25 In 25: My Favorite Films of the First Quarter Century - 2014

What a stellar year!!  I almost threw a chair trying to pick films for 2014.  I almost wanted to see if I could fly, there were so many great films!!  So good I could’ve killed a guy with a pencil!!  I took a drive and talked on the phone to relax.   Didn’t I do this already, maggot?!!?  The feeling of watching these movies got me in the mood to wear Oxfords, not Brogues, but the lobby boy misplaced my luggage!! 

These are all vague references to some of the phenomenal films from this year. 

Never did I think a movie about a guy dealing with life in his car on his phone could be so riveting.  Locke is a film you should see, if nothing more than to see Tom Hardy at the peak of his powers. 

And I never thought a film about grief and loss could be the best action film of the century.   John Wick and crew proved what you can do with a simple premise, stellar writing and moviemaking, and actors buying into the vision 100%.

Whiplash, the story of a student being abused to the brink of breaking and flipping the script on his tormentor, burned its way into our memories. 

And Jake Gyllenhaal, in two roles this year, creeps us out and shows how versatile an actor he truly is in Enemy and Nightcrawler. 

Tom Cruise, in maybe one of his best films, lives, dies, and repeats in Edge of Tomorrow, and besides Groundhog Day, does it better than any other film of its ilk. 

But this year sees two of my favorite directors battling it out with two phenomenal films… both of which got better with age for me. 

When it was announced, David Fincher’s Gone Girl instantly became my most anticipated film.  And when it came out, I am fairly certain I was first in line.  And I walked out feeling violated in a good way.  Everything I loved about Fincher’s work was present, but I wasn’t yet smart enough to get the true story.  But as I got older, and I rewatched this film over and over (and still do), I found the deeper meanings, the exquisite detail of Fincher, and the astounding acting by Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.  As he gets older, Fincher’s powers age like fine wine… and this film shows them at their pinnacle. 

In his career thus far, Christopher Nolan has tackled the subjects of time and familial trauma almost incessantly. It comes to a head with Interstellar. 

When you get a director in his prime, one of the best cinematographers of our time, arguably the best composer of our time, a group of actors that brought their games to those levels, what comes out of it is near perfection.  If you need or want to know the science of the film, there is a companion book, but I beg you not to get bogged down with it when you dissect the film.  I beg you to watch this film with open eyes, ears, and heart. 

Matthew McConaughey had one helluva year in 2014.  Not only did he put in an Oscar-worthy performance as Cooper in this film, but he also graced our small screens with his best role as Rust Cole in one of the best TV shows of all time.  I am convinced Interstellar doesn’t work as well as it did without him in that role. 

But his wasn’t the best of the film, shockingly.  That belongs to Matt Damon, who in about 16 minutes of screen time puts in his most diabolical performance ever.  Always the “good guy”, we fully expect the brilliant Dr. Mann to be the best of humanity… his intentions were always for the betterment of society until isolation changed him.  He became cowardly, arrogant, and selfish.  His survival was paramount to all.  Complexity at its finest. 

And none of this would have felt the way it did without Hoyte Van Hoytema and his 35mm/IMAX camera work or Hans Zimmer and his ethereal scoring. 

Some of the visuals van Hoytema captures rival anything ever put onto film in style or scope.  Mann and Coop fighting in space on a lifeless planet shot wide, Coop floating in the black hole, the burning corn fields, and I could go on and on.  The only other cinematographer who could’ve given this film the look and feel it had would be Roger Deakins.

And to top it off, Hans Zimmer wrote some music that will never be topped.  “Day One” might just be the most emotional piece of film music ever written.  Apparently, Nolan gave Zimmer one page of dialogue and asked Hans to write a piece of music based on it… and “Day One” is what came out of it.  Nolan played it on repeat as he finished the script, and this piece of music became the basis for the whole score.  Just listen to “Cornfield Chase” to see what I mean.  Sheer genius.