Top 10 Films Of 2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        Here they are---those films that have most stuck with me and have managed to crack my top 10 list. These are those 2014 films that made me love going to the cinema and seeing the film's respective filmmakers at work with googly eyes. Please note that films such as A Most Violent Year, American Sniper, Still Alice and Inherent Vice I have yet to see so these are my top 10 of what I have seen so far. Also note that this is my personal list and thus my #2 or #3 may be something you personally don't enjoy but those are because these are my picks. Some (or a lot of) films that I loved that just missed are Cold In July, Locke, The Lego Movie, The Guest, The Babadook, Big Hero 6, The Imitation Game, 22 Jump Street, Chef, Love Is Strange, Snowpiercer, The Raid 2, They Came Together, Begin Again, Neighbors, Selma, The Theory Of Everything, Gone Girl, Wild, Unbroken, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fury, Foxcatcher, Beyond The Lights, The One I Love, John Wick, Force Majeure and The Grand Seduction. What a great year when all of those films couldn't make their way into my top 10! However, I do see around 300 films  a year in the theater so even making my top 30 is high praise. So I will finally get into these wonderful pieces of art without further ado.
(10) Whiplash

               With a menacing, lifetime performance from the always reliable JK Simmons and an amazing cast including Miles Teller, Paul Reiser and Melissa Benoist, Whiplash shows just how great it is when a film with a seemingly simple concept is made into a balls to the wall, intense drama that often becomes a thriller. This is truly one of the most engrossing films of 2014. However, it is only number 10 because it was such a great year.
(9) The Double

                   Richard Ayoade of the hilarious British sitcom "The IT Crowd" directs his second feature, The Double about two completely different men (Jesse Eisenberg, perfectly playing both roles) who could not be more different personality wise but could not be more similar looks wise. This is a film that has cult status written all over it and something that should be watched by all up and coming filmmakers on how to do everything right when it comes to writing, directing and acting. Visually stunning and entertaining every second of the way, this is as perfect a dark comedy as they come.
(8) Enemy

                   Another film about two men (Jake Gyllenhaal, amazing as ever in both roles) who couldn't be more different with personality but are eerily similar with looks, the excellent director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Incendies) takes on a significantly darker and more confusing but slightly more successful film. This gritty and downright dirty drama angered  a lot of people for both its bizarre subtext and shocking twist but it is a fascinating piece of film making that is a prime example of why going to the cinema is still a very rewarding experience.
(7) The Grand Budapest Hotel

                   With a pitch perfect performance by Ralph Fiennes (very worthy of an Oscar nomination here) and laughs galore, Wes Anderson's crazy comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel is his most bizarre yet but also his funniest and by far his most visually stunning. This is a film for anyone who truly loves film as an art form. The supporting cast including all of Anderson's regulars along with Saorise Ronan, Mathieu Almaric and newcomer Tony Revolori as an eager lobby boy are all fantastic as well.
(6) Nightcrawler

                Calling Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as a mentally disturbed man who shoots crime scenes for the news in this completely engaging thriller amazing would be doing the man a disservice. He completely transforms into the character he is asked to play and never for a second did I realize I was watching someone act. Gyllenhaal completely convinced me that he WAS this insane cameraman. This film proves why he is deservedly everywhere nowadays.
(5) Blue Ruin

                An absolutely astonishing film from long time friends Macon Blair (the star, giving an outstanding performance) and Jeremy Saulnier, Blue Ruin was sadly seen by only a handful of people when it got a theatrical release. This is a film that will no doubt find a huge audience on home video and be hailed as a "legendary cult film" in a few years time. This is a revenge thriller that brilliantly satirizes the very thing it is. This is especially impressive because (A) it hilariously satirizes it without ever making the audience feel as if it's forced and (B) it manages to work as both a dark comedy and a gritty revenge film. This is a film that should be seen by anyone who wants to see how great a film made with a low budget and little resources can truly be.
(4) Pride

                           Forget the generic title---Pride is the most feel good film I saw all year. With a wonderful young lead cast including George MacKay, Ben Schnetzer and Andrew Scott among others and a fantastic older supporting cast including Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West and Paddy Considine, this is a hilarious, inspiring and heart wrenching film about doing what your heart tells you is right. Sadly, Nighy will probably not get a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his brilliantly underplayed performance as a local man who's sweet and gentle but not very articulate and therefore not able to help as much as he might like. Watching this film is an absolutely delightful experience that should be had by all.
(3) Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

                               Michael Keaton knocks it out of the park with this performance as a formerly thriving actor who's trying to get his life back on track by directing and starring in his own play. Along the way, he has to deal with a talented but obnoxious and abrasive co-star (Edward Norton,) his critical daughter (Emma Stone) and wife (Amy Ryan) and the voice of his superhero alter ego that just won't leave him alone among other things. This comedy/drama is made all the more poignant and interesting by the fact that it is seemingly a semi-autobiographical tale of both Keaton and Norton's real lives. The film is also shot in one long take, which adds to the cleverness and intimacy of the production.
(2) Boyhood

                              A beautiful, astonishing and universally relate-able film shot over 12 years by director Richard Linklater and using the same actors, seeing this masterpiece is one of the most endearing experiences I've ever had at the cinema. Ellar Coltrane, a newcomer and the star of this film, has a very bright future ahead of him in Hollywood. He gives one of the best performances I have ever seen as a guy who grows up and sees the world around him through a unique lens. Boyhood is made all the better by the fact that it shows a pile of seemingly insignificant events and constructs them together to make the audience realize just how lucky each and every one of us are to be alive in this second. Linklater took a chance with this production and it paid off big time.
(1) Life Itself

                                       You can call me a biased man for putting a documentary about the man who got me into film in the first place as my favorite film of 2014. However, if this is not the most beautiful film I have ever seen, I don't know what is. The magic of this film is both how director Steve James let the story be what Roger Ebert wanted and how it's an uplifting and spellbinding documentary even for people who couldn't care less about Ebert or even film as an art form. James wonderfully tells Ebert's life tales not as simply about a man and his passion for film but as a largely universal tale of chasing one's passions and doing what matters to one's inner self. Although the MPAA shamefully slapped this film with an R rating, this documentary should no doubt be shown to high school and middle school students around the world as an inspiration to work hard and succeed in doing what you want with your life. I'll be hard pressed to find any film as moving, powerful or just plain amazing to me as this one in quite some time.

                                     There they are....the films that made my 2014 film going year a bright one. Here's hoping that 2015 turns out films that are equally as great and in even larger quantities.