Best Films of 2014 (So far)

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 10:31am

And I haven't seen any of them....except DANCE OF REALITY, which rocked.
According to the AV Club

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 3:36pm

Man, it's been a tough year so far finding movies I can really recommend.

LIFE ITSELF
EDGE OF TOMORROW
IDA
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (rates for its design though it didn't make a lick of sense)
SNOWPIERCER's first half or so.
BELLE (mostly)

A pretty short list.

Updated On: 7/15/14 at 03:36 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 3:39pm

THE IMMIGRANT is the best film I've seen so far this year...perhaps the best film in a few years, for me.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 3:44pm

Obvious Child

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 3:46pm

"THE IMMIGRANT is the best film I've seen so far this year"

Wow, really fascinating to hear that. We found it an intriguing setting for a rarely heard tale. Great design. But oh, Lord, was that a soul-suckingly gloomy script to sit through. The luminous performances of Marion Cotillard and especially Jeremy Renner weren't nearly enough compensation for us. Glad they were for you.
Updated On: 7/15/14 at 03:46 PM

[StephanCasey]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 3:49pm

The Normal Heart

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 4:58pm

The excellent movie website The Dissolve has their list of anticipated films of 2014

[strummergirl]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 5:39pm

Under the Skin
Snowpiercer
Ida
Stranger By the Lake
The Immigrant- Cotillard is revelatory and I'm sure his next round with PTA will be great but Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray are the best director-actor collaboration going. One of his stronger performances ever.
The Missing Picture
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Obvious Child
Palo Alto

I need to see more docs though The Missing Picture will be hard to beat. Heard good things about Morris' The Unknown Known and The 12 o'clock Boys. Still need to see Ernest & Celestine for the animation.

Noticed Norte, The End of History on the list. When there is movement, it is a very strong drama and set of performances but the pace (I know, a 4 hour long movie having pace issues sound silly but I can go long with many films and this became a chore) and the aping of Tarkovsky, particularly in the weakest part of the film, kind of made me look less on it. You literally could cut an hour, very little will change and it would become one of the stronger Dostoevsky adaptations ever. Instead, it is a respectable adaptation and probably the only Lav Diaz film you will feel like you have to see.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 6:53pm

I think so far, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

[itseemssobeautiful]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 8:55pm

I'd say these are all worth a watch:
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
the first 3/4 of Divergent
X-Men: Days of Future Past (if you are familiar with the series)
The Fault in Our Stars
Begin Again

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 10:11pm

Chef

[broadway86]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 10:22pm

hmm... Some of my favorites from this year:

Blue Ruin
Child's Pose
Elaine Strich: Shoot Me
Enemy
Grand Budapest Hotel, TheLife Itself
Life Itself
Night Moves
Only Lovers Left Alive
Snowpiercer
Under the Skin

[JP2]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 5:51am

Thought this year has been really strong for the sci-fi genre. Captain America, X-Men, Edge of Tomorrow, Snowpiercer, and Apes are all pretty fantastic.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 9:48am

"THE IMMIGRANT is the best film I've seen so far this year"

Wow, really fascinating to hear that. We found it an intriguing setting for a rarely heard tale. Great design. But oh, Lord, was that a soul-suckingly gloomy script to sit through. The luminous performances of Marion Cotillard and especially Jeremy Renner weren't nearly enough compensation for us. Glad they were for you.

I'm not put off my dark storytelling, particularly when (as is the case here) it's the right choice for the piece. Tonally, I felt that everything was just right. And I found it to be the best representation of that era, seen from that perspective, that I've encountered in a long time.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/16/14 at 10:17am

Boyhood has easily been my favorite movie this year.

The Immigrant and The Grand Budapest Hotel were also excellent.

Other great films:
Palo Alto
Violette
Captain America
Begin Again
Obvious Child
Under the Skin
Coherence

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:40pm

Heads up: The Immigrant is now available on Netflix. Though not a 2014 release, they've also added The Master.

I'm looking forward to checking out The Immigrant later this week - especially after reading all the raves on here.

Updated On: 7/20/14 at 12:40 PM

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 1:02pm

I could not disagree more about Proxy. That film was just stupid. The dialogue was bad and the acting was worse.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 8:55pm

The Fault in Our Stars was pretty frickin' fantastic. Maybe it's just because I'm a sucker for sappy love stories, but I loved it a lot.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 9:42pm

BOYHOOD just moved to my no 1

[trentsketch]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 10:27pm

I put up my own list a couple weeks ago.

Rigor Mortis
The Lego Movie
Snowpiercer
Muppets Most Wanted
Obvious Child
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Belle

That comes with the caveat that I missed out on Grand Budapest Hotel, Only Lovers Left Alive, and Under the Skin. Knowing my preferences, those seem like they'd have been contenders.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 12:00am

Saw BOYHOOD this weekend, so now I can officially join this conversation simply to say it's the best movie I've seen this year by leaps and bounds.

It's perfect in its imperfections. The ambition makes me the whole far, far greater than the sum of its parts. It is, truly, life itself, captured unassumingly and utterly magnificently.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 12:07am

Here are mine in no particular order:

The Lego Movie
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Chef
Begin Again
Edge of Tomorrow
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
X-Men: Days of Future Past