I saw a lot of 2014 releases, almost 60, which is more by this time of year than in any previous year. There were a few happy reasons for this. 1) I went to the Telluride Film Festival last year and some of those films were not released until this year. 2) I moved from a town with one theater to a city with over a dozen. 3) Online viewing has continued expanding. 4) My wife loves watching movies also, so date night agrees with my biggest hobby.
I still have a few I want to see, like The Overnighters, Mr. Turner and Two Days, One Night. But, here is my list, and as a pastor I always give the caveat that I am not necessarily recommending these movies, you are responsible to read up on whether the content is suitable for you (www.imdb.com and www.pluggedin.com are good places to start).
10) Nightcrawler – All the business and life motivational speak we so often hear has a dark side when it is divorced from ethics; and that dark side represents itself here as a hungry coyote in the form of a news cameraman.
9) Locke – I was tenser watching a man driving and talking on the phone for an hour and a half than in any action movie I’ve seen all year. Tom Hardy is a young Brando.
8) The Grand Budapest Hotel – Probably my favorite Wes Anderson film so far.
7) Calvary – A thoughtful look at a man trying to be a faithful priest in a post-Christian Europe in a post-scandal Catholic church. Not quite as lofty as Winter Light or Diary of a Country Priest, but Brendan Gleeson has never been better.
6) Boyhood – Maybe the best vision of growing up in modern America on film.
5) Ida – What if you were studying to become a nun and found out that your biological parents were actually Jewish? And were murdered by anti-Semites during the war? And you have an aunt who was a prosecutor who knows all about you? A quiet but beautiful film. (I should give the caveat that I got to watch this movie with the director and lead actress in the audience, which was pretty cool)
4) Birdman – How do you make almost a whole movie in one extended shot? Why would you do that? Either to show off (something cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has emphatically stated he does not want to do) or to give the feel of a theater performance to a film that is comparing film to theater and real life to acting. Not completely original ideas, but a completely unique film.
3) The Immigrant – A film that no one saw that is one of the best historical dramas I have seen showing how difficult it often is for immigrants to come to America. Every time you think a cliché is coming, it doesn’t. And Marion Cotillard is her usual terrific self.
1A) Selma – A long overdue biopic of Martin Luther King. However, the brilliance of this film is how it handles so many people and influences involved in the events surrounding the march from Selma to Montgomery. This is not just a film about a great person, this is a great film about people at the fulcrum of history.
1) Whiplash – How is greatness made? What drives people? Is art competitive? What’s the line in coaching between pushing and destroying? There’s Darth Vader, there’s Hannibal Lecter, and then there’s Terrance Fletcher, a character you cannot take your eyes off, thanks to J.K. Simmons’ Oscar-worthy performance. Seriously, if he doesn’t win Best Supporting Actor, there is no justice in entertainment awards. (Just kidding, they’re just awards, justice is for real life)
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