Saturday, February 21, 2015

2014 wrap-up, part 1: Top 21 films

Well, I pretty much dropped the ball on film in 2014. Part of that was due to personal circumstance (I worked a metric shit-tonne of overtime), which meant a lot less time at the theater. And part of that was due, I'm sure, to the rapid proliferation of great tv. For example, the hours I spent watching Hannibal or Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries were obviously not ones in which I was catching up on my film wish list.

All of which is to say, there are going to be a lot more "notable omissions" than usual.

In addition, I missed my normal routine of predicting the Oscar nominees. Hell, I barely STARTED my Oscar spreadsheet this year. So my guesses for tomorrow are likely going to be the sorriest predictions I've ever made.

But! To start with. Of the films I DID see, what did I love?

2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 here. (*cough* notice how they get posted later and later... *cough*)

Given the late hour, I'm just going to post these without commentary:

1. Calvary

2. Only Lovers Left Alive

3. Tracks 

4. Snowpiercer 

5. The Babadook
(yeah, nope.)

6. Birdman 

7. Nightcrawler 

8. Whiplash

9. The Grand Budapest Hotel 

10. Wild

11. Gone Girl (as Haley Mlotek wrote; "I can’t remember the last time I saw an American movie where an American woman washed off blood in a shower and the blood wasn’t hers.")


12. Night Moves

13. Hellion

14. We Are the Best!

15. Kumiko the Treasure Hunter

16. The Double

17. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

18. Veronica Mars 

19. Interstellar

20. The Overnighters

21. Edge of Tomorrow


(Why, yes. One-third of these are female-led. Shocking.)


My notable omissions for the year: Blue Ruin, Mr. Turner, Hunger Games Mockingjay, Fury, A Walk Amongst the Tombsteones, the Two Faces of January, The Skeleton Twins, Under the Skin, Obvious Child, Virunga, Filth, Cold in July, Joe, Locke, Ida, Belle, the Immigrant, National Gallery, Citizenfour, Manakamana, Norte the End of History, the Rover, Enemy, Boyhood, Comet, Tusk, the Guest, Laggies (I MISSED A SAM ROCKWELL FILM), the Boxtrolls, Starred Up, God Help the Girl, Lucy, Selma, Inherent Vice, Force Majeure, Mommy, Nymphomaniac, Winter Sleep, the Tale of Princess Kaguya, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, Song of the Sea, Noah, Breathe In, In Bloom, John Wick, Stray Dogs, Bird People, White Bird in a Blizzard, A Most Violent Year, Leviathan, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.

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