Jason Rantz’s top 10 films of 2014

The year 2014 was an interesting one for films. Despite some truly awful movies (Tusk, Transformers, Dumb and Dumber To), the year ended with a surprise flurry of inventive, powerful, inspirational movies that you must see. Here are the Top 10 films of 2014:

10. The Guest

Labeled a horror film (it’s not), Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens plays a soldier who worms his way into a family that lost their son in war and, suddenly, accidental deaths seem to pop up. It’s a movie that effectively melds genres: it’s 80’s thriller meets contemporary sci-fi.

9. Interstellar

Talk about an epic. This is an imaginative film that manages to explain complex issues in an accessible way. It’s emotional, somewhat manipulative, inspired, special-effects laden adventure and, despite the long run-time, manages to feel tight.

8. American Sniper

This is a tense, emotionally draining film about, Chris Kyle, the most effective sniper in American military history. Bradley Cooper does him justice in a very complex performance.

7. Force Majeur

This Swedish film focuses on a marriage ripped apart by how a husband deals with what he thinks is an avalanche about to hit him and his family. Did he run scared, abandoning his family, or did natural instincts take over and he’s being judged unfairly? This is a movie that gets you thinking about how you’d act in a similar life or death situation and your honest answer might disturb you.

6. Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal brilliantly plays a creepy freelance videographer that goes to great lengths to film disturbing crash and murder scenes to sell to local TV news stations in this crisp satire. Not the most realistic depiction of TV news, but what it lacks in believability, it makes up for in moody direction and layered performances.

5. The Theory of Everything

Eddie Redmayne may very well earn his first Oscar because his transformation into Stephen Hawking is nothing short of genius. The film follows the (not-so-true) story of his failed marriage to Jane Hawking (Felicity Jones) in the face of his illness. And despite a story that is ripe for melodrama, it manages not to be ineffectively sappy. The performance of Redmayne and Jones alone, catapults this film into the top 5.

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Arguably the best film by director Wes Anderson, this is a quirky comedy that, oddly enough, feels real, despite taking place in a fictitious European town with an ensemble cast of over-the-top caricatures.

3. Boyhood

It would be foolish to simply brush off Richard Linklater’s Boyhood as a movie propelled solely by the “stunt” (in this case, the film was shot over 12 years featuring all the actor’s as they naturally aged). While that’s what got me (and many others) so interested in this film, it’s Linklater’s handling of the subject matter that should be lauded. Rather than focus on the fleeting, cliched accomplishments each of us are likely to experience in life, Linklater’s film focuses on the more meaningful ones (from dealing with a struggling mom trying to find herself, to the constant moving, to an abusive stepfather).

2. Locke

Tom Hardy is one of film’s best actors and his talent is on full display in Locke, where he’s literally the only actor you see on screen. The entire film takes place in a car, on a highway, as he talks on a cell phone. We get to overhear every conversation and witness as Locke’s life quickly unravels. It’s a tense, focused performance that, on paper, will scare a lot of people away, but I promise it’s one of the most absorbing films of the year.

1. Whiplash

JK Simmons, who will get an Oscar win for this performance, plays a seemingly heartless, physically and mentally abusive college music instructor who thinks he’ll get the best out of his students with his brash, offensive, tyrannical methods. He’s mostly wrong and ineffective, but occasionally inspires greatness (particularly from a student, played earnestly by Miles Teller). I’ve worked with someone like Simmons’ character and it was a nightmare, but it’s the main reason this film resonated so much with me. This film leads to a lot of questions about the effectiveness of the teaching method (and if it does, indeed, work, you still wonder if it’s worth it). The last ten minutes of the film, alone, are better than every minute of film on this list; but the film is tight, fast-paced, wonderfully acted, and deeply impactful. Run to see this film.

Check out Tom Tangney’s top films of 2014