Top 10 Best Movies of 2014

These are my best “get off your butt and go see them please!” movies of 2014.

10. Big Hero 6 – It is not a comic book movie. It uses the name of a comic book but it is super loosely related. Its really just a Disney property. It was fun to watch and it gave you feels. I need to watch more Disney animation movies. They’re always awesome.

9. Birdman – Michael Keaton was really good in this sorta-biopic of himself. But Ed Norton steals the show. Emma Stone rocks in it. It has a good story. Its nice to watch a movie that just has actors doing their acting thing without all sorts of ish going nuts. I really enjoy movies when they just have great actors doing great acting.

8. 22 Jumpstreet – I need a comedy and this was the best comedy I saw this year. It avoided turning into a giant turd, huge accomplishment. I’m usually bothered when movies make nods to the sequel, like a lot, but here they were legitimately funny and not hamfisted like Dumb and Dumber To or the Pirates sequels. It was funny and fun and I like Jonah Hill.

7. John Wick – I find Keanu Reeves kind of laughable as an actor. He’s really good at being clueless and I find he needs to lean on other actors in his movies to get to a high level. Well, here he kills it primarily on his own. Suspense, thrill, action. Fun stuff.

6. The Lego Movie – EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU’RE PART OF A TEAM! EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! WHEN WE’RE LIVING OUR DREAM!

This movie is awesome.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy – I love how hammy this movie is, but still somehow keeps it serious. Ronan playing it straight is a great juxtaposition to our group of alien misfits. This is a movie that really should have only been “okay” but everything clicks. I’m always impressed when a movie manages to fit everyone in without cutting anyone short.

4. Nightcrawler – I’m fascinated by sociopaths. This movie stars a sociopath and follows that descent as it gets worse and worse. So neat to see all the moral issues and qualms others have that surround Gyllenhaal. It makes me wonder just how close this is to real life, and considering some of the crazy stories I’ve heard it doesn’t seem very far off.

3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – The best Apes movie I’ve ever seen. The way the apes talk but its all in their own language. I really liked how it depicted society post-apocalypse, which is something I love to see. I like seeing different “end of the world” scenarios. I think this movie is legitimately worth of an Oscar nomination for best picture (especially since they’re opening the voting to 10 films). Caesar rules.

2. Snowpiercer – Post-apocalypse. The world sucks. Everyone lives on this train. Poor people vs rich people. Revolution lead by Captain America! And instead of messing up dudes with a shield, he ruins their day with an ax! AN AX! HE STRAIGHT UP PUNKS PEOPLE WITH AN AX! Furthermore, the concept is just so cool and well executed. You gotta see it.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – This is probably the best Marvel movie ever made. Non-Joss Whedon Black Widow is best Black Widow. I love this kind of action where it is punches and kicks (Cap definitely doesn’t skip leg day) as it has so much more impact than Iron Man blasting dudes. It was so well directed and written. I can watch this movie on repeat.

Big Hero Six: Now With More Fadalala-lalala!

Big Hero 6 4/5

This is not a Marvel movie. It may be a Marvel property, loosely, but it is not a Marvel movie. This is a Disney movie and its awesome. It shares the name of Big Hero 6, but besides some loosely adapted ish, it really isn’t the same comic of the 90’s.

Its targeted for kids, as most animated films are, but its still great for all ages. I went o an 8PM viewing and the theater was mainly 20 and 30-somethings. Very good date movie.

Its goofy and convenient and silly and adorable. An overall enjoyable experience. It really reminded me of the classic Saturday morning cartoons on Fox from the 90’s. Thats a good thing.

Baymax, the robot, is the star of the film. He’s a giant inflatable marshmellow robot that is designed to heal and help people which is great and leads to some really funny comedic bits like in the classic John Candy movies where he’s a fat guy trying to do skinny guy things.

He bonds with our hero named Hiro, as he copes with the loss of his brother and it leads to some really adorable payoffs throughout the film. He teams up with a bunch of his brother’s friends and they become Power Rangers style colour coded ass-kickers each with their own unique science “fighting” style where they basically just use clever inventions to stop the Big Bad.

I just really enjoyed it. I had to be a man at a key point in the plot to stop my feels from feeling because I was on a date and didn’t want to look like a wuss, but it has the Disney quality where it does a good job at making you go “awe” without bawling your eyes out.

I don’t know if this movie is going to have the cultural relevance that Frozen (a movie that sucked!) has, but its obvious that Disney wants to make more of these and make a lot of toys. I’m okay with that as long as we get more and more fun movies like this.

In fact, one of the best parts of the movie isn’t the movie, but is the pre-movie short film that follows a dog named Winston as he eats junk food and is puppy Cupid. Its cute as balls.