My Top 10 Movies of 2014

What a year, what a year.

Before we even knew it, 2014 is drawing to a close. And unlike previous years, where there were still a multitude of movies that I missed, I have seen enough of the movies I wanted to see this year that I feel comfortable making a list of my favorite movies of the year. First off, I want to rattle off some honorable mentions:

INTERSTELLAR was probably the film that came closest to making the list but didn't, as though it was a profound film experience on the big screen, the movie's flaws kept me from crossing that barrier into truly loving it. David Gordon Green's JOE also came damnably close to making it, featuring one of the best performances of Nicolas Cage's career (and certainly the best non-ludicrous role he's had in decades), but my #10 ultimately beat it out.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and EDGE OF TOMORROW were all summer blockbusters that I loved dearly, and very easily could have made the list, but I felt that the movies I've included better reflect my own personal taste, and how I feel about this year in movies as a whole. My favorite comedy of the year was 22 JUMP STREET, for the record. 2014 was an absolutely insane year for genre films and movies in general. Now, onto the top 10!

10. SNOWPIERCER

Captain America this guy is not...

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER was one of the best Marvel movies, as well as one of the best pure action blockbusters in years, but it's Chris Evans' other performance this year that made the list. SNOWPIERCER, director Bong Joon-ho's English debut, is a breathtaking and action-packed slice of apocalyptic sci-fi, one that shows that the law in a post-world society can be as lawless as actual anarchy. Evans takes his Cap charm and translates it into something more wounded and angry as Curtis, the semi-reluctant leader of the revolution that attempts to overthrow the tyrannical front elites of the Snowpiercer, the train that happens to be the only inhabitable place left on Earth after an environmental experiment gone awry. The movie boasts a stellar supporting cast as well, including John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, Octavia Spencer, a very over-the-top Tilda Swinton, and Song Kang-ho. Taking cues from everything from Kubrick to Gilliam, Bong delivers completely, and shows that he may become a directorial force to be reckoned with in the west.

9. GONE GIRL

She is indeed a Cool Girl here...

David Fincher is back, and with GONE GIRL he delivers a depraved trash masterpiece for the ages, evoking the works of everyone from Adrian Lyne to Brian De Palma in his deliciously twisted adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel. Ben Affleck has never been more perfectly cast than in the role of Nick Dunne, a husband whose mission in life is to convince everyone he's not an asshole, despite looking and sounding like Ben Affleck, and whose mission gets complicated when his beloved wife goes missing. Like the novel, the movie reveals one tidbit of information at a time, slowly pulling back the camera so we can see the whole painting, and once we do, we realize what a disturbing world of shit we have stepped into. Fincher is perfectly suited to this kind of material, bringing all the lurid details and social commentary about media's invasion of privacy with his masterful cold precision. Boasting top-notch supporting performances from Rosamund Pike (who damn well better get an Oscar nod), Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, and (shockingly) Tyler Perry (who possibly steals the whole damn movie), GONE GIRL is a must for both fans of Fincher and fans of top-dollar lurid weirdness.

8. INHERENT VICE

I was basically guaranteed to like this one on the style alone.

Confession time: I've never been the biggest Paul Thomas Anderson fan. Of course, I don't know how fair an assessment that is. I've yet to see BOOGIE NIGHTS (I know) or MAGNOLIA (I KNOW). PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE was until recently my favorite film of his, with its clever inversion of the typical Adam Sandler character on top of a rather sweet oddball romance. THERE WILL BE BLOOD is a movie I really need to watch again, boasting an (as usual) incredible performance from Daniel Day-Lewis but at the same time leaving me overwhelmed and flabbergasted. THE MASTER is a movie that left me cold, despite boasting an obviously stellar and unhinged turn from Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix returns as the lead in INHERENT VICE, Anderson's Pynchon adaptation (the novel which I'm currently reading for clarification purposes), and despite being rather boggled by the plot once again in an Anderson film, I found it terrifically entertaining. Visually stunning and consistently hilarious, INHERENT VICE represents the end of an era, as the 1960s fell by the wayside to make way for the rather hippie-less future. Phoenix's Doc Sportello represents the end of that era, as a barely functional pothead PI who struggles to piece all the clues together while investigating the disappearance of his ex (a luminous and femme fatale-ish Katherine Waterston). Josh Brolin's hilarious Bigfoot Bjornsen represents the other side of that coin, as the hardass cop who's always on Doc's case. Also boasting amazing supporting turns from Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, and Martin Short, INHERENT VICE may lack coherence, but I predict that it will reward repeat viewings, and it's so rip-roaringly hilarious as to make the list.

7. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

You're welcome indeed

I know, I know, I'm ranking a goddamn Marvel movie above fucking Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson, but hear me out. I'm greatly anticipating STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS when it arrives in theaters next Christmas, but in some ways, James Gunn's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY already gave me what I want out of a modern space opera. The second-best Marvel movie yet (only eclipsed by THE AVENGERS), GUARDIANS represents Marvel's biggest risk paying off, as a movie with a tree-man and an anthropomorphic raccoon soared to previously unimaginable critical and financial success. It's also the funniest comic book movie of all time, breaking out millions of zingers that I'm still quoting to this day. It's got a killer soundtrack, full of pop classics that are all perfectly deployed in the movie. It's great for adults, great for kids, great for just about anybody. It's everything that anyone could want out of going to the movies. And it's fully earned its spot on my list.

6. JOHN WICK

Keanu is back. WHOA

JOHN WICK has only been out for two months, and I'm already convinced that it's well on its way to being an action classic. Full of extraordinary action sequences (directed by stuntmen David Leitch and Chad Stahelski), witty dialogue, strong world-building, and the triumphant return of one Keanu Reeves, JOHN WICK delivers a cinematic boogeyman that few can claim to match. I actually don't have much to say about this one, other than that it's basically the bee's knees. Dog's best friend, indeed.

5. THE GUEST

It's hard NOT to think of John Carpenter

When it comes to Adam Wingard, I enjoyed YOU'RE NEXT just fine. It was a clever, entertaining spin on the typical home invasion horror movie. Still, it left me totally unprepared for this. Holy shit. THE GUEST is yet another killer action movie in a murderer's row year of action movies, but unlike its more modern-styled colleagues, it's steeped heavily in the past. A miraculously perfect fusion of 1980s James Cameron and John Carpenter, THE GUEST is the most perfectly distillation of their styles that I have ever seen. This movie is pretty much HALLOWEEN meets THE TERMINATOR, and it's got everything you can think of, from the Carpenter-esque synth score, to Carpenter's damn title font, to Cameron's masterful direction of low-budget action, to its Sarah Connor-esque protagonist (Maika Monroe is absolutely sublime), to the near-perfect combination of Michael Myers, the Terminator, and Kyle Reese in the form of the titular Guest, David, played note-perfect by a soon-to-be-huge (hopefully) Dan Stevens. Insanely, this is only my second-favorite action flick of the year. The best is still yet to come.

4. LOCKE

No, he's not doing his Bane voice here...

On paper, LOCKE sounds like a dumb, cheap thriller premise. A guy in his car talking on the speaker phone for 90 minutes could play as an absolute disaster in the wrong hands. Luckily, writer-director Steven Knight's prove to be the right ones, as LOCKE is completely and utterly enthralling as we watch one poor man's life unravel as he attempts to follow his moral code and do the right thing, despite the knowledge that it will probably be the end of him. Knight's writing and direction are both note-perfect, but even so, this movie would not work without Tom Hardy. Hardy brilliantly plays Ivan Locke's internal conflict, as he attempts to juggle his job, his home life, and the life that he feels responsible for all at the same time, as he sticks to his moral code to the letter, despite it causing his life to come apart at the seams, all within the span of a 90 minute drive from Birmingham to London. It is truly a cinematic experience like none other, and one that demands to be seen.

3. NIGHTCRAWLER

The advent of Video Production News

Jake Gyllenhaal's movie choices continue to impress, and NIGHTCRAWLER is probably his best performance yet. Where THE GUEST paid homage to the action movies of the 1980s, NIGHTCRAWLER feels more in the vein of the 1970s, merging the styles of a Sidney Lumet directing NETWORK with a young Scorsese doing TAXI DRIVER, providing us with a social commentary on the unsavory nature of the media while simultaneously giving us a truly chilling portrait of a pure sociopath who will stop at nothing to climb his way to the top. Louis Bloom is one of the most unsettling characters in years, and Gyllenhaal nails it, giving him a shit-eating grin and a cold douchebaggery masking bottomless ambition and a cauldron of rage. First-time director Dan Gilroy shows a true talent in the beautifully shot Los Angeles cityscape, and a car chase that's worth the price of admission. It's also the first movie on this list that I would consider a true masterpiece.

2. THE RAID 2

It's like Coppola or Scorsese suddenly wanted to kick ass

One of the best movies of 2011 was THE RAID, a Indonesian martial arts action masterpiece that brought director Gareth Evans onto the international stage in a huge way. However, despite some of the best filmed action that the world has ever seen, THE RAID was a pretty simple action movie on a story level. Not so with this year's follow-up. THE RAID 2 is essentially like if Scorsese was in the middle of working on the script for THE DEPARTED, and he suddenly went "Hmm. You know what this movie needs? BALLS TO THE WALL MARTIAL ARTS ASSKICKERY." A sequel whose staggering ambition and impressive scope dwarfs the original in every way, THE RAID 2 is the best action movie of the year, a powerful revenge movie, and an epic crime saga, all in one easy-to-carry package. It's only weakness in comparison to its predecessor is that it lacks the complete cohesion and simple narrative drive of the original THE RAID. But what it gains in exchange is so much more. THE RAID 2 has some of the best action sequences you'll ever see. The kitchen fight. The baseball scene. THE HAMMER SCENE. Just. DAMN.

And my number one movie of 2014 is...

No.

You know what? The #1 movie of the year deserves its own article. I'll put that up tomorrow. And trust me, it will be a surprise.