8. Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise is back with a bang in director Doug Liman’s military science fiction film adaption of the Japanese novel All You Need is Kill. Fan of battles involving the human race and aliens? Then Edge of Tomorrow is definitely a movie that will stomp your heart until the very end.
While battling an extraterrestrial enemy with the uncanny ability to know the future, Major William Cage realizes it is time to fight fire with fire. After being enabled with the same power as the aliens, Cage teams team up with Special Forces warrior Sergeant Rita Vrataski to put an end to the extraterrestrial race bent over domination.
7. Boyhood
Among the hundreds of movies released in the year 2014, if there is one movie capable enough to change people’s lives then it is none other than Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. The movie focuses on a six-year-old boy Mason Evans, Jr. who is riddled with his curiosity as the years pass.
Boyhood changes the very concept of such films which focus on children coming of age as director Linklater filmed the project over a long span of eleven years; with the filming initiated in May 2002 and completed in October 2013. The six-year-old Mason – portrayed by Ellar Coltrane – is shown literally growing up in front of the very eyes of the audience; adding flavor to the magnificent film.
6. The Raid 2: Berandal
Apparently, America and England are not the only countries that know a thing or two about the beauty of crime portrayal in their movies; add Indonesia to the list as well. As surprising as it may be, PT. Merantau Films and XYZ Films created a movie masterpiece by combining martial arts action and crime in the sequel to the 2012 film, The Raid: Redemption.
After the events of the first film, Rama becomes convinced that if he does not take an initiative to eradicate the corruption in his unfaithful police force, then no one would. Despite the run of the mill plot of the movie, the outstanding martial arts fight sequences throughout the film succeed very well in pulling its audiences to the edge of their seats.
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past
Hugh Jackman returns as the ferocious and barbaric mutant Wolverine for the seventh time. Bryan Singer – director of the first two films of the original X-Men Trilogy – proved that he is in no mood for fun and games when he set things right after the release of the mediocre film Wolverine as X-Men: Days of Future Past is the best X-Men movie so far.
Former best friends and present foes Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto form an alliance out of desperation in order to save their mutant race from extinction. Relying on Wolverine, the adamantium-laced savage is sent back to the past to make sure to save the lives of the very mutants he teamed up with so many times before.
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
For an independent film, The Grand Budapest Hotel might be the most uncanny comedy film that a British-German co-production can ever make. Directed by Wes Anderson; the star-studded cast of Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, and Edward Norton makes the movie certainly one of the funniest movies of the year.
The movie revolves around a thought-provoking murder mystery involving the famous concierge Monsieur Gustave H of the Grand Budapest Hotel and his friend, the enthusiastic lobby boy Zero Moustafa – portrayed by the unseasoned but promising actor Tony Revolori.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
Add Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, and former World Heavyweight Champion Dave Batista to the film adaption of a C-list comic book and you will not only get the highest-grossing superhero film of the year but the highest-grossing movie of the year.
What appeared as a poor project by Marvel Studios deemed to achieve mere cash from the box office by making a movie about a dysfunctional team of intergalactic criminals trying to save the universe, Guardians of the Galaxy managed to win the hearts of countless mind-blown comic book fans who were short of expectations.
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Hollywood knew it was about to engage in a brutal competition when Peter Jackson announced his intentions to make a prequel trilogy to the most epic adventurous trilogy of all time, The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the last big film of the year and the final chapter of the larger-than-life Hobbit series.
The amazing use of CGI, the excellent use of cinematography, and the battles of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, and Thorin Oakenshield against the devious Smaug make the movie worthy of praise for any movie of the year. Above all, Martin Freeman once again proved that his acting abilities are not only bound to the insane hit BBC show Sherlock.
1. Interstellar
And just when everyone thought that Christopher Nolan simply cannot make a better movie than Inception, he comes up with the science fiction space masterpiece Interstellar. Starring Academy Award winners Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, the movie took theaters around the world by storm (no pun intended).
Written by the untouchable team of brothers Christopher and Johnathan Nolan, the movie features the ambitious journey of a former NASA pilot Cooper who is called back to duty to join a team of valiant astronauts to travel through a wormhole in an attempt to save the human civilization on planet Earth.
Honorable Mentions
This list of the best titles of 2014 also deserves these mentions:
- The Babadook
- Predestination
- The Imitation Game
Feel free to share your best movies of 2014 that didn’t make it into this list in the comments section below!
