Complete Movie Grades 2014

2014 was a great year for film. Maybe the best since the great year of 2007. 2015 is going to have a lot to live up to. Here is the complete list of movies I saw last year, alphabetical by grade.

A+
-

A
Birdman
Blue Ruin
The Drop
Gone Girl
Nightcrawler
Snowpiercer
Whiplash

A-
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Under the Skin

B+
Edge of Tomorrow
Foxcatcher
The Lego Movie
Locke
The One I Love
Selma

B
Bad Words
Begin Again
Boyhood
Chef
Cold in July
Godzilla
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Guest
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
The Purge: Anarchy
Veronica Mars
Wild
22 Jump Street

B-
American Sniper
Divergent
A Long Way Down
Neighbors
The Skeleton Twins
The Theory of Everything
Wish I Was Here

C+
Draft Day
Earth to Echo
The Fault In Our Stars
The Gambler
Horrible Bosses 2
The Hundred-Foot Journey
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
That Awkward Moment
This is Where I Leave You
Very Good Girls
X-Men: Days of Future Past

C
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Dom Hemingway
The Equalizer
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1
In Secret
Palo Alto

C-
Endless Night
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Unbroken

D+
Filth
Lucy
The Monuments Men
The Other Woman
Vampire Academy

D
About Last Night
Fading Gigolo
The Giver
Obvious Child
Rob the Mob

D-
Better Living Through Chemistry

F
Enemy
Inherent Vice
3 Days to Kill

Top Ten Films 2014

Honorable Mention
Foxcatcher - An over the top real life story becomes an intimate realistic slow burn documentary feeling drama in the hands of director Bennett Miller.
Locke - Tom Hardy on the phone driving in a car for 90 minutes.  Sounds awful? It's nothing short of mesmerizing.
The One I Love - Starts off as a character study about a couple struggling to save their marriage. Becomes so much more than you can expect. Go in blind! No spoilers makes it so damn good.

10. Selma - The story of Martin Luther King Jr. and his struggle to legalize voting for blacks, focusing on the days leading up to the peaceful march from Selma, Alabama. Brilliantly directed with a star turn from David Oyelowo,  this movie manages to feel both epic and intimate. The Oscars showed it no love yesterday, but it's Bloody Sunday scene is a better movie than at least 4 of the other nominees.

09. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Not only the best action movie of the year, but also the best Marvel movie ever. The Winter Soldier is a fun ride as it follows Captain America and Black Widow's showdown with a deadly assassin. The movie is everything a summer blockbuster should be: fast paced with awesome action sequences and funny, charming moments.

08. Under the Skin - When I first saw this movie, it made me angry. I turned it off swearing that I hated it. But then a funny thing happened. That was probably more than 6 months ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it; it's tragic beauty, it's unabashed lush seductive quality. It's like a song that gets stuck in your head that you can't stop singing, and try to fight it, but you really don't want to.

07. The Drop - Tom Hardy's second ignored knock out performance of the year! Here he is a lonely bartender who works at a bar where mobsters drop their money. A stolen dog, a Super Bowl mega drop and James Gandolfini's final performance make up this slow burn thriller with a gut punch ending.

06. Snowpiercer - If you had told me five years ago that Chris Evans would be in not one, but two of my best movies of the year, I never would have believed you. But he stars in Snowpiercer, a movie that takes place in the future when all of society lives on a train because the Earth is inhabitable.  A modern Sci fi masterpiece, this is a dark and twisted action extravaganza. 

05. Blue Ruin - This movie starts out as a stark and artistic meditation on one man's loneliness and turns into an every man's search for vengeance.  Wearing it's Coen Bros. inspiration proudly, Blue Ruin is a slow burn turned violent movie that feels lived in and real, and features one of the best performances of the year.

04. Nightcrawler - A shocking study of and morally challenged man trying to make it in America, Nightcrawler is one of the darkest and best movies of the year. Lou Bloom is a self made man with a great work ethic who becomes obsessed with car crashes and burning buildings, selling the footage to news stations. It's a startling take on the modern American dream.

03. Gone Girl - Everyone knows all about this book turned movie by now. I loved the book and I loved the movie just as much. It's one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. This is three movies in one : a meditation on the modern marriage, a takedown of media sensationalism and, of course, a twist filled wonderful thriller.

02. Birdman - With a fabulous cast, a script filled with verbal acrobatics and a filming technique so fresh, it feels like a legitimate game changer, Birdman is one of the best movies of the year. It follows a washed up actor trying to make a comeback and it's part behind the scenes drama and part real life breakdown. It's a creative, artistic, spinning mazelike juggernaut. 

01. Whiplash - Hands down, the most enjoyable movie of the year by far. With amazing intense performances and so much frenetic energy, this movie never lets up and never feels boring. The story of obsession and perfection, by the time it reaches it's epic climax, you will be on the edge of your seat, ready to jump up and applaud and yell Bravo! 

Best Actor 2014

05. Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything - For believing the gradual breakdown of his body on screen. For portraying not only the physical aspects but also showing the mental strength and never wavering sense of humor. For the drinking and celebrating with his friends scene.

04. Macon Blair in Blue Ruin - For playing the revenge minded every man with strengh, wit and determination. For arriving as a fully formed star who you can't take your eyes off of. For the diner scene.

03. David Oyelowo in Selma - For playing a heroic, larger than life historical figure as an intimate, struggling man trying to do the right thing. For finding the humanity and the flaws. For that final speech.

02. Michael Keaton in Birdman - For making a comeback by playing a has been superhero actor (ha!). For being complex, dynamic,  utterly engaging and finding the humor and tragedy in every scene. For trashing his dressing room.

01. Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler - For playing a sociopathic, somewhat charming, always smarmy opportunist with non-blinking glee. For the absence of morals but total immersion in salesmanship. For giving the absolute,  hands down best performance of the year. For smashing the mirror (although it's honestly hard to pick just one great scene.)

Best Actress 2014

05. Elisabeth Moss in The One I Love - For embracing the duality of her role with the utmost of ease. For playing a real woman full of mood swings and emotion who is smart and complicated and not always likeable. For that wicked / sweet smile at the end.

04. Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow - For playing a bad ass heroine with depth and complexity.  For being the only woman (ever??) to steal a movie away from superstar Tom Cruise.  For the "Let's reboot" scene.

03. Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin - For being sexy and stunning and utterly controlled. For exuding a total lack of emotion that somehow still makes her sympathetic. For the restaurant scene.

02. Reese Witherspoon in Wild - For giving a fearless, gritty, de-glammed performance flawlessly. For playing a haunted woman filled with regret and loss struggling to find her true self. For the scene where she meets the little boy on the trail.

01. Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl - For playing three roles in one; the perfect wife in flashbacks,  the enigmatic missing woman and the brilliant possibly sociopathic true self. For being a ballsy, fearless,  dark, twisted revelation. For the cool girl speech.

Best Supporting Actor 2014

05. Ethan Hawke in Boyhood - For making us all remember that he IS a good actor, if it only takes Linklater movies to remind us. For perfectly portraying a wayward kid turned family man. For the father / son camping scene.

04. James Gandolfini in The Drop - For playing a tough guy the way only he could, with subtle layers and complexities. For knocking it out of the park with a final fitting performance. For accepting his fate in the car at the end.

03. Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher - For being the heart and soul of the film. For being kind and likeable,  sweet and endearing in a subtle lived in portrayal. For the scenes of brotherly love.

02. J.K. Simmons in Whiplash - For making me forget all about the sweet dad from Juno. For giving a tense, powerhouse performance as an enigmatic and menacing music instructor. For throwing cymbals at people's heads. For the "dragging or rushing" scene.

01. Edward Norton for Birdman - For sending up his own image as a difficult method actor by playing... a difficult method actor. For the brilliant complexities in his scene stealing work. For being fierce, funny,  complicated, charming and electric. For being sorely missed when he disappears three quarters of the way through. For the fist fight in his underwear.

Best Supporting Actress 2014

05. Carrie Coon in Gone Girl - For being a moral compass, the only reliable character, and a complete scene stealer. For her spitfire delivery while being honest, hilarious and wise. For expertly spewing brutal truths about her sister-in-law.

04. Laura Dern in Wild - For her aching empathy and sweet, tender performance. For being the ghost in the memories of her daughter. For that scene of her singing in the kitchen.

03. Emma Stone in Birdman - For her verbal acrobatics. For switching emotions like switching gears in a car. For those big, beautiful eyes and look of amazement in the final scene.

02. Patricia Arquette in Boyhood - For being the steady, quiet, all-encompassing heart at the center of the story. For showing the fortitude and strength of single mothers.  For nailing the line, "I'm a poor white with a big house."

01. Rene Russo in Nightcrawler - For portraying a woman of a certain age who is striving and clawing and determined to stay relevant and vital. For her steely exterior and her fierce control. For her questionable ethics. For being seductive and enticing and fearful and fearless. For that frightening romantic dinner scene.

Best Director 2014

05. Bong Joon Ho for Snowpiercer - For creating an intense, singular existence; a life in a moving train that is both claustrophobic and awe inspiring in its depth and scope. For making the most bleak, tragic dystopia sci-fi movie in years. For that scene in the classroom.

04. Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher - For making an adult film that is intense and thrilling without being crass or crude. For taking a true story that feels outlandish and making a movie that feels intimate, almost like a documentary.  For that unleashing the horses scene.

03. David Fincher for Gone Girl - For continuously being unafraid to make movies with complicated women. For making the most perfect adaptation of a novel I've ever seen. For making a movie that is a thrilling whodunit, a send up of media sensationalism, and a commentary on marriage in the modern world. For that first shot of Amy in the car.

02. Jonathan Glazer for Under The Skin - For making a dreamy, surreal, beauty of a film. For making the one film that I have not been able to stop thinking about all year, like a lovely melody stuck in my head. For that scene at the end in the woods.

01. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman - For making the most gutsy, artsy, purely enjoyable film of the year.  For the total immersion with those long, spiraling takes. For being unafraid to go there in its final act. For ending on that shot of Emma Stone's amazed face, that maybe is meant to mirror the face of the audience after you've just watched this gamechanger.

Worst Films of 2014

Before I deep dive into the best of 2014 next week,  it's time to round up the movies I suffered through so you don't have to!

(Dis) honorable Mention - The Double
I can't actually put this on my list because I only made it through about 10 minutes. It could have gotten super good, but mostly I found it to insufferable to even give it a shot.

10. The Monuments Men - A movie so bad that even the cast of (in order of awesome-ness) Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Bob Balaban, Matt Damon, George Clooney and Jean Du Jardin can't even save it. Something with such a great cast and interesting premise shouldn't be so mind numbingly bland and boring.

09. Lucy - Sure, Scarlett Johansson is a total bad ass in this movie, but that doesn't change the fact that this movie is straight out terrible.  It is a brainless, stupid fun romp trying to pass itself off as a smart and sophisticated philosophical art house film.

08. Vampire Academy - As someone who doesn't deny that my inner 14 year old LOVES shit like this (I am an unabashed lover of Pretty Little Liars), this was so bad that it couldn't even be considered good or fun in a guilty pleasure way.

07. About Last Night - Maybe not as bad as I'm giving it credit for being, but if you are going to remake one of the best 80s movies of all time, at least make it worth my time and not some bland and pointless unnecessary piece of crap.

06. Obvious Child - A romantic comedy about stand up comedy and abortion, the only problem being the "jokes" were seemingly written by frat boys and 12 year olds and not actual smart, educated adults.

05. The Giver - One of the loveliest books I have ever made gets an adaptation that more or less proves that whoever adapted the book didn't understand anything that made the book so special to begin with.

04. Fading Gigolo - A movie with SUCH a ridiculous premise (a florist becomes a gigolo (wait, no, a florist played by JOHN TURTURRO becomes a gigolo)) that it is hard to even take it seriously at all. And it's not a comedy.

03. Better Living Through Chemistry - A movie that is so bad, I have seemed to manage to shut it out of my brain completely. All I remember while watching it was that I felt actively sad that Sam Rockwell somehow got blackmailed into starring in such a dud.

02. 3 Days to Kill - Look, I love Kevin Costner and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt when he stars in shitty movies, but this might technically be the single worst movie I have seen in a very, very long time. It is the biggest waste of time and money, and there is actually nothing redeeming about it at all. There is only one reason it is not number 1....

01. Enemy - Enemy is my worst movie of the year for quite a few reasons. First of all, it's a terrible movie. But more importantly, it had every single opportunity to be a good movie and it wasted every one of them. It has a riveting leading man at its core, decent enough directing, a story that could be interesting. And it still manages to be straight up bad. It's not just the ridiculous ending or the fact that it's fans online say things like "if you don't like it, then you must not GET it." Oh, I understand it just fine, and it was nothing but a huge failure that tried to hard to be quirky and off beat. Next time, just try to be good.