The Best and Worst of 2014!

So another year has ended and I gotta say, personally, this year hasn't been amazing for film, at least not with its blockbusters. Marvel Studios have never been stronger however, both Guardians of the Galaxy and the Captain America sequel being massively successful.

There was a good run of thrillers and dark dramas and biopics though, and some of the best films of 2014 were the films no one expected.

So here is my final leaderboard for 2014! As I describe each year, this is a list of every film I have seen this year that I've never seen before; the films that are "new to me". So as well as theatrical releases I also have rentals that I saw this year.
People ask why I do this, but I believe that in the endless pantheon of film, all films can be compared regardless of when it was released.

(But don't worry,I will have a second list below this one that is exclusively theatrical releases!)

There's a total of 72 films this year!

1. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (3D)

Surprise! 2010's How to Train Your Dragon was a underrated masterpiece that really didn't require a sequel. In fact I was worried this would ruin the joy and novelty of the first film... and while a lot of people forget about this for their top 10 lists (probably due to a huge spoiler in its trailer, tip: don't watch the trailer) I still loved it!
Issues from the trailer were my only grievances, and it isn't fair to judge the movie on that. I felt right at home watching this film; a return to characters that I fully enjoy watching.
It is a joyous, happy and challenging kids movie that maintains the original's quality and style.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy (2D)

Yup, possibly Marvel's biggest surprise; appearing on top lists everywhere and changing so many people's minds. Harking back to old retro sci-fi and action concepts, Guardians is a popping, colourful and ridiculously quotable movie with the best soundtrack of the year!
Why is it second and not first place? It is incredibly close... But Guardians took me a couple of viewings to fully appreciate. I loved it, but at first it can be a total flurry of constant action, and throws a lot at you; if you aren't on board with it, it will leave you behind!

If you like Pina Colada! Gettin' caaaaught in the rain!  

3. Dead Poets Society

The first of my DVD rentals on my top ten list, sadly being the film I watched to lament the late Robin Williams. But Dead Poets Society was an excellent and moving movie and it is criminal I had not watched it until now!
Robin Williams gives such an impassioned performance as the sort of school teacher everyone would love to have; to teach them about how to be creative in such a monotonous and systematic society. Despite being an older film, its messages still ring with truth, and I can forgive some deliberate screenplay writing.




4. The Wolf of Wall Street

Yes, The Wolf of Wall Street was in 2014!
What impressed me the most about Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's latest offering was how for a long (and arguably repetitive) film, I was captivated from start to finish, and never noticed how many minutes were flying by.
This is mostly due to DiCaprio who makes such a corrupt and deplorable lifestyle seem perfectly reasonable and sells his ethics with bold integrity.
Couple all of that with a black sense of humour, it was dynamic and hilarious all the way through. 





5. Captain America - The Winter Soldier (3D)

Probably Marvel's darkest and most violent film with gun play and more realistic brawls and carnage, Captain America 2 delivers a extremely strong punch to the comic book series.
It also does what Captain America 1 and even Avengers Assemble together couldn't manage: make Captain America himself look awesome.
A good supporting cast as well as great action sequences and a good villain/nemesis with the titular Winter Soldier. 

6. Gone Girl

The first of two incredible and dark thrillers that have surprised me this year, Gone Girl for me was a total gear change from the rest of this year's Marvel dominance.
While Ben Affleck is perfectly okay in his role, the show is completely stolen by Rosamund Pike as Amy, playing an incredibly complex character and quite likely a career defining role. Awesome movie!
Sadly I cannot say more without spoiling it, but David Fincher delivers here and if you want a dark, seedy thriller I highly recommend it.

It is only sixth on this list because it loses some of its traction and skill in the final act.

7. Nightcrawler

Basically what I just said for Gone Girl, only with Jake Gyllenhaal completely dominating the show.
Another dark and seedy thriller showing not only the depravity of the media business and their lust for violence, but also how far a human mind can sink to simply be recognised and feel meaningful.

It is a simple story, simpler than Gone Girl's screenplay, but it is extremely effective and very dark.

8. Planet of the Apes (1968)

You are probably thinking: wtf? But upon release of this years Dawn, I wanted to finally watch all of the Apes films.
I was dreading it, mostly for how they may have dated extremely badly, and certainly many of them have (the last few are tragic) but the first film, the original, but this film still has a lot of relevance and great subtext if you can see past some old film making!
Watching this proves to me why the Apes franchise is so effective and how the new films have gripped me, they have a great foundation with this film! 

9. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (3D)

While not as effective as its predecessor Rise of the Planet of the Apes, at least as a character piece, Dawn has incredible action sequences and evolves the story perfectly without missing many of the beats.

I think the moment you see a monkey riding a horse while firing two automatic assault rifles... and you aren't thinking it is completely stupid... you know the film is amazing. 

10. Her

Towards the end of the year I cramped three films of 2014 I hadn't managed to catch in the cinema, and Her was one of them.

Unlike every other film on this top ten, Her is a quiet, morose and sensitive story with a quirky near-future sci-fi twist on your usual love story. I enjoyed its subtly and its performances, but mostly its original setting and ingenuity.
This is an entirely likely future for us as human beings. 





X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D)
The Lego Movie (3D)
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2D)
Lucy
Edge of Tomorrow (2D)
Idiocracy
Snowpiercer
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Pain and Gain
I Saw the Devil
Under the Skin
The Raid 2
Fury
The Imitation Game
A Serious Man
Interstellar (2D)
A Most Wanted Man
The Machine
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (3D)
The Zero Theorem
The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Gojira (1954)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Hitchcock
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2D)
The Conjuring
The Guest
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956)
The Amazing Spider-man 2 (3D)
300: Rise of an Empire (2D)
The Family
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2D)
The Purge: Anarchy
Before I Go to Sleep
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2D)
Hummingbird
Safe
Primer
White House Down
Godzilla (2014)
The Boxtrolls (2D)
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Welcome to the Punch
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Turbo
The Monuments Men
The Babadook
The Heat
Olympus has Fallen
Society

10. RoboCop (2014)

So they remade RoboCop.
They made it a 12A.
Yeah so it crashed and burned: from the total lukewarm action sequences replacing the gory, memorable ultra violence of the original, to the utterly phoned in performances (especially from Samuel L Jackson)
A great example of how pointless and needless 12A remakes really are, providing no originality, nothing memorable and designed simply to soak up some cash with a brand.

9. Battle for the Planet of the Apes

The weakest Planet of the Apes film from the old series (yeah, ignoring the Tim Burton film) but mostly due to worsening budget cuts throughout the series, the concept of making a final epic battle with less than two million dollars was impossible. 
Not only this, but there's roaring great continuity problems which is only comparable to the second worst Apes film, Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
A very disappointing and sad end to the Apes franchise.  

8. Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

Oh yeah, I watched the Starship Troopers sequels in 2014, I actually went there.

Marauder is instantly forgettable, but it does attempt to expand the universe with some integrity unlike the second sequel. It still has a lot of problems and reeks of television budget, but at least the tone and themes here are a little more in keeping with the original film.

7. Insidious - Chapter 2

Ugh... Insidious... again.

So Insidious was at the very bottom of my list, so having its sequel only in the seventh worst spot says something about it by comparison (or says something about the films lower down on this list!)

Chapter 2 is still as bad and not scary as the first film. Oh no, she walked into a child's toy and it made a noise! EEEEEK!
Seriously? But it doesn't have as much stupidity, and doesn't feature Darth Maul, grabbing maybe one or two scares at least...

6. 3 Days to Kill

Kevin Costner tries to do his own Taken to give himself cool points.

It fails.

Amber Heard is also starring, but only proving she cannot act, maybe due to her character being utterly perplexing to begin with.
A phoned in 12A action movie, it kills a couple of hours but certainly not three days, very forgettable. 

5. Maleficent (2D)

I despise this movie. I despise what Disney has done with this movie, and more importantly what they have done to one of their most classic and symbolic villains.
I have so much venom for this film that I actively tell people to watch (or indeed re-watch) the classic Sleeping Beauty. I insist that you do. It is my favourite Disney film, because of Maleficent herself.
This. Is. Not. Maleficent.
Disney have potentially ruined one of their classic characters for future generations, and it physically hurts to think that they are even capable of changing a character as much as this. Polar opposite.
The best thing about this film: Jolie's casting for Maleficent.

4. The Purge

The Purge has a great concept, a fantastic and original concept even. A concept that has endless possibilities and the best to create a franchise out of (unlike say, Paranormal Activity)

Luckily there has been a second Purge film that delivered the premise better... 

... because The Purge is the most phoned in, boring and unimaginative interpretation of the concept imaginable.
A film that fails its own premise is pretty bad indeed.

3. Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation

Starship Troopers 2 was slammed and condemned when it first arrived, with a very low budget the story was held within one location and played out like an Alien-esque, shadowy horror film.
It has nothing of the original film's sense of humour or wit, instead trying to give the franchise a gory horror movie vibe.

That... isn't what Starship Troopers is about.

2. RoboCop 3

Oh RoboCop 3... how... how positively awful you are.

It is sometimes hard to put into words how bad a film is. I guess the best way to explain this one is how RoboCop himself is barely in it! Peter Weller doesn't return for the role, and the screenwriters still haven't worked out how to progress the character of Alex Murphy, so instead we get a ten year old girl for most of the movie!
No, I am not kidding!
RoboCop 3 is perhaps one of the first cases of a franchise getting milked to death for some quick cash.
Wouldn't buy that for a dollar! 

1. Oldboy (2013)

And at the bottom of the pile, the film I boycotted for a year, the film I told myself not to watch, the American remake of my 20th favourite film of all time, Oldboy.
I guess I have no excuses to not watch the Twilight movies now...

This movie is so bad that even if you ignore the fact that it is a remake it is still an awful film. It reeks of Americanisation and the lack of honouring and adaptation that the worst of remakes can provide. It has none of the original's style or blunt force poetry.
It simply exists, like an infectious leech.




And now a quicker run through the THEATRICAL RELEASES ONLY list:

01. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (3D)
02. Guardians of the Galaxy (2D)
03. The Wolf of Wall Street
04. Captain America - The Winter Soldier (3D)
05. Gone Girl
06. Nightcrawler
07. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (3D)
08. Her
09. X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D)
10. The Lego Movie (3D)

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2D)
Lucy
Edge of Tomorrow (2D)
Snowpiercer
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Under the Skin
The Raid 2
Fury
The Imitation Game
Interstellar (2D)
A Most Wanted Man
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (3D)
The Zero Theorem
The Guest
The Amazing Spider-man 2 (3D)
300: Rise of an Empire (2D)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2D)

10. The Purge: Anarchy
09. Before I Go to Sleep
08. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2D)
07. Godzilla (2014)
06. The Boxtrolls (2D)
05. The Monuments Men
04. The Babadook
03. RoboCop (2014)
02. 3 Days to Kill

01. Maleficent (2D)



Ooft, that's right, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is in the bottom ten for theatre releases!

Review: Maleficent

Is there any better example of missing the point than this?
Maleficent: "I am the Queen of All Evil" - Sleeping Beauty 1959. Now, Maleficent is a Paragon of True Love.

When the realm of fairies and the world of humans fall into war, Maleficent, one of the most powerful of fairies, strives to protect her lands. Her childhood love for Prince Stephen is betrayed when he rises to power, and in a fit of rage she curses his newborn child Aurora to die before her sixteenth birthday. However as Aurora grows up in seclusion Maleficent questions her own actions... while King Stephen becomes wrathful.

This film is blasphemous to the titular character. My childhood felt butchered by the film's end.

First, you must appreciate how hard it is for me to say that... I went into this film with only quiet skepticism and I had done away with my doubts. But Sleeping Beauty is my favourite Disney film. Why? Not for the archetypal characters or accident prone fairies, no, for Maleficent herself. Sure, she has no motive and is simply an antagonist. But she is one of the greats in film villainy: terrible, wrathful and cruel, giving some of animation's most haunting moments in the process.

2014's Maleficent begins with a rosy-cheeked, innocent little fairy girl Maleficent.

Okay, okay, I can restrain myself... This is partly expected from today's Disney and I stomached Boba Fett being a kid didn't I? (not really) Everything will go wrong and the true Maleficent will bloom before my eyes!
Nope.

This film's brazenly confident narration tells me: "So you think you know the tale?" Well yes, in fact I do; it is my favourite tale. Well, turns out I don't know it at all when they make stuff up! Maleficent does not follow 1959 Sleeping Beauty's foundation at all.
I don't know the fairytale you say, Disney? Let's see... How about I research the Sleeping Beauty tale just now... maybe Maleficent is telling the true tale, maybe I've gravely misjudged the source material. Nope. Turns out nothing in this film is from the source material! The 1959 animation has far, far more references to the original tale (and I am taking into account the multiple renditions of the fairytale) Come on, Disney! Don't you dare rewrite your history and proclaim it is wrong. Don't you dare assume to teach the true fairytale if you have no desire to even come close to it! Most of all, don't you dare make a film about a villain if you have no intention of going through with it!

This film is about Maleficent (a fabrication of Disney, incidentally) but while we get a character who looks and sounds like her, she is acting out being a misunderstood, repressed fairy, fighting an evil King. How, I am desperate to know, can Disney take their most EVIL character and make her a noble, tragic soul that I should feel sympathy for?? There's even a scene where she regrets and tries to revoke the curse she placed on Aurora! Why has Disney taken their own creation, after decades of cementing her place as a grand villain, and turned her into a heroine?

God, this film...
It could have been good, no it could have been glorious, if it had simply kept the character unchanged. It boggles my mind why they did it. Angelina Jolie is exceptional, I love her as an actress and she is the perfect fit for Maleficent. The special effects are good and there's heaps of atmosphere, her ent-like tree soldiers are awesome as well. The three fairies weren't bad either (apart from being given the wrong names!) they were always ditzy, and King Stephen's fear and paranoia was great, it was an actual improvement on the 1959 animation; a father would be consumed with guilt and fear in those circumstances.

But damn did they screw.up.everything.else. By the halfway mark I was bored, and by the end I had ceased caring. What a tragic waste of Jolie's perfect talents. I would not be surprised if Walt Disney himself is turning in his grave.

This is simply a creative decision, probably by committee, that I absolutely cannot understand.

Would anyone accept a new 101 Dalmations movie where Cruella De Vil wasn't actually... erm, cruel and she was actually trying to make a dog shelter? Or if Shere Khan was just looking for a good scratching post the whole time after King Louie had stolen them all? Or if Scar was actually a good guy, he was framed by hyenas the entire time?

Review: Sleeping Beauty

Possibly the definition of style-over-substance, I can barely explain why I love this film above all other Disney films... It almost ditches everything narrative to provide one of the greatest villains of all time. For me the film is hardwired: I love it.

The story is as simple as they come. When Princess Aurora is born, she is blessed by the three good fairies with life-long gifts of beauty and song, but another fairy, the wicked Maleficent, curses the child to be killed before her sixteenth birthday. Only one true love can possibly save Aurora should the curse be fulfilled.

Even though my feelings for this film are deep, deep down in my heart and cannot be explained (when I started Cinema Cocoa, on my Top 50 films, this came 16th) I will admit there are issues with it.
It is terribly simplistic. Our characters have next to no motivation or any character outside of classic archetypes. Aurora could be any number of Disney princesses; she starts out life hidden away from Maleficent's knowledge by the ditzy three fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, and while nowadays she might have become ditzy herself (ie Tangled) Aurora becomes... completely unassuming and quite bland. She walks in the forest, singing about her one true love, talks with animals, sings some more. But you can see she is at least curious, if a little ignorant. Our Prince, Prince Phillip, is even more generic and not very memorable (his noble horse is of course a classic Disney character).
No... all of Sleeping Beauty's power (and terror) radiates from the merciless Maleficent, and while she too has virtually no characterisation either outside of being the antagonist (she wasn't invited to the Royal party?? That would make anyone mad!) the film gives her so much gravitas and absolute menace. She hardly shows herself, but her scenes are easily, easily the most memorable moments and will sear themselves into any young child's mind forever. From her curse, to the mesmerising and haunting Spinning Wheel scene, to of course... the finale. The finale to end all finales, so short but so intense. I could happily go on and on about her.

So do I purely enjoy this film for its antagonist? Probably; Maleficent is at the centre of my love for villains, but Sleeping Beauty's soundtrack is wonderful, haunting and very memorable. I've not watched it in years but the visuals are very striking too. Even on the old posters it says: "Wondrous to see, glorious to hear".

A lot of it is aimed at girls, I admit. Most of the film is following the three fairies taking care of Aurora in their hideaway (failing to bake cakes and make dresses) and with only their mistakes to drive the plot forward. Aurora's constant singing about her elusive dream of her Prince Charming. A couple of kings who rather needlessly fill time with comedic singing and drinking (reminds me of another favourite: The Sword in the Stone) there's plenty to find irksome for the modern viewer.

I guess I am just smitten with it. I still get chills towards the end. A film normally requires good characters to envelope me into caring and fearing for their lives by the end... but Sleeping Beauty doesn't do that (at least not for me); it instead sells one of film's greatest villains and the terrible wrath she happily bestows upon the hapless.

I love it.

  

 

Spoiled Cocoa: Maleficent

So our first trailer of Disney's new Maleficent has arrived, and ever since I saw the first image of Angelina Jolie wearing the iconic headgear I've been keeping an eye on this quite keenly. Sleeping Beauty is my favourite Disney film (excluding Pixar it is the only Disney film that made my top 50 films list) Why? Mostly because of Maleficent herself, and one fantastic dragon!

How do I feel after seeing this new trailer? Well... reasonably optimistic.



Love that spin on the Disney castle, very unusual!

I suppose one's opinion is allowed to be swayed now. Before all we had was Angelina Jolie in costume (which is great) now we have.... child actors, CG and production value to scrutinise.

(to get this out the way: this is a good teaser trailer! It doesn't spoil anything, doesn't tell us the entire story, just gives us a glimpse. If only more trailers did this...)

I think what I enjoyed most about Sleeping Beauty was how persistent yet subtle Maleficent really was as a villain. She wasn't in your face, she wasn't mugging at the camera or spewing heaps of dialogue. She was almost elemental. A plotter and a schemer with terrible anger. Whether or not Maleficent the film captures this or not will make or break it for a lot of critics. I would hope a lot of the film will be very moody and visually driven (I do like the visuals of her stalking through the fantastical forests) we are dealing with a dark character here.

I've read that the film will give her backstory... this will have to be treated carefully! I don't want to have another case of Episode 2's Boba Fett! See if I sit down for this film and it opens with Maleficent as some rosy cheeked eight year old! 

From the trailer though... they are certainly making note of her shadowy presence at least. Although the similarly iconic thorn sequence looked a little... fake.
For some reason watching this made me wonder, will CG ever stop feeling obliged to make things look realistic? Because surely that's where these things fall down, trying to look real, the uncanny valley. Wouldn't it be cool if the thorns Maleficent created were stylised somehow, shadowy and pitch black, more animated than "real", suggesting her magic created them?

Such an awesome dragon!

Do I want a dragon in this film, you might ask me? You know what? I don't want a dragon in this film. I bet there will be, I bet there will be, but the problem there is it simply won't be as good as the original. 
(prove me wrong film, PROVE ME WRONG!.... please.)

This is, a little unnervingly, the directorial debut of Robert Stromberg, he has little to his name but what there is is in art and production. Matte Painting Supervisor for my favourite film Pan's Labyrinth? I will take that. But that doesn't add anything for directorial skills...

I really want this to be a dark, gothic fairytale story that doesn't ruin one of my favourite villains of all time. Evidently, there's a lot riding on this and I will be in the cinema with trepidation, but...

How cool was Jolie's Maleficent laugh at the end of the trailer!?