1.
Guardians of the Galaxy – Keep in mind that I haven’t seen really
any of the latest Oscar contenders, but I’m pretty sure none of them will be as
singularly fun, fresh, geeky, entertaining, action-packed, and cool as this one
was. Credit to the filmmakers for
basically giving us a Breakfast Club version of misfit and mismatched super
heroes. And to the cast and voice-work
for being pitch perfect.
2.
How to Train Your
Dragon 2 – Tough
call to put this so high on the list, but it really was one of the more
transporting movies for me this year.
When I watched it again at home with the family, I was just as
enthralled. These films tap into real
emotion.
3.
Captain
America: The Winter Soldier – This one stands
tall in the pantheon of comic book movies, right beside The Dark Knight. It transcends the genre and felt immediate
and urgent with the politics in play. This
is modern day action filmmaking at its best.
4.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – I concede that
this trilogy isn’t quite on the level of Peter Jackson’s first foray into
Middle Earth…but honestly, did it ever stand a chance in that comparison? It didn’t, but it doesn’t need to. He succeeded where George Lucas
couldn’t. He returned for a trilogy that
feels truly connected to the original films and expands the world on
screen. And this closing version
couldn’t have been handled better, in my opinion.
5.
The LEGO Movie – This movie is so
fast and funny, I didn’t catch all the jokes on my first viewing. It basically vomits color onto the screen,
but that’s not a bad thing when it’s handled as shrewdly as this is. Fun stuff.
6.
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Pulling the two
separate casts together was a gimmick I fell for. My complaint is they didn’t give us enough of
the future world overrun by Sentinels, but what little they did provide was
great. And any X-Men film with McAvoy
and Fassbender in those roles will probably default to being on my Top 10
list. They are just awesome.
7.
Lone Survivor – Tense telling of
real bravery. The movie is staged and
acted so well that the message of honor for these fallen soldiers really comes
across.
8.
Edge of Tomorrow – Slick science
fiction.
9.
The Fault in Our
Stars – Well…it
made me cry.
10.
American Hustle – This was a
holdover from 2013 that I didn’t catch until this year. As an ensemble, the cast is terrific. Feels like a tribute film to the Scorcese
gangster classics. It works. And
Jennifer Lawrence is memorable in her crazy lady performance.
