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Rottentomatoes' top movies of 2014
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Can you read?
PsihoPerihelion
Member
So Boyhood was number 1? Very interesting. Read a lot of great things about it. I have seen trailers, and interviews with the main actor (Ellar Coltrane) and it doesn't really appeal to me. Maybe I should just watch it. It looks like a very generic white heterosexual male coming up story, and henceforth, I feel no connection to it at all. Nothing extraordinary or appealing (to me) about it. Nothing wrong with that, but I fail to see what's interesting about it considering there's no connection inside my head. I guess as EviLore said, it's culturally incompatible to me.. Sorry to be so cynical and a downer! I'm sure it's a great film. The 12 year filming was very original and well done!! Richard Linklater is a great director.
I'm glad X-men days of the future past made it in the list!
Edit: I'm surprised Dallas Buyer's Club is not there I:
Edit #2: Ahhh
I'm glad X-men days of the future past made it in the list!
Edit: I'm surprised Dallas Buyer's Club is not there I:
Edit #2: Ahhh
PassiveObserver
Member
2013, dude.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Maitiú;145917313 said:
I'm sorry that you saw a South Korean dystopian action sci-fi film based on a 32 year old French graphic novel and it wasn't what you were expecting.
Finaika
Member
X-Men is not MCU.
Boyhood is legitimately one of the worst films I've ever seen. First half an hour is basically the kind of film a film studies student throws together when they realize they only have 24 hours to write their script. Had to turn it off when I was on the plane, and turned to fucking Hercules to wash the bad taste from my mouth.
Leviathan is the FOTY.
Leviathan is the FOTY.
You said Marvel, not MCU. Plus if you would have read the thread you would find out they were just outside the Top 20.
Not amongst the 20 most critically acclaimed films of the year...?
Is that really so hard to believe, as neat as they are?
Heh. This thread has done a good job in convincing me that literally everything suffers some sort of ridiculous backlash.
Finaika
Member
I'm asking why they are not in the top 10.
Because there were not good enough. Look at the % next to the movies in the link in the OP...Does this really have to be explained to you?
Chezzymann
Member
The Lego movie was easily my favorite movie of the year. And it got me back into Lego, too.
Hopefully it gets the award for best animated picture.
Not sure if thats a good thing
Finaika
Member
I know, I'm just expressing my horror that they are not top 10, personally they would be in my list.
Messofanego
Banned
Haha Whiplash really is going to be the Her of this year for me in that I didn't care much for it but loads of people love it. Just interesting to see where I stand. I thought it was predictable and cliched, like I've seen the same beats and character traits in a bunch of other sports movies or movies about a specific skill where it's all about obsession as a mentor takes the student to the breaking limit and then realise he's an asshole this whole time. Much like Oscar bait movies, I thought it was only good for the acting and camerawork for some scenes but the rest was boilerplate.
It still is enjoyable to watch in the moment and had some funny lines like "Are you one of those single tear people?".
It still is enjoyable to watch in the moment and had some funny lines like "Are you one of those single tear people?".
Cool I have not seen enough movies last year to make a real list of my own. Did see all the Marvel films though.
Finaika
Member
Big Hero 6 is going to win.
I'm a white heterosexual male that enjoys a lot of LGBT themed cinema. Off the top of my head, the recent work of Xavier Dolan comes to mind. I don't feel much of a personal connection to that subculture, but that doesn't mean I can't empathize with the characters and their stories. Besides, I love the idea of escaping into a world that doesn't quite fit with my own subjective reality.
To reduce the subtleties of a complex work of fiction down to race, gender, and sexuality is a pretty silly thing to do... It's slightly off-putting that you'd admit to dismissing a film for those reasons.
You seem to care. You keep going out of your way to let them know how wrong they are.
I know right!?
One of the greatest action movies in forever
(or since The Raid)
Boyhood was an extremely mediocre movie about boring people doing boring things. I can appreciate the difficulty in shooting a movie for over 12 years but the movie does nothing interesting beyond this basic gimmick. Knowing the academy's penchant for gimmicks over substance I am sure Boyhood will bag a few awards this year though.
boiled goose
good with gravy
to me the surprise of this year is how much people loved Planet of the Apes. I mean, I thought I had some interesting social commentary and was gripping for a bit but the last fourth was really bad for me.
the apes with machine guns was just too much
I think you just validated the point though. to you the LBGT world is escapism. to everyone else, that white heterosexual male perspective is not escapism. it is the norm.it is what it is portrayed everywhere already.
imagine you want to consume as much diverse media as possible. Dismissing the movie like boyhood is fine, because you will consume this type of media whether you want it or not, if you haven't consumed a lifetimes worth already.
you find it off putting? Get over it. Privilege 101
the apes with machine guns was just too much
I think you just validated the point though. to you the LBGT world is escapism. to everyone else, that white heterosexual male perspective is not escapism. it is the norm.it is what it is portrayed everywhere already.
imagine you want to consume as much diverse media as possible. Dismissing the movie like boyhood is fine, because you will consume this type of media whether you want it or not, if you haven't consumed a lifetimes worth already.
you find it off putting? Get over it. Privilege 101
michaelius
Banned
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ?
WTF ? That movie was one huge abomination with boring predictable plot. They were so busy giving that social commentary that they forgot to make movie watchable.
Well at least they have Nightcrawler on the list - that was really good and left strong impressions.
WTF ? That movie was one huge abomination with boring predictable plot. They were so busy giving that social commentary that they forgot to make movie watchable.
Well at least they have Nightcrawler on the list - that was really good and left strong impressions.
Boyhood is escapism for me, too. There are all sorts of things about that movie that aren't unique to my own circumstance. Beyond that, there's something universal in experiencing the feeling of "growing up". Re-living that feeling is escapism, as well. For me, it was the best "escape" I experienced in the cinema this year. "Consuming as much diverse media as possible"? Like the other poster, you're reducing Boyhood in a really shallow sort of way.
Privilege 101? That's a pretty fucking stand-offish attitude to take here. I'm trying to de-politicize an attitude towards a movie that has nothing political about it. You're trying to put the film into a ridiculous little box based on the race, gender, and sexuality of the character. It's... really weird. I don't want to put words in his mouth, but when Evilore said "culturally incompatible" at the beginning of this thread, I think he was being at least partially facetious.. but if you want to dismiss Boyhood and pull the "white privilege" card at somebody who's trying to argue that there's something universal about the film, knock yourself out.
To me, that's the limited perspective.
All the negative comments about Snowpiercer confirm to me the movie's strengths. It's raw, rough, dirty, like original, interesting sci-fi movies used to be. Plot holes? Sure. A cartoony reality to it and the characters? Yes, this isn't social realism set in the future, it's a play with symbols and personalities, scenarioes, jokes. It's got some of the most interesting visuals in recent sci-fi with its practical sets, great action scenes, a hugely ambitious scope, some grit and dark humour. If it's flawed it's only because it dares to jump in with both feet and man I wish more sci-fi and action films follow suit.
boiled goose
good with gravy
I honestly appreciate your effort. and I certainly acknowledge my attitude was confrontatioNAL. hopefully it at least provoked some reflection.
my objection to your post was merely to your comment towards the previous poster. I'm sure there is something universal about most films and art in general, but I think it's okay for people to dismiss things because they are tired of a particular flavor.
Everyone talking about GoTG and CA:2 getting beat by DOFP? That one doesnt even matter. They placed Snowpiecer over GoTG CA:2 and Interstellar.
I mean shit, Im one of Snowpiercers biggest defenders on GAF, but that is fucking nonsense. No way is it a better movie overall than those 3.
I hope it was with darts at a board, or an equivalent. Yeesh.
I mean shit, Im one of Snowpiercers biggest defenders on GAF, but that is fucking nonsense. No way is it a better movie overall than those 3.
I hope it was with darts at a board, or an equivalent. Yeesh.
I know?
Well, for starters, this isn't an opinion piece or an editorial. They just took the films, figured out their initial placement based on their overall RT score, and weighted them based on the number of reviews that they received to determine their final placement. That's why you have films that have higher RT scores placing lower than films with lower scores, since they don't have nearly as many reviews in comparison.
Again, RT isn't "this film got a 98% overall score;" it's "98% of the critics that reviewed this film gave it at least a favorable score." They even make the distinction themselves on the website, since they have an average rating right next to the RT score.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
If the axe fight to you is a great action scene, if a movie based on a handful of train cars is "ambitious scope", if the revelation that the protein bars are made of
animal matter
I honestly can't fathom this reviewing better that the Raid 2.
The Raid 2 doesn't exactly have the world's most original gangster story, and it can't be ignored that the remarkable level of violence in the film is going to be pretty damn off-putting for a lot of people. Frankly, I'm surprised it scored as well as it did, since it's such a genre enthusiast kind of film.
I'll take this chance to plug Critics Top 10. Every year this site ranks movies by the number of appearances on end-of-year lists. It's a pretty comprehensive overview of the year's most acclaimed films (the site does the top 50 movies).
Interesting methodology, but..
5. Under the Skin (243 lists; 44 top spots)
Really, Critics? This would probably be on my top 5 worst films of all time
There, there's your goddamned Guardians of the Galaxy, people!
Man, it's not even a close race for the top spot. IFC was definitely wise to take Paramount's deal on the movie.
I'll reply to you because of the Seinfeld avatar.
I think it's unfair to categorize someone who enjoys superhero flicks as someone who only watches superhero flicks. You got to this conclusion because you assumed these were my favourite movies of the year, while my implication was that since these two movies were miles ahead of X-men, it doesn't matter if this list is a result of an aggregator or a college of worthy reviewers, IT IS a shit-list. To me.
I watch all sorts of movies: Japanese movies, Korean movies, documentaries, us independent movies, I watch tv-show like Knicks, and Madmen and Masters of Sex and haven't touched a single episode of Agents of shield. And while I like Arrow, had I been God and had to decide between Arrow not getting a fourth season and Hannibal getting a third, I would kill all the actors and the cast of Arrow with a biblical flood.
As for why my preference goes to Cap and the Guardians, here it goes.
I loved First Class. The action wasn't as good as I expected but it was a movie that I loved dearly. I never really liked Xavier until I saw this movie: I enjoyed his weird relationship with Mystique, I understood his willingness to try and placate Magneto because of the good Charles saw in him, I like how sleazy he was presented at the start of the movie.
I still listen to this movie's soundtrack. I still haven't watched it a third time because the ending was so heart-wrenching. Both times I saw it, I connected my personal life to Xavier trying to save his friend from himself and from the rage he couldn't control.
It was a significant movie because it wasn't about the effects, it wasn't about motherfucking everpresent Wolverine, it wasn't structured on clues to a possible trilogy: it was a good movie, plain and simple. It was a great story, with X-men fitted in and not the other way around.
So. Days of Future past wasn't a good movie. It's an emotionless sequence of retcons, cameos and more motherfucking Wolverine. Magneto was back to its '80s comic book persona. Charles and Magnus are now together again after years of complete opposition but they don't have a single conversation to close the divide that was created at the end of First Class: this was a sequel, it should have had an emotional/narrative continuity with its predecessor. Dinklage doesn't have a single moment of glory in the entire movie, in spite of being the force driving the entire plot: no cool monologue, no sympathy for his hate towards mutants. There's no story. There's just a bunch of special effects and plot fixes. The movie is boring.
Winter Soldier should be in that list out of the quality of its action ALONE. When you add in the fact that the movie also takes pop-shots at military policies, while pretty much deconstructing Captain America as a symbol of culture supremacy and transforming him into a real hero in such a way they wished they had done that in the first movie, and if you think at how violent the movie is without showing A SINGLE DROP OF BLOOD, well that makes impossible for me to compare the two in any way, let alone prefer DOFP to something like Winter Solider which has the all-ages appeal of a real Disney movie.
Guardians of the Galaxy, don't even get me started.
The movie has an African American female lead, wait a GREEN female lead (and based on the Fantastic Four casting, we all know what Fox thinks of African-American female leads) rips your heart out in the first five minutes, establishes new characters and a new universe without ever resulting formulaic, his most powerful character is an SFX botanic version of Forrest Gump, its main character has no superpower, the script makes you laugh at Rocket Racoon and then makes you feel guilty about it, and last but not the least nails a good joke after the other. It's a great ride, full of feels. And yes, it's predictable, somewhat derivative and the bad guy is as unimaginative as they come but IT DELIVERS what it promises, something one can't say about DoFP except (maybe) the Quicksilver sequence.
I hope my opinion is more clear now and that whether you agree or not, at least you won't reduce it to simple fanboyism.
Holy shit you are really passionate about this. Critics didn't like the Marvel movie as much as you. Who cares? There is no objective reason why anyone should prefer them over any other film. Boyhood, X-Men or otherwise. Film is subjective and a lot of critics preferred some other movies.
These lists are great for exposing people to the non-blockbusters. Like Boyhood for example. It's a brilliant example of what film is capable of. If this list exposes even just one person to that film then this list did some real good work.
just watched Grand Budapest Hotel from Redbox DVD last night.
Umm... is most of the film supposed to be 4:3? The scenes where Jude Law was talking with the guy in the hotel about his story were widescreen for me but everything else was 4:3?
my GF's dog sat on the remote early in the film and zoomed the screen or something so I wasn't sure if he accidentally changed the aspect ratio or something...
Umm... is most of the film supposed to be 4:3? The scenes where Jude Law was talking with the guy in the hotel about his story were widescreen for me but everything else was 4:3?
my GF's dog sat on the remote early in the film and zoomed the screen or something so I wasn't sure if he accidentally changed the aspect ratio or something...
Secret Fawful
Member
Um, if you're not joking, each part of the story that follows a different timeline/character arc is in a different aspect ratio.
Did you notice the different aspect ratios lined up with the different eras the film take place in? It was intentional. A little way to differentiate the time periods.
The parts that were 4:3 are from an era of film where many films were not filmed in widescreen for example.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
The Raid 2 is a dumb action movie. But it has amazing action, so I can enjoy it.
Snow Piercer is dumb sci fi. The sci fi is bad, so what is there left to enjoy?
not joking, seriously wasn't sure because of the dog/remote thing. Plus I'm watching on a modified Wii to play DVDs so I'm never sure if that thing is working right.
I loved it but WAS distracted while watching. It seemed like the weirdest Wes film to me on first viewing. He's one of my fav directors so I really want to see it again, hopefully on Blu Ray.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Add me to the folks who did not really feel Snowpiercer at all!
AstroNut325
Member
I wish Interstellar made it!
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