I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I decided to get back in the swing of things as 2014 wraps up. With that, I'll be honoring the best this year had to offer in movies, video games and news events. It'll be a three-part series that I'll have plenty of time to accomplish over my Winter Break. This is all based on my opinion, and even though I haven't seen all these movies, played all these video games and paid attention to all these news events, I was still alive gosh dang it, and they still had an impact. Probably not personally, but nevertheless I looked into them.
To get started, I'm counting down the top 8 movies of 2014.
#8: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Whether it was the time travel aspect, the beyond-beautiful Ellen Page (don't care if she's lesbian; a man can dream), watching the old and new X-Men assemble to kick some boo-tay-tay or, let's face it, Jennifer Lawrence in a blue jumpsuit of sorts, this movie was great. 2014 was a superb year for Marvel Studios and this was no exception. Now I'm not all that familiar with the X-Men, it was an entertaining ride know-them-or-not and actually had a decent plot with some enticing twists and turns, filled with all that superhero action we just seem to get enough of.
#7: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
If you thought the first one was good, check out the second installment in the
Planet of the Apes reboot that ensures for a great time at the movies. The CGI is incredible and the apes look real (too real if you ask me) and the sound, the sound man,
that blew me away. From tank fire, apes duel-blasting assault rifles while riding horses, roaring battle cries, explosions, gunfire, beatings, heck, even just chasing game through the forest, it was pretty cool to see. Yes, yes, cliched and cheesy in some sorts, but still maintaining the theme: we're all just damn dirty apes.
#6: Boyhood
I didn't see this movie, which is why I can't write much about it, but I was impressed when I heard this guy (too lazy to Google the director) documented the same actors for several years to piece together this epic focusing on a boy growing up. It got some incredible reviews, so it must be good.
#5: Fury
War dramas are toughies, because most of the time they start off nice and action-y, but then get all sentimental, cheesy, and/or maintain the same reputation of Americans as the heroes, the goods guys per se, and our enemies as, well, our stupid enemies that we eventually beat. But
Fury was different. It had some nice action and really displayed the nightmares of warfare in the best I'd ever seen. It was almost beautifully-told in even the simplest of scenes, which really grappled the emotion without slipping through into the overly sappy. It was suspenseful and realistic and
spoiler even posed our enemies to have good hearts. Or at least that one young German soldier at the end who spared the one young American soldier's life, which taught us not to generalize a large group of people. Of course, all my friends came to see was the tank battles.
#4: Interstellar
Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, and I've watched almost every one of his movies (my favorites The Dark Knight and Inception), and just like those two had their flaws, Interstellar did too, but it also had more smart person stuff, visionary production, acting, originality, and better storylines than must of the movies nowadays. Sure, you could name off all the problems it had, and it's true, it wasn't perfect, and I would say that Christopher Nolan focuses too much on the "big picture" than the "details," but was I still mind-blown? Yes. Entertained? Yes. Needing to use the restroom after more than 2 hours and 40 minutes of Matthew McCounaghey? Yes.
#3: Guardians of the Galaxy
Just pure awesomeness. Enough was said.
#2: The Lego Movie
I didn't mention it for Guardians of the Galaxy, but that movie and The Lego Movie were both pleasant surprises. At first look, it looked silly, but it was actually much, much, much better than expected. It blew me away. The animation was sick, just plain sick! So much color and lights and, oh man, it was a wild ride. I loved it throughout. If it doesn't win Best Animated Film, I can never trust the Academy of Motion Farts and Sinuses ever again.
#1: Birdman
Funny how the top film is a movie I haven't even seen, but my parents saw it and told me enough for me to to know that this has the biggest chance of swiping that gold statue from the Academy this year. Filmed to look as if it's one continuous shot, the work is visionary and the acting I've heard is fantastic. It's gotten some excellent reviews, so I don't have any doubt that this one will be a future classic.
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