SAVAGE SCORECARD 2014-PART ONE: THE HONOR ROLL

As far as I am concerned, 2014 was a wonderful year at the movies!!

I know that we all still have a problem with the continuing glut of remakes, re-boots and re-imaginings. Furthermore, I still contend that we are having too many "tentpole" pictures, from superhero films, to multi-part franchises being made at the expense of more personal and more diversified movies. And yes, there were stories upon stories about the declining box office and 2014 being a terribly under-performing year at the movies so on. But for me, and all of those criticisms being said, the actual quality of the films overall were of such an unusually high standard, which made going to the movies this past year such a joy.

For years, I have bemoaned the standard movie year cycle where the very best material is saved for the final four months or so but in 2014, strong films were being released beginning in February, and also remember, Wes Anderson's masterful "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was even released as far back as last March! For me and my sensibilities, 2014 was a yea were established filmmakers brought out some of their most challenging works and in some cases, the finest films of their careers thus far. And independent and newer filmmakers consistently brought their "A" games as well, creating works that could easily rival those of their veteran cinematic colleagues. Yes, there were the films that I didn't are for but also in a cinematic year, they were unusually few and very far between and frankly...there were many I avoided because truthfully, there is no reason whatsoever for me to sit through anything that Michael Bay has touched.

So now, we arrive at my annual four part Savage Scorecard series where I run through and tally up everything I saw within the past cinematic year as I lead up to the Academy Awards telecast on Sunday, February 22nd. As always, the series progresses as follows:

PART ONE: THE HONOR ROLL-The films that I awarded with a three and a half star rating.
PART TWO: NUMBER 11-The films that are just nipping at the heels of the Top Ten.
PART THREE: THE BAD, THE WORSE AND THE ABSOLUTELY AWFUL-I have to get my last licks in.
PART FOUR: THE TOP TEN

At the end of each selected title, I will inform you of where you can find the full review.

And without further hesitation, dear readers, let's begin!!

SAVAGE SCORECARD 2014 PART ONE: THE HONOR ROLL

1. "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2" Directed by Marc Webb

Even though this film has been steadily finding itself ranked as one of the worst films of 2014 by many critics, I would like to think that time will ultimately be kinder to this movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed. For me, I still stand by my assessment of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which I actually felt was stronger that most of Director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies (hey, even he has finally spoken out about his regrets over that disastrous third film) as well as one that is richer, darker and more profoundly moving than its own predecessor. But mostly, I felt that Director Marc Webb fashioned a wise comic book fable about the pain of being powerless, and the irony of that discovery via three characters who are given extraordinary powers that fuel their respective brands of hubris to tragic effect.
(Originally reviewed May 2014)

2. "BIG EYES" Directed by Tim Burton

Tim Burton returned to the world of real, live human beings for his finest film in too many years as he presented the true tale of artist Margaret Keane (played by Amy Adams) and her struggle against her husband, Walter Keane (played by Christoph Waltz), to claim the rightful authorship of her deeply personal, highly popular yet bizarre paintings of wide eyed waif children, paintings of which Walter stole the full credit. Burton has deftly weaved a beautifully visualized and enthusiastically well acted film that not only explores themes of female empowerment, cleverly filtered through the aesthetic lens of an adult fairy tale, he also has given us a film that exists as a dissertation about the nature of art itself. How wonderful it is to again see a Tim Burton film is is actually about something and leaves all of the CGI trickery behind!
(Originally reviewed December 2014)

3. "DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES" Directed by Matt Reeves

One of the most sobering films of the year arrived in this decidedly grim update of the classic "Planet of the Apes" series as we find our human world, ten years after a devastating pandemic, teetering on the edge of extinction with rise of an increasingly militant talking ape population as led by the troubled Caesar (portrayed brilliantly by Andy Serkis). As with the original film series, but without even a stitch of campiness, Director Matt Reeves has created an allegory of our own depleting sense of humanity when faced with groups different than ourselves and speaks directly to the core of our war driven culture. Tougher, bleaker, and more riveting than it had any right or reason to be, this was a mournful experience of brutal elegance.
(Originally reviewed July 2014)

4. "EDGE OF TOMORROW" Directed by Doug Liman

It is truly beyond me why this film bombed at the box office, especially with the across-the-board high critical praise to fully entice viewers to go see it. Although it was saddled with a terrible title, "Edge Of Tomorrow," was otherwise a flat-out terrific piece of summer movie entertainment that was sharply written, directed and acted, and fueled by another full throttle leading performance from Tom Cruise who starred as a military spokesman with no combat training forced to enter front line combat with a gargantuan alien species and is killed moments into battle yet then, finds himself trapped within a time loop where he is forced to live through the day repeatedly until he can discover how to destroy the aliens. While essentially a cross between "Groundhog Day" (1993) and "Starship Troopers" (1997), Liman completely circumvented any cinematic plagiarism through the sheer dynamism of his direction, the sharp writing and the nearly satirical attitude the film took towards Tom Cruise's own legendary screen persona as a "go-get-'em" hero by turning him into a coward.
(Originally reviewed June 2014)

5. "THE FAULT IN OUR STARS" Directed by Josh Boone

The heart aching love story between two teenage cancer patients would typically be the exact type of movie that I would avoid but thankfully, Director Josh Boon kept all of the sharp edges of the remarkably unsentimental novel by John Green and created a film that was sardonic, sarcastic, caustic, prickly, as well as tender, powerfully romantic and whose overall emotional palate remained honest. Shailene Woodley gave a beautiful leading performance as she never over-sold even one moment throughout the film and I loved how Boone allowed the film's many silences speak for the film's characters in ways where other films would be drowning every second in prefabricated drama.
(Originally reviewed June 2014) 

6. "GONE GIRL" Directed by David Fincher

A completely blindsiding and wildly entertaining psychological thriller that truly upended me over and again and is possibly one of the very best if its kind since "Fatal Attraction" (1987) as it really crept into the underbelly of the ebb and flow that occurs within marriages. Rosamund Pike deservedly received an Oscar nomination for her "star is born" performance as Amy Dunne, a woman who disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary and whose husband Nick (Ben Affleck) soon becomes a prime suspect. While highly successful as a thriller, it is even better as a cultural commentary on the art of media manipulation within the hyperspeed of our 21st century/24 hour news cycle and increasingly ravenous internet culture.
(Originally reviewed October 2014)

7. "THE INTERVIEW" Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

I still think it was all a PR stunt but one that also fully worked within the context of this hysterically unhinged, unapologetically vulgar yet surprisingly savvy political satire that placed two idiotic "journalists" into North Korea to interview and then covertly kill Kim Jong-un. While the North Korean dictator certainly takes his lumps, I feel that the sharpest satirical teeth happily chomp themselves into the ever expanding hide of the U.S.A. as Rogen and Goldberg rip apart our increasing megalomania, the death of journalism and even intelligence itself and finally (and again), the effectiveness of media manipulation over the masses who do nothing to educate themselves to anything other than what is dangling in front of our faces.
(Originally reviewed January 2015)

8. "THE LEGO MOVIE" Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

How did this movie not receive an Oscar nomination????? I DO NOT understand how this massive oversight could have happened for this film a critical and box office smash, that was so dizzyingly creative, inventive and executed and so packed to the gills visually and comedically that it demands subsequent viewings as it would be impossible to catch everything in just one sitting. Beyond even that praise, it was possibly the most subversive film of the year as this major studio release based upon the iconic toys contained a message that was defiantly anti-corporate, anti-conformity, and anti-establishment and essentially instructed everybody watching to throw away the instructions. What could have existed as a soulless commercial became one of the year's highest surprises.
(Originally reviewed February 2014) 

9. "MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT" Directed by Woody Allen

Woody Allen's latest cinematic excursion, a romantic comedy set in 1920's France about a magician (Colin Firth) dispatched to debunk a possible clairvoyant charlatan (Emma Stone), again delivers a light, frothy work that is visually sumptuous and just may inspire travel. What made this film special for me was how Allen utilized the romantic comedy framework and his peerless dialogue to essentially weave a spirited debate about existence itself between representatives of Science and reason (as embodied by Firth) and the spiritual (as embodied by Stone). This is a warm comedy filled with intelligence, and a literary and philosophical wit that would otherwise be unheard in the movies in quite the same way.
(Originally reviewed August 2014)

10. "THE SKELETON TWINS" Directed by Craig Johnson

Oh how I wished that Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig could have received some awards attention for their outstanding dramatic work as the titular estranged twins who are reunited after a family near-tragedy. Unlike another film I saw in 2014 that dealt with death and a family reunion in degrees that were wholly ridiculous and unconvincing (just wait for Part Three of this series), this film perfectly captures a sibling dynamic as well as explores the hereditary affects of clinical depression combined with adult feelings of failing of living up to one's own youthful expectations. A richly acted and deeply melancholic film.
(Originally reviewed September 2014)

11. "TOP FIVE" Directed by Chris Rock

Here was yet another film that should have soared to the top of the box office chats but when you opened it next to the third and final installment of "The Hobbit" series, it just never had a fighting chance. And such a shame as Chris Rock delivered the good with his third and most successful writing and directing effort which somehow merges the sensibilities of Richard Linklater and Richard Pryor into a seamless whole. "Top Five" is Rock's romantic comedy and media satire about the fictional Andre Allen, a famous stand up comic and movie celebrity caught in a personal crossroads and feeling as if he may never want to perform comedy again. Rosario Dawson stars as a New York Times journalist sent to interview Allen. Rock delivered a film that was not only sharply funny but even better, as a dual character study of two lost souls who find each other at precisely the right time.
(Originally reviewed December 2014)

STAY TUNED for PART TWO!!!