Top 10 Movies of 2014

Right off the bat, I’m going to admit that I have no credibility as an expert source of what makes a good movie. I’ve never worked in film, I’m not a professional critic, and I’ve barely seen more than an average of one new movie a month. Despite all that, I love watching movies, I love discussing them, and I love making lists. So, if you want a non-expert’s perspective on his favorite movies of 2014 and you don’t mind an obvious bias towards science-fiction/fantasy movies, then you might enjoy reading about my ten favorite movies of 2014.

10. DCU – SON OF BATMAN: Clearly, I watched a lot of animated DC superhero movies from Redbox this year and this one rounds out my top ten. Even though it made my top ten of the year, overall as a movie it’s kind of average. It tells the animated version of the comic story of Damien Wayne, the son of Batman who becomes the current Robin. There are some pretty nice animated battles with Deathstroke but there’s not much beyond that. In addition, the animation was a little stiff compared to some of the better animated movies. Admittedly, I don’t really like the character of Damien Wayne. There are plenty of angry anti-heroes already. So, a pre-teen version doesn’t add anything and I sure don’t need my Robin to be one of them. Personally, in any story with a Robin, I prefer Batman to be the darker of the two and Robin to give him more of an upbeat balance. When Robin “out¬¬-darks” Batman, then he becomes pointless. Admittedly, that’s more of me not liking than Damien Wayne than not liking the movie, but with him being the main focus of the story it’s hard to separate the two. However, if you don’t mind this version of Robin then the movie isn’t bad.

9. JLA – TRAPPED IN TIME: This was another of the DC animated movies that popped up at Redbox. I was intrigued when I read the plot summary that sounded a lot like an old “Challenge of the Super-Friends” episode I saw as a child where Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom went back in time to prevent the three most powerful Justice League members from ever getting their powers. This modern movie is an obvious homage to that episode, even using the same villains and select members of the Justice League in the movie. However, in this version it’s only Superman that Lex Luthor tries to prevent from becoming a hero by traveling through time. The story is considerably more intricate and mature than the old Saturday morning cartoon and has results that Luthor wasn’t expecting.

8. GODZILLA: I’m so glad that a American studio finally made a good Godzilla movie and that the CGI didn’t screw it up. I wouldn’t rate it as one of my favorites of all the Godzilla movies, but it was still a good one that treated Godzilla like Godzilla. The approach that the filmmakers took was an interesting one that was met with equal parts criticism and applause. Basically, they ignored all the Godzilla sequels that have come before, with the exception of a comment about another monster that invaded America that was originally thought to be Godzilla but wasn’t. That comment was an obvious jab at the last American Godzilla movie. At any rate, in treating this like Godzilla’s first appearance in over fifty years, the filmmakers used the old monster trick of the slow reveal, first of the monster and then of his atomic breath. Frankly, it didn’t seem to take as long as I was led to believe it would. So, that worked out just fine for me. Apparently, Toho Studios were really happy with the results too, because now that they’ve seen how successful a Godzilla movie can still be, they will be making their own new Godzilla movie soon. I’m hoping they re-establish the original roar with the resounding echo that got etched in my mind as a child. I used to walk around trying to imitate that sound but I finally quit trying a couple of years ago.
As an aside, I do want to say that I am tired of every Godzilla sequel in the last ten years or so being a complete reboot that ignores everything but the first movie. I like the universal inclusion of everything that came before, even the ridiculous fun of movies like “Godzilla vs. Megalon.”

7. X-MEN – DAYS OF FUTURE PAST: I’ve been surprised by how many of my friends really loved this movie. I still can’t place what it was about this movie that didn’t feel right. Clearly, I enjoyed it but somehow something felt off. It’s very likely that if I watched it again and started looking for problems I would notice a ton of plot holes and inconsistencies that the time travel plot-device couldn’t account for. However, during my one-time viewing I found it to be a fun super-hero action flick. The one thing I can say about on the negative side is that it had very little in common with the “X-Men Days of Future Past” comic book story. Where this movie was enjoyable, the comic book story is probably my favorite run of any of the X-Men story arcs. Therefore, it bothers me that this was such a loose adaptation that watered down such an incredible story with its “Hollywood knows better” attitude. Regardless, there were a lot of cool mutant powers being used, great fight scenes, and plenty of that “edge of the seat” adventure that comic book fans crave. On the other hand, despite the success of good comic book adaptations, I’m seeing an increasing trend of Hollywood doing what they did back when they made bad comic book movies. That’s the studio interference that takes a basic property and makes more and more changes that they think will make the comic book into a better movie. I would have liked this movie better had it been what it could have and should have been rather than what it was.

6. MUPPETS MOST WANTED: The first thing I read about this movie was a really negative review that summed up the movie as being bad because the characters were dumb and because the villains got more screen time than the regular Muppets. Well, I disagree. I thought the movie was pretty enjoyable. Regarding the criticism of the characters being dumb, that was an obvious recurring gag. The whole premise of the movie relied on that kind of cartoon dumbness to make the plot work. These are the Muppets for Pete’s sake! This isn’t a Saving Private Ryan! Sit back, relax, and stop over-analyzing. That’s like somebody complaining that Wile E. Coyote made too many stupid mistakes when trying to catch Roadrunner. As far as the focus on the villains is concerned, they did get a lot of screen time, but so did the Muppets and I didn’t feel like the time with villains was any less entertaining than the time with the Muppets. Overall, if you like the kinds of gags that make the Muppets fun, this movie did a lot better than most of the original cinematic Muppets run.

5. CAPTAIN AMERICA – WINTER SOLDIER: A lot of people I know claim they don’t like Captain America, but considering the box office returns I suspect a lot of people are lying. Personally, I’ve always liked the character and believe that people who claim not to like him don’t really know or understand the character. They see a guy wearing an American flag and embodying “square” values and dismiss him as being uncool. Then they rush out to see the millionth anti-hero Wolverine or Batman generic “badass” knock-off. Even though the first Captain America movie did very well, the creators of the sequel seemingly listened to the criticisms and worked around them for the sequel. As a result, “Winter Soldier” is a movie that is almost all action from start to finish, which not only minimizes that “boring” character development stuff but also keeps Captain America so busy that he doesn’t have time to be unhip. Furthermore, since he’s dealing with a government conspiracy, there’s less room for him to express his patriotism. Finally, for those people wanting a hip anti-hero, Black Widow gets about as much screen time as Cap himself. As a side note, I’d also like to mention that as a comic book character, I never thought the Falcon was all that cool. However, seeing him fly and use his wings in live action battles gave me a new perspective on just how awesome he can be.

4. DCU BATMAN – ASSAULT ON ARKHAM: Common wisdom among comic book fans is that Marvel makes far better live action movies, but DC rules when it comes to television series and animated movies. Unfortunately for DC, their animated movies go straight to video. So, a lot of people may not know about this one. Still, it’s the best DC movie I saw all year. Even though Batman’s name is in the title and he shows up, the real stars of the movie are the Suicide Squad, also known as Task Force X. When written well, such as in this story, they make a great group of anti-heroes and can make a regular heist story something more exciting. It’s a compelling group of characters with diverse personalities and motivations that are allowed to play out in this adventure, and that creates subplots and unpredictable diversions galore. This may also be the first animated DC movie I’ve seen with graphic violence and PG-13 level swearing.

3. LEGO MOVIE: The “Everything is Awesome” theme song is highly contagious but if you watch all the DVD extras, you’ll get sick of hearing it pretty quickly. Regardless, the bouncy nature of the tune is a perfect fit for such a fun movie about an average Lego guy saving his Lego world. Tons of Lego toys make appearances including members of the Justice League and characters from Star Wars. Of course, none of it makes any sense but nobody questions it because it’s Lego and it’s such a fun story. Plus, we’re adults watching a kids’ movie. So if we start questioning the movie’s logic, the obvious response is asking why we’re even watching it. Ultimately though, everything is explained in a surprising reveal that makes sense of everything without ruining the fun.

2. JOE: Remember when Nicholas Cage used to be in everything? Now, he’s only in about 25% of the movies being released, and some of those are actually good. “Joe” is one of those movies where he gets a serious part in a non-action flick. None of the characters in this movie are people many of us would want to be. Some are downright despicable or depressing. In comparison, Cage’s Joe is the default hero but it’s a low bar. Joe, himself, is plenty flawed but for some reason he connects with a kid who comes to work for him and grows, sort of. In the end, Cage and the kid form a bond where they are better off being friends than they were before the met. Unlike most of the other movies on this list, Joe isn’t one bit of fun. In fact, it’s kind of hard to watch but as a character study and a story dealing with human emotions and problems, it’s a fine piece of work.

1. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: No surprise here. After watching the movie, I admit that I’m on board with all the hype. Even though it’s based on a team of Marvel comics superheroes, it’s really a space fantasy adventure in the style of Star Wars. In fact, and it takes a lot for me to say this about any movie, but technically it’s every bit as good as Star Wars. Of course it lacks the completely unprecedented nature of its time that made the original Star Wars so great, but for character, story, action, adventure, special effects, etc. it’s neck and neck. Plus, it’s got a lot of comedy too. I’m sure a lot of kids will remember this as their favorite movie ever. Personally, I’ll just remember it as the best movie of 2014 with no close contenders.