The 50 Best Movies Of 2014

Some film get rammed down your throat by an advertising campaign as subtle as an Alan Carr audiobook. Some however you find almost by accident. But how can you possibly have the time to weed out the 5 star classics from the chaff? Well dear reader that's where I come in. Having zero social life and hating almost everything that is shown on the telly has given me the perfect opportunity to watch around 120 of the last 12 months big releases. So here I present to my 50 best movies of 2014 for you to peruse and pick out the ones you feel you should check out.

As always there were a few rules in order for a films to qualify for the list

• No documentaries - movies only, simply for the fact that it would double the size of the list
• The film must have been released in the UK this year. This means that many of the movies that won Oscars way back at the start of the year and came out in the states in 2013 get on this years list
• Again I haven't seen everything but cannot publish this list on December31st as I will be too drunk to see so again sorry Hobbit fans but The Battle Of The 5 Armies will not feature here; but I'm sure it won't kill that movies chances at the box office. Also Birdman and Inherent Vice are going to have to slip into next years list. Apologies to Michael Keaton
• I've tried to be as objective as possible; meaning that any movie by The Coen brothers does not automatically get top spot just for being made by my personal heros. Similarly don't kick off at me just because I haven't put Spiderman at #1 and YOU LOVE SPIDERMAN. 

And that's about it. Lets crack on shall we?

#50 The Inbetweeners Movie 2

You'll know already if your a fan of the clunge obsessed bus wankers by now but when the second Inbetweeners movie came out most of us were pleasantly surprised. In amongst the poo jokes and banging your mum comments was a surprisingly sweet movie about teenage friendships, love and not just a money grabbing cash cow. Also instantly recognisable for anyone who has had to put up with a gap yah student with white boy dreads telling them about their theories on the universe. Show writers Iain Morris and Damon Beesley step up to the job of directors with an ease of confidence. A fitting goodbye to the boys (please no more, Neil looks about 30 now)!

#49 Chef

Forget Masterchef, The Great British Bake Off and that one where the fat American eats all the burgers, last year Chef was the food porn of choice. John Favreau goes back to his indie routes after Iron Man and calls in all his Hollywood pals to make a charming little road movie about a chef getting back to his cooking routes. Fundamentally a heartwarming story about sticking it to the man, Chef boasts one of the best casts of the year and great kicking Mexican soundtrack. A must see for all food lovers even if it is slightly implausibe that Favreau cast Sophie Vergara as his wife

#48 Obvious Child

Jenny Slate is probably best known for her hilarious turn on Parks and Recreation as John-Ralphios sister Mona-Lisa but here she steps out on her own in a star making turn in this great comedy tackling not exactly the most obvious comedic topic; abortion. Much more than just this years Juno, Slate brings a warmth and subtlety to her characters predicament that few actresses could manage. Also contains possibly the sweetest fart joke you'll see this year

#47 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One

Much like the 1st part of Harry Potters final film, Mockingjay Part One slightly suffers from having almost zero action and essentially being a 2 hour long setup for next years explosive finale. Still when your 2 hours of talking features Jennifer Lawrence suffering from PTSD and the late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman in his final role then I'm all for it. Climaxing in one of the best jump scares I saw all year and having Game of Thrones Natalie Dormer as a badass movie director Mockingjay really steps up the political and propaganda undertones of the whole franchise. Oh and Elizabeth Banks Effy' is still the best thing in it.

#46 The Wind Rises

For his final movie Studio Ghibli head honcho Hayao Miyazaki chose a fitting subject for a man who has spent his entire career making films about flight and flying.  The Wind Rises tells the story of Jiro Horikoshi and the planes he designed for Japan during the second world war. An ultimately depressing film (think Grave Of The Fireflies more than Ponyo) it is still as beautiful as you'd expect from a Ghibli movie and is as much a heart-wrenching love story as it is a comment on how war affects us all. A fitting swansong for Miyazaki and a timely reminder of how much the legendary filmmaker will be missed.

#45 The Zero Theorem

The most 'Terry Gilliamesque' Terry Gilliam movie since Twelve Monkeys, The Zero Theorem saw Christoph Waltz star as a paranoid reclusive computer programmer trying to solve a code which would prove that all life is meaningless. What follows is 2 hours of existential, genius nonsense from the American Python as he introduces Tilda Swintons mad AI doctor, Matt Damons eccentric dressing boss and Melanie Thierry as a femme fatale half Waltzes age. Gilliams imagining of a dystopian future is as crazy as you would expect but it's the performances on show here that really sell the film.

#44 Paddington

After such disasters as the Postman Pat movie and Yogi Bear hopes were not high for a big screen outing featuring everyones favourite marmalade eating bear. Luckily though Paul King (The Mighty Boosh) delivered a childrens classic that can rival Pixars and Aardmans best efforts. Ben Whishaw (a late replacement for Colin Firth) is perfect casting for the voice of the titular bear and all of the human cast, Hugh Bonniville, Jim Broadbent and Sally Hawkins put in a real shift to sell the movie as one of the years funniest and heartwarming. Thanks to the efforts of Ukip and Britain First it also comes out at a time when a comment on a bear immigrant in the UK being accepted is very timely and almost satirical. Who knew a bear in a duffel coat could be so on the nose.

#43 A Walk Amongst The Tombstones

Liam Neeson as an alcoholic ex cop working as a private detective hunting down a couple of murderers; what's not to love? Based on a novel by Lawrence Block and costarring Downton Abbeys Dan Stevens (not for the last time on this list) this noir thriller was an unexpected surprise. Slower and more restrained than what you'd expect from a Neeson movie these days, the terribly named Matthew Scudder is a an ex cop over 10 years sober trying to help Stevens drug lord find the men who kidnapped and murdered his wife. Dark, twisted and violent; a private eye classic.

#42 American Hustle

So it shouldn't have been nominated for 50,000 Oscars and was stupidly hyped to the point where the backlash was inevitable; that didn't stop American Hustle being a smart, sophisticated and above all, funny crime caper with Christian Bale on delicious form as the fat, balding con-man and Jennifer Lawrence as his put upon wife. Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and a few cameos I won't spoil here all ensure that American Hustle was one of best acted capers of the year. See it for Bales comb-over alone

#41 Maps To The Stars
David Cronenburgs movie about a rich Hollywood family was largely ignored over here which is a shame as it boasts a career best turn from Julianne Moore as a washed up star and a great supporting cast including John Cusack and Robert Pattinson (in his 2nd film with Cronenburg). Witty, biting and more about the fragile nature of the human mind than Tinseltown cameos, the movie was possibly marketed as Cronenburgs version of Entourage; what lies beneath the surface however is something much darker.

#40 Starred Up

Jack O 'Connell was undoubtedly this years breakout star and the former Skins cast member was on top form here as a violent young convict upgraded from Juvy due to his psychopathic tendancies. Worth watching for the scene where O'Connell breaks off 2 table legs and covers himself in baby oil alone, the film was possibly the most violent this year but also portrayed a great father and son relationship with O'Connell and his dad Ben Mendolson (who proves again how he can make any movie 25% better just by being in it). The critics called it the new Scum. They weren't wrong.

To Be Continued...

Spinners & Skin Jobs

Does Han Solo dream of electric unicorns? Tom Eydmann re-visits the 1982 classic Blade Runner to find out what makes a one off Sci-Fi noir so popular over 30 years later.
Obviously contains major spoilers

Post Apocalyptic LA. Complete with oil rigs and electrical storms

At first glance it's hard to work out why Ridley Scotts Sci-Fi Blade Runner is still one of the most popular movies of its type. Base on the Phillip K Dick story 'Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep' it didn't launch a franchise or even a sequel (so far). A couple of spin off books and a ground breaking computer game (ground breaking read: 'based on a film and not shit') are the only signs of an extended Blade Runner universe outside of the now 7 different versions of the movie that have been tinkered with and released to date. In fact when the movie first came out it didn't fare too well in cinemas due to going up against more mainstream Sci-Fi affairs such as ET and Star Trek 2: the Wrath Of Khan. Scott and most of his production team saw the film as more of an art house flick anyway and weren't expecting it to be a box office smash. But surely even they couldn't have been prepared for the success the film found on the home video market (resulting in it being re-released in cinemas in 1992 and being one of the first movies to come out on DVD). And now over 30 years later film and sci-fi fans hold Blade Runner in the same regard as Star Wars, The Terminator and Scotts other future set movie Alien.

 

"Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother"

 

Scott tells Ford how to hold a gun

So what makes it so successful? The general key to making a decent sci-fi movie is creating a world that the audience can believe in. Whether that be on a spaceship, a remote alien planet or a future version of earth we have to buy into the environment these characters live in or the whole movie will be taken as a B movie joke ala Battlefield Earth. Scotts movie starts off in the right way by borrowing off Star Wars and having a title card explaining the world we are going to be spending the next 2 hours in. We find out straight away that robots (replicants) exist in this universe and that they are illegal on earth. This immediately puts us at ease when we first see 2019 LA. We know it is going to be futuristic but nothing can prepare you for the dark gritty city that Scott created. By combining familiar sights and sounds such as billboard advertising (for brands everyone in 1982 would have been familiar with), sushi restaurants and newspapers stands with futuristic contraptions like the flying Spinner cars, the oil rigs jetting up flames into the night and the Voight-Kampff machine Scott shows us enough of the future to make it believable whilst not creating a ridiculous landscape where every other person is an alien and we all eat our meals in pill form.

"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."

Fords Deckard. Bad taste in shirts

It is the hustle and bustle of LA that is Blade Runners real success. This is a living and breathing post apocalyptic city not a movie town. Every detail is perfect to make you think this is how LA could end up evolving in 20/30 years. From the city speak talked by Edward James Olmos' Gaff to the neon lights that illuminate the dank feel to the place. You can almost smell the city as Harrison Fords cop stalks the night looking for his targets. Which brings us onto Ford. It is no secret that Blade Runner had a troubled shoot. Scott reportedly didn't enjoy working with an American crew which led to a massive divide between the Brits and the Yanks working on set. Ford had a definite way that he was going to play his character and whilst he and Scott may not have seen eye to eye it is still his best performance without a blaster or a whip in his hand. Ford cared a lot about the look and feel of the film. When the producers felt that the audience wouldn't understand much of what was happening they dragged him into a sound booth to record a voiceover narration. Ford was so against this he deliberately did bad take after bad take until the narration was eventually scrapped (you can still hear it on some versions).

"I'm not in the business... I *am* the business."

 

Pris and Roy Batty as a couple of Skin Jobs

As for the rest of the cast most of them give career best performances. Rutger Hauer plays replicant leader Roy Batty with steely eyed intensity. Everyone remembers him for his tears in the rain speech at the climax (which he wrote himself) but his scenes with J F Sebastian are also a treat. Sean Young looks every bit the eighties sex bomb as replicant with fake memories Rachel. It should have been the role that shot her to the Hollywood big league. instead she decided to just go mad instead (just Google her and you'll find out for yourself). Daryl Hannah plays acrobatic pleasure replicant Pris with schoolgirl naivety. She was most recently seen in Tarantinos Kill Bill as the one/no eyed killer Elle Driver and that was 10 years ago now. It would seem that only Scott and Ford went on the greater things after Blade Runner. And Olmos of course who stared in Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galactica.

"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"

Sean Young as Rachel. She *is* the business

 

So what else can be said abut this groundbreaking movie. The score by Greek composer Vangelis (which you can hear some of now if you played the earlier YouTube track) has become one of the most iconic and copied of recent times. Perfectly complementing the isolated mood and the melancholy tone of Fords speech it helps to bring home some of the films key messages and fears. And what are those messages? Well at the basic level Blade Runner is a film about paranoia and fear of technology like so many Sci-Fi movies. In the eighties and early nineties technology was progressing faster than it had ever done before and people were untrusting of it. We feared it would lead to our downfall hence movies like Blade Runner and The Terminator where technology is essentially the bad guy. Genetic modification and cloning are the real enemies here and bring us into the next big theme. What does it mean to be human? Just because Roy, Leon and the other replicants are artificially made does that mean they are merely machines? They feel pain and pleasure so does that not make them alive? What about Rachel who has memories implanted in her. Surely having those sorts of emotions make her as human as Deckard? The continued use of eyes in the movie is important here. At the start an image of an eye is superimposed onto the screen, Eldon Tyrell is killed by having his eyes pushed in and later on Roy and Leon meet with Chew who creates the replicants eyes. Humans eyes are supposed to represent the window into the soul. As Batty and co put it to Chew "you wouldn't believe what I've seen with your eyes". Surely that makes them in someway 'real' if not human. It is worth pointing out that despite being classed as the enemy for most of the film Batty, Pris and Rachel show much more emotion than any of the human characters on screen. Remember Roy saves Deckards life in the end. A final act of humanity from someone who isn't classed as human. Of course Scott has said himself that he wasn't trying to create any major message with the film but just create an enjoyable movie so again how much you read into it is entirely up to you.

Replicant proof?

Which brings us nicely onto the big argument. Is Deckard a replicant or human? As with most of these movie type debates it is open to discussion and interpretation. Ridley Scott is adamant that Deckard is a replicant. Harrison Ford and some of the screenwriters are adamant he is human. Personally I sway more towards the replicant argument. During the scene where Deckard falls asleep at his piano he dreams of a unicorn running through a field. At the end of the movie when he leaves with Rachel he finds a paper unicorn left by Gaff. This would suggest that Gaff knows Deckard dreams of a unicorn because his memories are implanted. And why a unicorn? What is it's significance? A creature that is not real and yet yearns to be free. Sounds pretty similar to the replicants doesn't it? Other suggestions to this theory include Rachel telling him that they were 'Made for each other' and Gaff questioning whether he is a man now after Batty dies. Although lots of these small pieces only appear in certain cuts of the movie it would definitely lean more to the replicant side of things. But each to their own and if you see Deckard as a human who happens to fall in love with an artificial woman then it won't hamper your enjoyment of the film in the slightest.

Blade Runner has been one of the biggest influences on modern Sci Fi and you can still see its reach in movies today. If you enjoyed it then it's definitely worth checking out the following movies. Most are pretty common but if you've only just seen Blade Runner it's good to watch them now and see the influence

• Minority Report
• Inception
• Primer
• Wall-E
• The Matrix
• Seven
• Looper
• A Scanner Darkly
• 12 Monkeys
• Prometheus

The main reason Prometheus is listed here is because there is a strong chance they are set in the same world. On the Prometheus DVD there is a clip of Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce) talking about his mentor. He then goes on to pretty much describe Eldon Tyrell (who represents The Man in Blade Runner) bang on. With talks of a Blade Runner sequel in the air for around 20 years now it's interesting to see how these two movie universes could cross into each other in the future. Or maybe it's just one of those things designed to give fan boys like myself an erection. Still take a look at the below article about the sequel and it seems pretty likely; although with Scott seemingly tied up for his next 2 projects at least it wont be any time before 2016.
http://collider.com/ridley-scott-blade-runner-2-sequel-interview/170633/

Extra on the Prometheus DVD alluding to Eldon Tyrell

Christopher Nolan showed Blade Runner to his crew before shooting Batman Begins. After it was finished he simply stood at the podium and said 'And that is how we are going to make Batman.' If that isn't enough evidence as to how this Cyberpunk, Ultranoir piece of arthouse cinema shaped modern film I don't know what is. It is a work of art and an enjoyable piece of Sci-Fi at the same time and deserves to be in a museum as much as it does on your DVD shelf

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die."

Next Week.

MEMENTO

 

Arguably Christopher Nolans best work (I said arguably Batman fans) Mementos backwards plotting made it the first classic thriller of the new millennium. Scripted and directed by one of the best of his generation how does Memento (a film that I once described as the best of the last 10 years) hold up some 13 years after its release?



Rent it, stream it, borrow it or steal it. Then we can discuss it next week.

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Tom Eydmann is a blogger, writer, icon and possibly a replicant, possibly a human. He doesn't have a website because he doesn't know how and he dreamt of unicorns last night. He will be back next week
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And on FaceBookhttp://www.facebook.com/#!/AmateurWriterProfessionalIdiot

Prologue/Intro/Welcome

Cinema is the most important medium in the world in my opinion. It is watched by more people than TV shows including the news. In fact most of us get our opinions of other cultures from the films we see rather than any factual evidence. I've never been to Australia in my life for example but as soon as I see a film with a blistering sun and a load of white people cooking on a bbq I know where the movie is going to be set and that's before the obligatory shot of a koala, kangaroo or racist.

As a cinephile I have studied films since around the age of 15; longer if you include my own thoughts and feelings before I undertook my first media studies lesson. It was pretty early in life that I realised I was never going to be an actor or musician as I suffered from a terminal lack of talent. What I could do however was watch Terminator 2: Judgement Day five times in one week and not get bored. There are many people on a par with me on their knowledge of cinema. But not as many as you may think. I  know hundreds of people who say they love Tarantino and have seen the Dark Knight more times than they've had sex (a statement I do not doubt for a second) but if you ask them about camera angles or the background behind films or (most importantly) why certain films were made and how that relates to the cultural situations of the day they look at you with a dumbstruck face before declaring 'yeah films are meant to be fun dickhead' and going off to play with their Avengers toy of Black Widow whose cat suit won't undo below the neck no matter how hard they try.

They're right of course in many respects. Cinema and films are meant to be fun. Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of comedies and dumb action films but I'm also interested in the bigger picture. There is a reason why Amour didn't have a gag reel. There is a reason why the first Iron Man had Tony Stark being imprisoned by terrorists. There is a reason why the muscle bound action stars (Stallone and Schwarzenegger) only exist in parody movies like The Expendables these days and why it has become acceptable for every rapper to assume they will make a brilliant Oscar winning actor. These things are not necessarily what people should be thinking about when they watch a movie for the first time. But if you have a favourite 3 or 4 flicks then it's interesting to know how and why it got made and the meanings behind the camera isn't it?

I recently wrote a top 50 list of directors working today and it caught the eye of some guys who wrote a film website. They asked me to produce a weekly column for them on anything I wanted. They had also seen a piece I wrote looking back on the classic British film Trainspotting and suggested I did more of the same; essentially writing about a different film each week, dissecting it and providing an interesting and yet (hopefully) funny analysis every 7 days. I agreed as I could probably do this in my sleep. But then I started having second thoughts. I know from my experience of looking online that no matter what opinion you have on peoples favourite films everyone will inevitably call you a twat and disagree with you. I couldn't be bothered with that sort of abuse. Besides these trollers aren't the sort of people I am looking to write for. I want to write for the ordinary person at home on a Tuesday night with nothing to watch. I want them to pick up a copy of the latest Werner Herzog movie rather than watch Dancing on Ice or whatever other shite is on. A film lasts around 2 hours and many people say they don't have enough time to watch one in an evening. Yet they will happily watch 2 soaps, a gameshow, a reality TV show and then repeats of Friends for around 4 hours a night.

And this is the problem. The level of entertainment available to us today is staggering. There is no way to watch even 1/400 of it without being unemployed and never sleeping, eating, having sex or using the toilet. The cinema essentially shows whatever film Marvel are promoting, some lame American comedy, a kids animation and a biopic starring whoever is going to win an Oscar this year. I want people to revisit the classics of old and remember that there are movies out there that can change your life and we should be seeking them out. With the advent of Netflix, LoveFilm, DVDs that cost £1 in second hand shops and of course (Il)legal downloading we can find any movie we want to watch in a matter of seconds.

So here's the gist. Every week I will be writing an article about a film. Then at the end I will recommend a bunch of other movies you should watch if you liked it. I will also put the title of the movie I will be discussing the following week. This gives everyone a week to download, stream, dig out, buy, borrow or steal a copy so we are all on the same page for the following weeks article. It is not my hope that people tell me I know fuck all about the true meaning of Taxi Driver or that Memento is an overrated pile of shit. I merely hope to interest people in watching films they wouldn't normally watch and to make them see how important in our lives and popular culture these films can be.

So hopefully that is enough to get you on board wherever you are reading this. The first film I will be writing about next Wednesday is (drum roll please)

 

BLADE RUNNER

One of the most ground breaking and influential films of the last 40 years Blade Runner is a classic and also a nice well known film to start off with. Some of you may have already seen it and are now thinking 'fuck this.' That's fair enough. For the rest of you even half interested then go seek out your copy of the Harrison Ford classic and give it another whirl (seriously, when was the last time you watched it?). I'll see you back here the same time next week.

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Tom Eydmann is a blogger, writer, icon and will be back next week. He doesn't have a website because he doesn't know how
Follow him on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/#!/DrTommyT25
And on FaceBookhttp://www.facebook.com/#!/AmateurWriterProfessionalIdiot