Top Ten Movies of 2014

            Let me throw out the usual caveats before we get down to business.  These are my personal favorite films.  There are other films that easily could have been included.  You won’t agree with all of them (but feel free to tell me that).  Enjoy!

Films I haven’t seen:  Calvary, Frank, Selma, American Sniper, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Inherent Vice, A Most Violent Year, Leviathan, Belle

Honorable mentions:  X-Men:  Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Lego Movie, Life in a Fishbowl, The Imitation Game, Ida, Foxcatcher, The One I Love, Pride

10.  Oculus

            Definitely the most surprising film of the year, Oculus is far better than a movie about a haunted mirror has the right to be.  It sports a well-thought-out narrative, some truly scary moments, and excellent visual motifs.  Once it takes off it doesn’t let go, blending grounded psychological horror with flecks of gore.  The performances, particularly by child actor Annalise Basso, are far better than you get in most horror films and are essential for landing the fears the film’s playing with.  As I said in my review, Oculus understands that there are far scarier things than ghosts and axe-murderers, and it’s all the better for it.

_________________________________________________________________________________

9.  Get on Up

            A few films could’ve slid into this spot, but Chadwick Boseman’s unforgettable performance as James Brown lands this film in my top 10.  It’s a mannered performance, but it always rings true and doesn’t overpower the film.  The movie’s stage performances are electric, Brown’s brilliance shines through (as does his arrogance), and his far from perfect life makes for an interesting story.  Some were turned off by the non-linear narrative, but I thought it kept things from getting too bleak.  Plus, it gets extra points for being really funny.

_________________________________________________________________________________

8.  Fury

            A World War II movie about a seasoned tank crew trying to break in a new recruit, Fury is one of those well-trod war stories that’s made great by some brilliant execution.  Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman turn in top-notch performances, and director David Ayer edits the action sequences so they’re always tense and clear.  However, it’s the cinematography that really pulls it all together.  The German countryside is portrayed as a place covered in muck with a constant mist hanging in the background, making the discomfort and the threat of battle inescapable.

_________________________________________________________________________________

7.  Birdman

            Definitely a film for movie people, Birdman is all about the balance between art and commerce and the internal and external pulls that accompany it.  It’s actually a very familiar story, but it’s got such energy and visual flair that it’s hard not to like it.  The trick of editing the film to look like one shot really sweeps you off your feet and keeps you bounding right along at the film’s quick pace.  Michael Keaton as a used-to-be movie star is great, but Edward Norton stole the show as an overly intense artiste. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

6.  Force Majeure

            What happens in the moments after this still defines a family’s vacation, forever changes how they view each other, and leads to some downright hilarious moments.  This is one of those films that brings up serious ideas without forgetting to entertain you.  It may be aimed at a small subset of people, particularly the kind who laugh in awkward, intense moments, but if you fall into that group you’ll find Force Majeure to be simultaneously astute and hysterical.  Personally, I refuse to apologize for laughing at a grown man crying on a bean bag chair.  It’s just funny.

_________________________________________________________________________________

5.  How to Train Your Dragon 2

            The choice to age these characters up and allow the story to grow along with them was a bold decision by DreamWorks Animation, and it may have allowed them to unexpectedly become the owner of a generation-defining kid’s series.  People my age grew up with Toy Story, and I don’t think I’m overstepping when I draw comparisons between these two series.  Both made a concerted effort to build on their themes from film to film, mirroring the maturation of their target audience and thus earning a special place in these kid’s cultural psyches.  As an adult looking at it, I can appreciate how much of a risk it is to throw such a big change-up into an established hit, but I can also appreciate just how well How to Train Your Dragon 2 pulled it off.  Add in that this had by far the best 3D I saw all year, charming background jokes, and a running gag about an arm fetish, and I was sold hook, line, and sinker.

_________________________________________________________________________________

4.  Nymphomaniac:  Volume 1

            Speaking about sex frankly and intellectually is a rare thing in America, and few movies have explored it from a woman’s perspective like the two Nymphomaniac films.  Volume 1 is the far better section, allowing Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stacy Martin) to tell her story of complete surrender to sexual addiction without judgment.  Yes, there are negative effects, and the movie is honest about that, but the camera and her audience of one, the bachelor Seligman played by Stellan Skarsgård, always looks at her with a humane eye.  The infamous Lars von Trier is pushing us without going too far in this one and shows a surprising funny streak, which is never more apparent than when Uma Thurman shows up and keeps you squirming with uncomfortable glee in my favorite scene of the year. 

           

_________________________________________________________________________________

3.  Edge of Tomorrow

            Or Live Die Repeat:  Edge of Tomorrow or whatever else it gets called in the future is a spectacular movie that doesn’t deserve its underwhelming box office total.  The summer of 2014 delivered a number of great blockbusters, but this one stands head and mechanical shoulders above the rest.  Smart without being challenging and fun without being easy, there’s some real stakes in Edge of Tomorrow that kept me invested even after the twists had been revealed.  The action is big and rendered with a gritty beauty, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt sell every moment, and it’s infused with a surprising amount of humor.  If only all blockbusters could be this well made, and if only audiences would go see them.

_________________________________________________________________________________

2.  Nightcrawler

            Whether you take it as a character study masquerading as a thriller or a thriller masquerading as a character study, you’ll find lots to like in Dan Gilroy’s expertly paced Nightcrawler.  Jake Gyllenhaal keeps you unsettled but unable to look away as the smarmy Lou Bloom, and cinematographer Robert Elswitt makes the LA night pop with color, light, and the darkest of personal ambitions.  I think this is the best shot film of the year (yes, over Birdman), and it manages to skewer America’s latent bloodlust while wallowing in the grime.  This is why I don’t trust people who quote self-help books.

_________________________________________________________________________________

1.    Mommy

                    Getting to tag along on other people’s emotional journeys is one of the great joys of watching movies, and nothing else this year grabbed me with the ferocity of Mommy.  Following a mother, Diana, who enlists the help of her neighbor to turn her son’s life around, this is an energetic film that radiates the emotions of its characters out into the audience.  Keeping you on your toes is the son’s emotional vacillations, turning on a dime and at times getting unnervingly dark.  Through a surprisingly unintrusive 1:1 aspect ratio, a slew of well-known songs, and excellent performances by the lead trio of Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, and Suzanne Clément, Mommy captures the intoxication and confusion of their lives without ever becoming unsympathetic towards any of them.  In a year where my parents divorced, this tale of unwavering love stuck in an untenable circumstance hit home.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Released:  June 6^th, 2014

Rated:  PG-13

Studio:  Warner Bros.

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson

Directed by:  Doug Liman 

Written by:  Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth

Personal Bias Alert:  likes time travel stories, not averse to Tom Cruise

8.7 of 10

            After seeing this film, I immediately texted my friend “find out nothing about ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ and go see it.”  It really is a film best seen cold, which brings up an old, tired dilemma for reviewers:  how do you talk about a film without talking about it?  There’s no good answer, so I’m going to try to balance my bubbling desire to talk about this film with my equally strong desire for everyone to go see it and have as much fun as I did.  Translation:  I’m going to be as vague as possible, but I encourage everyone to take the advice I texted my friend.  Stop reading this unless you’ve seen the film.  Please.

            Tom Cruise plays William Cage, a spokesperson turned soldier for the allied human forces fighting a species of alien invaders.  The aliens are marching across Europe, greatly helped by their ability to reset time.  Meaning, if things go wrong, they can rewind and start things over again until they get it right.  Humanity has recently landed a rare victory at Verdun, which prompts an ambitious, three-pronged attack against the aliens.  Cage is sent to the shores of France to participate in the first wave, only to witness the human forces be slaughtered and eventually be killed himself.  But he, in the process of killing an alien, absorbs their reset power and begins reliving the 24 hours preceding the invasion over and over again.  His task becomes to change the outcome of the attack, save humanity, yada yada yada.  He is helped by Verdun hero Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), one of the few people who believes his insane story.

            Now that’s just the setup, which, like here, does take some time to get through.  It’s something we’ve seen before, and this portion of the film does feel a bit tired.  It’s a necessary thing to get through, though, and there are moments of humor and some great battle sequences to keep you from getting too bored.  It’s what happens after this setup that makes the movie great, unfolding in zigs and zags as they try to figure out how the day needs to play out.  I’ve seen these sorts of movies before, and I was pleasantly surprised with the turns the film took.

            Cruise is made for these roles, either that or he’s done them so many times they have become part of his DNA.  He sells the crazy stuff happening, lands the jokes, and is incredibly watchable while doing it.  I don’t know what it is about movie stars like him, but they are just able to command a viewer’s attention.  Blunt is another great choice, but she’s not so obvious a fit as Cruise.  Then again, Cruise isn’t a young man anymore, and casting a slight woman and an aging man as your leads in an action film is kind of daring.  It works here because it sells the premise that his reset ability is what’s important.  It also lends an odd couple feel to the whole thing, which is the source of a decent amount of the film’s humor.  That humor keeps things from getting too dark, something the film flirts with throughout its midsection.  Part of me wanted it to go there, but then again, that would have slowed things down.  The steadily building plot is the strongest part of the film, so I’m fine with that particular choice.

            You’ve probably seen promos that heavily feature the robotic exoskeletons that humans wear as they fight the aliens.  They’re cool, but I also like that they didn’t give the soldier’s too much power.  They aren’t running around blowing everything up like super soldiers.  The suit the actors wore was supposedly very heavy (85 pounds).  I’m sure those were a pain to film in, but I loved that you could see the actor’s stance and gait change under the weight.  It really helps sell some of the action sequences, but others are hampered by blurry images that I can’t be sure were due to bad effects or bad camerawork.

            The plot is the star here, and I was enthralled by it.  At one point, I came out of my reverie and realized that I wasn’t paying attention to lighting, music, or any of the other technical stuff I should make note of in my review.  I was just having much fun with it, so I said screw it and dropped right back into the story.

            Other Notes:

Ø  The characters can be a bit thin, but then again, most of them never go through more than a day’s change.

Ø  For a time travel movie, there are remarkably few plot holes.  There’s always some, though.

Ø  Nice tie-ins to both world wars.  Verdun was the site of a major WWI battle and the invasion sequence looks like D-Day from WWII.

Ø  I wish it didn’t end that way.  It really feels false and tacked on.