Best Films of 2014: A.J.'s Picks

by A.J.

The Oscars are just around the corner and before the Academy gets the final word on the best of last year's movies, I thought I'd have my say. They only found eight movies to nominate for Best Picture of 2014, but I found 10, and in some cases we actually agree. It's a little late, but here are my picks for the best movies of 2014.

10. The Rover

There is no post-apocalyptic thriller quite like The Rover. Even though it shares the same setting with Mad Max (the barren, dusty Australian Outback of the not-too-distant future), The Rover is about as far away from the full-bore action of the Mad Max trilogy as a movie can get, while still being a thrilling adventure. This is a sparse, low key movie. The story is very simple: a man pursues relentlessly the band of thieves that stole his car. Guy Pearce is excellent as the ultra-determined, largely silent main character who rarely, if ever, is called by name. The landscape may be desolate, but the film is not. It is a subtle adventure punctuated by bursts of violence amid the strange familiarity of the not-too-distant future. 

9. The Lego Movie

This is the best kind of kid’s movie: one that is actually entertaining and engaging for viewers of all ages. The Lego Movie is very funny and very smartly written. It never condescends or panders to children or adults. The pop culture references are charming and not overdone. There is a real heart to the story, and it is obvious that the movie cares about and values every character, even the villains. The humor stays sharp the whole way through. The voice talents do a great job. The Lego Movie is pure fun at every moment. 

8. Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow was not widely seen in theaters and now, I fear, may continue to be underseen on video since the movie unofficially changed its name to Live.Die.Repeat (which is only slightly better than the title of the Japanese novel the film is based on, All You Need is Kill). That is unfortunate because this is one of the best action sci-fi movies of the year, and probably also one of the best action sci-fi movies of the past few years. As a charming, but cowardly, army spokesman forced onto the frontlines, Tom Cruise commits fully (as he always does).Only by reliving the same day again and again does he finds it in himself to help repel an alien invasion. Yes, this movie has the same plot device Groundhog Day, and, as in Groundhog Day, that device is used for comedy. However, Edge of Tomorrow also uses it for tension and suspense. This movie puts a fresh spin on the action genre, is thoroughly entertaining, and surprisingly funny. 

7. The Babadook

I’m fond of saying that there is only one really good horror movie for every five to seven years; that movie for this current cycle is The Babadook. From Australia, this horror film, about a mother and son plagued by a shadowy monster from a disturbing children’s book, is a slow burn that builds and builds to a tense and frightening climax. The titular monster does not appear in the movie very much, but when he does it is terrifying. The strained relationship between the mother and her young, troubled son is the real focus of the movie, which is thick with their anxiety. The Babadook is a smart movie that plays with our expectations and delivers more by doing less.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy

I can’t believe how much fun I had watching Guardians of the Galaxy, twice. I'm always a bit wary of whatever new movie Marvel has unleashed upon us, but Guardians of the Galaxy ended up being the best movie that brand has made. This movie reminded me of Star Wars: there were humans, aliens, characters with ridiculous names of all kinds and colors, talking animals, and it is all taken seriously, but not too seriously. There is not a hint of pretension or cynicism anywhere in this movie. The characters aren’t just likable, they’re lovable and cast perfectly. This movie is rich with humor, great action sequences, and pure fun from beginning to end. 

5. Inherent Vice

Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film is an intriguing and hilarious neo-noir that has the sprawling feel of an epic. Joaquin Phoenix is great as Doc, a hippie private detective that is our guide through the people and places of Los Angeles circa 1970. Though Doc is very funny and unconventional as far private detectives go, the people and situations he encounters while investigating the disappearance of a an ex-girlfriend and a wealthy businessman are so bizarre that he essentially plays the straight man to these flamboyant and strange supporting characters. The word “indecipherable” has been used a lot to describe the plot of this movie, and while I could not explain it in detail now, I understood it well enough to enjoy the movie, and I think most people will too. If you ever wondered what L.A. Confidential crossed with The Big Lebowski and directed by Stanley Kubrick would be like, you should watch Inherent Vice (probably a few times).

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

This is Wes Anderson’s most Wes Anderson-y movie yet, and is by far his most melancholy. It is the story of a memory of someone else’s memory. Each time period is shot in a different aspect ratio evoking the look of the movies of each time period. The production design and color palette are bolder and more stylized than they have ever been in any Anderson movie, but the characters are just as rich. Ralph Fiennes is excellent and hilarious as M. Gustav. It's a rare comedic role for Fiennes and he pulls off Wes Anderson whimsy as well as he does heavy drama. The world around the characters of The Grand Budapest Hotel is changing and though we know where the arrow of time is taking the world, the characters simply live their lives as best they can. There are many funny scenes and visual gags and great skill and care were put into each character and plot point. The result is a very funny drama, equal parts whimsy and wistfulness, elation and sorrow for a time and place long since passed that now only exists inside the memory of a memory.

3. Selma

Equally powerful and painful, Selma is history on film at its best. This is due in no small part to the masterful and deft direction from Ava DuVernay and the excellent performances from the cast. Selma might prove the long-held Hollywood notion that the best actors to play American Southerners are British. David Oyelowo gives the best performance of any actor from any film of the past year as Dr. Martin Luther King. He doesn’t look exactly like King or sound exactly like King, but this actually helps Oyelowo humanize the iconic historical figure instead of just giving us an impersonation. He captures Dr. King’s speaking cadence perfectly, but the speeches in Selma are not the actual words Dr. King spoke. The rights to Dr. King’s speeches currently belong to Steven Spielberg for a King biopic that will likely never happen, so screenwriter Paul Webb and director Ava DuVernay had to create paraphrased versions of the speeches. Unless you know those speeches by heart, you would never know the difference thanks to Oyelowo’s delivery. Playing President LBJ, Tom Wilkinson once again gives a great performance as a wily American statesman (he also played Benjamin Franklin in the HBO mini-series John Adams). Another great British actor, Tim Roth, plays fervent segregationist Governor George Wallace, who is one of many obstacles that must be overcome to secure voting rights. However, Selma is much more than recreations of historical people and events. It is the human story of the real people on the ground in Selma, Alabama working together against seemingly insurmountable forces to make our country a better place.  

2. Boyhood

Boyhood is unlike any other movie from 2014. Director Richard Linklater filmed this movie over 12 years with the same cast, so the actors actually age, slowly, over the course of the film. It is a gimmick, and a very interesting one, but it is not why the movie works so well. The film does not make a big deal of its gimmick. There are no title cards indicating how much time has passed. Boyhood underplays the leaps in time it makes. We barely notice the years passing by until, before you know it, the boy is old enough to drive. The real effect of watching the actors age is to make the audience feel the permanence of time passed and the inevitability of an unknown future that has become the immediate present. This is one of those “life” movies that has sentiment and pathos woven into every fiber, but it avoids sappiness. It captures, especially in the early scenes, the peripheral, partial understanding children have of the decisions adults make that determine the course of their children's lives. Richard Linklater is a filmmaker that is not afraid to underplay scenes and avoid melodrama. He is also not afraid to trust the audience. There have been countless coming of age films and though Boyhood treads on the same material as many of them, it manages to feel new. Twelve years of care and deep thought went into this movie; that’s what sets it apart. 

1. Interstellar

If our world, our only home, was dying, fading away silently, what would we do? How far would we go to survive? To make tomorrow a certainty and not a possibility?

Interstellar is the most incredibly entertaining, exciting, thrilling, emotional, and thought-provoking film of the past year. Physicist Kip Thorne had an idea for a science fiction movie which did not violate the laws of physics and in which all of the ideas and speculations sprung from established science. He is credited as an executive producer and worked closely with Christopher and Jonathan Nolan while they wrote the science based screenplay. You might think that would take all the fun out of a sci-fi movie, but there are more incredible things in science than are dreamt of in fiction and fantasy. The more bizarre effects of the laws of relativity are used not to bend minds, but for emotional effect. The scope may be vast and the subject matter heavy (the survival of the human race in a bleak, but realistic future), but the real drive of the movie is emotional: it is about a father’s love for his children. In the most emotionally powerful scene in the movie Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) watches his children grow up in a series of video messages. They have aged 23 years on Earth, but because of the effects of relativity Cooper has only aged 3 hours.

Interstellar is easily the best looking film of 2014. The special effects and scenes in space, on other worlds, and even on Earth are dazzling. There is a wondrous sense of adventure throughout the film. There are tense, thrilling, and even frightening set pieces that are staged for maximum effect and scored perfectly by Hans Zimmer. I didn’t understand everything in this movie the first time I saw it, but that did not take away from my enjoyment. The plot of Interstellar, even the mysterious third act, is not as complicated as some people have made it out to be. The concepts may be difficult to grasp at first, but Interstellar does not go out of its way to make you think it is clever and it also never talks down to the audience. Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker whose primary concern is to entertain; every aspect of this film is as enjoyable as possible. This is an immensely enjoyable and emotional story about our place in the cosmos, the human determination to solve problems and survive no matter how insurmountable the odds, and about family and love across time and space.