Will Ashton's top 10 best movies of 2014.
Now that we got that pesky worst list out of the way, let’s get to the year’s finest cinematic achievements.
2014, from February to December, was filled with wonderful, compelling, heartfelt and stunning films. All in all, it was a good year for movies, and trying to narrow it down to just a mere ten is, as usual, a challenge.
But I have done it, and while I missed A Most Violent Year, Force Majeure, Mr. Turner, Goodbye to Language, The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night, just to name a few, here is my list of 2014’s best movies.
First up, the honorable mentions: The Babadook; Citizenfour; Inherent Vice; Locke; Ernest & Celestine; X-Men: Days of Future Past; Love is Strange; The Lunchbox; Selma and Night Moves.
Now, here are my top 10 favorites films of 2014.
10. The Rover
David Michod’s The Rover is a supremely overlooked drama rich in its study of what becomes of men with nothing in an abandoned, Godless world. Driven by two amazing performances from Guy Pearce and, yes, Robert Pattinson, it’s a beautifully shot, highly intellectual-but immensely watchable- apocalypse film. It finds fascinating means of exploring familiar themes with new layers of grit and integrity.
9. Foxcatcher
A somber, unflinching look at violence and brotherhood, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher continues the director’s long-withstanding tradition of skillful, mature filmmaking. With great performances from Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and especially Channing Tatum at the forefront, it’s a cold, thoughtful look at internal struggles and the tragedy of what becomes of those left to silent impulses.
8. Gone Girl
David Fincher’s latest is a dark farce on marriage and the American media and thankfully lives up to Fincher’s quality of work following his good-but-not-great The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. As diligently focused and competently made, as all of Fincher’s works, it’s a joyfully bleak and biting look at its universal themes that, even when the plot is ridiculous, never stops being riveting and shocking. Rosamund Pike also gives one of the year’s most amazing and versatile performances.
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson, as confident and in sync with himself as ever behind the camera, crafts one of his most charming and wondrous films to date with The Grand Budapest Hotel. Boosted by Ralph Fiennes’ spectacular lead performance, this is among Anderson’s wittiness, quickest and most heartfelt features to date. It’s the kind of escapism that’s not easy to find, but impossible not to like.
6. The Lego Movie
Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s super lovable, rapidly paced and unusually contemplative The Lego Movie is, by and far, one of 2014’s most entertaining films. Somehow buried in February, it became one of the year’s funniest, smartest and most original films. Which, when you consider the fact that this is based on a giant toy franchise, is all the more shocking. Also, I tried my hardest to avoid all the obvious puns I could have made here.
5. Nightcrawler
An astounding directorial debut from screenwriter Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler excels as both a hilarious farce on journalism ethics and a fertile character study on entrepreneurship. Jake Gyllenhaal gives what could very well be his best performance to date in the kind of film that studies its actor with great intent and with wonderful respect. A highly engaging watch, it’s just another film demonstrating a wonderful display of dark comedy through thoughtful character studying.
4. Under the Skin
An utterly mesmerizing film, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin is a fascinating, darkly illuminating masterwork. Scarlett Johansson gives her best work to date in her completely brave and meditative lead performance in this beautiful character study, dense in themes on everything from male and female subculture to the purpose of humanity if there is one. Aided by Daniel Landin’s hauntingly absorbing cinematography and the year’s best score from Mica Levi, Under the Skin is one of the year’s most intelligent and visionary films by far.
3. Life Itself
While having a documentary about the life and work of my writing idol may seem like an obvious choice, Life Itself is way more than just a feel-good gloss-over of the late critic’s achievements. It’s an incredibly heartfelt but surprisingly restrained and unbiased look at Roger Ebert from director Steve James on Ebert’s last days alive and the people with him before, during and after his death. At many times funny, sad and captivating, it’s the respectful and moving tribute Ebert deserves and, yes, I give it two very big thumbs up.
2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
A vivacious return to form for director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is a magnificently deep look at art, acting, theater and one’s own purpose in life that never once forgets to be highly entertaining at the same time. With stunning performances across the board from everyone, especially Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Zach Galifianakis, it’s the dark comedy risk that shockingly pays off and then some. Birdman is one of Hollywood’s most fruitfully telling parodies and philosophical character pieces in years or maybe ever.
1. Whiplash
Rarely have there ever been movies that electrified me as much as Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. Funny, bristling, intense, fearless and ferociously engaging, it’s a masterful examination of dedication to art and what it means to push yourself into something you passionately love.
Anchored by gobsmacking performances from Miles Teller, Paul Reiser and the incredible J.K. Simmons, Whiplash is easily the year’s most immersive, heart-wrenching and unpredictable film that throws a furious storm your way from the first second and refuses to leave your mind afterward. If you don’t have a visceral reaction to the last fifteen minutes, you’re dead.
Will Ashton is a senior studying journalism and a writer for The Post. Email him at wa054010@ohio.edu or find him on Twitter at @thewillofash.
