Over the 365 days of 2014 I managed to get through 372 films, roughly 1.016 films a day throughout the year. However, 43 of them were at least my second viewing, meaning 329 films were films I had never even seen before. 263 of the films originated in the USA, 29 in the UK, 18 in South Korea, and 12 in Norway. The rest being shared between France, Sweden, Japan, Canada, China, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Indonesia, Chile, Switzerland, South Africa, Singapore, Russia, Poland, and Austria. 21 countries in total. However, as you can easily see, the vast majority of films, almost 79%, were from countries with English as a primary language South Korea and Norway are the only non-English countries that really put up a fight. Which makes it a bit interesting to note that there are five different countries represented in the top 10 first-viewing films of 2014. The USA, UK, South Korea, Sweden, and Germany. As a matter of fact, there's even four different countries represented in the bottom 10 of first-viewing films. The USA, UK, South Korea, and China.
Considering how the USA vastly outnumbers the rest of the countries I had thought they would dominate both the top and bottom a lot more. Just because there's so many more of them. But instead it seems that because I've watched so many American films they balance each other out. There are more of them available for me to view, and I am more used to them, I know what to look for in them to find something I like. With the other countries there is less of this. Firstly, there's less of them available easily. This means that the ones are available most likely fall into one of two category. Either they are so good that they got picked up by the major providers, or they are so poor that the providers could basically pick them up for free. Given that I'm also not totally accustomed to some of the represented countries' cultures and ways of living, it may be hard to get the same out of them as their intended audiences. I find that I very much enjoy Korean films, as the stories are very similar to Western cinema, but they are told and handled in a different way. They become exotic and "interesting" more easily. But just as easily they become crap, because I just don't understand any of the cultural foundation of the films. I'll come back later with the specifics of my top and bottom 10 films.
372 films are a lot of films, how did I watch all of them? Where did I watch them? Rather neatly, exactly half of the films, 186, where viewed on Netflix. With the large catalogue and cheap subscription, Netflix is a very easy way to watch films for me. When considering that just two and a half years ago Netflix wasn't even available to me, this is a big change in habit and film viewing experience. I am almost surprised that not a larger portion of my films were watched on Netflix. Over a hundred films below, on second place, we find the cinema. I went to the cinema 68 times in 2014 to watch 66 different films. On third we find my television provider's VOD service, Altibox, with 48 films. After that there's a lot of films scattered amongst various VOD services, television channels, websites, and some optical media. VOD is by far the most usual way for me to watch films, 254 films, 68.3%, were watched on some kind of VOD service. This wouldn't even be a possibility just a decade or so ago. Watching this many films would not only cost a lot more money, but it would take a lot more time as you would have to go somewhere to even find the films you wanted to watch. Even then this would be a tough feat. I can't even be certain if my local video rental place even had 372 different films in at any given time, they'd definitely not have that many films that I'd actually be interested in watching.
If we look at my ratings compared to the media we find something akin to what I expected from the distribution among the countries. The more films I watched using one medium, the closer to the overall average rating it is. The ones that stand out the most are BD (Blu-ray Disc) and cinema. For me to own and watch a BD copy of a film, that means I already have to like it quite a lot. So it's almost ten points (out of a hundred) above the overall average. With the cinema it's a similar thing. I have to actually pay a non-nil amount of money every time I go watch a film, so the screening process is a bit more thorough than for Netflix where I might watch a film just because the cover is interesting. There' also the fact that going to the cinema is a lot more of an experience than watching at home. The visuals are better, the audio is better, there's the feel of the audience, it's generally just a much nicer experience.
Now let us talk actual ratings. I've been a bit vague in the paragraphs above, saying that something is above or below average. But what exactly is average for me? Turns out that the average score for a film is 65.766/100, with the median score being 66, and the most-often given rating being 65. The "problem" with this is that a lot of people might want to say that 50 should always be the average, as it's right in the middle on a 0-100 rating system. But there are a few flaws with that. Firstly it assumes that I would watch films based on how well I think I would like them, and actually watch the ones I'd think I'd hate. If I watched all of the films in the world it might be a lot closer to 50, but as this is based on a selection I've already made based on my preferences, it skews upwards a fair bit. To the point that me giving a film a rating of 50 would more mean it was bad than it was average. Secondly, although the rating system goes from 0 to 100, there are a lot of those scores that are almost never given, just because they are in the extremes. The lowest rating I gave a film was 11, and the highest 99. This already makes the scale efficiently go from 11 to 99. Look a bit closer and you'll see that exceptionally few films scored above 90 or below 30 at all and it's even narrower. This is a subjective rating system after all, even I don't agree with all the ratings on my list. The further back in the list I go the more likely I am to disagree. I actually retroactively removed a film from my top 10 video (seen below) because I really didn't feel like it belonged there. I can remember setting the score and thinking it fit, I can remember really liking it, but as time as gone by it just didn't stand the test. I will however keep it in its spot for this post, so see if you can find which one was cut from the video.
For one final paragraph before we go to the bests and the worsts of the year I want to go over some of the remaining stats that aren't necessarily that interesting, but still worth noting, at least for myself. As they show some signs towards what kind of films I watch that I might not really know myself.
First, run times. The longest film I watched was "The Wolf of Wall Street" with its 179 minutes. Whereas the shortest film I watched was "Sex.Violence.FamilyValues." with just 47 minutes. Now, I know a lot of people might not consider something below the one-hour mark a film, but I decided to go with the Academy which defines a feature film as being over 40 minutes. Of course this technically allows for a lot of television programs to be counted as well, but my general rule is that if it's marketed as a film, then it is a film.The average run time for a film was 102.107 minutes, with a median of 100 minutes. This is basically the norm we all know from films. Roughly one and a half hours, not very interesting. The most common run time range was 95-100 minutes, closely followed by 90-95 minutes. It's clear that some of the longer films outweighs the very short ones.
Gender, that's one of the more experimental ones I tried to track. I subjectively decided if a film had a male lead(s), a female lead(s), or if there was a healthy mix. This was a bit hard to nail down to a science, as I didn't want to count screen time, lines of dialogue, or overall importance to the plot. I just chose what I thought was the right classification. 52.7% of the films I watched had a male lead. This might not sound that bad when viewed alone, it's barely above half. But only 15.6% of the films had a female lead, the remaining 31.7% were various degrees of mixed. I've had a bit of trouble with this one. I am male, so it is very possible that I seek out films where I can more easily relate to the main character, but we also know that there absolutely are a shortage of female-lead films.Whether or not it is as extreme as portrayed here, I do not know, but it's definitely not balanced.
Then let's talk release years. The big winner here, with home field advantage, is 2014. I watched 100 films from 2014. In 2013 there were theatrical releases for 201 films in Norway, assuming a similar number for 2014 I have to say I did quite alright for myself. Speaking of 2013, it's the second year on the list with 70 films. The list is rather easily predicted from here on in, recent years are the most prominent, and other than few weird bumps (like 2009 being above both 2010 and 2011) it keeps at it all the way back to 1956. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" from 1956 (Americanized version) was the oldest film I watched in 2014. Along with "Dr. Strangelove" from 1964, and "Freaky Friday" from 1976, they are the only films pre 1980 I watched. I am most definitely a product of my own time.
But now, for the main attractions! First, a few clarifications. I will only go over the films' first viewings. The lists would be very skewed otherwise, as it's a lot more likely a rewatched film will have a higher score than average. If there are any interesting exceptions, I will note them. Let's start with the bottom 10.
10.
"Cashback". UK, 2006. 32/100
I watched this all the way back in January, and still it didn't have the time to be knocked off the bottom 10 list. It's just boring, it what it is. Comes off as being very artsy, and being much more important than it actually is. It's just not worth your time.
9.
"Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony". USA, 2012. 32/100
I never really knew anything about the brony phenomenon before watching this film, and now I don't want to know any thing more. It solely focuses on the most hardcore fans, the social outcasts, the most awkward bronies they could find. Because of this, it feels like a really unfair representation of the culture, even though I know nothing about it. We see more normal people in the background, sometimes noting on something, make it about them. The actual fans. This becomes too much like "Trekkies" which I can't stand even though I myself enjoy "Star Trek".
8.
"Dasepo sonyo". South Korea, 2006. 31/100
Another one of those films where I have no idea what is going on. Something about some high school where people have a lot of sex, and then there's a dragon. I. I just don't know. Sorry. Only reason it isn't lower on the list is because it's so crazy.
7.
"Agent F.O.X.". China, 2014. 26/100
You know those weird animated films you've never heard of, but you keep seeing them while in line at the grocery store? They always sound like something you've heard before, and they're always from a country you didn't even know made animated films. This is one of them. Although I knew China has a very large base of animators, this is just garbage. It looks like an 87-minute version of something I would've made my second year of animator's school. The only fun thing about this film is to make fun of it.
6.
"Screwed: The Movie". USA, 2013. 25/100
A guy watches a film that makes him great in bed. That's the plot of this crapfest of a film. The worst part about this film is that you actually recognise some hope, some good pillars. But it's torn down by acting, the editing, the lighting, the directing, the colour grading, there is very little that's decent about this film. Very little.
5.
"Back In the Day". USA, 2014. 21/100
This film was apparently so forgettable that I had no idea what it was when I first saw it on the list. Not even my mini-review gave any insight, but when I googled it it jolted my memory. A film about a bunch of people going to their high school reunion. After an hour of watching it it felt like it should've ended half an hour ago, but there was still half an hour to go.
4.
"Cougar Hunting". USA, 2011. 20/100
There isn't really much to say about this one. It's your average stupid teen film about getting laid, only there is close to 0 entertainment value. And that's coming from a guy who normally likes almost all stupid teen films about getting laid.
3.
"The Freedom of Silence". USA, 2012. 18/100
Christian propaganda film set in a near future where Christianity for some reason is outlawed. I thought it might be an interesting thought experiment. It's almost always fun to watch films that take bizarre concepts and see what would happen if they were true, but this takes the cake. There's nothing realistic about it, it's almost impossible to buy, especially considering how near to present day it's supposed to be. The only thing decent about this picture is its cover.
2.
"InAPPropriate Comedy". USA, 2013. 15/100
Now this is one of the few I actually watched because I thought it was bad. I just didn't expect it to be this bad. It's an anthology style film filled with various celebrities, much like "Movie 43", but this one goes even worse down the bucket. I don't think I had a single laugh during this entire event. The thing that's better with this than "Movie 43" is that it doesn't make you lose respect for as many actors.
1.
"Saengnal Seonsaeng". South Korea, 2006. 11/100
"Better" known as "Mr. Wacky" abroad, this Korean film tells the tale of a third-generation teacher who has to take up teaching at the local high school if he wants in on his grandfather's lottery winnings. It sounds alright on paper, but I am still not entirely sure what the point of this film was. The biggest problem was the storylines that ran alongside each other. They never prompted when they were starting a new one, or visiting an existing one, meaning half the time you don't even know which story you are watching. Are you following the main character and his love interest? Are you following that one weird student? Or that other weird student? Is that the headmaster? Who's that? It might be because of the cultural differences, but this still gets the honour as the worst film experience of 2014.
How nice it was to relive all of those special films. Three of which were from 2006, it's apparently not a very good year for films. Now let's jump right onto the top 10 best films which actually includes 12 films due to a three-way tie for the 10th spot.
10. (1)
"The Zero Theorem". UK, 2014. 85/100
This was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. I never heard about this film until just a couple of weeks before I got to watch it. I'm not sure if I would call it objectively good, but it's just the kind of film I love. Weird world, quirky characters, and a shallow deeper meaning.
10. (2)
"Edge of Tomorrow". USA, 2014. 85/100
Another big surprise. Expected just another stupid action film with Tom Cruise, got a film that's actually fun, interesting, intense, and just completely entertaining. I've heard people call it "Groundhog Day with aliens" as an insult, but that really is what it is, and it is amazing for it.
10. (3)
"Die Welle". Germany, 2008. 85/100
Had heard about this here and there, but never got around to it until last year. Very powerful and fascinating. Based on an actual "experiment" it shows how easy it is for a fascist group to rise, even in a country with very recent bad experiences with them.
9.
"About Time". UK, 2013. 86/100
Very different time travelling film than you're used to. Directed by the same guy who gave us "Love Actually" and "Bridget Jones's Diary". This was a film I actually wanted to see, and actively sought out, so it's extra nice that it actually paid off. It's just the story of a family, the son in particular, and how he can travel back in time in and do over things in his own lifetime. It's not mindblowing, not really, but it's such a fresh take on the concept, and the emotional aspect is so strong that it still stands in my head as one of the bests of 2014.
7. (1)
"The Fault In Our Stars". USA, 2014. 87/100
Yes, another split spot. "The Fault In Our Stars" holds a bit of a weird spot in my heart. I never read the book, though I did buy it afterwards. But I have followed the writer, John Green, on YouTube for several years. It was so weird to see "some YouTuber's" book being made into this near-blockbuster of a picture. The film's weakest point is definitely how much it feels like it was made in present day. It almost already now looks a bit dated, but the story, the characters, and everything else is strong. Had me shed a tear in a theatre full of tween girls.
7. (2)
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier". USA, 2014 87/100
A bit different from "The Fault In Our Stars" but still just as good. When this was released it was easily the best Marvel Studios film to date. So different from everything else they had made up to that point, but still the same enough for it not to feel completely out of place. A spy thriller for the modern day.
6.
"X-Men: Days of Future Past". USA, 2014. 88/100
It was a good year for superhero films, again. "Days of Future Past" is in my opinion the best X-Men film to date, and the way it brings back both new and old favourites to one giant film is amazing. You'd think they would have bigger problems balancing all of them, but they did it marvellously.
5.
"Återträffen". Sweden, 2014. 89/100
First film of the list I'm certain the vast majority of you have never even heard of. A small artsy film about an artist who plots "revenge" against all the people who treated her wrong at school. She goes to the reunion and tries to talk to everyone about what they remembered from school, how it seemed to them. It's almost painful to watch at times, as you can recognise yourself in all parties. Both the victims and the perpetrators.
3. (1)
"Locke". UK, 2014. 90/100
Yeah yeah, yet another split spot. That's what you get in the top, too few ratings to go around. "Locke" is about a guy in a car named Locke. That's basically it. The entire film takes place in more or less real time in the car as he drives to a hospital to witness the birth of his child. He had to leave a big project at work, and the film shows him balancing work and private live over the phone. Trying to keep everyone happy. It's a must-watch.
3. (2)
"Guardians of the Galaxy". USA, 2014. 90/100
Best superhero film as of today. Marvel took a big risk with this one, doing everything no one else dared to. A virtually unknown comic book featuring a talking raccoon and tree. That's not something most people do when they hope to earn hundreds of millions of dollars. But it all worked. It's exciting, it's funny, it's dramatic, it has everything you look for in a film. And it's set in space with spaceships, aliens, and lasers. Come on.
2.
"Snowpiercer". South Korea, 2014. 93/100
I love this film for the same reasons I love "The Zero Theorem". It's got an outrageous concept, crazy characters, and a shallow deep meaning. It's just so bizarre to go through this train, all the different people and thoughts. Wondering about what is going to happen, and who could let all of this go on.
1.
"Her". USA, 2014. 99/100
This is the time I have to note something. The first time I watched "Her" I gave it a 92, placing it under "Snowpiercer", but the second viewing, at the cinema, was so much better. To accurately represent this, I am going to share it with the 99 rating.
This is literally my favourite film now. It's perfect. I can't really think of anything I would have different, anything I would have added or removed. The acting is some of the best, and the fact that Phoenix wasn't even nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards is a crime. I could go on and on about this, but I don't think it's fair. The more I talk about it, the less likely you are to enjoy it as much. It will just hype it too far. But it is, in my opinion, the best film made.
That was that. 2014 summed up in one far too long blog post. I am positive that you don't agree with me on anything I've said here, you probably even question the average rating for my films. And that's fine, I wouldn't have it any other way. If you feel inclined, tell me your favourite or least favourite films of 2014 in the comments below. I hope to see a lot more to you this year, as I'm embarking on a new goal for my film viewings. 100 cinema trips in 2015. So hopefully that means you'll get at least 100 more blog posts before we meet back for "Film Stats of 2015".
372 films are a lot of films, how did I watch all of them? Where did I watch them? Rather neatly, exactly half of the films, 186, where viewed on Netflix. With the large catalogue and cheap subscription, Netflix is a very easy way to watch films for me. When considering that just two and a half years ago Netflix wasn't even available to me, this is a big change in habit and film viewing experience. I am almost surprised that not a larger portion of my films were watched on Netflix. Over a hundred films below, on second place, we find the cinema. I went to the cinema 68 times in 2014 to watch 66 different films. On third we find my television provider's VOD service, Altibox, with 48 films. After that there's a lot of films scattered amongst various VOD services, television channels, websites, and some optical media. VOD is by far the most usual way for me to watch films, 254 films, 68.3%, were watched on some kind of VOD service. This wouldn't even be a possibility just a decade or so ago. Watching this many films would not only cost a lot more money, but it would take a lot more time as you would have to go somewhere to even find the films you wanted to watch. Even then this would be a tough feat. I can't even be certain if my local video rental place even had 372 different films in at any given time, they'd definitely not have that many films that I'd actually be interested in watching.
If we look at my ratings compared to the media we find something akin to what I expected from the distribution among the countries. The more films I watched using one medium, the closer to the overall average rating it is. The ones that stand out the most are BD (Blu-ray Disc) and cinema. For me to own and watch a BD copy of a film, that means I already have to like it quite a lot. So it's almost ten points (out of a hundred) above the overall average. With the cinema it's a similar thing. I have to actually pay a non-nil amount of money every time I go watch a film, so the screening process is a bit more thorough than for Netflix where I might watch a film just because the cover is interesting. There' also the fact that going to the cinema is a lot more of an experience than watching at home. The visuals are better, the audio is better, there's the feel of the audience, it's generally just a much nicer experience.
Now let us talk actual ratings. I've been a bit vague in the paragraphs above, saying that something is above or below average. But what exactly is average for me? Turns out that the average score for a film is 65.766/100, with the median score being 66, and the most-often given rating being 65. The "problem" with this is that a lot of people might want to say that 50 should always be the average, as it's right in the middle on a 0-100 rating system. But there are a few flaws with that. Firstly it assumes that I would watch films based on how well I think I would like them, and actually watch the ones I'd think I'd hate. If I watched all of the films in the world it might be a lot closer to 50, but as this is based on a selection I've already made based on my preferences, it skews upwards a fair bit. To the point that me giving a film a rating of 50 would more mean it was bad than it was average. Secondly, although the rating system goes from 0 to 100, there are a lot of those scores that are almost never given, just because they are in the extremes. The lowest rating I gave a film was 11, and the highest 99. This already makes the scale efficiently go from 11 to 99. Look a bit closer and you'll see that exceptionally few films scored above 90 or below 30 at all and it's even narrower. This is a subjective rating system after all, even I don't agree with all the ratings on my list. The further back in the list I go the more likely I am to disagree. I actually retroactively removed a film from my top 10 video (seen below) because I really didn't feel like it belonged there. I can remember setting the score and thinking it fit, I can remember really liking it, but as time as gone by it just didn't stand the test. I will however keep it in its spot for this post, so see if you can find which one was cut from the video.
You should note that this video shows the top 10 of films I watched at the cinema
in 2014. So it will differ from the overall 2014 top 10 list besides the cut entry.
First, run times. The longest film I watched was "The Wolf of Wall Street" with its 179 minutes. Whereas the shortest film I watched was "Sex.Violence.FamilyValues." with just 47 minutes. Now, I know a lot of people might not consider something below the one-hour mark a film, but I decided to go with the Academy which defines a feature film as being over 40 minutes. Of course this technically allows for a lot of television programs to be counted as well, but my general rule is that if it's marketed as a film, then it is a film.The average run time for a film was 102.107 minutes, with a median of 100 minutes. This is basically the norm we all know from films. Roughly one and a half hours, not very interesting. The most common run time range was 95-100 minutes, closely followed by 90-95 minutes. It's clear that some of the longer films outweighs the very short ones.
Gender, that's one of the more experimental ones I tried to track. I subjectively decided if a film had a male lead(s), a female lead(s), or if there was a healthy mix. This was a bit hard to nail down to a science, as I didn't want to count screen time, lines of dialogue, or overall importance to the plot. I just chose what I thought was the right classification. 52.7% of the films I watched had a male lead. This might not sound that bad when viewed alone, it's barely above half. But only 15.6% of the films had a female lead, the remaining 31.7% were various degrees of mixed. I've had a bit of trouble with this one. I am male, so it is very possible that I seek out films where I can more easily relate to the main character, but we also know that there absolutely are a shortage of female-lead films.Whether or not it is as extreme as portrayed here, I do not know, but it's definitely not balanced.
Then let's talk release years. The big winner here, with home field advantage, is 2014. I watched 100 films from 2014. In 2013 there were theatrical releases for 201 films in Norway, assuming a similar number for 2014 I have to say I did quite alright for myself. Speaking of 2013, it's the second year on the list with 70 films. The list is rather easily predicted from here on in, recent years are the most prominent, and other than few weird bumps (like 2009 being above both 2010 and 2011) it keeps at it all the way back to 1956. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" from 1956 (Americanized version) was the oldest film I watched in 2014. Along with "Dr. Strangelove" from 1964, and "Freaky Friday" from 1976, they are the only films pre 1980 I watched. I am most definitely a product of my own time.
But now, for the main attractions! First, a few clarifications. I will only go over the films' first viewings. The lists would be very skewed otherwise, as it's a lot more likely a rewatched film will have a higher score than average. If there are any interesting exceptions, I will note them. Let's start with the bottom 10.
10.
"Cashback". UK, 2006. 32/100
I watched this all the way back in January, and still it didn't have the time to be knocked off the bottom 10 list. It's just boring, it what it is. Comes off as being very artsy, and being much more important than it actually is. It's just not worth your time.
9.
"Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony". USA, 2012. 32/100
I never really knew anything about the brony phenomenon before watching this film, and now I don't want to know any thing more. It solely focuses on the most hardcore fans, the social outcasts, the most awkward bronies they could find. Because of this, it feels like a really unfair representation of the culture, even though I know nothing about it. We see more normal people in the background, sometimes noting on something, make it about them. The actual fans. This becomes too much like "Trekkies" which I can't stand even though I myself enjoy "Star Trek".
8.
"Dasepo sonyo". South Korea, 2006. 31/100
Another one of those films where I have no idea what is going on. Something about some high school where people have a lot of sex, and then there's a dragon. I. I just don't know. Sorry. Only reason it isn't lower on the list is because it's so crazy.
7.
"Agent F.O.X.". China, 2014. 26/100
You know those weird animated films you've never heard of, but you keep seeing them while in line at the grocery store? They always sound like something you've heard before, and they're always from a country you didn't even know made animated films. This is one of them. Although I knew China has a very large base of animators, this is just garbage. It looks like an 87-minute version of something I would've made my second year of animator's school. The only fun thing about this film is to make fun of it.
"Screwed: The Movie". USA, 2013. 25/100
A guy watches a film that makes him great in bed. That's the plot of this crapfest of a film. The worst part about this film is that you actually recognise some hope, some good pillars. But it's torn down by acting, the editing, the lighting, the directing, the colour grading, there is very little that's decent about this film. Very little.
5.
"Back In the Day". USA, 2014. 21/100
This film was apparently so forgettable that I had no idea what it was when I first saw it on the list. Not even my mini-review gave any insight, but when I googled it it jolted my memory. A film about a bunch of people going to their high school reunion. After an hour of watching it it felt like it should've ended half an hour ago, but there was still half an hour to go.
4.
"Cougar Hunting". USA, 2011. 20/100
There isn't really much to say about this one. It's your average stupid teen film about getting laid, only there is close to 0 entertainment value. And that's coming from a guy who normally likes almost all stupid teen films about getting laid.
3.
"The Freedom of Silence". USA, 2012. 18/100
Christian propaganda film set in a near future where Christianity for some reason is outlawed. I thought it might be an interesting thought experiment. It's almost always fun to watch films that take bizarre concepts and see what would happen if they were true, but this takes the cake. There's nothing realistic about it, it's almost impossible to buy, especially considering how near to present day it's supposed to be. The only thing decent about this picture is its cover.
2.
"InAPPropriate Comedy". USA, 2013. 15/100
Now this is one of the few I actually watched because I thought it was bad. I just didn't expect it to be this bad. It's an anthology style film filled with various celebrities, much like "Movie 43", but this one goes even worse down the bucket. I don't think I had a single laugh during this entire event. The thing that's better with this than "Movie 43" is that it doesn't make you lose respect for as many actors.
1.
"Saengnal Seonsaeng". South Korea, 2006. 11/100
"Better" known as "Mr. Wacky" abroad, this Korean film tells the tale of a third-generation teacher who has to take up teaching at the local high school if he wants in on his grandfather's lottery winnings. It sounds alright on paper, but I am still not entirely sure what the point of this film was. The biggest problem was the storylines that ran alongside each other. They never prompted when they were starting a new one, or visiting an existing one, meaning half the time you don't even know which story you are watching. Are you following the main character and his love interest? Are you following that one weird student? Or that other weird student? Is that the headmaster? Who's that? It might be because of the cultural differences, but this still gets the honour as the worst film experience of 2014.
How nice it was to relive all of those special films. Three of which were from 2006, it's apparently not a very good year for films. Now let's jump right onto the top 10 best films which actually includes 12 films due to a three-way tie for the 10th spot.
10. (1)
"The Zero Theorem". UK, 2014. 85/100
This was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. I never heard about this film until just a couple of weeks before I got to watch it. I'm not sure if I would call it objectively good, but it's just the kind of film I love. Weird world, quirky characters, and a shallow deeper meaning.
10. (2)
"Edge of Tomorrow". USA, 2014. 85/100
Another big surprise. Expected just another stupid action film with Tom Cruise, got a film that's actually fun, interesting, intense, and just completely entertaining. I've heard people call it "Groundhog Day with aliens" as an insult, but that really is what it is, and it is amazing for it.
10. (3)
"Die Welle". Germany, 2008. 85/100
Had heard about this here and there, but never got around to it until last year. Very powerful and fascinating. Based on an actual "experiment" it shows how easy it is for a fascist group to rise, even in a country with very recent bad experiences with them.
9.
"About Time". UK, 2013. 86/100
Very different time travelling film than you're used to. Directed by the same guy who gave us "Love Actually" and "Bridget Jones's Diary". This was a film I actually wanted to see, and actively sought out, so it's extra nice that it actually paid off. It's just the story of a family, the son in particular, and how he can travel back in time in and do over things in his own lifetime. It's not mindblowing, not really, but it's such a fresh take on the concept, and the emotional aspect is so strong that it still stands in my head as one of the bests of 2014.
7. (1)
"The Fault In Our Stars". USA, 2014. 87/100
Yes, another split spot. "The Fault In Our Stars" holds a bit of a weird spot in my heart. I never read the book, though I did buy it afterwards. But I have followed the writer, John Green, on YouTube for several years. It was so weird to see "some YouTuber's" book being made into this near-blockbuster of a picture. The film's weakest point is definitely how much it feels like it was made in present day. It almost already now looks a bit dated, but the story, the characters, and everything else is strong. Had me shed a tear in a theatre full of tween girls.
7. (2)
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier". USA, 2014 87/100
A bit different from "The Fault In Our Stars" but still just as good. When this was released it was easily the best Marvel Studios film to date. So different from everything else they had made up to that point, but still the same enough for it not to feel completely out of place. A spy thriller for the modern day.
6.
"X-Men: Days of Future Past". USA, 2014. 88/100
It was a good year for superhero films, again. "Days of Future Past" is in my opinion the best X-Men film to date, and the way it brings back both new and old favourites to one giant film is amazing. You'd think they would have bigger problems balancing all of them, but they did it marvellously.
5.
"Återträffen". Sweden, 2014. 89/100
First film of the list I'm certain the vast majority of you have never even heard of. A small artsy film about an artist who plots "revenge" against all the people who treated her wrong at school. She goes to the reunion and tries to talk to everyone about what they remembered from school, how it seemed to them. It's almost painful to watch at times, as you can recognise yourself in all parties. Both the victims and the perpetrators.
3. (1)
"Locke". UK, 2014. 90/100
Yeah yeah, yet another split spot. That's what you get in the top, too few ratings to go around. "Locke" is about a guy in a car named Locke. That's basically it. The entire film takes place in more or less real time in the car as he drives to a hospital to witness the birth of his child. He had to leave a big project at work, and the film shows him balancing work and private live over the phone. Trying to keep everyone happy. It's a must-watch.
3. (2)
"Guardians of the Galaxy". USA, 2014. 90/100
Best superhero film as of today. Marvel took a big risk with this one, doing everything no one else dared to. A virtually unknown comic book featuring a talking raccoon and tree. That's not something most people do when they hope to earn hundreds of millions of dollars. But it all worked. It's exciting, it's funny, it's dramatic, it has everything you look for in a film. And it's set in space with spaceships, aliens, and lasers. Come on.
2.
"Snowpiercer". South Korea, 2014. 93/100
I love this film for the same reasons I love "The Zero Theorem". It's got an outrageous concept, crazy characters, and a shallow deep meaning. It's just so bizarre to go through this train, all the different people and thoughts. Wondering about what is going to happen, and who could let all of this go on.
1.
"Her". USA, 2014. 99/100
This is the time I have to note something. The first time I watched "Her" I gave it a 92, placing it under "Snowpiercer", but the second viewing, at the cinema, was so much better. To accurately represent this, I am going to share it with the 99 rating.
This is literally my favourite film now. It's perfect. I can't really think of anything I would have different, anything I would have added or removed. The acting is some of the best, and the fact that Phoenix wasn't even nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards is a crime. I could go on and on about this, but I don't think it's fair. The more I talk about it, the less likely you are to enjoy it as much. It will just hype it too far. But it is, in my opinion, the best film made.
That was that. 2014 summed up in one far too long blog post. I am positive that you don't agree with me on anything I've said here, you probably even question the average rating for my films. And that's fine, I wouldn't have it any other way. If you feel inclined, tell me your favourite or least favourite films of 2014 in the comments below. I hope to see a lot more to you this year, as I'm embarking on a new goal for my film viewings. 100 cinema trips in 2015. So hopefully that means you'll get at least 100 more blog posts before we meet back for "Film Stats of 2015".
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