It’s that time of the year again, or at least it was back in
January. Ever since I started this blog I have posted an end of the year top 10
list of films of the year. Last year my favorite film was “Cloud Atlas” and the
year before that was the final chapter of the “Harry Potter” films. This year my choice of films is interesting to say the least. I have powerful character films, romanticized Disney stories, swelling action thrillers, and romantic comedies. A truly spectacular year for film as there are many films that would have been worthy of the list had there not been so many to choose from. There will be many honorable mentions at the end to showcase what other great films I liked but fell short of my top 10. Bear in mind that I haven’t seen every film that came out so it is likely that a few great films have escaped me.
10 “Dallas Buyers Club”
I never particularly liked either Mathew McCaunaghey or
Jarred Letto, but they do bring their A-game in this movie. It is surely a
performance driven piece although the writing does do it a lot of favors. It
doesn’t take many risks but it is an entertaining film. Watching the lead
character trying to smuggle drugs across the border by pretending to be a man
of the church made the film for me. If do watch this film do not expect to
listen to a “30 Seconds to Mars” song the same way again.
9 “Elysium”
8 “Captain Phillips”
7 “Star Trek Into Darkness”
It is hard to write about this film because it’s not
entirely clear to me what I liked about it. The Addition of Benedict
Cumberbatch to the mix playing “John Harrison” was brilliant and brought back
the archetype of villains that I have missed from most recent movies. This sure
was a fun time at the movies and made me feel as if I had been a Trekkie all my
life. It is one of only three Star Trek movies I have ever seen but it is my
favorite, and the one that I will be watching many times.6 “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
A major improvement over the first installment, this
exciting film is the one that surprised me the most. After a good, but not
great, first chapter based on a bloody incredible book, I was skeptical about
the film based on the second less interesting book. Thankfully everything it
could, it did better than its previous film giving me hope for the next two
films which are based on the weakest of the three books. We can only hope.5 “Blue Jasmine”
Props to Woody Allen for discovering the perfect actress to
play the great role of Jasmine. Allen’s scripts are always amazing but
sometimes it is very hard to connect with them if the cast doesn’t click. If it
was possible Allen would always play his characters but he has gotten too old
to play the characters he writes and when it comes to women it’s really a toss
of a coin. Luckily Cate Blanchet is more than satisfactory in the role. She
carries half of the movie’s weight in her eyes and the other half in between
her fingers with a drink. Seems fitting that the title of the movie is a
literal interpretation of the majority of this film. It is about a woman named
Jasmine who has got the blues.4 “Her”
The unconventional romance of this film is not what makes it
great, it is what makes it interesting. What elevates this film above “clever
rom com” to amazing love story is the beauty that director Spike Jonze injects
into the story. He uses colorful sets, unusually bright and warm camera filters
for a science fiction movie, poetic music infused with synthesizers that sound
like the arias of computers. This is a movie with great style and plenty of eye
candy even though Scarlet Johanson is never seen.3 “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Scorcese, doing what he does best, crafts a fast paced three
hour festival of debauchery and id feeding that has so much energy it could power
New York for a year. The cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie,
and briefly Mathew McConaughey, powers through the lightning charged script
with the force of a stampede. Is it Scorcese’s best film since “Goodfellas”, or
am I just forgetting how good “The Departed” is?2 “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
This year Middle Earth gets bumped up a spot and takes the
runner up spot. I still consider the Hobbit an unfinished story and therefore
cannot exactly comment on the entirety of the production like I can with the
Lord of the Rings. All I know is that so far the two installments have done
everything I have hoped for and it seems like I will eventually hold it in
equal ground with the Lord of the Rings. One more Middle Earth adventure for us
to enjoy.1 “Gravity”
There has never been a film more nail biting than this one.
The experience of watching “Gravity” on the big screen in 3D can be likened to
being on a rollercoaster that is slowly loosing most of its nuts and bolts and
you know that any second the entire thing might collapse. Many times I have
wished that I can have the same reaction teenage girls have when watching
horror films, squirming in their seats and clenching their fists in
anticipation but I just do not get that feeling all too often. To see a film
however that does that to me with almost every scene is something unprecedented
and I don’t expect it will happen again that soon. Gravity is the best film I
have seen all year and is a strong contender for my favorite film of the entire
decade so far.
Here are some of the many films that I liked a lot but just
not enough to make it to my top 10. In alphabetical order.
"American Hustle"
"American Hustle"
"Ender's Game"
"Kick-Ass 2"
"Only God Forgives"
"Pacific Rim"
"Saving Mr. Banks"
