2014 in Movies - My Top 30 (Part 3)

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And so we come to the end of my gigantic and thoroughly indulgent rundown to all my favourite movies of 2014 - the all-important TOP TEN!!  These are, of course, the absolute pinnacle of the movies that I loved over the past year, the ones that made it all bearable, the ones that were just the epitome of pure awesome in the cinema for me.  Of course ...

One last time, I must, of course, present THE DISCLAIMER!! (Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuunnn! :XD:)  As always, don't forget these are my own personal faves, not necessarily the BEST movies of 2014, and so this is all entirely my own opinion.  Sure some folks probably think I must've missed stuff or that I'm completely wrong, and I'd love to hear about what you guys think, especially if you saw something awesome last year that you think I might love.  But as always, please be kind, okay?


10.  DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – back in 2011, relative unknown director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) created one of the most impressive science fiction movies of the past decade when he re-imagined the origin story of the Planet of the Apes franchise.  A sequel was inevitable, but expectations were terribly high.  Wyatt jumped ship early in development, but replacement Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) has significantly improved on the promise of the first film’s compelling, edgy climax, DOTPOTA surpassing what came before as we’re thrown forward ten years to witness the aftermath of the simian flu epidemic which virtually destroyed the human race.  The super-intelligent apes have thrived, with noble chimpanzee Caesar (Andy Serkis, cementing his status as the master of finely-nuanced mo-cap performances) leading a self-sustained civilization in the Redwood Forests outside San Francisco.  Then humanity crashes back into their lives, led by gentle, well-meaning Malcolm (Lawless’ Jason Clarke), who’s seeking a means to harness the hydro-electric dam the apes have built their village on top of, at the behest of his war-ravaged refugee community leader (Gary Oldman, offering up a typically dignified, nuanced, morally ambiguous turn).  Caesar tries to keep things under control, but tensions escalate and the threat of inevitable war looms as his leadership erodes under the prejudiced, darkly-ambitious influence of bitter former lab-chimp Koba (Rock N Rolla’s Toby Kebbel, creating a complex, compelling villain through another excellent mo-cap performance).  The plot is skilfully crafted and intelligently executed, sustaining a strong atmosphere of tension throughout, and Reeves again shows real talent for original, exciting action, while the visual effects are superb, the apes seeming more lifelike than ever.  Whip-smart, thrilling and heartfelt powerful, this is the best offering for the franchise since the very original, a definite improvement on its already exceptional predecessor, and a very high benchmark indeed for the planned third instalment.  If they see sense and keep Reeves in charge, this could be a trilogy to rival Nolan’s Dark Knight saga ...

9.  THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 – splitting the final book in a literary saga into two films seems to be becoming an irritating routine these days, but this is certainly a prime example of how it SHOULD be done ... and, in truth, part three of Suzanne Collins’ powerhouse trilogy is such a packed tome a single movie would probably have collapsed under the weight of the filmmakers trying to do too much at once.  Besides, the novel has a PERFECT cut-off point at the mid-section, which returning director Francis Lawrence and screenwriters Danny Strong (yeah, THAT GUY from Buffy!) and Peter Craig have wisely seized upon here, crafting a harrowing emotional cliffhanger that sets the bar VERY HIGH for the final movie.  But in the meantime, Lawrence’s second Hunger Games is a very different beast from its predecessors, and all the stronger for it – since the ending of Catching Fire completely tore up the saga’s rulebook, this time round all bets are off.  Katniss Everdean (Jennifer Lawrence) is a broken shell of her former self, haunting the utilitarian underground corridors of rogue District 13 and mourning the nightmarish fiery holocaust visited upon her own district; meanwhile former game-maker turned rebel leader Plutarch Heavensbee (a coolly focused performance from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) is faced with the herculean task of turning her into the inspirational “Mockingjay” figurehead needed to power the revolution of the surviving districts against the corrupt, totalitarian Capitol.  Lawrence is mesmerising here, effortlessly essaying Katniss’ wounded sorrow and righteous fury as she desperately tries to put herself back together, while Liam Hemsworth benefits enormously from his increased screen-time as her unrequited love interest and self-appointed bodyguard Gale; meanwhile there are some strong newcomer turns from Julianne Moore as District 13’s icy president Alma Coin and Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer as Cressida, the former Capitol filmmaker Heavensbee brings on board to direct Katniss’ in-the-field propaganda films; still trapped in the Capitol, Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta makes great use of his extremely limited screen-time, visibly deteriorating in each brief appearance as he’s subjected to harrowing torture at the command of reptilian Panem President Snow (Donald Sutherland, quietly monstrous).  This is much less action-heavy than its predecessors, instead evolving into a potent, super-tense political thriller, trading the gladiatorial thrills of the arena for the harrowing, complex horrors of an accelerating guerrilla war while major players make life-or-death decisions behind closed doors.  The overarching storyline means that the final chapter will return to the thunderous action of the first two films, but in the meantime this is far from a mere placeholder – in some ways this is the most compelling and powerful Hunger Games yet ...

8.  EDGE OF TOMORROW – The Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith director Doug Liman’s latest film is powered by a blinding premise – “Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers”; then again, Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s source novel All You Need Is Kill was tailor-made for film, making this the most intriguing and “original” sci-fi offering of 2014.  Tom Cruise ruthlessly deconstructs his own action hero persona as Lt. Col. Bill Cage, a PR wimp languishing in the rear lines, happy to sit out the impending invasion of Europe to expel the hordes of nightmarish alien “Mimics” threatening to take over the planet, only to be press-ganged into the middle of the first wave, where he dies in the first five minutes ... only to wake up again right where he started the day before.  He repeats the day, dies, and wakes up once more, realising he’s doomed to live out the same day over and over again.  This revelation leads him to Emily Blunt’s sexy-prickly badass veteran Sgt. Rita Vrataski, the “Angel of Verdun” (or the “Full Metal Bitch” to her detractors), who developed her spectacular combat abilities because she once went through the exact same experience, and together they exploit Cage’s newfound time-hopping powers to turn him into a similar killing machine that might help win the war.  Liman displays typical skill with the precisely choreographed carnage and super-tight plotting, weaving a hypnotic narrative playing like the coolest video game that never was and injecting a welcome dose of jet black humour, albeit cut with a strong dash of pathos and emotional heft when needed.  The intentionally repetitive nature of the story is maintained in such a way that it remains paradoxically fresh and engaging, while Cruise’s character arc from loathsome coward to battle-weary hero is compellingly convincing.  The set-pieces are brutal, chaotic and surprisingly messy affairs for a PG-13, and the visual effects were some of the best of 2014, the Mimics in particular presenting an impressively visceral threat.  Altogether this is a cracking sci-fi adventure that ... ahem ... rewards repeated viewing ...

7.  X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST – Marvel’s original flagship cinema franchise has seen some decidedly mixed quality since Bryan Singer left after his 2003 masterpiece X2 – 2011’s First Class was a welcome return to form for the mutants after the hit-and-miss Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but James Mangold’s action-packed and evocative The Wolverine face-planted at the final hurdle due to the ridiculous samurai robot climax.  So the long-awaited return of series producer Singer to the director’s chair is a very good thing indeed – Days of Future Past is the best X-Men flick in YEARS!  Hopping between the bright and colourful 1970’s-set past and a not-too-distant post-apocalyptic future, it flawlessly marries Singer’s “original” dark and troubled world with the bright and breezy retro canon of Matthew Vaughn’s First Class as it adapts one of the source comic’s most definitive storylines – in the future, mutant and humankind have been all but wiped out by Sentinels, an evolved race of robots originally designed to combat “the mutant threat”.  Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, gruff and gutsy as ever and looking like he hasn’t aged a day since 1999) is sent back through time by now-reconciled enemies Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) into his old body in a desperate bid to help the Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Eric Lensher (Michael Fassbender) of the early 1970’s stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) killing Sentinel inventor Bolivar Trask (Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage) and causing the dark holocaust of the future.  Singer hops between the timelines with consummate skill, evoking past and future in beautiful and terrifying ways (the 70’s are lovingly recreated, while the Terminator-esque world under Sentinel rule is the darkest future we’ve seen since the Wachowskis unveiled mankind’s fate in The Matrix) ... and of course he’s an old hand at making the mutant action pop and fizz, crafting some of the year’s most impressive set-pieces (Magneto’s breakout from the Pentagon, aided by Evan Peters’ teen mutant speedster Quicksilver, is a gleeful gem), as well as bringing the funny to keep things from getting too intense.  That said, there’s pathos aplenty, particularly in the scene where Xavier and Lensher face off about mutual past mistakes, and where Xavier tries to warn Mystique off her plan through some exquisitely-choreographed psychic communication.  The uniformly excellent cast of familiar faces and brilliant newcomers (Fan Bingbing’s Blink deserves FAR more screen time than she gets) are all on top form, but once again the film is owned the powerhouse double act of McAvoy and Fassbender, both holding the screen whenever they’re on, none more so than when they’re together ... although this is the most impressive Jackman’s been in years, giving the story real grounded heart and soul.  An uplifting, well-won dénouement tops off proceedings, leaving the franchise in its best shape since Singer was last in charge, and looking very good indeed for the Singer-helmed Age of Apocalypse ...

6.  INTERSTELLAR – The Dark Knight and Inception writer/director Chris Nolan going full-on sci-fi in a galaxy-spanning saga being hailed by some as this generation’s 2001: A Space Odyssey?  What’s not to love about this?  It’s a strong premise executed with pitch perfect precision – in a desperate future in which the Earth has turned against mankind and the human race is threatened with imminent starvation, former NASA pilot-turned farmer Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) must dust off his old skill-set to embark on a desperate journey across the solar system to jump through an inexplicable wormhole that seems to bring potentially habitable worlds within realistic reach.  Unfortunately, this means leaving his dependant family behind and risking not only his own life and those of his crew, but the continued existence of the entire human race if his mission fails.  Nolan has often been accused of being a cold, hollow filmmaker concerned only in creating visually impressive but ultimately clinical works of cinematic art, but this is his most passionate film BY FAR, the sheer breadth and intensity of human emotions on display throughout giving the admittedly stunning visuals a strong, resonant counterpoint.  McConaughey continues his relentless career comeback (effortlessly bolstering recent powerhouse turns in Dallas Buyers Club and the spectacular TV crime series True Detective), imbuing Cooper with a hunger for science rivalled only by his ferocious determination to get back home to his kids, while his precocious daughter Murphy is brought to brilliant life by both Twilight’s Mackenzie Foy and Zero Dark Thirty’s Jessica Chastain (after she’s grown up), a wilful, whip-smart little girl who grows up into a wounded but determined scientist who becomes convinced her father’s simply abandoned her; Nolan’s lucky charm Michael Caine brings his characteristic stately gravitas to proceedings, and Matt Damon pops up in a surprising and rewarding third act supporting turn as a long-stranded mission commander; meanwhile the film is routinely stolen by TARS, the crabby, wisecracking boxy mission robot voiced by comedian Bill Irwin.  Of course the big sell of the picture is the magnificent space sequences, each of which number among the best visual effects moments ever to grace a sci-fi epic, from the white-knuckle rollercoaster ride of the wormhole jump to the breathtaking realisations of impossible alien worlds, like an ocean planet on which tidal waves rise thousands of feet into the sky, and an inhospitable ball of ice on which even the CLOUDS are frozen solid.  Even so, the true heart here is a human one, lending the film a strong sense of pathos that builds to a powerful denouement.  Admittedly the last act has rightly divided audiences, but the strength of the characters and the sheer emotional heft mean that you’re so deeply invested you can probably forgive the film a little eleventh-hour flight of quantum-mechanical fancy.  Ultimately, driven by some awe-inspiring IMAX adventures and a collection of weighty performances, this was one of the most rewarding films of 2014, another milestone from one of the most arresting filmmakers working today, and most certainly one of THE key science fiction features of the past decade.  2001 for our generation?  Quite possibly ...

5.  THE RAID 2 – ridiculously ambitious Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans continues his single-handed conquest of action cinema with this follow-up to his mind-blowing fighty/shoot-em-up movie The Raid.  The original was a focused, primal experience, packed with bruising, bone-shattering punch-ups that seemed to go on forever, but they were so well-staged and performed they never got old; moreover it introduced action-nuts to spectacular “new” Indonesian martial art silat, embodied by the film’s stunningly proficient stars Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian – altogether an awesome, audacious breakout feature.  That said, if Evans was going to follow it without simply repeating himself, he had to think much bigger.  The result is a much more expansive feature, using the first story as a jumping-on point for a sprawling crime epic of corrupt cops and warring organised crime families.  Finally getting to properly flex his (ahem) muscular acting chops, Iko Uwais’ impossibly athletic hero cop Rama is thrust headfirst into undercover hell as he’s all but FORCED into an extended cover-establishing sojourn in a squalid Indonesian prison, his timely rescue of young mob scion Uco (Arifin Putra) landing him a plum role as enforcer for his father’s crime syndicate.  This should give him the perfect “in” to help bring the mob down from within, but it’s a “company” in transition – there’s mob war brewing with the local branch of Japanese Yakuza, and ambitious Uco’s bridling at his father’s old-fashioned “values” is about to bring everything crashing down.  This has been heralded as “the Dark Knight of action cinema”, and those reviews are nearly on the money – it really is THAT GOOD – but there’s more influence from The Godfather in evidence here, the action very much in service to a gripping, sprawling crime saga.  Not that it scrimps, mind – this is as bold, bruising and jaw-dropping as the original, the strong plot points and character beats expertly punctuated by some of the most impressive, budget-belying set pieces ever shot, giving the film a flawless ebb-and-flow pace.  The fight scenes leave the first film’s awesome scraps in the dust, but the real highlight is an incredible high speed freeway chase mixed with a bloody close-quarters punch-up and explosive shootout, easily winning out as the action sequence of 2014.  This is an awesome film, not only FAR better its predecessor, but now THE action cinema benchmark, marking Gareth Evans as a serious talent to watch in the future.

4.  CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER – after 2012’s Avengers movie raised the superhero bar clear through the roof, Marvel’s “Phase 2” movies have consistently improved upon the first batch of stand-alone Avenger features, and this is the peak, just barely beating pretty-much-perfect Iron Man 3.  If nothing else this is certainly the biggest game-changer so far, the revelations offered up by its twisty plot having already had major repercussions for the Marvel movie AND TV ‘verse at large (see Agents of SHIELD season 1).  Said twists have pretty much passed into legend now, but I still don’t want to give too much away – there’s so much rug-pulling, particularly in the last hour, that it’s best to go in good and cold.  For now, just the basics ... Captain Steve Rogers is still a man out of time, struggling to find his new place in a world that continues to move further away from the more honest, simplistic age he grew up in, and Chris Evans wrings equal parts pathos and pleasure out of this, while also perfecting the action hero chops he spent the last two movies developing – this Captain America is a proper badass in a fight, having clearly spent time training brushing up on his martial arts to develop combat skills that’d make Jason Bourne jealous (:XD:).  And he gets to show off a lot too – this is the most action-heavy Avenger-flick to date, picking up steam early with the taut infiltration of a pirate-jacked ship and carrying on through several increasingly loud and visceral set-pieces (the highlights are the freeway battle and a destructive car chase/gun-battle that finally shows why Samuel L. Jackson’s shadowy Nick Fury is so renowned and fear).  Not that it’s all action and no substance – the plot is labyrinthine, building on everything that’s come before while also throwing some new, challenging developments into the mix, and at least one previously well-established truth of the Marvel ‘verse is turned right on its head.  The Winter Soldier of the title is a palpable physical foe for the Captain, but ultimately he’s a mere tool of a more unexpected ultimate villain, who proves an even greater nemesis than Iron Man 3’s Mandarin.  We get strong support from Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, who gets a chance to show some unexpected vulnerability once things start to go really wrong, and franchise newcomers Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau) as brand new “super” hero the Falcon, Revenge’s Emily VanCamp as SHIELD Agent 13 and screen legend Robert Redford as SHIELD big-shot Alexander Pierce, quietly stealing the film in a plum role which shows that, forty years ago, he could easily have played Steve Rogers himself.  Co-directing siblings Joe and Anthony Russo deliver admirably on all fronts (and have already been picked up to direct the THIRD Captain America feature), injecting excitement, suspense, wry humour (the Apple Store scene is a brilliant throwaway skit) and heart-wrenching emotion throughout, deftly paving the way for the Age of Ultron.  Very nearly Marvel’s movie of 2014 ...

3.  GONE GIRL – 2011’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a bloody tough act to follow, but director David Fincher has pulled it off with consummate skill and edgy verve with this twisty adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel.  Fincher loves to do films that are about more than they appear on the surface, and this is pretty much the definitive story for him to explore that duality – housewife Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) disappears from her suburban home in extremely mysterious circumstances, and suspicion soon falls on her husband Nick (Ben Affleck).  But even as the evidence mounts up against him, it becomes clear to Nick, his loyal twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon, spiky but lovable) and hot-shot lawyer Tanner Holt (Tyler Perry, brilliantly slick as a one-man media brand) that there’s something far more insidious going on here.  To give away more is to ruin some impressive head-spinny twists, suffice to say that just when you think the story’s going one way, it turns on a dime and rockets off in a completely unexpected direction.  Affleck’s clearly having great fun sending up his troubled media-darling/punching-bag image, investing Nick with great complexity and taking a seemingly dull and unlikeable guy and, in spite of some sometimes loathsome character flaws, making us root for him; Pike, meanwhile, takes a seemingly perfect, nice girl and completely deconstructs her, transforming her before our eyes; and there’s sterling support from Hollow Man’s Kim Dickens as the permanently suspicious small-town detective who begins to spot the holes in the seemingly airtight case, and Neil Patrick Harris, supremely creepy as Amy’s stalker ex-boyfriend.  The plot is a meticulously woven spider-web, Fincher aided enormously by screenwriter Flynn, who’s mercilessly dissected her own novel and skilfully rebuilt it for the screen, and the results are an intricate, heady psychological thriller that constantly toys with our expectations and makes us question not only our interpretations but even our own ingrained assumptions of the world at large.  Taking digs at the state of the economy after the financial collapse, the impossible myth of the perfect American home and marriage, and of course media trials in the court of public opinion, this is Fincher’s most topical feature since The Social Network, although in style and vibe it skews far closer to Zodiac.  As a lesson in turning a complex novel into a coherent (albeit fiendishly twisty) film, this is pretty much a textbook example, and as a murder mystery, this is one of the best since Se7en.  Which makes it one of Fincher’s best, period. :D  Now that’s an achievement all on its own ...

2.  HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 – in 2010 Dreamworks Animation Studios produced what became their crowning glory feature, adapting the children’s books of Cressida Cowell to create something that beats just about ANYTHING that’s come out of Disney or Pixar over the years.  AND it became one of my all-time favourite animated features.  Topping that was a very tall order, but writer/director Dean DeBlois has pulled off the impossible – for a while this was even my movie of the year, and indeed it’s still a very narrow margin between this and my ultimate chart topper (see below).  It wins for the same reasons that 2011’s Kung Fu Panda 2 impressed me so much – it’s consistently laugh-out-loud funny, builds on the brilliant premise of the original and opens up that brave “old” world while also bringing a boatload of extra heart and emotion to the proceedings.  Five years on, the Vikings of Berk have come to terms with the dragons in their midst, evolving into a whole new symbiotic society, and things are looking pretty idyllic until free-spirited Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his faithful Night Fury mount Toothless (as lovable and expressive as ever) stumble onto the dastardly plans of dragon-enslaving would-be tyrant Drago Bludvist (a winning bad guy turn from Gladiator’s Djimon Hounsou), which threaten to tear apart everything they’ve built.  But help is on hand in the form of mysterious “dragon lady” Valka (Cate Blanchett), a kind of Viking Dian Fossey with a particular connection to Hiccup’s past (this revelation would have had a lot more impact if they hadn’t foolishly given it away in the trailers, one reason it’s best to go into this cold) and an equally impressive army of free, wild dragons.  The creature designs are a spectacular evolutionary leap forward, the animation consistently extraordinary (within minutes you’ve forgotten these aren’t flesh and blood actors you’re watching), and the action sequences are top-notch – as with the first, we’re reminded that 3D works best when stuff starts flying.  The returning cast are as great as ever, Baruchel, Gerard Butler and America Ferrerra in particular shining throughout, while Blanchett displays typical soul and dignity, particularly in a couple of emotionally charged scenes with Butler, while Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington has great fun sending up his heartthrob image as cocky dragon-trapper Eret.  Top it off with another cracking score from Dreamworks favourite John Powell and you’ve got the makings of a real winner, a fun, exciting and moving new addition that greatly improves on the first, making it my top animated feature not only for 2014 but for this decade (at least so far).  We’ll just have to see what Dreamworks have got still to come ...

1.  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – looks like Marvel have done it again, completely defying expectations with a conceptually risky prospect that in a sane universe couldn’t possibly have become such a ridiculously successful commercial hit.  The most recent “Marvel Universe” movie is a shot from the leftfield that makes the one-time gamble on a film about a robot-suited billionaire seem a pretty safe bet – based on one of their lesser-known comic titles, populated by weird-ass aliens and a talking, gun-toting raccoon, GOTG was one of 2014’s biggest underdogs.  Then again, WAY back in 1998 a big budget action horror about a martial arts-expert vampire hunter was a hard sell ... until Blade kickstarted Marvel’s whole ascent into the comic book movie firmament.  Their wisest choice here was going with writer/director James Gunn (Slither, Super, the screenplay of Zack Snyder’s excellent remake of Dawn of the Dead), a name that Marvel U mastermind Joss Whedon reportedly highly favoured – Gunn’s almost as big a geek as Joss, and just as funny, with a great ear for dialogue and innate understanding of solid, interesting characters, which is a VERY BIG HELP here.  Film and TV comedy alumnus Chris Pratt strikes a surprisingly muscular, charismatic figure as Peter Quill, kidnapped from Earth as a child and grown into a roguish space thief who calls himself “Star Lord” – his Indiana Jones-style theft of a mysterious silver orb on a ruined planet inadvertently kickstarts a massive intergalactic adventure that forces him into an uneasy alliance with green-skinned super-assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana, sexy, sassy, principled), ultra-literal battle-scarred warrior maniac Drax the Destroyer (former WWE wrestler and Riddick co-star Dave Bautista, here flexing some surprisingly impressive comedic muscles), eight foot walking-talking (kind of) tree Groot (the voice of Vin Diesel, doing an Iron Giant here to make three words mean genuinely ANYTHING) and, in the film’s most dangerous but ultimately most inspired character choice, diminutive, grouchy, foul-mouthed (again, just KIND OF – it IS a PG-13), heavy-firepower-loving raccoon Rocket (voiced by American Hustle’s Bradley Cooper, cynical, crabby and consistently stealing most of the film’s best lines).  Together they have to save the galaxy from the overzealous xenophobic machinations of rogue alien warlord Ronan the Accuser (The Hobbit/Pushing Daisies’ Lee Pace) ... if they can keep from killing each other first.  At first glance (particularly if you go JUST by the trailers) this is a Marvel movie by-the-numbers – loads of big, loud, flashy action (which is, admittedly, consistently awesome throughout), colourful characters and a warm, quirky sense of humour – but in Gunn’s overly capable hands it’s so much more.  This is THE MOST FUN I had at the cinema in 2014, endlessly entertaining, rich, complex, intelligent and surprising, with some of the most laugh-out-loud hilarious gags ever.  Witness the priceless opening title sequence, as Quill inexplicably begins dancing across the ruined landscape to a jaunty 70’s Motown number, Drax constantly taking everything entirely at face value (seems his people have no concept of metaphor), and the cheeky Footloose joke and its craftily placed pay-off. :XD:  Indeed, the aforementioned musical interlude is just the first of many brilliant uses of the film’s eclectic soundtrack, derived from the “Awesome Mix #1” tape that Quill had with him when he was abducted, now his one remaining link to home ... in the end just another instance of Gunn’s fiendishly canny, unorthodox treatment of the material.  As you’d expect, it’s being favourably compared to Star Wars and the Abrams-era Star Trek films, but to me this is more like a big budget version of one of those kitsch-classic Roger Corman sci-fi adventures like Battle Beyond the Stars – big, loud fun but certainly not dumb.  Ostensibly it’s the final movie in Marvel’s “Phase 2” before Avengers: Age of Ultron, but only very loosely – this is ultimately very much its own beast, and a mad, unpredictable, uncontrollable one it is too ... and I love it for that.  Best Marvel movie since The Avengers, bar none.  Roll on the sequel, definitely.  And keep Gunn in charge.



Aaaaanyways, as usual, if you've read this entry FIRST you are of course a completely nutter, and you should DEFINITELY read Part 1 FIRST!!  So go there first, okay?

2014 in Movies - My Top 30 (Part 1)So it's finally here (and as usual, it's about a WEEK late :lol:) - the overblown, massive rambling self-indulgence in which I rave about all the movies I loved the most over 2014.  I did BRIEFLY think about just getting it over and done with and posting it all in ONE GO, but it's TWENTY-ONE PAGES in Word! :faint:  So as usual I'm gonna be posting it in THREE parts.  And so, of course, here we go with the LOWER ten - not the BEST movies of the past year, but every single one a cracker which I can't recommend enough.  So the half dozen people who usually read these things should, hopefully, feel at least REASONABLY inspired to check out some of the underdogs, yeah? ^^;
AAAAAAANYWAYS, as usual I present THE DISCLAIMER!!  Basically, this is all MY OWN point of view, these aren't necessarily the BEST movies I saw, just the ones I loved the most and that made the biggest impression on me.  I'd love to hear other folks' opinions on what they think about my choic


In the meantime, looks like it was a great year for movies last year (even if it was a gigantic steaming pile in just about every other arena :grump:), but from the look of it THIS YEAR is gonna be even MORE awesome! (Especially since Big Hero 6 doesn't come out HERE until the end of this month ...)  Anyways, here's hoping that genuinely WILL be the case ... also that everything ELSE about this year will be an improvement too.  In the meantime there should be some more of this before the start of the summer, although I'm sure you'll hear from me again before TOO long.  And I'll try and get some fresh art up before too long, yeah?
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