Ben's Top 10 Films of 2014

Hey everyone! After a couple of years away, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm back with the gang at GeekTyrant. This was where I got my start writing about film and television online, and I'm very excited to return to the team, help the site move forward in 2015, and start interacting with this awesome community again.

As you recover from last night's New Year's Eve festivities, I wanted to offer up a list of my favorite films of 2014. Chances are pretty good you've seen a handful of these films, but maybe there are a couple that you haven't seen, and this list may encourage you to check them out to see where they'd rank on your own list. Enjoy!

10. Enemy

One of the most enigmatic movies in recent memory, Denis Villeneuve's Enemy is a strange, hazy, horrifying, nightmare that has haunted me since I saw it in March. Led by a dual performance from Villeneuve's Prisoners star Jake Gyllenhaal, the film follows a man who discovers his doppelganger and the terrifying consequences that follow their confrontation. Shot in Toronto and bathed in a washed-out yellow color palette, this is far from your average "twin" movie: it's full of bizarre and creepy spider imagery and a palpable sense of dread reminiscent of David Lynch. I'm not even certain I can fully explain exactly what happens in the movie, but it's stuck with me for months after my initial viewing and features one of the most spine-tingling final shots of the past few years.

9. The Raid 2

Gareth Evans' sequel to his martial arts masterpiece The Raid suffers from being a touch too ambitious for its own good, but I'd much rather have a filmmaker deliver a movie that tries too hard than one that doesn't try hard enough. The narrative gets bogged down with double-crosses and gang warfare politics as Evans expands this franchise's universe, but it also includes the most incredible fight choreography I've ever seen. Utilizing inventive handheld camera techniques (like physically passing a camera through a moving car window and out the other side in one long continuous shot) to showcase the bone-crunching awesomeness of star Iko Uwais, Evans once again proves that he's one of the best directors working in action cinema today. 

8. Edge of Tomorrow

I wasn't thrilled to go into another Tom Cruise sci-fi film so soon after being disappointed by his last effort in that genre (Oblivion). But a wonderful performance by Cruise, a star-making turn by Emily Blunt, and a fun script filtered through the vision of director Doug Liman resulted in one of the most surprisingly fun times at the theater I had all year. This is a terrific movie, full of action and heart, but it failed to catch on with audiences and ended up being a financial disappointment. That's OK, though: most cult classics start out that way, and Edge of Tomorrow is destined to become a sci-fi favorite that stands the test of time.

7. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

From the opening shot - an extreme close-up of Caesar's eyes - filmmaker Matt Reeves essentially dares the audience to find a flaw in his team's visual effects. But the movie is so strong that none can be found, and the performance capture work by star Andy Serkis shines even brighter than in the surprisingly great Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This sequel has a lot more going on, with themes of fatherhood and community playing out in dual storylines between the ape characters and the human ones. While stars Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, and Keri Russell are OK in the movie, this movie really belongs to the apes, with Serkis' Caesar becoming a more fleshed out leader and Toby Kebbell's work as Koba standing out as a highlight. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was among the few movies released in 2014 that proved studios can still make intelligent, moving summer features...which feels like a downright radical notion when you look at the majority of its contemporaries.

6. The LEGO Movie

Against all odds, writer/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller somehow took yet another property that sounded like an absolutely horrible idea and turned it into one of the year's best movies. They've quickly become some of my favorite filmmakers, and even though The LEGO Movie is animated, you can still feel their kinetic style and wonderful sense of heart flowing through every frame. It's an encouraging tribute to originality in the face of overwhelming conformity, full of fun visual gags, great cameos, and truly smart writing. Oh, and did I mention it's hilarious?

5. Selma

It's simple: there wasn't a more timely or relevant movie in 2014 than Selma. David Oyelowo's towering portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr. isn't your typical biased biopic schmaltz - this is a movie that shows a leader of a social movement, warts and all, and how he inspired those around him to enact measurable change in our country at a time of extreme hardship. Sounds like something all Americans should see right now, doesn't it?

4. Nightcrawler

A twisted look at the American Dream as seen through the eyes of a total sociopath, Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler is such a tremendous film that it's hard to believe it's his directorial debut. Amid gorgeous cinematography of Los Angeles at night, Jake Gyllenhaal delivers one of the year's best performances as Lou Bloom, a scheming, relentless capitalist who will rise to the top of his field regardless of the human lives he leaves in his wake. This isn't a satire of local news: it's a warning against the "do whatever it takes" mentality that arises out of tough economic times, with Gilroy seemingly pleading with us to retain our humanity and not become the monster he and Gyllenhaal created to lead this film.

3. Gone Girl

David Fincher returns with a sexy, fast-paced, twisty thriller packed with shocking reveals and WTF moments. Writer Gillian Flynn adapted the screenplay from her own mega-hit novel, and leads Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck rise to the challenge of delivering her blistering dialogue and pulling off some diabolical reversals and betrayals as the curtain is slowly pulled back to reveal their characters' true motives. Gone Girl is a spellbinding nail-biter of a film, and it's easily one of the most purely entertaining things Fincher has ever directed.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy

Who could have predicted that Marvel's most bizarre movie to date would also become the highest-grossing domestic release of 2014? James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy is a rare instance in which a film is actually worthy of its massive box office success (unlike, say, the piece of garbage that is Transformers: Age of Extinction). This is my favorite Marvel film so far, and the one that really put Chris Pratt on the map as a legitimate movie star. But even though I loved Star-Lord in the movie, it wasn't just Pratt that carried the project on his shoulders: this is a team-up movie through and through, and the fantastic ensemble cast settled into their roles so well that by the end it feels like you're watching a group of old friends hang out and go on adventures through space. Seeing this film was the most fun I had in a theater all year, and I can't wait to revisit this film again and again.

1. Whiplash

What a movie. A searing portrayal of the sacrifice, dedication, and hard work it takes to become a legend, Damien Chazelle's Whiplash is an astonishing piece of filmmaking that shot straight to the top of my "favorite movies of the year" list the moment I walked out of the theater. J.K. Simmons is breathtakingly good as the scariest conductor you've ever seen, and Miles Teller pours his heart and soul into his role of a young drummer desperate to achieve greatness. It's a shame more people haven't seen Whiplash (it rolled out across the country in waves, but didn't ever get the promotional push I feel it deserved), because it's quickly become one of my favorite movies of all time.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think of these picks, and I hope you all have an excellent 2015!