The Best Movies of 2014

It's been a very strange year, but a very good year, not as highly prestige as the past two years. However, the best movies are scattered throughout all over the year in 2014 and most of the films are in great range in terms in how we feel in the ends. Nevertheless, at the same time, it was mostly a weak end towards the end of the year since the award-caliber films come out, but there were very few great films at that time. There were 29 movies vying for the top 10 spots (Record: 36) and that is proof that it was a very good, but not great year. Here are 10 honorable mentions in the runners-up list:

Honorable Mentions: (11-20, alphabetical)
The Babadook
Citizenfour
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow
Life Itself
Locke
Snowpiercer
The Theory of Everything
Under the Skin
(3-way tie) X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy



(TIE) 10. American Sniper

It was tough to sacrifice this film for a runners-up list, but it was an intense film to witness Chris Kyle's heroism and lethality in his eyes, voice and body language. It is without doubt Clint Eastwood's best movie since Letters from Iwo Jima, Bradley Cooper's best performance of his career and harrowing cinematography proven in the sandstorm sequence. It also shows an unfortunate showcase of post-traumatic stress disorder.


(TIE) 10. Selma

This movie and American Sniper are tied because they are semi-relevant in different ways. Sniper is more about a personal story about a sniper risking his life for America and being dedicated and Selma is a public and historic event about someone standing up to America's system to change the ways for the African-Americans' right to vote. This movie is about a man, not a perfect man or saint, who is faithful to restore the African-American community in not one march, but three against the justice system of America in Selma. It is a brutal chapter in history and should not be forsaken to see it especially when you have David Oyelowo's towering performance anchoring the movie.


9. The LEGO Movie

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU ARE PART OF A TEAM! That song has been stuck in my head sometimes since that movie came back out way back in February/March. I think it is the best animated movie of the year and captures the spirit and humor of all these assorted LEGO characters from different venues and backgrounds that soar with imagination and fun. It has everything for both adults and children alike. It is like an animated Guardians of the Galaxy this year.


8. Ida

This Polish-Danish film by Pawel Pawilkowski is the quietest film on my list. It is bleak and slow because it takes the time for Anna to solve her past in one of the darkest events in world history: The Holocaust. It is about an aunt and her niece who is the nunnery in 1960s Poland taking a journey to solve a small puzzle from a big chapter and it is mesmerizing what she finds along and how she finds herself near the end of the movie. This movie about identity and surviving mentally because we all know she will live in the end after going through all the secrets throughout the movie.


7. Interstellar

I understand by watching that there were some gaping holes in the movie but I actually understood how everything was possible, well, almost, by plugging in back those holes as best as I can. However, Christopher Nolan's latest provided that a space epic can have hefty emotion especially between a father and his daughter. I think this is the most visually stunning film of the year and will capture at least some technical awards. Matthew McConaughey delivers and Hans Zimmer's score is probably one of his most ambitious and best efforts to date. The only real question is though, will everyone consider this movie a classic 10 years from now like 2001?


6. Nightcrawler

This movie is not for the faint-hearted because it evokes how every desperate man wants to be in any sort of business in America, basically chasing the American Dream like the documentary, The Overnighters. But, it is about a slender and scary man with a dark past that has a knack for filming crime scenes and is so passionate about his work that he will do everything it takes and risk anyone's life to get what he wants. He's almost identified like a Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, he's not a nice person who commits terrible deeds. I thought it was unpredictable from beginning to end and Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was solid. A well-done feature debut by Dan Gilroy.


5. Gone Girl

This movie is a meticulously crafted dark and sleek story about a wife gone missing but her husband is blamed by all the media because of the evidence and proof of a giveaway smile in front of the press next to the poster of his wife. David Fincher, the director, is a master of this genre trying to get our attention from the first 5 minutes to the very end and it is a tricky film to conceive because of the few scenes that make us scratch our hands and think about to the one very violent scene to the gloomy mystery to the media. Ben Affleck gives a fine performance in his role but it is Rosamund Pike that stands out from all the rest as a deceiving person. It is also nice that Tyler Perry gets a good role in a good movie for a change.


4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson's next great movie about a hotel manager that is framed for a murder of one of his guests and loved ones. This movie really displays the aura and joy of filmmaking that we witness a splendor of an embroidered environment surrounded by lavishness throughout the hotel and also packaged with a grand buffet that no one can stop quenching for appetite. It is a weird environment to display more thoughtful ideas and it is creative gusto. Ralph Fiennes is so great in the movie that I wanted another sequel just with him in the center role. He is fascinating and funny. The entire rest of the cast ensemble is great. It has a fun ride but it has a sad conclusion in the end. I think it is my 2nd or 3rd favorite Wes Anderson movie behind Rushmore.


3. Whiplash

This is the jazz version of Full Metal Jacket. It is a riveting and thrilling ride about a young adult trying to be the best jazz drummer he can be at an all-time level. But, he has to go through one man who has the personality of a puppy one minute but a ruthless wolf the next minute. It is fierce, well-edited and well-acted that you are inordinately entertained by what director Damien Chazelle presents us. Miles Teller is absolutely brilliant but it is J.K. Simmons that is getting his role of a lifetime. This movie pushes itself with discipline and tries to reach perfection and quickly goes down to the brink of insanity. What a suspenseful movie.


2. Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

This is a dark comedy about an actor who was famous in his prime time as a superhero but not descends into his own hallowed ground as he tackles Broadway. This and my #1 film are technical achievements. This movie is all constructed in one long shot and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inñaritu, from Babel and Amores Perros fame, tackles the subject and creates a layered story from the main character. He had an ego and has to deal with so many people about it. Michael Keaton is brilliant in this role and Edward Norton is absolutely great in a very different role but so is everybody else: Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan and Zach Galifianakis. This is a movie that dazzles and any moviegoer will be blown away even if you are confused by the last scene.


AND THE BEST MOVIE OF 2014 IS...


1. Boyhood

I said in the Birdman section that I said that this movie was a technical achievement and it is also a masterpiece at a whole other level. This was a movie 12 years in the making. This is no question ever since watching the movie in the summer that I said that I will not see a better movie this year than Boyhood and I did not. It is not just a technical gimmick but it is an exploration of one's adolescent life. It is like a big photo album of memories and haunting events that one boy gone through in his childhood from age 6 to his first days in college. Also, it is well-acted and well-spoken with the screenplay by Richard Linklater who is also directed it. I never realized who realistic this story is and also it is mesmerizing to see that is a very Texan film exploring Austin, San Marcos and parts of Houston. Ellar Coltrane is great but so is Patricia Arquette as the mother who provides emotion and care and Ethan Hawke as a three-dimensional and caring father that wants to have fun and talk with his own children. He loves them. It was a challenge in the beginning but it certainly paid off and it was a great narrative and coming-of-age story that will remain in our minds and in the history of cinema forever.

Video about the Best Movies of 2014:
http://youtu.be/I9Jed3B58-M

Well, that is it. It was a very good year and now let's move on and see what is in store for 2015...