Top 5 Films of 2014

Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Birdman has everything. It's the one film from 2014 that has all the 'best of the year' bases covered. Great performances from an all star cast, tons of laughs, some dark introspective drama, suspense, a unique and infectious musical score, uncanny cinematography and technical wizardry, there's even random bouts of CGI rendered superhero carnage. By all accounts, this movie should appeal to everyone. It's also one of the most original and refreshingly bizarre films I've seen. Who would have thought that a flick about a washed up movie star trying to make it big on Broadway would prove so damn entertaining? I sure as hell didn't...but love being surprised now and again.

Nightcrawler - directed by Dan Gilroy

Jake Gyllenhaal was robbed. The all knowing Academy might have snubbed him in the best actor category but Gyllenhaal's work in Nightcrawler goes beyond all the best of the year stuff, it's one for the ages. In fact the only other performance that comes close to matching Gyllenhaal's manically intense portrayal of Louis Bloom, is Gyllenhaal's other scene stealing turn in Enemy where he plays two characters. The man's only real competition is himself! Nightcrawler is a dark and morose little movie that manages to titillate and horrify at the same time. Dan Gilroy's script and Robert Elswitt's gorgeous camera work, coupled with Gyllenhaal's performance of a lifetime, make's Nightcrawler one of the best, and most underrated films of the year.

Boyhood - directed by Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater knows how to get you. He perfected the art time lapse cinema with his Before trilogy, seducing audiences into an epic love/romance saga twenty years in the making. Turns out, Linklater was just warming up. He spent the past decade plus secretly working on Boyhood, the definitive millennial coming of age story that films it's young star growing from age six to eighteen. It may seem like a novelty, but Boyhood is really a remarkable, spellbinding piece of cinema that should be seen by everyone at least once in their lives.

Inherent Vice - directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Joaquin Phoenix is Paul Thomas Anderson's new de facto partner in hi-jinx and I love it. Although the film's setting and comedic tone are light years removed from their previous collaboration, like The Master, Inherent Vice is a hazy, meandering slab of celluloid that focuses more on feelz and atmosphere than plot. There's more dick jokes in Inherent Vice though, that's for sure. Yes, I wish the film was a bit more streamlined and coherent at times [of course that's more a slight at Pynchon's source material than anything] but with Robert Elswitt's dream like visuals [two awesome DP jobs this year and the Academy snubs him why?!] and Josh Brolin's sublimely hammed up performance as Big Foot, I really didn't care that much and just went along with the ride.

Whiplash - directed by Damien Chazelle

Drum sex, the movie. If you have more than a passing interest in music or film then you should try your hardest to see Whiplash in theaters. If you have a deep rooted passion for both, then Damien Chazelle's firebrand debut film is required viewing! As both a drumming and movie geek, I was on the edge of my seat throughout Whiplash. I might have loathed Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now, but he's nothing short of amazing in this one. Then there's J.K. Simmons' terrifyingly brilliant work as the band leader from hell. Simmons' delivery of Chazelle's rapid fire dialogue, is genius plain and simple. There's no doubt that Whiplash is a Rocky or Reservoir Dogs caliber debut film that will be talked about for years to come.


*HONORABLE MENTIONS*

Lots of good flicks came out this past year. I should have posted a top 10 list for all the great stuff I saw, but for the sake of continuity, kept the top 5 tradition going. Anyways, here are the rest of my favorite films from 2014:


Palo Alto
Gia Coppola's debut film is a dreamy ode to the wistless days of high school. The visuals and the soundtrack are intoxicating.

Snowpiercer
Wild and wacky sci-fi that doesn't blatantly insult your intelligence, Snowpiercer is a head scratching thrill ride that makes you think and squirm at the same time.

Gone Girl
The first act drags a bit but once Fincher rolls up his sleeves in the middle, Gone Girl becomes a brilliant thriller.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel turned lame ass Captain America into the coolest Bourne/Bond/Batman crushing badass around. It's a miracle.

John Wick
He's back. John Wi...er, Keanu Reeves is back in the greatest 80's action film since the Reagan administration. The film's body count and classic one liners are phenomenal.

Check my Letterboxd profile for all things film related and reviews of my entire top ten.

Movie Review: Boyhood

Boyhood...best of the year or best of the decade? I don't know but Richard Linklater's newest film is unlike anything I've ever seen before. A true marvel of filmmaking.

Boyhood is Linklater's decade plus passion project about coming of age in modern America. Filmed intermittently over a period of twelve years, the movie follows the life of a Texas boy named Mason Jr. from age six to eighteen. You watch him grow before your eyes in a stunning display of time lapse cinema. Linklater captures the subtle joys and debilitating hardships of life, as Mason, his family and the entire county changes throughout the 2000's. Watching this defenseless tike clad in Dragon Ball Z pajamas suddenly transform into a functioning adult before your eyes is simply mind blowing.

The plot is irreverent. It's just life. Boyhood avoids all the milestone/hallmark moments we've seen in other movies. The awkward first kiss, learning to drive, graduating high school, that's all been done before. Boyhood focuses on the in-between; those fleeting, ephemeral moments that make up most of our real lives. While the plot might not be compelling in a "traditional" sense, the cast deserves some serious accolades. They all invested such huge portions of their lives into this project, as the film's runtime winds down and the years pile up, their attachment to their characters and their legit vulnerability onscreen is uncanny. Patricia Arquette delivers the performance of her career, playing Mason's continually struggling mother. Ethan Hawke and Linklater are just peas and carrots at this point. Watching Hawke slowly transform from the hip weekend dad to full blown middle aged family man was like getting smacked by all three incarnations of Jesse from the Before Sunrise films at once. Of course you can't forget the boy of Boyhood himself, Ellar Coltrane. Although his body [and hairstyles] changes throughout, his remarkably consistent performance never waivers. Somewhere along the way this wide eyed boy obsessed with elves and sorcery becomes an introspective photographer, bent on capturing the magic of everyday life with his camera. Good luck trying to pinpoint when this transformation takes place. Things just happen and time just flies by.

Also, for anyone under 30, Boyhood should prove to be quite the nostalgia trip to the wonderfully strange world of the early millennium. The movie's rockin' zeitgeist soundtrack serves as the film's main demarcation points and really anchors the characters to a specific time. Except for the McCain scene. No music needed there.

In short, this movie is phenomenal and Richard Linklater is unstoppable. Go see it.