Best Movies of 2014

[Atticus]

I think we're seeing A Most Wanted Man this evening as well

[JUDE]

Maybe you'll see each other at the theater!

[Winston Legthigh]

Blue Ruin. Very intense and well made. Also, Jan Brady's in it for 1 minute.

[Atticus]

A Most Wanted Man was great. Shed a few tears at Hoffman's last scene

[uncool2pillow]

Damn he'll be missed.

[LouieB]

Boyhood was a very good movie.  And I was unaware Jeff's music was in the film so that was nice too. A touch long however. 

 

LouieB

[PopTodd]

I just saw Chef.

Liked it more than I probably should have. I mean, it's a good movie, but not great.

Still, I am a sucker for a good father/son relationship story. And I loves me some good food. So, I really dug this one.

[LouieB]

I saw Chef too.  It was also better than I was expecting.

 

LouieB

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Apparently, not everyone loved Boyhood:

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80957159/

[RainDogToo]

These are my favorites so far.

 

1. Boyhood
2. Only Lovers Left Alive
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Mood Indigo 
5. Finding Vivian Maier
6. Life Itself
7. Obvious Child
8. Snowpiecer 

[anthony]

[smells like flowers]

Finally got to see Boyhood. I don't go to very many movies in the theatre, so this one will easily make my Best of 2014 list. One of the most moving scenes in the film, where Patricia Arquette breaks down over the swift passage of time and her children growing up and leaving, brought a whole new layer of meaning to the line in Summer Noon that goes, "never leave your mother's womb, unless you wanna see how hard a broken heart can swoon."

[Magnetized]

Finally got to see Boyhood. I don't go to very many movies in the theatre, so this one will easily make my Best of 2014 list. One of the most moving scenes in the film, where Patricia Arquette breaks down over the swift passage of time and her children growing up and leaving, brought a whole new layer of meaning to the line in Summer Noon that goes, "never leave your mother's womb, unless you wanna see how hard a broken heart can swoon."

That was a great scene in a movie full of them. I honestly can't imagine another movie this year that will be better than this one.

 

I was talking to someone the other day about how Richard Linklater has a gift for incredibly good endings. Think about the last scenes in the Before Sunrise trilogy. Perfect, all of them: resonant, in character, summing up and also hinting at the future but in a non-cliche way. For anyone who hasn't seen Boyhood, I won't spoil the ending, but will just say that there are at least a couple of scenes earlier where you think they might be the last scene, and in the hands of a lesser director they probably would have been, but in my mind he couldn't have ended this movie on a better note than what he DID choose as the final scene. 

[Beltmann]

Since posting my initial batch in June, I think the only films I've seen that might deserve consideration are The Great Beauty, Under the Skin, Boyhood and Le Week-End.  The summer has been relatively weak, with the caveat that many of the most interesting releases never found their way to Milwaukee.  I'll have to catch up with them on Blu.

[uncool2pillow]

Guardians of the Galaxy is great!  

[Oil Can Boyd]

That was a great scene in a movie full of them. I honestly can't imagine another movie this year that will be better than this one.

 

I was talking to someone the other day about how Richard Linklater has a gift for incredibly good endings. Think about the last scenes in the Before Sunrise trilogy. Perfect, all of them: resonant, in character, summing up and also hinting at the future but in a non-cliche way. For anyone who hasn't seen Boyhood, I won't spoil the ending, but will just say that there are at least a couple of scenes earlier where you think they might be the last scene, and in the hands of a lesser director they probably would have been, but in my mind he couldn't have ended this movie on a better note than what he DID choose as the final scene. 

Ha! Just got home from seeing it and had this exact thought. 

 

And I'll pile on about how great it was. 

[Beltmann]

Some viewers have complained that Mason eventually grows into an unlikable, mumbly cipher.  I can see where they are coming from, I suppose, but that's not how I responded to him.  I thought it was fascinating how the movie, which is so introspective about the mundane, quotidian details of everyday life, deepens its substance by evolving into a rare example of a movie that chooses to gaze at an equally introspective personality.  I think audience resistance to the older Mason says something about how unaccustomed we are to seeing such characters on our screens.

[Magnetized]

Some viewers have complained that Mason eventually grows into an unlikable, mumbly cipher.  I can see where they are coming from, I suppose, but that's not how I responded to him.  I thought it was fascinating how the movie, which is so introspective about the mundane, quotidian details of everyday life, deepens its substance by evolving into a rare example of a movie that chooses to gaze at an equally introspective personality.  I think audience resistance to the older Mason says something about how unaccustomed we are to seeing such characters on our screens.

Oh, I think you've just articulated what it is I find so compelling about the development of the character. This was not a generic coming of age film. It was a very specific development of a specific young artist. I think it follows Linklater's general personal history, but I also couldn't help but think of parallels to young Spencer Tweedy, in terms of growing up in public and being a budding artist yourself. Not that Boyhood dealt with anything at all related to that, the movie just put me in the mindset of an adolescent boy. I really can't keep from gushing over how transcendent this movie was.

 

Haha--I had to correct to say transcendent. At first spell check changed it to transcendental. Not quite the same thing.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Wilco Me

[LouieB]

Doubling back on Beltmann's Facebook posting, Get On up was a very good musical biopic, with the usual biopic clichés, great music, excellent acting, and amazing art direction. 

 

LouieB

[Passenger Sid]

"Blue Ruin" kind of slid under the radar, but is worth checking out. A dark revenge thriller with an indie vibe that's filmed very, very well. 

 

 

"Boyhood" is something I can't wait to see.

 

"Guardians Of The Galaxy" isn't the best Marvel movie, but really liked the attitude of the film. A lot of summer blockbusters could take cues from the film on how to not take yourself so seriously and how to entertain.

[Atticus]

saw Boyhood last night.  Messed with me pretty good.

 

I think a lot of people won't really care for it.  It was interesting to see so many familiar Texas places.

[froggie]

i've only seen one this year

 

[Beltmann]

I think the title of Boyhood is a misdirection, because its main subject isn't childhood so much as it is time: It's about the passage of time, yes, but also about how time leaves its mark, and about how to find meaning in the present moment.  It's also about how maturation--whether in a child or in a parent--takes time.  (On a smaller level, it's also about how the technology of an era becomes part of that time's DNA.)

[smells like flowers]

Another thing I liked about Boyhood was Ethan Hawke's character. At first, it seemed he was just the stereotypical deadbeat dad, showing up unannounced with presents and then disappearing again. But he was always so loving towards the kids, and his character matured over the course of the film. There was also his comment to Mason, Jr. towards the end of the film, about turning into the castrated, minivan-driving guy his ex-wife had always wanted him to be.

[Magnetized]

I'm not sure why but one of the scenes that stuck with me the most was early in the film when Ethan Hawke's character first showed up, I think, and was talking with his ex mother in law about returning the kids to their mother. The underlying tension and manipulations that were going on in that scene were like a master class in acting.

 

It was actually just one of dozens of scenes that resonated with such truth. Following up on Beltmann's observation, it was also rewarding to watch the way the relationships--even among somewhat incidental characters--transformed and evolved over time.