The Hollywood Outsider – Film and Television Podcast | Reviews An award-winning film and television podcast for the fan in all of us
Far too many Top 10 lists are nothing more than expressions of pretentiousness. We all know it. Artistic nose-thumbing of the highest order compiled into a list so stuffy and emotionally remote that it (seemingly) feels meant to invoke a sense of ignorance in those reading it. As if it is some kind of crime to appreciate films that are not STRIVING for some greater cinematic accomplishment.
Well, this list is not going to be one of those. This is not a list based on what other critics are holding up as solid gold, this is a list of films I personally enjoyed more than any others, and therefore made me want to revisit their world again and again. See, I believe a Top 10 List should consist of movies you enjoyed AND appreciated, not just the latter. There are a lot of films I appreciate that I would never want to see again (Jodorowsky’s Dune, I’m looking at you). To me, that is not what I want in my list of the films I enjoyed the most in 2014. Dune assuredly belongs on a list of films that intrigued me the most, as would Under the Skin, but neither film ever entertained me.
Instead, here is my list of the 10 most entertaining films of 2014. These are movies that either moved me, enraged me, scared me, or maybe even caused an energetic fist bump or two. Most importantly? These are worlds I will easily revisit again in the near future. Some of my picks might cause you to slam your fists angrily at my ridiculous idiocy. To that I say, in my best Emperor Palpatine, ‘Gooooooood Goooooooood’.
With each selection the title links you to the written review, if one exists, as well as the specific podcast we discuss the film on for those wishing to dive further into any respective film. Enough rambling and excuses, let’s get on with it!
There is nowhere better to start than with King Mullet.
10. Joe
Nicolas Cage is an actor who seems to hate his own career more than most critics. Everyone has seen his talent over the years, yet he consistently takes films that trained monkeys and Casper Van Dien even avoid. ‘Joe’ is a definite exception to this rule.
Cage stars as the titular Joe, a hard-drinking foreman living life as a well-respected member of his community. Unfortunately, he also has a hot-button temper that is further fueled by all of that aforementioned drinking. When he meets 15 year-old Gary (Mud’s Tye Sheridan) and comprehends the extent of abuse the boy suffers from his father, Cage is rewarded with a canvas to showcase Joe’s wicked temper boiling to the surface, spilling over into the utter chaos that is now his life.
‘Joe’ deserves to find an audience because Cage is that damn good in it, so good it is almost a crime no one is talking his performance up for Oscar nominations this year. This film was one of the more pleasant surprises of 2014, as I was dreading each step as I hobbled into what seemed-to-be another Cage schlock-fest. Instead I was treated to one of the most underappreciated films of the year.
Of course, then Cage had to go and make Left Behind…
Listen to our review of Joe
9. The Babadook
Babadook…dook…DOOOOOOOK!
Turning a children’s pop-up book into a nightmarish descent to hell is a novel concept, but on the outset would seem like a stereotypically clichéd, gore-fest in waiting. Instead we are treated to award-caliber performances by Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman, who star as an isolated mother and son combatting an unseen boogeyman. Horror has been largely ignored for acting awards that do not involve Anthony Hopkins, but damn it if these aren’t two of the most fantastically bold and insane performances of the year. Isn’t it time we stopped locking accolades in the genre closet?!
Director Jennifer Kent’s nod to the more subtle aspects of horror filmmaking was also the year’s best attempt at the genre. Foregoing cheap scares and lame set-pieces, ‘The Babadook’ instead focuses on psychological terror and sound design, the oft-ignored jewel in horror’s crown. Kent does such a beautiful job here that once ‘The Babadook’ sinks its gigantic paranormal claws into you, any children’s books you might have lying around the house will instantly morph into threats you will need to contend with immediately. I suggest a bonfire.
Listen to our interview with The Babadook director Jennifer Kent
What the hell is this movie called again? All I Want Is Kill? Edge of Tomato? Cruise. Die. Repeat? Whatever you know it by, if you have seen this underappreciated gem you are full aware of its complete awesomeness. A premise that shouldn’t work (a coward becoming a better soldier by repeating the same day over and over), with a lead actor the media would try to convince you is washed up (a guy jumps on one couch…), and an ending that kinda doesn’t work (those last 3 minutes don’t, but there are plenty who would argue otherwise…incorrectly) – All of this matters not because this Tom Cruise flick is one of the most flat-out fun experiences in a theater this year!
Cruise is a movie God and my tongue is out in full wag to all of those in disagreement. He can believe in whatever asinine religions he wants as long as he keeps making entertaining films like this one. Humor, action, thrills, and even a few chills. Throw in the always-amazing Emily Blunt as the true hero of the film ( a non-sexed-up heroine that actually teaches the almighty Cruise how to fight) and you have a partnership that I need to see more of right now!
Which I would do if I could make any damn sense of the blood rules at play here…
Listen to our review of Edge of Tomorrow
7. The Judge
Critics weren’t fans. Too bad for them. I walked out of ‘The Judge’ completely satisfied and with a Cheshire-like grin on my face. Why did I not walk out with a need to destroy this ‘retread’? This film had all of the elements I love:
- Robert Downey Jr. as a cocky lawyer-elite
- Robert Duvall as his cranky estranged dad, a judge, accused of murder, and still mopping the floor with any actors who come his way
- A father-son dynamic that clicks and touches the heart
- Family and courtroom drama meshed into one, without the predictable outcome
- Did I mention Robert Duvall is in this??
You know why critics didn’t like it? It was too formulaic. Too ‘been there, done that’. Guess what? So are 95% of the other movies they watched this year. This one works IN SPITE of that. Is it a story you have seen before? Sure, but not with actors of this caliber nor with a story that realistically explains in an understandable way why these two have been at odds for so many years.
But you want to know why it made my Top 10 this year? It was one of the very few films that made me feel in the last 12 months. Is that such a bad thing?
Listen to our review of The Judge
‘Snowpiercer’ is essentially Katniss Everdeen stuck on a train. Only here, Katniss is played with steely-eyed purpose by Captain America himself, Chris Evans. He calls himself Curtis, but we all know he’s Katniss with one of those fancy Mission Impossible skin-masks. As the world outside has been turned into a frozen tundra, and life on this train has evolved into ‘The Hunger Games – Boxcar Edition’, Mr. Everdeen barrels forward in an attempt to overthrow the conductor known only as…Wilford.
It shocks me that more people have not seen ‘Snowpiercer’. All of you elitists begging and whining for smarter action films, here ya go! Soak it up! Lord knows when we will get another one. Chris Evans spits in the face of his Marvel image by doing what all of those other Avengers seem unwilling to do: He took a chance. One that pays off marvelously by offering up heaps of Eastern-infused action slow-cooked with biting social commentary. Director Boon Jong HO is one to watch. He’s like John Woo without the obscene obsession with doves. He does love polar bears though, but something tells me that will be much harder to incorporate into a typical gun duel.
How many reasons do I need to give you people to check this out?! FINE, one more: Tilda Swinton gives a performance so bat-shit crazy that you will be debating if it was, in fact, Tilda Swinton. Enough for you yet?
Listen to our review of Snowpiercer
Continue to next page for the Top 5!