The Best and Worst Films of 2014

2015 has officially kicked off, I still have reviews coming but these will now be reviewed for 2014. In the meanwhile I'll be posting my list of the top five and bottom five films I've watched and reviewed in 2014. This may include ones that were released late 2013 but were viewed in 2014. Let's begin:

The Best:

5. Gone Girl 8.5/10

Gone Girl is probably the early work for an Academy film this year, that's just how intense the plot really was. I cannot express how amazing it was to see the mind games, manipulations and plot twists acted out onscreen. Rosamund Pike definitely deserves Best Actress of the year for this, she made a character that was terrifying and incredibly resourceful and intelligent. It's a masterfully made film that I hope everyone checks out!

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/gone-girl.html

4. Guardians of the Galaxy 9/10

Well I think it comes of no surprise to anyone when I post a Marvel film as one of my top five fims. But it was quite clearly recognised this year that Guardians was an amazing film. It had an incredibly colourful cast of characters ranging from the intense battle warrior of Gamora or the space outlaw Yondu. But in all seriousness when a professional wrestler can be my favourite character in a film, I think that film has displayed how well written and directed it is.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/guardians-of-galaxy.html

3. 12 Years a Slave 9/10

Frankly the world needs more films like 12 Years a Slave, especially considering some of the recent hate crimes of late. This film without a doubt deserved it's major Academy Award wins. The shock factor in terms of open hatred, whipping an African American woman, a man being lynched and the implications of rape and sex crimes are just some of the things 12 Years brings to the surface in a truly harrowing way. The entire cast excelled in their roles and because of that it made the performance all the more dark and gritty.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/12-years-slave.html

2. Frozen 9.5/10

As I was all too aware when I first wrote my review for Frozen back in January, the high rating for this film is a shocker for a lot of people who read my reviews. However this film has some incredible musical numbers, let's not forget it won an Academy Award for that very reason. The animation was also something beautiful, the depth and fantastical style was something special at the time. Also I think the strength of family and the manipulation of 'the right man' trope was important. Idina Menzel, who voiced Elsa, is definitely the stand out performance of the film and one of the best Disney characters created in the past couple of years.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/frozen.html

1. Wolf of Wall Street 9.5/10

Best film of the year. Easily the best. The levels of corporate greed and corruption displayed here are some really important themes for our society. It's also my favourite performance by Dicaprio to date; his ability to play Belfort to such a hugely talented level as well as the amount of amazing ablib done by the leading cast is incredibly and a truly monumental feat. I cannot recommend this film enough and I am incredibly frustrated still at how snubbed it was at the Academy Awards.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/the-wolf-of-wall-street.html

And now to move onto the five worst films of the year:

5. Love, Rosie 3.5/10

Love, Rosie was a display of generic romance film at it's very worse. The stereotypical plot was only matched by the basic cinematography, awful acting and mismatched music. I think we're at a point where the romance genre needs to start heading away from it's stereotypes; too often I've seen a film with a potentially great cast or concept but it just drifts into awful dialogue or plot devices. Much like what we see in Love, Rosie.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/11/love-rosie.html

4. And So It Goes 3.5/10

I think there's something awkward in real life about witnessing elderly people openly discussing sexual relations and trying to court one another as if they were teenagers. And So It Goes captures that awkwardness and turns it into one of the worst films of the year. It stumbled along without ever really hitting a high or interesting point. A very amateur performance from some well known actors like Diane Keaton and Michael Douglas.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/and-so-it-goes.html

3. Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie 3.5/10

One of the bigger disappointments of the year was Mrs Brown's Boys. What Brendan O'Carroll had captured in terms of great comedy in his tv show he proceeded to throw aside in this film. It became a big eye opener to how sometimes a popular television show does not warrant a film to go alongside it. Crammed with racism, ableism, and other blatantly offensive jokes it is a must avoid.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/mrs-browns-boys-dmovie.html

2. Walking with Dinosaurs 3/10

Walking with Dinosaurs was a beloved series growing up but this film was really a perversion of the source material. I was frankly incredibly disappointed with this awful kid's film. It can't be described as Walking with Dinosaurs because it felt like a preschooler's guide to dinosaurs. The writing of characters was very basic and the plot turned away from good moments by subverting it with awful comedy.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/walking-with-dinosaurs.html

1. Magic in the Moonlight 3/10

Woody Allen made the worst film of this year, the boring period drama that forces it's themes down your throat even if they are a bit insulting to hear. Oh and let's not forget the cast of thoroughly dislikeable characters and the really badly written romance plot between Emma Stone and Colin Firth. There is nothing romantic about a fraud and a pessimist coming together over Firth's very blatant misogyny.

http://ciaranknight.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/magic-in-moonlight.html

I have reviewed and rated 90 films this year as well as one unrated film in Tom Hardy's Locke. To see where your favourite films of the year wound up on my list of best to worst, take a look below:

1. The Wolf of Wall Street – 9.5/
2. Frozen – 9.5/10
3. 12 Years a Slave – 9/10
4. Guardians of the Galaxy – 9/10
5. Gone Girl – 8.5/10
6. Nightcrawler – 8.5/10
7. The Two Faces of January – 8.5/10
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 8.5/10
9. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – 8.5/10
10. Fury – 8.5/10
11. St. Vincent – 8.5/10
12. Saving Mr Banks – 8.5/10
13. Pride – 8/10
14. The Judge – 8/10
15. X-Men: Days of Future Past – 8/10
16. The Hundred Foot Journey – 8/10
17. The Equaliser – 8/10
18. American Hustle – 8/10
19. The Book Thief – 8/10
20. Paddington – 8/10
21. The Boxtrolls – 8/10
22. Edge of Tomorrow – 8/10
23. Dallas Buyers Club – 8/10
24. Divergent – 8/10
25. The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared -7.5/10
26. Predestination 7.5/10
27. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – 7.5/10
28. 22 Jump Street – 7.5/10
29. Before I Go to Sleep – 7.5/10
30. Noah – 7.5/10
31. A Walk Among the Tombstones – 7.5/10
32. The Railway Man – 7.5/10
33. Godzilla – 7.5/10
34. Last Vegas – 7.5/10
35. Non-Stop – 7.5/10
36. Chef – 7/10
37. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One -7/10
38. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – 7/10
39. This is Where I Leave You – 7/10
40. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 7/10
41. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – 7/10
42. The Water Diviner – 7/10
43. A Million Ways to Die in the West – 7/10
44. Are We Officially Dating? – 7/10
45. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – 7/10
46. Robocop – 7/10
47. 300: Rise of an Empire – 7/10
48. Annie – 7/10
49. Planes: Fire and Rescue – 7/10
50. Philomena – 6.5/10
51. Maleficent – 6.5/10
52. If I Stay – 6.5/10
53. Interstellar – 6.5/10
54. Bad Neighbours – 6.5/10
55. The Lego Movie – 6.5/10
56. Into the Storm – 6.5/10
57. Transformers: Age of Extinction – 6.5/10
58. The Amazing Spiderman 2: Rise of Electro – 6.5/10
59. The Maze Runner – 6.5/10
60. The Best of Me – 6.5/10
61. Cuban Fury - 6.5/10
62. Mr Peabody and Sherman – 6.5/10
63. Blended – 6.5/10
64. Transcendence – 6.5/10
65. Grudge Match – 6.5/10
66. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – 6/10
67. The Grand Budapest Hotel -6/10
68. Her – 6/10
69. Dracula Untold – 6/10
70. Grace of Monaco – 6/10
71. Hercules – 5.5/10
72. Pompeii – 5.5/10
73. The Fault in our Stars – 5.5/10
74. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones 5.5/10
75. 47 Ronin – 5.5/10
76. Get on Up – 4.5/10
77. Let’s Be Cops – 4.5/10
78. The Giver – 4.5/10
79. The Other Woman – 4.5/10
80. The Monuments Men – 4.5/10
81. Sex Tape – 4.5/10
82. Muppets: Most Wanted – 4.5/10
83. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 4/10
84. Need for Speed – 4/10
85. Lucy – 3.5/10
86. Love, Rosie – 3.5/10
87. And So it Goes – 3.5/10
88. Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie – 3.5/10
89. Walking with Dinosaurs – 3/10
90. Magic in the Moonlight – 3/10

Locke - Not Rated

Here's to 2015 and a whole new year of films both amazing and terrible!