46 Responses to “Out of the way 2014 there’s a new sheriff in town named 2015”

1. 

   CJ Holden

   December 31st, 2014 at 9:51 pm

   Happy 2015 everybody! It’s been like that over here since almost 6 hours and I’m happy to report that so far, it seems to be pretty good. (But it MIGHT be too early to tell.)

   As I keep saying all the time, this is one of my favourite places on the internet and if it for any reason would fall apart, I would be seriously bummed out. So have a great start into the new year, fellas! I would say more, but I’m seriously tired.

2. 

   Felix

   January 1st, 2015 at 2:16 am

   Happy New Year, Vern!

   I totally respect and look forward to your opinions on upcoming Action films.

3. 

   Griff

   January 1st, 2015 at 2:20 am

   2014 was SHOCKINGLY horrendous, just awful, awful, awful, awful in every way, what’s weird is when it started there was no real indication it would turn out so damn bad but it sure fucking did, fuck that year, never before have I been happier to see a year go, I mean Goddamn, Robin Williams dying, Bill Cosby turning out to be a serial rapist, Gamergate, Ferguson, the list goes on…

   not to belabor the point, but fuck 2014 in it’s ass, because it wasn’t just bad on a global level but a pretty bad year for me personally I’m sorry to say, for reasons I don’t feel comfortable talking about (remember I said INTERSTELLAR made me cry so much partly because it struck a nerve for me because of what’s been going on).

   Anyway now that the nightmare is over I just had to get that off my chest, it’s so cool that we’re finally living in the year of BACK TO THE FUTURE 2, even if we don’t have hoverboard, flying cars etc.

   Here’s hoping real life 2015 turns out to be more BACK TO THE FUTURE and less NEON GENESIS EVANGELION.

4. 

   CJ Holden

   January 1st, 2015 at 2:56 am

   Nobody seemed to like 2014 and I can totally understand it.

5. 

   Franchise Fred

   January 1st, 2015 at 3:31 am

   Happy New Year, gang. For all it’s troubles, 2014 was still the year I met Vern.

6. 

   Griff

   January 1st, 2015 at 3:41 am

   I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about 2015, in fairness every once in a while a lame year comes along, it happens (2008 is one example), but I can’t help but feel nervous because 2014 was such a shock to the system for me, I wasn’t expecting it to be anything more than just another year but it really surprised me in just how rough it turned out to be.

7. 

   The Original Paul

   January 1st, 2015 at 4:24 am

   Think I already said it in the other thread this morning, but HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope it’s better than the last one.

   …And seriously, look at this:

   Number of films seen by me in 2012: 67.
   Number of films seen by me in 2013: 34 (I wrote about each and every one of them in the forums).
   Number of films seen by me in 2014: 20.

   Yep, my cinemagoing has basically halved each year since what I still think was probably the best year of cinema since my birth. In fact, if I were to do a list of “best films I’ve seen this year” (which I won’t, out of sheer pointlessness), most of ’em would probably be on DVD. I saw THIRTY-SIXTH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN for the first time for example. That one was pretty damn great.

   And once again most of the best films I saw this year were ones that came out at the beginning of it, because our cinemas belatedly realised that they were really popular in America for a reason and maybe it would be a good idea to show some actual films made for cinema, rather than straight-to-DVD cartoons. That’s why my best films of this year would be HER, WOLF OF WALL STREET, and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, all of which came out in America in 2013. I’d add to that list EDGE OF TOMORROW, which is the best big-concept sci-fi pic I’ve seen for years and just an excellent action movie all around. Finally there’s THE RAID 2, which would undoubtedly have a strong claim for “Best action movie ever made” if it wasn’t for that damn fucking shakycam.

   As for the worst movies… well, BOYHOOD is a movie I can respect for its technical achievements. But man, was it a horrendous slog. The fact that it had the worst scoring I’ve heard in years didn’t help its cause, but mostly it just came across as though it had absolutely nothing to say. It was plainly obvious that there was no plan here, no direction that the filmmakers planned to take this thing in, so instead they resorted to movie cliches. On the plus side, it made WAKING LIFE look interesting by comparison.

   Other than that, the worst movies I’ve seen this year – do I even need to say this at this point? – were the two Marvel ones (I didn’t see GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, but honestly the world did not need another bitchfest from me about a third Marvel movie.) I didn’t hate DAYS OF FUTURE PAST or THE WINTER SOLDIER, but there was very little to like about them either. THE WINTER SOLDIER was just a string of disappointments where it kept hinting at interesting directions it could go in, and then not actually following through with them. And DAYS OF FUTURE PAST managed to both waste great actors on crappy characters (why were Ian McKellen and Jennifer Lawrence even in this?) and also take characters I’d previously liked and just make them… lame. Literally crippled in most cases. Magneto, Professor X, Mystique, Wolverine… hope you liked ’em in the previous movies, because they sure as heck don’t show up for this one. Seriously, I think Marvel Studios is becoming the new Platinum Dunes in many ways. It’s just pumping out lazy vacuous crap with unpleasant political subtext that isn’t nearly as fun as it thinks it is. And yet people keep buying tickets for it, so the studio keeps producing it. I think this is how we got four Michael Bay TRANSFORMERS movies.

   I have no New Year’s resolutions, but if I could have one New Year’s wish, apart from Marvel Studios ceasing to exist, it would be that my local multiplex stopped being the dumping ground for movies that flopped in America and so got shunted off to the European markets to recoup their losses. (This is literally the only reason I can imagine for PLANES 2: FIRE AND RESCUE spending seven freakin’ weeks there.)

   Yeah, 2014 kinda sucked. I have hopes that 2015 can be better. But it needs to put some effort into it.

8. 

   Griff

   January 1st, 2015 at 4:49 am

   In the interest of fairness I do want to mention something really good that happened in 2014 to me, I took a very nice vacation to Asheville North Carolina with my parents to meet my cousin’s baby daughter (his first child too), that was a lot of fun, plus while I was exploring downtown Asheville (it’s a place I’ve been to before but it’s been a while) the wind blew up a girl’s skirt, it was like one of my Japanese animes!

   So that was a nice trip.

9. 

   CJ Holden

   January 1st, 2015 at 7:16 am

   I watched 126 movies this year, which is at least 40-50 less than I usually watch per year. Damn.

10. 

    The Original Paul

    January 1st, 2015 at 9:43 am

    Griff – you had me until the skirt thing. I thought “Ahh that sounds really nice – wait, what?”

    CJ – 126? Dayum. Now I feel strangely inadequate. Especially if genital mass really is proportional to the number of films you see (as the popular theory goes).

    I don’t work in the industry, so I’m strictly an amateur with no arts cinema within fifty miles of me (unfortunately). But even accounting for that, last year was particularly bad in terms of interesting films appearing at a cinema near me. The problem is that it’s got to the point where it’s simply not worth taking a risk on an arts film when it’s effectively an expensive four-and-a-half hour round-trip for me to do so. Which means I’m pretty much limited to what comes to the multiplex – and again, that’s mostly either Marvel stuff, crap that didn’t make its budget in America and so is sent over here to die, or movies of varying quality based on British TV comedies that I don’t watch. There’s some interesting stuff aimed particularly at women, but right now I don’t have a nice interested lady-friend to take to it (I must remedy this ASAP).

11. 

    CJ Holden

    January 1st, 2015 at 11:30 am

    99% of the movies I watched were on DVD or recorded from pay TV. I went to the cinema exactly once last year. For more details, click on my name above.

12. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    January 1st, 2015 at 11:41 am

    2014 was without question rock bottom for me as far as personal goals, quality of life, self-esteem, general state of mind, etc. But it’s also the year where I made some pretty enormous life decisions toward the end of it, which I’m on the cusp of implementing right now with the hopes of greatly improving every aspect of my situation in the next year. So I’m staying positive and striving for excellence and all around hoping to become my best Majestyk yet in 2015.

13. 

    Ryan

    January 1st, 2015 at 1:20 pm

    I got a copy of “Seagalogy” for Christmas so I’m already well on my way on the path towards excellence.

14. 

    M. Casey

    January 1st, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    Ho ho ho, now I have a Niketown!

    2014 was an okay year for me personally. I got a new job which is still a dead end but at least it’s comfy. Movie-wise I’m a lot like you guys–I don’t track the numbers but I know it’s gone down again compared to previous years. There was a lot to like. Just from the big budget stuff I thought (in no particular order) GOTG, INTERSTELLAR, LEGO MOVIE, EDGE OF TOMORROW, and JOHN WICK were all quite good. And there are many movies I think I’d like but I just haven’t seen yet: GONE GIRL, X-MAN, CAPT AMERICA, BOXTROLLS, BIRDMAN…

    I’m still worried that Hollywood is going to turn into one big nerd outpost (what with all the comic book and Star Wars stuff) but, hey, at least that PT Anderson movie is going wide in a week.

    Best of luck in 2015 everyone and try to see more movies!

15. 

    Felix

    January 1st, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    Early reviews for TAKEN 3 are in.

    Surprise. Surprise. It sucks. (Apparently there are loads of bad over-editing)

16. 

    Griff

    January 1st, 2015 at 2:40 pm

    Funny how 2014 seemed to be a rough year for just about everybody, I think Jung had a point with the idea of synchronicity.

    @Paul -“Griff – you had me until the skirt thing. I thought “Ahh that sounds really nice – wait, what?””

    Aint I a stinker?

17. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    January 1st, 2015 at 3:08 pm

    Well, I will say that I had a great summer, which is weird for me because living in New York City for 15 years has made me despise the heat with a fury generally reserved for child molesters and directors who make PG-13 remakes of horror classics. It was just the eye of the storm, but it helped clear my head of the fog of fear and confusion that had clouded it for so long and let me figure out my next move. It’s nice to know that even in your late thirties, one special summer can still change your life.

18. 

    DirkD13

    January 1st, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    2014 was a great year, until the 28th December. I plan to stay positive, strive for excellence, and lose some weight.

    Happy New Year to Vern and all fellow scholars of the badass filmic arts.

19. 

    Curt

    January 1st, 2015 at 4:24 pm

    My moviegoing actually went *up* near the end of this year, after an unintended decline in recent years.

    Paradoxically, it was the extreme shite-ness of Internet culture that made me go “You know what, human civilization is still making art. Spend more time in its company and less time in the company of online termites trying to ruin it.”

20. 

    Mouth

    January 1st, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    Merry 2015 everybody. Hopefully this new sheriff will enforce the law with courtesy, professionalism, and respect, unlike the 2014 dickheads wearing a badge over their military kit as they keep the peace in the small town of Fallujah, Missouri. Maybe American (and Russian, and Canadian, and Australian, and…) citizens will learn that things can be better, that fear is not the only life metric that should motivate their ignorant decisions, that the next time they enter a voting booth they shouldn’t act in the way of a teenage girl ritually cutting herself.

    But enough bitterness. My year in review would include a lot of nice memories. I attended a comical amount of live theatre and stand-up comedy, from open mic no-names in random pub basements to Joel McHale overcharging a bit for the privilege of basking in his post-White House Correspondents Dinner prestige. I befriended some street performers.
    Read a bunch of books. Fact-checked a couple books. Wrote most of a book.
    Bought several homemade hip-hop albums from the local barbershop inside of which I might be the only white person ever to step foot. Furtively slurped an excessive amount of red wine during a sparsely attended screening of the new HUNGER GAMES. Got a standing ovation at an event where I did nothing but appear on a stage with some guys in uniform. Got solicited by an unbelievably gorgeous prostitute in Manhattan. Spent a few hours in Brooklyn hanging out with a certain Bronson fan of some local repute.

    I quit FaceBook for good in 2014. Quit coffee. Quit watching college sports except for gymnastics.
    Didn’t go to any strip clubs all year. Didn’t once order dessert at restaurants.

    Most Badass Older Movie watched in 2014: Jet Li vs. THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE (1982)
    Most Badass New Movie: JOHN WICK (15 P.M.K.) (Post-Matrix Keanu is how we should scientifically date modern non-Asian action cinema)

    Most Emotionally Devastating Older Movie: IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (1955)
    Most Emotionally Devastating New Movie: DABBA aka THE LUNCHBOX

    Favorite 2014 Movie: NOAH

    2014 Movie I’ll Probably Rewatch the Most For Years To Come: the one with Eva Green and all the computerized blood spray

    Most Fucked-Up 2014 Horror Movie: “Random Stop” (6 minute short on Vimeo)

    Older Movie That Made Me Slow Clap In Dumbfounded Awe During End Credits: I KNOW WHO KILLED ME (2007)

    Favorite TV:
    -Al Jazeera America
    -The Colbert Report (R.I.P.)
    -The Olympics
    -World Cup

    The fridge is full, the bills are paid, a variety of soaps line the edge of my shower, both my favorite NFL teams are in the playoffs, my monthly check from the federal government increased by like $22 with the flip to the new calendar year (yay automatic COLA inflation), and last night I was the sober person in my party posse, so I’ve decided now to indulge in some Jim Beam + ginger ale and Jim Beam + seltzer. Life is alright. Fuck you, 2014.

21. 

    animalramirez1976

    January 1st, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    First! … Oh, whoops.

    Happy New Year, I have loved this sight and this community for years and am so happy that I finally started contributing recently.

    Looking forward to reading Niketown and watching and writing about more movies than ever in 2015. Career-wise I am really hoping for some breakthroughs and trying to keep a positive attitude generally, which is often a challenge for me. I fell a bit short of my personal goals in 2014 but laid a tremendous amount of groundwork that I hope will translate into lots of success in the upcoming year.

    Lists are a huge challenge for me so I’ll forgo them for now, but hopefully I’ll have a lot more confidence in my aesthetic opinion a year from now.

    Screw it, I’ll try. Best new movies I saw: Boxtrolls, Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick… that’s all I got.

22. 

    Darren

    January 1st, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    All the best Vern, guys and girls. I’ve really enjoyed the company here over the past year – the reviews, the discussions, the insights, the humor. Everyone’s unique perspective has added some kind of value to the movies I love, and has even helped with the ones I never thought I’d like – Dolph Lundgrens’ MEN OF WAR and BLACKJACK were two of the surprises for me this year. I even bought DIAMOND DOGS recently, and it’s top of my list to be watched in the next few weeks.

    Best TV:

    – EASTBOUND AND DOWN
    – BATES MOTEL

    Most Unique Cinematical Experience:

    – NIGHTCRAWLER

    Best New Schwarzenegger Movie That Had Rewatchability Value Based On Throwback To Old School Arnie Flicks:

    – SABOTAGE
    (whether you consider Ayer a good filmatist or not, he made the perfect 80’s Arnie flick – rough, raw and exciting. More where that came from, please.)

    Best Movie I’m Glad I Took My Teenage Sons To See To Show Them That Movies Can Be More Than You Usually Get From The Multiplex:

    – NIGHTCRAWLER
    (and they both loved it, and are still talking about it weeks later.)

    Most Overrated 90’s Movie I Liked At The Time But Now Realize I Was Just Immature And Hadn’t Discovered FACE/OFF yet:

    – TOMBSTONE

23. 

    Amazing Larry

    January 1st, 2015 at 7:33 pm

    “…let’s try to make 2015 have less shittiness…”… I’m not sure what you meant by that, Vern. I’m guessing it referred to the specific personal agendas (and their impact) of those who frequent this website, rather than a collective “We can change the world!” mentality (the hippies tried that in the U.S.; didn’t work out as planned).

    Anyway, here’s one caballero who’s clearly not onboard with your idea:

    http://news.yahoo.com/sheriffs-office-florida-man-decapitates-mother-204529668.html

    DAY-amn!… check out the look on his face in that photo. I’d say he’s wound just a liiiiittle too tight. I know this may seem like a buzzkill for the new year, but it serves a purpose: to show that no matter how bad things may seem, at least you’re not THIS guy (or his victim, for that matter).

    Is it cynical to promote optimism using the adversity of others as a springboard? Yes it is, but it works. In the end, that’s what truly matters.

24. 

    Shoot McKay

    January 2nd, 2015 at 5:41 am

    Happy new year to y’all and whatnot. It´s been a politically shitty year in Sweden. The right wing party that consists of former members of the neonazi movements of the 90´s has unfortunately become a force in swedish politics. They almost forced the country into a re-election,until the other parties actually managed to collaborate.Certain issues has long been neglected because people are too afraid of being labeled racist and since then the right wingers have hi-jacked them for their own agenda leading to the other parties ostracizing them,because if they don´t, the media would hang them out, creating martyrs of them assholes and in the process becoming more successful winning more votes in future elections.

    How hard can it be to defeat their logics by debating them? And it looks like it will be worse. Right now I don´t even want to think about the next election. The issue of racism need to be taken more seriously in this country. Ostracizing opinions is not an option no matter how ugly they are. They need to be dealt with, not swept under the rug. The current discourse is of kindergarten stuff, I´m afraid.

25. 

    Charles

    January 2nd, 2015 at 9:53 am

    2014 was pretty good to me, but I have to say that it is disappointing to hear that a number of you had such a rough 2014. I get so much joy from this site and those of you that post here regularly that I hope 2015 is a better year for everybody.

    At least it was a good year for action cinema.

26. 

    RBatty024

    January 2nd, 2015 at 11:01 am

    Shoot McKay — The rise of the hard right in Europe has been one of the scarier developments from 2014. Not to excuse racism, but when the economy of a country has a long term slump, people seem more susceptible to the suggestion that it’s the fault of some foreign other. It seems that both European and American politicians have become too comfortable ignoring the underlying systemic problems that face the average worker. Here in America, plenty of Democrats, the supposed liberals, are content with a rising stock market even if it doesn’t result in an expansion of the middle class. I’m not much of a poetry reader, but over the last fifteen years my mind has constantly returned to these two lines from Yeats’s “The Second Coming”: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” Sometimes that seems like a pretty accurate representation of the world I’ve been living in.

    Still, I don’t want to end things on a downer. It’s been great to see people take to the street to address extreme and unnecessary use of force by police officers against minorities in the United States. It’s also pretty cool that the Piketty book came out this year and reinvigorated the debate about inequality.

27. 

    Shoot McKay

    January 2nd, 2015 at 11:58 am

    RBatty- The recent development is part politicians fault in failing to integrate immigrants who seeks asylum, they in turn are getting ostracized in segregated communities, which in turn leeds to gigantic social and cultural gaps between people, part of the problem is people unwillingness to deal with the problem. What´s even worse is that it´s become a lucrative business dealing with the kind of “temporary” facilities , hostels and those kind of places.

    In the early 90´s, Swedens economy collapsed ,unfortunately timed with the outbreak of the Balkan war, which meant a tidal wave of refugees to a country with skyhigh unemployment rate which lead to the rise of the neo-nazimovements in Sweden.

    I´m not sure how the Balkan war effected the rest of Europe,but I think we might be seeing some of the after effects here developing in a scary way. I think it´s more complicated than just “blaming the foreigner” though and unless we can come to terms to fully understand racism, it´s only gonna get uglier. Because it´s not getting better, that is for damn sure.

28. 

    One Guy from Andromeda

    January 2nd, 2015 at 12:10 pm

    I almost feel bad to admit what a wonderful, amazing year i had. Happy new one everybody and i hope everything will improve for everyone!

29. 

    RBatty024

    January 2nd, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    Thanks for the insight McKay. It’s always helpful and interesting to hear about these issues from someone who is actually living through them rather than just read about it in the newspaper. Obviously in the U.S. we’ve been dealing with racism for our entire history, and this year the events in Ferguson, New York and (my hometown) Cleveland have brought issues of justice, inequality and abuse of police power to the forefront.

30. 

    David Lambert

    January 2nd, 2015 at 1:08 pm

    On New Years Eve I went to a party in the Hollywood Hills and guess who was there? Deacon fucking Frost himself. He was not ice skating uphill, unfortunately.

31. 

    KingNewbs

    January 2nd, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    2014 was a hell of a year. I for one am not gonna miss it… here’s to 2015 and drunken hallucinations of a young, en-ponytailed Steven Seagal punching 2014 in the throat and throwing it through a plate glass window.

32. 

    Griff

    January 2nd, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    “a young, en-ponytailed Steven Seagal punching 2014 in the throat and throwing it through a plate glass window.”

    I like that idea!

33. 

    Amazing Larry

    January 2nd, 2015 at 6:46 pm

    KingNewbs— You’ve just given me a terrific idea. Are you familiar with that series of Snickers commercials, the “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” ones? (featuring Betty White & Abe Vigoda, Joe Pesci, Robin Williams & Bob Goldthwait, etc.). Instead of having a famous person transform into a regular one after eating a Snickers bar, why not flip that around?

    Here’s my idea:

    Begin with showing a dweeby guy in a sports bar (let’s call him Steve) getting shoved around by 3 bullies, who look like they’re about to throw down on him. Steve’s kind of cringing and whimpering.

    We see a finger tapping on Steve’s back; it’s a friend of his. Steve turns around with a quizzical look on his face, and the 3 bullies appear a bit confused but still angry.

    Friend: “Steve, eat a Snickers” (hands Steve a Snickers bar)
    Steve: “Why?”
    Friend: “Because you kinda act like a wimp when you’re hungry”
    (Steve tears open the Snickers bar, bites into it).
    Friend: “Better?”
    (camera cuts back to Steven Seagal, chewing)
    Seagal: “Better” (tosses the Snickers bar to the friend, then knocks out the 3 bullies with some quick, deft Aikido moves).

    Bingo!

34. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    January 2nd, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    What if it was like that Rudolph Christmas special where he has to rescue the Baby New Year, only instead of Rudolph it was Seagal and instead of a baby it was some young guy who knows MMA whom Segal can teach various lessons to in various regional dialects, and instead of rescuing anybody they were on a mission to get revenge on the previous year for all the shitty things it did to everybody, and then at the end the New Year is standing over the thrice-murderated body of the Old Year and Seagal puts his hand on his shoulder and says “Remember what I taught you…or that’ll be you next year”? What about that?

35. 

    Jareth Cutestory

    January 3rd, 2015 at 10:16 am

    Paul: I didn’t like X-MEN WHATEVER or CAPTAIN AMERICA SOME NUMBER either, and I thought GUARDIANS OF THE SPACE RACCOON was worse than both of them (and almost as insipid as AVENGERS). Obviously this is a minority opinion from a cranky old fucker. Take that for what it’s worth.

    I honestly can’t think of a single movie I liked this year. Was DOGTOOTH released in 2014? That one was okay. Maybe the second TOM YUM GOONG, if I could remember a damn thing about it.

36. 

    M. Casey

    January 3rd, 2015 at 10:32 am

    Okay, I’m really going to have to see GUARDIANS OF THE SPACE RACCOON again, because my first impression that it was a well made, fun, albeit meaningless blockbuster. But I really don’t have a problem with movies like that. Maybe it won’t hold up but I know I liked the visuals, acting, and in particular thought it was one of the best comic book movies in terms of pacing (though I freely admit this isn’t my thing and there’s a lot of them that I still haven’t seen).

    C’mon Jareth, there had to be something you liked, right? You didn’t just sit at the cinema all year mumbling “Bah, humbug!” did you?

    /starts quietly singing “everything is awesome” and hopes Jareth joins in

37. 

    Shoot McKay

    January 3rd, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    Despite all the bullshit my country has to deal with right know, I only hope my paper on MAN OF TAI CHI gets a pass. That is the only recent prospect I have this year.

38. 

    Jonathan

    January 3rd, 2015 at 9:05 pm

    Good Lord, seems I’m not the only one who personally suffered horribly the last year and is glad its over. Yikes. Was 2014 cursed or something?

    Happy New Year, everyone. It’s the Year of the Wookie!

39. 

    frankbooth

    January 3rd, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    FUCK 2014 FUCKERS!!!!!

40. 

    Griff

    January 4th, 2015 at 3:28 am

    “Good Lord, seems I’m not the only one who personally suffered horribly the last year and is glad its over. Yikes. Was 2014 cursed or something?”

    That’s a good question, it’s weird isn’t it?

41. 

    Pacman2.0

    January 4th, 2015 at 3:45 am

    Well my 2014 was fine. Sure there were bad days, average days, dull days but a lot of good days too. I made one fairly major life change which was definitely for the best. I do feel it was lacking a truly defining moment to make it one of the all time great years but still 2014 was OK by me.

42. 

    Knox Harrington

    January 5th, 2015 at 1:04 am

    The 2014 movies that I thought were great:

    UNDER THE SKIN
    LOCKE
    THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
    GONE GIRL
    INTERSTELLAR
    WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL
    SNOWPIERCER
    LEGO MOVIE
    GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
    NOAH
    EDGE OF TOMORROW
    DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
    WINTER SOLDIER
    THE GUEST
    THE RAID 2

    I also enjoyed JOHN WICK, but it kinda lost me towards the end. That final showdown didn’t really engage me (while THE RAID 2 had the greatest final showdown ever). You know what else I really enjoyed that almost no one else did? NEED FOR SPEED! Gonna be watching that one a lot. Probably also EXPENDABLES 3. And TUSK.

    There’s still a shitload that I still have to watch: SELMA, INHERENT VICE, FORCE MAJEURE, OBVIOUS CHILD, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, NIGHTCRAWLER, NYMPHOMANIAC (I like Von Trier. He’s funny), UNBROKEN, STARRY EYES, THE BABADOOK. Shit, I still can’t believe I missed BOYHOOD.

    As for the stinkers, I managed to dodge most of them. Still haven’t seen TRANSCENDENCE, TRANSFORMERS 4 or SIN CITY: TOO LITTLE TOO LATE (but I’m kinda dying to, since Rodriguez kinda fascinates me).

    I guess that’s it. Anyone seen DRIVE HARD? Did I miss anything?

43. 

    Charles

    January 5th, 2015 at 1:27 pm

    Zulufort’s insightful post makes me want to compile a list of the top 10 spam bot posts of 2014.

44. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    January 5th, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    I miss the family of spambots whose sisters all knew archery.

45. 

    Charles

    January 5th, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    A family that spams together stays together.

    It dawned on my today that we are only a few months away from Fast & Furious 7. Fingers crossed, this is going to be another good year for action cinema.

46. 

    Jugo Betrugo

    January 5th, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    2014 was not only a great year for film and for me personally, but also for this sight. I’ve never really participated in the comments much, but I’ve been a constant reader of your reviews for 5 years now and I think that you’re still constantly improving as writer and scholar of film, Vern. Along the way I’ve been introduce to the genius of Steven Seagal’s work, the Parker novels, great films like The Limey, or White Dog and lots of other great shit I would have otherwise missed out on. So thanks for that and for years of quality writing.