It's that time of the year again folks and by that time of the year I mean halfway through February before I deliver my 2014 lists. So much going on already this month that I've been delayed but fear not, it's all coming now!
I'm doing a top 30 this time because out of the 107 brand new releases I sat through, there was a significant number of excellent ones. So 30's the new 10!
Of course these will be spoiler free as best as possible and due to the fact there's 30, I'm going to make them fairly compact reviews so you don't get bored or wander off into traffic or something stupid like that. So here it is, my best of 2014!
Oh, another thing, this reflects stuff that was released in Ireland only, so the likes of American Hustle & The Wolf of Wall Street can be included but Birdman, Foxcatcher, Whiplash etc. will not be! If I managed to see something at a film festival or VOD that isn't going to be released here til 2015, I will include it as 2014. - Also notice my effort of explaining plots clearly varies...
Enjoy!
30. Calvary - Dir. John Michael McDonagh
Safe to say that this was one of the most divisive films of the year but for me, one of the strongest. Brendan Gleeson plays a kind-hearted priest in a small town in the west of Ireland who is told during confession that he will be murdered because killing a bad priest means nothing but killing a good priest will cause uproar; he is given seven days to get his affairs in order. In this time he attempts to rekindle his relationship with his estranged daughter and try figure out who may want him dead, while being shunned by the locals in an age where the importance of Catholicism is declining.
A properly gripping drama that is stigmatised by the fact it was poorly advertised as a dark comedy, which it's not. It has moments where you'll chuckle but over all it's a serious drama. Gleeson is terrific as ever and while it has it's problematic moments, it's without a doubt one of the years finest. It's important to know it's not a comedy going in! It seems Irish audiences wanted The Guard again so they were left disappointed, UK and USA gave it raving reviews though and so they should have.
29. American Hustle - Dir. David O. Russell
Another one that left people a bit unsure is this glamourously cinematic crime-caper from known industry fuck-head, David O. Russell. Set during the 1970's following a fictionalised account of the true story about the Abscam scandal. An all star cast has Christian Bale & Amy Adams as married con artists, Bradley Cooper as the perm headed FBI agent who is using them to try take down the mafia and a likable, honest and popular political figure, Jeremy Renner, also gets tangled in the madness as well as Bale's ex wife, Jennifer Lawrence who is unpredictable and emotionally unstable; she could be detrimental to absolutely everything! Also, a nice appearance from Louis C.K. as Cooper's grouchy captain.
While some people felt this was flat and had nothing else but great acting going for it, I disagreed with them; It was hilarious, brilliantly directed, shot beautifully, chocked full of tremendous music, legitimately intense at times and had top quality acting. It's a joy to watch! Reminiscent of any Scorsese film and Boogie Nights.
28. Starred Up - Dir. David Mackenzie
While I generally hate when people make these ridiculous crossover comparisons of films, an accurate one to make for this is that it's like a mixture of Scum and Bronson - Scum for the kind of story, Bronson for the sheer fact that Jack O' Connell is a fucking psychopath for a majority of this. We follow Jack as he moves from a borstal to proper adult prison, which is where the phrase "Starred up" comes from. In adult prison he needs to make a name for himself, so he lets loose on absolutely anyone who crosses him, this puts him head to head with his own dad who is fairly high up in the prison; as well as a social worker who is trying trying to help him through group therapy sessions to overcome his anger and become a socially acceptable citizen.
This is as gritty as you get, pulling no punches when showing the brutal and violent world of a modern day British prison, there is absolutely no glamour in here. Just wall to wall violence and corruption. Riveting performances from everyone and it all felt so honest. A rare occasion where a British film will receive an 18s rating while over in Ireland it got a 16s - Probably to give teenagers a wake up call for where they can end up if they don't stop acting the bollocks!
27.The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman - Dir. Fredrik Bond
An under appreciated and underseen gem here. Shia LaBeouf might be a turn off for a lot of viewers, but don't let that deter you! Shia plays Charlie Countryman, his mother has just died and her spirit tells him to not waste his life and to fuck off to Budapest to "Find himself" (I know, I wouldn't be interested either, but trust me...) On his flight he meets a man who tells him about his daughter, he dies in his sleep but HIS spirit then spurs him on to return a cherished item to his daughter, Rachel Evan Wood. Shia falls in love with her immediately but that comes at a price, her controlling and psychopathic ex-husband, played terrifyingly by the reliable Mads Mikkelsen, is in the way and will literally KILL to prevent her and Shia from being together.
It's for sure one of the strangest films in my favourites; Originally something I wasn't sure about, it had a very compelling teaser clip so I decided to go for it! And I'm certainly glad I did. The story was enjoyable, the performances were great, it's shot very well and the soundtrack was superb. It might be a little hokey here and there but it's a solid romantic crime flick!
26. Cold In July - Dir. Jim Mickle
Dexter with a mullet... ok ok, I need more but really this should be enough to draw you in! Set in the late 1980s, a straight laced father and carpenter, Michael C. Hall, is greeted by a masked intruder in his home, leaving him with no choice but to shoot him dead. The intruder's father, Sam Shepard, is a big-time criminal and vows to take an eye for an eye, which ends up dragging everyone into a world of corruption, murder and snuff films.
It's interesting to see Jim Mickle go from horror to a slick yet gritty crime thriller. His previous effort, We Are What We Are was rather disappointing I thought and I feel he more than made up for it with this. Legitimately intense, lots of 80's flare, solid action and nothing but entertainment to follow. Plus it had terrific performances from Hall, Shepard and the delightful Don Johnson.
25. Dallas Buyer's Club - Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Based on the true events of activist Ron Woodroof, this Oscar winning biographical drama follows Matthew McConaughey as Ron, an electrician and hustler at the local rodeo, who through his exploits of promiscuous sex with many women, has landed him with AIDS. He is denied treatment and told that he has merely got a month to live. With this info, he makes it his mission to import non FDA approved, life saving drugs into the states, with the help of his new-found transgender friend, played by Jared Leto, and distribute it cheaply to AIDS patients all over Dallas.
Driven mainly by exceptional performances from both McConaughey and Leto and earning them both the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Academy awards, it is an unmissable and informative drama that will no doubt annoy the shit out of you (Due to the FDA guidelines, not the film itself) - Jennifer Garner plays a friendly nurse too, she rarely pops up in films these days... Shot in a similar, realistic fashion to The Wrestler too, which might be another reason for my liking! A must watch.
24. Dawn of The Planet of The Apes - Dir. Matt Reeves
Ooh OOH OOH HAHH AHHH EEEHK HHHEEK!! Translation: 10 years after the "Rise" (I still think this should be called Rise and the previous be called Dawn), Caesar the ape, played to haunting perfection by Andy Serkis, is now the leader of a massive colony of apes in the middle of an overgrown forest; deep in the ruins is an electrical plant which could help power a nearby city, so the humans want to go in and restore the power and make friends with the apes. But a cunty human (Gary Oldman) and a cunty ape (Toby Kebbell) are both in it for war and it complicates things for everybody and leads to trouble and betrayal on both sides.
Firey monkey's balls this was a fucking great flick, taking all of the best points of the excellent Rise and multiplying it by 100. It got its recognition as a blockbuster but it definitely needs more than that. The atmosphere and the effects are perfect and they set pieces of the dilapidated city looked brilliant, reminded me of the glorious video game, The Last of Us, but with apes. Much like the first film (Excluding John Lithgow's story line) the film's strongest points are all of the ape scenes; they're significantly more engaging than the human stories, I would happily shell out a few quid to see an all ape feature!
23. Fury - Dir. David Ayer
Brad Pitt is back to kill more Gnatzees and this time he has a tank and... Shia LaBeouf. He is known as Wardaddy, the commander of a tank during World War II; and he seemingly doesn't take shit from nobody. A rookie has joined his crew after one of their top gunmen was obliterated. Wardaddy and the other lads must show him the ropes through seriously tough love, but also fight their way through a battle that they're severely outnumbered and outgunned in.
This was surprisingly fucking excellent. I mean, David Ayer is someone who is very on the fence for me. He can do great action but besides Training Day, he can't write to save his own hole. So for him to do a serious war actioner, I was worried it'd be sullied with over the top action and shit dialogue. I was half right. The dialogue isn't great but I was hardly let down by that, it's better than Sabotage though. The story isn't bad but fucking hell, the action and acting is absolutely top notch. Riveting action set pieces using real tracers and apparently the first film to ever use a genuine German tiger tank. Very horrifically violent too; but I suppose if it's a war film or something with battles, you can get away with violence that a regular film wouldn't have a chance with. Proper edge of your seat stuff here, I'm surprised to say.
22. The Rover - Dir. David Michôd
David Michôd follows up his intense and grim crime drama masterpiece, Animal Kingdom with this under appreciated outback set, post apocalyptic, crime thriller. Ten years after a global economic collapse, we follow Eric (Guy Pearce), a hard as nails, quiet, loner whose only possessions are the clothes on his back and his car. While drinking in a dingy shit hole of a pub, a gang of criminals outside are in a car accident; clearly on the run, they scarper from the wreckage and steal Eric's car, which sends him on a violent quest to hunt them down. He's not alone though, one of the criminal's brother, an American named Rey (Robert Pattinson), was left for dead; Eric keeps him as a hostage to help find the location of his brother and the other criminals.
This is as bleak, realistic and gritty as they come, I wouldn't have expected less from Michôd really. Amazingly well shot, some properly intense moments and featuring one of my favourite scenes of the year; a realistic shoot out. Mystery Road had one of them too, another Aussie flick; a brilliantly done sniper fight but a supremely disappointing burnt scrotum of a film. Pearce and Pattinson are both terrific in this, as is Rey's brother, Scoot McNairy, who is the go to nervous guy in films these days. An unusual and grim road movie that shan't disappoint.
21. The Double - Dir. Richard Ayoade
Here is a surprising entry, and first of two doppleganger films in my best of the year list. Set in a bizarre. Terry Gilliam-esque universe (Insanely similar to Brazil) - An awkward, shy and lonely man named Simon (Jessie Eisenberg) works in a government agency, he's invisible to all his colleagues and the people around him in this world, especially the woman of his dreams, Hannah. A new employee in the building, James (Also played by Eisenberg) is an exact physical double of Simon; they dress the same, talk the same and look the same. But James is a complete opposite in terms of personality; he's charismatic, confident, excellent with women and loved by pretty much everyone who meets him; this puts him head to head with Simon as James begins to take over his life.
Jaysus I'm getting longer with these descriptions... No wonder this article is taking fucking yonks. I was not expecting at all to love this as much as I did; all of my weird hopes were put into The Zero Theorem and that to me was insanely disappointing. So it was refreshing to get my Gilliam dose elsewhere. The tone, look and atmosphere of this are exactly the style of Gilliam, as I said, mostly similar to Brazil. Laden with quirkiness but not in a hipster, annoying, cartwheeling down Manhattan to jazz music type way. Eisenberg put on a terrific double performance and the whole film was just mind-twisingly comfortable to watch. If you're looking for a supremely odd one with some cracking old tunes, this is the one to watch.
20. Lone Survivor - Dir. Peter Berg
Another jaw-dropping surprise here, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch and Taylor Kitsch play a band of elite soldiers who are sent in to Afghanistan eliminate a barbaric Taliban leader; but their plans change dramatically as an entire village of terrorists are alerted to their location, turning their assassination mission into a full blown survival mission waaaay behind enemy lines. Based on true events too, though partially dramatized... obviously.
Man this film is properly intense and as realistic as they come; especially the stunt work. The actors all insisted on doing the stunts themselves but they weren't allowed; I bet they're fucking delighted now after stunt men suffered broken necks, skulls, arms, legs, backs and probably more. Similar to Fury in it's execution of war action in that it's not over the top but it's not underwhelming either. Even the dramatic parts of this aren't bad!
19. New World - Dir. Hoon-jung Park
One of two masterful South Korean films to make it onto my list, this wildly underseen crime drama masterpiece was shown at the JDIFF (Jameson Dublin International Film Festival) despite already having been released the year before in Korea. The head of a police investigation, Kang (Min-sik Choi of Oldboy fame) plays a complete arsehole who is determined to take down a massive Korean criminal organisation known as Goldmoon. He orders an undercover cop, Ja-seong to take part in project New World, to help bring it to the ground. But his loyalty to one of the bosses puts him in a position where he must choose between a life of crime or the law in which he originally belongs.
This is further proof as to how South Korea is delivering some of the best action/crime/thrillers around. Starting off with a very slow and ultimately gripping hour of pure drama with a few splashes of action, it EXPLODES into chaos with fights and violence that'll have you sitting in a hospital needing surgery to reattach your jaw. Shot to perfection, brilliantly written and acted, this film has it all. Seek it out ASAP.
18. 12 Years A Slave - Dir. Steve McQueen
Now for the exhausting, bleak and powerful slavery biopic that swept some important Oscars up, including best picture. Based on a true story, set in 1841, a free black man named Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor - One of my favourite names to pronounce) is living comfortably and wealthy in New York, until he is kidnapped and forced into brutal slavery. Recounting the 12 years he was held captive and pulling no punches in showing the extreme treatment he and many others received mainly at the hands of the truly evil and psychotic, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).
Showcasing some of the most grotesque and important abuse in history, this film garnered a lot of worthy attention. Lupita Nyong'o's stellar and haunting performance even landed her an Oscar for best supporting actress. Acting from everyone involved is on absolutely top form but it's also Steve McQueen's incredible direction and Sean Bobbitt's flawless cinematography that help push this as one of the most phenomenal movies of the year. A well earned best picture award too, and not just out of guilt - this film truly earned it.
17. The Guest - Dir. Adam Wingard
The small independent lads behind You're Next, one of my 2013 favourites, have returned with a bang in their high budget, star driven action thriller (That some loosely have connected to the horror genre). The family of a recently deceased soldier are visited by a smart, attractive, strong and charming man who claims to have served along side their son in the war; he seems like the perfect gentleman, but he clearly has an unhinged and dark secret that leads to a series of brutal and efficient murders.
This action thriller has a blatant dark comedy overtone that just adds to the charm. Littered with startling amounts of violence, great dialogue, total absurdity and really well executed, practical action, this delivers on all fronts you could ask for. With 80's neon blood coursing through it's veins, this has been referred to as "This year's Drive" - which of course is fucking stupid. It's only similarity to Drive would be the soundtrack, it's very different otherwise. Planning a night of highly entertaining fun? This is the film for you!
16. The Imitation Game - Dir. Morten Tyldum
Despite the fact this is up for several Oscars, I feel this is a very underrated flick. It's like they just fucked it into each category to fill space rather than give it the plaudits it deserves. Bendydick Cuminhersnatch (Benedict Cumberbatch) plays real life mathematician, Alan Turing on his quest to crack the German's Enigma code during World War II, while trying to cover up his homosexual orientation from his team and the government.
This is an absolutely gripping and nailbiting drama that I think should stand the test of time. Expertly made by the same man who created one of my favourite films of 2012, the intense Norwegian thriller, Headhunters. Honeydick Bumblebeebatch was tremendous in it and Keira Knightley managed to not annoy the bollocks off me. I don't think she's quite Oscars good though...
15. Enemy - Dir. Denis Villeneuive
Gonna start being more brief in my descriptions. This always happens... The second of my doppleganger favourites. A quiet college professor discovers that he has an exact lookalike who is a struggling actor and plans to seek him out. But this only leads to an acidic, tense and complicated relationship between the two.
This film absolutely blew me away, expertly made by Denis Villeneuive, following up his masterful drama-thriller from 2013, Prisoners; this takes a more arthouse route and is most definitely not near as accessible. Easily the yellowest film in some time too. Gyllenhaal's performances, the story and a truly gut wrenching atmosphere that I haven't experienced since I watched Mulholland Drive make this an unforgettable masterpiece that will have you scratching the flesh off your head in confusion and delight.
14. What We Do In The Shadows - Dir. Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi
One of the only films of last year to have me screaming laughing even on repeat viewings and undoubtedly the highlight of Horrorthon 2014; this comedy horror gem follows a documentary crew who follow the exploits of four vampires from different centuries as they go about their lives while sharing a flat together in New Zealand. After one of them makes a new vampire, he shows them how to adapt to modern living and technology while they have to teach him to keep a low profile.
While this is naturally given plaudits for being hysterically funny and well written, it definitely deserves recognition for actually being brilliantly made. There is little to no CGI, brilliant segments of flying throughout the house that look excellent, practical gore and fire, practical werewolves; this film has it all! It's not often a film can have a sold out audience absolutely gock themselves laughing throughout an entire film but this did it! Highest gold star recommendation I can give! Be sure to watch with good company for maximum effect.
13. Boyhood - Dir. Richard Linklater
I'd say a lot of you are imploding into ball of shit in disbelief right now wondering how this wasn't my number one choice like about 90% of critics, well the answer is simple: While I really loved this film, there were 12 films I thought were better. Shocked? Disgusted? Well good, use that energy and anger as power for helping you to go and fuck yourself. I digress.
Boyhood follows the astonishingly realistic transition from childhood to adulthood over 12 years of a boy's life. The reason for it being real is not only Linklater's astoundingly good writing, but the fact that it IS real! That's right, the whole film was actually shot in little chunks over 12 years and to me, that makes it even better. Linklater and Ethan Hawke are both very patient with each other, as this isn't the first timely chronicle of characters they've been involved with; the mind blowing Before trilogy (Sunrise, Sunset & Midnight) works in a similar way; each film was set and directed 9 years apart and it just makes it all the more incredible.
Boyhood captures the innocence and adolescence of a teenage kid and the situations his family get into along the way, but while I loved the story, I found myself more interested in the lives of Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette. That's in no way a bad thing, it just makes it all the more realistic and interesting. A long drawn, highly recommended viewing.
12. Snowpiercer - Dir. Joon-ho Bong
The second of my incredible South Korean choices, although this is about 80% English speaking. Based on a graphic novel, Snowpiercer follows a massive group of lower class people at the back of a massive train that constantly travels around a frozen-over world. Each platform moves higher in class all the way to the rich people at the front. All of the lower class folk plan a revolution to get to the front.
I'm not going to explain much more as I feel I would spoil it but holy fuck can I vouch for this film. I remember seeing a trailer a few years ago for it and thinking it looked a bit "Meh" - I just saw "Captain America guy" and thought it looked like another run of the mill action film. Sweet chocolate covered baby Jesuses was I wrong! This film was like watching Cloud Atlas set entirely on a train. Visually mind blowing, riddled with outstanding action set pieces, brilliant story and a stellar cast including Chris Evans, the always excellent Tilda Swindon, Jamie Bell, John Hurt and more! A must see.
11. Her - Dir. Spike Jonze
Jonze is back and as Jonzey as ever. A lonely, shy man who works as a personal card writer decides to get an operating system for his computer that will help him organise his life. Due to how revolutionary technology has become, the OS has a full blown personality, one that he falls in love with, which as you can imagine, complicates and improves his life at the same time.
Jonze is no stranger to odd and endearing concepts for his films, while this isn't as outlandish as Being John Malkovich, it's most certainly on the same "feels" scale. While BJM goes to the point of just depressingly grim, this stays balanced on the heartbreaking tightrope. Joaquin Phoenix has been on FIRE the last while with his roles. This being a total opposite to The Master, which he was robbed of an Oscar for. It's mad to see a ridiculously convincing relationship between a guy and his AI girlfriend; but then again, there are documentaries on Channel 4 about people who fuck cars so... maybe not that hard to do. Anyway, this is a lovely film that will leave you satisfied. Also looks as if it was shot through Instagram which looks amazing.
10. Blue Ruin - Dir. Jeremy Saulnier
Well we're finally here at the top 10 spot! And what more worthy flick to be featured in my top 10 than the ultra intense and realistic revenge thriller, Blue Ruin. In a virtually dialogue free opening scene, we're introduced to a homeless man living out of his car; he gets wind off a friendly local cop that the man who murdered his parents many years before is being released from prison. This leads him on a mission to plan the world's messiest act of revenge with even messier consequences.
This truly impressed me early last year, I was already dying to see it despite knowing none of the plot (Delighted I viewed this film cold) purely because of it's poster, which might be my favourite poster of the year. It's as realistic as they come, there's no badassery here; it's a terrified man trying to kill terrifying people; his fear is so legit, he has no idea what he's doing, it's the polar opposite to all of the tough and cool revenge thriller's you've seen before. This is sloppy, dangerous and violent. What can go wrong, will go wrong; and it's fucking fantastic. Essential viewing.
9. Edge of Tomorrow - Doug Liman
This is without a doubt the dark horse of 2014 for me; nobody coulda seen this coming! Tom Cruise is a military officer who has never fought a single battle and is stripped of all his authority and thrown straight into the heart of an alien invasion; mere minutes into battle he is horrifically killed, but immediately respawns to the start of his day leading up to the battle. With this power, he is able to memorise exactly how everything will unfold as well as become an absolute fucking warrior in the process. He teams up with another super soldier, played by British trouser destroyer, Emily Blunt - she teaches him to fight and they try use his ability to save the world.
Now I should start by saying that I'm an absolute sucker for anything with time travel or repetition or anything like that. Going into this film I actually knew fuck all about it, which of course is down to terrible advertising. Tell me; what daft cunt thought it would be a good idea NOT to push a Tom Cruise action movie with fucking mech-suits?? This film could have garnered a lot more attention with the right advertising. It looked like a shitty actioner but ended up being a truly mind blowing sci-fi action epic. Quality work from the always reliable Cruise, an enthralling story and some outstanding sequences of special effects and acting. This is one that simply must be sought after.
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel - Dir. Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson is back on TOP form with the quirkiest quirk that ever quirked. This adventure comedy, that is currently joint-first place with The Royal Tenenbaums as my favourite Wes fillum, is definitely an odd one to explain. So I'll be very fucking brief. A hotel concierge is accused of murdering an elderly woman and goes on the run with the company of his lobby boy, from the police and the criminal family of the woman after she leaves him a valuable painting in her will. That's the briefest I can sum it up really...
I obviously won't say more for fear of spoiling anything but wow this is a supremely enjoyable film. A massive ensemble cast, hilarious characters and dialogue, incredible cinematography and just an all round delightful story told through many layers. Easily Anderson's most accessible work too; so if you plan on introducing someone to his work, definitely start with this! But if you're one of those arseholes that thinks *Bottle Rocket is his best film because it's unknown, then you're a cunt.
*It is a good film, don't get me wrong, but some people just want to be different for the sake of it...
7. Guardians of The Galaxy - Dir. James Gunn
The biggest box office smash of the year!... well, it came second to that Hunger Games pish; but not by a lot and to me this is the biggest box office smash, so fuck that other one. A lone space-scavenger, a warrior woman, an ultra-strong brute of a man, a bounty hunting, talking raccoon and his bounty hunting tree partner team up together to gain possession of a powerful orb that an evil emperor wants to use to take over the universe.
This has fun just spilling out of every orifice; it doesn't feel like the traditional Marvel film at all, set entirely in a new world - it completely feels like a Star Wars spin off of some sort. The ever likable Chris Pratt immediately has everyone (g)rooting for him as soon as you meet him; dancing his way through an evil looking planet to Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love"; You immediately know he's going to deliver endless grins throughout. A rare film where no character was annoying! They all had their charm, they were all hilarious and you instantly love them all. A surprising amount of adult humour in this too; it certainly appeals to a broad demographic! Great performances, outstanding classic rock & soul soundtrack and terrific action scenes.
6. Gone Girl - Dir. David Fincher
Now for the most acidic film you're likely to see from 2014 (often compared to Force Majeure for its bleak look at relationships) - Ben "Proved Himself" Affleck returns home to find his house has been broken into, it's in a mess and his wife, Rosamund Pike has gone missing. The police find blood at the scene and a lot of suspicion leading to foul play. All signs are pointing to a very guilty looking Ben; he's desperately trying to prove his innocence but is he hiding a much more sinister intention?
Like many of the above, I'm not going to say anymore; you'll have to get your hands on a copy yourself and mill into it! A two and a half hour belter that highlights everything that makes Fincher a true virtuoso at what he does. Excellent performances from everyone involved, noticeably great editing, superb soundtrack & genuinely surprising and shocking scenes. This has it all. The cinematography is fantastic too. Everything worked for me! Many complaints have been made about the plot, in the sense that it feels a bit like an evening TV thriller that you'd see back to back with Revenge, but I really enjoyed how dark it pessimistically satirical it was. Thoroughly enjoyed this.
5. Nightcrawler - Dir. Dan Gilroy
Not many people can have a directorial debut that is this fucking outstanding. It's hard to believe that this is a directorial debut at all but it was done by a screenwriter with over 20 years business experience! Nightcrawler dives into the seedy side of L.A. crime journalism; Lou Bloom is highly motivated and desperately seeking work. After being rejected at every corner, he sets his sights on video journalism, capturing footage and aftermaths of the horrific crimes that go down at night in Los Angeles. His lack of empathy or morality aids him in doing whatever is necessary to get the best work for him to sell.
Considered as a love letter to L.A. by some and a startling reminder of just how violent and terrifying the streets of L.A. still are, this film grabs you by the bollocks and doesn't let go 'til the credits roll. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers what is easily his best performance so far; leaving a very high standard to beat. Everything about this film was expertly crafted. The cinematography was utterly phenomenal, the screenplay was excellent too and earns it's Oscar nomination for sure; although I firmly believe that Gyllenhaal was disgracefully overlooked for a best performance nomination... but I'll go on about that another time. Exceptional film making here.
4. Under The Skin - Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Every nightmare I have ever had in video form and certainly one of the most unusual films of the year. An emotionless, van-driving, alien seductress leads lonely men back to her house throughout the night in Scotland - over time she starts adapting to human ways of life.
I will say no more... This is definitely not for everyone. It has a lot of draw that would get people interested: It's the guy who made Sexy Beast, it has Scarlett Johansson in the nip for a lot of it, it's a sci-fi film - but even with all those tremendous points, it's an extremely inaccessible art-house film. It's a film experience like no other; genuinely haunting to the point of feeling like watching the nightmares of your lifetime, atmospherically too, it feels like a horror film. Visually, musically and in just about every way, it's a masterpiece. It's one that'll stick with you forever, whether you like it or not, you'll never forget it. Oh and.... ya know, Scarlett's tits.
3. The Raid 2 - Dir. Gareth Evans
Whether you're a man or woman, this film will blow your bollocks all over the wall behind you (or in front, I don't know where you're standing) - Continuing on from the first film after only 2 hours, our bloodied, battered hero, Rama is immediately thrown into an undercover job to try take down dirty cops. To do that, he must spend time in prison and get in close with a crime boss's son to work his way up the trust ladder and get more intel. But is his life of crime taking over his obligation to the law? Don't sit here looking for answers! Watch the fucking film!
This is just incredible, in every aspect. There are those (Pretentious cunts) who will look at this as dumb action and fob it off immediately, but this is top quality film making. Starting a lot slower and more drama based compared to the non-stop thrill ride of the first film, this eases its way into the madness and eventually blows the doors down like a fucking battering ram. Featuring some of the most well choreographed and insanely violent action scenes as well as quite possibly the best fights ever recorded; this is the ULTIMATE action/martial arts film. It's particularly mind blowing when watched back to back with the first one. Running over an hour longer than the first, it totals the two films together to 4 hours. So do yourself a massive favour and set aside four useless hours and make them useful with 90 mins of madness, a slow, engaging half hour of story and then 2 hours of utter mania.
2. The Wolf of Wall Street - Dir. Martin Scorsese
Scorsese directs his funniest film since Raging Bull (For entirely different reasons). Based on the real life story of drug addicted Wall Street millionaire, Jordan Belfort, it follows him on his hilariously insane journey from young, nervous stock broker/salesman to absolutely insane drug and hooker loving millionaire. The rise and fall of someone who has everything he wants & more.
An utter goldmine to fall into Marty's lap, there's truly no other director who could do this bat-shit fucking mental story justice quite like him. As I said before about Starred Up and me not liking the whole crossover description thing; one of the best ways to describe this is that if Goodfellas and Wall Street fucked and had a kid, it'd be this. Telling the story of cutthroat stockbroker business in the style of a crime story (which it also is) makes this movie shine. As per usual, Scorsese favourite, Leonardo DiCaprio is on top form, as was Jonah Hill - their chemistry worked fantastically. It's got a whopping soundtrack, which again is the norm for Scorsese. Wall to wall drugs, sex and genuine belly laughs, along with What We Do In The Shadows, this had me fucking roaring for pretty much the entirety. A total blast.
1. Interstellar - Dir. Christopher Nolan
Well here we are, the end of the road. If you read this far, I thank you sincerely as I fucking ramble my hole off for a lot of this. If you just looked at the pictures and titles of the films and didn't really read it, well, I guess you won't see this, but I think you're an awful piece of shit.
It's no surprise this sits comfortably in the top spot as my favourite film of 2014 (And one of my all time favourites now) - This sci-fi adventure masterpiece is set in the future where the world is highly dependent on farmers to keep the food supply going as tornados of dust and blights sweep all over the world. An ex spaceship pilot follows mysterious coordinates to NASA and is sent on a mission with a team to find habitable planets on the other side of a black hole for the world to move to in order to survive.
I have been lucky to see this on all available formats now, 35mm film, 70mm film, in which it was shot, and finally through digital projection. All of them had their own unique feel and all of them were utterly incredible. This is groundbreaking cinema in every way, the acting is mesmerising (maybe less so from Ham Hatheway) but Matthew McConaughey & Jessica Chastain deliver as always. The fact there is extremely little CGI in this just makes it all the more jaw-dropping; the sets, models and effects are incredible. It's hard to put into words really!
Some people were disappointed with this and it truly baffles me how. I think for people to consider this a 1 star bad movie is just fucking preposterous too, a majority are hipster gee-bags who don't to like it due to Nolan's popularity, the others are just insane people. I can understand people maybe not liking it due to personal taste or whatever, but to give it no plaudits at all is just ridiculous.
I'm really ranting badly here... but the main thing is this - Interstellar is a fully fledged masterpiece, the music should have been up for an Oscar because it would win, hands down. Cinematography, production design - EVERYTHING. Some have even gone to say it's this generation's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's magnificent.
Agree with me? Think I'm fucking mental? Let me know! And what are your favourites of 2014?
Cheers for reading this... thesis.
I'm doing a top 30 this time because out of the 107 brand new releases I sat through, there was a significant number of excellent ones. So 30's the new 10!
Of course these will be spoiler free as best as possible and due to the fact there's 30, I'm going to make them fairly compact reviews so you don't get bored or wander off into traffic or something stupid like that. So here it is, my best of 2014!
Oh, another thing, this reflects stuff that was released in Ireland only, so the likes of American Hustle & The Wolf of Wall Street can be included but Birdman, Foxcatcher, Whiplash etc. will not be! If I managed to see something at a film festival or VOD that isn't going to be released here til 2015, I will include it as 2014. - Also notice my effort of explaining plots clearly varies...
Enjoy!
30. Calvary - Dir. John Michael McDonagh
Safe to say that this was one of the most divisive films of the year but for me, one of the strongest. Brendan Gleeson plays a kind-hearted priest in a small town in the west of Ireland who is told during confession that he will be murdered because killing a bad priest means nothing but killing a good priest will cause uproar; he is given seven days to get his affairs in order. In this time he attempts to rekindle his relationship with his estranged daughter and try figure out who may want him dead, while being shunned by the locals in an age where the importance of Catholicism is declining.
A properly gripping drama that is stigmatised by the fact it was poorly advertised as a dark comedy, which it's not. It has moments where you'll chuckle but over all it's a serious drama. Gleeson is terrific as ever and while it has it's problematic moments, it's without a doubt one of the years finest. It's important to know it's not a comedy going in! It seems Irish audiences wanted The Guard again so they were left disappointed, UK and USA gave it raving reviews though and so they should have.
29. American Hustle - Dir. David O. Russell
Another one that left people a bit unsure is this glamourously cinematic crime-caper from known industry fuck-head, David O. Russell. Set during the 1970's following a fictionalised account of the true story about the Abscam scandal. An all star cast has Christian Bale & Amy Adams as married con artists, Bradley Cooper as the perm headed FBI agent who is using them to try take down the mafia and a likable, honest and popular political figure, Jeremy Renner, also gets tangled in the madness as well as Bale's ex wife, Jennifer Lawrence who is unpredictable and emotionally unstable; she could be detrimental to absolutely everything! Also, a nice appearance from Louis C.K. as Cooper's grouchy captain.
While some people felt this was flat and had nothing else but great acting going for it, I disagreed with them; It was hilarious, brilliantly directed, shot beautifully, chocked full of tremendous music, legitimately intense at times and had top quality acting. It's a joy to watch! Reminiscent of any Scorsese film and Boogie Nights.
28. Starred Up - Dir. David Mackenzie
While I generally hate when people make these ridiculous crossover comparisons of films, an accurate one to make for this is that it's like a mixture of Scum and Bronson - Scum for the kind of story, Bronson for the sheer fact that Jack O' Connell is a fucking psychopath for a majority of this. We follow Jack as he moves from a borstal to proper adult prison, which is where the phrase "Starred up" comes from. In adult prison he needs to make a name for himself, so he lets loose on absolutely anyone who crosses him, this puts him head to head with his own dad who is fairly high up in the prison; as well as a social worker who is trying trying to help him through group therapy sessions to overcome his anger and become a socially acceptable citizen.
This is as gritty as you get, pulling no punches when showing the brutal and violent world of a modern day British prison, there is absolutely no glamour in here. Just wall to wall violence and corruption. Riveting performances from everyone and it all felt so honest. A rare occasion where a British film will receive an 18s rating while over in Ireland it got a 16s - Probably to give teenagers a wake up call for where they can end up if they don't stop acting the bollocks!
27.The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman - Dir. Fredrik Bond
An under appreciated and underseen gem here. Shia LaBeouf might be a turn off for a lot of viewers, but don't let that deter you! Shia plays Charlie Countryman, his mother has just died and her spirit tells him to not waste his life and to fuck off to Budapest to "Find himself" (I know, I wouldn't be interested either, but trust me...) On his flight he meets a man who tells him about his daughter, he dies in his sleep but HIS spirit then spurs him on to return a cherished item to his daughter, Rachel Evan Wood. Shia falls in love with her immediately but that comes at a price, her controlling and psychopathic ex-husband, played terrifyingly by the reliable Mads Mikkelsen, is in the way and will literally KILL to prevent her and Shia from being together.
It's for sure one of the strangest films in my favourites; Originally something I wasn't sure about, it had a very compelling teaser clip so I decided to go for it! And I'm certainly glad I did. The story was enjoyable, the performances were great, it's shot very well and the soundtrack was superb. It might be a little hokey here and there but it's a solid romantic crime flick!
26. Cold In July - Dir. Jim Mickle
Dexter with a mullet... ok ok, I need more but really this should be enough to draw you in! Set in the late 1980s, a straight laced father and carpenter, Michael C. Hall, is greeted by a masked intruder in his home, leaving him with no choice but to shoot him dead. The intruder's father, Sam Shepard, is a big-time criminal and vows to take an eye for an eye, which ends up dragging everyone into a world of corruption, murder and snuff films.
It's interesting to see Jim Mickle go from horror to a slick yet gritty crime thriller. His previous effort, We Are What We Are was rather disappointing I thought and I feel he more than made up for it with this. Legitimately intense, lots of 80's flare, solid action and nothing but entertainment to follow. Plus it had terrific performances from Hall, Shepard and the delightful Don Johnson.
25. Dallas Buyer's Club - Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Based on the true events of activist Ron Woodroof, this Oscar winning biographical drama follows Matthew McConaughey as Ron, an electrician and hustler at the local rodeo, who through his exploits of promiscuous sex with many women, has landed him with AIDS. He is denied treatment and told that he has merely got a month to live. With this info, he makes it his mission to import non FDA approved, life saving drugs into the states, with the help of his new-found transgender friend, played by Jared Leto, and distribute it cheaply to AIDS patients all over Dallas.
Driven mainly by exceptional performances from both McConaughey and Leto and earning them both the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Academy awards, it is an unmissable and informative drama that will no doubt annoy the shit out of you (Due to the FDA guidelines, not the film itself) - Jennifer Garner plays a friendly nurse too, she rarely pops up in films these days... Shot in a similar, realistic fashion to The Wrestler too, which might be another reason for my liking! A must watch.
24. Dawn of The Planet of The Apes - Dir. Matt Reeves
Ooh OOH OOH HAHH AHHH EEEHK HHHEEK!! Translation: 10 years after the "Rise" (I still think this should be called Rise and the previous be called Dawn), Caesar the ape, played to haunting perfection by Andy Serkis, is now the leader of a massive colony of apes in the middle of an overgrown forest; deep in the ruins is an electrical plant which could help power a nearby city, so the humans want to go in and restore the power and make friends with the apes. But a cunty human (Gary Oldman) and a cunty ape (Toby Kebbell) are both in it for war and it complicates things for everybody and leads to trouble and betrayal on both sides.
Firey monkey's balls this was a fucking great flick, taking all of the best points of the excellent Rise and multiplying it by 100. It got its recognition as a blockbuster but it definitely needs more than that. The atmosphere and the effects are perfect and they set pieces of the dilapidated city looked brilliant, reminded me of the glorious video game, The Last of Us, but with apes. Much like the first film (Excluding John Lithgow's story line) the film's strongest points are all of the ape scenes; they're significantly more engaging than the human stories, I would happily shell out a few quid to see an all ape feature!
23. Fury - Dir. David Ayer
Brad Pitt is back to kill more Gnatzees and this time he has a tank and... Shia LaBeouf. He is known as Wardaddy, the commander of a tank during World War II; and he seemingly doesn't take shit from nobody. A rookie has joined his crew after one of their top gunmen was obliterated. Wardaddy and the other lads must show him the ropes through seriously tough love, but also fight their way through a battle that they're severely outnumbered and outgunned in.
This was surprisingly fucking excellent. I mean, David Ayer is someone who is very on the fence for me. He can do great action but besides Training Day, he can't write to save his own hole. So for him to do a serious war actioner, I was worried it'd be sullied with over the top action and shit dialogue. I was half right. The dialogue isn't great but I was hardly let down by that, it's better than Sabotage though. The story isn't bad but fucking hell, the action and acting is absolutely top notch. Riveting action set pieces using real tracers and apparently the first film to ever use a genuine German tiger tank. Very horrifically violent too; but I suppose if it's a war film or something with battles, you can get away with violence that a regular film wouldn't have a chance with. Proper edge of your seat stuff here, I'm surprised to say.
22. The Rover - Dir. David Michôd
David Michôd follows up his intense and grim crime drama masterpiece, Animal Kingdom with this under appreciated outback set, post apocalyptic, crime thriller. Ten years after a global economic collapse, we follow Eric (Guy Pearce), a hard as nails, quiet, loner whose only possessions are the clothes on his back and his car. While drinking in a dingy shit hole of a pub, a gang of criminals outside are in a car accident; clearly on the run, they scarper from the wreckage and steal Eric's car, which sends him on a violent quest to hunt them down. He's not alone though, one of the criminal's brother, an American named Rey (Robert Pattinson), was left for dead; Eric keeps him as a hostage to help find the location of his brother and the other criminals.
This is as bleak, realistic and gritty as they come, I wouldn't have expected less from Michôd really. Amazingly well shot, some properly intense moments and featuring one of my favourite scenes of the year; a realistic shoot out. Mystery Road had one of them too, another Aussie flick; a brilliantly done sniper fight but a supremely disappointing burnt scrotum of a film. Pearce and Pattinson are both terrific in this, as is Rey's brother, Scoot McNairy, who is the go to nervous guy in films these days. An unusual and grim road movie that shan't disappoint.
21. The Double - Dir. Richard Ayoade
Here is a surprising entry, and first of two doppleganger films in my best of the year list. Set in a bizarre. Terry Gilliam-esque universe (Insanely similar to Brazil) - An awkward, shy and lonely man named Simon (Jessie Eisenberg) works in a government agency, he's invisible to all his colleagues and the people around him in this world, especially the woman of his dreams, Hannah. A new employee in the building, James (Also played by Eisenberg) is an exact physical double of Simon; they dress the same, talk the same and look the same. But James is a complete opposite in terms of personality; he's charismatic, confident, excellent with women and loved by pretty much everyone who meets him; this puts him head to head with Simon as James begins to take over his life.
Jaysus I'm getting longer with these descriptions... No wonder this article is taking fucking yonks. I was not expecting at all to love this as much as I did; all of my weird hopes were put into The Zero Theorem and that to me was insanely disappointing. So it was refreshing to get my Gilliam dose elsewhere. The tone, look and atmosphere of this are exactly the style of Gilliam, as I said, mostly similar to Brazil. Laden with quirkiness but not in a hipster, annoying, cartwheeling down Manhattan to jazz music type way. Eisenberg put on a terrific double performance and the whole film was just mind-twisingly comfortable to watch. If you're looking for a supremely odd one with some cracking old tunes, this is the one to watch.
20. Lone Survivor - Dir. Peter Berg
Another jaw-dropping surprise here, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch and Taylor Kitsch play a band of elite soldiers who are sent in to Afghanistan eliminate a barbaric Taliban leader; but their plans change dramatically as an entire village of terrorists are alerted to their location, turning their assassination mission into a full blown survival mission waaaay behind enemy lines. Based on true events too, though partially dramatized... obviously.
Man this film is properly intense and as realistic as they come; especially the stunt work. The actors all insisted on doing the stunts themselves but they weren't allowed; I bet they're fucking delighted now after stunt men suffered broken necks, skulls, arms, legs, backs and probably more. Similar to Fury in it's execution of war action in that it's not over the top but it's not underwhelming either. Even the dramatic parts of this aren't bad!
19. New World - Dir. Hoon-jung Park
One of two masterful South Korean films to make it onto my list, this wildly underseen crime drama masterpiece was shown at the JDIFF (Jameson Dublin International Film Festival) despite already having been released the year before in Korea. The head of a police investigation, Kang (Min-sik Choi of Oldboy fame) plays a complete arsehole who is determined to take down a massive Korean criminal organisation known as Goldmoon. He orders an undercover cop, Ja-seong to take part in project New World, to help bring it to the ground. But his loyalty to one of the bosses puts him in a position where he must choose between a life of crime or the law in which he originally belongs.
This is further proof as to how South Korea is delivering some of the best action/crime/thrillers around. Starting off with a very slow and ultimately gripping hour of pure drama with a few splashes of action, it EXPLODES into chaos with fights and violence that'll have you sitting in a hospital needing surgery to reattach your jaw. Shot to perfection, brilliantly written and acted, this film has it all. Seek it out ASAP.
Now for the exhausting, bleak and powerful slavery biopic that swept some important Oscars up, including best picture. Based on a true story, set in 1841, a free black man named Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor - One of my favourite names to pronounce) is living comfortably and wealthy in New York, until he is kidnapped and forced into brutal slavery. Recounting the 12 years he was held captive and pulling no punches in showing the extreme treatment he and many others received mainly at the hands of the truly evil and psychotic, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender).
Showcasing some of the most grotesque and important abuse in history, this film garnered a lot of worthy attention. Lupita Nyong'o's stellar and haunting performance even landed her an Oscar for best supporting actress. Acting from everyone involved is on absolutely top form but it's also Steve McQueen's incredible direction and Sean Bobbitt's flawless cinematography that help push this as one of the most phenomenal movies of the year. A well earned best picture award too, and not just out of guilt - this film truly earned it.
17. The Guest - Dir. Adam Wingard
The small independent lads behind You're Next, one of my 2013 favourites, have returned with a bang in their high budget, star driven action thriller (That some loosely have connected to the horror genre). The family of a recently deceased soldier are visited by a smart, attractive, strong and charming man who claims to have served along side their son in the war; he seems like the perfect gentleman, but he clearly has an unhinged and dark secret that leads to a series of brutal and efficient murders.
This action thriller has a blatant dark comedy overtone that just adds to the charm. Littered with startling amounts of violence, great dialogue, total absurdity and really well executed, practical action, this delivers on all fronts you could ask for. With 80's neon blood coursing through it's veins, this has been referred to as "This year's Drive" - which of course is fucking stupid. It's only similarity to Drive would be the soundtrack, it's very different otherwise. Planning a night of highly entertaining fun? This is the film for you!
16. The Imitation Game - Dir. Morten Tyldum
Despite the fact this is up for several Oscars, I feel this is a very underrated flick. It's like they just fucked it into each category to fill space rather than give it the plaudits it deserves. Bendydick Cuminhersnatch (Benedict Cumberbatch) plays real life mathematician, Alan Turing on his quest to crack the German's Enigma code during World War II, while trying to cover up his homosexual orientation from his team and the government.
This is an absolutely gripping and nailbiting drama that I think should stand the test of time. Expertly made by the same man who created one of my favourite films of 2012, the intense Norwegian thriller, Headhunters. Honeydick Bumblebeebatch was tremendous in it and Keira Knightley managed to not annoy the bollocks off me. I don't think she's quite Oscars good though...
15. Enemy - Dir. Denis Villeneuive
Gonna start being more brief in my descriptions. This always happens... The second of my doppleganger favourites. A quiet college professor discovers that he has an exact lookalike who is a struggling actor and plans to seek him out. But this only leads to an acidic, tense and complicated relationship between the two.
This film absolutely blew me away, expertly made by Denis Villeneuive, following up his masterful drama-thriller from 2013, Prisoners; this takes a more arthouse route and is most definitely not near as accessible. Easily the yellowest film in some time too. Gyllenhaal's performances, the story and a truly gut wrenching atmosphere that I haven't experienced since I watched Mulholland Drive make this an unforgettable masterpiece that will have you scratching the flesh off your head in confusion and delight.
14. What We Do In The Shadows - Dir. Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi
One of the only films of last year to have me screaming laughing even on repeat viewings and undoubtedly the highlight of Horrorthon 2014; this comedy horror gem follows a documentary crew who follow the exploits of four vampires from different centuries as they go about their lives while sharing a flat together in New Zealand. After one of them makes a new vampire, he shows them how to adapt to modern living and technology while they have to teach him to keep a low profile.
While this is naturally given plaudits for being hysterically funny and well written, it definitely deserves recognition for actually being brilliantly made. There is little to no CGI, brilliant segments of flying throughout the house that look excellent, practical gore and fire, practical werewolves; this film has it all! It's not often a film can have a sold out audience absolutely gock themselves laughing throughout an entire film but this did it! Highest gold star recommendation I can give! Be sure to watch with good company for maximum effect.
13. Boyhood - Dir. Richard Linklater
I'd say a lot of you are imploding into ball of shit in disbelief right now wondering how this wasn't my number one choice like about 90% of critics, well the answer is simple: While I really loved this film, there were 12 films I thought were better. Shocked? Disgusted? Well good, use that energy and anger as power for helping you to go and fuck yourself. I digress.
Boyhood follows the astonishingly realistic transition from childhood to adulthood over 12 years of a boy's life. The reason for it being real is not only Linklater's astoundingly good writing, but the fact that it IS real! That's right, the whole film was actually shot in little chunks over 12 years and to me, that makes it even better. Linklater and Ethan Hawke are both very patient with each other, as this isn't the first timely chronicle of characters they've been involved with; the mind blowing Before trilogy (Sunrise, Sunset & Midnight) works in a similar way; each film was set and directed 9 years apart and it just makes it all the more incredible.
Boyhood captures the innocence and adolescence of a teenage kid and the situations his family get into along the way, but while I loved the story, I found myself more interested in the lives of Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette. That's in no way a bad thing, it just makes it all the more realistic and interesting. A long drawn, highly recommended viewing.
12. Snowpiercer - Dir. Joon-ho Bong
The second of my incredible South Korean choices, although this is about 80% English speaking. Based on a graphic novel, Snowpiercer follows a massive group of lower class people at the back of a massive train that constantly travels around a frozen-over world. Each platform moves higher in class all the way to the rich people at the front. All of the lower class folk plan a revolution to get to the front.
I'm not going to explain much more as I feel I would spoil it but holy fuck can I vouch for this film. I remember seeing a trailer a few years ago for it and thinking it looked a bit "Meh" - I just saw "Captain America guy" and thought it looked like another run of the mill action film. Sweet chocolate covered baby Jesuses was I wrong! This film was like watching Cloud Atlas set entirely on a train. Visually mind blowing, riddled with outstanding action set pieces, brilliant story and a stellar cast including Chris Evans, the always excellent Tilda Swindon, Jamie Bell, John Hurt and more! A must see.
11. Her - Dir. Spike Jonze
Jonze is back and as Jonzey as ever. A lonely, shy man who works as a personal card writer decides to get an operating system for his computer that will help him organise his life. Due to how revolutionary technology has become, the OS has a full blown personality, one that he falls in love with, which as you can imagine, complicates and improves his life at the same time.
Jonze is no stranger to odd and endearing concepts for his films, while this isn't as outlandish as Being John Malkovich, it's most certainly on the same "feels" scale. While BJM goes to the point of just depressingly grim, this stays balanced on the heartbreaking tightrope. Joaquin Phoenix has been on FIRE the last while with his roles. This being a total opposite to The Master, which he was robbed of an Oscar for. It's mad to see a ridiculously convincing relationship between a guy and his AI girlfriend; but then again, there are documentaries on Channel 4 about people who fuck cars so... maybe not that hard to do. Anyway, this is a lovely film that will leave you satisfied. Also looks as if it was shot through Instagram which looks amazing.
10. Blue Ruin - Dir. Jeremy Saulnier
Well we're finally here at the top 10 spot! And what more worthy flick to be featured in my top 10 than the ultra intense and realistic revenge thriller, Blue Ruin. In a virtually dialogue free opening scene, we're introduced to a homeless man living out of his car; he gets wind off a friendly local cop that the man who murdered his parents many years before is being released from prison. This leads him on a mission to plan the world's messiest act of revenge with even messier consequences.
This truly impressed me early last year, I was already dying to see it despite knowing none of the plot (Delighted I viewed this film cold) purely because of it's poster, which might be my favourite poster of the year. It's as realistic as they come, there's no badassery here; it's a terrified man trying to kill terrifying people; his fear is so legit, he has no idea what he's doing, it's the polar opposite to all of the tough and cool revenge thriller's you've seen before. This is sloppy, dangerous and violent. What can go wrong, will go wrong; and it's fucking fantastic. Essential viewing.
9. Edge of Tomorrow - Doug Liman
This is without a doubt the dark horse of 2014 for me; nobody coulda seen this coming! Tom Cruise is a military officer who has never fought a single battle and is stripped of all his authority and thrown straight into the heart of an alien invasion; mere minutes into battle he is horrifically killed, but immediately respawns to the start of his day leading up to the battle. With this power, he is able to memorise exactly how everything will unfold as well as become an absolute fucking warrior in the process. He teams up with another super soldier, played by British trouser destroyer, Emily Blunt - she teaches him to fight and they try use his ability to save the world.
Now I should start by saying that I'm an absolute sucker for anything with time travel or repetition or anything like that. Going into this film I actually knew fuck all about it, which of course is down to terrible advertising. Tell me; what daft cunt thought it would be a good idea NOT to push a Tom Cruise action movie with fucking mech-suits?? This film could have garnered a lot more attention with the right advertising. It looked like a shitty actioner but ended up being a truly mind blowing sci-fi action epic. Quality work from the always reliable Cruise, an enthralling story and some outstanding sequences of special effects and acting. This is one that simply must be sought after.
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel - Dir. Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson is back on TOP form with the quirkiest quirk that ever quirked. This adventure comedy, that is currently joint-first place with The Royal Tenenbaums as my favourite Wes fillum, is definitely an odd one to explain. So I'll be very fucking brief. A hotel concierge is accused of murdering an elderly woman and goes on the run with the company of his lobby boy, from the police and the criminal family of the woman after she leaves him a valuable painting in her will. That's the briefest I can sum it up really...
I obviously won't say more for fear of spoiling anything but wow this is a supremely enjoyable film. A massive ensemble cast, hilarious characters and dialogue, incredible cinematography and just an all round delightful story told through many layers. Easily Anderson's most accessible work too; so if you plan on introducing someone to his work, definitely start with this! But if you're one of those arseholes that thinks *Bottle Rocket is his best film because it's unknown, then you're a cunt.
*It is a good film, don't get me wrong, but some people just want to be different for the sake of it...
7. Guardians of The Galaxy - Dir. James Gunn
The biggest box office smash of the year!... well, it came second to that Hunger Games pish; but not by a lot and to me this is the biggest box office smash, so fuck that other one. A lone space-scavenger, a warrior woman, an ultra-strong brute of a man, a bounty hunting, talking raccoon and his bounty hunting tree partner team up together to gain possession of a powerful orb that an evil emperor wants to use to take over the universe.
This has fun just spilling out of every orifice; it doesn't feel like the traditional Marvel film at all, set entirely in a new world - it completely feels like a Star Wars spin off of some sort. The ever likable Chris Pratt immediately has everyone (g)rooting for him as soon as you meet him; dancing his way through an evil looking planet to Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love"; You immediately know he's going to deliver endless grins throughout. A rare film where no character was annoying! They all had their charm, they were all hilarious and you instantly love them all. A surprising amount of adult humour in this too; it certainly appeals to a broad demographic! Great performances, outstanding classic rock & soul soundtrack and terrific action scenes.
6. Gone Girl - Dir. David Fincher
Now for the most acidic film you're likely to see from 2014 (often compared to Force Majeure for its bleak look at relationships) - Ben "Proved Himself" Affleck returns home to find his house has been broken into, it's in a mess and his wife, Rosamund Pike has gone missing. The police find blood at the scene and a lot of suspicion leading to foul play. All signs are pointing to a very guilty looking Ben; he's desperately trying to prove his innocence but is he hiding a much more sinister intention?
Like many of the above, I'm not going to say anymore; you'll have to get your hands on a copy yourself and mill into it! A two and a half hour belter that highlights everything that makes Fincher a true virtuoso at what he does. Excellent performances from everyone involved, noticeably great editing, superb soundtrack & genuinely surprising and shocking scenes. This has it all. The cinematography is fantastic too. Everything worked for me! Many complaints have been made about the plot, in the sense that it feels a bit like an evening TV thriller that you'd see back to back with Revenge, but I really enjoyed how dark it pessimistically satirical it was. Thoroughly enjoyed this.
5. Nightcrawler - Dir. Dan Gilroy
Not many people can have a directorial debut that is this fucking outstanding. It's hard to believe that this is a directorial debut at all but it was done by a screenwriter with over 20 years business experience! Nightcrawler dives into the seedy side of L.A. crime journalism; Lou Bloom is highly motivated and desperately seeking work. After being rejected at every corner, he sets his sights on video journalism, capturing footage and aftermaths of the horrific crimes that go down at night in Los Angeles. His lack of empathy or morality aids him in doing whatever is necessary to get the best work for him to sell.
Considered as a love letter to L.A. by some and a startling reminder of just how violent and terrifying the streets of L.A. still are, this film grabs you by the bollocks and doesn't let go 'til the credits roll. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers what is easily his best performance so far; leaving a very high standard to beat. Everything about this film was expertly crafted. The cinematography was utterly phenomenal, the screenplay was excellent too and earns it's Oscar nomination for sure; although I firmly believe that Gyllenhaal was disgracefully overlooked for a best performance nomination... but I'll go on about that another time. Exceptional film making here.
4. Under The Skin - Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Every nightmare I have ever had in video form and certainly one of the most unusual films of the year. An emotionless, van-driving, alien seductress leads lonely men back to her house throughout the night in Scotland - over time she starts adapting to human ways of life.
I will say no more... This is definitely not for everyone. It has a lot of draw that would get people interested: It's the guy who made Sexy Beast, it has Scarlett Johansson in the nip for a lot of it, it's a sci-fi film - but even with all those tremendous points, it's an extremely inaccessible art-house film. It's a film experience like no other; genuinely haunting to the point of feeling like watching the nightmares of your lifetime, atmospherically too, it feels like a horror film. Visually, musically and in just about every way, it's a masterpiece. It's one that'll stick with you forever, whether you like it or not, you'll never forget it. Oh and.... ya know, Scarlett's tits.
3. The Raid 2 - Dir. Gareth Evans
This is just incredible, in every aspect. There are those (Pretentious cunts) who will look at this as dumb action and fob it off immediately, but this is top quality film making. Starting a lot slower and more drama based compared to the non-stop thrill ride of the first film, this eases its way into the madness and eventually blows the doors down like a fucking battering ram. Featuring some of the most well choreographed and insanely violent action scenes as well as quite possibly the best fights ever recorded; this is the ULTIMATE action/martial arts film. It's particularly mind blowing when watched back to back with the first one. Running over an hour longer than the first, it totals the two films together to 4 hours. So do yourself a massive favour and set aside four useless hours and make them useful with 90 mins of madness, a slow, engaging half hour of story and then 2 hours of utter mania.
2. The Wolf of Wall Street - Dir. Martin Scorsese
Scorsese directs his funniest film since Raging Bull (For entirely different reasons). Based on the real life story of drug addicted Wall Street millionaire, Jordan Belfort, it follows him on his hilariously insane journey from young, nervous stock broker/salesman to absolutely insane drug and hooker loving millionaire. The rise and fall of someone who has everything he wants & more.
An utter goldmine to fall into Marty's lap, there's truly no other director who could do this bat-shit fucking mental story justice quite like him. As I said before about Starred Up and me not liking the whole crossover description thing; one of the best ways to describe this is that if Goodfellas and Wall Street fucked and had a kid, it'd be this. Telling the story of cutthroat stockbroker business in the style of a crime story (which it also is) makes this movie shine. As per usual, Scorsese favourite, Leonardo DiCaprio is on top form, as was Jonah Hill - their chemistry worked fantastically. It's got a whopping soundtrack, which again is the norm for Scorsese. Wall to wall drugs, sex and genuine belly laughs, along with What We Do In The Shadows, this had me fucking roaring for pretty much the entirety. A total blast.
1. Interstellar - Dir. Christopher Nolan
Well here we are, the end of the road. If you read this far, I thank you sincerely as I fucking ramble my hole off for a lot of this. If you just looked at the pictures and titles of the films and didn't really read it, well, I guess you won't see this, but I think you're an awful piece of shit.
It's no surprise this sits comfortably in the top spot as my favourite film of 2014 (And one of my all time favourites now) - This sci-fi adventure masterpiece is set in the future where the world is highly dependent on farmers to keep the food supply going as tornados of dust and blights sweep all over the world. An ex spaceship pilot follows mysterious coordinates to NASA and is sent on a mission with a team to find habitable planets on the other side of a black hole for the world to move to in order to survive.
I have been lucky to see this on all available formats now, 35mm film, 70mm film, in which it was shot, and finally through digital projection. All of them had their own unique feel and all of them were utterly incredible. This is groundbreaking cinema in every way, the acting is mesmerising (maybe less so from Ham Hatheway) but Matthew McConaughey & Jessica Chastain deliver as always. The fact there is extremely little CGI in this just makes it all the more jaw-dropping; the sets, models and effects are incredible. It's hard to put into words really!
Some people were disappointed with this and it truly baffles me how. I think for people to consider this a 1 star bad movie is just fucking preposterous too, a majority are hipster gee-bags who don't to like it due to Nolan's popularity, the others are just insane people. I can understand people maybe not liking it due to personal taste or whatever, but to give it no plaudits at all is just ridiculous.
I'm really ranting badly here... but the main thing is this - Interstellar is a fully fledged masterpiece, the music should have been up for an Oscar because it would win, hands down. Cinematography, production design - EVERYTHING. Some have even gone to say it's this generation's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's magnificent.
Agree with me? Think I'm fucking mental? Let me know! And what are your favourites of 2014?
Cheers for reading this... thesis.
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