Gregg’s Truly Top 10 Films of 2014

I had one final film to see before I felt I could compile an accurate list for the recently departed 2014.  Boyhood was a popular title amongst my fellow writers here, though that wasn’t showing in my area, thus escaping my viewing grasp.  Gone Girl came highly recommended though the trailer never attracted my interest enough to shell out money for the movie.  The film in question, however, was The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.  After thoroughly enjoying last year’s Desolation of Smaug, I must admit that Five Armies ended up being a bit of a disappointment.  It was not a bad film, but it certainly did not soar either.  So, to my list it did not make.  With Tolkien’s tales at a cinematic close and Gone Girl gone from the cinema, I present you with my top ten films of the year as well as a couple notables.

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~Honorable Mention~

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Foxcatcher – As the movie’s final scene began to present itself, I suddenly recalled all of the mid 90’s headlines from which this movie was born.  John DuPont, of the famous and über wealthy DuPont family (and corporation), shot and killed one of the United States’ Olympic champions.  Steve Carrell took on what was a very disturbing and creepy role as John DuPont and excelled at it.  Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum also star as wrestling brothers Dave and Mark Schultz.

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The Imitation Game – If you do not know the name Alan Turing, you should.  He is a big part of the reason as to: (A) why you are afforded the liberty to read opinionated articles like this one, and (B) have the device you are reading it on.  Turing was a British mathematician of genius proportions.  He cracked the coding of the infamous Nazi Enigma machine during World War II, but was shunned by his country for being a homosexual.  Benedict Cumberbatch provides an Oscar-worthy performance as Turing in this historical story that is finally being told.

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Top 10 of 2014

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10. John Wick – Whoa! Where did this come from?!  More importantly, where did that Mustang come from? Seriously though, Keanu Reeves knocked this one out of the park.  You want action?  John Wick is for hire and hire him you must.  Reeves ended up doing a lot of his own stunts which added to the seamless action sequences where bullets fly and revenge is at the top of the grocery list.  Did I mention the Mustang?

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9.  The Grand Budapest Hotel – TGBH was my first exposure to a Wes Anderson picture.  This movie has such an unequivocal charm to it that I revisited it an additional two times on HBO this week. The cinematography is pure eye candy along with the quirky, but carefully thought out screenplay, also courtesy of Anderson. Ralph Fiennes is nothing short of brilliant as the arrogant yet keen M. Gustav.

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8.  Big Hero 6 – I did not go into this film with grand expectations.  I figured I would like it on that same ho-hum level on which I liked Brave.  No.  It blew that out of the water.  The lovable Baymax is by far and away the star of the movie.  His cleverly thought-out actions, unintentional humor and robotic dialogue were pillars of this movie which was carried by a storyline of loss, patience and perseverance.  As always is the case with Pixar, the animation was stellar.  Congrats to Disney on yet another animated winner.

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7.  Guardians of the Galaxy – I am Groot. Need I say more?  If I were Groot I wouldn’t be able to.  This was probably the most off-the-beaten path title from their library that Marvel put on the screen to date (okay, maybe that was Elektra).  But at least with Elektra, people knew who she was from the Daredevil movie. With the Guardians, these were all previously undeveloped characters on the big screen.  So what all of that means is this was a HUGE gamble, but boy did it pay some serious dividends.  The sarcasm, the action, the soundtrack, baby Groot dancing!  What a fun ride!

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6.  The Drop – The final film of James Gandolfini to hit movie theaters was a great one at that.  With Gandolfini starring along side Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace, the film told of a bar owner who wanted a little more out of life…like money.  His dealings with the local mafia in a tight-knit neighborhood and a sketchy past of Hardy’s character added up to a stirring equation and some exceptional acting.

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5.  Step Up All In – If this fifth installment turns out to truly be the last one, they went out doing it right. All the key players were brought back in what turned out to be my second-favorite film in the series. Just when you thought you couldn’t have any more profound choreography to close out a movie, Step Up All In went ahead and did exactly that.  Adam Sevani, Ryan Guzman and the smoldering Briana Evigan highlight a cast of phenomenal dancers in this go-for-broke story.  I’m up for a sixth movie, but even as producer Adam Shankman said, how many times can you save the world with dance?

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4.  Fury – Without question the best World War II movie since Saving Private Ryan. To see an updated film about tank warfare was spectacular and gripping to say the least. Pitt and crew did an excellent job delivering their characters and the final battle was one big white-knuckling experience. Two issues kept this from achieving a higher status on this list though. One was borrowing the “I’m not a soldier but here I am in the Army” character from Saving Private Ryan.  The other was the sympathetic SS soldier.  ‘Sympathetic’ and ‘SS’ in the same sentence is an oxymoron.

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3.  Draft Day – The NFL Draft gets more attention than many of the regular season games.  Why not make a movie about it?  More importantly, let’s make it a day in the life of a team’s GM.  Kevin Costner provided a great performance as the highly stressed yet savvy Cleveland Browns general manager.  There were a couple plot issues, but using the Browns as the main team helped me overlook that to give this the third spot.  Sad to see it didn’t do better in theaters as I found this film very engaging from its onset.

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2.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 – After much deliberation, I thought, do I go with the film that was constantly drawing me in and was pure adrenaline, or do I go with the one that was just a bit more spaced with its attention-grabbing, deeper emotions?  I went with adrenaline for my #1. Sue me.  Still, HTTYD2 was an absolutely superb follow-up to its predecessor with its lush visuals and emotional storyline.  This was a tough one to not put in the top spot.

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1.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier – The first Cap movie was enjoyable, though nothing that raced to the top of my Marvel list.  With this year’s sequel, it not only became one of my favorite Marvel films, but my top film of the year.  I went from an Avengers movie where I was not convinced that the Steve Rogers character could lead that team to the Cap sequel where I was absolutely persuaded to believe he was the man in charge.  This movie was so fluid from top to bottom that I ended up paying it a visit 3 times at the cinema.  The cast, the story, the action, Cleveland!  It just all meshed for what I felt was the best action film of the year and my favorite film of 2014.