Ben's Top 10 Movies of 2014

For someone who has spent the better part of the last year reviewing movies, I actually hate ranking movies. When people ask me to name my favorite ... well, anything ... my default answer has always been "I don't have an absolute favorite."

For the most part, there are far too many variables to make a truly objective list. Sure, you can make some calls about the relative quality of one film over another, but these tend to be generalizations at best. It is possible to have two radically different films, complete opposites in tone and subject, which are equally fantastic. So how do you rank one ahead of the other? Eventually it becomes an exercise in splitting hairs and semantics. To-may-to, To-mah-to.

Still, end-of-the-year "Best of" lists are fun and traditional. Because I really don't believe you can truly rank a list of films this long objectively, here is simply a list of the films I most enjoyed in 2014. Please note there are a number of films on my "must-see" list that I haven't gotten the chance to catch yet (notably "Foxcatcher," "Nightcrawler," "Fury," "Locke" and "Under the Skin"), so I was not able to include them.

So, without further ado, here's my list:

#10. Obvious Child

First-time director Gillian Robespierre impressed me with her uncompromising and wickedly funny story about a woman who gets dumped, ends up pregnant after a drunken one-night stand, decides to get an abortion and struggles with the idea of a budding relationship with the not-baby's daddy. Jenny Slate shines as the woman in question, bringing equal parts charm, wit and dysfunction. In a film that could have easily devolved into lame rom-com tropes like a bizarro "Knocked Up," Robespierre and Slate instead deliver the kind of honest and poignant comedy of which Lena Dunham couldn't even dream.

#9. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

"Birdman" is a scathing dark comedy about celebrity that features a great performance by Michael Keaton and showy direction by Alejandro González Iñárritu. While I don't consider it quite as much of a landmark artistic achievement as some critics, I also wasn't put off by the uninterrupted long shot and improvisational jazz drum score. While the theatrics (pun intended) certainly drew attention to themselves, I felt they were appropriate to the storytelling and I enjoyed the overall effect. The film gets a little heavy-handed, venomous and batshit crazy near the end, but that's all just a reflection of Keaton's splendid performance as the increasingly deranged protagonist Riggan Thompson. No one, and I mean no one — actors, movie stars, critics, fans — escapes condemnation in "Birdman," and it's wonderful.

#8. Chef

Hollywood food movies are nothing new. Sensual films about great food — usually as a metaphor for romance — are a hit with audiences, and for good reason. Life, love, and great food are delights that translate well to the big screen. What sets director / star Jon Favreau's "Chef" apart is how it brings new themes to the food-movie genre. "Chef" is much less about romance than it is about one man's relationship with his career and his son. While many films of this type focus on the passion between two lovers, "Chef" is about a father passing on his passion for work and for life on to his son. It's a warm and touching story, told with a lot of fun, flair and style.

#7. Guardians of the Galaxy

Speaking of style, James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" exuded it from start to finish. For a few years now, fans and critics alike have decried the increasingly "dark and gritty" tone of comic-book movies, and then along comes this obscure band of space pirates like a ray of '70s Technicolor sunshine. A solid action / comedy on all fronts, "Guardians" was by far the most fun adventure to hit screens this year. No one will ever mistake it for a Best Picture contender, but sometimes just doing a simple thing really well, with high spirit, is more than enough to earn a place as one of the top films of the year.

#6. Boyhood

I never thought I would compare "Boyhood" to "Guardians of the Galaxy," but it strikes me that neither is a particularly great movie in terms of story or plot, but both reach great heights on the strength of the approach and processes their creators took to make them. Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" is a decent story that features some strong performances (especially from Patricia Arquette), but it was the documentary approach to filming that gave it a hyper-realistic sense of verisimilitude I've never experienced in a film before. It's far from perfect — I wasn't overly impressed with the entirety of Ellar Coltrane's performance — and by traditional measures, it's not that remarkable, but as an artistic endeavor I was blown away. In art, sometimes the form outweighs the content.

#5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

I'm not really much of a fan of director Wes Anderson, so take it with a grain of salt when I say that "The Grand Budapest Hotel" finally feels like the movie he's been trying to make for the last 15 years. While I enjoyed "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," I don't quite put them on a pedestal the way some do, and I can't say I really liked any of his movies since. That said, Anderson really brought it all together in this one, a delightful farce held together by a spectacularly entertaining performance by Ralph Fiennes. Anderson blended just the right proportions of snappy dialogue, slapstick comedy, absurd philosophy and auteur aesthetic in what might well be his masterpiece.

#4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The best action blockbuster of the summer also happened to be one of the best dramas of 2014, even more remarkable given that the featured performers were rendered digitally via motion-capture technology. You expect great effects and adventure set pieces in a film like "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," but what surprises is the depth of emotion and intelligence of the script. Behind touching and powerful performances by Andy Serkis (as Caesar) and Toby Kebbell (as Koba), I cared far more about the relationship between these particular talking apes than I did any of the characters in the supposedly more epic "Interstellar." "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" was this year's best combination of story and spectacle.

#3. Calvary

No, you probably haven't seen it. Yes, this is the inevitable "sleeper" movie that the critic feels compelled to champion because he feels it didn't get the attention it deserves. I told you these lists were pretty subjective. "Calvary," which I saw at the Indianapolis Film Festival, features a bravura performance by veteran character actor Brendan Gleeson ("In Bruges") as a Catholic priest who must struggle with his faith and his priestly vows to protect the sanctity of confession and the identity of a man who has threatened to murder him in seven days. Gleeson brings a nuanced performance full of warmth, humor, exasperation, anger, pain, despair, wisdom and faith. It's the kind of performance (and film) that stays with you well after the credits have rolled.

#2. Whiplash

Believe the hype. "Whiplash" lives up to its name as perhaps the smartest, sharpest and most dynamic film of 2014. I thought Gleeson showed more range, but J.K. Simmons steals the show with a powerhouse portrayal of one of the most memorable screen "villains" in a long time. It's a fantastic part in a brilliant screenplay that any actor would kill to have, and Simmons absolutely owns it, making it impossible to take your eyes off him any time he appears on camera. Young Miles Teller gives as well as he gets it here, and the two collaborate perfectly to deliver one of the most electric and pulse-pounding endings to a movie I've ever seen.

#1. Life Itself

As a fan of both documentaries and of Roger Ebert, I can honestly say I did not have a more powerful experience watching a film in 2014 than I did viewing "Life Itself." A thoughtful and artfully directed narrative of Ebert's career from his roots at the Chicago Sun-Times all the way through his heyday on "Sneak Previews" and "At the Movies" and then on to his devastating struggles with cancer late in life, this film contained more highs, lows, laughter and tears than any other this past year. A fitting and touching tribute to a man who loved movies, "Life Itself" didn't shrink away from examining the darker aspects of Ebert's life, from his often difficult, and always complex, relationship with fellow star critic Gene Siskel to his personal battles with alcohol. Tapping into the most magical and dramatic of sources — real life — Steve James' "Life Itself" is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen and my top pick for 2014.

And here are the rest of the films rounding out my Top 25 for 2014:

11. Wild - A great performance by Reese Witherspoon in an unvarnished look at a woman in pain and her journey to find peace of mind. Refreshingly free of clichés and beautifully shot. It nearly snuck in at No. 10, but I just found "Obvious Child" more endearing.

12. The Imitation Game - A flawlessly executed biopic that is certain to get a lot of attention at the Academy Awards. An excellent film but somehow just failed to really capture my imagination enough to earn a spot in the top 10.

13. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A big-budget summer blockbuster with the feel of a 1970s spy thriller, the "Captain America" franchise features the strongest scripts of any of the Marvel movies.

14. X-Men: Days of Future Past - A long-overdue return to greatness and outstanding "soft reboot" for the X-Men franchise. Evan Peters as Quicksilver nearly steals the whole show with what was probably the best effects-driven action scene of the year.

15. Marmato - My favorite from the Heartland Film Festival, an outstanding documentary about a 500-year-old Columbian mining town and the exploitation of natural resources and indigenous populations by multinational corporations.

16. St. Vincent - Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Jaeden Lieberher all give great performances, but I'm less high on this one than most; I felt the story was a little lacking, and smacked vaguely of Oscar-bait in the vein of "As Good as It Gets."

17. Uzumasa Limelight - Another one from Heartland — a fun, poignant and poetic film about an aging Japanese samurai film actor's last hurrah.

18. Gone Girl - David Fincher's back-door horror movie about identity, marriage and the media is a slow descent into the madness of suburban dystopia.

19. The Skeleton Twins - Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are shockingly good in this tragicomic family drama.

20. The Fault in Our Stars - A raw but uplifting story about dying teenagers who fall in love successfully walks the fine line between intensity and melodrama behind a smart and gutsy performance by young star Shailene Woodley.

21. A Most Wanted Man - Philip Seymour Hoffman is top-notch in his final lead role, playing a German spy master who must employ sometimes ruthless methods for the greater good. The final scene is a potent and striking metaphor for the tragic end of the talented Hoffman's career.

22. The Drop - Tom Hardy stands out in this moody and suspenseful character study / crime drama.

23. The House at the End of Time - Another sleeper, I felt this little-seen Venezuelan horror film (with a twist) was much superior to the more ballyhooed "The Babadook."

24. Cold in July - My final sleeper of 2014, this worthy homage to the cult-classic thrillers of the late ’80s pulp-video era stars "Dexter's" Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnson.

25. The Hundred-Foot Journey - Another very funny and entertaining "food movie," starring an enchanting Helen Mirren as a French restaurateur competing with rivals newly arrived from India.

So did your favorite movie make my list? What are some movies you think I missed? Sound off in the comments or hit up The Film Yap on Facebook and let me know what you think!

Be sure to check out these other great "Best of 2014" lists from The Film Yap:

Christopher Lloyd's Top 10 Joe Shearer's Top 15 Sam Watermeier's Top 10