Stan's Unblogged Movies from 2014

As many of you know, the ostensible purpose of this blog is and always has been for us authors to finally watch, read, and play all the movies, books, and games sitting unfinished on our shelves. But early on in its lifetime, the blog quickly became a place to just kind of talk about the movies, books, and games we'd consumed, regardless of whether or not we owned them. This is absolutely fine, and I love that people chime in when they've streamed a movie or rented a game or borrowed a book. It leads to more posts, and posts with any thought at all put into them are always welcome and encouraged.

All the same, I personally don't make any posts unless I'm truly checking something off my own backlog - call me a purist! This doesn't usually affect anything, as I usually only see ten or fifteen movies a year of which I don't physically own copies, but this year I think I saw more movies on Netflix and On Demand and in theaters than I saw on DVD or Blu-ray. Because I enjoy the discussions this blog spawns, I want to weigh in on each of those movies that I saw this year that didn't already receive a full post. What follow are my brief thoughts on all those I could remember seeing for the first time in 2014. It's an eclectic mix to say the least. Enjoy!

The Lego Movie - Decent movie, great voice cast, cute premise, awful ending. The last fifteen minutes or so made me sour on the entire movie.

Frozen - Was briefly obsessed with this one and unable to shake some of the earworms from creeping into my head at inopportune times. Not just the overexposed "Let It Go," either! I loved this movie. It was the first great Disney movie since the '90s and it was also totally self aware and willing to play with Disney tropes without being a farce or spoof at all. Legitimately one of my favorite movies of the year.

300: Rise of an Empire - Who was calling for this to be made? Not bad, but it felt completely unnecessary even as I watched it. Eva Green steals the entire movie and makes it her own.

21 Jump Street - Hey, I laughed several times. Not a particularly clever or well-executed comedy, but one I enjoyed from start to finish.

Her - This one was right up my alley as I love Spike Jonze and was totally on board with his vision of the not-distant future. I also allowed myself to buy into the romance between Joaquin Phoenix and his phone's operating system, which made all the difference in the world. If you're expecting a quirky comedy about a sad lonely loser addicted to technology or something, this won't resonate as strongly. Absolutely not for everyone, but, again, I enjoyed it a lot.

Silver Linings Playbook - This one on the other hand I just couldn't love. Two emotionally unstable people manipulating each other and winding up in love - I dunno, it just made me more nervous for the two of them than happy.

The To-Do List - Early previews had me so excited for this movie - Aubrey Plaza! Bill Hader! Jason Street! Maeby Fünke! Rachel Bilson! Donald Glover! Andy Samberg! Connie Britton! McLovin! And all that glorious 1993 tongue-in-cheek nostalgia! - but it turned out to be sloppy and nothing memorable. Funny enough, just nothing special.

Rush - The wife had been dying to see this one as she loves fast cars and Chris Hemsworth. I'm pretty apathetic toward both of those things, and as such, I did not love this. Solid biopic from Ron Howard, for what it's worth.

The Wolf of Wall Street - An often hilarious and seriously informative look at the Wall Street lifestyle in the '80s and '90s. It's Scorcese and DiCaprio, so no need for me to sell it. It's also three hours long, which, hey, maybe that's not for you. I really enjoyed this one.

Pitch Perfect - It probably helps that I had low expectations, but I genuinely liked this Anna Kendrick a cappella competition comedy. Like, enough that I will probably see the sequel in theaters.

Step Up Revolution - I think I've seen all four of these movies while browsing the web or playing DS games. They're terrible, loaded with plot continuity errors and production gaffes. My wife acknowledges all of this and considers the whole franchise a guilty pleasure.

Snowpiercer - Lots to unpack here. It's a dystopian future in which all of humanity is forced to ride on a gigantic life-sustaining train on a world-spanning track; leaving the train means freezing to death instantly. The back of the train lives in shitty squalor while the front of the train houses first class passengers living in luxury. The movie follows a group from the back determined to make it all the way to the front and kill the conductor. The whole thing is rife with not-so-subtle class commentary, but it's a fantastic production and a really good action movie to boot. One of my favorites of the year.

Nebraska - Black and white road trip comedy of sorts. Great performances from Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, and Bob Odenkirk. Not particularly funny or memorable, but a movie that left me with a vague but definite positive vibe.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - Finally saw this one for the first time this holiday season. I wasn't impressed! It wasn't all that funny and it wasn't particularly memorable. John Candy and Steve Martin have both been in far better movies.

Video Games: The Movie - Blech. This was awful. A ninety-minute long pat on the back from gamers to video games. I watched this seeking some new information on the history of video games and all I saw were celebrity talking heads about how awesome different games and systems were. Not worth your time!

Restrepo - This is an acclaimed documentary about a particular portion of the War in Afghanistan. You get all up close and personal with a few soldiers from an Army platoon defending an outpost in the Korangal Valley. Gripping stuff, this first hand account of some of the firefights they got into over there.

Battle Royale - It's the original controversial Japanese movie that The Hunger Games absolutely ripped off. Darker than its wildly popular imitator but honestly not much deeper. I wanted gritty introspection as kids were forced to kill each other, and I didn't get much more of it here than I did in The Hunger Games. Solid, but not amazing.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Superhero movies just aren't my cup of tea. This one was well-made and hit all the right notes, but the plot was the same as it is in any other PG-13 action movie.

Waking Life - Not even a movie as much as a series of animated vignettes in which people engage in philosophical discussions about dreaming and reality. Bizarre as hell, and yet, it worked for me.

All Is Lost - Really liked this one. An old man on a sailboat runs into an adrift shipping container. Boat springs a leak. Man needs to weather an oncoming storm. There's no backstory here, and there are only three spoken lines. There are also no supporting characters. It's like a stripped down Cast Away without the beginning or end, and also no conversations with volleyballs.

Bad Santa - Just watched this one due to the holidays and all. Not really what I expected! Billy Bob Thornton was great, but the movie was much more dark and less funny than the advertisements from a decade ago had me believing. Earned its very belabored warmth and happy-ish ending.

Nymphomaniac - All kinds of deranged and fucked up and very NC-17, but still very much art and not pornography. The four-hour two-volume movie loses steam as it drags on and doesn't end without inducing some groans, but it was full of some very interesting scenes and moments, to say the least.

Into the Woods - I'd never seen the musical before seeing the movie. Liked it, but didn't love it. Catchy songs and decent performances, but an ultimately forgettable fairy tale mash-up of a story prevents this one from rising to greatness.
12 Angry Men - I don't always love the classics, but damn, this felt like a nearly perfect screenplay. One location, twelve unnamed characters with distinct personalities, and a one-evening timeframe. I wasn't surprised to learn that the movie was based on a stage play. Worth the hype!

Please, fire away with any thoughts or questions. And enjoy the rest of 2014!