jiraffejustin's Ongoing Movie of the Year Thread (2014)

[jiraffejustin]

I've seen three films from the year 2014 (according to IMDb,) that doesn't really seem like enough. In fact, that seems awful. I do have a somewhat valid excuse though, the closest theater to me is about an hour away and I don't think anybody ever cleans the floors there. I really hope Mark hasn't been there recently. ;)

Anyway, I'll try to watch some more films from this year and I'll maybe say a word or two about them. For now though, I'll start my list of best movies of 2014. My list rolls three deep, but I like all three films to a varying degree:

edited: 4/18/15
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
2. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
3. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
4. The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller)
5. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
6. Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn)
7. Neighbors (Nicholas Stoller)


Recommendations would be useful, so lay them on me.

[rauldc14]

I'll start with Guardians of the Galaxy and X Men: Days of Future Past. Two fun movies IMO.

[rauldc14]

But of course I've only seen 4 films from 2014 :p

[jiraffejustin]

My interest in Guardians keeps growing. On the other hand, I've never been that into the X-Men.

[TokeZa]

Didnt you join the arthouse mafia?

If so i would check out Horse Money, Storm Children - Book One and Journey to the West

[MovieMeditation]

For best action ever you should see The Raid 2 and for most visually stunning you should see Mr. Turner.

Other recommendations are: Gone Girl, Blue Ruin, Nightcrawler and Boyhood. :)

[seanc]

Here are my ten faves from the year so far. Been kind of ho hum for me thus far mostly. Blood Ties and Venus In Fur are considered 2013 but I count them as this year because that is when they were available to me. I am not exactly traveling with the festival circuit. Although I will if someone wants to pay my way.:D

http://letterboxd.com/seanc/list/top-10-of-2014-so-far/

[jiraffejustin]

When is Swan going to yell at me for not seeing Boyhood yet?

[seanc]

Oh yeah, make sure you see Under The Skin. I didn't go nuts for it like a lot of people but it is very good and certainly the most unique movie I saw this year.

[jiraffejustin]

Oh yeah, make sure you see Under The Skin. I didn't go nuts for it like a lot of people but it is very good and certainly the most unique movie I saw this year.

I decided to go with IMDb dates, because screw accuracy. I've seen Under the Skin, not only is the film great, I could see the soundtrack being a top ten album of the year.

[seanc]

I decided to go with IMDb dates, because screw accuracy. I've seen Under the Skin, not only is the film great, I could see the soundtrack being a top ten album of the year.

I do this when making lists that go back in time. When I am making my top ten for the current year I throw that out the window though. If it didn't get a theater or VOD release here till this year, its eligible for my list. Have you seen Venus In Fur? Probably the biggest surprise of the year for me. It is on Netflix streaming now as well.

[jiraffejustin]

I do this when making lists that go back in time. When I am making my top ten for the current year I throw that out the window though. If it didn't get a theater or VOD release here till this year, its eligible for my list. Have you seen Venus In Fur? Probably the biggest surprise of the year for me. It is on Netflix streaming now as well.

Haven't seen it, looks like it could be down my alley though.

[cricket]

I don't go to the movies either, just the drive-in once in a while.

I rank the 5 I've seen like this-

1. Deliver Us From Evil
2. The Purge: Anarchy
3. The Rover
4. Zombeavers
5. Lucy

[jiraffejustin]

I don't go to the movies either, just the drive-in once in a while.

I rank the 5 I've seen like this-

1. Deliver Us From Evil
2. The Purge: Anarchy
3. The Rover
4. Zombeavers
5. Lucy

How highly would you recommend Zombeavers? I've had my eye on that one, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[cricket]

How highly would you recommend Zombeavers? I've had my eye on that one, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

It's not to be taken seriously at all but it's worth watching for a laugh. I gave it 2.5 Bad movie but fun, in the neighborhood of Sharknado.

[Swan]

BITCHASS WHY HAVEN'T YOU SEEN BOYHOOD YET??!!??!!

[The Gunslinger45]

I myself have seen 23 movies in the theater this year. Will post my list when it gets closer to the end of the year. I have 5 more I want to see this year for certain, not counting Academy nominations for best picture.

[jiraffejustin]

Here's my 2013 list, just because:

1. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche)
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (The Coen Brothers)
3. Her (Spike Jonze)
4. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
5. The Grandmaster (Kar Wai Wong)
6. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
7. The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani)
8. Hard to Be a God (Aleksey German)
9. Escape from Tomorrow (Randy Moore)
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Peter Jackson)
11. Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
12. V/H/S/2 (Simon Barrett & Jason Eisener)
13. This Is the End (Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen)

Meh list:

Out of the Furnace (Scott Cooper)
Mama (Andy Muschietti)
American Hustle (David O. Russell)

Sh*t list:

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
On the Job (Erik Matti)
Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (Tyler Perry)
Oblivion (Joseph Kosinski)
Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez)
Man of Steel (Zack Snyder)

Sh*t list, but I'd give it another shot:

Only God Forgives (Nicolas Winding Refn)

[TokeZa]

Here's my 2013 list, just because:

1. Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche)
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (The Coen Brothers)
3. Her (Spike Jonze)
4. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
5. The Grandmaster (Kar Wai Wong)
6. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
7. The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani)
8. Hard to Be a God (Aleksey German)
9. Escape from Tomorrow (Randy Moore)
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Peter Jackson)
11. Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
12. V/H/S/2 (Simon Barrett & Jason Eisener)
13. This Is the End (Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen)

Meh list:

Out of the Furnace (Scott Cooper)
Mama (Andy Muschietti)
American Hustle (David O. Russell)

Sh*t list:

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
On the Job (Erik Matti)
Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (Tyler Perry)
Oblivion (Joseph Kosinski)
Evil Dead (Fede Alvarez)
Man of Steel (Zack Snyder)

Sh*t list, but I'd give it another shot:

Only God Forgives (Nicolas Winding Refn)

Im interested in seing Hard to Be a God it ran at the CPH : PIX festival, but only once, so unortunately i didnt see it. If you could give a small comment on it i would be glad :)

Her and Inside Lllewyn Davis is top tier american movies from that year, but my personal favorite is Linklaters Before Midnight!

Blue is the Warmest Color is good movie but it isnt radical filmmaking imo and i find Stranger by the Lake a lot more interesting. For me that was the epitome of queer cinema from that year!

[jiraffejustin]

Hard to Be a God is bound to be right down your alley when you get the chance to see it. It's one of the few films that I would classify as both beautiful and ugly. The camera work makes it beautiful, but when you are filming dead bodies, spit, piss, sh*t, blood, mud, and bumbling fools it'll tend to be ugly. It's a three hour film, so you are seeing a lot of those things I just mentioned. It's quite the undertaking, I don't know that I'd recommend very many see it, but you enjoy your arthouse. I think you can handle it.

I assume you are already familiar with the what the film is about and it's themes? It's based on a popular(?) novel, so I left out story stuff.

[Captain Spaulding]

Sh*t list:
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)


:furious::furious::furious::furious::furious:

[jiraffejustin]

Go take a bath with Sexy. :p

[Swan]

Sh*t list:

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (Tyler Perry)

What?! How dare you!

[jiraffejustin]

I feel bad that I actually laughed at one point in that movie.

[TokeZa]

Hey JJ

You might be interested in The best films of 2014 by Sight and Sound:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/best-films-2014

Im planning on seeing at least Winter Sleep and Leviathan in the cinema. Jauja have already been leaked and is not coming to danish cinema, so im planning on seeing that at home.

I hope Goodbye to Language is going to be present at CPH : PIX 2015, so i can watch it in 3D.

Anyway my favorite of the year Horse Money is number 3 on that list :)

[jiraffejustin]

I've had my eye on Winter Sleep and Leviathan as well, but there's no way I'll be able to see them at the cinema. Same with Godard's Goodbye to Language, which is a shame because it's the only 3D film that I've actually wanted to put those glasses on for.

[jiraffejustin]

I watched another 2014 movie today, the much heralded Marvel flick Guardians of the Galaxy. It's not anything new, but it's an above average, modern, action, blockbuster, comic book flick.

[Swan]

That's what I thought, too.

[seanc]

I agree as well. when people call it Star Wars I throw up in my mouth a little.

[jiraffejustin]

It's my favorite Marvel movie so far, so I don't want it to turn into a trashing session. :p

[seanc]

No, not at all. I liked it as well. Gave it 3.5. Not my favorite Marvel, but top five.

[jiraffejustin]

No, not at all. I liked it as well. Gave it 3.5. Not my favorite Marvel, but top five.

That's probably what I would give it.

[Cobpyth]

I've seen 14 films that are listed as 2014 movies on IMDb so far.

Some I'd recommend:

Gone Girl (Speaks for itself)

Interstellar (Speaks for itself, but should probably be seen in a theater for maximum effect)

The One I Love (Little, weird independent film that comments on marriage and relatonships in a weirdly inventive and interesting way)

Maps To the Stars (If you're into Cronenberg or if you really like films about Hollywood, you should definitely give this a watch)

Nightcrawler (Worth a watch if you're in the mood for something dark)

Space Station 76 (If you like films about dysfunctional families or people, like for instance The Ice Storm, and if you'd like to see a take on it in a '70s fantasy of the future on board of a spaceship, this is your film)

That's about all I can truly recommend I guess (from what you haven't seen yet), except perhaps Sin City: A Dame to Kill For if you were a big fan of the previous film's style or if you love Eva Green. It's not as good as the first one, but I had a lot of fun watching it in the theater.

[jiraffejustin]

Thanks for the recs, Cob. I hadn't heard of Space Station 76 before, it looks... interesting. Almost nobody on IMDb likes it, not that that means anything. As a fan of 4:44 Last Day on Earth, I know ratings in the 4s aren't always accurate.

[Cobpyth]

Thanks for the recs, Cob. I hadn't heard of Space Station 76 before, it looks... interesting. Almost nobody on IMDb likes it, not that that means anything. As a fan of 4:44 Last Day on Earth, I know ratings in the 4s aren't always accurate.

I think some people's expectancies were fooled a little bit. :p

[mark f]

My ratings:

Space Station 76 (Jack Plotnick, 2014) 2+
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller, 2014) 2.5

[BlueLion]

2014 has been a weak year so far for me, doesn't look as good as 2013 if I'm honest.

But out of the 24 that I've seen, I would recommend Chef, Locke, Cold in July and The Babadook. Sin City and Gone Girl are worth viewing as well. I also dug Noah unlike most people

[jiraffejustin]

I just finished A Dame to Kill For. It was a pretty big disappointment for me after loving the first one. The sequel followed in the footsteps of many sequels, it was just too much. It lacks the grit of the first one and overloads us with unnecessary over-stylization. It might sound odd to call the original Sin City subtle, but compared to the sequel, it's low-key. It's the equivalent to a Schindler's List sequel where every other little girl is in a red dress.

2

[jiraffejustin]

It's been awhile since I've updated this, but that's because I don't think I've seen a '14 film since my last post here. That is until last night when I watched The Babadook. Behind only The Grand Budapest Hotel, it's my second favorite of last year, so far. It should finish rather high on this list when I finally get to a top 50 (probably sometime in 2055.)

Possible spoilers ahead, proceed at your own risk.

https://cinephilefix.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/babadook.jpg


The Babadook directed by Jennifer Kent


The Babadook consists of three parts: The scary part with the darkness, shadows, silhouettes, creaking, knocking, and scratching. The scary part with the woman going insane, and the scary part with the supernatural being causing supernatural stuff.

The first part is my favorite by a pretty wide margin, not to say the other parts lack merit, but the first part just hits perfectly the scariest thing there is: the unknown. Hiding away in darkness is everything you can't see, and the shadows and silhouettes vaguely outline the unknown and force you to imagine the worst possible thing they can be. What is the scariest thing is not knowing if you are looking at a shadow or a silhouette. Maybe even scarier than that is hearing a scratching, creaking, knocking, or even vocal noises from another room without even knowing the size, shape, or form of the source. The Babadook nails that perfectly in the first part of the film. Add to it the creepy story of the titular entity with the illustrations seemingly pulled from a silent German expressionist film and you have a pretty creepy premise.

The second part, or The Shining segment, is the part with the mother going insane. Her son, as was set up in the opening, is a bit of a problem child. He is "weird" and doesn't do well at school or around other children. The mother is stressed by her son and she hasn't completely coped with the loss of her husband. Essie Davis, playing the mother, gives a fine performance, believable the whole way through. Her performance during this part of the film is my favorite though, as the supernatural elements of the film haven't totally kicked in yet. She is haunted more by life than this Babadook at this point. I think the Babadook is more of a manifestation of the great torture life has put on her and her small family, but seeing the pain in her eyes before the total loss of sanity is a deeply saddening feeling.

The third part is my least favorite of the three, but not an entirely unfitting ending. I think I would have preferred if this Babadook didn't really have these supernatural powers, but I understand the build-up needs a payoff. I think he is more of a representation of a sh*tload of problems that need to be dealt with, and it can seem like a heavy weight to bear. It can seem like a supernatural being is trying to kill you. I understand that, and I believe that's the idea behind the Babadook, but I was more interested in the real life horror than the supernatural horror in the film. That's not to say it's poorly done, in fact it was actually quite well done. And in the in the Babadook was held under control and kept in the basement. I think the reason the Babadook wasn't killed, is because there is no way to completely pull away from the type of suffering this woman has had to undergo. Her husband died on the same day her son was born, and her son is a reminder of the loss.

Emotionally, I'd say that there's not a horror film in the five and a third years of this decade that can match. It's not my favorite horror film of the time frame, but I'd be hard-pressed to name more than a handful better. I'm not sure how we are going to rate film in this thread, but for now, I'd say this is an essential horror film of the decade.

P.S. I am writing this at three o'clock in the morning, so if anything seems off about it, that's my excuse. :D


ESSENTIAL

[jiraffejustin]

possible spoilers ahead, proceed at your own risk.

http://slackjawpunks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/girl-walks-home-alone-at-night-a-002.jpg

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

directed by Ana Lily Amirpour


I mentioned in the Modern Horror thread that I don't really think that this film is a horror film, sure there is a vampire and she kills some people, but it doesn't really have the horror vibe to me. The atmosphere is something totally else. I've read that it's Jarmusch inspired, but since my Jim Jarmusch exposure is so limited, I might have missed some things on that front. I have seen a couple Jarmusch films however, and from what I've seen, I think I'd agree. There's also a bit of Sin City here. Some Tarantino (the use of music in particular.) Some beautiful black and white cinematography. If you are feeling like an atmospheric arthouse Persian vampire western romance pulp noir film, I'd go with this one.

[Swan]

How did you watch it, JJ?

[jiraffejustin]

How did you watch it, JJ?

Nefariously.

[Swan]

Always the best way to watch something. :D

[Gatsby]

Have you seen Whiplash, JJ?

[jiraffejustin]

Have you seen Whiplash, JJ?

Nope. The only Best Picture nominee I've seen is Grand Budapest. I love living an hour away from the movie theater, ya know?

[Gatsby]

Nope. The only Best Picture nominee I've seen is Grand Budapest. I love living an hour away from the movie theater, ya know?
WATCH IT OR ELSE