Ranking My Top Ten (…and more) Films of 2014

2014 was a fair year for movies or films as I prefer to call them: it was a great year for sci-fi, be it action, thriller or adventure. In 2014 some expectations were met, few were surpassed; we had a few good as well as nasty surprises, and some were simply more of the same ol’ same ol’ fare. So I spent over a hundred hours (insert cringe) in front of a variety of screen sizes trying to catch up with the plethora of films across genres that came out this year.

Now as the year has come to an end I would like to present My Top Films of 2014 ranked in order. Please note that the films are those I actually watched, ranked according to my preferred scale of enjoyability/entertainment value, ability to captivate and overall plot theme. So let’s get right to it, shall we? J

1. Edge of Tomorrow
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. The Equalizer
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
5. The Maze Runner
6. Fury
7. The Giver
8. Locke
9. Interstellar
10. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Yes? Or no? Well before you lynch me, allow me to give a detailed run down (read: reason for ranking) of some of my Top Ten Films of 2014.

Edge of Tomorrow – every gamer’s wet dream.

Edge of Tomorrow blew my mind!!!!! This Groundhog Day-meets-First Person Shooter-action-sci-fi flick was a dream come true for me; it was akin to being given a gift of that one thing you didn’t know you needed until it was given to you. Based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, EOT which stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt is an intelligent, action-packed feast of a film. It was a jolly good ride and I was enthralled from start to finish. Sadly, despite love from the critics and viewers and although it more than doubled its $178m budget it did not make as much at the box office as I thought it would. This I have pencilled down to “Tom Cruise hate”. However, Tom Cruise’s performance was nothing short of stellar as I vicariously felt his terror, pain, frustration and bouts of hopelessness with each iteration/re-spawning of his character Major William Cage. Emily Blunt was bad ass as Sergeant Rita Vrataski in a performance that really surprised me.

Edge of Tomorrow also features Brandan Gleeson and Bill Paxton and is directed by Doug Liman.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

We follow Steve Rodgers as he tries to preserve his only link to the life that he knew in the form of his best friend Bucky Barnes now turned super-villain.

Captain America was probably the least loved Avenger in last year’s The Avengers, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier goes all out show why Captain America is fit to be their leader. The internal human conflict and dissonance that is absent in many of the Avengers characters’ movies is present. This is what makes Marvel characters more loveable than DC’s. Akin to today’s super spy films, The Winter Soldier is interspersed with humour, great dialogue and the awesomest action sequences. Hey if you’re still not convinced maybe you should re-watch Nick Fury’s truck chase scene! *Shrugs* That scene did it for me.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier grossed over $714m at the box office, making it the 5th highest grosser of 2014. 

The Equalizer

The Equalizer stars Denzel Washington as a bad ass. #Dazall.

Guardians of the Galaxy – the summer blockbuster epitomized

This was probably the most anticipated film of 2014. Some of us who thought that we were Marvel fans had to do a little extra research on these guys but hey what did we care? Disney had given us the incomparable The Avengers in 2013 and now they could do no wrong. Truth is you need not be a fan of Guardians to love this film. Writer/Director James Gunn reached into the bag of proven formulaic family centred action-sci-fi-adventure film tricks for this one and it certainly paid off. Filled with humour, action sequences and team member banter that made us love The Avengers, Guardians is a fun filled ride that also reminds one of summer blockbusters of yore – Indiana Jones and the (insert your favourite one) and Star Wars (insert your favourite episode) amongst others. We get a cocky thief, blue and green humanoids, a talking space-gun wielding Raccoon, a muscle of a tree, a spaceship chase, a prison break, a planet invasion and a super-powerful orb that everyone wants. Sounds familiar? Again, we don’t care ‘cos Guardians is the stuff that summer blockbusters are made of and we like it that way. Amen.

Guardians of the Galaxy features an ensemble cast and great music from the 60s & 70s. It has grossed $772.5m at the box office making it the second highest grossing film of the year.

The Maze Runner

Gripping stuff! Lord of the Flies meets sci-fi is all I can say. If you loved the book and love sci-fi, go see this one. The reason I ranked it higher than all the other dystopian-teen-films-based-on-a-series-of-books is that it was really gripping. Never overreaching and overly grandiose to the point of eye-rolling as in the case of The Hunger Games films, The Maze Runner doles out the right amounts of suspense and mystery to keep you guessing and glued to the screen. What or who is responsible for The Maze? What are those deadly creatures that inhabit The Maze? Is it all a big test? Should the boys just live with their allocated lot and degree of contentedness that they have or do they strive for a meaning, an explanation, for freedom?

The Maze Runner is directed by Wes Ball and stars Dylan O’Brien, Kaya, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Ki Hong Lee and Aml Ameen. It grossed $339m on its $34m budget.

The Giver

Again, one of the many films to come out this year about a dystopian future and based on a best-selling series of books for older children and young adults, The Giver sets itself apart.

There’s no elaborate explanation as to the reason for the adoption of “Sameness” by the new society and this which many may see as a negative, is for me the plus in the cluster of reasons offered by similar films. Who cares what caused/created the dystopia? The Giver deals with the removal of harmful knowledge and the suppression of properly undefined emotion in order for society to flourish.

What sets The Giver apart from the pack is its simplicity, storytelling, great acting and overall feel-good emotions it evokes. Watch out for the song Ordinary Human by One Republic.

The Giver is directed by Philip Noyce and stars Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, Odeya Rush, Cameron Monaghan and Taylor Swift.It grossed $65m at the box office.

Locke

The entire film takes place inside a BMW X5 as it carries its sole occupant, its driver Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke down the M1. Tom Hardy gives a powerful performance that takes us along for the ride as we become voyeurs into the troubles that beset him as a married father and construction foreman on the eve of the biggest project of his life and how he goes about trying to resolve these issues one phone call at a time.

Compelling is the one word that describes Locke. Its premise, cinematography, script are all strong but it’s the acting that seals the deal as one of my best films for the year.

Loved by the critics, and with a limited release Locke grossed $5m on a budget of less than $2m.

Interstellar – Warning: Lazy viewers may get left behind on Earth

Christopher Nolan’s long awaited Interstellar in most ways did not disappoint; I mean what were we expecting really? Although it was tortuously long and left people scratching their heads a little and googling “space-time continuum” and “black holes”, it was a thrilling ride. The cinematography left me puzzled, I had expected something much more dazzling but it was not to be as I was forced to listen, pay attention and apply what little advanced physics that I could remember so as to not get left behind.

In the end Interstellar required that powerful acting that Matthew McConaughey could provide and although interstellar travel may not be possible in our life time, we sure got a great glimpse of it!

Interstellar grossed $641,387,217 at the box office making it the 9th highest grosser of the year.

Didn’t see a film you’d have liked in the Top 10? Check out lists below:

The next 10 are as follows:

    

    11.   Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

    12.   Divergent

    13.   Maleficent

    14.   X-Men: Days of Future Past

    15.   Snowpiercer

    16.   Into the Storm

    17.   Stonehearst Asylum

    18.   Gone Girl (Most Annoying Film of the Year Award)

I approached Gone Girl with a lot of anticipation. From earlier feedback some people liked it with talk of awards and honours, while some people did not. So I prepared myself for either eventuality. In the end, Gone Girl was a good film but very annoying. The two WTF moments cancelled each other out and in the end Gone Girl was just a gimmick, an exercise in cinematic masturbation with zero climax (yes, I will admit I was one of those that went on a Twitter rant at the end of the film)! Gone Girl tried to replicate (the endings of) films like Primal Fear but sadly fell short. However, perhaps the only good point of the film was Rosamund Pike’s great performance as Amy; she literally acted Ben-I-really-cannot-act-Affleck under the table. If you’re a masochist, you’ll love Gone Girl, if not you’ll probably just get pissed.

Gone Girl also features Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry and is directed by David Fincher. It has grossed $356.4m at the box office.

    19. Dracula Untold (The Hope is Not Yet Lost Award for an Actor in a Film Award)

    20. Young Ones

And...

    21. Noah
    22. The Raid 2: Redemption

    23. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

    24. November Man

    25. Walk of Shame

    26. 13 Sins

    27. Sex Tape

    28. The Grand Budapest Hotel

    29. The Hundred-Foot Journey

    30. Think Like A Man Too

    

   

And bringing up the rear….

    31. A Million Ways to Die in the West
    32. Three Days To Kill

    33. Robocop
    34. The Expendables 3
    35. A Walk Amongst The Tombstones

    36. Godzilla (The Waste of Good Acting Talent in a Film Award)

    37. Penguins of Madagascar

    38. Non Stop

    39. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

    40. The Purge: Anarchy

    41. Lucy

    42. Tammy

    43. That Awkward Moment

    44. The Amazing Spider Man 2

    45. Automata

    46. The Lego Movie (The Most Over-hyped Film of the Year Award)

    47. Transformers: Age of Extinction

As usual Michael Bay gets away with this. Transformers: Age of Extinction is by no means the worst of the franchise but it’s only just a step away from Revenge of the Fallen. Mark Wahlberg replaced Shia LaBeouf as the fast talking human ally of the Autobots in this one but this recasting is not enough to misdirect our eyes to the noise, abysmal editing, plot holes and overall incongruity of the film (it took me 7 days to finish). But hey, what do I know? Age of Extinction is the highest grossing film of the year having made $1.087bn worldwide, thanks to the Chinese.

   48. I, Frankenstein (The Waste of Marketing Spend on a Film Award)

   49. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Most Disappointing Film of the Year Award)

   50. Neighbours (The Waste of Viewers’ Time and Money Film of the Year Award)

Phew!

So there you have it. It was a great year for sci-fi and dystopian film genres. We loved it and I am looking forward to what 2015 may bring.

Do you have a few questions or are you dissatisfied with the list? Argue in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading. Do share. J