It's Time for My Best Movies List - 2014

Sure, there are the SAG awards, the Critics Awards, the Directors' Awards, the Golden Globes and the Oscars.  But we all know what really matters.

It's Time for my annual Milo Awards for the best in movies in 2014.

It was a down year for movies. There were a lot of disappointments -- movies I heard about, that I was expecting great things from, but which ultimately were disappointing. But even through the chaff, there were some golden grains that sifted through.

Note: I have not seen the following movies, so they were not considered. Theory of Everything (which could change this entire list); Still Alice (by all accounts an incredible performance by Julianne Moore); Cake, Big Eyes, Inherent Vice or Foxcatcher (the Steve Carell drama).

Best Actor:  Winner:  Michael Keaton (Birdman). Great performance in a movie that was
stunning for 100 minutes.  Unfortunately it was 120 minutes long. Using the old phrase, it fell apart in the last reel. But Keaton's performance still shines.

Considered:  Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game); Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler); David Oyelowo (Selma)

Best Actress:  Reese Witherspoon (Wild).  Wonderful, multi-faceted, gritty performance. Better than her performance in Walk the Line. Just like her backpack, she carried this movie on her shoulders.

Considered:  Emily Blunt (Into the Woods);  Rosamond Pike (Gone Girl); Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Duval (The Judge)

Cosidered:  Edward Norton (Birdman); Vin Diesel (Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy - best 1-word performance ever)

Best Supporting Actress:  Laura Dern (Wild).

Considered:  Emma Stone (Birdman); Meryl Streep (Into the Woods);  Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Best song:  Glory (John Legend & Common, Selma)

Considered: Big Eyes (Lana Del Rey, Big Eyes: Yellow Flicker Beat (Lorde, Mockingjay Part 1)

Best Animated Movie:  (Tie)  The Book of Life and The Lego Movie.  Despite Oscar snubs, these were the two best animated movies of 2014. Simply magic.

Considered:  Box Trolls;  Despicable Me 2

BEST MOVIES OF 2014
 
1.  American Sniper.  Despite people trying to create a political controversy, Clint Eastwood's film is a staggering movie about what war does to people -- those who fight it and those who stay at home.  It will stay with you long after you watch it.

2.  Wild - Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern as wonderful in this movie about loss and self-discovery set against the challenge of a 1200 mile solo hike.

3. Selma -- Historical inaccuracies aside, this is a really well-done movie that recounts a remarkable episode in our history -- one of which we cannot lose sight.  I just wish they had made it more accurate. Far from opposing Martin Luther King and the Voting Rights Act, President Johnson bravely stood against virtually every other southern politician and worked with King, leading the way in Washington for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

4. The Imitation Game -- Benedict Cumberbatch is a wonder in this telling of the greatest secret of World War II. A much more historically accurate film than Selma.

5.  Nightcrawler -- This movie is not for everyone, but it is a caustic reflection on what we have become.

6.  Guardians of the Galaxy -- Okay, when I saw the preview, I thought "Marvel has finally lost it." But this was so entertaining that no best movie list should be without it. Only one thing to say: "Groot!"

7.  Into the Woods -- Great re-telling of the childhood fairy tails of our youth, with a distinctive twist. Emily Blunt is wonderful.

8.  Boyhood -- This is a good, but not great movie, but it has gotten a lot of praise because of the 12 years it took the director and actors to complete this project.  


9.  100 Foot Journey -- It's a bit sappy. But this is a wonderful feel-good movie with wonderful performances. I'd like to see more movies like this.

10.  Birdman -- This is the hardest movie for me to place.  For the first 100 minutes, I loved this movie. It was a great tribute to New York, and acting, and Broadway.  I thought it might be my favorite movie of the year. Michael Keaton was sensational. So too were Emma Stone and Edward Norton. Then, well, it just went all artsy-fartsy, apparently trying for all types of symbolism that just didn't make sense.

11.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier -- Marvel movie-making and story-telling at its best.

12.  Grand Budapest Hotel -- Quirky movie wonderfully done.

13.  Unbroken -- Movie was well done, but it relegated the most important part of Louis Zamparini's story -- what happened when he returned home -- to a couple of sentences the scrolled across the screen at the end. That's why this movie is here, and American Sniper is at the top of the list.

14.  Snow Piercer -- An apocalyptic future sci-fi movie that draws you in to a future world of ice, snow, and classes on a perpetually-moving train.

15.  A Walk Among the Tombstones -- This is a great telling of Lawrence Block's gritty New York City thriller.  Liam Neeson is well-suited for this role of a damaged former cop, but I think many stayed away from this because the trailer looked too much like another of those Taken movies. Too bad because it is much better.

16.  The Fault in Our Stars -- This movie was a surprise. It was not the sappy "Love Story revisted" that I expected. It was really well done.

17.  X-Men -- The Days of Future Past -- Really intelligent, entertaining re-boot of the X-men series. 

18.  Fury -- Brad Pitt stars in a powerful close-up look at war. Brutal and at times heartless, this is at times a hard movie to watch, but very well done.

19.  The Judge -- This isn't a great movie, but it is entertaining with wonderful performances by Robert Duval, Morton Downey Jr., and a great supporting cast.

20.  Gone Girl -- I like Gilllian Flynn's writing and Rosamond Pike is just wonderfully evil in this. But ultimately both the movie and the book suffer from the same malady --  there is simply no one in this movie to root for. 

Also considered:  

Interstellar -- This is on the list because of Matthew McConnaughey and the fantastic special effects. But the plot doesn't hold up to the rest of the movie. A disappointment.
  Mockingjay, Part 1 -- Difficult to make a good movie from half of a book. Lacks the full dramatic structure. But Mockingjay did a nice entertaining job of setting up the finale.

The Hobbit - Battle of the Five Armies -- By this concluding episode, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings / Hobbit epic is a bit long in the tooth. It has an "I've been here before" feel. But it brings the familiar characters and creatures back one more time for a final battle. I guess that has some value.