"Chef" was a movie I hadn't heard about until two of my favorite film critics reviewed it and praised very highly. So I saw it was playing at my local theater and I checked it out, I loved it. Written, directed, and starring Jon Favreau, the movie follows a celebrity chef who ends up quitting his job at a fancy restaurant due to disagreements with his boss. Recently divorced and becoming distant from his son, he decides to be his own boss and buys a food truck in Miami. He then travels the country with his partner and his son serving up food on their way back to Los Angeles. A surprisingly great film, this is one that has flown under a lot of people's radar. Fortunately, due to word of mouth this movie is getting the recognition it deserves.
To be honest, up to its release I was not particularly interested in this movie; the main reason was that I hadn't been very impressed with the second generation of Marvel movies (consisting of "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World") up to that point. But to my surprise, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" was actually pretty great and a huge improvement over its lackluster predecessor. With improved CGI, awesome action sequences, well written dialog, and themes paralleling what is happening in our world today, "The Winter Soldier" doesn't just work as a badass superhero movie but also as a top notch spy thriller. This movie gives me hope that the upcoming Marvel movies can also be great, and it sure gets my pumped for "Avengers: Age of Ultron."
I was looking forward to this movie since the moment I heard about it. It seemed that it was going to combine the best elements from the original X-Men movies and "X-Men: First Class." It was also going to be directed by Bryan Singer (director of the first two, and arguably best, X-Men movies). At one point I thought my expectations were to high and was afraid that the movie wasn't going to live up to my expectations; Fortunately, "X-Men: Days of Future Past" managed to go above and beyond all the expectations I had for it. Not only is it the best X-Men movie, I would rank it in the top five superhero movies ever. The next film in the series "X-Men: Apocalypse" (set to be released in 2016) is also set to be directed by Singer, and may even be the final X-Men movie with this group of actors attached to it. If so I'm sorry to see this saga to end, but it's produced some of the best superhero movies ever.
This was a movie I had never heard of until its release where I saw it had a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so I decided to give it a shot; and what I saw was one of the best stories of revenge I have seen in a very long time. The plot revolves around a homeless man who learns that the man responsible for the death of his parents is being released from prison, so he travels across country and tracks the man down; he then needs to make a decision, kill him and potentially ruin his life or let sleeping dogs lie. This is a dark and depressing film where, in the end, no one has a chance of winning. Funded through the website Kickstarter, this was a movie that came close to never being made. Fortunately though, some very generous people decided to give it a chance and because of them we got one of the best movies of the year.
There were few movies this year I was looking forward to as much as this one. Being the sequel to my favorite animated film of all time, it had a lot to live up to; and amazingly, it did just that. "How to Train Your Dragon 2" is the sequel to my favorite animated film of all time, and the series is based off of a series of books that I read when I was younger (a few of them anyway). Taking place five years after the events of the first film, a young man named Hiccup (who learned how to befriend dragons) is coming into his own but his ambitions conflict with what his father wants for him. Filled with action, comedy, and heartbreak, "How to Train Your Dragon 2" is simply one of the best animated films of all time. A third film is set to come out in 2016, it has a lot to live up to but I believe DreamWorks Animation can turn this into the greatest animated trilogy ever alongside "Toy Story."
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson is one of the most talented, unique, and distinguished directors in the game right now. One of my personal favorite directors, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is one of the best movies of his already impressive filmography. Taking place in a fictional 1930s Europe, the story follows a hotel manager and his lobby boy as he tries to claim a priceless painting gifted by him from a deceased lover; tons of shenanigans and Wes Anderson's sense of dry humor, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is the funniest film he's ever made and maybe the funniest film of the year. Wes Anderson has been snubbed for tons of Oscar nominations over the years, but with all the acclaim surrounding this film I hope we see a lot of it this award season.
Going into 2014, this was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. The sequel to the 2011 action movie "The Raid: Redemption," "Berandal" was marketed as one of the greatest action movies of all time. After watching it, I can confirm that as a fact. Taking place right after the events of its predecessor, "Berandal" continues to follow the rookie cop Rama as he goes undercover to take down the biggest crime families in the city. While it stands out as an astonishing action film, the much improved dialog and story makes it work as a great gangster/crime thriller. 2014 has been a pretty great year for movies thus far, and there are many more movies coming out later this year that I am sure will be great; but in years to come, the film I will most remember from 2014 will probably be "The Raid 2: Berandal."
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: James McAvoy (X-Men: Days of Future Past)
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Tie- Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: Days of Future Past)/ Julia Roberts (The Normal Heart)
Best Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Best Cinematography: The Raid 2: Berandal
Best Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Director: Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Best Documentary Feature: Jodorowsky's Dune
Best Film Editing: The Raid 2: Berandal
Best Foreign Language Film: The Raid 2: Berandal
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best Original Score: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Best Original Song: Where No One Goes (How to Train Your Dragon 2)
Best Picture: The Raid 2: Berandal
Best Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Sound Editing: Godzilla
Best Sound Mixing: Godzilla
Best Visual Effects: Godzilla
Best Adapted Screenplay: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
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