2014 Film of the Year!

Film of the Year!

The Wolf of Wall Street

There you go! In the longest drawn out list since time began, the movie of the year is the one where Jonah Hill eats a goldfish. Bambi, this is not.

This is a movie about excess and greed. But not the dark and moody Wall Street with Gordon Gecko. This is the bright and shiny Wall Street where you trade stocks at 9.30am and you're knee deep in hookers and blow by 12.05pm.

This TRUE story may have been embellished by its creator but the more you believe the more you'll enjoy it. And I enjoyed it.

For those not in the know, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a determined stock broker who breaks all the rules to become the hottest trader in town. He loses his principles very quickly to get what he wants and a decade of drug use brings his whole world crashing down.

This film would not be top if not for the casting of Leo DiCaprio who MAKES this film and OWNS it completely. Generally speaking his film choices seem to be on the nose every time and it doesn't hurt to be the current muse of Martin Scorsese. If anyone else were to attempt to steal the limelight on the film it would be Jonah Hill or Matthew McConaughey. The "McConaissance" as it is currently known, only finds enough space for 2 scenes but his chest thumping performance is, arguably, the most memorable of the entire 3hr running time. Jonah Hill, along with Leo, was Oscar nominated for his role and this further proves that he can do drama just as effortlessly as comedy although this role requires both in equal measure.

In terms of offending the public, this doesn't shy away from portraying the stressful environment of Wall Street. Full frontal nudity (both sexes), bums (both sexes), rape, drugs, the most uses of the word 'fuck' in a movie ever, spousal abuse, child abuse (kind of), objectification of women, objectification of monkeys, goldfish cruelty and much more. Enjoying the film doesn't mean you agree to all this behaviour but it's definitely a world we find hard to swallow (pun intended).

Scorsese has found his groove with the Biopic genre with Raging Bull leading all the way to The Aviator and it is confidently directed and expertly edited. The drug fuelled scenes even feature continuity goofs on purpose to showcase the instability of the situation.

All in all, if this makes you want to try drugs like it did with me and my wife, you probably enjoyed it as much as we did.

Adam Yates

2014 Films of the Year No 2

No 2 - Guardians of the Galaxy

It's perhaps fitting that the second highest box office success of 2014 should be second on my list. This was also one of the more pleasing surprises of the year. GotG has been on many end of year lists, most recently as The top film of 2014 as voted for by the readers of Digital Spy. All this from a comic hardly known to anyone let alone the occasional  comic book reader.

A group of space misfits band together reluctantly band together to serve their own selfish purposes and would you Adam and Eve it, they realise they need each other and instead rely on team work to thwart a great evil plot to destroy entire worlds.

This group is headed by Star Lord aka Peter Quill aka Chris Pratt of Parks and Rec fame. 2014 has been his year, not only entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also by being the best thing about The Lego Movie. It was also announced this year that Pratt would be the lead in 2015's Jurassic World.

And so begins the most fun you'll have (or would have had - it's not on now) in the cinema in 2014. It really was a different experience to the recent offerings such as the sombre Iron Man 3, the political Captain America 2 and ultra moody Man of Steel. This was funny, full of jokes and most surprisingly, extremely confident despite its relatively short life span in comics.

GotG amongst other things nailed the casting on the head more than any other film this year. Major quibbles were made about the appointments of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel as double act Rocket and Groot respectively but that turned out to be a masterstroke. Former WWE Dave Bautista, who has to my knowledge no major acting experience (unless you count wrestling as acting) became his character Drax so effortlessly, that Bautista already has his next role lined up in the next Bond film.

There are some downsides but they are mostly minor quibbles. The main villain RONAN THE DESTROYER, feels quite diluted and has a weak screen presence. His boss of sorts, THANOS, still looks a tad dodgy in terms of CGI and I'm hoping it's sorted in time for his next appearance. Finally, it's been quite well publicised if you read up on marvel movies that the final action scene is pretty similar to the last 3/4 installments where a large ship falls from the sky. No more please, ahem Age of Ultron.

Ultimately this may not make some Critics top 10 lists but for the audience, Guardians of the Galaxy would be hitting the top.

2014 Films of the Year No 3

No 3 - All is Lost

It's not a coincidence that of my top ten movies of the year, the top 3 were all seen in their natural environment of the cinema. Not on a TV or my iPad. I wish I had the time to see them all on the big screen but I only go if I know there's a strong chance of enjoyment and this was one of them.

As with most great films, the plot is simple. Guy has boat, boat broken, man strives to survive. That's it. There is no internal monologue or pointless drivel.

The amount of dialogue in All is Lost is clearly noticeable. There is about 5 lines of speech all in all. The reason isn't just because there is only one character however it is a factor but also because the mise-en-scene is so clear and precise, there's no need to sully it with meaningless exposition.

The drive or perhaps more aptly the wind behind the sails comes from acting heavyweight Robert Redford. He clearly doesn't NEED to make movies anymore so when he does, he sees a standard of quality visible. His performance in All is Lost stands against his more historic roles easily and possibly beyond. His character is in dire trouble but an air of calm ensures that his chances are as strong as can be. He's a loner, a man that finds his own company preferable to any land dwelling family and friends. He exudes all this, without saying a word.

It's Castaway without the corporate sponsorship, Captain Phillips without the pirates. There are movies and there are films, this is a film. Respectable, emotional and an acting tour de force.

Adam Yates

2014 Films of the Year No 4

No 4 - Boyhood

My whole top 5 has moved around a dozen times since I started to write these blogs and in the end Boyhood has JUST missed out on a medal and I will explain why at the end but for now I will briefly concentrate on why it HAS made the list. I haven't seen a lot of director Richard Linklater's efforts and the ones I have seen, I doubt they would be considered his best. After seeing Boyhood, I'm definitely going to catch up on his work. For those not in the know, the plot is a simple coming of age story. The device used however is one that has to be admired. The cast members met up once a year for over a decade to film 12 short films and then they were spliced together to make one movie where we see the actors age before our very eyes. The thing I liked most about the film is the way in which we jumped ahead in time. Not by a poxy One Year Later but by choosing a song which represented the year in question. The second you hear the songs you know our characters have progressed and you yearn to see where they have landed.

Boyhood has been winning end of year awards left and right and is certain of Oscar nods and rightly so. The performances are central to these accolades and even though most seem

to be aimed at the elders, it's the boy (now man sized) actor that needs to walk away with statuettes. To find a child with the attention span to be filmed every year for 12 years and still be compelling is rare luck and that's what they found.

The ONLY reason which is why it's not higher is the age device itself which I have just lobbied for. The fact that the film is being lauded for its unique production technique kind of waters down the core value that what should make a film great is what's in front of the camera, not what happened behind it. This may not make much sense but if they had done the exact same film with several different actors portraying different ages, would it have been so acclaimed?

Adam Yates

2014 Films of the Year No 5

No 5 - Locke

The concept of the movie was also all I knew about the film going in....it's Tom Hardy in a car. Does that mean it's a car chase? Is he a hostage? A bank robber? A cop? A Murderer? No, he's none of those things. I'm of two minds to explain the plot as I enjoyed it much more not aware of the storyline so if you want to watch it blind, stop now.

The plot is simple. Tom Hardy works on Europe's biggest building site but leaves on the eve of the most important day of the build to sort out a personal issue. His drive from Birmingham to London is the centre of the film as he must deal with his problems past and present and juggle his responsibilities via mobile phone. If any one saw the Ryan Reynolds film Buried it was also one setting, one locale, life or death scenario which relied heavily on a mobile phone. Locke isn't life or death, it's life. Normal everyday life. There is no fancy camera tricks, no witty dialogue or twist at the end. The excellence in Locke is in the realism and effortlessness of the performance of Tom Hardy. He exudes so much confidence as an actor that he is able to turn this movie away from the 'man in a car' hook and instead make it into a 'story about a man.'