The following list is from the movies I saw in 2014. Some of the recent films I’ve been patiently waiting to see — INHERENT VICE, SELMA, A MOST DANGEROUS YEAR, STILL ALICE, MAPS TO THE STARS — hadn’t been released in San Diego by year’s end. Others — INTO THE WOODS, BIG EYES — you can’t make me suffer through because you’re not paying me. INTERSTELLAR is not on my list because it was the year’s biggest disappointment to me, a big flatulent misfire from a director whose work I’ve enjoyed previously. Other movies were good, but didn’t grab me like the 10 I’ve listed; the second tier would include SNOWPIERCER, THE IMITATION GAME, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, BIRDMAN, THE BABADOOK, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING and FORCE MAJEURE. One movie I saw had great performances from Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo, but as disturbing and sad as FOXCATCHER is, the pacing felt ponderous and strained. So here they are, O’Rourke’s Class of 2014:
 
 
(1) NIGHTCRAWLER

 
Dan Gilroy’s NIGHTCRAWLER came as a surprise to me. I hadn’t heard of it before release, didn’t know much about the story when I saw it, and truly had no idea where the narrative would lead once the movie began. We’ve all known Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the better actors of his generation — BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, ZODIAC, PRISONERS — and here he creates a grotesque, narcissistic slimeball whose quick climb to success parallels his descent into soulless depravity. His character is the ghastly brother to Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle from TAXI DRIVER and Rupert Pupkin from THE KING OF COMEDY. But there’s a bigger monster here: the news media, a corporation so desperately driven by ratings and dollars that it’s lost the meaning of news and shame. Sure, a repugnant story about repulsive characters, but NIGHTCRAWLER is thoroughly entertaining, exciting and funny, LA film noir at its finest.
 
 
(2) WHIPLASH

 
Intense, intense, intense! This movie is a brutal battle of wills between an aspiring jazz drummer and his tyrannical band instructor. Probably the bloodiest movie I’ve seen all year. Loved every minute.
 
 
(3) BOYHOOD

 
A gimmick? No, a commitment. BOYHOOD was filmed over 12 years, with actors returning to the set annually to film scenes depicting moments in the lives of one family. Nothing really happens … except life. The movie focuses on the childhood of the young son; no kidding, we watch him grow from a youngster to a young man in a few hours. But the movie might actually be about his parents, portrayed by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke. These 12 years are mapped on their faces by film’s end.
 
 
(4) GONE GIRL

 
I loved the book and was very relieved to hear David Fincher would direct the movie. He done good. GONE GIRL is a thrilling adaptation, even for the millions of readers who already know the answers to the book’s riddles. Ben Affleck is perfect as the charming and shallow husband, flailing in a miserable economy and desperate to improve his lot, and Rosamund Pike is a revelation as “Amazing Amy,” the wife we meet in flashbacks from her diary, a frightening and alternately sad and funny log of a marriage gone horribly awry.
 
 
(5) LIFE ITSELF

 
We thought we knew Roger Ebert, the argumentative film critic sitting across the cinema aisle from his television partner and rival Gene Siskel for 25 years. Turns out we hardly knew him at all. An old-school newspaper man, Ebert’s first loves were movies, booze, and deadlines; then, in 1992 at age 50, he met the true love of his life, attorney Chaz Hammelsmith, who would marry him and become his lifeline and inspiration during his 10-year battle with cancer. This documentary details in loving and often painful detail his love affair with the movies and with Chaz, and his refusal to “be quiet” when he loses his voice permanently in 2007. A great, great documentary.
 
 
(6) THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

 
Wes Anderson creates movies that are delightful, whimsical, odd, stylized, visually artificial, funny and implacably poker-faced. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is all of those things, and a subtle sense of melancholy floats through the movie’s fictional history. Anderson’s core acting troupe — Tilda Swinton, Ed Norton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, Owen Wilson, etc. — appear in the madness, but lead actor Ralph Fiennes is a comic wonder as legendary hotel concierge M. Gustave. This movie is a keeper.
 
 
(7) PRIDE

 
This one’s a real crowd-pleaser, and the good will PRIDE earns from audiences is well-deserved. Sure, an age-old story: Two disparate groups learn to overcome their dislike or distrust for each other, find they’re not so different after all, and win a critically important fight. It’s a true story, but this British import avoids the cloying Hollywood sainthood bullshit that mars many docudramas. During the devastating British mine workers strike in 1984, a group of gay and lesbian activists began raising money and awareness to support families in Wales, a community not known for its support of gay issues. The alliance is an uneasy one at the start. I wore a big smile through most of the movie (even as the occasional tear rolled down the cheek). The cast is a big reason for the film’s success — from the young newcomers to seasoned vets like Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Paddy Considine. And yes, there is Detective Jimmy McNulty from THE WIRE, Dominic West, as an unrepentantly flamboyant and peroxided gay man. The movie received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The audience was almost as appreciative the night I saw it.
 
 
(8) THE EDGE OF TOMORROW

 
Don’t fall over, but yes, a Tom Cruise movie has made my year end favorite list. And no apologies, either! THE EDGE OF TOMORROW (a bad title that I hear has been changed to LIVE DIE REPEAT for the dvd release) is a thrilling, fun action adventure movie …the best action movie I saw this summer, better even in my book than GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (go ahead, take your shots at me, I do not care!). And Tom Cruise even actually acts in it! Now, to be fair, Cruise does solid work when he’s challenged, and here he plays completely against the “Tom Cruise” type. His character is a military public relations officer (hey!) who has so far managed to avoid any combat duty against the Mimics, an alien race that has invaded Earth and is pretty much winning the war. When his lucky streak runs out and he ends up on the front lines, he’s dead within minutes. But not so fast. He wakes up the day before … and ends up right back where he was, again and again … and again. Can he start learning from his mistakes and change an outcome that looks worse than bleak? A hell of a lot of fun.
 
 
(9) THE NORMAL HEART

 
Wait! An HBO cable movie on my list? Is that cheating? No! THE NORMAL HEART is definitely one of my favorite movies from 2014. That says a lot, because my expectations were depressingly low for this. I’d seen the Broadway play a few years ago, loved it (though “loved” is a strange word to use for an experience that felt like having my gut ripped open and my heart pulled out). I was excited to hear HBO was tackling the difficult adaptation … until I heard that GLEE and AMERICAN HORROR STORY creator Ryan Murphy was directing. I have serious problems with Murphy as a writer and a director. His work is typically messy, sloppy, undisciplined and distracted. The stage production of THE NORMAL HEART is a focused, articulate and anguished scream of rage. Murphy’s scattershot style on his television series seemed a misguided match. But he proved me wrong. Larry Kramer’s fury is as loud and clear as ever coming from the talented lead actor Mark Ruffalo, and if anything, the human tragedy — the demoralizing and devastating loss of a generation of young men to AIDS, either ignored or mocked by an uncomfortable society — is more vivid onscreen than it was on stage. Great cast, superb adaptation, heartrending experience. You WILL notice, you WILL be angry, you WILL cry. And you WILL NOT forget.
 
 
(10) UNDER THE SKIN

 
UNDER THE SKIN, a strange movie — is it science fiction? is it drama? is it a thriller? — is also a difficult experience. I get that. The lead actress is Scarlett Johansson, but this is no Hollywood blockbuster. There are alien beings, but this isn’t Michael Bay territory. What little dialogue there is is difficult to hear, and when you do hear it, the thick Scottish brogue is hard to decipher. This is intentional. I understand this is a tough sell in today’s movie market, but I can only say that no movie in 2014 stayed with me, teased my brain, got under my skin, HAUNTED me like this one. What’s the story? Simply, Scarlett Johansson’s character is an alien being, newly arrived here. She drives the streets of Glasgow picking up strangers and “repurposing” them. Johansson’s performance is probably the best of her career. What does it mean to be human? Do we learn to be human? How do we learn right from wrong? Do we learn to feel? The movie is not told from our perspective, but through the eyes of Johansson’s alien. That is why the dialogue is difficult to understand and the streets seem frighteningly unfamiliar. But something begins to happen to this character; watch how the atmosphere, the environment, the relationships begin to change .. and compare that to what begins to happen to Johansson’s face. I totally understand and appreciate that a lot of my friends will hate this movie. It’s a traditional fish-out-of-water story told in a very untraditional manner, and answers aren’t explained in last reel conversations. This is a mood piece, a unique experience that asks YOU to be the alien for a bit, the stranger looking at the unfamiliar and wondering what your place in this world is.