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

[The Panda]

Bad Words is very underrated, glad you liked it.

[baumer]

The top ten begins!

[baumer]

10) Nightcrawler:  Jake Gyllenhaal has become one of if not my favourite actor working right now.  He never seems to do the same role and many of his roles are challenging ones that deal with complex characters, this is a prime example.  Here he plays Louis Bloom, a down on his luck petty thief struggling to make ends meet.  That is until he discovers the seedy world of the evening news.  Nightcrawler expresses so much in under two hours; desperation, false economy's, gritty crime, the dark underworld that we are oblivious too and the psychopathic evilness and general lack of empathy people are capable of. Jake Gyllenhaal gives the performance of his career as a man trying to crawl to the top of his game in the dark gritty media underworld of news footage peddling,.

Nightcrawler is visually striking, the night streets of LA have probably not looked this good since Drive thanks to fantastic camera work and an excellent directorial debut from Dan Gilroy. I've never been a fan of the news and media for twisting the truth, this movie accurately describes the seedy underworld of the evening news and the lengths at which these people will go to ensure there own success. You can spend the first half of this movie trying to figure out who is the antagonist of the movie, similar to Breaking Bads Walter White you will find yourself rooting for a man with clear moral issues.

The dialog's so well written that it will grip you and capture your attention for the entirety of the movie. This movie has probably the most suspenseful end to a movie i have seen this year, the last 20 minutes is nail biting stuff. Although the competition this year is fierce, Gyllenhaal absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination. He's going to win one of those one day and it might be this year.

 

Trivia:  Gyllenhaal lost 20 pounds for the role as he pictured his character to be that of a hungry coyote.

 

[baumer]

9) The Captive:  Here's a Canadian film by Atom Egoyan that ended up being dumped by E1 entertainment.  Thankfully it got a wide release in Canada so I was able to see it. Apparently this got a really bad reception at Cannes.  Egoyan is quoted as saying that he was genuinely shocked by this.  Count me in the same camp.  The Captive is brilliant in my opinion.  I'm a very big Ryan Reynolds fan, as most of you know, and this film shows off his talents, acting wise, not his looks.  It's also decorated with a great supporting cast, especially Rosario Dawson, who shines in here as the detective on the case.  The Captive has Reynolds daughter taken from his truck as he is in the store to buy some blueberry pie for their desert that night.  At first the police think he might have staged the whole thing so that he could collect some sort of ransom to help his failing business.  The rest of the movie is an odyssey, a journey as Matthew (Reynolds) never stops searching, and never gives up hope that she is alive.  Reynolds gives a towering performance so full of raw emotion and he has a volcanic anger that looks to erupt in several scenes.  The Captive asks a lot of difficult questions and it has a terrific story and top notch performances.

 

Trivia:  When I met RTH this year at TIFF, we were sitting on a downtown patio and he was feeding me raw numbers for The Captive's weekend release in Canada.  That day, it had made more than 1 million in Canada, which doesn't sound like much, but it did get a significant release here.  As of last contact with our GOD, The Captive had made more than 2.5 million.

 

[baumer]

8) Captain America: The Winter Soldier:  Finally, I have seen a good...nay great stand alone Avengers movie.  The only good movie in this whole universe is Iron Man.  The rest have varied between shit and okay.  But now Captain America Winter Soldier has finally turned out to be better than all the rest.  The story was well done, Romanov is bad ass and still sexy as hell and the action scenes are terrific.  Evans looks like a Mr. Universe contestant now and his fighting style is pretty cool.  I liked seeing him fight George St. Pierre at the beginning, loved the War Games line (Shall we play a game), loved the checklist of things Captain America had to do and loved the Pulp Fiction epitaph on Fury's tombstone. This might be the best Marvel movie I have seen outside of Avengers.  

 

Trivia:  Evans and Johansson wrote their own dialogue for the scenes they had together.

 

[baumer]

7) John Wick:  This is an 80's style action film as if it was written by Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott.  John Wick is one of the more original action films of it's time.  It builds a world unlike any other.  Here's the story of a former hit-man, not just any hit-man, but the one they called the boogey-man, so feared that even the mob stays clear of him.  His wife has passed away and as she died, her final gift to her husband, played superbly by Keanu Reeves, is a dog that he falls in love with.  As we have seen in the trailer, some punks kill his dog, beat the crap out of him and steal his car.  Now, all fucking hell is about to break loose.  My favourite scene in the film is when the car is brought to the mob's go to guy when it comes to making a car disappear.  John Leguizamo is so good in this small role.  Here he punches the kids who stole the car.  The kid calls his daddy to complain and his dad is the most feared Russian mobster in the States.

 

"Care to explain why you slapped my son around tonight?"

"He stole John Wick's car and killed his dog."

(Grave look on his face, drained of colour) "Oh."

 

John Wick is stylish, has frentic action and some terrific fight choreography.  Reeves is one of the great physical actors of our time and at the age of 50, he shows us that he could still do another Matrix film, he is so very good.

 

Trivia:  The film reunites actors Keanu Reeves, Daniel Bernhardt, Randall Duk Kim along with directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, all of whom were involved in The Matrix Trilogy.

 

 

[baumer]

6) Whiplash:  If Rocky played the drums, this is the movie you'd have.  

 

Miles Teller plays Andrew, a young man who wants nothing more than to be the best drummer who has ever played.  He is given a chance to hone his craft by the meanest, cruelest son of a bitch teacher played by J.K. Simmons, which should be an oscar nominated role.  Simmon's Fletcher is what would happen if Darth Vader and Artemesia (Green's character in 300 Rise of an Empire) were allowed to mate.   He thinks he's doing these kids a favour by being an ass but what he is really doing is ruining their minds.  Andrew literally gives blood, sweat and tears for Fletcher.  And like a whore, when Fletcher is done with him, he tosses him aside, like he was nothing.  But this whore has other things in mind and when he decides to get his revenge, it brings the house down.  I clapped at the end of the film.  Whiplash will get some Oscar recognition for Simmons and it's too bad that Teller won't because he is fantastic as well. 

 

"Not quite my tempo."

 

Trivia:  For the slapping scene, J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller filmed several takes with Simmons only miming the slap. For the final take, Simmons and Teller decided to film the scene with a real, genuine slap. This is the take that is in the film.

 

[baumer]

5) Gone Girl:  From the start to finish of Gone girl I was absolutely paralyzed. This is a film that has you guessing from the start right up until the end.  First with did he do it and then with how are they going to pull this off?  Great actors, great story - it was thrilling and absolutely completely intriguing. I've always loved these psychological thriller and Gone girl is perfect. Pike is getting all the recognition here and she deserves it but Affleck was equally as good.  The ending has some people upset but imo the ending is one of the pieces that makes the film so intriguing.  And it begs you to ask questions about the relationships you see around you.  How good are they really?  Gone Girl will keep the conversation flowing.

 

Trivia:  Ben Affleck's weight fluctuates in the film with him being fairly overweight to being muscular as a result of being cast as Batman.

 

[The Stingray]

Had no idea Scarlett and Evans wrote their own stuff for Cap 2. That's pretty cool.

 

And yeah, Leguizamo is a great actor. Wish he got some bigger roles.

 

[baumer]

4) Birdman:  For this film, I am going to quote Panda, who said it all so perfectly:

 

 

The movie makes you enter an entrancing state of trippiness, and is magnificently well directed and shot.  The overall camerawork and cinematography is the best of the year (even topping that of Grand Budapest Hotel), and it's one of the slickest edited films you will see in a long time.  The script is a searing iron poking jabs at the Hollywood industry, Broadway, critics, celebrities, and the mindset of consumers, and it has so much depth with so much to be analyzed because this is a case where what is important truly is shown and not told.  The secondary title really does define this film, The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, every character in the film is searching for fulfillment and in the end it is realized the only true way to fulfill yourself is to be ignorant to the entire idea of that (when Keaton decides to embrace himself as Birdman in the very end), ignorance is a virtue because Keaton was only truly at peace with himself when he had become ignorant to the idea of selling out (this exact thing being what forces the critic to write her positive review of the play).

 

I could write so much about it, because it is so delicately detailed, everything is so planned, yet everything feels so organic at the same time.  Birdman is literally one of the closest things you can get to the idea of organized chaos.  My only true complaint is at times the camera work gets a tad bit too showy to the point where that takes prevalence from the plot thus dragging you a bit out of the story it is telling, plus for trying to give the illusion of one really long take the places there are takes are more obvious than they should.  However, at this point I am just getting extremely nitpicky, which in and of itself is something that speaks highly of the film, it is so free of flaws that the few flaws it does have stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Overall, excellent film and one of the best of the year.

 

(baumer speaking now).  Keaton gives a performance that is on par with some of the greatest of all time.  He will be nominated and I'll be shocked if he doesn't win this year.

 

http://forums.boxofficetheory.com/index.php/index.php?/topic/16703-birdman-2014/

 

Trivia:  Given the unusual style of filming long takes, Edward Norton and Michael Keaton kept a running tally of flubs made by the actors. Emma Stone made the most mistakes, Zach Galifianakis made the fewest.

 

[The Stingray]

Haven't seen Birdman yet.

 

So baumer, do you think Keaton is better than Jake G?

[baumer]

3) This is Where I Leave You:  Here's a film that I could relate to.  In fact, the top three films of the year are films I can relate to on some level.  Jason Bateman plays a man who's wife cheated on him and now he has no job, no wife and no prospects.  In an instant, his life went from something comfortable to that of gloom and despair.  There's a great line in The Mothman Prophecies where Richard Gere laments, "It's like the universe just found you and said Oh, there's the happy couple, that's going to change."  This is what happens to Bateman and it's what can happen in real life.  It just takes a slight nudge to change your whole life, for the worse.  But beyond all the serious stuff here, the film is one of the funniest of the year and it has one of the best casts of the year.  Rose Byrne should be in everything, I'm convinced of it and Jane Fonda is fearless here as the grieving widow with breast augmentation.  It's funny from start to finish and many of the story lines work themselves out to perfection.  It's not the very best film of the year, but it could be the funniest.  

 

Trivia:  When the movie was going to be directed by Adam Shankman, Zac Efron, Malin Akerman,Leslie Mann, Jason Sudeikis and Goldie Hawn were cast in the lead roles alongside Jason Bateman.

 

Edited December 29, 2014 by baumer

[baumer]

Haven't seen Birdman yet.

 

So baumer, do you think Keaton is better than Jake G?

 

Yes, I do.  He gives one of the best performances I've ever seen.

[baumer]

2) Wild:  Sometimes you have to walk the same path in order to appreciate what the film is trying to say.  That doesn't mean it's going to resonate with everyone.  I've never done heroine or cheated on my ex with many different partners, but what she is going through in this film is something, for the most part, I could relate to.  And until you can forgive yourself, you can't really live. To quote Stallone from Rocky Balboa:  

 

Let me tell you something you already know.The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!

Now if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth! But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!

I'm going to post the review here from Filmlover:  He says it all beautifully: 

This made a huge impression on me (many of the themes hit close to home, so it's given me plenty to think about since seeing it yesterday afternoon). Jean-Marc Vallee has surpassed the promise he showed with last year's terrific Dallas Buyers Club with this follow-up effort. Cheryl Strayed's memoir has been brought to the screen with care. But Wild wouldn't be the movie that it is without Reese Witherspoon's remarkable performance as Cheryl, probably the best of her career. It's such a relief after years of toiling away in mostly subpar comedies to see Witherspoon delivering work of this caliber. Cheryl is a superbly-written female character, the kind that we rarely see, and we're with her every step of the way due to Witherspoon's excellent work. Despite having significantly less screen time, Laura Dern is also heartbreaking as Cheryl's mother via flashbacks. And the cinematography is beautiful. Movies about redemption and/or self-discovery have become a dime-a-dozen in recent years, but Wild presents its story in a compelling and moving manner that allows it to stand high above most movies covering similar ground. Just a tremendous film with an unforgettable lead performance. 

http://forums.boxofficetheory.com/index.php?/topic/17121-wild-2014/

[baumer]

1) The Fault in Our Stars:  I'll be honest, when I saw this film, I liked it alot, and I gave it 8.5/10.  I saw it twice more at theaters and my grade grew to a 9.5.  Then I bought the DVD and I now consider this the only film worth a ten this year.  In short, this film floors me every time.  There's a theme in my top three films.  Courage, redemption, comebacks, true love and perseverance.  It doesn't take  genius to realize this is a lot of what I am going through at this time in my life.  The Fault in Our Stars is the only one that doesn't deal with adults and their issues.  But cancer isn't prejudice and it doesn't care about age.  It just attacks you and hurts you no matter who you are.  This film has one of the greatest stories I've ever been privy to seeing and reading.  Cancer has beaten these people down, but they don't live like they are dying.  They fight and claw for every last breath and in the process two young people find solace in the love of one another.  Shaileen Woodley broke my heart here.  There is no question in my mind that this is the best female performance of the year and it's really sad that the geriatrics in the academy will overlook her.  Hazel Grace Lancaster is bitter, she is smart and she is determined not to fall in love with the boy next door.  But Augustus Waters is not easily swayed and through his persistence and his foresight, he finally gets her to let go and allow him into her life.  But Grace's cynicism has developed for a reason and soon, well, you'll have to see it for yourself.  

 

I'm going to be 43 in a few days.  I cry now at films about dogs and love lost, and of course a really well directed Transformers scene.  But I don't think I've allowed myself to cry like I did in this film.  It's so well written, acted and directed that it's hard not to.  It's the best film of the year.

 

Trivia:  Shailene Woodley wrote impassioned letters to author John Green and director Josh Boone. "If I'm passionate about something, I'll do everything I can to try to be a part of it," Woodley asserts. Although Green didn't initially picture Woodley for the part, he "was blown away" when she read for him. "We were all crying. It was actually sort of bad," he laughs. "But it was hers from that moment on."

 

 

[Ethan Hunt]

1) The Fault in Our Stars:  I'll be honest, when I saw this film, I liked it alot, and I gave it 8.5/10.  I saw it twice more at theaters and my grade grew to a 9.5.  Then I bought the DVD and I now consider this the only film worth a ten this year.  In short, this film floors me every time.  There's a theme in my top three films.  Courage, redemption, comebacks, true love and perseverance.  It doesn't take  genius to realize this is a lot of what I am going through at this time in my life.  The Fault in Our Stars is the only one that doesn't deal with adults and their issues.  But cancer isn't prejudice and it doesn't care about age.  It just attacks you and hurts you no matter who you are.  This film has one of the greatest stories I've ever been privy to seeing and reading.  Cancer has beaten these people down, but they don't live like they are dying.  They fight and claw for every last breath and in the process two young people find solace in the love of one another.  Shaileen Woodley broke my heart here.  There is no question in my mind that this is the best female performance of the year and it's really sad that the geriatrics in the academy will overlook her.  Hazel Grace Lancaster is bitter, she is smart and she is determined not to fall in love with the boy next door.  But Augustus Waters is not easily swayed and through his persistence and his foresight, he finally gets her to let go and allow him into her life.  But Grace's cynicism has developed for a reason and soon, well, you'll have to see it for yourself.  

 

I'm going to be 43 in a few days.  I cry now at films about dogs and love lost, and of course a really well directed Transformers scene.  But I don't think I've allowed myself to cry like I did in this film.  It's so well written, acted and directed that it's hard not to.  It's the best film of the year.

 

Trivia:  Shailene Woodley wrote impassioned letters to author John Green and director Josh Boone. "If I'm passionate about something, I'll do everything I can to try to be a part of it," Woodley asserts. Although Green didn't initially picture Woodley for the part, he "was blown away" when she read for him. "We were all crying. It was actually sort of bad," he laughs. "But it was hers from that moment on."

 

 

Yes!!!!! Not quite my #1 but it's a very close #2.

[baumer]

Thanks for reading, your comments and likes.  I'll post my top 50 in order later on today.

 

Who's next?

[The Futurist]

Baumer, I was right, I knew you number one was The Fault in our Stars and how much you like Woodley.

Great top but i haven t seen most of the films you mentionned.

[baumer]

Yea I knew u kne buddy. Ive been high on FIOS since I first saw it.

[The Panda]

Thanks for reading, your comments and likes.  I'll post my top 50 in order later on today.

 

Who's next?

 

I would like to do mine tomorrow (all in one sitting), I am doing my top 10 worst today.  (Well I am doing my top 15 for each, 5 are honorable mentions)

 

I wanted to see if I could catch one more movie that was raved by a lot of people today before I did it.

 

That was a good top 10 Baumer, I actually was surprised, I thought Birdman would be your number 1.

Edited December 29, 2014 by The Panda