Top 20 of 2014

The Bottom Half:

20. Big Eyes
A great, relatively clean, true story of one woman's battle for her own paintings. Strong performances by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. Climax's in a hilarious courtroom battle.

19. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
A strong entry in the Hunger Games series, just not as strong as Catching Fire. It's the Hunger Games like you've never seen them: with no Games...and singing...and commercial production. Still, performances and build up the conclusion makes this one to watch.

18. Belle
An overlooked historical drama that is based on a true story. A star making performance by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and if not for the next entry, the best love story of the year.

17. The Fault in Our Stars
This generations Titanic...except better, smarter, etc... Great story, great acting, great everything. I don't know why Shaliene Woodley isn't being talked about more this Oscar season, she deserves it.

16. Big Hero 6
Two Words: Hairy Baby! Seriously, Baymax is the greatest sidekick since Jimmy Cricket. Marvel and Disney do it again...except this time, for kids! (Who are we kidding? For adults too!)

15. Guardians of the Galaxy
Three words: I Am Groot! Seriously, Groot is the greatest sidekick since Baymax. Marvel does it again and this time it's definitely for adults. Will satiate the hunger for Star Wars for one more year.

14. Theory of Everything
Eddie Redmayne becomes a star overnight with his physically transformative, emotionally devastating role as physicist Stephen Hawking. Felicity Jones also shines as Hawking's first wife Jan Wilde. Also, it's a darn good movie.

13. Gone Girl
Never read the book, didn't have to to be completely blown out of my seat. David Fincher tells a riveting story of a troubled marriage and the search for a missing wife. The commentary on the news reporting is spot on as well.

12. How to Train Your Dragon 2
A fantastic sequel to a movie that is already an animated classic. Vikings, dragons, adventure! Your kids will love it and you will too. Some of the best story telling in animation history, (Frozen has nothing on it.)

11. Edge of Tomorrow
A very overlooked Tom Cruise scifi adventure. Everything about it is whip smart and surprisingly funny. Emily Blunt kicks butt. The beach scenes will have you on the edge of your seat.

And with that we reach the Top Ten!

10. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Quite simply the best X-Men movie yet. Reset all of the mistakes of the past and had a blast doing it. Quicksilver's escape from the Pentagon might be the best scene all year.

9. The Judge
A movie that was inexplicably dismissed. Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall play off each other perfectly. Vira Farmiga does her fantastic thing, and the story moves compellingly and logically. One that should be looked at again...and again.

8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The best Marvel movie of the year and perhaps of all time. Great spy/fish out of water feel to it. They pretty much dismantled everything familiar about the MCU. It had the Falcon and Crossbones origins in it too!

7. A Walk Among the Tombstones
The best Liam Neeson movie since Schindlers List. Yeah, I went there. Smarter, darker, and more interesting than anything else he's done since. Unfortunately it was written off by many as "just another Taken." It's so much more.

6. Nightcrawler
Jake Gyllenhaal does it again. Nails an incredible performance in an incredible movie. It moves at breakneck speed and is like an accident in NASCAR. Terrible to behold but impossible to stop watching. Truly captivating.

5. Selma
The true story of Martin Luther Kings fight for the right to vote in the 1960s. An incredible performance by David Oyelowo of the flawed Civil Rights fighter and great direction easily wins this a place in the top five.

4. Unbroken
The true story of Luis Zamperini's life as an Olympic athlete who survived a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean, 47 days on the open sea, and Japanese prison camps. It's not always easy to watch, but it is amazing.

3. The Imitation Game
Benedict Cumberbatch gives a layered performance of a man with secrets, tasked with breaking and keeping the biggest secrets of World War 2. To do that he has to make the worlds first computer. An amazing and sad true story.

2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
It was so hard not to name this the best movie of the year because it probably is my personal favorite. It's straight up Shakespeare with chimpanzees. Some of the greatest, best developed characters this year weren't even human. Andy Serkis is revolutionary as Caesar and if he doesn't pick up an Oscar nomination for his work, it will be downright criminal.

1. Boyhood
How can anyone not name the movie that took twelve years to make as number one? Richard Linklater wisely veers away from the sensational and captures, better than anyone ever has before him, the quiet insignificant moments that make growing up such an experience. It's a messy, beautiful, screwed up, amazing thing.