Friday, December 19, 2014

2014 MOVIE LIST -- The Top 166 So Far

THE STANDOUTS (17) - This should go without saying, but these are all must-sees.

Nightcrawler ****
Life Itself ****
Foxcatcher ***1/2
Whiplash ***1/2
Gone Girl ***1/2
Selma ***1/2
The Normal Heart (HBO) ***1/2
The Raid 2 ***1/2
The Guest ***1/2
Cheap Thrills ***1/2
A Most Violent Year ***
Top Five ***
The Skeleton Twins ***
St. Vincent ***
Neighbors ***
22 Jump Street ***
The Interview ***

THE GOOD (42) - These represent quality filmmaking all-around.

Boyhood ***
Birdman ***
Locke ***
Citizenfour ***
Starred Up ***
'71 ***
The Drop ***
Wild ***
The Theory of Everything ***
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ***
99 Homes ***
Noah ***
Laggies ***
Wish I Was Here ***
What If ***
Welcome to Me ***
Men Women and Children ***
The Imitation Game ***
The Fault In Our Stars ***
Afflicted ***
Bad Words ***
Mistaken For Strangers ***
Night Moves ***
They Came Together ***
The Sacrament ***
Blue Ruin ***

Chef ***
Hellion ***
Two Night Stand ***
Exodus: Gods and Kings ***
Killers ***
Land Ho! ***
The Keeping Room ***
Kill the Messenger ***
Small Time ***
Coldwater ***
The Dog ***
Olive Kitteridge (HBO) ***
Little England ***
Cake **1/2
Sex Tape **1/2
Under the Electric Sky **1/2
Beneath **1/2

THE GOOD... BUT SHOULD'VE BEEN BETTERS (36) - Why weren't these good movies better? I don't really know. But they should've been. Hence, the name of this section.

Blood Ties ***
Snowpiercer ***
The Grand Budapest Hotel ***
Guardians of the Galaxy ***
Unbroken ***
Leviathan ***
The Rover ***
Big Bad Wolves ***
Get On Up **1/2
Edge of Tomorrow **1/2
The Gambler **1/2
American Sniper **1/2
Fury **1/2
Big Eyes **1/2
The Homesman **1/2
Maps to the Stars **1/2
Let's Be Cops **1/2
It Follows **1/2
Starry Eyes **1/2
Calvary **1/2
Captain America: The Winter Soldier **1/2
The Trip to Italy **1/2
Tales From the Grim Sleeper **1/2
Love Is Strange **1/2
The Babadook **1/2
Still Alice **1/2
Bad Turn Worse **1/2
Draft Day **1/2
Non-Stop **1/2
This Is Where I Leave You **1/2
Cold Comes the Night **1/2

Beside Still Waters **1/2
Life of Crime **1/2
Jamesy Boy **
Adult Beginners **
Ping Pong Summer **

THE GUILTY PLEASURES (17) - These are movies that I shouldn't like but I do, for one reason or another. I only feel ashamed because the Internet tells me I'm supposed to.

Tusk ***
John Wick ***
The Equalizer ***
Big Game ***
The Town That Dreaded Sundown ***
The Captive **1/2
Premature **1/2
Jersey Boys **1/2
Mall **1/2
V/H/S: Viral **1/2
Kid Cannabis **1/2
Need For Speed **
Ride Along **
The Purge: Anarchy **
Mockingbird **
Dumb and Dumber To **
The Cobbler **

THE UNDERWHELMING DISAPPOINTMENTS (44) - Chalk it up to expectations but these movies just didn't cut it for me.

Under the Skin **1/2
Inherent Vice **1/2
Dear White People **1/2
While We're Young **1/2
Good Kill **1/2
Begin Again (fka Can a Song Save Your Life?) **1/2
Lucy **1/2
Godzilla **1/2
Dom Hemingway **1/2
RoboCop **1/2
Filth **1/2
The Signal **1/2
A Million Ways to Die in the West **
A Walk Among the Tombstones **
A Most Wanted Man **
The Monuments Men **
Obvious Child **
X-Men: Days of Future Past **
Happy Christmas **
White Bird in a Blizzard **
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For **
Into the Storm **
The Judge **
Honeymoon **
Cold in July **
Felony **
No Good Deed **
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles **
Listen Up Philip **
Are You Here **
Breathe In **
Horrible Bosses 2 *1/2
Magic in the Moonlight *1/2
Life After Beth *1/2
Tammy *1/2
Deliver Us From Evil *1/2
Cub *1/2
Coherence *1/2
Sabotage *1/2
Cooties *1/2

13 Sins *1/2
The Voices *1/2
Grand Piano *1/2
Enemy *

THE BAD (10) - For better or worse, I just don't know what these movies were thinking.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1*
Stretch *
Oculus *
Jamie Marks Is Dead *
The Double *
Into the Woods *
Dracula Untold *
Transformers: Age of Extinction *
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 *
Transcendence *

IN PROGRESS (4) - I've started watching these but I'm not quite done yet.

The Humbling (30 minutes)Veronica Mars (75 minutes)
Whitey (90 minutes)
Young Ones (40 minutes)

2015 RELEASES

Blackhat (Embargoed)

OOPS, I MISSED (115): 3 Days to Kill, 300: Rise of an Empire, ABCs of Death 2, About Last Night, Addicted, Adult World, Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day, All Is By My Side, Annabelle, Annie, Appropriate Behavior, Art of the Steal, As Above So Below, The Bag Man, Belle, Beneath the Harvest Sky, Bethlehem, Better Living Through Chemistry, Beyond the Lights, Blended, The Boxtrolls, Brick Mansions, The Canal, Cesar Chavez, Comet, Date and Switch, Decoding Annie Parker, Devil's Due, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Divergent, Endless Love, Exists, The Expendables 3, The Face of Love, Fading Gigolo, A Field in England, The Final Member, Frank, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Gloria, God's Pocket, The Good Lie, A Good Marriage, The Green Prince, Happy Valley, Hector and the Search for Happiness, Hercules, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Horns, The Houses October Built, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Ida, The Immigrant, Infinitely Polar Bear, I, Frankenstein, In Secret, I Origins, It Felt Like Love, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Jessabelle, Jimmy P, Joe, Knights of Badassdom, The Lego Movie, Life Partners, The Lunchbox, Maladies, Maleficent, Manakamana, The Maze Runner, McCanick, Million Dollar Arm, Miss Meadows, Mr. Turner, Muppets Most Wanted, The November Man, Nymphomaniac Vol. I and Vol. II, Omar, One Chance, Only Lovers Left Alive, Open Grave, Open Windows, The Other Woman, The Overnighters, Palo Alto, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, Pompeii, The Pretty One, The Prey, Pride, The Pyramid, The Quiet Ones, The Railway Man, Rob the Mob, Rosewater, Rudderless, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Stonehearst AsylumThat Awkward Moment, Third Person, Tracks, The Two Faces of January, U Want Me 2 Kill Him?, Walk of Shame, We Are the Best!, Wetlands, What We Do in the Shadows, When the Game Stands Tall, Wild Tales, Winter Sleep, Winter's Tale, Zero Motivation, The Zero Theorem

COMING SOON (6): The Mule, Black or White, The Sleepwalker, Mommy, Fort Bliss, She's Funny That Way