I thought it was a really great year for film in an otherwise rough year for film in Seattle (and our store.) From outstanding family dramas and low-budget revenge thrillers to documentaries that blurred the lines between brutal reality and absurd fantasy — the film landscape evolved for the better in 2014. Here’s my Top 10 films for the year:
1. Like Father Like Son: My favorite living Japanese filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s most recent work is deeply affecting and I couldn’t shake the heartfelt feeling it gave me for months.
2. The Act of Killing: The Oscar nominee for Outstanding Documentary Feature is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and harrowing beyond belief.
3. Blue Ruin: A revenge thriller on a shoe-string budget with no star actors and a little-known director. Wouldn’t expect much, would you? What you end up with may be the best genre picture of the year.
4. Grand Budapest Hotel: Step aside Bill Murray, Ralph Fiennes may be the perfect actor for a Wes Anderson film. A total blast form start to finish.
5. Under the Skin: The guy that blew me away with Sexy Beast a decade ago blew me away again. This time with even more unexpectedly weird imagery.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy: The best blockbuster of the year. Hands down.
7. Jodorowsky’s Dune: A documentary about a film that never happened; I felt like I’d seen that sort of thing before and didn’t expect much but got a whole helluva lot. It helps that Jodorowsky himself is so engaging and crazy.
8. Like Someone in Love: Abbas Kiarostami’s portrait of the lonely people of Tokyo.
9. Nightcrawler: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Louis Bloom is Travis Bickle with a camera.
10. Big Hero 6: Just edged out Legos and the final Miyazaki as the best Animated film of the year for me. I had such a great time watching it.
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Honorable Mention: Only Lovers Left Alive, Night Moves, The Wind Rises, The Skeleton Twins, Live. Die. Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow, Cheap Thrills, The Lego Movie, To Be Takei, Snowpiercer, We Are the Best!
Biggest Disappointment(s): A tie! Dear White People and Winter’s Tale
Worst Film(s) of the Year: A tie! Saving Christmas and Left Behind
"An unorganized list of movies I meant to see but for whatever reason didn’t get a chance to, but I plan to see them in the near future because I’ve heard they’re good and they would probably blow up my top ten list if I did.":
Birdman, Boyhood, A Most Wanted Man, The Immigrant, Two Days, One Night, Obvious Child, Ida, The Overnighters, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Force Majeure, The Dog, Coherence, The Dance of Reality
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This year was equally as groundbreaking in television — especially for debut shows (which occupy my top three spots.) Comedy series tend to dominate my TV lists because I believe the best comedy is served in a serial or long-format instead of short or compacted. Here’s my top 10 TV Shows for the year:
1. True Detective: Season 1: What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this series? It provoked a sense of mystery and dread in me that I hadn’t experienced since classic procedurals of the recent past like Memories of Murder or Zodiac.
2. Broad City: Season 1: There wasn’t a more consistently funny series on TV in 2014 than this one. Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson and Hannibal Buress are the breakout stars of this last year.
3. Review: Season 1: Comedy and pathos blend beautifully in this surprisingly complex, high-concept comedy series starring the incredible Andy Daly.
4. Comedy Bang Bang: Season 3: The best absurdest sketch comedy on TV at the moment. I look forward to every episode. Former customer, and “band leader,” Reggie Watts makes me laugh every time he opens his mouth or plays his music.
5. Kroll Show: Season 2: Nick Kroll's talent for taking character-based sketch comedy to its limits is on full display in another great show on Comedy Central — A network that is finally earning its name.
6. Broadchurch: Season 1: The second-best police drama this year next to True Detective. It has great performances, keeps you guessing, and ultimately pays off with a great ending. The American remake, Gracepoint, is not as good but if you can’t stand British accents or something it’s the same show plot-wise and David Tennant is in both playing the same character.
7. Key & Peele: Season 4: Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele continue their reign as the best comedy duo around. They also prove each week that their show may be the most thoughtful and socially conscious comedy show currently in production.
8. Marry Me: Season 1: The creator of the highly underrated Happy Endings, David Caspe, got another show on NBC and it’s another great ensemble comedy. It’s in the middle of its first (and very likely only) season right now.
9. The Missing: Limited Series: An excellent mystery series told from two time frames: One storyline is told from when a young boy goes missing while his family is vacationing in France — and the days and events that follow. The other is told 8 or so years later when the father (played by Jekyll's James Nesbitt) is the only one still left searching for his missing son…
10. Game of Thrones: Season 4: GOT still has the best production value on TV and this last season may have been its best season yet. Somehow the novelty of this great series may be wearing off, but I still think it’s good and worth watching… If only to find out who dies next.
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Honorable Mentions: Bob’s Burgers: Season 3, Parks & Recreation: Season 6, Fargo: Season 1, Louie: Season 4, Inside Amy Schumer: Season 2, Nathan for You: Season 2, @midnight
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There were quite a few notable releases on Physical media last year as well:
Los Angeles Plays Itself: A documentary that I never thought would make it to DVD ‘cause of all the various licensed film clips it uses. Previously, you could only catch it in art-house theaters and film festlivals. Luckily, the fantastic label, Cinema Guild, were able to secure the rights and release it in 2014. It vividly illustrates the character of Los Angeles, the city — in all the various Hollywood films of its history. An amazing documentary for fans of film history in general.
Les Blank: Always for Pleasure: The Criterion Collection’s best release of the year is a bunch of great short documentaries by Les Blank, the absolute master of the short-subject documentary. Just watch any random one and you’ll know what I’m talking about…
Love Streams: I can’t believe it’s taken so long to release this film in digital format. It was absolutely worth the wait. Cassavetes/Rowlands at the their best.
Cousin Jules: A fascinating and glacially-paced pseudo-documentary from 1971 about a little old french blacksmith and his daily routines on his painfully rural farm in france.
The Lusty Men: Nicholas Ray’s essential and previously unreleased drama was put out by the Warner Archive — Starring Robert Mitchum and Susan Hayward in some of their strongest roles.
Thief: Michael Mann directs James Caan in a quintessential thriller about a safe-cracker’s final heist before he attempts to go straight. Released by The Criterion Collection.
Cowboy Bebop: Complete Series (Blu-ray): The greatest anime series of all time looks fantastic on Blu-ray.
The Long Day Closes: I had heard great things before I saw this for the first time this year — it lived up to its reputation. This Criterion release of Terence Davies’ classic about growing up in 1950s Liverpool will enchant and confound.
Batman: The Complete Television Series: Holy collectors item, Batman! This may have been my most anticipated release of the year!
Herzog: The Collection: Contained in the impressive packaging is a good portion of Werner Herzog’s greatest early works. It’s as awesome as it sounds even though some of the digital transfers aren’t as good as they really deserve (I’m looking at you Fitzcarraldo.)
The Visitor (1979): Total seventies cult-acid-scifi weirdness; brought back out of obscurity by the great DVD label, Drafthouse. It also stars one of the strangest casts I’ve ever seen (John Huston, Shelly Winters, Glen Ford, Sam Peckinpah, Mel Ferrer, I could go on…)
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I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of releases — unfortunately, I don’t have our store’s old database to research and review what I’ve seen. So I guess my memory of the store and all of our wonderful customers and conversations I had with them will have to suffice.
Remember to support local businesses!
I wish you all a wonderful 2015!
-Will
