Well it's not E3 so it must be a top 10 films list!
For me 2014 was a bit disappointing film-wise. Or so I thought before compiling the list of movies for this year's countdown. If I still rated films 1-10 I wouldn't give any 10s. But there's a couple of strong 9s. And the rest are definitely 8s.
There's a few films I didn't see this year either that could have possibly made the list. Edge of Tomorrow (or the much better named Live Die Repeat) was apparently fantastic as well as Nightcrawler and Gone Girl. This as always is just a hugely subjective, bias list of the films I saw this year. My pretend critic days are over. For now anyway.
I'll throw out a few honourable mentions. I saw Non-Stop recently and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. In the same way, Jack Ryan was a surprisingly fun popcorn-film.
I also really wanted to include The Hobbit Part 3 on here but sadly it just missed out. Not a bad film at all but I think it hit it's peak with Smaug in Part 2.
So with that here's the top 10 films I saw in 2014.
10.The Inbetweeners 2
I expected the worst and ended up laughing a lot more than I thought I would. Sure it's not as good as the TV show or the first film but there are definitely shades of what made The Inbetweeners so good initially all the way through this. For the sole reason that the film was so much better than what I expected, it makes it's way onto the list. The Inbetweeners have survived the their run without a single bad movie or episode.
Best bit: As much as everyone remembers the toilet humour based water slide segment, I laughed hard at the rape whistle scene. I felt it was the closest to the humour that was present in the early series.
9.The Raid 2
The Raid 2 is totally nuts and makes every western action film look a bit silly in comparison. Again while not quite as good as the first one, The Raid 2 is pretty stunning to watch. The fight scenes look completely real, I found myself asking myself again and again how people weren't actually getting hurt on set. A bit story heavy at the start but the action more than makes up for it. Brutal stuff.
Best bit: After a slow start shit starts to really go down in prison. That first fight in the mud is where you realise that you're dealing with more than just a lazy CG heavy action film.
8.The Wolf of Wall Street
A fantastic performance by Leonardo DiCaprio that makes a 3 hour run time feel like 2. And a half maybe. Yeah it's too long but it's still keeps your interest til the end. Leo's character is the such an asshole yet somehow he's remarkably cool. I kind of want to be him while at the same time properly not.
Best bit: The drug scene stands out as the films funniest moment. Jonah Hill making it all the better.
7.X-Men: Days of Future Past
The first of some great super hero films we got this year. For me it was possibly the best in the whole X-men series, great action, humour, incredible cast. The problem I find with X-Men films is that there are so many of them no one really gets a chance to shine. And while it's still the case for the most part in DOFP many of the characters such as McAvoy and Lawrence really stand out.
Best bit: The Quicksilver section while feeling a bit disjointed to the rest of the movie had a really great end pay off in the escape scene.
6.Guardians of the Galaxy
People seem to be in 2 camps with Guardians. Either the 'it was very good' camp or the 'it was EXCEPTIONALLY good!' camp. I unfortunately fall into the first but that's no bad thing. Marvel are on form once again here and I hope it's the start in a long series of films. It's a modern day (good) Star Wars, ignoring episode 7 which is coming out this year.
Best bit: The prison escape balanced action with comedy perfectly. It was chaotic, fun and a contributing factor to why it was one of the biggest box-office hits this year.
5. Mockingjay Part 1
It's a half a film but half of a very good film. if you were worried a Hunger Games movie wouldn't work without a Hunger Games you need to worry no more. Mockingjay part 1 shifts the focus to the politics of the world they live in and the lack of action is made up for in the scenes where Katniss and district 13 prepare for the final revolution. I have high hopes for part 2.
Best bit: The actiony bit in the trailer ends up being one of the only actiony bits in the film. But it's still fantastic edge of your seat stuff. The shot of the concrete tower slowly falling over is probably my favourite in the film.
4. A Million Ways To Die In The West
It's this years controversial choice. But honestly, I've not laughed this hard at a film in a long time. I was told a lot of the jokes fall flat but for me I found myself laughing all the way through. It's like a 2 hour Family Guy special set in the wild west. I'm sure that sounds like hell for some but for me I couldn't get enough.
Best bit: The moustache song. That is all.
3. The Amazing Spiderman 2
This split opinion but I honestly thought it was one of the best Spiderman films there's been, Tobey Maguire spideys included. Andrew Garfield still plays the character perfectly and the action scenes are in my opinion pretty stunning. Electro was a great villain and as much as The Green Goblin is a bit tacked on at the end it provides the film with a fantastic ending that pulls on the heart strings.
Best bit: The emotional end scene. Oh and the Times Square bit was very impressive.
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel created a film that didn't put a foot wrong. It's a tricky job to follow in the footsteps of Iron man or Thor when your super power is quite unspectacular. But bringing SHIELD into the story, making Black Widow interesting and punctuating the film with some fantastic action sequences I think Captain America 2 has become one of Marvel's strongest films. Top 3 for me at least.
Best bit: Any scene where The Cap was kicking ass was hugely enjoyable which probably made up a good 50% of the movie.
1.Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
The sequel to one of my favourite films of all time had big boots to fill. But it filled them well. The 10 years later scenario was a great direction to go in I thought and the disputes with both the human and ape societies kept me gripped. The story constantly kept me guessing and the action set-pieces really paid off. I now have to worry about Apes prequel 3 as it could potentially ruin a franchise that has become one of my favourites in all of film. Let's hope it doesn't.
Best bit: I remember sitting in the cinema watching an ape dual-wielding machine guns and thinking this scene probably won't be matched in terms of awesome this year. I was not wrong.
And now 2015. Jurassic World, 2 Pixar films, Star Wars, Avengers...I hope to see them all in next year's list.
