2014 Films
The ones I've seen in order of preference from most to least favourite.
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- DirectorAlonso RuizpalaciosStarsTenoch HuertaSebastián AguirreIlse SalasTomas is too much for his lone mother so she sends him to live with his older brother Federico, aka Sombra, in Mexico City.Brilliant film. Quasi-picaresque and very, very funny.
10/10 - DirectorPeter StricklandStarsSidse Babett KnudsenMonica SwinnChiara D'AnnaA woman who studies butterflies and moths tests the limits of her relationship with her lesbian lover.Weird and wonderful. The soundtrack is amazing as are the locations and photography. The actress who played Cynthia was hypnotic.
9.5/10 - DirectorAna Lily AmirpourStarsSheila VandArash MarandiMarshall ManeshIn the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.Dreamy, atmospheric, menacing and piquant. Loved the story, the slow b&w and the soundtrack.
9.5/10 - DirectorNaji Abu NowarStarsJacir Eid Al-HwietatHussein Salameh Al-SweilhiyeenHassan Mutlag Al-MaraiyehIn the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming-of-age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination.Beautiful and brilliant film.
9-9.5/10 - DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsMiles TellerJ.K. SimmonsMelissa BenoistA promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.Amazing film.
9.5/10 - DirectorAva DuVernayStarsDavid OyelowoCarmen EjogoOprah WinfreyA chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.Accomplished and compelling film.
9/10 - DirectorWes AndersonStarsRalph FiennesF. Murray AbrahamMathieu AmalricA writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge.My first watch from 2014 films, according to IMDb dates that is ... What a sumptuous film; resplendent in colour and style and cameos from a great range of actors. My only sorrow was that Owen Wilson featured so little.
9/10 - DirectorLenny AbrahamsonStarsMichael FassbenderDomhnall GleesonMaggie GyllenhaalJon, a young wanna-be musician, discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.A very sad film that is charming and beguiling. The soundtrack's on order. Love that the cast supplied most of the vocals. Maggie Gyllenhaal was really good in this.
9/10 - DirectorAndrey ZvyagintsevStarsAleksey SerebryakovElena LyadovaRoman MadyanovIn a Russian coastal town, Kolya is forced to fight the corrupt mayor when he is told that his house will be demolished. He recruits a lawyer friend to help, but the man's arrival brings further misfortune for Kolya and his family.Long and involved elegy of corruption, suffering and fate.
9/10 - DirectorRoy AnderssonStarsHolger AnderssonNils WestblomViktor GyllenbergSam and Jonathan, a pair of hapless novelty salesmen, embark on a tour of the human condition in reality and fantasy that unfold in a series of absurdist episodes.Brilliant. Original, funny, sad, kaleidoscopic.
9/10 - DirectorYi'nan DiaoStarsFan LiaoGwei Lun-MeiXuebing WangAn ex cop and his ex partner decide to follow up on investigation of a series of murders that ended their careers and shamed them, when identical murders begin again.Atmospheric and stunning film set amidst the chill and ice of Northern China. Interesting plot and complex characterisations.
8.5/10 - DirectorChristian PetzoldStarsNina HossRonald ZehrfeldNina KunzendorfAfter surviving Auschwitz, a former cabaret singer has her disfigured face reconstructed and returns to her war-ravaged hometown to seek out her gentile husband, who may or may not have betrayed her to the Nazis.Fascinating story told well.
8.5/10 - DirectorAbderrahmane SissakoStarsIbrahim AhmedAbel JafriToulou KikiA cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives -- which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith -- abruptly disturbed.Amazingly beautiful film full of passion, eccentricity and humanity amidst terrible turmoil.
9/10 - DirectorJuliano Ribeiro SalgadoWim WendersStarsSebastião SalgadoWim WendersLélia Wanick SalgadoThe life and work of photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has spent forty years documenting societies in hidden corners of the world.From the Greek, photography means to draw with light. This is what Sebastião Salgado does and many of his photographs seemed to be blessed with the presence of God.
9/10 - DirectorJames MarshStarsEddie RedmayneFelicity JonesTom PriorStephen Hawking gets unprecedented success in the field of physics despite being diagnosed with motor neuron disease at the age of 21. He defeats awful odds as his first wife Jane aids him loyally.Wonderful film; an inspiring subject treated elegantly and poetically. Oh and Eddie Redmayne was a-ma-zing!
9/10 - DirectorZeresenay MehariStarsMeron GetnetTizita HagereAbel AbebeA young lawyer travels to an Ethiopian village to represent Hirut, a 14-year-old girl who shot her would-be husband as he and others were practicing one of the nation's oldest traditions: abduction into marriage.Based on a true story, this is the very bittersweet tale of the wins and losses of a young Ethiopian girl.
8/10 - DirectorJuanfer AndrésEsteban RoelStarsMacarena GómezNadia de SantiagoHugo Silva1950s Madrid: The agoraphobic Montse raised her now 18 y.o. kid sister. The upstairs neighbor falls down the stairs and breaks a leg. The crazy Montse takes him in.Excellent psychological drama. Picturesque period piece with ugliness and sadness underneath. Impressive debut from the directors.
8/10 - DirectorWiam BedirxanOssama MohammedStarsTia AlkerdiYara IbrahimA look at first-hand video accounts of violence in modern-day Syria as filmed by activists in the besieged city of Homs.
- DirectorPaul KingStarsHugh BonnevilleSally HawkinsJulie WaltersA young Peruvian bear travels to London in search of a home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he meets the kindly Brown family, who offer him a temporary haven.
- DirectorÓscar Ruiz NaviaStarsJovan Alexis MarquinezCalvin BuenaventuraAtala EstradaRas is a construction worker and graffiti artist in his neighborhood of east Cali, Colombia. After he loses his job he sets off on a journey across the city to find another graffiti artist.Lovely film full of colour light, life, grit and death.
8/10 - DirectorBennett MillerStarsSteve CarellChanning TatumMark RuffaloU.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz join "Team Foxcatcher", led by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont, as they train for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, but John's self-destructive behavior threatens to consume them all.Pretty good film with a compelling story. Carell/Ruffalo/Tatum were very good and deserve any nominations/awards they gain.
8/10 - DirectorDan GilroyStarsJake GyllenhaalRene RussoBill PaxtonWhen Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.Sharp action thriller with a disturbing portrait of mental illness.
8/10 - DirectorCédric JimenezStarsJean DujardinGilles LelloucheCéline SalletteA French police magistrate spends years trying to take down one of the country's most powerful drug rings.Stylish crime drama with a charismatic turn from my favourite actor as Crazy Horse.
8/10 - DirectorEddie MartinStarsTas PappasBen PappasTommy CaudillBrothers Tas and Ben Pappas become the kings of professional skateboarding, but their hedonistic ways lead to a hard fall from grace.The Mayhem is a skateboarding move. This is a fascinating study of two brothers, possibly with mental health issues, who became skateboarding phenomena. I was sucked into the film as the skateboarding became more intense and more closely aligned to their fragile senses of self.
8/10 - DirectorRuben ÖstlundStarsJohannes KuhnkeLisa Loven KongsliClara WettergrenA family vacationing in the French Alps is confronted with a devastating avalanche.Interesting concept and engaging film.
8/10 - DirectorCéline SciammaStarsKaridja TouréAssa SyllaLindsay KaramohA girl with few real prospects joins a gang, reinventing herself and gaining a sense of self confidence in the process. However, she soon finds that this new life does not necessarily make her any happier.Surprisingly good and touching.
8/10 - DirectorRichard GlatzerWash WestmorelandStarsJulianne MooreAlec BaldwinKristen StewartA linguistics professor and her family find their bonds tested when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.Very sad film that (mostly) resists sentimentality. Julianne Moore was very good.
8/10 - DirectorJim MickleStarsMichael C. HallSam ShepardDon JohnsonWhen a protective father meets a murderous ex-con, both need to deviate from the path they are on as they soon find themselves entangled in a downwards spiral of lies and violence while having to confront their own inner psyche.
- DirectorSaul DibbStarsMichelle WilliamsKristin Scott ThomasMargot RobbieDuring the early years of German occupation of France in World War II, romance blooms between Lucile Angellier (Michelle Williams), a French villager, and Lieutenant Bruno von Falk (Matthias Schoenaerts), a German soldier.Much better than the reviews suggested. The lead trio of actors, Schoenaerts-Thomas-Williams, were outstanding. It's whetted my appetite for the novels on which the film was based. The novels are said to be better.
8/10 - DirectorElaine ConstantineStarsElliot James LangridgeSteve CooganAntonia ThomasSet in 1974, an authentic and uplifting tale of two friends whose horizons are opened up by the discovery of black American soul music.Brilliant film for showcasing the music, dance and clothing of an English club movement. Good performances all round. The film is held together by the music.
7.5/10 - DirectorXavier DolanStarsAnne DorvalAntoine Olivier PilonSuzanne ClémentA widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household.Only moderately enjoyed the film but the ending packed a real punch. Great song for the end credits too.
7.5/10 - DirectorOlivier NakacheÉric ToledanoStarsOmar SyCharlotte GainsbourgTahar RahimSenegalese Samba has worked 10 years in France. He's arrested and befriends the woman helping him with legal matters as volunteer after a burnout at work. He's released after being told to leave France. Chemistry?Well made film with quiet, but unresolved, thoughts about illegal migrants in France ... although this could extend to anywhere in the EU at the present time. Omar Sy and Tahar Rahman made a great comedy duo.
7.5/10 - DirectorJohn Michael McDonaghStarsBrendan GleesonChris O'DowdKelly ReillyAfter he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.A very dark film. Mostly unpleasant though it's set in a very beautiful place. Superb and surprising cast.
7.5/10 - DirectorJean-Pierre DardenneLuc DardenneStarsMarion CotillardFabrizio RongioneCatherine SaléeLiège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job.Solid stuff from the Dardennes brothers.
7/10 - DirectorSuha ArrafStarsNisreen FaourUla TabariCherien DabisThree unmarried aristocratic Christian sisters from Ramallah have shut themselves in their villa clinging desperately to their former glory, until their orphan niece, Badia, walks into their life and turns their world upside downThis was billed as a black comedy but it's not. It's a very dark film that verges on psychological horror when one considers the impact of the aunts on Badia. The characters are well drawn as is their limited society and the sets and costumes are beautiful. It's a sad tale.
7/10 - DirectorJonas Alexander ArnbyStarsSonia SuhlLars MikkelsenSonja Richter16-year old Marie lives on a small island with her seriously ill mother and her father, who takes care of the family. But suddenly mysterious deaths happen and Marie can feel something strange happening to her body.Slow and intense story of a young woman coming-of-age as a werewolf. Good effects and spectacular scenery.
7/10 - DirectorMyroslav SlaboshpytskyiStarsHryhoriy FesenkoYana NovikovaRosa BabiyA deaf boy joins a boarding school for similar children. Confronted by the violent and criminal antics of some of the other boys and girls, he struggles to conform and join the 'tribe'.Strange film. Watching deaf people communicate in sign without knowing the language is hypnotic at times and dull at others. An original way to portray teenage coming-of-age.
7/10 - DirectorJon StewartStarsGael García BernalKim BodniaDimitri LeonidasIranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari is detained by Iranian forces who brutally interrogate him under suspicion that he is a spy.Good solid film.
7/10 - DirectorKornél MundruczóStarsZsófia PsottaSándor ZsótérLili HorvátThirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.Lili's story and Hagen's run in parallel to each other. Hagen's story is more coherent than is hers. Some stunning shots and I had a real visceral sense of fear about being surrounded by so many dogs.
7/10 - DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsMichael KeatonZach GalifianakisEdward NortonA washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.Pretty good film with an idiosyncratic style. Ed Norton was my favourite character.
7/10 - DirectorMichael ObertStarsLouis SarnoSamedi Mathurin BokombeJim Jarmusch25 years ago, Louis Sarno, an American, heard a song on the radio and followed its melody into the Central Africa Jungle and stayed. He than recorded over 1000 hours of original BaAka music. Now he is part of the BaAka community and raises his pygmy son, Samedi. Fulfilling an old promise, Louis takes Samedi to America. On this journey Louis realizes he is not part of this globalized world anymore but globalization has also arrived in the rainforest. The BaAka depend on Louis for their survival. Father and son return to the melodies of the jungle but the question remains: How much longer will the songs of the forest be heard?The story of an American man who made the Bakayo tribe in the CAR his home. He was drawn by their musical culture and has become an important person for his recordings and preservation of their music.
7/10 - DirectorAndré SingerStarsHelena Bonham CarterJasper BrittonLeonard BerneyResearchers discover film footage from World War II that turns out to be a lost documentary shot by Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein in 1945 about German concentration camps.A sombre film concerning concentration camps in WW2.
6/10 - DirectorJonas GovaertsStarsMaurice LuijtenEvelien BosmansTitus De VoogdtOver-imaginative 12 year-old Sam heads off to the woods to summer scout camp with his pack convinced he will encounter a monster...and he does.Quite good horror. Atmospheric and with a theme song that reminded me of giallo.
6/10 - DirectorAlan RickmanStarsKate WinsletAlan RickmanStanley TucciTwo talented landscape artists become romantically entangled while building a garden in King Louis XIV's palace at Versailles.Visually pretty and made emotional as the last film from Alan Rickman. Otherwise the film is a bit dull and predictable with little chemistry between Winslet and Schoenaerts.
6/10 - DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsJoaquin PhoenixJosh BrolinOwen WilsonIn 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.Quirky film with flair. A bit too long and disjointed.
6/10 - DirectorDamián SzifronStarsDarío GrandinettiMaría MarullMónica VillaSix short stories that explore the extremities of human behavior involving people in distress.Great idea for a film but not all the stories were interesting.
6/10 - DirectorCarol MorleyStarsMaxine PeakeMaisie WilliamsFlorence PughIt's 1969 at a strict English girls' school where charismatic Abbie and intense and troubled Lydia are best friends. After a tragedy occurs at the school, a mysterious fainting epidemic breaks out threatening the stability of all involved.So-so execution of an interesting story.
6/10 - DirectorOlivier AssayasStarsJuliette BinocheKristen StewartChloë Grace MoretzA film star comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself while starring in a revival of the play that launched her career.A bit disappointing as a film but with good performances.
6/10 - DirectorBryan SingerStarsPatrick StewartIan McKellenHugh JackmanThe X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.Michael Fassbender remains the best thing about this ridiculous romp.
5.5/10 - DirectorAmr SalamaRami GheitStarsAhmad DashAhmed HelmyKinda AlloushA Christian kid suddenly is forced to go to a public school after his father dies and because of a misunderstanding everyone thinks that he's a Muslim.Amusing film about discrimination using religion as the fault line. The humour of the film was a bit grating and some of the references I would not have understood had the director, who was present at my screening, not explained.
5.5-6/10 - DirectorPedro CostaStarsVenturaVitalina VarelaTito Furtado"The time is now, a numbing and timeless present of hospital stays, bureaucratic questioning, and wandering through remembered spaces... and suddenly it is also then, the mid '70s and the time of Portugal's Carnation Revolution, when Ventura got into a knife fight with his friend Joaquim." This is the synopsis from the press notes. The film is a sequel of sorts to Costa's "Colossal Youth" with Ventura again playing himself.This film tests my limits with art house films, of which I would say I'm a fan generally speaking. On the other hand I thought the format was probably a good one to convey the trauma of an immigrant subject to terrible conditions in his adopted country. Sadly, the film was not for me.
5/10 - DirectorMichaël R. RoskamStarsTom HardyNoomi RapaceJames GandolfiniBob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deeply into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living--no matter the cost.Mediocre film in spite of the associated talent.
5/10 - DirectorRoschdy ZemStarsVincent RottiersYolin François GauvinMarina FoïsTwenty year old Antoine has made enemies of a gang of young thugs, to whom he owes money. Fed up with his scams and petty crimes, his mother and older brother decide to send Antoine to his father's place in Saint-Etienne. The two men haven't seen each other for several years.A bit boring.
5/10 - DirectorArtemio NarroStarsAnajosé Aldrete EchevarriaIván AranaBeatriz ArjonaNatalia and her friends go out partying one night and end up subduing a man to their sexual, carnal and most violent will.Odd and unpleasant film though it is subversive.
4.5/10 - DirectorMorten TyldumStarsBenedict CumberbatchKeira KnightleyMatthew GoodeDuring World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.Mixed feelings about the film: Disappointed at times, interested and moved at others. Alan Turing makes a compelling subject but it wasn't the most compelling film.
4.5/10 - DirectorDavid FincherStarsBen AffleckRosamund PikeNeil Patrick HarrisWith his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
- DirectorPablo FendrikStarsGael García BernalAlice BragaClaudio TolcachirA mysterious man emerges from the Argentinean rainforest to help a poor farmer and his daughter, who are threatened by a band of mercenaries hired to force them to sell their land.A bit dull. Main fault is Alice Braga.
4/10 - DirectorJennifer KentStarsEssie DavisNoah WisemanDaniel HenshallA single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.Too much screaming to be scary.
4/10 - DirectorAnton CorbijnStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanRachel McAdamsDaniel BrühlA Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror.Poor spy thriller.
4/10 - DirectorAbel FerraraStarsWillem DafoeNinetto DavoliRiccardo ScamarcioA kaleidoscopic look at the last day of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1975.Disappointing and nondescript film about one of the twentieth centuries most controversial and talented directors.
3/10 - for Willem Dafoe and a brilliant turn by Maria de Mederios.