***Favorite Films of 2014***

It's that time of the year again.  Time to expose my top favorite films of 2014.  I'm a fan of all movies:  big blockbusters, crazy foreign movies, awesome independent movies, etc.  It's always a challenge coming up with the list and numbering them. Some people will just put them in alphabetical order but that takes the fun out of it. The following are movies that either entertained me to the fullest, or connected well with me, or it was an overall good experience.  My rules are: any movie I've seen this year that are considered 2014 according to imdb.com (Movie Database Site).  Here we go:

Top 10 Favorites

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

2. Boyhood

3. The Guest

4. Interstellar

5. Birdman

6. The Lego Movie

7. The Raid 2

8. In Order of Disappearance

9. X-Men: Days of Future Past

10. Edge of Tomorrow 

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

Chef

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Gone Girl

Haemoo

The Tribe

Every year I have movie specials that I make specific movie nights for. 

This year I had Zatoichi Night, Western Wednesday, French Cinema Night, and Robot Friday.  I would do these once every month.  To have more fun with it, I like to list my most favorite to least favorite for each movie special.  Here we go:

Zatoichi Night

1. Zatoichi on the road

2. Adventures of Zatoichi

3. Zatoichi's Revenge

4. Zatoichi and the chest of gold

5. Zatoichi and the doomed man

6. Fight, Zatoichi, Fight

7. The Tale of Zatoichi Continues

8. New Tale of Zatoichi

9. Zatoichi's Flashing Sword

10. Zatoichi's Vengeance

11. Zatoichi the Fugitive

12. Zatoichi and the Chess Expert

Western Wednesday

1. Hang em high

2. High Plains Drifter

3. The Magnificent Seven

4. Blazing Saddles

5. The Alamo

6. The Wild Bunch

7. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

8. Rio Bravo

9. The Searchers

10. The Last Gun

11. The Burrowers

12. A Million Ways to die in the west

French Cinema Night

1. Diva

2. Le Samourai

3. La Haine

4. The Big Picture

5. Monsieur Hire

6. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

7. Band of Outsiders

8. The Bride That Wore Black

9. Point Blank

10. The Beat That My Heart Skipped

11. Breathless

12. Blue is the Warmest Color

Robot Friday

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past

2. The Iron Giant

3. Blade Runner (The Final Cut)

4. Westworld

5. Hardware

6. Robocop (2014 Remake)

7. Bicentennial Man

8. Automata

9. Infra-Man

10. Karate-Robo Zaborgar

11. Robot Stories

12. Killing Machine

That's it for 2014.  Time to prepare for 2015.

We have hopefully the new Tarantino movie (The Hateful Eight), the new Star Wars, Jurassic World, The Avengers 2, the new Mad Max, and much more.  

Happy New Year, everyone!

Wish I Was Here (2014)

Wish I Was Here IMDb

My last official 2014 movie this year is this dramedy.  It was so and so.  I mean, the set up was great.  Had lots of potential.  I actually laughed twice in the first 15 minutes.  But, it got boring for me.  I like the idea for this type of story and there were some charming fucking moments but overall, I just didn't care anymore.  I saw this on this lazy rainy Sunday afternoon while my son was running loose playing with his latest Christmas presents.  This is directed by Zack Braff who stars in it as well.  I remember he did Garden State and I wasn't fan of that one either.  A lot of people liked it.  Maybe those people might enjoy this one.

So my advice: wouldn't recommend this unless you like semi-depressing light hearted indie dramas.  I did like some of the dark humor on here.

The Imitation Game (2014)

The Imitation Game IMDb

Last night I saw Fury and this morning I woke up to another World War 2 movie.  This one is a drama and focuses on the man who built a machine and cracked an impossible German code.  Based on a true story.  I really enjoyed this one a little more than I expected.  I heard a big buzz about it.  Especially an Oscar buzz.  And since it mostly takes place during World War 2 (one of my favorite parts of history), I decided to see what the buzz is all about.  Now the performances were okay in my book.  What makes this movie for me is the story and the message.  The message is said in the dialogue:  "Sometimes is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."  It is about a man who was different from others.  Yes, it covers his homosexuality secret, which was illegal during those times.  To me, it's much more than that.  It's somewhat inspirational.  Benedict Cumberbatch plays that man.  He did good.  My heart still goes out to Michael Keaton's performance in Birdman.

A good movie that's recommended to those in the mood for a drama.  Clever!  I would buy this for my World War 2 collection.  I can see this getting an Oscar but I don't think I would put it in my personal top 10 favorites of the year.  

Fury (2014)

Fury IMDb

I was planning on watching The Imitation Game tonight but then I saw that this movie was playing at the discount theatre, so I decided to go with this first.  Love me a World War 2 movie.  I don't know why, but ever since I first learned about it back in the innocent school days, I became fascinated by it.  It was more interesting than most of the other historical crap.  I remember visiting the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles during a field trip and that fueled my fascination a lot more.  I have a World War 2 movie section.  So, having said all that, my personal comments on this movie will be more bias than before.  Of course, I enjoyed it.  Love the violent war scenes.  Love some intense moments.  As far as these characters, I wish I would have felt more for them.  They weren't that likeable.  So, in the climatic scenes, I didn't care too much if they lived or die.  That was probably the main thing that kept this from being awesome.  

I'll most likely add this movie to my WW2 section someday but not a priority.

Good solid entertainment.

The Tower

 The Tower IMDb

A little too dramatic towards the end but this Korean action movie was okay.  It takes place during Christmas Eve.  Hence, why I decided to watch this around this time.  I bought this sucker a few months ago for around 4 dollars and it was sitting in my To Watch shelf for all this time.  Was it worth the 4 dollars?  I guess a little bit.  I was wanting more.  Hell, I thought it was going to be a Die Hard ripoff.  That would've been cooler.  I didn't see the trailer or anything beforehand.  I just went with my gut, but my gut wanted some Korean BBQ.  The set up was okay.  Man, there were some tragic stuff here but other than that, I thought the last part was a little bit too dramatic.

This got me in a Die Hard mood, even though, this story is totally different.  Merry Christmas, everyone.  I'll be back with The Imitation Game on Friday.

Foxcatcher (2014)

Foxcatcher IMDb

I have to admit, I didn't know anything about this story that's based on actual events.  I went in just knowing that shit was going to go down towards the end but that's it.  My brother Erik and I went to the Violent Crown Cinema to witness great performances by Steve Carell, Channing fucking Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo.  It is a slow driven drama that requires lots of patience.  Then that tragic ending wakes you the fuck up.  I enjoyed it.  Not among my favorites of the year but worth watching for the story and performances.  Steve Carell plays one psychotic maniac.  Who would've thought?  I'm being sarcastic by the way. 

Worth checking out but not a priority.

Wild (2014)

Wild IMDb

I love movies about man versus nature.  In this case, woman versus nature.  This drama is more about coping with a loss.  This is all about Reese Witherspoon's performance.  The story was pretty good.  Witherspoon plays a lost soul who goes downhill after losing her mom.  When she reaches rock bottom, her husband divorces her.  So, in order to get her shit together, she decides to go on this big hike.  You know where this is going?  She battles her demons and with nature she finds herself.  Blah, blah, blah.  So predictable.  But, I kind of knew that going in.  I still wanted to check it out just because I can kind of relate to it.  I'm in the middle of finding myself again.  Wish I could've gone on a big multi-state hiking trip.  But, I got bills to pay and a son to feed.  I have to admit, keeping myself busy with my son, friends, dates, movies, and basically whatever the fuck I want, has helped me deal with stuff and life a lot better.  Hell, the son of a bitch from Jurassic Park was right, "life finds a way."  Back to this movie, I like some of the soundtrack.  Witherspoon's performance, pretty damn good. 

I wanted to see Into The Wild as a double feature with this but time is a motherfucker.  This is worth a peek.  I would rather recommend, Into The Wild, for a better and stronger story.

Robot Friday: Automata (2014)

Automata IMDb 

Due to the holidays next week, decided to do my last Robot Friday today.  I went with this new Sci-fi produced in Spain in English.  This was one of my most anticipated movies for Robot Friday.  I saw the trailer earlier in the year and I knew I had to do it.  It was also shown at Fantastic Fest this year but I skipped it and saved it for my last Robot Friday.  Well, what's the verdict?  It was a letdown.  It felt flat to me, especially towards the end.  I mean, I love the robots.  The designs look amazing.  Just needed more action or at least more substance to the story.  I did like a few moments here and there.  Also love how these robots interact.

Can't win them all.  If this movie still interests you, go in with low expectations.  At the end of the year, I will list my most favorite to least favorite.

French Cinema Night: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec IMDb 

My last French Cinema Night ends with this crazy/fantastic movie from Luc Besson.  You know?  That one guy who brought us Leon The Professional and The 5th Element.  This was a cute movie.  The main character, Adele, is an adventurous sweet charming girl.  It was love at first sight for me.  She goes onto an adventure to gather a few magical elements to save her sister's life.  Meanwhile, there's an evil pterodactyl attacking the city of Paris.  Yeah, it's that kind of a movie.  Nice balance of over the top stuff and adventure.  Anyways, I love all the other weird characters in this film.  Hell, I didn't mind the surprised ending where our main character is about to embark on a tragic journey.

This is worth checking out.  Saw this on Netflix.  I may buy it one day just for kicks.

And with that my friends, I end the last French Cinema Night.  It's funny that out of the four personal special movie nights I had each month this year, this was the one that I chose to do specifically for my girlfriend at that time, and it ended up being my favorite.  Love it.  I will list my most favorite to least favorite at the end of the year.

Here's a dubbed trailer:

Noah (2014)

Noah IMDb

Okay, so I'm not into biblical movies or movies inspired from biblical stories. The only reason I saw this was because of director Darren Aronofsky.  I love half of his movies so I gave this one a shot.  Now that I said that, I feel much better.  I didn't like this movie.  There were some okay moments but I'm not into these types of stories.  I know this has to be a lot different than the biblical version but I'm not into this mythology.   Even though this isn't the same type of movie, every once in a while, I'll be in the mood for a Roman and Greek Epic, but that's rare.  Man, I sound snobby.  Somebody shoot me!  Anyways, I gave this a chance and that's about it.  People are cruel here but I guess that's the message.

I wouldn't recommend this but I do recommend these works from the same director:

The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream, and Black Swan.

The Book of Life (2014)

The Book of Life IMDb

Took my little man to see another great Animation this year.  This was awesome, especially the first hour.  Then as soon as Ice Cube's voice is heard, it goes downhill from there.  I love me a nice romantic and funny love story.  Yes, behind this gore loving and revenge film addict, there's a soft spot.  And coming from a Mexican background, I couldn't help but appreciate all the cultural references on here.  We are some emotional fucking people, I'll tell you.  So, I love the story here except where it became a little too much towards the end. Still, it was entertaining.  Love the music covers on here also.  

"Play with your heart" and love conquers all kind of story.   Worth checking out.

And since the trailer referenced churros, well, it's only right to sneak some in.  There were two churro references.  And for the record, my son Nathan loved the movie.  That counts.

Western Wednesday: The Last Gun

 The Last Gun IMDb

Decided to watch a spaghetti western for my last Western Wednesday.  This one here was okay.  Lots of boring moments but the story was okay.  I like that we were introduced to the bad guys first.  Our actual main hero doesn't show up until almost halfway through.  Our hero is a masked guy who tries to help the Sheriff protect a shipment containing gold.  We find out who the masked guy is at the end which was disappointing.  

There, my last western wasn't entertaining but I did it.  Saw 12 westerns this year.  I'll put them from most favorite to least favorite at the end of the year.  Time to spark up a cigar!

German Trailer:

Jersey Boys (2014)

 Jersey Boys IMDb

Love me some good old fashioned oldies.  This movie is about The Four Seasons band and their rise to fame.  They're the ones that sing: Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, and Walk Like a Man.  Directed by Clint Eastwood.  While I did like most of the story and the music, I felt that there were some unnecessary moments.  I guess it was the style they were going for.  The narration got kind of annoying after a bit as well.  But, for the most part, I was entertained with this biopic.  Lots of ups and downs in the music business.  Lots of struggle and lost friendships.

It was worth checking out at Redbox.  I personally wouldn't buy it.  Now, I gotta download lots of Four Seasons songs I've never heard of.

Cashback

Cashback IMDb

Oh Netflix.  I haven't seen a movie on Netflix since....I don't know, a while.  Anyways, decided to go with this artsy drama about a guy who has insomnia due to a heartbreak.  To kill time during his insomnia, he works overnight at a grocery store.  Over time, he has the power in his head to freeze time.   While there was some pretty cool moments on here, the story was a bit unoriginal.  Of course, when you're broken hearted, you will find a moment where you let go.  There are tons of movies out there like that.  I mean, it's not easy letting go.  But, we all know that we let go at some point.  There is a scene on here that pisses me off.  Our main guy has finally moved on.  He is finally sleeping.  Then, at a party, his ex-girlfriend shows up.  She now wants him back.  Big surprise.  He's no longer interested.  Where was she when he was crying and not able to sleep for weeks?  She didn't care about that.  The moment that pissed me off was that our main guy's new date saw the ex-girlfriend making a move on the guy but it looked like the guy was enjoying it (which he was not).  His new date leaves the party.  That happens a lot in movies.  The grocery store scenes were okay.  

You're not missing anything special with this movie.  Other heartbreak/moving on movies to see that are a lot better:  Swingers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and maybe Glory Daze, oh, 500 Days of Summer.

Maleficent (2014)

Maleficent IMDb

This was okay to see.  A decent take on the Sleeping Beauty story.  I was told by a friend I recently met that this was her favorite movie this year.  Well, I wouldn't put this in my top favorites.  Hell, I wouldn't even want to buy it, but for what it was, it was okay.  Nothing special.  There was some okay wizard and magical moments but a lot of CGI ruins most of the magic. I liked the set up to this but after one third of the way, I lost interest.  Maybe it's not my thing.  So, moving on.  

I wouldn't recommend this unless you're a Harry Potter fan or something (maybe you'll enjoy it).  To each his own.

Zatoichi Night: Zatoichi's Vengeance

Zatoichi's Vengeance IMDb

This is very emotional for me.  It is the last Zatoichi Night of this year.  As tears roll down, I realized I still have 12 more Zatoichi movies to go to finish the box set.  So this isn't a goodbye.  No, I'm not having Zatoichi Night no more.  I'll try to knock the rest of the Zatoichi movies one month.  This movie right here has one of my favorite words in the title: Vengeance. Oh yeah, motherfuckers!  I'm sipping on my Wild Turkey and coke as I'm writing this, so bear with me.  Shit, I lost my train of thought.  I can't believe this is the last one this year.  I already said that.  Actually, this monthly special was overall okay.  I mean, all these movies are practically the same.  There are few differences in the stories but they still feel a bit repetitive.  This movie starts with a battle scene at the beginning.  And kudos for another battle scene that happens later where things were a bit different for our blind swordsman.  I'm talking about the scene where Zatoichi battles these 5 or 6 guys and then a bunch of drummers purposely surround him so he can't hear his enemies near him.  He still kicks ass.  The rest is the usual. Zatoichi saving another town from corrupted yakuzas.   Not bad.

Not among my favorites in the series but still okay.  At the end of the year, I will put all the movies I've seen for Zatoichi Night from most favorite to least favorite.