Top 5 of 2014

[Artemis]

Nothing to add here really - I've not watched enough movies. Just wanted to say thanks for the thread - I'm downloading quite a few now I'd not heard of. Particularly looking forward to Under The Skin, which I didn't even know existed.

[Ja'moke]

I just watched We Are The Best! which is up on Netflix and really enjoyed it. It made me smile a lot. It's too late for it to break into my Top 5 but I reckon if I'd have watched it sooner it would have been a contender.

[newbridge]

Watched Under the Skin.

Spoiler alert

No wonder CaB loves it, it's basically Jam: The Movie. Though Chris Morris wouldn't have taken away from the brilliantly surreal bleakness of that beach scene with the unnecessary radio broadcast re: the missing family.

[close]

I liked it a lot, and respect the inventiveness even more than I liked it. Not sure about "film of the decade," but will it bump Alpha Papa off my list??

Think I'll pass on Nymphomaniac, because Charlotte Gainsbourg reminds me too much of the girl I made that unrequited love thread about, and if a movie's going to cause me to jump out a window in jealous despair I want it to be directed by Werner Herzog not Lars von Trier.

Mr. Turner sounds good, maybe will try to track that down next.

I would also like to add Los Angeles Plays Itself to my top-5 list (or honorable mentions). It's not new but was formally released for the first time in 2014.

[Artemis]

Nymphomaniac was one of the movies I did get around to watching this year, and I thought it was rubbish. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. So I think we can all agree that settles it.

[Funcrusher]

Planning to watch both this week on Netflix, Norte what would you compare it to?

Not entirely sure what I'd compare it to. It's long and slow paced and focusses on everyday lives but has a kind of epic quality, so maybe Jia Zhangke or other Asian auteurs like Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Lav Diaz is often compared to Lino Brocka - I saw his 'Manila in the Claws of Light' this year, which was obviously an influence.

[Head Gardener]

considering whats coming out in the new year, I'd saw the poster to Foxcatcher t'other week and thought
it might be good what with Steve Carell actually acting in it and that, but then saw the trailer before Black Sea
tonight and it put me off, so am no longer looking forward to seeing it.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I'm having a hard time thinking of five films that really stuck with me this year. I know there are things that I enjoyed at the time, but they've faded from my memory since. I wanted to see Inside the Skin, Under Llewyn Davis and The Raid 2 but didn't manage to.

1. & 2. Captain America: the Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy.
True enough, I may be a bit of a fanboy when it comes to Marvel Studios, so maybe I wouldn't have responded as well to these if it weren't for their synergystic franchise maximalisation potential wah-hoodily-doo. The fact is, though, that these are the two most enjoyable films I've seen this year. I'm not sure in what order I'd rank them - GotG is pure fun, but CAtWS was more edge-of-the-seat thrilling (though, by no means po-faced).

3. The Guest
'80s style action thriller with a cracking lead performance and quite possibly the best soundtrack of the year. See here for a (slightly) more detailed review.

4. The Lego Movie
I thought this was good, but not great, when I saw it at the pictures. However, I watched it while drunk recently and laughed heartily throughout. If I'd watched something else instead, or hadn't been pissed, maybe this wouldn't rank as highly as it does, or maybe it's just better than I initially thought.

5. ?
And here's where I get stuck. X-Men and Edge of Tomorrow were alright (and the latter certainly didn't deserve to flop) but haven't really lingered in the mind. If you disregard Interstellar as Star Trek with delusions of grandeur, then Gone Girl is the only 'serious film for grown ups' I remember seeing, but I have a feeling it may actually be the trashiest, most ridiculous film of those listed here. Anchorman 2 was better than it could have been, but still suffers next to the original. Speaking of comedy sequels, 22 Jump Street was good, but I saw the first one around the same time, so I keep getting them mixed up in my mind.

I'm sure there's other stuff, but I can't think.

[prwc]

Probably something like:

The Raid 2
Under The Skin
Goodbye To Language 3D
Nightcrawler (Seems I enjoyed this more than most here)
Peter De Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn

I haven't seen that much from this year, I'm generally more interested in catching up with older films, but all those I liked. I definitely need to see The Lego Movie, Nymphomaniac, Boyhood and The Dance Of Reality[nb]I do have this one downloaded, since it seemed to have bypassed UK distribution entirely, not even any festival screenings.[/nb] still.

[SteveDave]

1. 22 Jump Street
2. The Guest
3. Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Babadook
5. Inside Lleweyn Davis

[Funcrusher]

The Sight and Sound top 20 is mostly films that haven't had a general release over here yet - fucking junketing journalist cunts. Boyhood at number 1, which seems like a good shout.

[Small Man Big Horse]

The Grand Budapest Hotel
They Came Together
The Lego Movie
Nymphomanaic
Boyhood

Yet to see, but really want to: The Babadook, The Raid 2, Birdman (so so much), Under The Skin, Her, Pride, Calvary, Leviathan and a fair few other films mentioned in this thread I'd not previously heard of.

[newbridge]

Revised list

1) Pride
2) Mood Indigo
3) Los Angeles Plays Itself
4) Under the Skin[nb]Peer pressure[/nb]
5) The Grand Budapest Hotel

[Puce Moment]

I must see Pride.

If anyone wants to see a great documentary about the miners' strike, you might want to see Still The Enemy Within released this year. I went to a Q&A a few days ago and it was excellent, including some of the players involved in the real story.

[soraya]

12 Years A Slave and Alan Partridge are the only two new films I've seen this year. I'd rank them in that order too.

[Head Gardener]

[SteveDave]

1. 22 Jump Street
2. The Guest
3. Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Babadook
5. Inside Lleweyn Davis

I'd like to swap St Vincent for Inside Lleweyn Davis.

[kitsofan34]

5. Locke.


4. Calvary.


3. Listen Up Philip.


2. Under The Skin.


1. The Grand Budapest Hotel.

[Milverton]

1. Mr. Turner

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

3. Frank

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

5. The Babadook

[holyzombiejesus]

Can't remember if all these were from this year but it's what springs to mind and I saw them all in 2014 so fuck you.

Under The Skin
We Are The Best!
Night Moves
Locke
Blue is the Warmest Colour

[Puce Moment]

Just watched We Are The Best! which I utterly adored. Definitely in my top ten films of the year.

[Nibbsy]

I got bored and compiled a list of the most selected films in the thread:

1. Under The Skin                    16
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel   8
3. The Lego Movie                    7
4. Nymphomaniac                    4
5. Pride                                    4
6. Mr Turner                            4
7. Calvary                                4
8. Boyhood                             3
9. Two Days, One Night          3
10. Guardians of the Galaxy    3
11. Nightcrawler                      3
12. Locke                                3

2 votes each

Alan Partridge (2013)
The Raid 2
Her
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
They Came Together
The Guest
We Are The Best!
The Babadook

1 vote each

Birdman (2015)
The Babadook
Mood Indigo
Prisoners
Black Sea
Final Cut
Sound Of Noise
Dallas Buyers Club
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Wake In Fright (1970)
Edge Of Tomorrow
Predestination
All This Mayhem
The Dirties
The Skeleton Twins
A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness
You Are The Night
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Ida
Leviathan
Maps To The Stars
The Great Beauty
Exhibition
Jodorowsky's Dune
Blue Ruin
A Touch Of Sin
Camille Claudelle
Norte, The End of History
Tom At The Farm
Stranger By The Lake
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Goodbye to Language 3D
Peter De Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn
22 Jump Street
12 Years A Slave
St Vincent
Listen Up Philip
Frank
Night Moves
Blue Is The Warmest Colour

[Junglist]

1. Under the Skin
2. Miss Violence (which is the criminally overlooked film of the year)
3. Nightcrawler
4. The Raid 2
5. The Guest

Honourable mentions to:

The Signal
Locke
The Armstrong Lie
Edge of Tomorrow
Blind
Life Itself
Starred Up
Oculus
Enemy
The Internet's Own Boy
Cheap Thrills

And even though I watched it a few years back, Wake In Fright which is always incredible.

[weekender]

I got bored and compiled a list of the most selected films in the thread

On the one hand I like it because it suggests I really should watch Grand Budapest Hotel, but on the other hand I don't like it because this is a 'Top 5' thread and you've made a list of 12 (of which I've seen 9).

Number confusion.  Brain struggling.

[Custard]

Borderlands does count, yo. Released March of this year

Glad to see Under The Skin toppest of the toppermost

[Noodle Lizard]

Borderlands does count, yo. Released March of this year

It had limited screenings all over the place last year, though, including in the States.  It's a 2013 film, by all accounts.

But then again I've seen Her, Alan Partridge, The Wolf Of Wall Street and Blue Is The Warmest Colour turning up on 2014 lists, so there really aren't any rules anymore are there?

[Puce Moment]

I have to say that this thread does not represent the views of those I know well, the majority of which thought Under the Skin was pretentious nonsense, including a handful of film studies professors.

I am once again going to nominate Vi är bäst!/We are The Best! which has really stayed with me today. Amazing acting, that really taps into what it is like to be a 13-year-old, and a film which eschews most of the cliche trappings of underdog stories. It's fucking great!

[Nibbsy]

On the one hand I like it because it suggests I really should watch Grand Budapest Hotel, but on the other hand I don't like it because this is a 'Top 5' thread and you've made a list of 12 (of which I've seen 9).

Number confusion.  Brain struggling.

Yes I agree it's not ideal, and realised about half way through that it was a pretty pointless exercise anyway (beyond giving me a single list of films to watch, in some kind of order of priority), but my OCD compelled me to finish it.

Perhaps in a few weeks' time after some more voting things will be clearer, and we can have a less numerically confusing 'Top 5 Films of the CaB Top 5 Films of 2014 Thread' list chart.

[weekender]

(beyond giving me a single list of films to watch, in some kind of order of priority)

First 20 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdGn9xvoe7U

[Johnny Textface]

1, Fruitvale Station
2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3, Nightcrawler
4, Under the Skin
5, Gone Girl

Looking forward to Birdman.

[Kolba]

Under the Skin's ending was spoiled for me. Has it ruined the film?