The 25 Best Movies of 2014

A few days ago, I shared what I think are the worst films of 2014. Before that, I posted The 2014 Dellies, my tribute to the year's best and brightest. However, there was one thing missing. I don't give out a Best Picture award. The reason I don't is because I find it redundant to do so and then post a list of the year's best movie. That would also kill the suspense. Since I can tell you're chomping at the bit to get to the list, I'll quickly step out of the way. Just click on the titles to read my full review of any of these films. I have not reviewed a few of them, just yet. Those should be posting between now and the end of the month. I'll update this post with the links as they do. One minor note before we get started, I refrained from ranking any documentaries on purpose. I'd rather keep them in their own little corner of the film world. With no further adieu, here are

The Top 25 Movies of 2014

Stuff I'm told is good, but haven't seen yet: Chef, Child's Pose, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Joe, The Hundred Foot Journey, Love is Strange, Mr. Turner, Miss Julie, Night Moves, The One I Love, The Overnighters, Pride, St. Vincent, Still Alice, Unbroken, The Zero Theorem

25. Beyond the Lights

What it brings is a number of great performances from its cast and a story good enough to give it a high rewatchability factor.

24. Penguins of Madagascar

Accomplishes the rare feat of being a spin-off better than the movie it spun-off from.

23. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

A valuable and welcome addition to vampire lore.

22. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Quirky and funny in all the ways a good Wes Anderson film should be, plus a dynamic turn by Ralph Fiennes.

21. The Raid 2

I was actively involved in every fight scene. I'm not quite sure, but I may have gotten stabbed once or twice. You know, adrenaline pumping, didn't feel a thing.

20. Whiplash

There is only a battle of wills between two men. We watch the constant back-and-forth between them and wonder which one of them will give in.

19. Interstellar

It encourages debate which enhances our enjoyment of it. The film can be argued from every side with no resolution. And we like it that way.

18. What We Do in the Shadows

Better than any other movie at showing what it might be like to be a vampire day after day in the regular world.

17. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The movie uses its tone to tremendous advantage by creating tension sooner than its Marvel bretheren and rarely diffusing it.

16. Guardians of the Galaxy

Arguably, the best movie of this whole shared universe thing.

15. Edge of Tomorrow

Through our hero's repeated and comically presented deaths is an odd way to approach character development, but it works perfectly.

14. Mommy

We watch intently and rack our brains trying to figure out what shape these people will be in when we leave them.

13. Dear White People

A whip-smart satire that uses its college campus setting as a microcosm of the larger discussions on race.

12. The Babadook

Rooted in a sense of reality not often afforded to haunted house flicks.

11. 22 Jump Street

Things I would normally shred a movie for are given a pass because I know that the movie knows it's stupid.

10. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A mesmerizing experience. It pulls off the difficult trick of being a visual spectacle and having plenty of heart.

9. Selma

It effectively knocks him down from being an infallible myth to an actual human being without being disrespectful of or seeming to have something against him.

8. Under the Skin

This film manages the impossible. It's a woozy affair that seems to meander along with little purpose other than being odd. While doing so, it somehow draws us to the edge of our seats and keeps us suspended there as we wonder where all of this is going. When it gets there, we have to take a deep breath and contemplate what we just saw.

7. Top Five

Top Five holds a mirror up to us. The biggest target is our infatuation with and pigeon-holing of celebrities. The celebs are not exempt from examination, either. We see some of the ways in which they attract attention to themselves even if they don't mean to. We also get a look at race within the Hollywood system and addiction. The looks at celebrophilia and race are the funniest. When we focus on addiction is when the movie is at its heaviest.

6. Nightcrawler

The outcome of all this is a darkly humorous critique on our escalating love affair with sensationalism. It also speaks to the lengths local news shows have to go to in order to be competitive in a world where the internet provides the world its main source of news and even 24 hour news stations are struggling to keep up. An ending that's as shocking for what it isn't as for what it is epitomizes an entire movie shrugging its shoulders while letting us know that's just how it is.

5. Blue Ruin

We become fully vested in our hero's fate. This is the true aim of every movie and Blue Ruin accomplishes this. It does so by keeping us out of crowded cities and placing us in dustier parts of the American landscape. The calling card of legendary director Martin Scorsese is urban grit. Here, Jeremy Saulnier makes a worthy rural counterpart.

4. Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Top Five starts off on the pessimistic end of the spectrum and works toward hopefulness while Birdman seems to travel in the opposite direction. This leads to an ambiguously played finale. The final moment of Birdman is triumphant in surface appearance, but lined with an inescapable sadness. A movie filled with dark humor ends on its darkest punchline.

3. Inherent Vice

Director Paul Thomas Anderson is to be commended for managing what could easily have been an unwieldy beast. The story has so many strands it's like a badly frayed garment, at first glance. Upon closer inspection, we see that its an intricately detailed tapestry of exotic fabrics.

2. The LEGO Movie

From the very beginning, we witness the greatest strength of The Lego Movie. It's taking the things we love about some of the most iconic movie franchises and making fun of them while still integrating them into its own wonderful story.

1. Gone Girl

On the surface, at its most literal, it's a bit of a shock to the system. Some will love it, some won't. At deeper levels it becomes commentary and metaphor. Exactly what the commentary and metaphor are is open to debate. It most easily lends itself to being interpreted as a scathing indictment of the institution of marriage. I've also heard it labeled as misogynistic. I don't agree with that assessment, but I understand how one might get that idea. Whether or not you buy into that, the true beauty of Gone Girl is that the ending is worthy of our debate and not what we were expecting to happen. That it goes against the grain is a victory in itself. That it invokes an immediate need for discussion is what makes it great.

Honorable Mentions: Calvary, Creep, Foxcatcher, The Immigrant, John Wick, A Most Violent Year, Neighbors, The Purge: Anarchy, Snowpiercer, Starry Eyes, Two Days, One Night, A Walk Among the Tombstones, X-Men: Days of Future Past