Top 10 Films of 2014
by Wilson Morales
December 29, 2014
Of the many films I have seen this year, these are the films I thought were the best of 2014. Some will be recognized come Oscar time and some may not, but if you get a chance, check out these films and see for yourself why I considered them among the top 10.
1. Selma
DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures
DIRECTOR: Ava DuVernay
PRODUCERS: Christian Colson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Oprah Winfrey
SCREENWRITER: Paul Webb
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bradford Young
EDITOR: Spencer Averick
COSTUME DESIGNER: Ruth E. Carter
CAST: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alessandro Nivola, Giovanni Ribisi, Common, Carmen Ejogo, Lorraine Toussaint, Tim Roth, Oprah Winfrey, Stephan James, Andre Holland, Tessa Thompson, Omar Dorsey, Colman Domingo, Wendell Pierce, Corey Reynolds, E. Roger-Mitchell, Ruben Staniago-Hudson, Trai Byers, Lakeith Stanfield, Henry G. Sanders, Charity Jordan, John Lavelle, Stan Houston, David Dwyer, Kent Falcoun, Niecy Nash, Stephen Root, Martin Sheen, Nigel Thatch, Dylan Baker
“Selma” is the story of a movement. The film chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” tells the story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.
The film stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr., Tom Wilkinson as Lyndon Baines Johnson, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, Andre Holland as Andrew Young, Omar J. Dorsey as James Orange, Alessandro Nivola as John Doar, Dylan Baker as J. Edgar Hoover, Giovanni Ribisi as Lee White, Common as James Bevel, Tessa Thompson as Diane Nash, Colman Domingo as Ralph Abernathy, Stephen Root as Al Lingo, Jeremy Strong as James Reeb, with Tim Roth as George Wallace, and Oprah Winfrey as Annie Lee Cooper.
2. Whiplash
Director: Damien Chazelle
Screenplay: Damien Chazelle
Cinematographer: Sharone Meir
Editor: Tom Cross
Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang, Max Kasch, Damon Gupton
“There are no two words more harmful than ‘good job.’” This sentiment — spoken by a music teacher to a young student — sows the seeds of a harsh tutelage in Whiplash, a cautionary tale about the pursuit of excellence.
In his second feature film, writer-director Damien Chazelle pits revered and feared jazz conservatory instructor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) against drumming prodigy Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller). Vying for a core position in Fletcher’s elite ensemble, and aspiring to no less than greatness, Neyman will do anything to secure first chair. Before long, reason is abandoned and civility deserted, and the blistered and bleeding Neyman succumbs to Fletcher’s abusive teaching techniques. But Neyman has a couple of surprises up his sleeve, and things will get progressively nastier — both on and off the stage — before their scorching musical showdown.
3. Birdman
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu
Screenwriters: Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo
Producers: Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole
Executive producers: Christopher Woodrow, Molly Conners, Sarah E. Johnson
Director of photography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Costume designer: Albert Wolsky
Editors: Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
Music: Antonio Sanchez
Cast: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Lindsay Duncan, Merritt Wever, Jeremy Shamos, Bill Camp, Damian Young
BIRDMAN or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is a black comedy that tells the story of an actor (Michael Keaton) – famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.
4. Nightcrawler
Distributor: Open Road Films
Director: Dan Gilroy
Producer: Michel Litvak, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy
Screenplay: Dan Gilroy
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit
Editor: John Gilroy
Music: James Newton Howard
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton
When dusk falls on Los Angeles, the nightcrawlers come out. Roaming the streets, cameras at the ready, they outrace ambulances to get to the scene of an accident or crime first, looking to bag footage they can sell to local television stations.In this gripping portrait of LA’s dark side from first-time director Dan Gilroy, local TV feeds on local crisis. Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a loner and petty thief adrift in the LA night when he happens upon the nightcrawlers in action. He gets himself a cheap video camera and a police radio scanner and begins the chase. Fresh car accidents, robbery victims, home invasions — everything is fair game. But the competition is stiff: Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) is already a seasoned professional with police contacts and a reliable buyer in TV producer Nina (Rene Russo).
But Lou has a nose for blood. Seemingly immune to the moral dilemmas of his new job, he doggedly pursues the most shocking scenes he can find. It turns out he also has the eye of an artist: if the scene doesn’t quite tell the story Nina needs — urban crime threatening innocent suburbanites — he is more than willing to enhance the picture.
5. The Theory Of Everything
Distributor: Focus Features
Executive Producer: Amelia Granger, Liza Chasin, David Kosse
Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten
Screenplay: Anthony McCarten
Source Author: Jane Hawking
Cinematographer: Benoit Delhomme
Editor: Jinx Godfrey
Sound: Glenn Freemantle
Music: Jóhann Jóhansson
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
Directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh (“Man on Wire”), the film is based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking.
Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.
6. Top Five
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Chris Rock
MPAA Rating: R (for strong sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language throughout and some drug use)
Screenwriter: Chris Rock
Cast: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Hart, Gabrielle Union, J.B. Smoove, Sherri Shepherd, Karlie Redd, Hayley Marie Norman, Ben Vereen, Cedric the Entertainer, Tracy Morgan, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Romany Malco, Hassan Johnson, Jay Pharoah, Leslie Jones, Michael Che, Adam Sandler, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld
In Top Five, Rock plays Andre Allen, a successful comedian and movie star who,having had his work recently savaged by a New York Times critic, is now in need of a hit. His fiancé (Gabrielle Union) wants him to help boost her reality TV show, while his agent, played by the rocket-fuelled Kevin Hart, tries to guide him to the next blockbuster. But what Andre really wants to do is make a serious, important film about the Haitian revolution. So he lets the Times back into his life, hoping to revitalize his image with a profile written by a whip-smart, irresistible journalist (Rosario Dawson). It’s the beginning of a beautiful sparring match.
The film is produced by Scott Rudin and Eli Bush. The Co-Producers are Shawn “Jay Z” Carter and Kanye West; the Executive Music Producer is Questlove. Barry Diller and Scott Rudin’s IACF financed the film.
7. Boyhood
Distributor: IFC Films
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriter: Richard Linklater
Producers: Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland
Executive producers: Jonathan Sehring, John Sloss
Directors of photography: Lee Daniel, Shane Kelly
Editor: Sandra Adair
Cast: Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, Marco Perella, Charlie Sexton, Jenni Tooley, Richard Jones, Karen Jones, Zoe Graham
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, “Boyhood” charts the rocky terrain of childhood like no other film has before. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations and all the moments in between become transcendent, set to a soundtrack spanning the years from Coldplay’s Yellow to Arcade Fire’s Deep Blue. “Boyhood” is both a nostalgic time capsule of the recent past and an ode to growing up and parenting. It’s impossible to watch Mason and his family without thinking about our own journey.
8 (TIE). Belle
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Amma Asante
Screenwriter: Misan Sagay
Producer: Damian Jones
Executive producers: Steve Christian, Julie Goldstein, Steve Norris, Ivan Dunleavy, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross, Christopher Collins
Director of photography: Ben Smithard
Production designer: Simon Bowles
Costume designer: Anushia Nieradzik
Editors: Pia Di Ciaula, Victoria Boydell
Music: Rachel Portman
Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid, Sarah Gadon, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Tom Felton, James Norton, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson
The film is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral.
Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) and his wife (Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing.
Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
8 (TIE). Beyond The Lights
Distributor: Relativity Studios
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Executive Producer: Tucker Tooley, Matt Alvarez, Robbie Brenner, Ron Burkle, Jason Colbeck
Producer: Stephanie Allain, Ryan Kavanaugh, Amar’e Stoudemire, Reggie Rock Bythewood
Production Company: Relativity Media, Undisputed Cinema, Homegrown Pictures, BET Films
Screenplay: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Cinematographer: Tami Reiker
Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Sound: Leslie Shatz, Colette Dahanne, Javier Bennassar
Production Designer: Cecilia Montiel
Principal Cast: Gugu Mbatha Raw, Nate Parker, Minnie Driver, Colson “MGK” Baker, Danny Glover, Aisha Hinds, Aml Ameen, Tyler Christopher, India Jean-Jacques
Beyond The Lights is the story of Noni Jean, a hot new artist who has just won a Grammy and is primed for stardom. But the pressures of success compel her to nearly end her life until she is saved by a young police officer named Kaz. They fall hard for each other, despite the protests of their parents who want each to focus on their own career ambitions. As far as Kaz’s father (Danny Glover) is concerned, his law-and-order work is only the first step towards a future career in politics. Kaz knows what it’s like to be groomed for greatness, and he has a way of looking right through Noni’s camera-ready facade that throws her off her game. But he might be the missing piece to unlock her artistic potential.
9. Keep On, Keepin’ On
Distributor: Radius-TWC
Director: Alan Hicks
Screenwriters: Alan Hicks, Davis Coombe
Producers: Quincy Jones, Paula DuPre Pesmen
Executive producers: Adam Hart, Alan Hicks, David Skinner, Adam Fell, Tom Gorai, Jill Mazursky
Director of photography: Adam Hart
Editor: Davis Coombe
Music: Justin Kauflin, Dave Grusin
Featuring: Quincy Jones, Clark Terry, Justin Kauflin, Gwen Terry
Shot over the course of five years by first time filmmaker Al Hicks, “Keep On Keepin’ On” depicts the remarkable story of 93-year-old jazz legend Clark Terry. A living monument to the Golden Era of Jazz, Terry — a mentor to Miles Davis — is among the few performers ever to have played in both Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s bands. In the 1960′s, he broke the color barrier as the first African-American staff musician at NBC — on “The Tonight Show.” Today, after a life spent working with and teaching the most totemic figures in jazz history, Terry continues to attract and cultivate budding talents. “Keep On Keepin’ On” highlights his friendship with the preternaturally gifted Justin Kauflin, a blind, 23-year-old piano prodigy who suffers from debilitating stage fright. Not long after Kauflin is invited to compete in an elite Jazz competition, Terry’s health takes a turn for the worse. As the clock ticks, we see two friends confront the toughest challenges of their lives. Kauflin’s work on the film’s score with composer Dave Grusin sets the tone for a story that spans decades, lifetimes and the entire history of modern Jazz, complete with firsthand anecdotes from Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock. “Keep On Keepin’ On” is a film crafted with great affection by Hicks — another former student of Terry’s — a grace note for his teacher, infused with soulfulness and serendipity.
10. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Wes Anderson
Screenwriter: Wes Anderson; story by Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness; inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig
Producers: Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson
Executive producers: Molly Cooper, Charlie Woebcken, Christoph Fisser, Henning Molfenter
Director of photography: Robert Yeoman
Production designer: Adam Stockhausen
Costume designer: Milena Canonero
Editor: Barney Pilling
Music: Alexander Desplat
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson
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