Top 10 Films of 2014: 7-4

Nuclear Winter, Despicable Humanity, Growing up, and Super Spies.

7. Snowpiercer

Living in the age of special effects, no genre has taken a harder hit to Hollywood marketability than science fiction. Rising ticket prices have increased public desire for flash that can’t be fully replicated with the home experience of film viewing, replacing the days of “War of the Worlds” with “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” I mean no disrespect to big budget blockbusters but when hundred million dollar productions are regularly started before a finished script is even presentable to actors, Hollywood could do with seeing how less can be more with science fiction driven more by powerful drama and storytelling than how massive an explosion one can generate.

Boong Joon-Ho, director of the under-appreciated 2006 monster film “The Host,” answers prayers for substantive science fiction with “Snowpiercer.”

An adaptation of French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige,” the post-apocalyptic tale of class warfare between the surviving vestiges of humanity amongst a train in perpetual motion designed to protect its passengers from an intense global warming effect grapples not only with relevant wealth and vocation based class differences in modern society but layers on additional social commentary about human nature, how and why we allow ourselves to fall into these systems repeatedly and whether we are entirely to blame for our actions considering the circumstances that we find ourselves in.

While the scenery passing outside of the moving train can be fascinating to look at, it’s “Snowpiercer’s” minimalism that really make it stick out. No massive backdrops or lavish action scenes; just a talented A-list cast of actors and a series of small cars and tight corridors.

The passion of the film can be seen in everybody involved in its production, from the variety of people among the differing classes that seem understandably off kilter after living 17 years within an enclosed space, to the intricate set design that prevents 2 hours of moving forward through a train from ever becoming boring.

Living proof that great direction can make any story great, “Snowpiercer” takes a concept that wouldn't feel out of place on the “SyFy Channel” and manages to turn it into a fun yet thought provoking thrill ride akin to sci-fi classics of the 1950s.

6. Nightcrawler

In the vein of “Snowpiercer,” “Nightcrawler,” takes a similarly simplistic approach of making fewer resources go further than the temporary flash of CGI and results in the creation of one of the most disturbingly cynical pieces of quality cinema that I have seen in quite some time.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s portrayal as the disturbingly slimy and obsessive yet charismatic Lou Bloom, freelance crime scene videographer for network news stations, sells a thriller that stays so tensely engrossing that you may barely even notice its admitted lapses in logical police protocol to set up some of its most key sequences. His performance is so intricate and fascinating to watch that I fail to fathom why he’s been robbed of an Oscar nomination.

“Nightcrawler” is first and foremost a character study of Bloom, whose drive, determination and ability to think outside of the box would almost be admirable if he didn't have a sociopathic tendency to use human beings as disposable tools to achieve his goals. By all means, his outlook is the stereotypically perfect worker with ambition and pride that corporate America would love to flock to and that’s what makes his case so fascinating.

Watching Bloom’s career and all of the twists and turns that it takes can be excruciating to watch in the best way possible when one is aware of just how disturbingly and amazingly brilliant his navigation of the employment system, American media operations and human nature are, especially when punctuated by the pacing of each wham moment that leads him further down his own rabbit hole.

As a realist that tries to look on the bright side of life wherever possible, I’d be lying if I said that a film, so unrelentingly cynical that it reduced me as a person that has been involved in both freelance competition and news media, to tears of horror and despair, was pleasant to watch.

However, the sheer power of “Nightcrawler’s” craftsmanship is simply too compelling to turn away from and is destined to put me in shock at least a several more times over in the foreseeable future.

5. Boyhood

On the other side of the spectrum of idealism is Richard Linklater’s masterpiece about life and its unpredictability’s demanding of us all to find our own way rather than live an entire life for individual moments and causes.

“Boyhood” is something of a difficult film to evaluate and a lot of why that is so is because of its powerful and successfully executed ambitions.

The title would imply that the film is meant to follow the life of its protagonist Mason Jr. and all of the bumps along the way that define him as a person, maybe in the name of overcoming some sort of deeply rooted character flaw. However “Boyhood” is less about its titular subject’s life and more about the somewhat abstract nature of life itself.

In somehow miraculous finding both a crew willing to see the entire project out to completion and mustering up the saintly levels of discipline it would take to complete a film requiring over a decade of principal photography, Linklater has essentially managed to form something of a documentary in narrative form.

Happiness, tragedy, pain, surprise and a plethora of other moments come and go throughout the life of Mason and his family and not necessarily in ways that connect with one another or achieve closure. In the end, all of it serves to ultimately highlight the unmanipulated humanity on display through out the film's nearly 3 hour running time. Impactful moments can hit that imply coming change only for a span of years to go by before the issue or character in question is ever seen again, leaving most of the changes implied in the same way that we as human beings can never have 100% of an entire story.

Moments and status quo, no matter how logical they seem or how good or bad they can be are fleeting. The message is simple but delivered powerfully in a truly exceptional demonstration of “show, don’t tell” storytelling at its finest.

While the message resonates powerfully for all audiences, I can’t help but wonder if using Mason, a child growing up and very ingrained within the pop culture of a post-millennial generation, as a focalizer wasn't an attempt to connect the message with an audience probably in need of strong life advice?

Although certain hiccups in editing can be noticeable, the sheer audacity of the movie makes it hard to compare to any other film. “Boyhood” should be seen if for no other reason than managing to achieve something different in an age in which storytelling beats are well known.

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I won’t even bother trying to hide my admiration of the “Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

In making strong, tightly edited, character-focused superhero films that further their own personal mythologies and agendas that just so happen to tie into a bigger looming threat that proves no man is an island, Marvel has manage to do the impossible and take properties that are virtually unrelated to one another have them all coexist within the same setting; a notion that would have been viewed as a pipe dream less than 7 years ago has bow built a multi-billion dollar multimedia franchise.

Despite the commendability of the franchise’s experiment and the relatively consistent quality of the products that they churn out, the overstayed welcome of certain beats present in most of the post “Avengers” stories of “Phase 2” was leaving me more than a little bit bored. I’m happy that film executives have finally cracked the formula for regularly consistent superhero productions but I was starting to fear that it came at the cost of genre’s cinematic diversity.

Fortunately, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” came along to provide a sense of assurance that not only can the franchise still be better than “Thor: The Dark World,” it can even be surprisingly amazing on a level not quite reached by the genre since Christopher Nolan first took to making “Batman” movies.

Like “Aliens” to “Alien” before it, “The Winter Soldier” gambled with Captain America’s entire mythos by shifting the setting, the genre and practically the entire supporting cast in a move to produce a film that still tackles the essence of his character and subject matter in such a way that not only stands on its own but even enhances “Captain America: The First Avenger,” a superior entry within the Marvel cannon to begin with.

What sets this one apart from other superhero sequels however is not only its own quality filmmaking but how relevant it is to the present day without dating itself.

Similarly to “The Dark Knight,” it weaves a cautionary tale of the potential dangers of fear induced governmental defense policies of a post-9/11 world. Although the discussion doesn't quite contain the full needed to put it on the same level, its ability to mature Cap’s black and white morality of the World War II era into an unwavering idealism about standing up for freedom over control, without dipping into childish or naïve straw man arguments still manage to shine through powerfully, becoming everything that a story about an idealistic hero in a cynical world should be (looking at you “Man of Steel”).

The diverse nature of the MCU’s stories make it difficult to determine whether or not this is the best film of its franchise but it’s easily the best superhero film of 2014 and arguably one of the best films of the entire genre.