Favourite Films of 2014
 

It's nearing the end of another year and so naturally thoughts turn towards what was good and bad about the past 12 months.

Although I expect perhaps 1 or 2 more visits to the cinema before the end of the year my current records show I visited the cinema 220 times in 2014. In the end I managed 12 festivals, visited 30 cinemas in 11 towns, 6 countries and 2 continents. A record for me.

Although Hollywood, with a couple of notable exceptions, continues to disappoint I still found a great deal to like in 2014, here is my current (it shifts day-to-day) top 20 in alphabetical order:

20000 Days I am still not sure what to make of this, but it is a brilliant showcase for Nick Cave's music and that is enough for me.

Bag boy, lover boy A hot dog vendor undergoes a mental breakdown as he is brought into the dark world of fetish modelling by an unscrupulous photographer.

Boyhood a decade and a half in the making. Linklaters vision and achievement are extraordinary.

Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla A lonely ice cream salesman suffers a mental breakdown with devastating consequences.

Cold in July Revenge thrillers don't come much better than this.

Creep Just when you thought that the last drop of freshness had been squeezed from the found footage/POV genre another comes along with something new to offer.

Escape from tomorrow Guerrilla filming at Disney in Florida as a man suffers mental collapse while on holiday with his family at the resort.

Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Andersons best film for some time.

Housebound - this played at almost every festival I attended, winning prizes at most of them and deservedly so.

I am a knife with legs a film that shows it is still possible to do something that is completely original with almost no money at all.

In order of disappearance Black humour the way only Northern Europeans can manage.

Lost Soul The heartbreaking story of Richard Stanley's attempt to transfer H.G. Wells Island of Dr Moreau to the big screen. An attempt which pushed him into the wilderness and deprived us all of his talents for far too long.

Metalhead A small but brilliant Icelandic film on the corrosive effects of grief that is not properly expressed.

Only Lovers Left Alive Jarmusch at the top of his game.

Strange colours of your body's tears This is a wonderful art house Giallo,

Thou wast mild and lovely another art house horror that builds an almost unbearable claustrophobic tension from small quiet moments.

Under the Skin My favourite film of the year and probably the best essay on what it means to be alien/human since Bowies turn in The man who fell to earth.

We are the Best three girls form a punk band in this sweet coming of age story.

What We Do In the Shadows Housebound may have won all the awards but WWDITS has the most LOL moments of 2014.

Wolf A tough young street kid learns what it is to be a man in the projects of a Dutch industrial city.

But of course my absolute film highlight of 2014 was the opportunity to see Goblin perform the Suspiria score live at Grimmfest.

Of the films I saw in 2014 the only one I would not rush to see again was the ill-conceived Tammy.

What were your favourite cinema releases in 2014?

Not been to the cinema all year!!!!!....but totally agree with We are the Best. Fantastic film, full of warmth and life.

I've only seen two films from 2014 so far (Lucy and The Quiet Ones).

Both were fairly 'meh', although Lucy was at least entertaining - Besson is a pretty safe bet where entertaining action cinema is concerned.

It does take me a while catching up on all the new releases (well, at least the ones I want to see) due to not going to the cinema (although to contradict myself I did see Lucy at the cinema) or blind buying stuff (much); especially on initial release. I tend to to wait until films are available to rent from Lovefilm, or if it's something I really like the sound of, available as a 'cheap' blind buy.

A couple of films I really want to check out from this year though are Coherence and The Editor as both sound fantastic.

While this may seem lazy, here is my list of UK theatrical releases from 2014 I've seen from best to worst. :)

‎Films Of 2014 Ranked Roughly (UK Theatrical Dates), a list of films by Oliver Bulmer • Letterboxd

Thats the great thing being on this site people bring you're attention to films , must admit never even heard of half of these .
Not seen that many from this year but Raid 2 was excellent and Maze runner was better than i was expecting .

I agree with GAG, a lot of films i have seen in the past few years are from members of this forum sharing their reviews.

The Maze Runner is (like gag said) so much better than you might expect. It's really well made and to say the cast are mainly kids, all of the actors do such a great job in the films that you feel like your watching something more akin to 'Lord of the Fly's' rather than say the hunger games.

I haven't seen anything great other than the maze runner this year so I'd vote for that - but i did have to take a client to the cinema to see Nativity 3: Dude where's my donkey..... i have no words to describe that train wreck... just don't do it to yourself! ever!.

Yes I thought as well a kind of Lord of the fly's .
You're comment on seeing nativity 3 reminded me of a joke that highly amused me .
Dude where my Donkey as in the film Dude where my car starring Ashton Kutcher.

A comedian was once on about someone thought Ashton Kutcher was more famous than Demi Moore. so he had his little rant and said how can anyone think Ashton Kutcher more famous than Demi moore she been in lots of Famous films , Ghost , GI Jane , Charlie'sAngels amongst other films.
only famous thing i can find that Ashton Kutchers been in is Demi Moore :lol: :pound: .
Highly amused me.

The only major releases i've seen are -

Non-Stop
The Monuments Men
Noah
Last Vegas
Under the Skin

The new direct to dvd stuff goes as follows -

Afflicted
The Bunnyman Resurrection
The Factory
Goal of the Dead
Do Not Disturb
Tokarev
Reasonable Doubt
The Haunting Of Bates Hotel
Bloody Homecoming
The Hospital
Rage
Banshee Chapter
Stitch Face

I have got quite a few things to watch between now and the end of the year so i'll do a top ten then. :)

The Babadook without a doubt with Cold In July, a very close second, Lucy 3rd, Nightcrawler 4th, The Lego Movie 5th, As Above So Below 6th, The Purge: Anarchy 7th, Godzilla 8th.

The worst - Deliver Us From Evil - apart from Eric Banners performance, incredibly mediocre.

I have not seen many new releases this year.

The Best

Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Sabotage
Expendables 3
Interstellar
The Raid 2

The Good

The Hobbit Battle Of The Five Armies
Godzilla

The Bad

Xmen Days Of Future Past