Movies in 2014 featured Legos, the return of the X-Men franchise and a band of misfits that came together to save the galaxy from destruction. This year featured huge box office success and critically acclaimed films that ranged from smaller projects like Boyhood to huge budget films like Gone Girl that kept audiences talking for months.
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This year showed once again the power of comic book films at the box office with three impressing showings; X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy. Guardians made over $300 million in the United States alone and over $700 million worldwide. This year also featured a return of popular creative family friendly films like The Lego Movie and How To Train Your Dragon 2.
Even though Gone Girl wasn’t the top earner at the box office, it managed to stay in the box office top five for weeks on end, proving that dramas are still popular and word of mouth can either help or destroy a movie's reputation.
In honor of all of the movies that have been released this year, TheCelebrityCafe.com is counting down the top ten best movies of 2014. Please note, this list was created before showings of certain end of the year movies such as, Into The Woods and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. What movies did you see this year? Did your favorite film not make the list this year? Comment below and add your favorite film of 2014.
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10. The Lego Movie
The Lego Movie was released back in early February and was a surprise comedy hit. The movie appealed to children and adults due to its well-timed humor, fast paced action and heartfelt storyline. This movie was able to capture the magic that Legos would create when they were opened up out of the package. This movie also helped to launch Chris Pratt’s career into the atmosphere.
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9. X-Men: Days of Future Past
From the first trailers, it was clear that this X-Menfilm was going in a different direction and was going to undo what was created back in X-Men: The Last Stand. In a world where Marvel and D.C. own the feature film market, X-Men: Days of Future Past was incredibly challenging competition. The film featured incredible acting talent, intense action sequences and a storyline that not only was impressive but also corrected errors of the past. This movie has helped to re-launch the X-Men franchise and make them a contender with Marvel and D.C.
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8. Hunger Games: Mockingjay
After the success of Hunger Games: Catching Fire, it was no surprise that the hype around Mockingjay Part 1 was off the charts. The movie featured another memorable performance from Jennifer Lawrence as the heroine Katniss Everdeen and set up audiences for the conclusion of this story. It is the world that has been created in this universe and the characters personal stories that take this film out of just another teenage book adaptation and into an extraordinary movie that has built up a dedicated fan base.
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7. Boyhood
Boyhood was from the creative mind of Richard Linklater and changed the way of how the audience can experience storytelling. The movie was film over an eleven-year period between May 2002 and October 2013 and features the story of a young man growing up. This movie showed a boy growing up right in front of the audience eyes. Linklater was able to change the game by filming this movie over such a long period of time, he truly captured youth to adulthood, in a way that no one has done before. The film is already nominated for a variety of awards.
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6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes focused on the story of Caesar and his rise to power. What was so impressive about this film was that the main focus was not on the human characters that were impacted by the ape take over but it focused on the apes themselves. Caesar, who was played by Andy Serkis, gave the performance of a lifetime and showed how the technology in the industry will change movies as times goes on.
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5. Captain America: The Winter Solider
The Marvel cinematic universe has taken on life of its own and in 2014, the universe expanded and the second film in the Captain America story was told. This movie was more about that of a super spy and showed off another tool that Marvel has in their armory of successes. Captain America is not only one of the Avengers but had one of the best stand alone movies to date.
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4. Interstellar
The current movie landscape in 2014 includes sequels, prequels and remakes. Christopher Nolan proves with Interstellar that original stories should and need to be told on the big screen. Nolan proves that he is one of the strongest filmmakers and storytellers of his generation with this complex, mind-bending and passionate movie.
As a filmmaker, Nolan created a story that forces the audience to pay attention to details. The moviegoer is fully immersed into this world both on Earth and in outer space that has been created through state of the art special effects, relatable and flawed characters and incredible musical scores, which adds yet another layer of human and personal emotion to this sci-fi heavy film.
Read the full review here.
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3. Big Hero 6
In a world where super hero and comic book movies have taken over, it is no surprise that an animated adaptation of Big Hero 6, a Marvel comic, was a home run for Disney. The characters were loveable; the animated feature had action and was a huge success with both families and children. Everything Marvel touches these days seems to turn to box office gold.
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2. Gone Girl
Gone Girl was one of the most talked about films of 2014. David Fincher brought the story to life, which was adapted from the popular novel by Gilligan Flynn. This movie truly became one of Fincher’s masterpieces because of its mind-bending twists and interesting and complex characters, which were brought to life by the sharp dialogue. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike gave career-changing performances and Pike has already received award nominations for her portrayal of Amy Dunne.
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1. Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy has made over $700 million at the box office and was one of the most risky properties Marvel could move forward with. Before Guardians was released, Starlord and Rocket Raccoon were unheard of, but now they are both household names. The most unknown of the Marvel properties was also the most successful this year. Was it the combination of classic rock songs with lovable characters mixed with intense action sequences? Even with all of those elements coming together, this movie had magic that was captured on screen. Audiences all around showed their support for the film at the box office and made it the top grossing film currently of 2104.