Ten favourite movies of 2014
Here's a Top Ten list of my favourite movies of 2014. Only counting the films that I saw in cinemas and that are actually new, because I can't possibly remember what else I've watched.
Please remember that favourite means closest to my heart, not the best on some kind of objective standard (if such a thing exists).
1. Pride
If you follow me on Tumblr or Facebook, you already know how deeply I've fallen in love with this film about a group of gay and lesbian people supporting the miners' strike in 1984. Showing a positive side of gay history, and the gay community, is not something that happens often in mainstream film. Doing it with such skill and warmth is even better. In the past week and a half, I've seen it twice and ordered it on DVD.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
To the surprise of nobody. I've enjoyed Marvel's movies before, but this was the one I felt made the step from a good flick to a great one. It also cemented Steve Rogers as my chosen hero of the franchise, because he chooses others before himself, because he knows what it is to be hurt and dejected and keep on anyway.
3. Lilting
Generally speaking, I don't like movies about dead gay people, but this one, I don't mind. It's the story about a Chinese mother grieving for her dead son, and the son's secret boyfriend, and how the two are connected through the memory of him, even though they don't get along. It's a beautiful slice of life, and despite the theme it's more uplifting than depressing.
4. These Final Hours
Speaking of depressing, this is the finest movie of the year that I never want to see again. The world is coming to an end, and Australia is the last to go - so what do you do when you know everyone left on the planet has only hours to live? And you're kind of a fuckup to begin with? This film stomped on my heart with such skill that I adored it. Still doesn't mean I want to have my heart stomped again.
5. The Babadook
Another film I don't want to see again - though maybe, if I had someone to see it with who'd spend the night (and several nights after). Creepy, intimate horror movie that makes you care so much about the characters that your heart starts pounding at the first threat of violence. And creepy children's books will always be scary.
6. Dear White People
Funny, smart, and touching film about black students at a prestigious university which the white majority insists is "post-racial" even though it's anything but. The double-bind that the black protagonists find themselves in is shown in stark terms, and nobody manages to navigate the minefields without injuries - but the end tone is still hopeful.
7. Born to Fly
A documentary on the Streb Extreme Action company, which made me go "holy shit!" at the beauty and thrill of their marvellous stunts, while at the same time shaking my head at the mere notion of, say, attaching yourself to the London Eye and dancing while you're up in the air.
8. Housebound
Horror comedy that manages to be both funny and truly suspenseful, while also making me care about its belligerent protagonist and the people around her. As Kylie was forced into house arrest in a house that may well be haunted, I alternated between giggling and nail-biting, with the most hearty laugh coming at a time when I genuinely had feared for a character's life.
9. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Caesar leads the apes during a time when war with the humans is looming and dissent roars in his own ranks. This was a hard film to watch, because you know it can't end well, but at times it comes to close to ending well, if only some characters would have made different choices, if only someone would stop to listen, if only... It's a brilliant story, and never once during the film did I think of the apes as CGI creatures. They were real to me. It all was.
10. Appropriate Behavior
I kept waffling back and forth between this and Maleficent, but in the end, this won out. It's a funny, realistic tale of a bisexual Iranian-American young woman who's trying to get over being dumped by her girlfriend, figure out a way to come out to her parents, and if possible, be a little less pathetic. Like a Meg Cabot novel for the queer audience, but better. :-)
And the ones that almost made the cut:
Maleficent
X-men: Days of Future Past
What We Do in the Shadows
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/630442.html and has
comments there.
Please remember that favourite means closest to my heart, not the best on some kind of objective standard (if such a thing exists).
1. Pride
If you follow me on Tumblr or Facebook, you already know how deeply I've fallen in love with this film about a group of gay and lesbian people supporting the miners' strike in 1984. Showing a positive side of gay history, and the gay community, is not something that happens often in mainstream film. Doing it with such skill and warmth is even better. In the past week and a half, I've seen it twice and ordered it on DVD.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
To the surprise of nobody. I've enjoyed Marvel's movies before, but this was the one I felt made the step from a good flick to a great one. It also cemented Steve Rogers as my chosen hero of the franchise, because he chooses others before himself, because he knows what it is to be hurt and dejected and keep on anyway.
3. Lilting
Generally speaking, I don't like movies about dead gay people, but this one, I don't mind. It's the story about a Chinese mother grieving for her dead son, and the son's secret boyfriend, and how the two are connected through the memory of him, even though they don't get along. It's a beautiful slice of life, and despite the theme it's more uplifting than depressing.
4. These Final Hours
Speaking of depressing, this is the finest movie of the year that I never want to see again. The world is coming to an end, and Australia is the last to go - so what do you do when you know everyone left on the planet has only hours to live? And you're kind of a fuckup to begin with? This film stomped on my heart with such skill that I adored it. Still doesn't mean I want to have my heart stomped again.
5. The Babadook
Another film I don't want to see again - though maybe, if I had someone to see it with who'd spend the night (and several nights after). Creepy, intimate horror movie that makes you care so much about the characters that your heart starts pounding at the first threat of violence. And creepy children's books will always be scary.
6. Dear White People
Funny, smart, and touching film about black students at a prestigious university which the white majority insists is "post-racial" even though it's anything but. The double-bind that the black protagonists find themselves in is shown in stark terms, and nobody manages to navigate the minefields without injuries - but the end tone is still hopeful.
7. Born to Fly
A documentary on the Streb Extreme Action company, which made me go "holy shit!" at the beauty and thrill of their marvellous stunts, while at the same time shaking my head at the mere notion of, say, attaching yourself to the London Eye and dancing while you're up in the air.
8. Housebound
Horror comedy that manages to be both funny and truly suspenseful, while also making me care about its belligerent protagonist and the people around her. As Kylie was forced into house arrest in a house that may well be haunted, I alternated between giggling and nail-biting, with the most hearty laugh coming at a time when I genuinely had feared for a character's life.
9. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Caesar leads the apes during a time when war with the humans is looming and dissent roars in his own ranks. This was a hard film to watch, because you know it can't end well, but at times it comes to close to ending well, if only some characters would have made different choices, if only someone would stop to listen, if only... It's a brilliant story, and never once during the film did I think of the apes as CGI creatures. They were real to me. It all was.
10. Appropriate Behavior
I kept waffling back and forth between this and Maleficent, but in the end, this won out. It's a funny, realistic tale of a bisexual Iranian-American young woman who's trying to get over being dumped by her girlfriend, figure out a way to come out to her parents, and if possible, be a little less pathetic. Like a Meg Cabot novel for the queer audience, but better. :-)
And the ones that almost made the cut:
Maleficent
X-men: Days of Future Past
What We Do in the Shadows
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/630442.html and has
comments there.