10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier The Winter Soldier circumnavigated the biggest obstacle comic book movies face -- pleasing the longtime fans of the series -- while still keeping the pace with silver screen expectations. Adapted from Ed Brubraker's storyline of the same name, Captain America finds himself questioning the very system he has sworn to uphold. And while many bemoaned the choice of Chris Evans as CA initially (thanks in part to his role as the Human Torch in the maligned Fantastic Four movies), he has really grasped what makes the character tick and puts forward a compelling performance. With one of the best action sequences we've seen come out of Marvel studios, a story that is gripping both on its own and in the context of the entire MCU, and a twist sure to catch most non-comic fans off guard, The Winter Soldier proves that there is still a lot of effort going into solo films in the wake of The Avengers. -Somedamnname 9. Locke Locke is centred around Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy), a successful, married Welsh construction foreman, driving to London from Birmingham determined to put right his uncharacteristic mistake — a one night stand that's resulted in the imminent birth of a baby. He is forced to deal with the subsequent major fallout en-route.
That Tom Hardy, solely within the confines of a BMW X5, can keep the viewer engrossed over 84 minutes is testament to his acting ability. He delivers an enthralling performance, handling each situation with compendious yet compa**ionate conviction. Steven Knight and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos do superbly in making his car a theatrical stage — using the motorway lighting and commuter traffic to create vigorous visuals.
Locke is unique in its production and evocative in execution. Composed of a terrific lead and a stunning supporting cast that we only ever hear through a phone, Knight's film is worth every minute up until the abrupt ending that leaves you pondering “what happens next?” -Wandawaisu
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Another unlikely group of heroes forced to band together in the MCU originally sounded more like an excuse to keep the Marvel money train rolling than a revelation. But Guardians succeeded in breaking from a stale mold and proving that there's more than one way to make a Marvel superhero movie.
The absence of solo films before Star Lord, Rocket, Groot, Gamora, and Drax are thrusted into an alliance truly makes this movie about the unit rather than the individuals. It's a testament to this movie that a talking raccoon, a walking tree, and two aliens covered in make-up feel just as beloved and integral to the film as its one human character, played by the insanely likeable and instantly recognizable Chris Pratt. The story itself doesn't reinvent the wheel -- “bad guy wants to destroy the world” isn't exactly groundbreaking for a superhero movie -- but it didn't matter. This movie was funny, smart, and as soulful as its soundtrack, and the result was a win the studio might have needed more than it would like to admit if it wants to keep us all along for the ride the next few years. -Heisenferg 7. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Featuring primates in a movie is usually a red flag (The first Kong and Rise being exceptions) with such cla**ics as Space Chimps, The MVP series and Funky Monkey featuring prominently on the list of awful, awful primate movies. Luckily we can add another tick in the ‘awesome' column as this movie is fantastic. Following on from the last movie, we find out that the virus has ruined humanity but the Caesar's apes are thriving in the forests of west coast America. However, both the remaining humans and the newly envigorated apes are far from united fronts.
It opens with the most engrossing scene I have seen since the long walk down the corridor in the first Hannibal. The effects during the hunt are so believable that you forget you are watching CGI/Motion capture. This means you accept the walking, talking apes as real characters and because each one is played with distinction by their actors, you become hooked into the story which carefully balances your love of apes with your semi-unconscious desire to see the humans win.
The film starts slowly, piecing together the past and establishing character issues and developments, but soon all the dominoes begin to fall. The conflict between Caesar (Andy Serkis) and Koba (Toby Kebbell), is mirrored by a similar one between Dreyfuss (a bitter, revenge filled Gary Oldman) and Malcolm (Jason Clarke.) When the ‘Dawn' comes (surely a mistake - the sun dawns before it rises?) you are off balance, debating which side is right and who you should cheer for.
The movie has a half dozen jaw dropping moments. The forest scene, ‘drunk' Koba and the sign language all deserve a mention. It has apes firing AKs, smoking fools and driving tanks. It is so good, it nearly, nearly removes the memory of Mark Wahlberg's beastiality plot in the Tim Burton adaptation. What more could you want? -Beanhead
6. Interstellar Interstellar was flawed, and gave many critics the chance to write about how the plot got “lost in space” before stroking their neckbeards. But the ambition and scope of this film, from wormholes to the 5th dimension to keeping Matthew McConaughey's shirt on for 3 hours, will allow its impact to supercede a number on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes.
Set in the not-so-distant future where a blight-stricken world prioritizes farmers over engineers, former NASA pilot Cooper is forced to shuck corn and take care of his children Murph and Tom in a society that teaches children the moon landing was staged. But this all changes when a “ghost” in Murph's room gives him the coordinates to NASA's secret headquarters where Professor Brand tasks him with piloting an interstellar voyage. Given 2 options: 1) contacting Earth after arriving and saving the living or 2) re-booting humanity with frozen egg and s**m cells on the new planet, the struggle between protecting loved ones and the greater good of the human race creates a palpable tension that runs until the very end.
Chock-full of complex ideas and themes --bootstrap theory, survival instinct, relativity, and father-daughter love -- Interstellar may have been more palatable if it had paid substantial attention to a select few ideas rather than moderate attention to a handful. But it became very clear early on that Nolan had no intentions of making a palatable film, he wanted something that would refuse to go gentle into the good night without getting us to wonder at our place in the stars. And with the most visually impressive film of the year and a climax that leaves the audience feeling that what they just watched mattered (even if they weren't sure why), I'm sure one of film's most ambitious directors won't lose any sleep over being called “pretentious”. -Heisenferg 5. Gone Girl Some people will say that David Fincher movies, though clearly well-constructed and often visually stunning, are too cerebral, too cold. I'm not one of those people. When I watch a Fincher movie, I am often knocked out by those aforementioned visuals, but I'm also laughing, because David Fincher movies (and this is the part no one talks about) are f**ing funny. Fight Club, The Social Network, even (especially!) Se7en—these are works of deep, dark humor, but Gone Girl is the funniest of them all. That it manages to be truly guffaw in your seat funny and just as dark, well-structured, beautiful, and true as anything Fincher (or anyone else) has ever done makes it one of our top movies of the year.
Of course, Fincher wasn't working alone. Gillian Flynn wrote a near-perfect screenplay based on her own recession-era zeitgeist channeling, insane publishing phenomenon of a novel. The cast, led by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike but on precision point from top to bottom (Carrie Coons, Kim Dickens, Neil Patrick Harris, even Tyler Perry!), showed us a mirror of this particular American moment. Every move, every motive, every moment—no matter how twisted, upsetting, shocking, or hilarious—in their hands (and faces), it all made perfect sense. Marriage is a performance. So is everything else. In a year when quite a few movies “based on a true story” felt like the same old Hollywood bullsh**, it took an over-the-top, violent, cerebral, cold (and funny) media satire to tell us something real. -The Scrivener 4. The Grand Budapest Hotel From a colorful cast (none more colorful than Ralph Fiennes as Monsieur Gustave H) to dialogue as crisp as the set pieces, The Grand Budapest Hotel has all the necessary Wes Anderson characteristics and more. Set in in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka, the joke is that nothing really happens here. The entire plot revolves around the quest for the priceless but hilariously unremarkable painting “Boy With Apple”, but what drives the film is the inter-character dialogue. From Monsieur Gustave's forays into romantic poetry to J.G. Jopling's chilling curtness, each character is as fleshed out and verbose as what we've come to expect from someone born from Anderson's pen. With a daintiness best embodied by Mendl's cakes, The Grand Budapest Hotel seems of another era with a lesser demand for violence; but it sustains the illusion of belonging thanks to a unique brand of comedy and drama courtesy of Monsieur Anderson. -Tyrant 3. Whiplash Led by an unlikable protagonist dealing with an even more unlikable mentor in a music movie that felt more like a sports movie, Whiplash does not allow itself to be boxed into one neat category. Character motives remain unclear, relationships outside of Andrew/Fletcher are underdeveloped, and the lack of a real plot outside of a generic quest for greatness threaten to sink Whiplash before it can get off the ground. But by taking a cue from Fletcher and favoring execution over everything, the result is a film that thrills and engages us until the very last second.
Whiplash chose to live and die by its attention to quality. This wasn't the type of movie that could overcome wasting 20 minutes or introducing a storyline no one cared about -- if one piece of the film was out of tune it would sabotage the whole production. Luckily everything was on point, from the performance of the 2 leads to the air-tight editing and cinematography; the actors made the stage a place we wanted to explore and the relentless quick cuts brought us there. And with a movie intense and enjoyable from when Andrew is first starstruck by Fletcher until the moment he defies him in front of hundreds of people, the people responsible for Whiplash are deserving of every possible compliment besides “good job”. -Heisenferg 2. Nightcrawler In a film called “Nightcrawler,” I hoped to see one of my favorite X-Men mutants or fishing bait. I got neither, but was still hooked. Jake Gyllenhaal has played some pretty standout roles, but few have been reminiscent of his performance as the creepy and aphotic Donnie Darko until now. The hard working, well-spoken, persistent, insanely focused, sane-psychotic, greasy, black-haired nightcrawler Louis Bloom takes the cake as one of the characters of the year. From the opening scene to the chase near the end, Bloom proves that nothing and no one can stop his drive for success: “Why you pursue something is as important as what you pursue.” And this drive not only steers the plot but also reveals to us a lot about modern success stories.
Dan Gilroy finds a way to place the realities of film directing and very realistic life events together in Nightcrawler as Bloom sets up, angles, edits, and cuts his scenes to perfection for his California audience, much like a director curates his movie before it hits the theaters. Even Bloom's extremely fierce and aggressively diligent stare grows to remind us of an unblinking camera taking everything in. The compelling lead, layered story, and brilliant dark cinematography make Nightcrawler a winner, despite forcing us to relate to a character that asks “What if my problem wasn't that I don't understand people but that I don't like them?” -illustriousQ
1. Boyhood Never has a film so lauded for its innovation and ambition felt so normal. In fact, what makes Boyhood so innovative and one of the more unique moments in cinematic history is its normalcy. Comprised of all the alcoholic step-dad, hard-working single mom, and fun but irresponsible biological dad cliches present in most adult movies about family, what makes Boyhood exceptional is its fearlessness in tackling the tropes we have seen countless times before. It realizes these cliches exist for a reason, and rather than try and show us something extraordinary, it embraces the beauty made apparent by shining new light on the ordinary.
The hook that drew viewers in and got this movie financed despite its modest narrative ambitions was that Boyhood would follow the same 4 actors year-by-year for 12 years of their life. The central character is Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane), but despite its title, equal attention is paid to his sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette), and father Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke). And despite the potential a 12 year scope gave the director to fully transform these characters, he preferred continuous-but-subtle sacrifices and maturation that made their transition from point A to point B more interesting than flipping a switch overnight. Mason Jr.'s oddities go from sticking rocks in the pencil sharpener to fretting about the NSA, Olivia goes from working to feed her kids to working to get her degree, and while Sr.'s arc is less obvious, his transition from man-child to slightly immature adult is satisfying. Able to date his movie without timecards and invoke emotional responses without “Hollywood moments”, Richard Linklater's spectacularly unspectactular Boyhood was truly one of the highlights of the year. -Heisenferg