Thursday, January 8, 2015

Top 14 of 2014

I can't believe that another year has come and gone, and we're already into the fifteenth year of the new millennium. It was just one hundred years ago that World War I was still going on. Crazy, right?

I'll admit this year gave me some big disappointments. Movies I expected to love and didn't (X-Men: Days of Future Past). TV shows I've been waiting for but instantly fell flat (I still can't even talk about how much I hated the How I Met Your Mother series finale). However, there were some serious high notes as well, and I wanted to take a moment to highlight what I considered some of the best this year had to offer. (Side note: some of these are not new to 2014, just new to me.) So without further ado, I give you . . .

The Top 14 of '14:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy
This one surprised me perhaps more than any other this year. The Marvel bar was set high with The Avengers (2012), but Guardians had no trouble keeping up. In fact, this movie set off quite the argument in my friend group as we tried to pick a favorite between these two superhero ensembles. All I can say is, game on Avengers 2. 

2. Awesome Mix - Vol. 1 (aka. Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack)
In some cases a soundtrack can enhance the film. In this case, the the soundtrack was the film. Amazing.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
I wasn't a huge fan of the first Captain America film (probably more to do with my aversion to movie portrayals of WWII and Nazis than anything else), so I didn't know what to expect from The Winter Soldier. But it really blew me away. Perhaps one of my favorite Marvel movies to date.  

4. Big Hero 6
I can say little more to describe this movie than it was simply heartwarming and fun. 

5. Edge of Tomorrow
As I understand it, this movie received mediocre reviews. I struggle to understand that, as it was my second favorite movie of the year after Guardians. The end was perhaps a little muddled, but I found it entertaining beyond measure. 

6. Heroes of Olympus: Blood of Olympus
My heart hurts a little to see this series come to a close, but it ended with a bang. Au revoir Percy Jackson and company. 

7. Selfie
Poorly named, but a fun concept. It didn't do well enough to make it past the first season (darn you ABC), but my husband and I got a real kick out of this Pygmalion/My Fair Lady adaptation. And a big thank you to Hulu for airing the entire season. 

8. All About That Bass
I don't know whether I love this song or hate it, but one thing's for sure. It's catchy as hell.

9. Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 1)
I never know what to expect of these YA novel film adaptations (you could't pay me to sit through another one of the Divergent movies). But the third installment of the Hunger Games series was really great. And I'm looking foward to next winter's Mockingjay (Part 2). 

10. Friday Night Lights
This show aired it's final season in 2011, but it wasn't recently that I gave it a try (and by "gave it a try" I mean binge watching all five seasons via Netflix). Stay tuned for my review later this month, but it's one of the best series I've come across in a long time. 

11. Uptown Funk 
This goes down as my favorite song of the year. 

12. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
I'm always hungry for more Firefly, and was thrilled to hear a new comic miniseries was on the way. I felt a bit skeptical when I hear it was being written by Zack Whedon rather than Joss, but it scored well in my book. It didn't quite meet the same level of perfection as the previous works, but was a good read nevertheless.   

13. Twelve Days of Pottermore 
More backstory into Harry Potter. Enough said. 

14. Godzilla 
Maybe it's the child within me, but I'll just never stop loving a good monster movie. And this new addition to the Godzilla franchise was a great throwback to some of the original movies. Definitely a crowd pleaser. 

Well, that completes my list of 2014 favorite. Are there any other TV shows, movies, books or songs you think should have made the list?

6 comments:

  1. Awesome to see Godzilla also made your list. People came down so hard on that film, but I really dug it because it was a throwback to the original. (And at over half a billion world wide, a lot of other people dug it as well.)
    Edge of Tomorrow was robbed. Maybe if it had been someone other than Cruise the film would've done better.

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  2. I have to see Godzilla yet and Big Hero Six. I might be the only person in the world who is not a fan of the Hunger Games. I'm a parent and it's just too silly that parents would allow their kids to go die in a game for food.

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  3. Awesome list, Lauren. I almost wish I hadn't limited my own list of favorite movies for 2014 to 10 movies; would have been able to show Godzilla some love.

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  4. I have not seen Guardians of the Galaxy yet! (Hides face in shame.) My husband works out of town and I promised him I'd wait to watch it with him. I hope to see it next weekend when he's here visiting. I'm looking forward to it!

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  5. I still have to see all these films-I know! Actually the Tom Cruise film looks intelligent and more than just a shoot 'em up flick. For some reason I have no desire to see The Hunger Games...maybe it's all the hype or that the game is to pit young people against one another for sport only to have a gal cause a major revolt with her bow

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  6. Not a single film here that I've seen, but a few that I need to add to my someday list. I can't even remember films of this year that I've seen other than Snowpiercer, which was strangely compellingly to me.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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