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9 January 2015
This article is a look at my favourite films of 2014. |
Part one, the worst films of 2014, can be read here.
From the low-water mark to my favourites...
(I could not narrow it down to an even number.)
MY TOP 31 FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2014
31. BIRDMAN
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Mesmerising. Emmanuel Lubezki needs his second cinematography Oscar in a row. A funny, melancholy-tinged examination of a stuttering career, and the nature of creative acclaim.
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30. I ORIGINS
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A cross between CONTACT and BIRTH. Science and spirituality mesh engrossingly. (A more ambiguous ending would have elevated.)
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29. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
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Marvel has gone and got political on us. THE WINTER SOLDIER is unrelenting, creating a new benchmark for continuous combat. Think BLACK HAWK DOWN with added plot, smarts and charisma.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
28. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
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Bleak, emotional, allegorical, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES builds on the potential of predecessor origin story.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
27. THE SATELLITE GIRL AND THE MILK COW
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Bonkers, hilarious Korean animé. The universal love story between a robot girl and male milk cow.
Merlin the Wizard turns up as sentient, magical toilet paper. What a cliché! ;) |
26. THE WORLD OF KANAKO
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A horrible man turns Japanese society upside down looking for his daughter. Claustrophobic, pressing, hyperactive. One of the harshest movies of modern times.
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25. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
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Perhaps Wes Anderson's most ornate, intricate work. Wall to wall cameos. Fiennes is an absolute hoot.
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24. MOOD INDIGO
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From Michel Gondry, director of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, comes another dizzily inventive romance.
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23. PRAIA DO FUTURO
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Futility and fragility. Lifeguards and motocross bikers. Directed with confident skill.
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22. A MOST WANTED MAN
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Cut from the same cloth as TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, a cerebral, pessimistic take on the bureaucratic, callousness of espionage.
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21. MAPS TO THE STARS
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Fashioning a psychotic, riotous Hollywood soap opera on celebrity, amorality and self-obsessed ambition is an odd choice for a director who normally trawls the bleakest aspects of humanity. But like Martin Scorsese, being a septuagenarian has not dulled the verve or talent of David Cronenberg.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
20. THE LEGO MOVIE
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A permanent smile was affixed to my face throughout the runtime. Chutzpah and vitality in spades. And Lego Batman, “You know, I don't want to spoil the party, but, does anyone notice that we're stuck in the middle of the ocean on this couch? Do you know what kind of sunburn I'm going to get? None, 'cause I'm covered in latex, but you guys are going to get seriously fried.”
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19. LOVE & MERCY
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Concerned with the 1960s and 1980s of Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson, the masterstroke is to have two actors (Paul Dano, John Cusack) play the maestro, bringing different textures and nuances personal to two performers.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
18. PREGGOLAND
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Arrested development indie comedy. Slacker lady pretends to be pregnant to fit in. Gets tone/humour right.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
17. WHILE WE’RE YOUNG
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Writer-director Noah Baumbach continues to catalogue our capacity to be insufferable. Has he reached his apex?
[To read the full review, click here.] |
16. IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE
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Jet-black humoured revenge gems don’t come along often enough. Ranging from the blurt-out-laughing, to incidents of wince-inducing violence, IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE walks a beguiling tightrope. Achingly, slickly shot across a wintry, snowy Norwegian landscape, the film might be classified as a fairy tale; the moral: Do not murder someone’s offspring for something he didn’t do. Devoid of any quarter given over to mawkishness, there are of course consequences.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
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15. 22 JUMP STREET
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It's rare for a sequel to outshine its predecessor. Such a variety of jokes, coupled with a knowingness about the pitfalls of creating a franchise, make for one of the comedies of the year.
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14. X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
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“I don’t want your suffering; I don’t want your future,” Charles Xavier.
Urgent, gripping, DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is, at last, a return to form for the franchise, after a long, mediocre run. Surprising emotional heft anchors a whizz-bang narrative across eras. [To read the full review, click here.] |
13. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
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The New Zealand Documentary Board crew were granted protection while filming a vampire coven situated in a Wellington suburb. And by coven: A house share of four dorky ancient bloodsuckers. Side-splitting is the de facto state, as line after line is dropped, tied to brilliant visual gags.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
12. SELMA
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An invigorating take on Martin Luther King, sagely focused in history but wide in commentary.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
11. NIGHTCRAWLER
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As a creepily compelling bottom feeding newshound sociopath, Jake Gyllenhaal excels. Cinematographer Robert Elswit (THERE WILL BE BLOOD, BOOGIE NIGHTS) infuses the City of Angels with a Michael Mann cold slickness, and Dan Gilroy, making his directorial debut, admixes a winning Neil LaBute-like witty misanthropy.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
10. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
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Director Martin Scorsese maybe 71 years old when this was released, but WOLF has the energy of someone making their sophomore flick. Exhilarating.
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9. THE RAID 2
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Getting a pick-axe to the head, getting a hammer to the face, getting your face shot-off by a pump-action shotgun, a baseball bat to the head, throats slit by a Stanley knife; some examples of the brutal variety of deaths in an extraordinary martial arts crime epic. SERPICO meets ENTER THE DRAGON meets OUTRAGE BEYOND.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
8. A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
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Wow, what a vampire movie! Achingly stylish and sexy.
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7. THE TRIBE
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Deaf boarding school as apocalypse. Edge of your seat bravura filmmaking.
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6. TOKYO TRIBE
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Has jumped to the top of my list of favourite musicals. Director Sion Sono turns it up to 11.
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5. CALVARY
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Father James Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson) is told he has one week to put his house in order before he is killed. Acting and writing gangbusters ensue. One struggles to think of a similar work mixing hilarity and nihilism.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
4. WHIPLASH
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Perfectionism, graft, drive, at any cost. Electrifying. Masterful editing.
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3. SNOWPIERCER
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SNOWPIERCER is a stone cold science fiction masterpiece. Imagine a cross between METROPOLIS, THE MATRIX, THE ROAD and DARK CITY. This is an apocalypse flick for the ages.
[To read the full review, click here.] |
My top two are not films, but are contained, and so masterful that celebration is required.
Note, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is three hours 36 minutes, CHE is four hours 29 minutes, and SÁTÁNTANGÓ is seven and a half hours.
2. FARGO
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The ALIENS to the original Coen brothers' equivalent of ALIEN. A sequel builds and expands on themes, and then makes brilliant narrative-character-stylistic choices that ensure a gripping ride.
Had it not been for the too neat ending, it may have been my number one; but perhaps neatness was required after such a high body count. |
1. TRUE DETECTIVE
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Two timelines and two leads on fire. In the mould of SEVEN and MEMORIES OF MURDER, a philosophically disturbing thriller, concerning humanity's capacity for heinous acts. Virtuoso work.
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