With the year coming to a close—and what a year it was!—I’ve finalized my annual list of what I felt were the best movies of 2014. While there will be a number of familiar movies and titles you’ve probably been hearing about for months and some crossover with other Top 10 lists, I’d like to think that I’ve once again come up with a nice mix of big studio movies and small independents across a diversity of genres.
Mind you, I don’t pick my favorites based on commercial considerations, so just because a movie has made a lot of money and has proven popular among mainstream audiences doesn’t mean it connected with me the same way it has others or that I felt it worthy of this list. (Sorry The LEGO Movie and Captain America: The Winter Soldier!)
Sadly, I was not too thrilled with many of the foreign films I’ve seen this year compared to previous years, which is why only two or three made my list. Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend, but I dunno. I was just bored by so many of the foreign films I’ve seen that have been receiving raves everywhere else. (One of my favorites, the Argentine film Wild Tales, isn’t being released until next year so it will probably be included in next year’s list.)
I will add that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s The Interview would probably have made this list, probably around #20 or so, but Sony’s decision to hold off on releasing it means that it can’t be included until whenever (if ever?) it is released theatrically. That’s fine, because there were plenty of other great comedies and dramas and action movies that make up this list and hopefully there are a few surprises in here, maybe even a few movies you missed over the past year that you’ll seek out.
Just Missed the Top 25 i.e Honorable Mentions
A Most Wanted Man (Roadside Attraction)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (20th Century Fox)
Oculus (Relativity Media)
Get On Up (Universal)
Enemy (A24)
Top 10 Docs of 2014
1. Life Itself (Magnolia)
2. Revenge of the Mekons (Music Box Films)
3. Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (RADiUS-TWC)
4. CITIZENFOUR (RADiUS-TWC)
5. Mistaken for Strangers (Starz Digital Media)
6. Keep On Keepin’ On (RADiUS-TWC)
7. The Case Against 8 (HBO Films)
8. Red Army (Sony Pictures Classics)
9. Jodorowsky’s Dune (Sony Pictures Classics)
10. Maidentrip (First Run Features)
Favorite Albums of the Year
(or what I’ve been listening to while writing about all the movies above)
Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways
Bob Mould – Beauty and Ruin
OK Go – Hungry Ghosts
Pixies – Indie Cyndy
The Raveonettes – Pe’ahi
Royal Blood – Royal Blood
Tim Wheeler – Lost Domain
I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to do a Terrible 25 this year, because most of the movies that made that list were small and esoteric movies, mostly forgettable, that few people have seen, but all of which are much worse than the usual suspects one might expect. Plus there’s one movie in there that may have made a couple of year-end Top 10 lists so I’m not sure if I want to drag that argument out again. We’ll see. But if I do put together a Terrible 25 list, it should appear sometime before the end of the year.
The Weekend Warrior's Top 25 Movies 2014
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#25 Kill the Messenger (Focus)
A really strong film that sadly did not get much attention is Jeremy Renner’s turn as journalist Gary Webb, who first found links between the CIA and the import of cocaine into the country to fund Nicaraguan contras, during the late ‘80s. A riveting political thriller directed by Michael Cuesta (“Homefront”) with a fantastic ensemble of supporting actors, it was a shame so few people saw it and that more critics didn’t get behind it.
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#24 Big Hero 6 (Disney)
One of two animated movies that made this list, this one being the far more mainstream blockbuster hit, and like some of my other favorites this year, it combined many things I loved, including superheroes, Japanese culture, science fiction, action and humor into a movie that offered ties to its Marvel roots while remaining its own thing. In a year that didn’t have a new movie from Pixar Animation, this ended up a nice alternative.
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#23 The Canal (The Orchard)
The best movie to premiere in competition at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival was this horror film from Irish filmmaker Ivan Kavanagh, putting a spin on the “found footage” genre by having Rupert Evans as a film archivist who finds clues to supernatural events taking place in his house after the disappearance of his wife. It's a shame it did not get much of a push for its release.
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#22 22 Jump Street (Sony)
It may be more than just a coincidence that this R-rated comedy sequel ended up placed exactly where it did—okay, maybe I cheated a little bit—but the reunion of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as undercover cops in college delivered so many great laughs thanks to the indelible team of Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, that it was one of those rare sequels as good as the original. It also proved that the directors could do no wrong even when breaking away from the family fare of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The LEGO Movie.
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#21 The Babadook (IFC Films)
Australia delivers more fantastic talent in director Jennifer Kent, who created this horrifying yet simple horror film about a mother whose son is convinced there’s a monster trying to get them… and a mysterious children’s book soon proves him right. Essie Davis gives such an astounding performance in what is generally a two-hander that finally captures what worked so well about films like The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen. Along with Oculus and The Canal, it’s a good sign that horror’s still going strong.
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#20 Interstellar (Paramount)
I know some people were confused or couldn’t understand some of the dialogue in Christopher Nolan’s latest and while it didn’t quite match the perfection that was Inception, it still was an absolutely fantastic outer space adventure that was so different from last year’s Gravity and this year’s Guardians of the Galaxy, since it was driven as much by emotion and drama as it was its visual FX and Hans Zimmer’s breathtaking score.
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#19 The Tale of Princess Kaguya (GKIDS)
It’s no huge shocker that Studio Ghibli has a movie in my year-end list, but this film by co-founder Isao Takahato was very different from Hayao Miyazaki’s film The Wind Rises last year, this one being a classic Japanese fable that’s brought to beautiful life with such simple line-work, it reminds us why 2D animation is still a viable form of animation and few are doing it better.
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#18 The Lunchbox (Sony Pictures Classics)
A tiny Indian film from director Ritesh Batra, which I first saw at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013, stars Irrfan Khan as a single man about to retire from his job who starts getting the wrong lunch delivered to him. The cook is a young married woman who thinks she’s losing her husband and is trying to win him back with cooking tips from her aunt. It’s a warm and funny film filled with romance yet never going where you expect.
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#17 Wild (Fox Searchlight)
Reese Witherspoon took on a true passion project in bringing Cheryl Strayed’s story about travelling alone thousands of miles along the Pacific Crest Trail to the screen. Alongside Dallas Buyers Club helmer Jean-Marc Vallee, Witherspoon gives a daring take-no-prisoners performance that’s one of the best of her career and the results are equally emotional and entertaining.
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#16 Love is Strange (Sony Pictures Classics)
Ira Sachs’ Sundance favorite stars Alfred Molina and John Lithgow as a couple who have been together for decades, but when they finally are able to get married, they get separated when finances forces them out of their place. It’s a beautifully realized film by Sachs done in a simple slice-of-life fashion but both Molina and Lithgow are fantastic, as is Marisa Tomei in a supporting role.
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#15 Selma (Paramount)
There’s a lot to love about Ava Duvernay’s film set in 1965 around the Civil Rights movement as Martin Luther King Jr., indelibly played by David Oyelowo, tries to arrange a protest march through Alabama to try to convince the government to allow blacks the right to votes. Duvernay gets fantastic performances out of her cast, all of them clearly putting everything into bringing this story to life. A poignant, powerful and important film that’s beautifully shot by Bradford Young.
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#14 Tracks (The Weinstein Company)
While Wild is fantastic, few people got to see this similar film starring Mia Wasikowska as Robyn Davidson, a young woman who decides to trek across the Australian outback along with her dog and three camels. It’s a similarly beautiful film from John Curran (We Don’t Live Here Anymore) with a great supporting role by Adam Driver as a photographer who documents Robyn’s voyage for National Geographic.
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#13 Starred Up (Tribeca Film)
David Mackenzie’s prison flick wasn’t my first introduction to Jack O’Connell (that would be ’71 which finally comes out next year), but it showed what versatility this young actor has, playing Eric Love, a young man admitted into a prison for dangerous criminals and trying to make his way, while caught between Rupert Friend’s counselor and his jailed father, played by Ben Mendelsohn.
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#12 We are the Best! (Magnolia)
Sweden’s Lukas Moodysson’s adaptation of his wife’s semi-autobiographical graphic novel about forming a punk group with her teen girlfriends was just a joyous experience due to the three unknown actresses taking on the male-dominated rock of their small town while also starting to discover boys. The edgy humor and the attitude in every scene made it a far more favorable choice for teen girls than “High School Musical.”
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#11 What If (CBS Films)
I’ve been in the “friend zone” more times than I’d like to admit in my life which may be why I found this comedy from Michael Dowse (Goon) so compelling. It stars Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan as two friends trying to avoid the obvious feelings they have for each other, while Adam Driver gives one of his funniest performances of the year as the Greek Chorus trying to convince his friend to make his move even though that may complicate their relationship.
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#10 Edge of Tomorrow (Warner Bros.)
I can’t even remember when the last time I had a Tom Cruise movie in my Top 10, but this sci-fi action movie directed by Doug Liman based on the Japanese novel “All You Need is Kill” hit just the right buttons with its endless loops of alternate possibilities and the terrific interaction between Cruise and Emily Blunt as they faced aliens invading earth.
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#9 The Gambler (Paramount)
I’m not too shocked this didn’t make more Top 10 lists, first because it’s a remake and second, because it’s being released so late in the year. But between William Monaghan’s screenplay, which perfectly captures the tone of a James Toback film, and the fantastic performances by those around Mark Wahlberg’s chronic in-debt gambler, it was quite a coup by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes).
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#8 Chef (Open Road)
Filmmaker Jon Favreau returns to smaller and more personal films with this look at a celebrity chef (played by himself) who has a falling of grace after being taken down by a critic, so he decides to renovate a food truck and go around the country rediscovering his passion for cooking. So many analogies could be drawn between Favreau’s character and himself, but beyond that, it was just a really entertaining and funny movie that gave Favreau a nice break from tentpole fare.
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#7 The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company)
There have been other movies about the Nazi’s Enigma machine and the British attempt to break it, but this one excelled largely due to Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as Alan Turing, the mathematician who built the world’s first computer trying to save lives, all the while keeping his homosexuality a secret. It’s an incredibly poignant film with strong supporting performances from the likes of Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong and Charles Dance.
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#6 Boyhood (IFC Films)
What more can be said about Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making slice of life drama that’s probably on more Top 10 lists than any other movie this year? I’ve been hearing murmurings about this project for at least eight or nine years, but to finally see it come to fruition and see how well it ended up working really impressed me. The fact that Linklater could discover such a fantastic talent like Ellar Coltrane at the age of 5 and show him growing older year-by-year while surrounding him with more experienced actors like Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette confirmed that he’s a genius.
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#5 The Theory of Everything (Focus)
Another movie I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival that blew me away, this one featured Eddie Redmayne as Dr. Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife Jane, a timeless story of romance despite adversity beautifully directed by James Marsh (Man on Wire). I was actually surprised that I liked this movie as much as I did, but I thoroughly related to a lot of what Hawking went through.
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#4 Nightcrawler (Open Road)
Man, Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut really blew me away, not just due to its original premise about guys with cameras who drive around L.A. chasing down some of the grisliest of crime scenes, but also due to the transformative nature of Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as the delusional Louis Bloom, a petty criminal who finds out that he’s quite good at getting seemingly impossible shots. His performance combined with the words that come out of Louis’ mouth as he manipulates those around him makes him a character on par with some of Robert De Niro’s best.
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#3 Birdman (Fox Searchlight)
This isn’t the first movie by Alejandro Innaritu to make my best of the year list and it probably won’t be the last, but this truly unique character piece follows Michael Keaton as a once famous actor as he descends into madness, all seemingly filmed in one single shot. The amazing performances by Keaton and the rest of the cast and the dream-like nature in following his character in and out of the Broadway theater where he’s trying to stage a doomed play is brilliance personified.
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#2 Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel/Disney)
It’s hard to believe Marvel Studios could come up with a movie that would supplant my previous favorites, Iron Man and Thor, but getting James Gunn to direct this space epic about a team of misfits including a talking raccoon and the world’s most loveable foliage turned out to be the most fun I had at a movie this year. It’s probably the closest any movie has come to making me feel when I first saw Star Wars as a kid, and that’s a pretty amazing achievement.
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#1B Life Itself (Magnolia)
As in past years, I include my top doc in this list as an alternate to the top narrative, and it was hard not to allow sentimentality to cloud my judgment while watching Steve James’ portrait of arguably one of the most respected film critics in American history. Ebert passed away last year but the Hoop Dreams director was there during his last few months filming his battles against cancer while also capturing some of the best moments from his career, particularly his off-camera snipes with co-host Gene Siskel.
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#1 Whiplash (Sony Picture Classics)
This one wasn’t even close. Damien Chazelle’s stunning drama about a jazz drummer and the teacher that torments him, played by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons respectively, was so far ahead of the pack as my favorite movie of the year. It’s the only movie this year that warranted a perfect 10 out of 10 rating because I honestly couldn’t think of how I’d change a frame—it was that good! Even if you’re not into jazz, the characters are so well defined within a fairly simple story and Simmons is just so good at being awful to Teller that it creates an unforgettable feud that puts you on the edge of your seat to find out how it will be resolved.
