Best Movies of 2014

[Malloy]

Hard to Be a God


A Master Builder


La jalousie


Under the Skin


The Grand Budapest Hotel


Nightcrawler


Mr. Turner

[VinylGuy]

budapest hotel?? Under the skin??

[LoathedVermin72]

Been a REAL weak year so far, especially after how great 2013 was. Really the only things I'm solidly looking forward to even are Inherent Vice, The Battle of the Five Armies, and Dumb and Dumber To (which could go either way). There are a few others I'm mildly interested in (A Master Builder, Lost River, Interstellar, Nightcrawler, The Boxtrolls, Gone Girl, etc.), but it's looking pretty bleak for the most part.

The only notably good movies I've seen this year:

1. Godzilla
2. Oculus
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Normal Heart

That's only four out of the 33 I've watched so far. Yikes.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'm looking forward to Child of God.

[Malloy]

budapest hotel?? Under the skin??

definitely.

budapest is his most ambitious and narratively interesting film. formally (the frame structure, among other things) it was so impressive. and under the skin, especially the first 3/4s, was totally absorbing. if someone wants to grouse on the ending, i wouldn't blame them.

[@SkitchP]

How To Train Your Dragon
The Lego Movie


That's all I got folks, but Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks comes out in about 10 days, so I have high hopes

[Malloy]

based on loathed's comments, i'd like to see godzilla. and i'm still very interested in watching the lego movie.

[LoathedVermin72]

budapest hotel?? Under the skin??

definitely.

budapest is his most ambitious and narratively interesting film. formally (the frame structure, among other things) it was so impressive. and under the skin, especially the first 3/4s, was totally absorbing. if someone wants to grouse on the ending, i wouldn't blame them.

Budapest was simultaneously his most impressive and most lackluster movie, I thought. Yes, the formal structure and frame composition are jaw-droppingly masterful, but I couldn't help but feel a little fatigue and lack of enthusiasm for the Wes Anderson shorthand he's devolved into. If I had never seen a Wes Anderson movie before Budapest, I probably would have loved it, but since I've seen everything he's made, it felt stale, old hat. I didn't feel like he was bringing anything new to the table.

UTS I just thought was complete garbage all the way through. The surface style may have some superficial appeal, but I found it's cynical, Eurocentric male sensibilities as dull, boring, and immature as they come.

[@SkitchP]

based on loathed's comments, i'd like to see godzilla. and i'm still very interested in watching the lego movie.

I appreciate you acknowledging my post in a thread I so clearly have no place in.

[VinylGuy]

budapest hotel?? Under the skin??

definitely.

budapest is his most ambitious and narratively interesting film. formally (the frame structure, among other things) it was so impressive. and under the skin, especially the first 3/4s, was totally absorbing. if someone wants to grouse on the ending, i wouldn't blame them.

Budapest is a very good film for an art director. The story?..the direction? pretty much all he is doing there is to pan the cam; the actors´direction is lazy to say the least...its like a copy of a wes anderson movie.

Pretty much like Quentin´s Django Unchained.

[zeb]

based on loathed's comments, i'd like to see godzilla. and i'm still very interested in watching the lego movie.

I appreciate you acknowledging my post in a thread I so clearly have no place in.

[Heathen]

The Grand Budapest Hotel is the worst movie I've seen this year. And the best too.

[Malloy]

budapest hotel?? Under the skin??

definitely.

budapest is his most ambitious and narratively interesting film. formally (the frame structure, among other things) it was so impressive. and under the skin, especially the first 3/4s, was totally absorbing. if someone wants to grouse on the ending, i wouldn't blame them.

Budapest is a very good film for an art director. The story?..the direction? pretty much all he is doing there is to pan the cam; the actors´direction is lazy to say the least...its like a copy of a wes anderson movie.

Pretty much like Quentin´s Django Unchained.

i'd say it was impressive for any director, regardless of the qualifier. (and, in fact, i'm usually incredulous of those directors who feel it necessary to add one). a friend and i have talked through the movie a few times.

one impression that it made, and one that you and loathed get at in different ways, is its interest in artifice. or, put another way, at what counts as "authentic." loathed said the movie felt like "wes anderson shorthand." you say the direction was lazy and it was a copy.

frankly, i'm baffled that anyone could feel the direction was lazy, as there was literally nothing that wasn't meticulously curated(actors and their performance included). but as for the the general effect of anderson's direction: i'd agree that it's limiting, though totally interesting if you read it as part of his interest in artifice. (the plot lines involving zero's legal status, gustave's total commitment to decorum rather than origin, and a critique of british imperialism that hovers below the film, just three examples, seem to align with that interest.)

as for a boring story, well, maybe. but it's hard for me to separate it from the plot, which is absolutely fascinating, especially because of how damn mediated it is (frame within frame within frame--artifice is ascendent).

[Malloy]

based on loathed's comments, i'd like to see godzilla. and i'm still very interested in watching the lego movie.

I appreciate you acknowledging my post in a thread I so clearly have no place in.

i appreciate you, skitchp

[nyquillyn]

Blue Ruin
Jodorowsky's Dune
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Wind Rises
The Raid 2
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Boyhood
Cold in July (I'm a sucker for Michael C. Hall)

[Dev]

budapest hotel?? Under the skin??

definitely.

budapest is his most ambitious and narratively interesting film. formally (the frame structure, among other things) it was so impressive. and under the skin, especially the first 3/4s, was totally absorbing. if someone wants to grouse on the ending, i wouldn't blame them.

the movie only really came together for me in the last 1/4.

[Dev]

I watched a trailer for Hard to be God last night, and it looked surreal/ ridiculous/ pretentious/ tedious but I'll still probably watch it... I dunno it basically looked terrible.

[Dev]

I'm looking forward to Child of God.

Child of God is good, but not a masterpiece by any means.

[Dev]

as far as Budapest goes it still felt like it fell to close to standard Wes Anderson canon for it to be interesting to me at this point.

just read this

If I had never seen a Wes Anderson movie before Budapest, I probably would have loved it, but since I've seen everything he's made, it felt stale, old hat. I didn't feel like he was bringing anything new to the table.

agree

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'm looking forward to Child of God.

Child of God is good, but not a masterpiece by any means.

Can't I still look forward to it, dev?