Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Best of 2014 so far

Being a movie buff, I find 2014 a major disappointment. Here we are at the midpoint of the year, and unlike the last recent years, I can think of only a handful of movies possibly worthy of seeing a second time.  The short list includes "Captain America 2", "Heaven Is For Real", "Malificent" and "Edge of Tomorrow". We did see "The Monuments Men" early in the year, and that was outstanding. But according to Metacritics the release date for that film was in 2013.

Granted that's my opinion. Some will like movies I don't, just I like some movies others will not. And in fairness, I've only seen a small portion of films released so far.  But judging from the plots, as well as plethora of negative reviews posted on Metacritics, most of the movies this year just plain suck. I'm wondering if the problem in Hollywood is too much medical marijuana or too little!  

Now I realize that Hollywood saves it's best for last.There's still hope. Even this month, the list looks very promising:
  •  "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes".  The reboot with Mark Wahlberg was okay, but the first sequel with James Franco was outstanding. Hope the trend continues.
  • "A Most Wanted Man".  I thought the world of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Hopefully his last was his best. Even if it's just average PSH, it'll be worthy.
  • "Guardians of the Galaxy". It's Marvel, so it can't be bad. Stan Lee won't permit it.
Later this year are other promising flicks: "The November Man", "The Hunger Games: MockingJay", "Exodus", "Hobbit 3", "Grace of Monaco" and "Unbroken". There's also a couple of comedies that probably won't get good reviews, but the kind that leave me in stitches: "Birdman" and "Dumb and Dumber To". Again, great movies aren't always about great stories and great performances. Sometimes we just want to be (well) entertained.