The top five films of 2014, so far

June 4, 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel - 64th Berlin Film Festival

 

With June marking the halfway point of the year, our members weigh in on the films that have resonated in the past six months. Choices were open to festival premieres, one-off screenings and regular theatrical releases.

Chris AlexanderFangoria
1. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
2. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
3. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
4. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier)
5. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)

Jason Anderson, The Grid
1. Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)
2. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (Declan Lowney)
3. The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
4. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
5. The Immigrant (James Gray)

Nathalie Atkinson, National Post
1. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino)
2. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
3. Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich)
4. We Are the Best! (Lukas Moodysson)
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)

Liz Braun, Sun Media
1. Locke (Stephen Knight)
2. Finding Vivian Maier (John Maloof and Charlie Siskel)
3. Tim’s Vermeer (Teller)
4. The Raid 2 (Gareth Evans)
5. Chef (Jon Favreau)

Anne Brodie, Studio 12
1. Fed Up (Stephanie Soechtig)
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
3. Locke (Steven Knight)
4. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
5. The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard)

Phil BrownNOW Magazine
1) The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wesley Anderson)
2) Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (Declan Lowney)
3) A Field In England (Ben Wheatley)
4) Nymphomaniac (Lars Von Trier)
5) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo)

Bill ChambersFilm Freak Central
1. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)  x5

Thom Ernst, CTV
1. The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller)
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
3. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
4. Muppets Most Wanted (James Bobin) – No, I didn’t miss Jason Segel (maybe Amy Adams). And yes, I did find the songs catchy and engaging.
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Anthony & Joe Russo) – The first great superhero action film to come out this year.

Eli Glasner, CBC News
1. The Lego Movie ( Phil Lord, Christopher Miller) – If only all product placement was this subversive (and fun!)
2. The Lunchbox ( Ritesh Batra) – Best food movie since Big Night and one that captures the rhythms of Mumbai with fresh eyes.
3. Under the Skin ( Jonathan Glazer) -Cinema vérité meets Sci-Fi strange. Scarlett Johansson bares her body and soul luring men back to her inky dark lair. Watched the film. Went to bed. Woke up screaming. As it should be.
4. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch) – Sing me a song of eternal love, bohemian vampires and humanity teetering on the edge saved only by art, beautiful art.
5. Blue Ruin ( Jeremy Saulnier) – A revenge film on the paleo diet, cut out the fat and sugar, pour on the blood. As stunning as it is spare.

Marc Glassman, Classic FM 93.6
1. Out of Mind, Out of Sight (John Kastner) – True cinema vérité—this Hot Docs award winner is an unvarnished look at patients struggling for redemption at the Brockville Mental Centre.
2. Omar (Hany Abu-Assad) – Role playing works both psychologically and as plot points for this Cannes award-winning political thriller set in Palestine.
3. The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard) – The harsh terrain of northern England with its abused violent people
is brilliantly evoked in this tragic tale of two youths attempting to make a living acquiring junk for a “selfish giant” scrapyard dealer.
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer) – If you’re going to spend $225 million on a film, it should have an
intelligent plot and great actors. This one does. The blockbuster of the year? Maybe.
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) – It’s Wes Anderson-lite: the film is witty, the characters gossamer thin
and the sets elaborate and gorgeous. Ralph Fiennes is wonderful but this film is Prosecco, not champagne entertainment. Still, it’s Anderson.

Karen Gordon, CBC Radio’s Metro Morning
1. The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino
2. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
4. Chef (Jon Favreau)
5. 7 Boxes (Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schembori)

Jake Howell, Movie City News
1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
2. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
3. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner)
4. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
5. The Salvation (Kristian Levring)

Peter Howell, Toronto Star
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
2. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
3. Mommy (Xavier Dolan)
4. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
5. Edge of Tomorrow (Doug Liman)

Leslie James, 680 News
1. Godzilla (Gareth Edwards)
2. Maleficent (Robert Stromberg)
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo)
4. Visitors (Godfrey Reggio)
5. Locke (Steven Knight)

Brian Johnson, Maclean’s
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) – With an all-star cast, Wes Anderson makes his most entertaining film—and unleashes the comedian in Ralph Fiennes. Who knew? The art direction is to die for, and likely nailed the year’s first Oscar craft nomination.
2. Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissak) – My favorite film at Cannes was shut out of the awards. Directed by Mauritania’s Abderrahmane Sissako, this tale of terror lurking in Mali’s gorgeous desert landscapes, lands with uncanny timing, given the recent horror of abducted Nigerian schoolgirls. Let’s hope TIFF can rescue this gem from the sands of obscurity.
3. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier) – I don’t care what anyone says. I had more fun writing about this picture than anything I’ve seen in a long time. Reliably reprehensible but never boring, Lars Von Trier gets away with murder like no one else, while turning intellectual discourse into a contact sport.
4. Maps to the Stars (David Cronenberg) – Another Cannes competition premiere, yet to open here. Cronenberg’s satirical portrait of Hollywood, driven by a ferocious performance from Julianne Moore, may be the closest thing to a crowd-pleaser that the director made since ‘The Fly’.
5. Enemy (Denis Villeneuve) – Sure, Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Prisoners’ was a bigger deal. But by casting the two Jakes (Gyllenhaal) as doubles in this Dead Ringers Redux, Quebec’s scarily talented auteur goes all English-Canadian with a suburban-gothic, existential puzzle worthy of classic Egoyan and Cronenberg. Toronto has never looked more forbidding, even in ‘Crash.’
Note: Because I’m currently producing and directing The Purdy Project — a feature documentary executive-produced by Ron Mann and distributed FilmsWeLike — I will not be reviewing FWL releases such as Ida.

Chris Knight, National Post
1. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
3. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)
4. Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
5. Tu Dors Nicole (Stèphane Lafleur)

Angelo Muredda, Torontoist
1. The Immigrant (James Gray)
2. It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)
3. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier)
4. Enemy (Denis Villeneuve)
5. Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)

Adam NaymanThe Globe and Mail, Cinema Scope
1. Viola (Matías Piñeiro)
2. The Immigrant  (James Grey)
3. Locke (Steven Knight)
4. It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)
5. A Field in England (Ben Wheatley)

Andrew Parker, Dork Shelf
1. We Are the Best! (Lukas Moodysson)
2. The Immigrant (James Gray)
3. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
4. Tom at the Farm (Xavier Dolan)
5. Godzilla (Gareth Edwards)

Kiva Reardoncléo, The Globe and Mail
1. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)
2. We Are the Best! (Lukas Moodysson)
3. It Felt Like Love (Eliza Hittman)
4. The Second Game (Corneliu Porumboiu)
5. Stranger By the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)

Radheyan Simonpillai, NOW Magazine
1. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)
2. The Immigrant (James Gray)
3. Viola (Matias Pineiro)
4. The Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra)
5. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer)

José Teodoro, NOW Magazine
1. Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie)
2. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
3. Gloria (Sebastián Lelio)
4. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
5. The Immigrant (James Gray)

Norm WilnerNOW Magazine
1. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
2. The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard)
3. Godzilla (Gareth Edwards)
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
5. Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier)