It’s finally here! Welcome to my top 10 films of the year. Thanks for checking out the countdown over the last few days, I hope I can encourage you to check out some of the fantastic films below.
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#10 – Nightcrawler
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a disturbingly perfect performance as the twisted Lou Bloom. Such dark material but an intense, wild ride.
Thanks for tuning into the countdown so far, here’s the next 10 films!
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#20 – Boyhood
The likely Best Picture winner, Boyhood’s filming method is a masterstroke from director Richard Linklater. The idea to film over 12 years is fantastic; it’s great to see a character grow up on screen, with the same actor attached the whole way. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, the film did feel a little long, but there’s no denying it’s emotional power, largely due to the attachment to characters growing up right before our eyes.
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Crossing the half way mark, a lot of these are must-sees for the year!
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-#30 – Locke
Tom Hardy is fantastic in this ballsy film-making approach that works for the most part. For a film set in the one place, it is a highly engaging and interesting story.
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Continuing on with the countdown, some highly underrated films in the next 10!
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#40 – 20,000 Days On Earth
“To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of the idea never becomes apparent until you do it.”
Writer and musician Nick Cave marks his 20,000th day on the planet Earth. This semi-fictionalized documentary progressively grew on me to the point that I ended up enjoying it a lot.
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Better late than never, I’m really looking forward to counting down my Top 50 films of 2014, the 50 movies I got the most out of last year. 2014 felt like one of the better recent years, with big blockbusters, fascinating biopics, hilarious comedies and some great Jake Gyllenhaal performances.
I go by worldwide release dates for my countdown, so here’s a list of films that missed the list for either eligibility reasons or because I didn’t get a chance to see them!
Films considered 2013: Lone Survivor, Her, 12 Years A Slave, These Final Hours.
You can check out my Top 50 of 2013 over on this link.
Films I did not get a chance to see: Citizenfour, Inherent Vice, Paddington, Wild, Leviathan, Unbroken.
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Annabelle evokes the same lingering dread as the hugely successful The Conjuring, with the film-makers creating a worthy prequel as the sole focus shifts to the evil doll.
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John Gordon has found the perfect gift for both his pregnant wife Mia and their unborn child; Annabelle, a beautiful and rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. Unfortunately, the family’s delight with the doll is short-lived.
Director John R. Leonetti (cinematographer on The Conjuring) and producers James Wan and Peter Safran keep the scares coming, as the tension rises with every small hint or eerie noise.
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While it has a big cast of voice actors and some great messages for the kids, it’s the absolutely fantastic stop-motion animation that makes The Boxtrolls a worthy watch.-
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From the creators of Caroline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012), Laika bring us yet another great stop-motion film, with this one being a little less darker than the previous two. Based on the Alan Snow novel Here Be Monsters! and directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable, the film focuses on a group of friendly underground cave-dwelling trash collectors called the Boxtrolls and an orphaned boy, Eggs, who they have raised since he was a baby.
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Following up from the hit series and first feature film, The Inbetweeners 2 sees our favourite lads Jay, Neil, Simon and Will provide plenty of laughs as they head down under to Australia. While outsiders to the series may look on in disgust, fans will love seeing the guys back on the big screen with an entertaining sequel.
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While Will (Simon Bird), Simon (Joe Thomas) and Neil (Blake Harrison) are having an average weekend over in the UK, Jay (James Buckley) is having the time of his life over in Australia on a gap year, or so the boys are led to believe. When Neil comes up with a brilliant idea to visit Jay on holiday, the boys are quick to jump on and spontaneously book a trip.
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It’s that time of the year again, with the Melbourne International Film Festival just weeks away and over 300 films from around the world on display this time around! I’m eagerly anticipating catching as many films as I can from July 31 to August 18 and thought I’d give some recommendations on the great films I’ve seen so far, as well as my most anticipated.
As well as the site, I’ll be updating the films I see with this list on Letterboxd. Let me know which films you will be seeing this year and your thoughts on any as you see them!
Recommended Films:
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Boyhood – The best film I’ve seen from the MIFF line up so far. Filmed over 11 years, it’s fantastic film-making. Playing August 2 and 6.
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Providing action just as brilliant and breathtaking as the original, The Raid 2 takes a slightly different route to The Raid, with a noticeably stronger plot. As opposed to the relatively simple storyline of the first film, the layered story works well for the most part, but the highlight of the film is still the thrilling action sequences.
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Only a short time after the first raid, Rama goes undercover with the thugs of Jakarta and plans to bring down the syndicate and uncover the corruption within his police force. Gareth Evans returns to the director’s chair after the big success of The Raid: Redemption and he keeps the sequel fresh with a much deeper storyline that the first. Iko Uwais also returns as Rama and it’s his fantastic action scenes that give the film a great base. Along with Yayan Ruhian and newcomer Arifin Putra, the film is filled with interesting characters.
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Logged on to Twitter and there's all this debate about a white and gold dress or something? #toomuchinternetfortoday - posted on 27/02/2015 13:23:24Watching the Oscars ceremony just then has given me the urge to rewatch INTERSTELLAR and LIKE CRAZY. Going with the latter! #FelicityJones! - posted on 24/02/2015 20:15:20
And that is the first time I've ever made money betting on the Oscars. Thanks for the tip, @Athomas20 - posted on 23/02/2015 15:45:07
