50 Best Films of 2014 - #30 - #21

On to the next ten, my #30 through #21 favorite films from 2014...

30. The Fault in Our Stars

I have made no secret of the fact that I am a big fan of this film, from the glowing review I wrote when I saw it in the theater last summer to the fact that I included Shailene Woodley in my personal choices for Best Actress of the year recently. I refuse to pretend the tears I shed from this story and the performances that carried it never fell from my eyes. A gut wrenching yet beautiful movie.

29. Selma

An expertly made biopic that nearly avoided all of the traditional tropes that make me roll my eyes at these types of films, Selma gets right what a movie like Unbroken got so, so wrong. Getting punched hurts, unless you get hit every two minutes for two straight hours, which was essentially the narrative of the latter. Eventually you are desensitized to the brutality and you just quit on the experience, where as in Selma, when it hits, it hits hard because it knows just when to land the blows. This is a pretty great and important film.

28. Finding Vivian Maier

A truly fascinating documentary about a eccentric and mysterious nanny who lived a secret, brilliant life as an absolutely amazing photographer. Despite her incredible artistic vision with the camera, she never showed a single picture to anyone, and her massive and breathtaking collection was finally discovered after she passed away. Not only does this film cover her life and her jaw dropping talent, but it asks a pretty important question as well: if someone goes to great lengths to hide something while they are alive, is it fair to show the world after they are dead? Or should privacy extend beyond the length of our lives?

27. Edge of Tomorrow

Easily one of the best surprises of 2014 for me, Doug Liman's Edge of Tomorrow seemed like a turd when I first saw the trailer, but after catching wind of a whole lot of positive word of mouth I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did. A smart, exciting and fun summer blockbuster, and say what you want about Tom Cruise but no one else could play a role like this so damn well. His personal life and religious beliefs aside, Cruise is still an outstanding talent and he demonstrated that again here, and the chemistry with Emily Blunt didn't hurt matters either.

26. John Wick

An action film starring Keanu Reeves titled John Wick? Well, this is obviously going to be terrible. The premise is what? His dog is killed so he gets revenge? You've gotta be kidding me, what a train wreck...

Much like Edge of Tomorrow, this is another example of why I shouldn't judge a work before I see it. John Wick is smart, intense, ultra-violent fun, and that silly premise about the dog makes total sense when framed inside the narrative. Not only does it make sense, it actually strongly resonated emotionally. Sure, if this was real life I would be disgusted with the type of killing spree he goes on as a result of a pet dying, but this isn't real life. This is a movie, an escape from reality, and inside this world I was rooting for John throughout.

25. The Guest

The Guest is a wonderful blend of neo-noir modern cinema and a completely ridiculous yet fun horror film from the 1980's. Carried by an incredibly charismatic lead performance from Dan Stevens and the perfectly executed vision of director Adam Wingard, this was one bad ass, tasty treat. Oh, and that last act Halloween school dance set piece with a brilliantly utilized fog machine? Absolutely amazing.

24. X-Men: Days of Future Past

I was pessimistic about how this film would turn out, what with the massive cast and ambitious to a fault sounding premise. I anticipated a jumbled, messy narrative. I was wrong. The latest X-Men installment was not only top notch superhero comic book fun, what impressed me the most about this movie was the patience it showed to make sure it told a story first, with the action and the special effects taking a back seat when they needed to. Thanks to this extremely impressive effort, I have no pessimism whatsoever about the follow up due out next year. Bring it on.

23. Calvary

Prior to seeing Calvary, I had heard it was a "dark comedy". This may be true, but I think a much more fair label would be a dark, meaningful drama with some comedy bits sprinkled in to ease the tension and lighten the mood. What Calvary does extremely well is explore the unfortunately twisted and uncomfortable relationship society has with the Catholic church thanks to the many documented cases of abuse, and also the tense nature of the role faith in general plays in our lives today. It's a shame that we have to be cautious of a man of the cloth, but given the track record, how could we not?

22. Enemy

What if you saw your exact double? Not just a person who resembles you, literally your exact twin that has no relation to you in any genetic sense. What would you do? 

I will tell you what you should do: watch Enemy immediately. Beware though, this doesn't play like a traditional film and the ending is both terrifying and utterly confounding.

21. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

2013 was a down year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, I had some fun with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, and neither were terrible films by any means, but after the high that was the first Avengers, they certainly felt like somewhat silly and underwhelming let downs. Well, the good news is 2014 turned out to be a banner year for the studio, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier coming first and being just so flat out awesome. After I saw it, I declared it was the best movie yet from the MCU and I stand by that...sort of. At that time it was, but (spoiler alert for the future of this list) a different 2014 release went above and beyond and soared straight to the top.

Next up, I will enter the top 20 of 2014. The image above is from an extraordinary little gem that I never saw coming.

Eyes Wide Shut Review

This was not my first viewing of Eyes Wide Shut but it nevertheless felt like an eye opening experience. After I finished the film very early this morning, I headed off to bed to get some sleep. With the window open next to me, I was sure I heard an ominous noise outside and I jumped to my feet to take a look. Nothing. Silence. I tried to convince myself that there was nothing to worry about, yet as I laid there I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. I was certain that someone was out there, residing calmly in the darkness, waiting for me to drift off into vulnerability.

Once I finally did, I had a pretty vivid and disturbing nightmare regarding the safety of my loves one. I woke in a panic in the middle of the night, reminding myself that reality was still as mundane as our suburban slumber. It was merely a dream. Is it possible that these images that haunted my subconscious happened on this night, after this film coincidentally? Absolutely. I have no proof otherwise. Personally though, I believe I was soaked in the atmosphere Kubrick created. I believe I absorbed the paranoia of Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise).

When this film was released in 1999, I recall it being touted as something that would be endlessly sexy, a dream come true for my hormonal 15 year old self. At the time I didn't appreciate what it really meant to be a Kubrick film, but had I known I wouldn't have believed the hype that this picture was meant to sexually arouse the audience. The irony of a work that features numerous nude women, prostitutes and an orgy is that in the end, it feels like a giant advertisement for the benefits of monogamy.

While not sexy, Eyes Wide Shut is without a doubt one of the creepiest films I have ever seen. I am seldom impressed by the horror genre, and such films rarely keep me up at night or make me consider the possibility that someone is watching me, but the hypnotic world created by Kubrick along with the simplistic yet utterly perfect musical score had my nerves fried, my stomach unsettled and my skin crawling, especially during the infamous mansion sequence.

I recall this film being deemed a lesser Kubrick upon its release, which was also the final work of the genius auteur. Perhaps a victim of a marketing campaign that wanted to focus on a beautiful real life couple doing sexy things together on camera, it seems as if those that entered the cinema initially had their perversions disappointed and thus couldn't connect to what was actually presented. Not only do I disagree with anything about Eyes Wide Shut being lesser, it very well might be one of the finest efforts from a man who seemingly crafted masterpieces with ease.

I doubt anyone was actually watching me last night as I attempted to count sheep. It seems absurd to even consider such a thing, but what proves the power of this work is that I still feel like I can't be sure. It may take quite a few more viewings to fully appreciate the density of this film, and perhaps every time I will lose a bit of a sleep that night. I am willing to embrace the nightmares.


5/5