Chasmmi's top 50 (or so) films of the Year - Top 5 is finally on its way - will there be any shock entries?

[chasmmi]

25th - Blended - 87/100

 

What I was hoping/expecting: It's Adam Sandler, the the dictionary definition of sublime to the ridiculous when it comes to films he is in. So I went into this expecting to either really like it or hate it. The fact that I enjoyed 50 first dates quite a lot put in an optimistic mood though.

 

What I got: A film that I just cannot get the hate for. It's a sweet goodhearted comedy. There is nothing massively offensive, the jokes are funny and it is fun to watch. In fact it turns out it was my second favourite pure comedy film of the year.

 

There's not a lot more detail for me to go into than just to say that I liked this film, it did everything a nice romantic comedy should do and isn't totally offensive to either good taste or good comedy. The rest of you can just go hate away  

 

 

[Kalo]

huh, interesting haven't seen it, Adam Sandler is kind of hit and miss for me though, more like miss and hit and miss miss.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Visor shades Kalo

[chasmmi]

24th - Penguins of Madagascar - 88/100

 

What I was hoping/expecting: Ah the film that is something copying the minions movie idea but first so I suppose minions is copying this. Anyhow, it clearly looked like an attempt to make money from some of the more popular characters from the films without having to pay for the services of Stiller and Company.

 

It felt like a needless cash in that would probably be bad but you never know as I knid of like the Madagascar films. They were better than the Ice Ages at least.

 

What I got: One of the funniest animations of the year. I will not lie I was laughing at this from start to finish, the jokes just keep coming and as bad as the actor puns are, they work so well and it's just so fun. This film has no right to be this funny and entertaining, in fact it is probably the best Madagascar film yet and by a distance.

 

If minions is anywhere near as good as this then huzzah for spin off animation. Yet again I find myself wanting a sequel I never expected to want.

[Ethan Hunt]

Penguins was pretty bad.

[Empire]

Penguins was pretty bad.

I thought it was alright. Nothing special.

[Plain Old Tele]

 

WE HAVE NOW MOVED ON TO THE GREAT FILMS OF 2014.

 

 

 

27th - Night at the Museum 3 - 87/100

 

WARNING WARNING DOES NOT COMPUTE SYSTEM ABORTED

[Kalo]

lol! 

[Sam]

28th - Top 5 - 86/100

 

What I was hoping/expecting: Chris Rock is possibly my favourite American Stand up of all time. When he is on fire, he is arguably the funniest man on the planet. Sadly, though his films sometimes leave a lot to be desired. This film and concept intrigued me, it seemed like it was going to be a little more real than previous films and with Christ Rock there is always a chance that he'll pull off a decent film.

 

What I got: A very good film. Considering the majority of it is just two characters, they gel together very well and you feel for the issues both of them are facing and dealing with. You feel some real issues comedians may have as to whether they should try to just continue being a comedian in the film world or try to do something serious and potentially safe.

 

You just have to look at someone like Adam Sandler to see a comedian who actually has all the acting tools at his disposal to pull of some potentially even oscar-level dramatic performances, yet he shuns that direction to focus on annual Happy Madison releases that can be good and can be at times the most offensively awful films of a given year. The character may not be exactly Chris Rock, but he feels like a real person all the same and that is great.

 

My one downside with this film is that it's often not all that funny for long periods of the film. It's interesting and involving but there are not enough jokes to carry the comedy moniker at times (this is an issue I have with a lot of dramas that decide to add 3 jokes to their film and voila they are a Rom Com/Dramedy/Black Comedy). Let's be clear though when jokes hit they hit well and are great (the strip club scene is hilarious as one example).

 

Bizarrely for me, maybe the biggest issue I have with this film was the stand up club scene. In this scene Rock nails the humour fantastically and they are the funniest jokes in the film. Why is this a problem? Because as much as I enjoyed this film and want Chris Rock to be the guy doing the funny black guy roles in successful comedies that people like Kevin Hart are being given, this just reminds me how good a stand up he is and how much I miss not seeing him do new Stand up routines.

 

Overall though, it's a pretty great film   

Great choice. Absolutely great effort from Chris Rock here. It was one of the surprises for me this year, along with the likes of John Wick and Edge of Tomorrow.

[baumer]

 

25th - Blended - 87/100

 

What I was hoping/expecting: It's Adam Sandler, the the dictionary definition of sublime to the ridiculous when it comes to films he is in. So I went into this expecting to either really like it or hate it. The fact that I enjoyed 50 first dates quite a lot put in an optimistic mood though.

 

What I got: A film that I just cannot get the hate for. It's a sweet goodhearted comedy. There is nothing massively offensive, the jokes are funny and it is fun to watch. In fact it turns out it was my second favourite pure comedy film of the year.

 

There's not a lot more detail for me to go into than just to say that I liked this film, it did everything a nice romantic comedy should do and isn't totally offensive to either good taste or good comedy. The rest of you can just go hate away  

 

 

The hate for this movie is ridiculous.  Sandler can be really good at times.  This is one of those times.  I too had this on my list and I'm glad someone else does too.  Good job chas.

[chasmmi]

WARNING WARNING DOES NOT COMPUTE SYSTEM ABORTED

 

I think I found an early recording of Tele's younger days:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aE-nMS9Mnk

[chasmmi]

23rd - The Theory of Everything - 88/100

 

What I was hoping/Expecting: It's Stephen Hawking, one of the most intelligent and amazing people to ever live. This is the sort of film if done right can be an all time great film, but if done badly can end up embarassingly awkward. Seeing that it got Oscar buzz and nominations suggested that this could be a film to rank high on this list.

 

What I got: Another film with great acting performances, Redmayne is fantastic in this and he does a great job of portraying Hawkings' physical downward spiral effectively without crossing the line into farcical or awkwardly comical (As this is the sort of disease that if you miscalculate how you pull it off, you become Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder).

 

The downside to this film though is that it feels surprisingly empty in parts considering the story that could be told. I enjoyed the story a lot and everyone involved did a great job, but I just kind of wish the film had a little something more to it. Still great though.    

[chasmmi]

22nd - Locke - 89/100

 

What I was hoping/Expecting: This is one of those films you only hear about if you frequent websites like this or maybe film podcasts. Like many around here I probably saw this film because of the rantings of some old man talking about it and Tom Hardy is a good enough actor to pull off a one man show that this appeared to be.

 

What I got: Well at this point every film is great so there is no point saying it each time. Hardy is great in this and the story is impressively captivating considering everything takes place in just a car. The phone conversations and character progression develop fantastically over the course of 90 minutes. It really is impressive.

 

I would have to say that the accent did distract me, I know that's not a got reason to find a downside for a film but it just kind of can't help but remind me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaMXLQKcv-U.

 

I'm also going to probably annoy some people in saying that as great as Hardy does in this, I'd have to say that Reynolds did better in Buried (Yeah I said it!!). But this isn't a pissing contest, both films are great and this is a film that more people should definately watch if they haven't.

[chasmmi]

DUE TO HAVING WATCHED A FEW EXTRA FILMS RECENTLY, 3 FILMS WILL BE PLACED IN 21st PLACE.

[chasmmi]

21st C - Million Dollar Arm - 89/100

 

What I was hoping/Expecting: Disney doing a true story, what can go wrong? And baseball too! What British filmgoer doesn't love baseball? Well actually baseball films can often turn out to be pretty good despite how bad the actual sport itself is and I like the Indian actors in this so I had optimism for this film.

 

What I got: I don't understand why nobody saw this. The story is nice and it's got a lot of heart behind it and I personally like a story where i can feel the heart in it. It acting is pretty damn good all the way through, especially the Indian cast and the old scout guy. It's one of those sports films where you do not need an interest in the sport to enjoy it and that was what I did.  

 

One of the most underwatched/underrated films of the year.

 

[chasmmi]

21st B - Godzilla - 89/100

 

What I was hoping/Expecting: Oh Godzilla, a legendary film monster that has had scores of awful films made in its honour both Amercian and Japanese and now it's back for another outing. Will it be good, will it be average, will it be awful? It really could have gone in many directions, but I wanted it to be good and the trailers were great so i was highly hopeful for it.

 

What i got: Haters be damned, this was great. Ok so Godzilla doesn't turn up until quite late in the film but to be fair neither does the Alien in Alien, neither does Jaws, Neither does the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. The rarity of Godzilla doesn't mean it's an all-time classic, but it doesn't make a good reason for saying the film is bad either.

 

I actually liked how they built up the film to a climax and it wasn;t just CGi monster fight after monster fight and bang bang boom boom!!! It tried to develop as a story and when the fights finally happen they are fantastic. I really really enjoyed how they build up Godzilla and the role he plays for humanity and the world. It's a great foundation for a franchise and I look forward to future installments (although with hopeful a couple of better human characters I concede).

[chasmmi]

21st A - Big Eyes - 89/100

 

What I was hoping/expecting: Tim Burton, what can one say about him that hasn't already been said? A great director with countless amazing films behind him who sadly has produced nothing but shit alongside his best friend Mr Depp for years and years. I had pretty much decided to myself that I would not watch another Burton or Depp film until I heard good things about something again as it was always disappointment after disappointment.

 

This year I happened to see Depp in Into the Woods with his film destroying performance and decided to give Burton a shot with this. Even though I was highly skeptical he'd be able to manage anything other than horrible anymore.

 

What I got: It's not classic Burton, but it was good. A nice story that succesfully drew me into the slow descent of Keane from nice guy and apparent saviour to how he is by the end of the film. Yeah it is a bit silly and overblown in places and the film will not be for everyone but I took a lot of postives from it. Hey 5 bonus points just for Burton producing something watchable again.

 

I enjoy watching this style of film so of course that weighs on my scoring a lot, but I think there is a lot to enjoy in this film and there will be people out there who enjoy it (even though I am currently the only A in the RTM section). 

[chasmmi]

So I will start my top 20 a little later but it's time to list the most major films I didn't want to / was unable to see from 2014:

 

Couldn't See:

 

Birdman

American Sniper

Unbroken

Selma

Babadook

Wild

Mr. Turner

Boyhood

 

(The bottom 2 may be watched soon, Birdman in early March when it hits cinemas so I may add them in after the list is finished)

 

 

Didn't want to see:

 

Million Ways

Tammy

Hobbit

Transformers

Divergent

Fault in Our Stars

 

 

There are obviously others out there too but these are the main ones I can think of right now and yeah I'd like to think that still leaves room for one or two unpredictable choices in my top 20

[Ethan Hunt]

Didn't want to see:

Fault in Our Stars

)

:/

[chasmmi]

:/

 

Yes I would personally prefer to eat my own spleen than watch that

[chasmmi]

20th - Nightcrawler - 90/100

 

 

 

What I was hoping/expecting

 So another film that people both here and on the forum are raving about, especially regarding Mr Gyllin...Gillen...Gelly... Jake and his performance. Other than that I was going in pretty blind, I knew it was going to be dark but I didn't know what direction anything was going to go it.

 

What i got: Yep Jake is pretty fantastic in this. Was he snubbed for an OScar Nom?? I'm not sure, it was such a strong year this year for actors but he would not have been out of place being in the running. His character is wholly dislikable and sociapathic at times, it is captivating beyond belief to see him descend further and further into this world and I can fully understand why some would even go as far to say this was the best film of the year.

 

Yet again though, it's a fantastic film version of a film that isn't completely my cup of tea. If the story was my favourite type of story or resonated just a little more then this could have ended up top five and I'd never think it crazy to see people placing this that high in their lists, probably more so than some higher ranked films to come even.

 

It's definitely worth checking out and watching and it would be great to see films like this getting a bigger audience at cinemas nationwide.