Just when movies started to seem like they were running out of steam, in comes an original film like Birdman, a film that makes you open up your eyes wide throughout, and lets you walk out from seeing it with a genuine smile set across your face. I can't remember the last time I had such a great time at the movies as I did with this film, my emotions ranged from laughing hysterically to being on the verge of tears, to being absolutely frightened by one loud, but hilarious parody of recent superhero movie-fare. The film is a technical masterpiece, seemingly taking place in one long-take, the film puts you into the hectic mindset of Riggan Thomson, played to perfection by Michael Keaton, who struggles to keep afloat while making a play based off of Raymond Carver's short-story What We Talk About When We're Talking About Love. The whole cast here is absolutely incredible, with Keaton and Edward Norton being the stand-outs, the film is just absolutely fascinating in every regard, and it makes me hungry to see more films of this ilk that challenge mainstream media to produce more thought-provoking material rather than the same old stuff we've already seen.
This film was probably my most anticipated action sequel of all-time, I adored the first instalment, and I craved for more heart-stopping action that was of this level, and I finally got it with this film. Of all the films I've seen this year, this was mandatory viewing for me and somehow, some way, it surpassed my wildest expectations. Taking cues from films such as
Donnie Brasco and
The Departed (or, better yet, the original,
Internal Affairs),
The Raid 2 picks up mere minutes from where the first one left off and plunges us right back into the world of crime and corruption. The scope of this film is massive when compared to the original and the fight scenes are elevated because of this, as well as the films lust for setting the stakes high and making you genuinely relate to these characters more so than we ever had the chance to in the fast-paced original. Rama, performed brilliantly (both physically and emotionally) by Iko Uwais, is a bonafide action hero, he really gets the chance to shine this time around and the film is far superior to the original because of the level of depth he's allowed to bring to the table. This is a must-see for any action fan out there as it gleefully puts big-budget, Hollywood action films (such as
The Expendables) to shame with its breakneck action sequences, all of which are performed with precision and furiosity, as displayed to perfection in the climatic kitchen fight sequence.
4) Interstellar
A film that starts off kind of slow, but finally reels you in by the end because of its imagination and impressive visual-display of interstellar space-travel. While the film somewhat left audiences and critics divided on its overall quality, the film is nonetheless impressive on a purely technical front. The visuals are jaw-dropping and the cinematography, often stuck to the outside to the spacecraft like real NASA launch footage, compliments the visuals in refreshingly exciting ways. While there are some notable problems with the film, such as an unreasonably crazy Casey Affleck character, the action sequences and visual-effects alone make
Gravity, from just the year before, seem like a simple demo-reel, not to mention the cast is far better by comparison. Matthew McConaughey and David Gyasi are brilliant in the film, and Christopher Nolan proves once again why he's one of Hollywood's most-watched filmmakers, he continues to stay ahead of his competitors, keeping his films fresh and grounded in a certain level of reality that can be appreciated.
5) Foxcatcher
A haunting, based on a true story film that will make you want to discover more as it comes to a close. The three lead actors here are phenomenal. Steve Carell disappears into the role of John E. du Pont, constantly leaving you feeling uneasy with his creepy stares and rehearsed monologues. Mark Ruffalo is great as Dave Schultz, a successful wrestler who is consistently respectable, a great family man, and an overall good-hearted man who puts family and friends before money and power. Now we get to Channing Tatum, Tatum plays Mark Schultz and he, like Carell, disappears completely into this character, puffing out his jaw in a constantly angry-looking expression as his real-world counterpart does. He is the heart and the soul of this film, a boy who's lost inside a built man's body, jealous of being covered in his brother's shadow, and very much looking to make himself the best in the world. The film is two and a half hours long and it definitely feels that length, it's very slow paced, much like the director's others films (Capote and Moneyball), but, much like the director's other efforts, it's worth the stay in the long run, as the film will leave you speechless by its gut-punch of an ending, and it may even inspire you to learn more about these three individuals before you're able to let it out of your mind.
6) X-Men: Days of Future Past
Quite simply the best comic-book adaptation I've seen this year, something which took me by surprise, especially when judging the trailers, which made the film seem like a very brooding and depressing mess. Thankfully it was not that, while the film was haunting when it needed to be, those future scenes in particular were very effectively bleak and unsettling, the film was a lot of fun too thanks to the great chemistry between the actors/characters and the overall inventiveness of the action sequences (of course the Quicksilver scene is the one to mention, but the opening and closing future action sequences are thrilling as well). Like
First Class, the scenes between McAvoy's Xavier and Fassbender's Magneto here absolutely steal the show and prove once again why these actors are among today's best, of course adding Hugh Jackman's Wolverine into the mix between these two was compelling as well, but Xavier and Magneto have always been my favourite characters of the bunch, so it's a real treat to see them at the centre of this piece (whether they're united or apart; the future scenes between them, performed by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, are equally as satisfying as well, despite the short amount of screentime given to them). Overall, my only complaint with the film is the eventual disappearance of Quicksilver (the film's finest newcomer), the ridiculous
"curved bullet" plot involving Magneto and JFK (felt kind of tasteless and didn't make a lot of sense, he tried to stop the bullet from killing Kennedy but couldn't because...
history?) and the lack of female characters beyond Mystique, Blink and Storm (both of which didn't have much dialogue, if any, at all).
7) Guardians of the Galaxy
Praise? What good
hasn't been said about this great film already? It's simply a film that is absolutely fun on all fronts, something that Marvel Studios have strived for ever since day one with 2008's
Iron Man, it's why they have a great reputation with filmmakers and actors (as well as audiences), minus Mickey Rourke, Edward Norton and Terrence Howard of course, but it's been smooth-sailing for Marvel despite a few hiccups here-and-there. This being their riskiest film to date, it was really exciting to see them bring in a lesser-known director with the capability of crafting fresh, original stories accompanied by an interesting cast of characters. On
Guardians of the Galaxy, it's easy to tell that everyone from the cast to the crew had a great time making it, usually the way films work is that if the actors are clearly having fun up on the big-screen, audiences will likely share those same spirits and respond well to the film as well (especially in summer blockbusters).
8) Joe
Here's a film that seems to have gone under a lot of people's radars.
Joe is a simple little tale about a blue-collar man named Joe (played brilliantly by Nicolas Cage, in one of the best roles of his career), he takes in a kid named Gary who has a really difficult home-life thanks to an abusive, alcoholic father named Wade. Now I want to stop there because I wouldn't be talking about this film in the first-place if it wasn't for this character named Wade played by
Gary Poulter, what's so compelling about this actor is that he was literally cast after a chance encounter on the streets of Austin, Texas. Poulter was a homeless man who always aspired to be an actor, however, much like his character in the film, alcoholism grabbed hold of him in a tragic way and he died shortly after the film was finished shooting. While Cage and the young actor playing Gary, Tye Sherdian, are undeniably compelling in their respective roles, it is Poulter who makes this film a masterpiece and I can only hope that the Academy Awards will recognize him for this first, and final, haunting performance.
9) Under the Skin
Genuinely creepy, haunting and a film that will stick with you long after you watch it. At first I was worried that this was going to be like Species, but with Scarlett Johansson and a pretentious art-house sensibility. While that does somewhat breakdown what Under the Skin is all about, it couldn't be further from the truth at the same token, this film is subtle and chilling, letting you fill in a lot of the gaps yourself as to what unfolds between Johansson's alien seductress and her unsuspecting victims. The haunting scenes inside of her pitch black house will stick with you long after you're through with the film, especially when we actually see what happens to these men after she lures them in. The music is other-worldly, and the ending is absolutely harrowing to see unravel. Scarlett Johansson gives the performance of her career here and, while I doubt I'd ever watch it again, it's a film I'm certain that I won't soon forget about, especially when a beautiful woman comes driving up to me in a white van asking for sex, this film would make me reconsider.
10) The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Of the batch of films I watched this year, this final instalment in The Hobbit trilogy was a film that I was definitely not expecting to see end up on my year-end top 10 list. An Unexpected Journey got better the second and third time I viewed it, The Desolation of Smaug was good, but it had a lame, cliffhanger ending that gave the middle-finger to viewers expecting a well-rounded conclusion. It's unfortunate that they couldn't make these films work as two-parters, but the filmmaking on display warrants a full trilogy which gives fans more time in Middle Earth before the inevitable riding off into the sunset conclusion. While this final film is easily my favourite of the trilogy, I cannot deny that it has a plethora of problems in terms of pacing, characters and storytelling, an example of this comes near the end where Bilbo says goodbye to both the Dwarves and Gandalf, what could have been an emotional pair of scenes turns into another tick off a check-list that the cast and crew seemed to desperately want to get through (there's even an awkward moment at the end of the Dwarf scene that shows Bilbo just about to pat one of the Dwarves on the shoulder, but he stops and instead runs along to Gandalf as the Dwarves awkwardly smile after his exit, it's a really odd part that should have been cut out). Still, despite my many problems with this film, I really loved this film in terms of the stakes and action that was on-display, for the first-time in these Hobbit films there was actually a sense of fear that some of these characters that you like may get killed off and it was absolutely thrilling to watch (the final fights featuring Legolas and Thorin make this film worth the price of admission).
*On a side-note, I ended up seeing this film in 3D/48FPS, what a lot of people complained about with the first instalment (can't be sure if it was fixed for the second instalment, because I watched it on Blu-ray) seems to be fixed this time around. Admittedly, the only reason I wanted to see this film in the first-place was to see what all the fuss was about with this high frame-rate nonsense and, surely enough, it enhanced the experience for me. However, at the beginning of the film I was really worried, there was the opening dialogue being exchanged between the actors at the beginning and it didn't seem like they were synchronized, also the movements by the actors felt very fast and unnatural... but thankfully that didn't occur as the rest of the film progressed. All-in-all though, the 3D/48FPS isn't mandatory-viewing, but for those who are interested in filmmaking and the technology behind it, I'd suggest giving it a shot (just make sure you have a good seat in the middle so that you can see it well, a lot of the "nightmare" stories I've heard about HFR feature audiences seated right up at the front-row of the theatre screen and being unable to tell what the hell is happening which detracts from the overall experience).
Honourable Mentions:
Captain America: The Winter Solider
The LEGO Movie
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Afflicted
Edge of Tomorrow
Waiting to See:
Inherent Vice
Boyhood
The Theory of Everything
Citizenfour
The Babadook
Life Itself
The Imitation Game
Selma
Big Eyes
Wild
Snowpiercer
The Grand Budapest Hotel
22 Jump Street
Blue Ruin
Mr. Turner
Frank
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Gone Girl
A Most Wanted Man
A Most Violent Year
Locke
The Drop
Big Hero 6
Dear White People
Chef
The Guest
Only Lovers Left Alive
John Wick