Leaving aside John Wick, I rated all films in my top10 list as 4 or above 4, which tells that how brilliant 2014 was for Hollywood movies.

There were plenty of disappointments too in form of ‘The Monuments Men’, ‘Noah’, ‘Transcendence’, ‘The Amazing Spiderman2’, ‘Lucy’, ‘Into the Storm’ and ‘Annabelle’. And yea most of Oscar nominated movies are so fucking average, like ‘Imitation Game’ or  ‘The Theory of Everything’ or ‘American Sniper’. ‘Boyhood' and 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' also didn’t appeal much.

The year belonged to 3 outstanding movies for me, they were like bad addiction as I kept re-watching them day after day - ‘Interstellar’, ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Nightcrawler’. Interestingly, all these 3 movies were hardly considered for Oscar awards or even nominees. Oh well, as if that changes anything about my love for these movies!


Here’s my list of Top 10 Hollywood movies of 2014 :


                                                                                                                       1. Interstellar

I was highly skeptical that its gonna be 1st Nolan movie I am gonna dislike as I am not fond of space oriented movies at all, even Gravity didn’t click for me. But the 100% love record for Nolan movies stayed intact as I was simply blown away by this masterpiece. Though it did took few viewings before I could completely feel how much I am in awe of it, thanks to the abundance of physics used in the movie. More detailed write up on that when I write the review. The main reason however why this movie worked so much for me was the emotional bonding between father-daughter, i.e Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and Murph (Mackenzie Foy/Jessica Chastain/Ellen Burstyn). There were outstanding visuals of various planets, satellites etc and there also was the ever reliable Hans Zimmer background score. At 1-2 places, it was too loud to my liking making it hard to listen the dialogue, but then why would you complain if the music piece is worth listening. There are two brilliant scenes that I can re-watch uncountable times, one is the ‘Coward’ sequence where  Nolan like his many old movies builds drama and thrill using 4-5 parallel running scenes together, and oh boy how well it works always! The other one is of course docking scene that almost every person loves, when Brand (Anne Hathaway) asks Cooper ‘what are you doing, cooper?’ and Cooper replies ‘Docking’, it was and still is a goosebump moment in the movie for me. To be frank, I don’t really see a single flaw in this movie. Its duration is no way long and the final act is very convincing for me too, including the final meet up scene between old Murph and Cooper which I am actually glad that it was short one and not a melodramatic. Special mention to the scene when Cooper watches 23 years span of messages from his family, pretty emotional one to watch.
Nobody believed me, but I knew you would come back. 
How?
Because my dad promised me. 
              2. Gone Girl

Was more than satisfied how David Fincher utilized every main aspect of Gillian Flynn book ‘Gone Girl’. Amy’s (Rosamund Pike) early life, equation with parents, the love she had for Nick (Ben Affleck) and how it all changes. How she plans her own missing mystery and the soundtrack by Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross creates that atmosphere brilliantly. Rosamund Pike performance was so much good, while reading the book I was very scared of the fact that how would the life of a guy be if he ever meets or marries a girl like Amy. And Rosamund was able to give that same vibe with her performance, she was anyday my pick for best actress in oscar awards. Ben Affleck was also well suited to play Nick role, that smile he gives to press or the interview scene where he plays the smart Nick very well. Only complaint in movie was, Nick and his father equation that was pretty important one in book, was totally ignored in the movie. But, good thing was that it didn’t affect the movie at all. Also, I liked performance of Neil Patrick Harris (Desi Collings) who played the psycho lover role in a very subtle manner, like the scene where the plan of Amy to use Desi to her own advantage backfires on her, and as audience you wonder how badly Desi is gonna suffer now. The climax was talking point for many, I personally liked the way it is, Amy’s character definitely was more greyish but sending her to prison or killing her would had been partial for me. Instead letting both suffer together like in the book was perfect! My fav scene was when Amy’s true intentions are revealed through her own long voice-over sequence.
What are you thinking? How are you feeling? What have we done to each other? What will we do?


                                                                                                                      3. Nightcrawler

I had enjoyed Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners too, but here he made me love his performance so much that I ended up checking his filmography and watch his other films too. And some more oscar cribbing, he didn’t get a oscar nomination for best actor, haha idiots! Whats so lovable about Jake’s character Louis Bloom is the creepy look and behavior he brings out, in the way he speaks his dialogues, sometimes he intentionally says it slowly to make the other fear him like the scene where he is warning his assistant/intern Rick (Riz Ahmed). Also enjoyable is the plenty of dark humor, love the dining scene between Louis and Nina (Rene Russo), with that ‘a friend is a gift you give to yourself’ dialogue. Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed are both very good in their supporting roles. Screenplay is tight and pacy, and director Dan Gilroy presents the movie from the point of view of Louis, he keeps the proceedings engaging and hard to predict plus he presents the ugly side of news presentation very nicely.  Special mention to the salary negotiation scene, and my personal fav when Louis gives a creepy laugh while watching a comedy show on T.V alone.
What if my problem wasn’t that I don’t understand people but that I don’t like them?


  4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A fantastic sci-fi drama from Matt Reeves, that is a sequel to the already amazing ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’. The CGI is commendable as for major portion of the movie it looks like you are watching real characters talking to each other. And so are the performances of Andy Serkis as Caesar, Toby Kebbell as Koba, Terry Notary as Rocket and Karin Konoval as Maurice. The first scene between Caesar and Maurice is so adorable as they discuss humans, how much Caesar still misses them and the state of Apes at present. The scene when Rocket realizes how wrong he was about his father and apologies to Caesar is bound to bring lump to your throat. Whats special about the movie is how it starts as Better Apes vs Bad Humans into Bad Apes vs Good Humans, just showing that Apes can be evil too like Humans. Good performance from Jason Clarke as Malcolm but I badly missed James Franco, nice that they atleast kept a nostalgic scene for Caesar when circumstances make him go to his old house. The background score is amazing, and so is the finale with all the action. One can expect a large scale war in 3rd part, looking at the way this movie ends as Caesar says ‘The war has already begun’
Ape not kill Apes.
You are no Ape.


                                                                                                                       5. Birdman

A satire on Hollywood big budget movies through the eyes of Riggan (Michael Keaton) whose alter ego keeps wanting him return back to playing the roles of superheroes like Batman and Birdman he did in 1992. But, its 2014-15 and he wants to make his name in a meaningful broadway play, or to put it in right words he wants to feel relevant again. Riggan also has got family issues to handle, ex-wife and a daughter Sam (Emma Stones) who is a spoilt brat trying to come out of drug addiction. And if this wasn’t enough, Riggan gets Mike (Edward Norton) playing the key role in play. Edward plays himself in the movie, a star who likes to interfere and get his saying into the script, a tough person to work with. There are only 16 visible cuts in movie, infact the director Inarritu shoots the movie in a long single continous take for major part. Love the conversation Riggan has with critic at bar like place, and also the first meeting with Mike as how Mike tries to show his dominance and how Riggan reacts when in 1st preview he improvises his lines. What is real, and what is fiction is a question that will occur at many parts of movie. Michael Keaton delivers a great performance. Emma Stones and Edward Norton are effective in their supporting roles, specially Emma’s long dialogue scene with Riggan where she de-motivates him and tells every truth about his intentions with broadway play attempt. Also,  Zach Galifianakis and Naomi Watts are wonderful in their cameos. Special mention to the jazz drum score that plays throughout the movie, and we get to see its visual only once in narrative.
How did we end up here? This place is horrible. Smells like balls. We don’t belong here. 


                 6. Whiplash

A talented young drummer Andrew (Miles Teller) wants to become successful in the field, he gets under the eyes of a instructor Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) at  music academy who enrolls him in his band whom he trains for upcoming events. When Andrew attends 1st class of Fletcher, it is then he learns what kind of teacher he is, and so do we the audience. I personally hate teachers who try to push you beyond your limits using abuse which Fletcher does. But if you see it from his point of view, he does achieve his goal at the end, getting what he wanted from Andrew. The question however is that, was this the right way to get the desired result? I would say no! The entire classes of Fletcher that Andrew attends were as painful and uncomfortable to watch as a viewer for me, as they were to attend for Andrew in the plot. There are only 2 moments where Fletcher shows his emotional side, one when one of the drummer passes away, and other when Andrew meets Fletcher again after a long time. The finale is of course terrific, the surprise Fletcher gives Andrew trying to spoil his career, and the response Andrew comes up with, literally saying Fuck You Fletcher, I won’t give up so easily. And I am happy that the musical piece was long.  J.K Simmons deservedly got Oscar for his performance. Also, Miles Teller was brilliant in playing the role of drummer.
Were you rushing or were you dragging ? 


                                                                                           7. The Hunger Games : Mockingjay Part 1

District 12 is destroyed, and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is under much more emotional turmoil with the guilt of not having saved Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) as she prepares to help District 13 President Coin (Julainne Moore) defeat President Snow (Donald Sutherland) by becoming Mockingjay, the symbol of rebellion for districts of Panem. I still can’t understand why critics and most people discarded this movie saying its pointless and leads to nothing, Really? For me this was as good as 2nd Hunger Games was. And if you have read the book, there’s no changes done till the end except for ofcourse Plutarch scenes adjustment since Philip Seymour Hoffman is no more. I found this movie very depressing which is actually going to be the case for last part too but then there will be lot more joyous action in that one which this part couldn’t have. The motive of this part was to break Katiniss to the fullest, which happens in that last frame you see of her while watching Peeta struggle in a tied up hospital bed. ‘Hanging tree’ song is brilliantly used in narrative, and it also is one of my very favorite song. Also very nice of them to use Rue Whistle tune into a scene. Jennifer Lawerence performance was once again very enjoyable. I was disappointed to see Effie (Elizabeth Banks) have very less screen-time. Woody Harrelson as Haymitch was again good in supporting role, though he also had very small part to play. Keenly waiting for last part, I hope the ‘Real or Unreal’ conversations of Katinss-Peeta aren’t edited out!
Miss Everdeen, it is the things we love most that destroy us. 


                 8. Godzilla

Almost everyone had problem with the fact that Godzilla had very little screen time, and here I wondered why the fuck they wanted that! That very reason is why I loved this movie a lot because it keeps the eagerness of watching him alive, and when he does comes with that big roar, you feel goosebumps. It was very clever of the director to even avoid showing Godzilla fight with Muto’s in early part of movie, so that there is no feeling of repetivity when he fights them again in climax. There were two weak links in the movie, one that terribly done tsunami scene which looked fake in every possible way and other was lack of emotional connect with Ford (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Elle (Elizabeth Olsen). Dr Ishiro (Ken Watanabe) provides good drama to the plot with his enthusiastic feelings towards Godzilla, almost as much wanting to see Godzilla as us. The background score was terrific. My favorite scene was the slow build-up to Godzilla's 1st visual scene with all the parallel cuts.
The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in their control and not the other way around. Let them fight!


                                                                                                     9. Captain America : Winter Soldier

Even without watching 1st part (seen it now though) this film had clicked for me despite the fact that Captain America along with Thor was my least liked superhero. I love when a superhero struggles big time, which is what happens here with Steve (Chris Evans) who is surprised to know the toughest enemy he is about to fight is none other than his best buddy Bucky (Sebastian Stan). Then there is Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) who looks as vulnerable as he never looked before. A compelling drama with political events happening around and S.H.I.E.L.D in danger of wrong hands. The action is top notch and worth every minute, specially Steve-Bucky face-offs. The usual Marvel humor is there in entire movie, but there is much more to the plot than just that. Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is very good in her flirty and witty liners, and her action scenes too, would love to see more details about her past history, how she became a avenger etc. Falcon (Anthony Mackie) gets decent scenes to shine, a character that would be seen in Ultron too. Robert Redford is good in his evil act. Also, the end-credits scenes for a change aren’t just gimmick but makes you anticipate the next part even more.
For as long as I can remember I just wanted to do what was right. I guess I am not quite sure what that is anymore. And I thought I could just throw myself back in and follow orders, serve. Its just not the same. 
           10. John Wick

The basic premise of the movie is quite funny, an ex hit-man John Wick (Keanu Reeves) comes out of retirement only because some gangsters kill the dog which was last precious gift from his dead wife. The action is pure entertainment, quick and full of vengeance written all over it along with some witty liners. Keanu Reeves brings on a brilliant stylish action performance, making you enjoy the movie a hell lot even though plot is predictable. Love the scene where a person informs the father of the gangster who killed the dog that it was John Wick’s dog and the tension the father has on his face hearing name of John.
People keep asking if I am back and I haven’t really had an answer, but yeah, I am thinking I am back. 



Movies that were very good but missed my list : 

Chef
Begin Again
The Judge
Guardians of Galaxy