Top 20 of 2014

— Here are the 20 films I've liked most from 2014, but I haven't seen "Big Eyes" or "Cake" or "Mr. Turner" yet:

• American Sniper
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Boyhood
• Calvary
• Fury
• Gone Girl
• Grand Budapest Hotel
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Immigrant
• The Imitation Game
• Intersteller
• Into the Woods
• John Wick
• Locke
• Nightcrawler
• Snowpiercer
• St. Vincent
• Under the Skin
• Whiplash
• Wild

March 2015 Update: Now that I've seen Still Alice, I want to add it to the group and make it 21!
(If I had to come up with 22, I'd reluctantly include Foxcatcher.)

Unbroken

— Zamperini’s story of endurance and survival is a good one and the choice of actors is also good. Angelina Jolie puts lots of polish on the film, and uses a slower pace than that to which we’re normally accustomed, but the story itself, even with Joel and Ethan Coen as screenwriters, seems out of pace with it's precise, belabored telling. What should have drawn us into a tale of the human spirit and inspired us, really just let watch at a distance.

---

[2013. 137 min. Directed by Angelina Jolie. Starring Jack O’Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, and Domhnall Gleeson.]
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie/unbroken/review/752885

Enemy

— This is a very enigmatic doppelganger film (DVD) that’s halfway through before you’re sure you’re watching something more than a thriller and realize something else is going on. It’s probably about totalitarian government and it’s interesting to see, but it’s only hope is that it’ll find a cult following.

---

[2013. 90 min. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, and Sarah Gadon.]
http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/toronto-film-review-jake-gyllenhaal-enemy-1200655619/

Into the Woods

— “Into the Woods” is better than many but not quite wonderful. Sondheim’s music and lyrics are wonderful and Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt are both very good. Rob Marshall’s done his best with it but, somehow, it’s just a little off. I think some of the twists and humor of the original play are missed as a result of cleaning it up a bit for movie and Disney audiences, but that may be okay in a story that really is about the absence of absolutes and the certainty of compromise since these toned-down characters are something of a compromise. Although I’m a little disappointed by the softer ending, I still liked it a lot and would recommend it.

---

[2014. 124 min. Directed by Rob Marshall. Starring Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/into-the-woods-2014

The Maze Runner

— Decent effects don’t mask the fact that this is a simplistic storyline and the first in a trilogy by James Dashner. I don’t think we need another trilogy and “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent” are much better. I watched this on a flight (DVD) and it was acceptable fluff in that context but I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to see it.

---

[2014. 113 min. Directed by Wes Ball. Starring Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, and Blake Cooper.]
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/09/18/the-maze-runner-review

The Theory of Everything

— Eddie Redmayne’s performance is incredible and reason enough to see the film. Good thing too, since even though it’s very well done, I left wondering what I was supposed to take away from it. It’s a perfectly fine story of a brilliant person overcoming the odds, experiencing great love, and making signification contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity. But come on, without Redmayne’s performance and James Marsh’s expert direction, it would be, as Willie Waffle says, really just “the adult, classy version of 'The Fault in Our Stars'.”

---

[2014. 123 min. Directed by James Marsh. Starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/toronto-film-festival/11081593/The-Theory-of-Everything-review-tasteful-and-affecting.html

Venus in Fur
(“La Vénus à la fourrure")

— I’m always a little fascinated by movies about plays. The way “Venus in Fur” (Netflix) blurs the lines between the play and “real” world, and even between the players’ roles as control shifts and the director becomes the one directed, is particularly intriguing as issues of love and power surface. The resemblance of the main character to a younger Polanski is striking and knowing Vanda/Venus is Polanski’s wife adds another level to the thing. Even the idea of a movie about a play translated from the English to the French, about a German novel, is a bit convoluted, so it’s no wonder that, by the time the film was over and Thomas had surrendered himself, it was all pretty chilling but a little familiar too.

---

[2013. 96 min. Directed by Roman Polanski. Starring Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric.]
http://www.timeout.com/us/film/venus-in-fur

Locke

— This was an unexpected joy to watch. The idea of one person inside his car and talking on the phone for an hour and a half wasn’t something I wanted to embrace no matter how good critics claimed the film was. I’m glad I decided to watch “Locke” (DVD) anyway. Watching Tom Hardy dealing with his life coming apart as he tries to hold on to the various pieces while doing the right thing is mesmerizing. It’s a well-written and well-acted film and deserves more attention than it’s received.

---

[2013. 85 min. Directed by Steven Knight. Starring Tom Hardy, Olivia Colman, and Ruth Wilson.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/locke-2014