Anything Goes : What were everyone's favourite films of 2014? by Laurence Clarke

Grand Budapest Hotel Nightcrawler Jodorowsy's Dune Blue Ruin And what the hell... Guardians of the Galaxy

I enjoyed SAVING MR. BANKS - I thought The Grand Budapest Hotel possibly the most disappointing film of 2014.

Hey, Owen, I enjoyed Planet of the Apes, but I'm not a Chris Nolan fan - I'm not knocking the guy, but his films don't do it for me, especially the batman series - they were a huge success, but did nothing for me.

Personal Favorite of 2014: A Most Wanted Man Best of 2014: Boyhood Other Favorites: Birdman Calvary Enemy Foxcatcher Gone Girl Goodbye to Language Guardians of the Galaxy Interstellar Life Itself Locke Maidentrip Mr. Turner Nightcrawler The Grand Budapest Hotel The Tale of The Princess Kaguya Wild X-Men: Days of Future Past Middle of the Road: Big Eyes Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Frank Fury Edge of Tomorrow Godzilla Grace of Monaco How to Train Your Dragon 2 Noah Nymphomaniac Vol. I&II Still Alice St. Vincent The Imitation Game The Rover The Theory of Everything Transcendence Unbroken Under the Skin Worst of 2014: 300: Rise of an Empire Captain America: The Winter Soldier Exodus: Gods and Kings Lucy Maleficent Sin City: A Dame to Kill For The Amazing Spiderman 2 The Giver The Lego Movie The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies The Raid 2 Transformers: Age of Extinction Whiplash Best Picture: Boyhood Best Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Still Alice) Best Supporting Actor: Shia LeBeouf (Fury) Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) Best Animated Feature Film: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya Best Documentary: Life Itself Best Foreign Language Film: Goodbye to Language Best Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl Best Cinematography: (Tie) Goodbye to Language, Interstellar, Mr. Turner, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman Best Art Direction: The Grand Budapest Hotel Best Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel Best Makeup: Foxcatcher Best Score: Interstellar Best Editing: (Tie) Fury, Edge of Tomorrow, Gone Girl Best Visual Effects: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Best Sound Mix: Godzilla Best Sound Editing: Fury Best Short Film (Live Action or Animated): Expiration Date Favorite shot: http://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/10809_5.jpg Favorite Scene: Charles meets Charles (X-Men Days of Future Past) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCKWK6Bgktk Favorite Action Scene: Quicksilver takes out the guards (X-Men: Days of Future Past) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmJa5cv3kZM Favorite Action Moment: Godzilla first fires his atomic breath, Godzilla performs the Kiss of Death (Godzilla) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqgdWu4IvfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23aj7dbFyJw Favorite Movie Trailer: Interstellar: IMAX Exclusive (for some reason they never officially released this trailer so the link is to the only known bootleg that’s been taken of it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1u-JxaxYc8 Favorite Movie Quote: “It takes a minnow to catch a barracuda and a barracuda to catch a shark.” (Gunter Bachmann, A Most Wanted Man) Looking forward to seeing in 2015: Inherent Vice American Sniper A Most Violent Year The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her Selma Maps to the Stars Winter Sleep Mommy Blackhat In the Heart of the Sea Avengers: Age of Ultron The Walk Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Mad Max: Fury Road Jurassic World Tomorrowland Terminator: Genisys Ant-Man The Fantastic Four Everest The Jungle Book Untitled Cold War Spy Thriller Crimson Peak Spectre The Martian Mission: Impossible V Knight of Cups I Walk with the Dead Louder than Bombs Sea of Trees Life Sicario Silence Leviathan

All I know is Lego was great, Gone Girl had no soul and Luc Besson is the greatest opportunist in movies, milking the Taken cash cow for all its worth with The Family, then Three Days To Kill, then Lucy all months apart.. I think he wrote these scripts in less time than Costner had to take out his target...

Gone Girl was Fincher's take on the Sick Eros concept popularized by Antonioni.

I saw Mr. Turner, couldn't wait to see it, disappointed when I did - way too long, unnecessary scenes, scenes that were repeated, too long watching him die - the acting was excellent, the production quality excellent, but like an excellent meal, too much of it - this needed to be 40 minutes shorter, and both he and his father die quicker without all that coughing - should have been, could have been much better, while very well made it wasn't clever enough nor entertaining enough - see The Imitation Game and you will know what I mean, an excellent example of great filmmaking of a difficult subject, very entertaining.

Dave, I like Luc Besson as a rule, but geez, the second Taken was very average and Lucy tried hard, but didn't work for me, another movie that should have/could have been so much better.

Entertaining yes, but even that had fat that needed to be trimmed off. Also a masterclass in Oscar mongering about a currently popular public subject.

Christopher, is there any movie you didn't see in 2014, lol? You certainly take your films seriously, while I agree with many of your choices, I thought just as many failed to entertain and fell short - can't believe Noah was one of your favourites, pleased you included The Imitation Game and I actually really enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow, very under-rated - I would have given Best Actor to Benedict Cumberbatch - I agree with most of your 2015 choices, some excellent films are coming.

Call me Chris. My mom calls me Christopher. Yes plenty of movies I unfortunately did not get to last year. Playing catch-up as much as possible over the next 5 months or so before the summer rush. Noah was not one of my favorites. There is a middle section called "Middle of the Road" that Stage 32 didn't space out properly. At it's worst, Edge of Tomorrow is a video game where Tom Cruise has infinite lives. At it's best, Edge of Tomorrow is a well made video game where Tom Cruise has infinite lives.

Christopher, we may have to agree to disagree - the film was not perfect, but the ingredients just about were - the subject matter would have been a difficult sell, especially in the US, but I thought they pulled it off - Benedict was superb, the other actors excellent foils, just the right amount of humour/clashes/conflict - great writing, great execution - if this is a masterclass in Oscar mongering, it is well executed - all I know is that I walked out of the cinema impressed and entertained, but I can't say the same for Mr. Turner.

Hey, Chris - when the last third of Noah was primarily about whether he would murder his grandchild, well Aronofsky lost me - too many directors/writers bend-over backwards trying to make their version different, they sully what the story should have been in the first place - Exodus is another example of stuffing a film up - you must have seen The Ten Commandments, pure, PURE storytelling and that's why I go to the movies - the new, IMPROVED version is not always the best - I work on a simple criteria, the film did/did not entertain me and Edge of Tomorrow was a surprise, it certainly entertained me and a little like one of my favourites, Groundhog Day.

Mr. Turner is a different kind of film from Mr. Weinstein's movie. More of an existential/observational examination of the painter's last 25 years of life. Mr. Weinstein's film is more plot driven, centered mainly around Alan Turing's efforts to break the Enigma machine during WWII. The main problem I have with it is that they ultimately portrayed Turing as a tragic gay martyr. Weinstein is simply trying to play to the current times. He pulled off this same scheme when Sean Penn won over Mickey Rourke back in 2008 for playing Harvey Milk.

While Noah is flawed I thought Noah believing that his family needed to die out in order to preserve creation's purity made for some wonderfully original, darker character conflict that added complexity to the story. I did not care at all for Mr. Scott's interpretation of Moses's story.

I believe there are two kinds of films, one made for the audience and one self indulgent - Mr. Turner is the latter, The Imitation Game the former - watch Mr. Turner carefully, you're a filmmaker, it doesn't flow naturally - it is a series of bullet points put together, like when they tie him to that ship's mast so he can experience a storm first hand, you wouldn't know what's going on unless you knew his story - he visited Mrs. Booth too many times, unnecessary to make that point - when that girl sang that song at the piano, we didn't need the second song which wasn't as clever a ditty as they thought - why prolong his dying and coughing so long, totally annoying and unnecessary - I believe Alan Turing was a tragic gay martyr, geez, chemical castration is a shocking thing to force someone into, didn't see Harvey Milk.

I don't have an issue with Noah's darker character conflict, but it became too big an issue and too protracted in the film for me - I like dark, but found that aspect depressing - Sin City, now that is dark and how I like my dark.

I know what I am thank you very much.

Sin City was too much of the same. Nothing new or innovative to build on the foundation that the original laid out. Throwing Mickey Rourke into all but one of the stories became too much of a crutch, motivated by fan service and too many other uninteresting characters who couldn't hold their own without his help.

I agree with all your comments, liked this, but LOVED the first Sin City film.

Now that I think about it you remind me of one of those people in the movie who disregarded or laughed at Mr. Turner's pieces.

I was actually a Turner art fan well before this film was made - an exhibition of his works was displayed at the Adelaide art gallery not too long ago - his art was ahead of his time so it's no surprise that it would not appeal to everyone - the problem I had with this movie is that is was too long and certain scenes did not appear seamless, but add-ons, and I've explained those scenes in an earlier quote - delete 40 minutes by removing superfluous scenes, tighten the editing, a touch more humour and wit to add a little levity and it would have been a sharp film - but they didn't and it isn't and so we are left with a heavy-handed work, good, but plodding.

Everybody can find their own interpretation, and it's likely to be the right one.