2014 Films of the Year No 7-6

No 7 - 12 Years a Slave

A Heartwrenchingly powerful and saddening look at a dark part of World History. Slavery still lives on today, even in the UK but never has it been so forcefully brought to the screen. A free black man is mistakenly took from his home and family and put to work in the cotton fields and suffers at the whim of his captors. 

A shocking true story that was rediscovered by Steve McQueen (director of Hunger and Shame). I've been a fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor since his work on Serenity way back when but his portrayal of Solomon Northup is so intense that you forget you're watching a film. It's that feeling that tells you you're watching a great work and a great actor. 

It's hard to say such a powerful film is 'entertaining' as humour is light on the ground. You will feel quite drained after viewing it but trust me, it's a story that needs to be seen.

No 6 - Interstellar

Such dedication was my attempt to not see ANY of this film beforehand, the first time I saw the poster is when I just copied and pasted it to put on this blog. For the first 10-15 minutes of the film, I thought I had made the wrong call by holding a black-out as I wasn't in the zone of the film but once we left Earth, I was 'on board' in a big way.

To put such a complicated and scientific movie into simple terms, the earth is fucked and we need a new home so we send out a team of explorers to reconnect with astronauts we sent years prior to confirm as to if there is a sustainable planet for us to relocate to.

This is the kind of film where you walk out of it with a complete understanding of the  plot but skip ahead a month and you're struggling to connect the dots you once knew. But I'd rather live in a world of the occasional 'Smart' Blockbuster than one where a new Transformers is a summer highlight. I may not have described why I like loved this movie but it's down to the scope and the vision. Like last year's Gravity, this really is one you need to see on the biggest screen possible. The visuals are amazing and the production design (especially the robot TARS) is immense. I don't want to explain any more of why I loved this film but I would be very intrigued through hindsight if I would have loved it as much if I watched every single trailer out there. Probably not. 

Adam Yates