TOP 10 FILM 2014

TOP 10 FILM 2014

1 BOYHOOD

One member of Team Empire has seen Linklater’s coming-of-age epic five times. Not bad for a 165-minute movie with no explosions, no giant robots, no dinosaurs and just one Star Wars reference. This is a genre-transcending once-in-a-lifetime film about a child and his fragmented family, and how they both grow up over the course of an 11-year period, shot piecemeal under a shroud of relative obscurity by a team of loyal Linklater lovers — a minor miracle, in other words. The young star Ellar Coltrane plays impeccably off veterans like Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke in an unassuming, authentic fashion, while Linklater’s muso-friendly soundtrack complemented the ongoing tales of love, loss and artistic endeavour. The whole enterprise could come across as a gigantic gimmick, but in reality it’s a heartstringpulling masterpiece that reaffi rms what cinema can do, and explores what it is to be alive in 21st century middle America.

2. NIGHTCRAWLER

The year’s greatest monster came not from a horror ­ lm but from a biting indictment of ambulance-chasing American media. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom may not be a murderer but he’s clearly a psychopath, and the ­ lm’s blackest joke is how seamlessly he ­ ts into the broadcasting machine once he plants himself in a local LA TV station. Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut has facets in common with Network, The King Of Comedy and One Hour Photo, but manages to be its own horrifying, mesmerizing beast. Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed and Bill Paxton all provide effective and affecting support.

3 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Proving that age has yet to weary him, Martin Scorsese followed the gentle Hugo with this excoriating orgy of drug-fuelled capitalist overindulgence. The director’s latter-day go-to collaborator, Leonardo DiCaprio, is so charismatic as lead asshole Jordan Belfort that many felt the ­ lm was too ambiguous in its message. Stand-outs are too numerous to mention, but props must go to Matthew McConaughey and Jonah Hill. It’s undoubtedly Leo’s show though, and there was no more simultaneously funny/appalling scene this year than his epic, ’lude-af‑ icted quest to enter and drive his Lambo.

4 INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

One of the Coens’ less broad, more low-key efforts, Inside Llewyn Davis is a perfectly realised homage to the Greenwich Village scene of the 1960s. Llewyn himself is in many ways a typical Coen loser: an overreaching own-worst-enemy, as annoying as he is likeable. But despite the chilly photography there’s warmth here, in no small part courtesy of T. Bone Burnett’s carefully crafted soundtrack. Attempts to parlay the music into an O Brother-like mega-hit album were doomed, because much of what’s included isn’t supposed to be very good (see the hilariously awful Please, Mr Kennedy for details). That, of course, is the joke.

5 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

“It’s a huge gamble!” they shouted. “It’ll never work as a ­ lm! It has a tree and a talking raccoon as main characters! The director hasn’t been tested at this level!” “They” all soon shut up when Guardians blasted out of the gate to become one of the most successful ­ lms of the year — and deservedly so. Taking several cues from the sass and splendour of The Avengers, James Gunn and co. gave J.J. Abrams lots to think about; GOTG is shrewd, it’s funny, the soundtrack is killer, it focuses on character instead of archetype and it made a star out of Chris Pratt. A franchise was born and Marvel’s latest dice roll came up a winner.

6 EDGE OF TOMORROW

While a $370 million worldwide box office is nothing to be sniffed at, Edge Of Tomorrow was 2014’s big blockbuster that couldn’t. Even Emily Blunt wielding a colossal sword and Tom Mapother-loving Cruise dying again and again (and again), it failed to connect with audiences, with some citing a muddled marketing campaign — is it called ‘Live Die Repeat’ now? — and a confusing concept as its Achilles heels. Fortunately, those willing to actually watch the sci-‑ spectacular were rewarded with a joyfully rewatchable romp that balanced humour, action and repeated dialogue with aplomb. Watch it for Bill Paxton as a moustachioed sergeant alone.

7 THE BABADOOK

You can’t get rid of The Babadook… but why would you want to? Jennifer Kent’s Australian horror centred on a perfectly realised, terrifying children’s book and seemed to introduce a potent new monster to terrify generations. And yet the ‑ lm’s cleverest trick was in subverting all your expectations: setting up tropes like an Amblin-appropriate resourceful kid, before dispensing with them and presenting something more ambiguous. With the focus on a psychologically strained mother and son, The Babadook turns out not really to be about The Babadook at all. And the solution to the problem he presents is genius.

8 THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Dapper auteur Wes Anderson’s eighth film is one of his best. Like a Fawlty Towers for the terminally elegant, faded hotel, nestled in the heart of a candybox Zubrowka, offered charm behind every door. Ralph Fiennes’s haughty yet heartfelt M. Gustave was our guide through this heightened world of horny widows, blackshirted fascists, daring jailbreaks and super-speed slalom chases.

9 DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

If Rise was the appetiser, Dawn was the full, satisfying meal, taking full advantage of the technology to bring Andy Serkis’s Caesar and co. to life, but never pushing that to the forefront. This is a human (and simian) story of fatherhood, con­ ict and trust that just happens to have people interacting with intelligent apes. Reeves directs with a con‑ dence, handling effects while keeping the emotion intact and the film feels like an evolutionary leap in terms of blockbusters. Dying to know what happens next, so no pressure, Matt…

10 HER

Channelling what seems to be a very personal pain, Jonze ties his eye for style and design into a ‑ lm that is quirky without ever letting that get in the way of the love story. Phoenix is crushed and humbled as Theodore Twombly, a man brought low by life that finds solace in, of all things, a sophisticated operating system. But this is no simple tale of an A.I. who finds a soul mate — Jonze has a much more redemptive tale to tell here.