To see the Bottom Ten, click here.
For 90-71, click here.
No need for any sort of introduction, here are the next twenty movies on the list.
70. Top Five
Director/Writer/Lead Actor of Top Five, Chris Rock had plenty to do in this film. It's an entertaining look at show business and celebrity, obviously filtered through Rock's own personal experience. Although it seems unlikely that a movie where Chris Rock dresses up in a bear suit and fights crime would be a massive hit, the idea the popular franchise would be all people care about is pretty resonant. It's also pretty funny.
69. Night Moves
Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard are ecoterrorists with a plan to blow a dam in the Pacific Northwest in Night Moves. Actually completing their attack is the easy part, the hard part is the aftermath, especially after a camper near the dam goes missing. The movie plays up the differences between the three conspirators, illustrating how different they are in terms of background and temperament. Once they blow the dam, the slow boil as things escalate from their is tense and worth watching, wondering who would be the first to crack. The film is sparsely shot with little embellishment, making you feel the soggy wildness of the Cascades setting.
68. The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies
Unlike the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit was not big enough for three movies. That didn't stop Peter Jackson and his gang from doing their best to prove that wrong, with plenty of padding to go around. Fortunately, he trimmed things better in the final chapter than in the previous one, creating a film that move relatively quickly with a good pace for the action. Martin Freeman continued his stellar work as Bilbo, and Richard Armitage does an excellent job as the slowly falling apart Thorin. While not anything close to Return of the King and its series of battles, the namesake one in this movie had plenty of exciting moments, although it certainly could have used more Beorn. All in all, it was a perfectly serviceable finale for a trilogy that should have been at most two films.
67. Happy Valley
When the news broke about the molestation allegations against Jerry Sandusky, people across the nation, in the community of State College, PA, and the alumni and fans of Penn State were shocked. As time went on, evidence came out that at the very least showed some complicity and lack of institutional control by the legendary coach Joe Paterno and the university administration. The resulting firestorm ended the career and likely hastened the death of Paterno, resulted in heavy penalties from the NCAA, and gave the Penn State faithful a black eye, undeservedly so to most of them. The documentary doesn't try to push an agenda, but instead lets a wide variety of people, from sportswriters and fans, to both the son of Joe Paterno and the adopted son of Jerry Sandusky. The film is at times riveting, especially the scenes filmed at the (now removed) statue of Paterno. Here, a protestor ran up against tourists who came to pay respects to the statue, which resulted in a bunch of dickish behavior from both the protestor and the picture takers. Its unlikely the movie is going to change the minds of anybody on either side of the debate, but at least it does give a wide variety of viewpoints a chance to explain themselves. Sometimes thats the best thing a documentary can do.
66. Godzilla
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| Uhh...sorry about the bridge folks. That wasn't there last time I was here, I swear. |
Although it takes almost an hour for the titular kaiju to make his appearance, it's well worth it. Unlike the version from the little loved 1998 film, this Godzilla is well crafted and well acted. Although I was kind of joking naming him as one my favorite supporting actors, I was also kind of serious. The way Godzilla kind of acts like he's resigned to fight these stupid giant spore beasts even if it is soooo annoying makes him kind of a charming, well, protagonist is probably going a bit far. Unlike the MUTOs, he doesn't seem to show any ill-will to humans, any damage to them merely being a problem of scale or a casualty of his focus on his enemies. Were we judging the film entirely on Godzilla himself, it would easily be in the top 20.
However, a large majority of the film has nothing to do with Godzilla. Instead we get treated to a severely underused cast featuring some of the best actors working today, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I don't have anything against him, but his character is pretty boring, a distraction from the larger things at hand. Especially egregious is the misuse of the talented Elizabeth Olsen. During a recent rewatch, I came to the conclusion that the movie would have worked better switching Johnson and Olsen around. It was a bit of a joke, but it actually makes some sense.
65. Coherence
Imagine if "Remedial Chaos Theory" or "The Farnsworth Parabox" were a mostly serious sci-fi film, instead of episodes of geek beloved comedy shows. Add a former star of a WB show (Nicholos Brendon) playing a character who was a fomrer star of different WB show. That's kind of what Coherence is like. It's an interesting movie that was made using only the same home and its exterior environs for the entirety of the movie, despite you never quite knowing which "universe" the characters might be in. One of the recurrent themes I noticed in films from 2014 is a sizable number of storylines that involve doppelgangers. While this isn't the best of them, it certainly is the one with the most. At its best it plays like a extended version of a Twilight Zone episode.
64. 22 Jump Street
Through some weird trick of fate, I've never seen the first movie in the 2x Jump Street Cinematic Universe. When it came out, I wasn't expecting much out of it, and even after it received generally positive reviews I didn't have any burning desire to go see it. Once it left the theaters, I've had plenty of other things to watch, and never got around to it. If it wasn't for another movie higher up on this list by the same guys who made 22 Jump Street, I would have probably skipped this one.
It isn't as if you needed to see the first to understand this one. From what I understand, this one is pretty similar to the first, subverting the buddy cop film formula that's been used to death, while at the same time competently adhering to that framework. But even though its structurally sound, it wouldn't have been worth watching unless it was funny. Fortunately there are plenty of laughs to go around. Of course, the funniest part may have been the take on the rapidly increasing number of sequels, which considering 23 Jump Street is happening, may not have been so far-fetched.
63. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
One of my least favorite trends in recent years is the division of the final chapter of franchises into two movies. Not only does it disrupt the flow of the story, it just feels like a cheap ploy for additional revenue. I don't begrudge a studio making what is probably a sound business decision, I just wish a few high profile failures would discourage this practice.
The division of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two parts certainly didn't help part one of the story. While plenty of things happens, it all feels like table setting for the big events in the second part. And table setting, no matter how good it is, just isn't that satisfying.
What is there, however, is pretty good. My favorite part centers on Jennifer Lawrence's performance of "Hanging Tree", and the escalation of the revolt against the Capital that results from it. However, I also appreciate the nature of the situation, where as important as Katniss is, she still seems to be used just as much by the "good guys" as she was by Snow and the forces of the status quo. Not surprisingly, the ringers like Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore do an excellent job with their roles, and Lawrence is her usual excellent self as Katniss. Here's hoping the second part is just as good.
62. Neighbors
It's my experience that trailers for comedies are a bad way to tell if the movie is going to be good. The simple fact is that the trailers for bad films are about as good as the trailers for the good ones. After all, a trailer isn't some short film built to state the essence of a film, but rather to get the most people in the target audience into the theater. Thus, the trailers tend to focus on the broadest jokes, often taking jokes completely out of the context in the film, sometimes giving a particular gag a different feel than how it actually plays in the movie.
This problem was clearly evident in the trailer for Neighbors, which seemed to focus on some of the least funny jokes in the film. Also unrevealed in the trailer was the strong idea the movie state about the weird transition zone that is the early 30s. You're finally older than the newest group of adults, but you're not quite middle aged yet. By far the best jokes of the film reside in this zone, as Rose Byrne and Set Rogen fumble around, trying to make sure their quality of life and their child's isn't wrecked by the frat next door, while also trying to avoid being the "stuffy old folks". Of course, I'm guessing those young punks with their frats and college classes and "I was born when Clinton was president" faces probably disagree.
61. Rosewater
The biggest impression Jon Stewart's directorial debut made on me was the sheer banality of the interrogation of Maziar Bahari (Gael Garcia Bernal). It wasn't done by some passionate, obsessed soldier, trying to extract information for the victory and glory of his side. It was done by some sadistic psychopath, who clearly enjoyed the job he was doing. No, it was done by a guy just doing his job, with the same frustrations and pressures many of us face in our day to day jobs. His meetings with his superior could have been a sales manager and one of his salesmen discussing numbers in another context. Because it was an interrogation center for a reactionary autocracy makes it all the worse.
While far from a comedy, the film isn't without levity, often at the expense of the aforementioned interrogator, who isn't too sure about this place (New Jersey) Bahari visited. The film is often tense, as Bahari has to figure out how to keep his wits and not lose all hope while continuing to be interrogated for information he doesn't have. Meanwhile, the outside world is slowly rising up to pressure Iran to release him. My only major quibble with the film is more of a question as to why they went for the Mexican Bernal, instead of an actor of Middle-Eastern descent.
60. Lucy
2014 Could arguably be called the year of Scarlett Johansson. She was the lead in two sci-fi films, one of which was a pretty sizable hit, while the other found itself atop many critics' end-of-year lists. Add in her sizable role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I'd say it was a good year for her.
Luc Besson's Lucy isn't the best of the movies she's in, but it certainly is something to experience. It starts with the titular character getting in over her head with some Chinese mobsters, who are using her as a mule for some unknown chemicals. By accident, the cargo comes undone and enters her blood stream, which has starts to affect her in weird ways. Once it starts, the weird frenetic action rarely slows down. Even though the idea (humans only use 10% of the brain) at the center is a thoroughly debunked myth, this small detail can be overlooked as you just sit back and enjoy the ride, which at one point includes a visit to another famous Lucy from a far earlier time in our history.
59. Big Eyes
A movie about the paintings of Margaret Keane would be somewhat interesting even if the story behind them wasn't fascinating. It's hard to call the paintings great art, but they certainly are distinctive. In fact, I could imagine a horror film or two based around some of the paintings.
Big Eyes is not about the paintings, per se, but the battle between Keane and her husband over the credit for the paintings, and Keane's own internal conflict between trying to provide for herself and her daughter, and her desire to be credited for her work. It's intersection of oddness and suburban kitsch is right up Tim Burton's alley. While not at the level of his best movies, it's a welcome return to form from more boring efforts like Alice in Wonderland.
58. Laggies
Films about characters suffering from arrested development have been a dime a dozen in recent years. While most of these are about men, a growing number are about women. Laggies is a prime example of this phenomenon. In it, an underemployed slacker (Kiera Knightley) panics after her boyfriend proposes, and she catches her dad with a woman who isn't his wife. This causes her to regress and retreat from her life, eventually hiding out with a high schooler (Chloe Grace Moretz) and her single father (Sam Rockwell).
Even though the film doesn't transcend its boundaries as an arrested development type of film, the performances of Knightley, Moretz, an Rockwell are good enough to make what is there work pretty well.
57. The Unknown Known
When I watched this a few days ago, I wondered why it was so familiar. Later, I realized that I had seen Error Morris do something similar with another man who held the same office as Donald Rumsfeld, when he made The Fog of War, his documentary about Robert McNamara. If I went into this assuming some sort of contrition or introspection like McNamara's interviews, I would have been sorely disappointed. That's not who Donald Rumsfeld is, for better or worse. Rather than trying to get in an argument with Rumsfeld, Morris' style is primarily to let his subject say his piece, and from time to time pull up a memo, article, or press conference answer either reinforcing his point, calling it into question, or just flat out contradicting himself. Through it all Rumsfeld never breaks, always quick with a reply and fully convinced that everything he did was right, even if it maybe didn't look that way to some people. The result is an often times fascinating film, even if it can be infuriating at times as well.
56. Nymph(o)maniac, Part 2
The films of Lars Von Trier are not easy to get into. Personally, I've only seen three of them, counting both parts of his latest as separate films. The other besides Nymph(o)maniac I've seen is Melancholia, a film that ostensibly is about the collision of earth with another planet, but is actually about depression.
As far as I can tell, Nymph(o)maniac isn't just about the sexual exploits of Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg in the present day, Stacy Martin as a young woman), it's probably about Von Trier looking back at his career. However, perhaps it's not either. Both parts, while having plenty of sexual activity of many different types, and a fair share of violence, also can be at times sharply funny.
55. The Immigrant
It's been a pretty good year for Marion Cotillard as well. Although she got nominated for an Academy award for Two Days, One Night, she just as well could have been nominated for her portrayal of Polish immigrant Ewa. She breathes life into Ewa's desperation to free her sister from Ellis Island's quarantine, and her determination to see it through. To accomplish this, she has to tolerate the exploitation and advances of Joaquin Phoenix' Bruno, while being attracted to Bruno's cousin Emil, a magician.
In some respect, this film is a good companion piece with The Homesman, a film two spaces up on this list. Whereas that film deals with the hardship of the prairie frontier and its toll on some women, this film speaks to a similar struggle from a period less wild and isolated, but just as oppressive in its hardships and struggles.
54. Foxcatcher
Performances dominate Foxcatcher, particularly the performances of Steve Carell (John DuPont), Mark Ruffalo (Dave Schultz), and Channing Tatum (Mark Schultz). The interactions between the brothers, and between them and Carell form the core of what makes this film interesting. Of particular note is an absolute break down by Tatum after a tough match, and Ruffalo's inability to toe the company line in a hagiographic tribute video about John DuPont that was produced by John DuPont.
It's really interesting to watch Carell in this film, as his character starts out as an odd duck, but one who appears to have a genuine paternalistic interest in helping Mark achieve his goal of returning to the Olympics in 1988. As time goes on, its clear Carell thinks of his wrestlers less like a team of athletes, and more like the thoroughbreds of his mother. At that point, what appeared like eccentric foibles start to become worrisome signs of instability, as the film moves along towards its inevitable, tragic end.
53. The Homesman
The alternate title for this film should be Good Lord Life on the Great Plains kind of Sucked. It's a story about an independent single woman who is picked to take three women who succumbed to severe mental illness due to various hardships of frontier life back across the Missouri where they can theoretically get some help. She's accompanied by a ne'er-do-well (Tommy Lee Jones) in their custom built wagon. And that's when the troubles begin.
The sparse winter terrain of the scenery works to the films favor, as it reinforces the bleakness and desperation of the situation. Jones gives his character a combination of gritty resilience and pathetic weakness as they move eastward towards the edge of civilization. Swank brings her usual toughness to the role, as well hinting at the fragile balance that her character keeps for a long time as she deals with the stresses of the task at hand. Along the way there's a sizable amount of humor, and even a chance for some heroics.
This is a rare breed of western, the "feminist western". Unlike most films of the genre this one actually seems concerned about the lives and concerns of the women at the center of the film. It has plenty of relevance to today, as many women still feel an inordinate amount of pressure that they are incomplete unless they're married and have children. Also, like today, the movie isn't afraid to say that having those things is a solution in and of itself, considering all three women being taken back were married, and two of them had children.
52. Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
My familiarity with Elaine Stritch is almost entirely from her role as Colleen Donaghy on 30 Rock. As great as she was in that role, she was much more than that, a fascinating artist who worked almost up until her death in July of last year. Despite the travails of age playing havoc on her memory and stamina, she still insisted on keeping a regular performance schedule in addition to her television work. Even as she dealt with a health issue that put her into the hospital, she still kept at it, all the while planning a move back to her home in Michigan to be near her family. Anybody who's a fan of hers, or a fan of watching interesting documentaries, will enjoy this film.
51. Dear White People
2014 marked a rough year for those who claim the United States no longer has an issue with racism and racial issues. With controversial police shootings in places like Cleveland, Brooklyn, and Ferguson MO, and the subsequent murder of police officers in New York City, there has been plenty of ink spilled on top of the blood about what, if anything, we can do about it. Some of the dialogue has been thoughtful, but much of it has been the same old pattern of political posturing that never seems to get anywhere. Perhaps its about time that us white people should shut up for a while and open our ears to listen.
I can't speak to the veracity of this movie in regards to its relevance to the experience of black college students. I can, however, understand the troubles of many of the characters, from the gay aspiring journalist who's a fan of Robert Altman films (Tyler James Williams), to the BMOC (Brandon P. Bell) who also happens to be the son of the Dean (Dennis Haysbert), to the ambitious young woman who wants to be a reality star, and won't let anything stand in her way (Teyonah Parris). Each of these characters are given depth and a fair amount of focus, even if the main character of the film is Sam (Tessa Thompson), host of a provocative show on the campus radio station and the ex girlfriend of Bell. From a hilariously over the top student film, to an unexpected victory in the traditionally black Armstrong/Parker house election, to her conflict with the oh-so-irreverent head of the Harvard Lampoon proxy who also is the son of the University President. Although the film is often sharp in its satire, and never succumbs to letting any of its characters off easy, it's heaviest punch is saved for the end credits.
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