2014 End of the Year Wrap Up - Sounds of Cinema

Top 10 Films of the Year

What follows are Nathan’s picks of the best films of 2014.

1. Boyhood

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Premise: The story of a boy (Ellar Coltrane), following his life from age five to eighteen.

Why It Made the List: A lot has been written about Boyhood since it opened in the summer of 2014 and much of that has focused on the way in which the movie was made. In short, the cast and crew convened about once a year for eleven years and segments of the movie were filmed a piece at a time. While that is a creative way of going about a film production, this unusual schedule is not what makes Boyhood a notable film. Motion pictures have to be judged by what is on the screen, not the behind the scenes wrangling, and it’s the content of the movie that really makes Boyhood extraordinary. Filmmaker Richard Linklater has managed to distill the formative years of a young man’s life into 165 minutes and constructed a fascinating portrait of adolescence and family life. While Boyhood has a story, the narrative is presented as a loosely associated collection of scenes. Normally that would be a detriment to the picture but because of its cinema verite style, the filmmakers are able to get away from the trappings of plot and in the process reveal something subversive about storytelling. Most narratives, whether on the screen or on the page, are tidy and unified and everything has a purpose and all events lead toward a conclusion. That cohesion is both aesthetically and psychologically satisfying but it isn’t true. Life is much more haphazard than that and Boyhood visualizes that chaotic quality of life. This is most apparent in the final scene in which the boy has become a man and he looks out into a future that is full of both uncertainty and possibility. This is why Boyhood is an extraordinary film. It captures something ephemeral but essential about life and the picture has a mysterious profundity about it. It’s that covertly stated truth that makes Boyhood the best film of 2014.

2. Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Premise: An actor (Michael Keaton) who was once the star of a popular superhero franchise directs and stars in a Broadway production with the goal of reinventing himself as a serious artist.

Why It Made the List: Show business satires always run the risk of becoming too self-indulgent, with filmmakers seen to be stroking their own ego or pandering to their peers. Birdman is brilliant in many ways but one of its outstanding qualities is that the filmmakers recognize the self-serving quality of their story and then turn it back on the film itself. Birdman gets at issues that are pressing for all those who care about cinema as an art form; namely, the relationship between art and commerce and the role of the individual in a collaborative art form. More pointedly, Birdman asks whether or not big budget Hollywood spectacles should be considered artistic expression or merely corporate products that serve as escapist distractions for the masses. The answer is not so simple. Birdman sends up pretentions to artistry in ways that recall show business satires like Sullivan’s Travels but unlike Preston Struges’ 1941 film, Birdman does not necessarily validate spectacle or high art. Instead the movie applies a more complicated view on things and ties up the artistry with the identity of the artist. Birdman presents a man driven to the edge of madness because he wants his life to mean something and he sets out to achieve that by creating a piece of art that will be respected by critics and high society. What the filmmakers recognize is that this kind of pandering is no different from test screened corporate sludge and Birdman is a wild and frequently hysterical farce of a man trying be authentic by being something he isn’t.

3. Whiplash

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Premise: An aspiring drummer (Miles Teller) enrolls at a music conservatory and comes under the mentorship of an instructor with a ruthless drive for perfectionism (J.K. Simmons).

Why It Made the List: On the outset, Whiplash appears to be a feel-good coaching film like Hoosiers or The Karate Kid in which an eccentric teacher takes a talented prospect under his wing and turns him into a champion. Whiplash isn’t that movie. This is a subversive picture and through the conductor, played terrifically by J.K. Simmons, Whiplash takes aim at the tolerance of mediocrity and the privileging of self-esteem over greatness. What’s fascinating about Simmons’ character is that he’s an antagonist but not a villain. It’s the conductor’s mission to push his students beyond their own preconceived limitations and he does so with the tact of a military drill instructor. His insults fall upon a would-be drummer played by Miles Teller and the relationship between the conductor and this musician is the most satisfying battle seen on the screen all year. For all the yelling and cursing directed by Simmons’ character toward his musicians he might as well be yelling at the entire musical genre. Musicals have enjoyed a minor comeback in recent years but mostly through limp and cliché adaptations of Broadway productions. Although it has no singing, Whiplash is a musical. It is a story about a musician and plot and character development are communicated through musical performances whose rawness, energy, and excitement put so many pretentious Broadway adaptations to shame. Drawing on the styles and editing of music videos, Whiplash restores the excitement and edginess of live performances to the jazz form. In doing so, director Damien Chazelle has made one of the most properly cinematic movies of 2014.

4. Noah

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Premise: A retelling of the Biblical story in which a man and his family must build a vessel to house a pair of every creature on Earth before God destroys the world in a flood.

Why It Made the List: The year 2014 saw the release of a lot of faith-based movies, either reciting Biblical narratives or telling contemporary stories with religious themes. The quality of these movies varied but none were as good or as insightful as Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. This movie is marvelously crafted with striking visuals and grand set pieces consistent with the best Hollywood spectacles. However, Aronofsky’s Noah is much more than a special effects show. One of the distinguishing aspects of this film is the way in which he has interpreted the story. In an adaptation the job of a filmmaker is to interpret the source material and find themes and characters to expound upon. The filmmakers of Noah have taken on the Biblical flood story and thought deeply about what that story means for a religious audience and also for general viewers. That consideration is apparent on the screen and Noah is as much about matters of faith as it is about a contemporary industrialized world that is rushing toward a precipice of ecological disaster. The film also has some of terrific performances that went unrecognized by the Hollywood awards circuit, namely Russell Crowe in the title role. Noah is a man who literally bears responsibility for Creation and that charge weighs heavily upon him. Similarly underappreciated was Ray Winstone as Tubal-cain, the leader of mankind’s sinful legacy. The conflict between these two men and their struggle for survival is both cosmic and intimate and with time Noah ought to be ranked among the great Biblical films.

5. Gone Girl

Directed by: David Fincher

Premise: A housewife (Rosamund Pike) disappears and her husband (Ben Affleck) becomes a murder suspect but whether he is a murderer or an innocent bystander is unclear.

Why It Made the List: Some of David Fincher’s best films have had to do with serial killers and psychotic behavior as seen in Se7en and Zodiac and he is renowned for his attention to detail. That meticulousness is on full display in Gone Girl. This movie has been designed, filmed, and edited together with great precision and the resulting film is as engaging and accomplished as classics like Vertigo and Fatal Attraction. The careful filmmaking and calibrated plot are matched by equally precise performances. Ben Affleck gives a very careful and compelling performance as a man who may or may not have killed his wife and Rosamund Pike is tremendous as his disappeared spouse. But as morbid and edgy as Gone Girl is, one of the underappreciated qualities of the film is how funny it is, albeit by way of a pitch black sense of humor. At some level Gone Girl is a satire of America’s obsession with true crime. This is evidenced by the performance of Carrie Coon as a cable news anchor who is quite obviously a stand-in for crime reporter Nancy Grace and the way Coon and the filmmakers tear into Grace’s histrionic and shameless act is a joy to watch. At another level, Gone Girl exposes the limitations of our ability to understand and empathize with other people. This may be the film’s most disturbing facet. Gone Girl is unsettling for a variety of reasons but ultimately it’s the realization of how little we truly know about other people that makes the deepest impression.

6. Happy Valley

Directed by: Amir Bar-Lev

Premise: A documentary film about the aftermath of Penn State University’s child abuse scandal and its impact on the school, the team, and the community.

Why It Made the List: One of the towering figures in college football and in American sports in general was Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. The coach and his football program achieved a level of celebrity that is rare even among college and professional sports. This all came crashing down when Jerry Sandusky, the assistant coach, was convicted of over forty counts of sexual abuse of children. The investigation revealed that Paterno was made aware of Sandusky’s behavior but never reported the matter to law enforcement and may have even covered up Sandusky’s crimes. The Penn State child abuse scandal is one of the great implosions in the history of sports. Into the aftermath comes the documentary film Happy Valley which goes beyond the narrative cast in the mainstream press. This is not really a movie about sports or college football; it’s a story of the faith people put into their institutions and the lengths to which they are willing to go to defend those institutions even in the face of obvious corruption and negligence. Yet, the movie isn’t a hatchet job on the Penn State community either. Happy Valley is upsetting because the filmmakers tap into the confusion that sets in when a community’s sense of self is threatened. And that is what’s really at the heart of this film: the tension between the reality of Joe Paterno and the myth of “JoPa.” In that way, Happy Valley examines what happens after an idol is shattered and the desperation and fear that come in the aftermath.

7. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Premise: The concierge of a famous European hotel (Ralph Fiennes) takes a lobby boy (Tony Revolori) under his wing. When a wealthy woman leaves her estate to the concierge, he and his protégé are forced to go on the run and are pursued by her greedy family members.

Why It Made the List:Wes Anderson’s previous feature, Moonrise Kingdom, was one of his most accessible movies and it downplayed Anderson’s eccentric style. By contrast, The Grand Budapest Hotel is the most Wes Anderson-y of Wes Anderson’s films. While it’s going to leave the filmmaker’s detractors out in the cold the picture is an amazing style piece. There is a lot in The Grand Budapest Hotel that can be admired from a technical standpoint such as the manipulation of the aspect ratio and the use of music and non-diegetic visuals. The appeal of Anderson’s work is found in his kooky characters, offbeat tone, and flamboyant filmmaking style and all of those elements are on display in The Grand Budapest Hotel. However, as wild as the film is, The Grand Budapest Hotel also has a great deal of filmmaking economy. Each shot is dense with detail but the style never overcomes the storytelling and the movie has some of the most memorable characters of Wes Anderson’s filmography. The picture is led by strong central performances by Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori as the hotel concierge and his protégé. Fiennes and Revolori are great together and Fiennes is especially remarkable. He’s generally been pegged as a dramatic actor but in The Grand Budapest Hotel he proves capable of comedy. And yet, beneath its humor and kookiness, there is a melancholic tone underlying The Grand Budapest Hotel. As the narrator tells of his adventures with Gustave H. there is a subtle mournfulness that packs an unexpected punch.

8. Life Itself

Directed by: Steve James

Premise: A documentary about the life and work of film critic and blogger Roger Ebert.

Why It Made the List: Movies that try to answer big questions like the meaning of life tend to fall short of their ambitions and filmmakers end up criticized for their hubris. Life Itself does not proclaim to be a movie about grand issues. It’s a documentary about a film critic, recounting his career and his struggle to function and stay alive amid very difficult circumstances. And yet, this portrayal of Roger Ebert’s career manages to get at something very essential about life. The movie opens with archival footage of Ebert lecturing about movies and why he thought they are important; Ebert claimed that movies offer a chance for empathy with other people and provide opportunities to see the world from a new vantage point. That is exactly what Life Itself accomplishes. The first two portions of the movie are pretty standard biographical filmmaking as they explore Ebert’s early career and his rise to fame as the world’s most recognizable film critic and the recollections and insights provided by the commentators are amusing and colorful. However, the final portion of the film focuses on Roger Ebert’s declining health and his relationship with his wife Chaz. The first two portions tells us who Ebert was through his passion for the movies while the final portion of the picture captures Ebert’s struggle to continue to do the thing that had defined his life. Going beyond a biography or a tribute piece, Life Itself is sometimes difficult to watch but its honesty and insight are staggering and at times emotionally wrenching.

9. Selma

Directed by: Ava DuVernay

Premise: A dramatization of the efforts by Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) to mount a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 in order to push for the Voting Rights Act.

Why It Made the List: Timing is critical in art. Had this film been released six years ago it may not have struck quite the chord that it did in 2014. Coming forty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and amid widespread concerns about the condition of those rights, Selma was the right movie at the right time. But regardless of its timeliness, Selma is an exceptional piece of historical filmmaking. Historical films always run up against the viewer’s sense of history; it is difficult to imagine the past going any other way than it did, especially major historical events like the Civil Rights Movement. Historical feature films sometimes suffer from a lack of drama or tension because we perceive the outcome as inevitable. The filmmakers of Selma have restored the uncertainty of the moment and the possibility of failure into this historical event. That makes it much more dramatically satisfying and it highlights the heroism of those involved. A large part of the film’s success is due to its depiction of Martin Luther King, Jr., played terrifically by David Oyelowo. The film violates The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance rule and portrays the man instead of the legend. As seen in Selma, King is a fallible human being who had flaws and self-doubt but also had a sense of humor and enjoyed the comradery of his fellow activists. Selma does justice to the man and his legacy while telling a compelling story that is all the more potent because of its contemporary urgency.

10. Nymphomaniac: Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

Directed by: Lars von Trier

Premise: A two volume movie in which a woman recalls her life, focusing on her impulsive sexuality.

Why It Made the List: Lars von Trier is a provocateur filmmaker. Movies like Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and especially Antichrist are difficult and challenging movies that feature extreme imagery and very uncomfortable subject matter. However, von Trier has consistently demonstrated that he’s not merely out to provoke for its own sake. There is an intelligence and an agenda behind the movies that he makes and Nymphomaniac may be his most ambitious project. This film, split into two volumes and released in multiple versions, is possibly von Trier’s most extreme picture. A lot of publicity surrounded the feature’s inclusion of hardcore footage. But despite this imagery, Nymphomaniac is not pornography. This is a story about human sexuality and it crashes through all manner of barriers regarding depictions of sex in the movies. The film is likely to be offensive to a wide range of tastes. It certainly isn’t going to appeal to a socially conservative audience and there is a lot in it that is going to offend politically correct liberal viewers as well. But Nymphomaniac’s unpleasantness should not obfuscate what it accomplishes. Von Trier attempts and mostly succeeds in exploring the psychological and political aspects of sexuality and this is a very thoughtful picture. Nymphomaniac cannot be recommended for general audiences but viewers who are willing to cope with its explicitness will find a great deal of insight and humanity in the film. It is a radical work but it’s also a relevant one and its scope, boldness, and intelligence make it one of the best movies of 2014.

Honorable Mentions

What follows are films that were either runners up to the Top 10 list or other pictures that came out in 2014 that are worth mentioning.

The Babadook – A frightening movie about a single mother and her son haunted by a boogieman.

Begin Again – A fine movie with a terrific soundtrack and strong performances by Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo.

Belle – Despite tending toward sentimentality, Belle tells an involving story and does a better than average job portraying the complicated interplay of race, class, and gender, anchored by a performance by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Beyond the Lights – It’s ultimately a conventional story but the romance is done well and Beyond the Lights is a smart movie about love and fame. It also featured Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s other notable performance of the year.

The Book of Life – A fun animated film with a unique visual style.

The Boxtrolls – Another extremely entertaining animated film distinguished by its smart social commentary.

Calvary – Many religious films of 2014 were terrible but Calvary combined thoughtful filmmaking with wit and compelling characters. Brendan Gleeson gives a great performance as a troubled priest and the supporting cast is also very strong.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – One of the best entries in Marvel’s Avengers series.

Chef – A lightweight but charming story of a father and son bonding over food and business.

Cold in July – A gritty tale of crime and redemption with some unexpected and sometimes disturbing twists and notable performances by Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – The best popcorn movie of the summer of 2014 and one of the greatest sequels ever made. The film also had astounding motion capture performances by Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell.

Dom Hemingway – An audacious movie that satirizes stupid formulations of masculinity while also having a laugh. It also featured a terrific performance by Jude Law.

The Double – The Double deals with complex ideas and absurd situations with a great deal of skill and it features a notable performance by Jessie Eisenberg.

The Drop – A well-made crime thriller that combines violence and grit with an underlying sense of honor and good heartedness. The picture features notable performances by Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini.

Edge of Tomorrow – A fun sci-fi action movie that most audiences missed during its theatrical run.

The Fault in Our Stars – A smart and sensitive film about confronting mortality and appreciating the half of the glass that’s full. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were well cast as teenage lovers.

Frank– A bizarre story of an eccentric band trying to record an album. The movie is very funny but it’s also a thoughtful tale of musicians trying to unify their sound and find their place in the music industry.

Fury – An exciting, entertaining, and well-acted World War II picture.

Get on Up – The movie has a terrific central performance by Chadwick Boseman as James Brown and when it concentrates on the music it’s a lot of fun.

Godzilla – Godzilla is an excellent example of a well-crafted spectacle that presents mass destruction with artistry and a sense of gravitas.

The Good Lie – This drama about Sudanese refuges relocating to America was marketed as a vehicle for Reese Witherspoon but the real stars of the movie were actors Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, and Emmanuel Jal.

Grand Piano – Grand Piano has an incredible premise but the story moves along so fast and is so entertaining that it overcomes its improbabilities.

Guardians of the Galaxy –The popular hit of 2014 was among the best of Marvel’s films.

Horns – A strange tale of sin and redemption.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 – In a year full of sequels, this was one of the best.

Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest movie may play better on multiple viewings (and with various combinations of substances) and there is a lot in it that is fascinating. The film also features notable performances by Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, and Katherine Waterston.

The Imitation Game – A very good movie led by a stellar performance from Benedict Cumberbatch. The politics of the film aren’t as provoking as the filmmakers would have us believe but it is a well told story.

The Immigrant– This story of a Polish immigrant arriving in 1920s New York was a visceral period piece with notable performances by Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix.

Interstellar – Despite some misguided storytelling decisions, Interstellar has lot in it that is to be admired, especially from a technical standpoint.

Joe – Joe didn’t get much of a theatrical release but it has a gritty style and some terrific performances, giving Tye Sheridan a chance to shine and allowing Nicolas Cage to remind us why he became a star.

John Wick – A stylish and cool shoot ‘em up action movie.

The Lego Movie– A fun animated feature that was much better than anyone expected it to be (but maybe not as great as some people insisted that it was).

Let’s Be Cops – One of the most misjudged titles of 2014. Not a great film but it had some laughs and even managed to be a little subversive.

Life After Beth – A fresh take on the zombie genre with strong performances by Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza, and John C. Reilly.

Locke – Taking place entirely inside the cab of a car on a long drive, Locke is extremely well made and features a terrific performance by Tom Hardy.

Lucy – Lucy is not a great movie but it’s so weird and executed with such energy and creativity that it mostly overcomes the flaws of its storytelling and its many lapses in credibility.

A Most Violent Year – A very good film that presents the audience with characters and situations of nuance and complexity and features notable performances by Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

A Most Wanted Man – This spy thriller gave Philip Seymour Hoffman his last great role.

Mr. Turner – A funny period piece in which Timothy Spall gives a terrific performance as the painter J.M.W. Turner.

Neighbors – One of the funniest movies of 2014, Neighbors also manages to insert a little substance that distinguishes it from other college comedies.

Nightcrawler – This thriller was a smart, provocative, and highly entertaining movie with a great performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.

The Normal Heart – This dramatization of gay activism during the early years of the AIDS crisis was a powerful and well-acted story with notable performances by Mark Ruffalo, Jim Parsons, and Julia Roberts.

Obvious Child – One of the dark horse titles of the year, the humor of Obvious Child will have a narrow appeal but its humanity transcends its limitations and the film features an impressive performance by Jenny Slate.

Only Lovers Left Alive – A beautifully made and very different vampire film.

The Pretty One – The movie rises above its predictable story because its filmmakers give this tale dramatic weight and create characters that are watchable and engaging. Zoe Kazan is impressive playing the lead character and her identical twin.

Pride – This true story of an alliance between British miners and a gay rights group was the feel-good movie of the year.

The Raid 2 – Although not quite as good as its predecessor, The Raid 2 was an impressive action film with some incredible action set pieces.

Rosewater – An impressive directorial debut from Jon Stewart. The film tells a compelling story in a way that is mostly engaging and it features a notable lead performance by Gael Garcia Bernal.

The Skeleton Twins – Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader are a great dramatic and comedic pair as troubled middle aged siblings.

Snowpiercer– An action movie and a parable that matches a high concept story with action movie thrills and smart social commentary.

Stonehearst Asylum – This adaption of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story was released without any fanfare but it deserves to be seen.

The Theory of Everything – This biopic of the life of Stephen Hawking was very entertaining and it features impressive performances by Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.

Top Five – Chris Rock wrote, directed, and stars in this perceptive comedy-drama about celebrity, race, and art.

Unbroken – This true story of Louis Zamperini told an entertaining tale of human endurance and featured a notable performance by Jack O’Connell in the lead role.

Under the Skin – One of the most bizarre releases of 2014.

What If – This is ultimately a standard romantic comedy but it’s done with humor and has great characters, especially the leads played by Zoe Kazan and Daniel Radcliffe.

Wild – An adaption of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir with a career defining performance by Reese Witherspoon.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men series with one of the best entries in the franchise.

Good Buzz List

These are films that were released in 2014 and have strong word of mouth, and in some cases award nominations, but Nathan was unable to see them in time for the year end summary, usually because they did not open in southern Minnesota and have not yet been made available for home viewing.

Cake– Jennifer Aniston has earned a great deal of praise and several award nominations for her performance as a woman who has hallucinations of her neighbor’s dead wife.

Citizenfour– Laura Poitras’ documentary of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has been recognized with nominations at several film festivals and awards venues.

Dear White People– A satire of the lives of black students at an Ivy League university. The film has garnered lots of critical acclaim.

Force Majeure– This French film was nominated and won the Best Foreign Language Film award at several festivals and awards ceremonies, including Cannes.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night– This Iranian vampire film was nominated for the Best First Feature award at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Leviathan– This Russian film of political corruption and family drama won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

Still Alice – Julianne Moore has received a lot of praise for her performance in this adaptation of Lisa Genova’s novel.

Two Days, One Night– Actress Marion Cotillard has won several awards for her performance and the film has been similarly recognized.

Great Performances

This is a list of some of the great performances in 2014, although not all of them were in great movies.

Adult World – Emma Roberts and John Cusack are fun to watch as an aspiring poet and her mentor.

American Sniper – The movie has a number of problems but Bradley Cooper was terrific in this fictionalized adaptation of Chris Kyle’s memoir.

Begin Again – A fine movie with a terrific soundtrack and strong performances by Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo.

Beyond the Lights – Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s other notable performance of the year.

Birdman – This film had several great performances by Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, and Emma Stone.

Boyhood – The casting of Ellar Coltrane turned out to be a lucky break for filmmaker Richard Linklater as he grew up to become a reliable actor. The film also has notable performances by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke.

Calvary – Brendan Gleeson gives a great performance as a troubled priest and the supporting cast is also very strong.

Camp X-Ray – Kristen Stewart gives an effective performances as a soldier stationed at the prison in Guantanamo Bay and Peyman Moaadi is also well cast as a prisoner.

Cold in July – A gritty tale of crime and redemption with some unexpected and sometimes disturbing twists and notable performances by Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – The film had astounding motion capture performances by Andy Serkis and Toby Kebbell.

Dom Hemingway – An audacious movie that featured a terrific performance by Jude Law.

The Double – The Double features a notable performance by Jessie Eisenberg as two characters.

The Drop – The picture features notable performances by Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini.

Elsa & Fred – This love story between two elderly people wasn’t a great movie but it did have likable performances by Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer.

The Fault in Our Stars –Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were well cast as teenage lovers.

Foxcatcher – Steve Carell and Channing Tatum provide stunning performances as John du Pont and Mark Schultz.

Get on Up – The movie has a terrific central performance by Chadwick Boseman as James Brown.

Gone Girl – Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike are terrific as husband and wife in David Fincher’s thriller and Carrie Coon is a lot of fun to watch as a stand-in for cable news personality Nancy Grace.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – This most Wes Anderson-y of Wes Anderson’s films includes an unusually comic performance by Ralph Fiennes and an impressive feature film debut by Tony Revolori.

Happy Christmas – Not a great movie but it does feature a notable performance by Anna Kendrick.

Hateship Loveship – This adaptation of a short story by Alice Munro features outstanding performances by Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld, and Nick Nolte.

Hellion – This story of a troubled family featured intense performances by Aaron Paul and Josh Wiggins.

Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest movie features notable performances by Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, and Katherine Waterston.

The Imitation Game – A very good movie led by a stellar performance from Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Immigrant – This story of a Polish immigrant arriving in 1920s New York was a visceral period piece with notable performances by Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix.

Into the Woods – The movie wasn’t great but it had notable performances by Emily Blunt, James Corden, and Lilla Crawford.

The Judge – An average movie with above average performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall.

The Lego Movie – A fun animated feature that was much better than anyone expected it to be (but maybe not as great as some people insisted that it was).

Life After Beth – A fresh take on the zombie genre with strong performances by Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza, and John C. Reilly.

Locke – Taking place entirely inside the cab of a car on a long drive, Locke is extremely well made and features a terrific performance by Tom Hardy.

Love is Strange – A low key but well-acted story in which John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play a pair of married gay men who find themselves between homes.

Life of Crime – An adaptation of the novel by Elmore Leonard notable for its wit and unusual characters and the performance by Jennifer Aniston.

McCanick – David Morse carries this movie about a corrupt cop with a dark secret.

A Most Violent Year – A very good film that presents the audience with characters and situations of nuance and complexity and features notable performances by Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

A Most Wanted Man – This spy thriller gave Philip Seymour Hoffman his last great role.

Mr. Turner – A funny period piece in which Timothy Spall gives a terrific performance as the painter J.M.W. Turner.

Nightcrawler – This thriller was a smart, provocative, and highly entertaining movie with a great performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Noah – This recreation of the Biblical story of the great flood had notable performances by Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, and Ray Winstone.

Nymphomaniac – Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stacy Martin expose themselves both literally and emotionally in Lars von Trier’s sexual opus.

The Pretty One – Zoe Kazan is impressive playing the lead character and her identical twin.

The Railway Man – The film is distinguished by notable performances by Jeremy Irvine, Colin Firth and Hiroyuki Sanada.

Rosewater – The film features a notable lead performance by Gael Garcia Bernal.

Selma – David Oyelowo cuts through the legend to make King a real figure.

The Skeleton Twins – Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader are a great dramatic and comedic pair as troubled middle aged siblings.

St. Vincent – The film was just average but the performances of Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd and Jaeden Lieberher were notable.

The Theory of Everything – This biopic of the life of Stephen Hawking features impressive performances by Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.

Top Five – Chris Rock wrote, directed, and stars in this perceptive comedy-drama about celebrity, race, and art.

Unbroken – This true story of Louis Zamperini featured a notable performance by Jack O’Connell in the lead role.

What If – This is ultimately a standard romantic comedy but it’s done with humor and has great characters, especially the leads played by Zoe Kazan and Daniel Radcliffe.

Whiplash – A wonderfully made movie and with terrific performances by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons.

Wild – An adaption of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir with a career defining performance by Reese Witherspoon.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men series with one of the best entries in the franchise.

Bottom 10 Films of 2014

What follows are the very bottom of the cinematic heap for 2014.

1. America: Imagine the World Without Her

Directed by: Dinesh D’Souza and John Sullivan

Premise: A documentary that critiques the narrative that America’s wealth and prosperity were acquired through theft and barbarism. The filmmakers offer an alternative, that America is a constructive and benevolent force in the world.

Why It Made the List: Filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza would like audiences to believe that America: Imagine the World Without Her is a sincere and patriotic tribute to the country and a defense of conservative values. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best of the conservative intellectual tradition emphasizes skepticism, demands honest and rigorous analysis, and values facts over kneejerk emotional reactions. The filmmakers of America present half-truths and outright lies and substitute logic with sentimentality. The very conceit of the movie is a straw man argument that gets sillier as it proceeds. But that’s not the worst of it. As shown in the film, D’Souza pled guilty to violating campaign finance laws and this movie exists for D’Souza to position himself as a political prisoner, going as far as juxtaposing the image of this pseudo-intellectual in handcuffs with a recreation of President Lincoln’s assassination. This film exists because Dinesh D’Souza got egg on his face and he’s using the American flag to wipe it off.

2. A Haunted House 2

Directed by: Michael Tiddes

Premise: This sequel to the 2013 film is a parody of The Conjuring, Annabelle, Sinister, The Possession and other recent horror films.

Why It Made the List: A Haunted House 2 is Marlon Wayans’ equivalent to Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups 2. Just like Sandler’s vacation sequel, there’s nothing to this movie and A Haunted House 2 barely qualifies as a feature film. A staggering amount of the picture is dedicated to Wayans shrieking and flailing in front of the camera and yet not really doing anything. A Haunted House 2 is supposed to be a parody but at best it’s a tax write off and at worst it’s a pretense for Marlon Wayans to act out his own pedophilic fantasies with the doll from Annabelle.

3. No Good Deed

Directed by: Sam Miller

Premise: An escaped convict (Idris Elba) terrorizes a mother (Taraji P. Henson) who is home alone with her children.

Why It Made the List: In a year that saw a resurgence of interest in the way black men are viewed and valued by the community, it is difficult to imagine a movie more out of sync with the times than No Good Deed. As film critic Christie Lemire pointed out, this movie fetishizes the violence perpetrated by a black man against women. No Good Deed retreads the stereotype of the predatory black male as seen in Birth of a Nation only for the purposes of working through a psycho killer boiler plate that was cliché thirty years ago.

4. Persecuted

Directed by: Daniel Lusko

Premise: A faith leader (James Remar) is framed for murder when he refuses to back religious legislation.

Why It Made the List: The many faith based pictures of 2014 ran the gamut between good and bad but none were as stupid as Persecuted. In this film government agents frame a pastor for murder when he refuses to endorse a “religious reform bill.” What the bill actually does is never explained but it’s implied to do with diversity and to these filmmakers that means the end of religious freedom as we know it. Persecuted lacks even the most basic understanding of how government works or what religious freedom means and the whole picture is a laughably self-serious call to arms against a nonexistent boogeyman.

5. The Expendables 3

Directed by: Patrick Hughes

Premise: The mercenary squad is sent on a mission to capture a notorious arms dealer who is also a former member of The Expendables team.

Why It Made the List: The bar for the Expendables movies is low but somehow the filmmakers of this third installment in the geri-action series have managed to limbo under it. This franchise was built on the gimmick of corralling the action stars of 1980s and 90s into one film but the cast is bloated with lousy actors phoning in their performances. The Expendables 3 is also terribly made with incoherent action scenes and the special effects of a SyFy Channel original movie. But worst of all, it’s boring. The Expendables 3 is less exciting than applying for Social Security.

6. And So It Goes

Directed by: Rob Reiner

Premise: A wealthy but difficult realtor (Michael Douglas) is suddenly charged with his granddaughter (Sterling Jerins) when her father goes to prison. He appeals to his neighbor (Diane Keaton) for help.

Why It Made the List:Rob Reiner’s filmmaking career has been in decline for some time and the director of This is Spinal Tap and A Few Good Men now makes sentimental shlock. Like Reiner’s recent films And So It Goes is set in a wealthy resort town where upper class vacationers feel sorry for themselves. The film purports to be a romantic comedy but it is really the tale of a rich white jerk who finds it in himself to tolerate the presence of poor people. After this film Rob Reiner should reconsider his career options.

7. Deliver Us From Evil

Directed by: Scott Derrickson

Premise: A New York police detective (Eric Bana) joins with an unconventional priest (Edgar Ramirez) to investigate a series of crimes.

Why It Made the List: Deliver Us From Evil was adapted from the memoir of a former New York police sergeant and marketed as a true story but nearly everything about it was fabricated. This isn’t much of a surprise. No one in Deliver Us From Evil behaves like a credible police officer or even a rational human being and the plot is a series of random events. In a vain attempt to make the movie scary, the filmmakers turn down the lighting but the imagery is so murky and edited together so sloppily that the action is impossible to follow.

8. Sabotage

Directed by: David Ayer

Premise: Members of a DEA task force find themselves being knocked off one at a time after they raid a drug cartel’s safe house.

Why It Made the List: Ever since returning to the motion picture industry, Arnold Schwarzenegger has struggled to recapture the success of his heyday and Sabotage is one of the worst movies of his career. Sabotage is about a DEA team that goes around shooting people without facing any consequences or even filing a police report. The movie romanticizes violent masculinity, with the characters constantly spouting macho dialogue that is supposed to be tough but just sounds stupid and the story culminates in an idiotic plot twist.

9. Transcendence

Directed by: Wally Pfister

Premise: A computer scientist (Johnny Depp) who is working on an artificially intelligent computer system is fatally wounded by an anti-technology terrorist organization. His wife and fellow researcher (Rebecca Hall) upload his consciousness to the computer system but the resulting life form turns on the human race.

Why It Made the List: Transcendence is a spectacular failure. At their best, science fiction films dramatize philosophical problems and provide insight into the intersection of technology and the human experience while telling compelling stories. Transcendence fails on all accounts. The story plods along, the characters behave irrationally, and the movie’s depiction of nanotechnology is absurd. At the very least, Transcendence should provide some thrills and unique visuals but this is just a stock sci-fi shoot-‘em-up that is about as intellectual as Sharknado but not nearly as entertaining.

10. Men, Women & Children

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Premise: An ensemble piece following several families and the way communication through digital media has altered their relationships.

Why It Made the List: In 2007 Jason Reitman directed Juno, followed by Up in the Air and Young Adult. In just seven years Reitman went from directing one of the hippest films of the past decade to one of the most insipid movies of 2014. The filmmakers of Men, Women & Children think they are making a big and important statement about big and important issues but this movie contributes nothing to anyone’s understanding about life in the digital age while managing to trivialize real life human struggles like depression, eating disorders, and infidelity.

Trends of the Year

Religious Films

This year saw the release of many religiously-themed films. They ranged widely from small pictures intended for a niche audience to big budget studio event titles intended for mainstream viewers. Some were quite good (Calvary, Noah) and others were really terrible (God’s Not Dead, Persecuted).

Impressive Animated Films

Animated movies continued to a major force in the marketplace in 2014 and this year saw several ambitious features with thoughtful stories and great characters.

Impressive Popcorn Event Films

One of the major themes in entertainment news this year was the decline in ticket sales, especially over the summer season. This is ironic because 2014 offered a better than average selection of popcorn spectacles.

Movies Designed to Sell Toys

The tie-ins between the toy industry and motion pictures continued with adaptations of popular games and toy lines.

Bizarre Fantasy Movies

While Hollywood studios offered a lot of fun and spectacular popcorn films, there were also some really interesting and frequently bizarre fantasy pictures that were much more in line with the work of David Lynch than Steven Spielberg.

Gay Stories

Several stories about the lives of homosexuals were released this year and they often concerned themselves with civil rights issues.

Failed Attempts to Launch a Young Adult Franchise

As in the previous year, 2014 saw another handful of attempts to succeed the Harry Potter series with adaptations of young adult fantasy novels. With the exception of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, none of them were very successful.

Musical Films

There were several films about musicians released this year and quite a few of them were very good.

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