2014 on the surface seemed like a terrible year for true movie lovers. For me at least, it seemed like there were spells of months without a decent movie to grace the theaters. I remember looking ahead from about April or May to when Gone Girl released in October. That’s almost half the year! In the beginning we had the Grand Budapest Hotel, which magically has come back to life after nobody said a word about it (besides movie freaks). But that came out in March, leaving practically nothing until Gone Girl. The summer had 1 thing to look forward to, and as a reader I was excited: The Giver. It had Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep on board (which actually means nothing in terms of hit or flop), but it appeared that it would get a legit shot. Then I read that Taylor Swift was involved (I avoided it). At this point I was ready to write off 2014 as an awful year in movies. Then Gone Girl came, and Interstellar, then all the Oscar movies (Whiplash, Birdman). There are some unforgettable movies and performances here, so why does this year seem so lackluster?
I think it’s from last year’s unbelievable lineup. I’ve watched multiple movies from 2013 over again, and it’s hard to imagine another year like it. Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Mud, Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, Dallas Buyer’s Club, Nebraska, The Spectacular Now, Blue Jasmine, The Way Way Back, even lesser known Sightseers and About Time were great. That’s a tough lineup to beat, which is why this year seems so down. I was underwhelmed by American Sniper and a couple of potentially huge movies have been deemed flawed (Inherent Vice, Foxcatcher). But beyond awards season, it seemed like every hyped movie failed miserably (Divergent, A Million Ways to Die in the West, The Interview, Transcendence, Sin City 2). I noted before that some major directors took the year off (Scorsese, Tarantino, Coen Brothers, David O. Russell), but will be coming back this year (I’ll list the 2015 movies to look forward to at the end). All that to say, even if it wasn’t the best year, 2014 had some great movies involved. Here are our favorites (Mr. Jake Hubbard and I):
Bobby’s Top 10
1. Whiplash
2. Gone Girl
3. Interstellar
4. Birdman
5. Nightcrawler
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel
7. Boyhood
8. The LEGO Movie
9. Wild
10. American Sniper
Jake’s Top 10
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Birdman
3. Gone Girl
4. Whiplash
5. The Drop
6. Locke
7. Snowpiercer
8. Boyhood
9. Interstellar
10. Nightcrawler
Honorable Mention: Calvary, The Raid 2, Enemy, The Rover
2015 Movies I will See For Sure (Unless it completely bombs)
Aloha – Cameron Crowe writing/directing with Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, and Bill Murray starring.
Entourage – Another chance to see one of the best TV show characters ever: Ari Gold.
Dope – Getting a lot of hype out of Sundance, with the only notable participants being Lenny Kravitz’ daughter Zoe being the lead and Forest Whitaker narrating. It’s been getting tons of critical praise, we’ll have to see how it holds up when it gets formally released.
Silence – This may actually slide to an early 2016 date, but it still counts. Martin Scorsese directing with Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield starring in a story about 2 17th century priests being persecuted in Japan while spreading Christianity.
Joy – David O. Russell is back with his usual stars Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro. IMDB describes the plot: “The life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs.” After the success of American Hustle (10 Oscar nominations), Silver Linings Playbook (8 Oscar nominations), and The Fighter (7 Oscar nominations), I can say that I’d be surprised if this movie disappointed.
The Revenant – Alejandro González Iñárritu, apparently not taking a break after Birdman, directs Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy about a frontiersman who is left for dead after a bear mauling and seeks vengeance on those who left him. Iñárritu seems to make careful choices in the movies he makes, taking long breaks in between. But the last 3 he’s made have been critically acclaimed (Babel, Biutiful, and Birdman) with a total of 18 Oscar nominations and 5 wins. Is this the year Leo’s curse is lifted?
The Hateful Eight – Quentin Tarantino. Enough said for me! The cast has been ever changing, but so far he’s got Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and of course Samuel L. Jackson. All we know is bounty hunters are taking shelter during a blizzard and betrayal/deception ensues. Sign me up!
Hail, Caesar! – The next Coen brothers movie starring Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, George Clooney, and Josh Brolin. Not much is known, but that it’s about a Hollywood fixer in the 1950s working to keep the studio’s stars in line.
The Sea of Trees – Matthew McConaughey is on fire, so I’ll watch anything he’s in until he makes a bad one. Starting with the Lincoln Lawyer he’s made 8 straight successful movies (depending on how you feel about Magic Mike). When they make a documentary on his revival, it’ll start there and go through Bernie, Killer Joe, Mud, Magic Mike, Dallas Buyer’s Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Interstellar. That’s not even including the amazing True Detective. This guy is picking the right things and he’ll be teaming with Naomi Watts and Ken Watanabe for this one.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – It’s been pretty rare in the past to have a movie win both the audience award and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, but now it’s happened twice in a row (last year Whiplash accomplished this feat). Hype surrounding this movie is big, and I haven’t found much negative things about it. It’s got Nick Offerman and Molly Shannon, plus some no-namers. It could be great.
The Witch – This won at Sundance for directing, and was nominated for the Grand Jury prize. It’s an intriguing story of a family in 1630 who begin to turn on each other when their newborn disappears and the crops fail. Critics are loving it, and it might be a great drama/thriller to catch.
The Stanford Prison Experiment – Nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance, along with winning the screenwriting award, it’s another intriguing story of the experiment that took place in the Stanford Psychology building’s basement where students were put into a mock prison situation.
2015 Movies That I’m Intrigued By (Reviews may dictate these)
Chappie – Another try for Neill Blomkamp, who’s District 9 makes people like me eager for his movies. This one has Hugh Jackman (meh) and Sigourney Weaver (and of course Sharlto Copley) in a movie about a robot that can think and feel for himself. It sounds a little familiar, but I’ll see what critics say about it first.
Jurassic World – This one may fall by the wayside, but the director Colin Trevorrow’s only movie was a unique one (Safety Not Guaranteed) so I’m hoping he’ll avoid making a terrible sequel here. It would be nice for some of that original magic to return, but that might be asking too much.
Ted 2 – Ted was pretty good, and comedies are becoming hard to come by these days. I’m hoping for a good showing here.
Jane Got a Gun – This has Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor, and has been to hell and back with rewrites and actors dropping out (Michael Fassbender). This is either a good movie they stuck with, or something terrible that they want to get some money for. We’ll know quickly.
Steve Jobs – Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) directs another Steve Jobs movie. But instead of Ashton Kutcher he gets Michael Fassbender (huge upgrade) with Kate Winslet and Seth Rogan. Aaron Sorkin writing solidifies this a bit for me (Social Network, Moneyball), but I’ll have to wait for reviews.
Losing is a disease 