Best films of 2014: From Boyhood to Mr Turner

Transformers 4 gets a special mention as Turkey of the year

Ellar Coltrane and Ethan Hawke in Richard Linklater’s ‘Boyhood’. Shot over 12 years, the film features untrained and trained actors (UPI Media)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderon's The Grand Budapest Hotel (Martin Scali)

Wes Anderson’s wondrous comedy-fantasy set in an old world Europe on the verge of war was his best film yet. It was at once an elegy for a lost age, an exercise in his brand of mannerist slapstick and a celebration of loyalty and friendship. It also boasted the funniest, most poignant performance that Ralph Fiennes has ever given on screen.

Under the Skin

Scarlett Johansson as femme fatale alien Laura in Under the Skin (Under the Skin)

Jonathan Glazer is British cinema’s resident visionary. This adaptation of the Michel Faber novel was his strangest and most original film yet, a sci-fi fable shot in verité style about a blond-haired alien (Scarlett Johansson) on the prowl in Glasgow and the Highlands for human beings she can send back to the mother planet as luxury food. Under the Skin took an eternity to bring to fruition (it is a decade since Glazer’s previous film, Birth) but it was well worth waiting for.

Mr. Turner

Vividly drawn: Timothy Spall in Mike Leigh’s ‘Mr Turner’

Mike Leigh’s most successful film at the British box office attracted both regular fans of his work and J M W. Turner enthusiasts. This may have been a biopic set in 19th-century England but Leigh tackled his subject with the same mix of humour, barbed observation and craftsmanship that he brings to his contemporary dramas. It helped, of course, that Timothy Spall gave such a magnificent performance in the title role.

Boyhood

Boyhood has attracted its share of five-star reviews

Richard Linklater’s intimate epic was the boldest film formally of 2014 – a story of a childhood shot over many, many years in which we see the lead move from infancy to adolescence and young adulthood. It is the dramatic equivalent of the 7 Up style of documentary and has an in-built poignance because we really are seeing the changes in the main character.

Birdman

Michael Keaton, left, and Edward Norton in a scene from Birdman

Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu has been guilty of making some tremendously pretentious and self-important dramas. In Birdman, he is dealing with the usual hefty themes but in a freewheeling, comedic way. The film boasts astonishing cinematography and a revelatory performance from Michael Keaton as the washed-up movie star trying to re-invent himself by appearing in a Raymond Carver adaptation on Broadway.

Turkey Of The Year

Transformers 4 (Age of Extinction 3D)

Transformers 4 was the most searched for movie in the UK in 2014 (Paramount)

Michael Bay’s latest crime against cinema was a big-budget, big-noise splurge of meaningless special effects. The plot made minimal sense and the characterisation was as thin as everything was swollen. The film was, of course, a huge success – which means Bay will no doubt be pressing his Autobots back into action very soon.

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