Man, 2014 was a looooooooong year.
I, for one, am glad it’s over. But maybe that’s just me.
There were, however, a lot of really good movies in 2014.
Seeing as how I would jump off a bridge if everybody else was, I’m going to do a quick roundup of my five favorite movies of the year.
BIRDMAN
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu/Nicolas Giacobone/Alexander Dinelaris/Armando Bo
Riggan Thomas (Michael Keaton) fell out of favor with the public when he stopped playing Birdman, a superhero made for the 90s. After three movies, though, he was sick of the role. Now he’s trying his best to make an artistic comeback by writing, directing and starring in a stage adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. When he hires Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) to replace an injured actor, things take a turn for the weird. Mike and Riggan bring out the worst in each other. And then there’s the problem of Birdman. Why does he keep popping back up?
This is a perfect movie for Michael Keaton. Not only does the role seem to have been written for him, but he gets to show off all of his strengths: thoughtful drama, wacky comedy and, of course, the arched eyebrow.
BOYHOOD
Written and directed by Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater set out to make the ultimate coming of age drama a long time ago. Over the course of 12 years, he filmed Boyhood with the same cast growing up, growing older and going through the pains of both. Mason (Ellar Coltrane) is a young boy in Texas who grows from 5 to 18 throughout the two and a half hours of the film.
There’s not a lot of story here. Just the normal foibles of a boy and his sister (played by Linklater’s daughter, Lorelei) growing up with a split family. But it’s so compelling and so true that it’s hard to be bored or even look away from the screen. It was an amazing endeavor that paid off brilliantly.
Everyone (including Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as the parents) is perfect. I love a lot of coming of age films. This is, quite possibly, the best.
JODOROWSKY’S DUNE
Directed by Frank Pavitch
Sometime in the 70s, the most influential movie ever made was not made. Alejandro Jodorowsky’s version of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel, Dune, was even more epic than the novel and was going to be the most expensive film ever made. Oh, and it was going to be about 16 hours long.
Jodorowsky’s Dune is one of my favorite documentaries ever. Yes, it’s about that saddest of subjects, an unfinished film. But the lead character (Jodorowsky himself) is so positive in his outlook that you can’t help but fall under his spell. And you can’t help but just KNOW that his film would have been amazing. Watch this movie and know what filmmaking is all about.
LIFE ITSELF
Directed by Steve James
Speaking of knowing about film, Life Itself is the autobiography of the most well-known film critic who ever lived: Roger Ebert.
From his childhood in Urbana, IL to his death in 2013 of cancer, Life Itself shows us a man whose love of movies grew from a job into a passion. Then he built a bit of an empire with his rival/friend, Gene Siskel. Ebert’s love of life grew from Siskel’s death, his own marriage and a bout with cancer that would have killed most men right out. But it took a long time for the disease to finally take Ebert away from us. And it led to some of the best writing of his career and an appreciation of life that he never would have thought he would have had before.
Life Itself shows us a man who found his life late in the day, and never regretted any part of it. It made me not only fall in love with movies all over again, but with life, too. Directed by a man whose career Ebert basically made by singing the praises of his first film (Hoop Dreams), this is a labor of love. And it shows.
THE LEGO MOVIE
Directed by Phil Lord/Christopher Miller
Written by Phil Lord/Christopher Miller/Dan Hageman/Kevin Hageman
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!! There was no reason at all for this movie to be any good at all. How do you make a movie about building blocks actually interesting? What kind of characters can you make out of them?
Well, it turns out that it’s only limited by your imagination. And these filmmakers have a HUGE imagination. Not only is the animation pretty great, but I love every single one of these characters. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the story is full of adventure, comedy and great voice work by Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, Charlie Day, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell and a lot of others. I also love the moral of “Stop being such an adult and just play, dammit!”
The Lego Movie is one of the best films of the year. The fact that it wasn’t nominated for Best Animated Feature is an absolute travesty.
