The 5 best films of 2014: Sam Allen-Ankins’s choice

It was the year that the Mockingjay spread her wings and played the face of a rebellion. And that girl from The Descendants joined a leather-clad street gang to play capture the flag. And Brenton Thwaites took a sleigh ride in snow and saved a baby from abortion… or something? I don’t know what happened there. All I know is if our society crumbles tomorrow and all order turns to anarchy, there surely will arise a meek-faced teen with a Jesus complex to save the poor from Nazis Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet. Yep, teen dystopian fiction hit the iceberg in a big way this year and I watched from the deck.



So if you are looking for something a little more thrilling or simply can’t wait until Mockingjay Part 2: PTSD, I present my top 5 films of the year you should have already seen by now.
 

5. Fury

Brad Pitt in World War 2? You’re sold!
 

Fury’s strength is in the believable sense of camaraderie among its lead characters that include a tank squad of Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal and a jittery Logan Lerman. The raw depiction of battle combat is exciting and horrific enough to keep your toes warm.

Familiar themes of heroism, dehumanisation and brutality taps into our love of ‘the underdog.’ But there’s a little more heart to Fury than the straightforward premise would imply. A significant focus on character makes the rousing tale hit harder than your average historical backgrounder. 

Watch this one with: Arnott's Biscuits

4. Begin Again

Keira Knightley singing an acoustic album for 2 hours sounds like it could be a trying experience, which is why I was all the more delighted to find she holds a tune very sweetly. And how refreshing it is for her to be starring in a film set this century, and one in which she doesn’t die!
 

In Begin Again, an accidental encounter between a young singer-songwriter and disgraced music producer (played by the aptly named Mark Ruffalo) sprouts a promising collaboration between the two spirited independents in streets of New York City.



Director John Carney follows in the footsteps of his last musical feature Once by filming largely by improvisation. The relaxed tone of the film exudes warmth thanks largely to charming work from its well-matched leads. The narrative flows with such ease there is a serendipitous quality to the interpersonal drama as if it were happening in the moment. Neither assaulting nor sentimental, Begin Again is a rare breed of rom-com rarely seen in cinema today that is difficult to deny.
 

Watch this one with: Ice-cream

3. The Imitation Game

Benedict Cumberbatch is Alan Turing. The perfect marriage of character and actor, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of the English mathematician credited with cracking Hitler’s code and winning the war. Ever the Sherlockian figure, Turing is an oddball, an infuriating genius. He’s not particularly good at making friends or keeping a conversation, but his mind works better than most.

The Imitation Game tells his true story; from the his secret wartime work on a revolutionary mechanical machine capable of breaking 3,000 Enigma-generated naval codes a day to the tragedy of his post-war decline following his conviction of homosexuality which was illegal in Britain at the time.

Cumberbatch’s complicated lead is effortlessly likable, one of the most genuinely engrossing characters of the year. Knightley is another highlight, bringing a pitch-perfect mix of silk and steel to the supporting role of Joan Clarke, the sole female of the top-secret British team of code breakers. Their sterling performances teamed with Graham Moore’s tight adapted screenplay click neatly into place.

The Imitation Game is extremely well made, really rather poignant and succeeds as bloody good old fashioned entertainment. Without-a-doubt the best biopic in a long time, and so very British.

Watch this one with: Tea

2. Nightcrawler 

Jake Gyllenhaal is a genius. Give him an Oscar. Give him all the Oscars dammit!

Set in the nocturnal underbelly of Los Angeles, Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man who’s thirsty to make a name for himself in the world of crime journalism. With a camera by his side and a police scanner on his dashboard, Lou chases down crashes, fires, murders and other mayhem to film tragedy at hand and make a quick buck. Encouraged by the local news director Nina played by Rene Russo, Lou finds love in his work and soon becomes obsessive to the point of crazed. He will stop at nothing to capture the most graphic, bloody, controversial footage that breaks all journalistic and moral codes.

Gyllenhaal is transfixing and seemingly sociopathic as Lou. His gaunt figure and subtle physicality only adds to the eerie charismatic appeal. To be honest the less you know about this movie, the more fun it will be going in. Visually sleek, dark and funny too, it is one of the few real exhilarating releases of year.

Watch this one with: Pizza

1. Gone Girl

No surprise here.

Dark, sexy and stylish, Gone Girl plays well to David Fincher’s twisted vision. Based off a book of the same name, the film’s premise is simple: Boy marries girl. Girl goes missing. Boy is suspected of murder.

Twists and turns are plenty, especially in the second half when the tone shifts from self-serious crime drama to all-out erotic thriller. Love, crime, sex, and betrayal - everything a good thriller needs, Gone Girl delivers in spades. This one ticks all the boxes for me. 

Watch this one with: a Xanax

Honorable mentions (also worth a watch):

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Boyhood, Pride, Guardians of the Galaxy

Gone Girl Review

You don't know what you've got 'til it's...

There are many surprising things about Gone Girl, not the least of which Ben Affleck finally stars in a film I like. A lot. Even more surprising than Affleck’s successful stab at a personal renaissance, are the wild and twisted subject matters his new film takes at every turn. Love, crime, sex, and betrayal - everything a good thriller needs, Gone Girl delivers in spades. Add in a murder-mystery, a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score, and the Austen-esque beauty of Rosamund Pike and you’ve got this year’s must-see.

yep

From the offset, Gone Girl is classic Fincher. He had me at that cold opening that evoked equal sensations of paranoia and glee:

“When I think of my wife, I always think of her head…I picture opening her skull, unspooling her brain and sifting through it, trying to catch and pin down her thoughts. What are you thinking, Amy?"

It’s stomach-churningly macabre.

Based off a book of the same name, the film’s premise is simple: Boy marries girl. Girl goes missing. Boy is suspected of murder. It starts off slow in the sleepy town of Missouri on the morning of Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. The couple lives a privileged life in picture-perfect suburbia where, behind closed doors, domestic drama runs rife. Amy is an uptight, unemployed magazine writer and Nick is her laid-off deadbeat husband. When Amy vanishes without warning, Nick brings suspicion upon himself by seeming not devastated. Oh yeah, and there’s that time he is photographed bearing a foolish grin beside his wife’s MISSING poster. His reaction is not just perverse - it’s damn hilarious.

What a schmuck

Nick’s tomboyish twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon) swears to stay by his side amidst the media frenzy, although she suspects he is hiding something. Coon, coming off the back of the first season of The Leftovers, is outstanding in her debut movie role and demands everyone take notice. (Did I mention that she should win all the awards ever for her work on that show?)

A seemingly straightforward whodunit crime drama soon diverts into a complex commentary on marriage, psychopathy and media circuses. Fincher explores the dichotomy of who we are as opposed to how we present ourselves. He highlights the personas people pursue to successfully navigate social institutions and intimate relationships alike. At the heart of all the commotion is Nick and Amy's dysfunctional marriage, which is foundering for several reasons. The early stages of their domestic drama are told in flashbacks accompanied by Pike’s haunting narration. Scripted by the original author Gillian Flynn, and sticking closely to the source novel, it’s funny in a grim way, getting more histrionic as events unfold.

The intricacy of plot, the airtight precision of the scenes, and Pike’s cool blondeness resembles that of a Hitchcock film. Twists and turns are plenty, especially in the second half when the tone shifts from self-serious crime drama to all-out erotic thriller. Suddenly the floor is covered in a puddle of blood and lies, and the wacky story elements no longer seem unreasonable but wildly entertaining.

Why everyone needs to brush up on their listening skills (including me)

I willingly admit I’m a terrible listener. I tend to tune out mid-conversation and can barely let a friend finish a story without interrupting. Unfortunately I’m an equally dismal conversationalist and can never think of the right things to say. Social settings have always made me nervous, my mind runs frantic like a lab rat on amphetamines and I generally spout nonsense and make an incredible fool of myself. In one sentence, I can kill a conversation with an inappropriate anecdote, my IQ immediately dropping 20 points in the process. The way I see it: if I make myself as awkward as possible, others around me will feel reasonably well adjusted in comparison, so I’m really doing them a massive favour.

But enough is enough. I have done some soul searching (and a lot of napping, some procrastinating, and more napping) and have come to the realisation that I am obsessed. I am obsessed with trying to articulate the crazy and absurd thoughts in my mind in a way that makes sense. I’m too focused on what I’m saying that I am not listening to what others are saying. That’s right, I have forgotten the basic skills of human communication.

My family calls it ‘selective hearing.’ I hear what I want and block out that which I deem is filler. It’s kind of a superpower. But with great power comes great responsibility, and with my selective hearing comes a whole lot of white noise. Now sometimes this superpower is a lifesaver. For example, I have a great ability to block out unwanted information while appearing like I’m keenly listening. It’s what got me through high-school science class. (Well that, and my brother did my assignments.) But other times, it’s my very own kryptonite. Yes, my selective hearing has left me with the emotional maturity of a two year old. I’m concerned I'm at the age where my lack of basic life skills are transitioning from endearing quirks to tragic character flaws.

Granted, most of us don’t really listen very well. Or if we do manage to listen, we are often just waiting until the other person finishes what they are saying so that we can say what is on our mind. But that’s not really listening, is it? My social anxiety dictates I must not only keep up with the conversation but I must predict the turn it will take next. It’s a catch-22, a cruel self-sabotage. Because of course I end up making very little sense and zoning out at any chance I get. I guess I’m like Walter Mitty that way. Which beckons the question, how much time a day do I spend daydreaming? And how much better off would I be if I used that precious time connecting with the rest of the human race? Or napping? Either one.

Like basket weaving and calligraphy, listening is a rare and underrated art. But while a society without basket weaving may be a miserable dystopia, a world without listening is a full-blown world war. Think about how much petty conflict could be solved if everyone took a time out and just listened. Truly and openly listened.

The only way we learn is by listening. By blocking others out we are doing ourselves a great disservice. Over time we can seal ourselves off from other people until we don’t really know who they are or what concerns them. Eventually, we become more and more self-involved, less open-minded, quick to judge and slow to understand.

So I’m hanging up the cape and cowl. My selective hearing is really no superpower, and I’m no superhero. My occasional fits of egomania are brought swiftly back down to earth when I remember I can barely take care of myself and I still have a lot to learn. So I will listen. Yes, I will listen. Because everyone needs to be heard.

Begin Again

Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo team up to bring music to the streets of New York City

Can a song save your life? That is the question posed by John Carney’s new musical drama Begin Again in which a chance encounter between a disgraced music-business executive and a young singer-songwriter turns into the musical collaboration of a lifetime.

Mark Ruffalo stars as Dan, a once popular record producer who has fallen into obscurity after being shunned by his own indie label. Separated from his wife, Miriam (Catherine Keener), and estranged from his daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld), he lives alone in a small city apartment and spends his days smoking, drinking and sleeping in. One miserable evening he drunkenly stumbles into a bar on open mic night and falls head over heels in love with a song by Brit folk singer and guitarist Greta (Keira Knightley).  He is convinced she is the next big thing but Greta needs persuading. Sure enough, a few drinks later, she warms to the idea after he promises to produce the tracks himself on a low budget. What follows is a story about the making of a musical record that explores an amalgamation of themes including musical purity versus commercial success, broken families, unrequited love and the saving grace of music.

Knightley supplies her own understated vocals; her melodic tone serendipitously matches Greta’s timid confidence. In a spot of perfect casting, Adam Levine plays her self-absorbed boyfriend and musician partner on the cusp of stardom. While he is drawn to fame, Greta remains comfortable enjoying a level of anonymity – “I’m not a singer. I just write songs from time to time,” she confesses. 

Director John Carney follows in the footsteps of his last musical feature Once by giving the drama a naturalistic quality and filming largely by improvisation. There is an in-the-moment freshness about the musical numbers, which take place in the grit of New York City with the trashcans, car engines and sirens blazing. The script doesn’t take the expected routes but instead remains fresh and heartfelt. It actively rejects easy romantic troupes while the accompanying soundtrack inspires all the right warm and fuzzy moments (and some not-so-warm-and-fuzzy moments) that an audience desires. The film is not a musical but rather a film with music – an ode to artists and creativity in the city of blinding lights.

Begin Again has a personal element that’s missing from most contemporary romantic comedies. There’s a level of reality to the performances and a bitter sweetness in the music. Director John Carney has put his heart and soul into a story we all can relate to, whether we are musicians or happy listeners, that is told in a genuinely gentle and romantic way. It hits the sweet spot just right.