Baumer's top 50 films of 2014/Panda's top 20 of 2014 pg 8/Numbers pg 14

[Ethan Hunt]

I like the Lego Movie in all but ahead of Apes and TFIOS?

[The Panda]

Number 6

Interstellar

 

"Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day.  Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

 

My Original Rating: A

Most Valuable Player: Matthew McConaughey as Cooper

Box Office: 178.1 million

Tomatometer: 73%

Reasoning: Maybe some were expecting this to be higher on my list because this was probably the film I have talked the most about this year, or at least it seems like it, but I placed it here (and number 6 is frankly quite high anyways).  Interstellar is energized with a script that keeps you thinking throughout while also working your emotions through well played sentiment and powerful performances from McConaughey and Chastain.  This is quite possibly the most polarizing film of the year, and I have fallen on the side of speaking high praise for its originality and intellectual power.  Love it or hate it, Interstellar will be talked about for years to come.

Fun Fact: Dr. Kip Thorne laid down two ground rules for the science in Interstellar in that nothing would violate the laws of physics and all of the speculations would come from actual science and not Nolan.  Nolan accepted the terms.  There were several clashes, but Nolan followed through with them.

 

Edited December 31, 2014 by The Panda

[Plain Old Tele]

...oh boy.

[Empire]

...oh boy.

I take it your not a big fan of this list.

[The Panda]

Number 5

The Immigrant

 

"Is it a sin for me to survive when I have done so many bad things?"

 

My Original Grade: A

Most Valuable Player: Marion Cotillard as Ewa Cybulska

Box Office: 2.0 million

Tomatometer: 87%

Reasoning: Screw Harvey Weinstein for burying this work so deep, had this been given a proper release he may have had a Best Picture winner on his hands, or at least a Best Actress winner.  The Immigrant is beautifully filmed and creates relevance out of the drama of a Polish immigrant forced into prostitution in order to work up money to save her sister from Ellis Island.  There is so much sadness and things going wrong, yet it ends leaving you with a sense of hope for Ewa and a sense of despair for her wrongdoer.  The Immigrant is a film that tackles injustice, and it does so so poetically.  The final shot of the film is the best shot of the entire year, capturing all of the emotions, the themes, and the tone of the film in a single glorious frame.

Fun Fact: Harvey Weinstein is a douchebag for dumping this film.

 

[Kalo]

Panda, I must say, this list is pretty impressive.

[Ethan Hunt]

I like all the movies you've put on here that I've seen Panda, so I guess that is good.

[The Panda]

Number 4

The Grand Budapest Hotel

 

"Keep your hands off my lobby boy!"

 

My Original Grade: A

Most Valuable Player: The Cast and Crew of Film as an Ensemble

Box Office: 59.1 million

Tomatometer: 92%

Reasoning: The Grand Budapest Hotel is such a strong dose of quirky energy and I love it.  It is a film that manages to get better every time I see it.  Wes Anderson really does it with his unique filmmaking style, it carries a strong, dry wit about it and leaves you in a sense of exasperation in a good way.  Everything and everyone works so finely tuned together like cogs in a well-oiled machine and you'd be challenged to find any real weak aspect to the movie.  The score is one of the most memorable of the year; the acting ensemble is strong in chemistry and energy; Yeoman outdoes himself with another great effort in cinematography.  The fact that the Grand Budapest Hotel came out in February and is still one of the award contending frontrunners speaks miles for how great it really is.

Fun Fact: Johnny Depp was Wes Anderson's first choice for Gustave, thankfully Fiennes got the role instead.

 

Edited December 31, 2014 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 3

Guardians of the Galaxy

 

"Nothing goes over my head.  My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it."

 

My Original Grade: A+

Most Valuable Player: Chris Pratt as Star Lord

Box Office: 332.9 million

Tomatometer: 90%

Reasoning: Anybody who knows me on these forums knew this was coming, it was just a matter of how high.  I saw Guardians of the Galaxy three times in the theater, and I currently own the blu-ray edition, the film is easily the most rewatchable of the year.  Guardians of the Galaxy was a definitive summer blockbuster that leaves me rolling every time I see it and my eyes glued to the screen for each viewing.  I love just about every aspect of this movie and it already has a classic quotability with it.  Each of the Guardians are unique and complement each other wonderfully.  This was the most entertaining movie of the year, and although part of me wanted to put this up at number 1, the next two movies on my list were good enough to make it impossible to do so.

Fun Fact: Awesome Mix, Vol 1 was the first film soundtrack to reach number 1 on the Billboard charts without having a single original song.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDFom5Typ0s

[Empire]

Guardians is really good, but doesn't make my top 25.

[The Panda]

Number 2

Birdman: Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

 

"People, they love blood.  The love action.  Not this talky, depressing, philosophical bullshit."

 

My Original Grade: A

Most Valuable Player: Emmanuel Lubezki for Direction of Photography

Box Office: 23.9 million

Tomatometer: 93%

Reasoning: Everything about this film can simply be put into one word, wow.  Everything is total ingenuity.  The ensemble is impeccable, and everyone works so well together on the long, absorbing takes.  The film speaks so much about so many things it is impossible to cover here, but each scene sheds a social commentarial light on aspects of film, what it means to matter, art, the ignorance of human nature, and what is success. Michael Keaton goes on and delivers a career defining performance, and one of the best performances of the 21st century, exposing his own weak points by playing a character that so closely parallels his own life.  Birdman has grown on my mind like a disease, and it remains a masterpiece that is impossible to forget.  Any other year and Birdman would have easily been my number one, in fact I am still fairly surprised it isn't, but there is still one more movie that floored me even more.

Fun Fact: The entire film was shot in less than a month.

 

Edited December 31, 2014 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 1

Boyhood

 

"I'm kind of thinking it's the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes us."

 

My Original Grade: A+

Most Valuable Player: Richard Linklater for Directing

Box Office: 24.2 million

Tomatometer: 99%

Reasoning: My number one may be fairly obvious, but that doesn't change the fact that Boyhood is not only the best picture of the year, but it is one of the best films ever created.  I had previously thought that Linklater had peaked with his Before Sunset and Before Sunrise, which are two of my favorite movies period, but he has somehow managed to surpass even his own ridiculously high bar.  Boyhood captures life in small moments and weaves them all together into a moving picture that represents life as an entirety of itself.  Boyhood gets it right in presenting the idea that life is not a series of milestones but small moments that seize and capture you and before you know it you see it pass.  Boyhood was the easiest number one pick I have had in a very, very long time, and given this year's crop of films, that says a lot.

Fun Fact: Richard Linklater cast his daughter in the movie as Samantha because she was always dancing around wanting to be in his movies.  After a few years she grew tired of the role and asked her dad to kill her character off.  Linklater refused, saying that it was to violent for the film he was planning, and she eventually regained her enthusiasm for the movie.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C64EO5YdmU

[Empire]

I didn't agree with all of it, but great list overall Panda.

[The Panda]

I didn't agree with all of it, but great list overall Panda.

 

Thanks, I doubt anyone will agree with all of anyone's list.  

[Empire]

Thanks, I doubt anyone will agree with all of anyone's list.

That would be kinda freaky if someone did.

[Kalo]

Brovo Panda! almost every film in your top 20 would either be on mine or I'm dying to see.

[The Panda]

Here's my full ranking of the year.

 

1.       Boyhood

2.       Birdman: Or the Unexpected Nature of Ignorance

3.       Guardians of the Galaxy

4.       The Grand Budapest Hotel

5.       The Immigrant

6.       Interstellar

7.       Snowpiercer

8.       The LEGO Movie

9.       The Theory of Everything

10.   Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

11.   Gone Girl

12.   The Fault in Our Stars

13.   Fury

14.   Blue Ruin

15.   X-Men: Days of Future Past

16.   Into the Woods

17.   Only Lover’s Left Alive

18.   The Imitation Game

19.   How to Train Your Dragon 2

20.   The Interview

21.   Begin Again

22.   Edge of Tomorrow

23.   Big Hero 6

24.   22 Jump Street

25.   Captain America: The Winter Soldier

26.   Wild

27.   Bad Words

28.   St Vincent

29.   Chef

30.   Godzilla

31.   Noah

32.   Bears

33.   Neighbors

34.   The Giver

35.   Next Goal Wins

36.   Unbroken

37.   Life Itself

38.   Locke

39.   About Last Night

40.   A Most Wanted Man

41.   The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

42.   The Monument’s Men

43.   God’s Not Dead

44.   Muppets: Most Wanted

45.   Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

46.   Veronica Mars

47.   Oculus

48.   Divergent

49.   Dracula Untold

50.   Blended

51.   That Awkward Moment

52.   300: Rise of an Empire

53.   Dumb and Dumber To

54.   RoboCop

55.   Need For Speed

56.   Alexander and the No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day

57.   Non-Stop

58.   Annabelle

59.   Deliver Us From Evil

60.   Endless Love

61.   Ouija

62.   Ride Along

63.   The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

64.   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

65.   The Nut Job

66.   Pompeii

67.   I, Frankenstein

68.   A Million Ways to Die in the West

69.   Jersey Boys

70.   The Amazing Spider-Man 2

71.   Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

72.   Maleficent

73.   Transcendence

74.   Transformers: Age of Extinction

75.   Winter’s Tale

76.   America: Imagine the World Without Her

[Plain Old Tele]

A few reprehensible choices, but otherwise, a good list.

[baumer]

Nicely done Panda.  I of course don't agree with most of it but you wrote it really well and articulated why you love these films so much.  Really nicely done.

[Claire of Themyscira]

Guardians over Interstellar?