Movies of 2014 - Roundup

[jacey]

My year in film was SEMI-bookended by Hobbits. I saw the Desolation of Smaug (for the second time) in January, and The Battle of the Five Armies in late December. I know fantasy fans are deeply divided about Jackson's take on all things Middle-Earth, but though I've read and enjoyed Tolkien, I'm not such a fan that I recall every word and therefore resent every image on screen that doesn't match up with the pictures in my head. I love the movies (almost) unreservedly. A film isn't a book and though I was surprised when The Hobbit was stretched to three movies, I think Jackson made it work.

I saw 24 films in 2014, slightly fewer than my usual average of 30. Mostly my cinebuddy and I try to see science fiction and/or fantasy, though if it's a slow week we might be persuaded to something non-genre.

Highlights of 2014: Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America - The Winter Soldier, Edge of Tomorrow, Divergent and Interstellar, all hugely enjoyable. X-Men, Days of Future Past seemed to break the previous storylines and inexplicably reinstste Patrick Stewart's Prof X, which is fine by me. Hunger Games 3.1 is worth seeing, especially if you've already invested time in the first two, though making the third book (the weakest for me) into two movies is a bit of a stretch. Katniss has very little agency in the first half of the book and this is a problem which the film struggles to overcome. And while we're on YA dystopias... I enjoyed Divergent enough to put the DVD on my Christmas wish-list. (Thank you, Santa.) Like the Hunger Games it's another YA dystopia though this time with restrictive utopian overtones. It has good performances from the main cast and I look forward to the next two in the trilogy. I wanted to like The Maze Runner and The Giver, but couldn't work up much enthusiasm for either of them. I did, however, really enjoy Belle, which speculates as to how the presence of his black neice, Dido Elizabeth Belle, in his household, affected the ruling of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England, on the case of the Zong massacre.

I didn't particularly like Maleficent. The idea was sound, but Angelina Jolie didn't hit the spot for me. Ditto Transcendence. I like Johnny Depp, but this movie was instantly forgettable. Spiderman 2 was a storytelling mess. I'm really not sure it was time to remake Spidey. And talking of remakes, I wondered why they really needed to remake Annie, but the updated version will certainly work for a new generation of kids. I can see it becoming a staple afternoon holiday movie on TV in a few years time.

Best SF? Hard to choose between Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy and Edge of Tomorrow. They were all good for very different reasons. Honourable mentions: Divergent, X-Men - Days of Future Past, Captain America - The Winter Soldier and Hunger Games 3.1
Best Fantasy: The Hobbit - Desolation of Smaug. Honourable Mentions: How to Train your Dragon 2
Unexpected charmer: Chef, with John Favreau and a load of Hollywood's great and good in tiny cameo roles. This film had tremendous heart. If you didn't see it - get the DVD.
Worst movie of 2014: A Million Ways to Die in the West. Awful, just awful.
Worst genre movie of 2014: Lucy. Plot Holes-R-Us.

My reviews (in reverse date order)

1. Movie of the Week: Annie


2. Movie of the Week: The Hobbit - Battle of the Five Armies


3. Movie of the Week: Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1


4. Movie of the Week: The Maze Runner


5. Movie of the Week: Interstellar


6. Movie of the Week - The Giver


7. Movie of the Week - Lucy


8. Movies of the Week - Summer Roundup (covers 9 to 13)


9. How to Train Your Dragon 2


10. Guardians of the Galaxy


11. Maleficent


12. Chef


13. What If


14. Earth to Echo


15. Movie of the Week: Belle


16. Movie of the Week: Edge of Tomorrow


17. Movie of the Week: A Million Ways to Die in the West


18. Movie of the Week: X-Men: Days of Future Past


19. Movie of the Week: Spiderman 2


20. Movie of the Week: Transcendence


21. Movie of the Week: Divergent


22. Movie of the Week: The Monuments Men


23. Movie of the Week: Captain America - The Winter Soldier


24. Movie of the Week: The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug


25. Movie of the Week: Jack Ryan, Shadow Recruit

Comments

How do you do it?

[lizcounihan.livejournal.com]

As always - gobsmacked by how much you get done - reading, writing, viewing and, presumably, singing.
Good on you Jacey!

Re: How do you do it?

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

And running the music booking agency as well...

However, as you can see from my book roundup I'm way down on my reading for 2014. Just 19 books instead of the usual 50-60. As for the cinema I employ H to come and do the agency contracts on a Wednesday morning and then we go into Wakefield to do the cinema and a supermarket run on Wednesday afternoon. We don't manage to do it every week because H is sometimes away gigging, but we average 26 - 30 movies a year.

The next few months are going to be a bit busy because I have the edits for the second book to deal with before the end of March.