Top 12 Best Movies of 2014

Now that we’ve gotten the list of top worst movies out of the way, let’s reminisce the best movies from 2014. Especially seeing how we are now in the middle of Oscar season. So without further a due here are my picks for the top 12 best movies of 2014.

12) Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

So far during the second phase of the Marvel Cinematic universe leading up to the next Avengers movie, we’ve been seeing what some of the characters have been up to since the first Avengers movie. This movie comes close to a little more of side-story follow up to “The Avengers” as Captain America continues to fight for what’s right while still adjusting to modern times in the real world along with help from Black Widow, Nick Fury and Falcon. This had to be the best out of the sequels in Phase 2 of the Marvel Universe, nothing against “Iron Man 3” and “Thor 2” but this sequel takes the cake. Not to mention I can’t wait to see what’s in store for upcoming Avengers sequel this summer!

11) Foxcatcher

This haunting crime drama is based off true events from 1984 surrounding multimillionaire John du Pont. John du Pont was a wrestling enthusiast who established a wrestling farm to train a US wrestling team for the 1988 Olympics. Steve Carrell is totally unrecognizable in the role of John du Pont and does a great job at making him look kind of creepy too. This movie is very dark and intense as we experience the subsequent events and consequences.

10) Begin Again

I really loved this movie! This was a great music drama that gives you that feel good vibe. The script is well written with a likeable cast and it also keeps balance with drama and romance without going overboard and getting too sentimental. The movie has a great soundtrack and I highly recommend it! The movie also seems to give a positive message about starting over and pursuing dreams and making them happen.

9) Whiplash

This was an intense movie about a young jazz drummer (played by Miles Teller) who has the ambition of becoming one of the best drummers ever. He is pushed beyond his limits by a fearsome maestro (played by character actor JK Simmons). We get a lot of intense moments of Teller’s character bringing out the best of his skills while he fights the harassment of Simmons’ character. This has to be JK Simmons’ best performance in his career and a likely choice for the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars.

8) Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the man of late night in this neo-noir thriller as a freelanced video photographer. This has to be one of Gyllenhaal’s best performances as he comes off as a total psychopath and I almost felt like he was channeling some Robert DeNiro’s acting chops from “Taxi Driver.” The movie is very sharp and well written both in plot and dialogue. The only flaws in this movie were the ending was kind of vague and it doesn’t really accurately portray some of the facts of broadcast business, but never the less, Gyllenhaal has taken acting to the next level.

7) The Theory of Everything

This is well-made and very well acted biopic about Stephen Hawking and his success on the theory of physics as he struggled the rest of his life with motor neuron disease. Up and comer Eddie Redmayne does very well taking on his first leading role as Stephen Hawking. The movie was not only based on Hawking’s life but this based on his wife’s memoir, which focuses on the romance and marriage of Stephen and Jane. Only minor flaw is they maybe focused a little too much on the love story as opposed to Hawking and his study of physics, but other than that it was still a great movie.

6) American Sniper

Bradley Cooper does it again receiving his third straight Oscar nomination this time as Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. Clint Eastwood does a great job directing this war biography on the hotshot sniper who had 255 kills. Eastwood also does a great job in making the battle sequences extended as opposed to a “Zero Dark Thirty” where it’s all about politics and strategy. This movie also seems to show that we should continue to show our appreciation to the troops with more than just a thank you.

5) Wild

This has to be one of those movies where it’s good but watch only once kind of like “127 Hours” minus a few factors. Reese Witherspoon gives her second best performance since she won her first Oscar with “Walk the Line” back in 2005. This is a solo survival journey was based off the memoir of Cheryl Strayed as she embarked on a 1100 mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail to find herself. The only flaw about this movie was the quick cut flash backs occurred too much as we go through the journey.ond best performance since she won her first Oscar with “Walk the Line” back in 2005. This is a solo survival journey was based off the memoir of Cheryl Strayed as she embarked on a 1100 mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail to find herself. The only flaw about this movie was the quick cut flash backs occurred too much as we go through the journey.

4) Birdman 

Michael Keaton plays a washed up actor who is trying to revive his career through a Broadway production. The funny coincidence about this movie is Keaton’s character was an actor that played a superhero where Keaton in real life played Batman, coincidence? I think so. The only flaw I thought was odd was the Birdman voice that Keaton kept hearing (it kind of seemed like a pale imitation of Christian Bale as Batman), which was the only weird part about the movie. Other than that the movie was well-acted especially with Edward Norton playing a supporting role as a talented but egotistical actor. I really hope Keaton and Norton receive Oscar nominations and both of them win!

3) Kill the Messenger

Not only does this movie make my list for the best movies but it also makes my list for movies that got snubbed by the Academy Awards. Jeremy Renner puts on another Oscar worthy performance as journalist Gary Webb as he plays anti-hero to dig deeper into an investigative story involving the CIA and the Mexican drug cartel. The plot takes its twists and turns as we go through the details within the plot as well as Gary Webb dealing with the rewards and punishments within investigating the story. This movie didn’t get the recognition it deserved. It deserved a wider audience and Jeremy Renner should have gotten an Oscar nomination for this role.

2) The Grand Budapest Hotel

Most of the time I’m not too crazy about a lot of Wes Anderson’s movies but this one I think is his best movie to date. This quirky off beat “dramedy” is about a legendary concierge (played by Ralph Fienes) running the Republic of Zubrowka hotel during the first and second World Wars. He befriends a lobby boy as they embark on various situations and exploits. I salute the Academy for recognizing this movie despite coming out so early in the year where most movies around that time tend to get lost in the mix. It’s smart, funny, visually appealing and very well-acted with a strong cast and some cameos. Great movie!

1)Boyhood

This had to be the best movie of the year by far! This movie was shot in 39 days over 12 years with the same cast. Normally when a movie takes that long to make no one ever lives to brag about it but for this movie it makes sense as it shows the phases of life we see these characters go through in this coming of age drama. There were many things that could’ve gone wrong but Richard Linklater definitely pulled it off. Also it’s totally refreshing to see Ethan Hawke go back to serious acting roots for a change. This movie will definitely win the Best Picture award at the Oscars.

Honorable Mentions:

Guardians of the Galaxy

I ran out of room to include this movie on the top 12 but I figure I would give it an honorable mention. Guardians of the Galaxy had to be the biggest wild card movie of 2014. This movie was based off a lesser-known superhero team from Marvel Comics. The comic wasn’t exactly a household name like “The Avengers”, “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” but that was the one advantage the directors used to introduce this team to mainstream audiences. Not to mention they did use some jokes by making fun of themselves on how nobody has heard of these characters. I look to forward to more adventures with these characters in the near future as well as a potential “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Avengers” crossover.

St. Vincent

Bill Murray gives one of the best performances of his career as he plays a grouchy old man who forms an unlikely friendship with his neighbor’s son. The movie is heartwarming, funny and sentimental.


Those are my top 12 picks and I look forward to what this movie year has in store. See ya at the movies!

Top 12 Worst Movies of 2014

Well it’s that time of year again. It’s a new year where we clean the slate from last year and start over for what’s in store this year. Speaking of cleaning the slate when it comes to the movies I like to clean the slate by counting down the worst movies from 2014. Trust me this wasn’t easy sitting through some of these movies and then having to recap them. But let’s get this over with and clean the slate.

12) The Expendables 3

Sylvester Stallone and his fellow action hero stars are at it again for (like they in the trailer) ONE LAST RIDE. Now I was a fan of the first two movies as they paid homage to all the classic action movies from the 80s and 90s. This time around they didn’t do much to go out with a bang on their so-called last ride. Not to mention they took a page out of Die Hard 4’s playbook by lowering the rating to PG-13 as opposed to the R-rating. Not to mention (aside from Stallone) majority of the original cast got less screen time this time around. This was one last ride that should’ve went out in a blaze of glory but didn’t.

11) Blended

I swear how many times is Adam Sandler going to keep playing the same lousy slacker? I use to be an Adam Sandler fan back in his earlier days but now he’s just playing the same character and just doesn’t care anymore. Sandler reunites with Drew Barrymore for a third time (oh yay like we’ve never seen this before). That plus the movie is too much like another Adam Sandler movie, “Just Go with It”. How original for an actor to rip off another movie of his, NOT!

10.) Transformers 4 - Age of Extinction

Just when you thought it was all over after Michael Bay said the third movie was the last one. Then what happens? It makes millions of dollars and then they make another movie. I love Mark Wahlberg but this movie just doesn’t seem like it’s for him. Plus I thought it was too soon for them to start over with the franchise. Come back a few years later when some time has past. Plus it’s time for Michael Bay to quit ruining popular cartoon franchises from the 80’s and 90’s! I won’t be surprised if Bay starts pissing off anime fans next.

9) Dracula Untold

Ok so Universal wants to reintroduce classic monster movie franchises to modern audiences but an origin story on Dracula? Screw that! I never thought a story on how Dracula became Dracula would be so stupid and so boring. Not really too much more to say about this one. I turned it off half way through.

8) Winter’s Tale

For every movie year there’s one movie based off a novel to make every critic’s worst of movie year list. This one takes the cake for 2014. Not to mention another flop of an all-star cast which consisted of Colin Farrell, William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly, Russell Crowe and Will Smith. This movie is part supernatural good versus evil and part love story. But maybe too supernatural which is the main problem of the movie for a live-action movie. No wonder why Martin Scorsese thought this movie was un-filmable when he turned down the directing job. This movie would’ve been better off if it were animated film.

7) A Haunted House 2

This movie is a sequel to a movie that was an excuse for Marlon Wayans to re-live his memories of doing Scary Movie 1 & 2. Other than that it’s just another excuse to make carbon copy spoof movies where it’s just a bunch of punch lines with no set up for the jokes. I’ve seen bad comedy sketches funnier than this piece of crap.

6) Sabotage

Once again Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to do everything he can to find his headlining comeback. His involvement in The Expendables movies doesn’t count. The movie looked like it could’ve been it but all it was nothing but another one of those blow them up shoot them movies.

5) This Is Where I Leave You

I wanted to like this movie but I couldn’t. The movie has a nice comedic cast consisting of Jason Bateman and Tina Fey but those two would’ve been better off with a different screenplay. There were times where this movie had it’s moments but half it of was cheap laughs and not to mention not getting anywhere on some serious moments with clichéd conflicts involving this dysfunctional family.

4) I, Frankenstein

This movie had to be a major rip-off of the “Underworld” movies minus Kate Beckinsale and the vampires versus werewolves factor. Instead of a battle between vampires and werewolves we get Aaron Eckhart versus demons and gargoyles. It’s loud, it’s stupid, there isn’t any interesting characters and it wasn’t creative at all. This screenplay should’ve been tossed into the paper shredder.

3) The Robocop remake

It’s hard to believe that we’re getting to the point where movies from the 1980’s are starting to get thrown into the remake pile. The cast I will admit isn’t the problem of the movie. Especially when you have Samuel L Jackson, Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton in the supporting cast. Joel Kinnamen falls flat with his monotone voice that is a problem for the character trying to maintain his human side while he is machine. The ending is obvious to the point where you see it coming from a mile away. I would rather watch Robocop 3 again than this crap.

2) The Other Woman

Out of all the bad comedies in 2014 this one takes the cake. Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton star in this revenge comic caper as they pay back Nikolaj Coster Waldau for cheating on all three of them. This movie is a complete insult to women as the outcome walks away with no dignity and screwed up morals. I didn’t care at the end when they showed the “here’s what happened to each character” montage.

1)   Need For Speed

Based on the popular video game franchise, this movie comes off as a mix of Steve McQueen movies and The Fast & the Furious franchise thrown into a blender and then completely ripping it off. I like Aaron Paul and I’m glad he’s taking the next approach in his career to transition to movies coming off the end of “Breaking Bad”. However this wasn’t the best choice to start for Paul to begin this phase in his career. The dialogue and the race scenes are so clichéd that we’ve seen all these race stunts before in The Fast & the Furious movies. The wonderful Michael Keaton is wasted in a cameo as a rambling podcast host making it totally obvious he did it for a quick payday. It plays like a two-hour car commercial and a two-hour video game that you’re watching someone else play.

Well now that I got those bad memories out of the way be on the look out for my list of Top 12 Best Movies of 2014.