaining characters and a great soundtrack.

Edge of Tomorrow - interesting premise, great action, surprisingly funny (watching Tom Cruise get repeatedly killed in various incompetent ways never got old) and some good acting, particularly from Emily Blunt. The ending was a bit disappointing which is the only criticism I have of it.

Gone Girl - a tense thriller with a compelling twisting narrative and some amusing black comedy. Possibly goes a little bit too over-the-top towards the end. Rosamund Pike was excellent.

Captain America : The Winter Soldier - mostly very good, but I was a bit disappointed by the ultimate revelation of the villains, I think it was a more interesting plot when there were fewer traditional comic-book elements in it.

X-Men : Days of Future Past - the convoluted time travel plot means there is some fairly unwieldy exposition at times but other than that I thought this was perhaps the second-best X-Men film (after X-Men 2). Quicksilver in the kitchen was the best action scene in any film this year.

The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies - the usual mix of some great scenes with some scenes where I have to wonder what Peter Jackson was thinking (Alfrid was this year's most annoying and pointless character). Smaug's attack on Laketown was a great opening.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - one of the best Apes films, although the human characters felt a bit bland compared to the Apes themselves.

The Imitation Game - a good biopic although if you know the basic details of Alan Turing's life already it is a bit lacking in tension. Did a decent job of portraying the code breaking effort and the cast was good.

Interstellar - a bit frustrating, I feel this could have been a great movie but too many things let it down. There are still some great scenes in it, some of the space scenes were stunning.

Veronica Mars - the effort to squeeze in cameos and in-jokes for just about every character from the TV series does distract from the mystery plot a bit too much, but it is an entertaining sequel.

Most Disappointing:

300 : Rise of the Empire. The first film was daft but fun, the sequel is equally daft but not really any fun and it's hard to care about what happens in it despite a valiant attempt by Eva Green to inject some life into it.

The Amazing Spiderman 2. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are so good in their roles that it's a pity they're given such poor material to work with. The plot is confused with too many underwhelming villains.

[The Killer Snark]

Leap - Well, Skyfall and The Avengers were exceptional entertainment, but The Master is the one film of 2012 that really stands out for me. There was also The Artist, if that came out in '12; it may have come out in '11. Stories We Tell, Amour, Holy Motors and Beasts of the Southern Wild got a lot of 5 star reviews from major criticular institutions, in a fit of reviewer pretension by the likes of the increasingly out of touch Time Out and the normally reliable Empire. But all four of those movies were not only not great, but they were also not very good.

I'm glad that someone else agrees with me On Only God Forgives. That film was universally panned, with only Empire brave enough to give it two consecutive 5 star ratings. I was intitally baffled by what I saw as a flat-out Gainax ending, but it makes perfect sense the second time around when you consider that both of the main characters, not a choice of either, are actually the heroes of the film.

The Amazing Spider Man 2 just misses my list of last year's best action films. There's not enough backstory on the secondary villains, in the sense their transformation into supervillains depends on them all coming across already designed suits. If that's all it takes to be a supervillain, then anyone could become one just by breaking into the weapons department in the movie. That whole aspect of it is unnecessarily gimmicky and unconvincingly rushed.

[Theda Baratheon]

I really haven't seen too many but I loved Grand Budapest Hotel and I thought Nightcrawler was absolutely phenomenal.

@ snark

i enjoyed your little mr. Turner review and that's one I really have to see.

interstellar, edge of tomorrow, guardians of the galaxy, boyhood and birdman are also firmly on my to watch list.