The Best of 2014

It has become trite to open these year-end roundups with gripes of the state of affairs in the film industry, still I think it needs to be said. Between an almost complete lack of anything substantial released in the first three quarters of the year and a surprisingly deficient awards season, 2014 made me question my commitment to film. Still, the cream rose, and without having seen everything gracing Top 10 lists and awards conversations, here are my favorite movies I saw this year:

10. Joe

Joe represented an escape from the Hollywood clutches that has sucked the life and talent out of both its director, David Gordon Green, and star, Nicolas Cage. Green, revisiting his roots, weaves an engaging backwoods crime story and Cage offers a performance that stands amongst the best of his career.

9. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Though not without the usual whimsical trappings of any Wes Anderson movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel cannot be overlooked due to its painstakingly gorgeous set design and cinematography and a bravura turn from Ralph Fiennes.

8. Whiplash

If anything, Damien Chazelle's second feature deserves an Oscar for Tom Cross' editing which unrelentingly drums up the tension and results in one of the most watchable films of the year. Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons shine in this battle of the wills.

7. Boyhood

Although not as enamored by most reviewers placing this atop their year-end lists, I don't know if I've ever been so taken by the sheer magnitude of a film before that its caused me to forgive its flaws (I would argue overlength, pacing, and even redundancy). Filmed over 12 years and chronicling a young boy's journey into adulthood, Richard Linklater's labor of love is sure to impress both by its scope and insightful coming of age screenplay.

6. Inherent Vice

Following the ambiguities of The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson returns again with Joaquin Phoenix with the hazy, drug-fuelled, incoherent, and very funny adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon 1970s detective story.

5. Nightcrawler

Dark, funny, well-scripted, and frankly unexpected, Dan Gilroy's directorial debut was a welcomed oasis following the mindless cinematic wasteland of summer. Jake Gyllenhaal continues his reliable resume with an originally crafted sociopath and receives strong support from Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, and Riz Ahmed.

4. The Imitation Game

Exciting and intimate look into the little known story of the cracking of the supposedly insurmountable German coding machine Enigma by the formidable British squad led by the irascible, ingenious Alan Turing. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers another finely honed performance and Keira Knightley brings warmth to a supporting role.

3. Fury

Leaving the streets of L.A. for the mud-caked, blood drenched battlefields of the Western Front, David Ayers turns what could have been a tired, forgettable brothers-in-arms tank story into a brutally intense and moving saga which boasts astounding performances from Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf which will sadly be overlooked this awards season.

2. Foxcatcher

Another incredible, little known true life story, Bennett Miller's tragic tale of Olympian grappling siblings and their unfortunate relationship with an unbalanced tycoon moves at a measured pace with striking photography and powerful performances from Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, and Steve Carell.

1. The Homesman

In what may seem an odd choice for picture of the year, no other film in 2014 moved me more than Tommy Lee Jones' bleak, offbeat western. Hilary Swank brings vulnerable toughness to her role and Jones offers another great turn as a rascally ne'er do well assisting spinster Swank in escorting three mentally ill women from the Nebraskan Plains to Iowa where they can receive proper treatment.

The Imitation Game

At the outset of World War II, the British government set out to assemble the finest cryptographic young minds in the country in a top secret effort to crack the purportedly unbreakable Nazi coding machine Enigma. Joining the squad, and summarily taking over its leadership while alienating all fellow members and commanding officers, is Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), an ingenious, irascible, and almost sociopathic mathematics professor who, with much opposition, begins the costly construction of a primitive computer that will hopefully be the key to decryption and thus turning the tide of war. From Andrew Hodge's book and Graham Moore's screenplay, Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game brings an extraordinary, little known story to the forefront with an informative, exciting, well paced and crafted presentation that only steps wrong its final moments with some misguided plotting that seeks to skew the aim of the film. Cumberbatch is absolutely superb in a tailor made role and Keira Knightley  is delightful as a brilliant woman who helps bring Turing out of his shell.
*** 1/2 out of ****

The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet's update of Charles Dicken's classic holiday standard doesn't exactly do justice to particular elements of the well-worn story (although Michael Caine makes a serviceable Scrooge and I suspect an even better one in a more reverent rendition) but works best with the imaginative infusion of Jim Henson's beloved creatures (Henson died not too long before the films release and his son Brian is credited as director). Major characters are grossly underused, notably Kermit as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as his wife, and Fozzie Bear as Mr. Fezziwig (or Fozziwig for our purposes) and the original songs are mostly forgettable but the minor characters supply a share of hearty laughs and Gonzo steals the show playing the Dickens as he clumsily narrates the festive proceedings.

*** out of ****

Foxcatcher

Despite the fact of both being gold medal winning wrestlers at the 1984 L.A. Olympics, Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) has always lived under the shadow of his older brother and father figure Dave (Mark Ruffalo). When he is contacted by John Du Pont (Steve Carell), the mentally unstable heir to the colossal chemical company's fortune, to lead a group of grapplers at the '88 games in Seoul and train at Du Pont's pastoral Valley Forge neighboring estate, it seems like a prime opportunity for Mark to branch out on his own. However, when relations between him and Du Pont sour and it becomes all to clear that it was Dave all along who had been targeted to lead the troops, it spurs Mark into a downward spiral and leads all involved into unforeseeable and unspeakable tragedy. Bennett Miller, a director who is particular about his projects but is slowly but surely building one of the finest resumes in film (Capote, Moneyball), offers a dark, involving, and deliberately paced character study featuring foreboding landscapes which harken back to his work on Capote as well as a shocking, unsettling finale. Tatum and Ruffalo deliver phenomenal performances, both emotionally and physically, making it clear as to what must have been months of grueling preparation. Carell appears almost subhuman in both manner and appearance, but proves entirely eerie and effective.
*** 1/2 out of ****

Wild

In an effort to battle her demons and cleanse her soul following the death of her mother (Laura Dern) which predicated her foray into hard drug use and indiscriminate sexual liaisons, unseasoned hiker Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) embarked by foot on the 2,500 plus mile Pacific Crest Trail, which traverses the West Coast from Mexico to Canada. Wild, Jean-Marc Vallee's follow-up to Dallas Buyers Club with a screenplay by Nick Hornby from Strayed's bestselling memoir, features picturesque photography, a great soundtrack, and an earnest, though overdone performance from Witherspoon. The film is maimed however both by a cloying performance from Dern and an irritating flashback structure that exists to mask the fact of just how little is going on in this personal drama.

** 1/2 out of ****

Annie

The spunky lovable redhead, popularized in a comic strip, musical, and movie returns for an urbanized update where the orphan (Quvenzhane Wallis) lives under the care of her cruel and often  inebriated stepmother (Cameron Diaz) but never loses hope of returning to her birth parents. Soon she crosses paths with an aloof cell phone tycoon (Jamie Foxx) who takes in the ragamuffin as a publicity stunt to aid his faltering mayoral campaign. Will Gluck's Annie, backed by producers Will Smith and Jay-Z, initially captures the old fashioned, plucky spirit of the matter but soon stumbles due to the introduction of lame new songs, the infusion of hip-hop into the old standards, an overabundance of modernity into this old-timey material, and a disturbing embrace of materialism. Wallis shines and brings the requisite energy to the part, and the rest of the cast is serviceable expiating Diaz who makes a poor substitute for Carol Burnett.

** out of ****

The Theory of Everything

The life of renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, beginning with his days as a student at Cambridge where he met his future wife Jane, who would stand by his side as he battled ALS, which left him paralyzed and took his ability to speak, and developed his groundbreaking scientific theories. With The Theory of Everything, director James Marsh, who has done his best work in documentaries (Man on Wire, Project Nim) but has also contributed some respectable features (Red Riding: 1980, Shadow Dancer), offers a refined but staid and ultimately underdeveloped look into one of the greatest minds of the last half-century. Redmayne succeeds in physically capturing Hawking's appearance but never quite lets you in to who he is, what made him so brilliant, or why he clicked so well for so long with his wife. I thought Jones was strong, but had similar gripes leading me to wonder if the issues didn't stem from Anthony McCarten's screenplay, who adapted Jane Hawking's book. One of the biggest disappointments, however, is the criminally underused supporting cast which includes such stalwarts as David Thewlis, Emily Watson, Christian McKay, and Charlie Cox.
** 1/2 out of ****

Whiplash

An overly ambitious jazz drummer (Miles Teller), currently enrolled in the top conservatory in the country and with visions of becoming one of the greats at his craft, is quickly taken under the wing of his esteemed, tyrannical instructor (J.K. Simmons) who treats his classroom like a barracks and submits his new student to unrelenting psychological torment. Whiplash, is an impressive little feature from writer/director Damien Chazelle whose turns are not always in the realm of believability and whose unyieldingly intense plot, much like its lead character, gets constantly pushed to the limit. The music scenes are impeccably edited and the movie features a strong turn from Teller and a career performance from Simmons.
*** 1/2 out of ****

The Homesman

A homely, self-sufficient frontierswoman (Hilary Swank), personally seeing over her claim in Nebraska Territory and becoming increasingly distressed at her bleak prospects at landing a husband, agrees to accompany three women who have lost control of their faculties to Iowa where they can receive a ride back east to receive the proper psychiatric treatment. When she rescues a scoundrelous squatter (Tommy Lee Jones) from imperative doom, he makes an unwilling partner for the journey and an even less likely candidate for matrimony. The Homesman, directed by Jones from Glendon Swarthout's novel, is an alternately desolate and humorous Western, which keeps with the traditions of the genre while at the same time remaining consistently offbeat and entertaining. Swank is given another tailor made role and is more than up to the task while Jones delivers a centerpiece performance for his more than formidable career.
*** 1/2 out of ****

Birdman

A has been movie mega-star (Michael Keaton), haunted by the spirit of his onscreen superhero alter ego, is mounting a comeback in the form of a theatrical presentation of a Raymond Carver short story which he is ambitiously adapting, directing and starring in. In addition to the burdens these tasks carry, he must also contend with his critical daughter/assistant (Emma Stone), a wound tight stage manager and best friend (Zach Galifianakis), an insecure star (Naomi Watts), a needy girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough), a concerned ex-wife (Amy Ryan), a Times journalist bent on trashing him, and a highly regarded, egotistical, last minute acting replacement (Ed Norton) who holds the ex-matinee idol in low esteem. Birdman is an acute change of pace for director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu from the weighty, multi-plot converging films for which he's become known (Babel, Amores Perros) and features a bravura, self-deprecating performance from Keaton. Unfortunately, the rest of the production comes off as unfunny and sanctimonious with competent actors putting their best foot forward with an inept and unworthy script (by Inarritu and three others). Additionally, the fantasy sequences offer little, wither proving ineffective or strange for strange's sake and Emmanuel Lubezki's camerawork, which is designed to make over 95% of the movie seem like one continuous take, sadly comes off as little more than a gimmick.

** out of ****

Interstellar

As a modern day Dust Bowl threatens to starve and suffocate the human race, an ex-fighter pilot, first-rate engineer, and discontented farmer (Matthew McConaughey) stumbles upon and is swiftly commissioned to lead a deadly, top secret NASA mission that aims to journey through a wormhole in search of a new home for the species. Christopher Nolan's Interstellar plays as intriguing science fiction and a palpable family drama for roughly half its running time before succumbing to constant and inane scientific conjecture, egregiously overt references to 2001, and its sheer length which could have easily been pared down. McConaughey is strong, Anne Hathaway is mercifully dialed down, and several late arriving big named cameos serve merely as distractions.
** 1/2 out of ****

The Ruling Class

Following the unfortunate role-playing related death of a prominent British Lord, his considerate estate is passed to his mentally disturbed progeny (Peter O'Toole) who thinks himself the second coming of Jesus Christ, all to the chagrin of his stodgy family who schemes to see his inheritance reappropriated. From Peter Barnes play, The Ruling Class is bizarre, outlandish fun to a point, boasting a virtuoso O'Toole performance, but is overlong, stagy, and even obnoxious as it eventually outstays its welcome.

** 1/2 out of ****

Fury

A rough-hewn tank crew, together since the beginning of World War II and now in its final days, loses their spotter in battle and reigns in his greenhorn replacement (Logan Lerman) who is soon taken under the wing of their stoic commander (Brad Pitt) and eventually by the rest of the tight-kit lot. When their vehicle breaks down with a German brigade steadily bearing down upon them, the brothers-in-arms face the ultimate scenario of fight or flight. Fury is intense and brutal filmmaking from David Ayer, who departs his familiar streets of Los Angeles for the blood soaked and mud caked battlefields of the European front and crafts an intelligent, powerful war film from material which could easily have come off as hackneyed and timeworn. Pitt, save for a few scenes that strain for effect be it for drama or shock value, delivers a visceral performance, one of his finestand the rest of the actors comprising his tank crew range from entertaining (Jon Bernthal, Michael Pena) to surprisingly commanding (Shia LaBeouf, Lerman).

*** 1/2 out of ****

Nightcrawler

A creepy, business minded sociopath (Jake Gyllenhaal) stumbles upon the scene of an accident on the L.A. freeway, is taken by the freelance "nightcrawlers" who sell their filmed bloody wares to the local TV news station, and decides to try his hand at the trade, quickly finding success as he tampers with the various crime scenes and develops a relationship with an ex-news anchor (Rene Russo) currently overseeing the city's lowest rated news program. Dan Gilroy's directorial debut is a wry, darkly disturbing, and unique film sporting an odd and finely tuned performance from Gyllenhaal. It's also nice to see Russo back in a distinctly commanding turn with both actors receiving fine support from Bill Paxton, as one of Jake's slimy rivals and Riz Ahmed as his reluctant assistant.
*** 1/2 out of ****

The Phantom of the Opera

The deed to the illustrious Paris Opera House has just changed hands with a key piece of knowledge going undisclosed: the menacing presence of the titular character (Lon Chaney), who resides in the building's catacombs where he once was tortured and disfigured and patronizes the career of his beloved understudy (Mary Philbin) from his reserved and undisturbed balcony seat. For me, Carl Laemmle's presentation of Victor Hugo's often recycled novel is all about the Phantom's unmasking, both the protracted tension leading up to the moment and the moment itself, an abrupt, jarring closeup of Chaney's hideous, contorted, and heavily made up visage. Chaney's performing highlights the film, especially during a floridly colored ballroom scene followed by a rooftop sequence where he watches over his adored and her ineffectual lover. The Phantom of the Opera isn't necessarily chilling or scary but it provides a nice throwback alternative to those only familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber's popular musical interpretation. 

*** 1/2 out of ****

The Fog

A century after the founders of a coastal fishing village thwarted a harbor bound ship, plunging all of its leprosy plagued shipmates to their demise, a dense haze carrying the ghosts of the victims envelops the village, seeking a bloody retribution on all of the guilty's remaining descendants. John Carpenter's The Fog is a relentlessly stupid ghost story, but well made and with some genuine scares that help offset other cheesed-out elements of the production.
** 1/2 out of ****

The Drop

A simpleton (Tom Hardy) tends bar for his oafish cousin's (James Gandolfini) hole in the wall establishment which fronts as a drop site for laundered mob money, along with several similar locations in its Brooklyn neighborhood. When a staged robbery attracts the attention of both law enforcement and the pub's Russian mafia backers, the barkeep must play a delicate balancing act while simultaneously dealing with a psychopath (Matthias Schoenaerts) who threatens both his new lady friend (Noomi Rapace) and recently acquired pit bull. From a short story and screenplay from Dennis Lehane, who leaves the streets of Boston but tries to salvage much of his material that worked in past successes (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), The Drop is at once a gritty crime story, a romantic comedy, and underdog story that shows promise for a spell but ultimately suffers from its tonal identity crisis, awkward dialogue, plotting and stylistic choices, and a laughable villainous presence from Schoenaerts. Tom Hardy's performance is a highlight and departure from his usual offerings and Rapace, John Ortiz, and James Gandolfini (in his final performance) do their best with underdeveloped characters.

** 1/2 out of ****

Gone Girl

An easygoing, unemployed writer (Ben Affleck), recently moved back to his suburban Missouri home from the big city and living off the fruit of his cold, famed wife's (Rosamund Pike) trust fund, ventures out one morning and returns to find her vanished with only a few scant clues remaining. As the investigation heats up and takes on national media attention, he becomes the central suspect in the case, while passages from his wife's diary offer insight into their complicated marriage and hints as to what happened in the time leading up to her disappearance. Adapted by Gillian Flynn from her own bestselling novel, Gone Girl is a serpentine, dressed up dime novel mystery that doesn't really warrant or benefit from David Fincher's stylish, trademarked treatment. Affleck and Pike are effective enough in their roles, but never really soar, and receive sturdy support from Kim Dickens as a lead investigator, Carrie Coon as Affleck's concerned twin sister, Neil Patrick Harris as Pike's creepy and successful stalker, and Tyler Perry, surprisingly, as a high profile attorney who takes on the case. Despite my issues with the material and also the fact that its twists aren't as shocking as many would lead you to believe, Gone Girl still makes cogent points on marriage and media manipulation, contains several memorable sequences (a wildly bloody one in particular I still can't get out of my head), and thankfully opts for a meaningful, anticlimactic finale that may send you spouting profanities at the screen as it did several people at my screening.

** 1/2 out of ****

Mr. Arkadin

The words of a dying man lead a shifty American (Robert Arden) to a peculiar European millionaire (Orson Welles) who hires him to investigate his hazy past. Like many of Welles' films, Mr. Arkadin (also know as Confidential Report) was assembled into several different versions. I elected to watch the comprehensive edition on a recent Criterion treatment, the distributor's suggested version and, despite some bad dubbing and rugged cutting, the best as far as I could tell. Arkadin also bears similarity in plotting, in large ways and small, to its auteur's other films: a flashback structure with the protagonist learning the truth about a secretive billionaire (Citizen Kane), a postwar European set black market story (The Third Man), and even the late appearance of assured Katina Paxinou reminded me of Marlene Dietrich's cameo in Touch of Evil. However, despite the similarities to these classics, Mr. Arkadin isn't plotted nearly as well and Arden is dreadful in the lead, but the film features some fine camerawork and Welles is a lot of fun in the title role.
** 1/2 out of ****

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Glacier National Park, Montana

Beginning with John Muir's dream of seeing his beloved Yosemite protected, continuing with Theodore Roosevelt's follow through using presidential action to preserve pristine natural monuments around the country, and concluding with controversial decisions to protect vast amounts of Alaskan wilderness in the 1970s, while covering a multitudinous number of stories from many of our 59 federally protected parks in the years in between, The National Parks is another ambitious, informative, and patriotic work from documentarian Ken Burns. As most of Burns' films on extensive topics have a habit of doing, The National Parks produces a "star" here in the form of Shelton Johnson, an eloquent Yosemite Park Ranger from humble beginnings on the urban landscape of Detroit. Aside from Shelton, however, the talking heads are surprisingly lackluster, perhaps because there's only so much to be said about the majesty of these wonders that already speak for themselves, especially when you've had the privilege to have seen some of them in person.  Nonetheless the historical aspects and footage are excellent, which is par for the course in a Burns' film, and despite a few plodding middle episodes, the opening and concluding segments are astounding.

*** out of ****

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

A dull teacher (Peter O'Toole) finds unexpected love with a chorus girl (Petula Clark) while on vacation in the Greek isles and returns with a new attitude to his all boys British preparatory school where he was once the scourge of his students. Goodbye, Mr. Chips is the second screen adaptation of James Hilton's novel, and although O'Toole is superb and Clark is sweet, this simple story is so overblown and compounded by a needless and saccharine musical treatment.
** 1/2 out of ****

How to Steal a Million

The daughter of an art forger (Audrey Hepburn) resolves to steal her father's product, a replica statue of Cellini's Venus on display at a renowned Paris gallery, in order to protect his reputation when he fears analysis will out him as a fraud. To achieve her goal, she enlists the help of police detective posing as a burglar (Peter O'Toole) who can't help but fall for his lovely target. William Wyler's How to Steal a Million is an incredulous and uninspired romantic comedy invigorated by the aid of its charismatic stars and an entertaining heist sequence.
** 1/2 out of ****

Matewan

When the coal miners of a small West Virginia town decide to strike, union forces and the mining company come to an explosive and violent head in this patchwork recreation of real life events from 1920. John Sayles' Matewan is a thoughtful, powerful, meditative, and humanistic pro-labor portrait enhanced even further by the stunning Haskell Wexler photography and a profusion of supporting performances, headlined by Chris Cooper, David Strathairn, and James Earl Jones.
*** 1/2 out of ****

The Blues

The Blues is an seven part series presented by several accomplished filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Charles Burnett, Mike Figgis, and Clint Eastwood who document the distinct American art form from its origins in West Africa which made its way through the slave trade to the Mississippi Delta and continuing right up until the present day. Each episode takes a different approach on the same subject, which tends to grow redundant as the series progresses, but is worth watching for its wealth of performances which range from B.B. King, Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Dr. John, and Van Morrison in addition to the amazing archival footage. 

The Trouble with Harry

Several members of a scenic Vermont town stumble upon a corpse in the woods, each with different motives and suggestions for disposing of it. The Trouble with Harry is light and playful, and isn't exactly what you'd expect from an Alfred Hitchcock film. However while many of his classic offerings tap into his fears and obsessions, perhaps this work is the one most attuned to his playful, mischievous personality. It also features bucolic Vermont location shooting and fun early performances from a young Shirley MacLaine and Edmund Gwenn of Miracle on 34th Street fame. While the wrap-up is a little too neat and satisfying, there are many sincere laughs to be had throughout the rest of its duration.