ComicMix Six: Top Six Movies of 2014
5. [[[Guardians of the Galaxy]]]/ [[[Captain America: The Winter Soldier]]] – Combining two movies this different is kind of cheating but I’m used to having a much bigger list. These two movies proved that Marvel Studios could branch out from the superhero formula that had served them very well for five years but was getting stale. Captain America: The Winter Soldier has elements of a political thriller and Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic, effective, comedy. Marvel simply cannot attempt to keep topping their previous efforts by building vertically so this horizontal shift was perfect and gives me hope for the future of the franchise, now please, don’t fuck up Ant-Man.
4. Nightcrawler – I have come to accept that Jake Gyllenhaal will never get the recognition he deserves for his performance in this movie. I’ve seen so many terrible horror movies in my three years reviewing films and not one of them was as scary as Gyllenhaal is in Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler changed the way I look at and interact with the city I live in. It changed the way I drive, the way I view the local news, it’s simply the most affecting piece of art I’ve consumed in some time. It’s a lovely bookend to Drive in the way it looks at the less appreciated parts of LA and the darker side of car culture. This movie is a masterpiece.