Top 10 Blockbusters of 2014

How do we define a blockbuster? Is it just the size of the budget or is it about how much the film makes at the box office? If it's about budget, then how many dollars poured in to the production makes it a blockbuster? Is anything over $100 million in this day and age a blockbuster? I have no idea.

Does a blockbuster have to be simplistic? Good vs evil, bombastic special effects, product placement and completely sold on special effects... that kind of thing. Or can a blockbuster be intelligent? Personally, I think blockbusters can be dumb as fuck or smart as science and stuff. I don't mind them being dim witted, as long as they dazzle me with something I haven't seen before or make me care about their simplistic characters! But neither do I mind if they make my mind do some mental somersaults.

Anyway, enough with the questions and half-hearted answers. I'm counting any film with a budget of over $100 million as a blockbuster for this list. As far as I can tell, I saw 17 films released this year with that kind of meg-budget behind them. With a top 10 list like this, there always has to be losers, so the ones that missed out on a place in the final 10 were: Transformers: Age of Extinction, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hercules, Pompeii, RoboCop, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and (whisper it) Guardians of the Galaxy (sorry everybody in the world ever!)

So without further ado, here are my top 10 blockbusters of 2014:

10. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Epic end to what shouldn't have actually been a very epic story. The best compliment I can pay this film (and Peter Jackson) is that ever since I saw it, I have been desperate to have an LOTR binge session.

9. How to Train Your Dragon 2

Wish I'd seen this in a cinema on the biggest screen possible. 

8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Again, wish I'd seen this on a sensible sized screen, rather than on a crappy little screen on a plane to Cuba.

7. Edge of Tomorrow

Just for the joy of seeing Tom Cruise playing a coward and getting killed over and over again. 

6. Godzilla

Got to go to the premiere of this for Filmoria and chat to Bryan Cranston on the red carpet. Shame he didn't have a bigger role in the actual film though.

5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

Not a huge superhero movie fan but this was an epic cast and had the added bonus of time travel. That Quicksilver scene was jaw dropping. 

4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Apes of Wrath return in a sequel that was at least as good as its predecessor. I just love the way these films are so tragic. We all know where it is all leading but it has been a hell of a ride getting there so far.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street

Not sure if this is really a blockbuster but it has the budget to back it up and a huge cast going balls out. Jordan Belfort is a disgusting man who I really hope gets nothing from this movie but what a movie it was. Also contains the funniest scene of the entire year.

2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 

Aided immeasurably by Lawrence’s powerful performance, Katniss is still the current queen of science fiction cinema and if Mockingjay is anything to go by, this franchise is building to an explosive and no doubt incredibly emotional conclusion.

1. Interstellar 

Emotion + Intelligence + Spectacle = A near perfect blockbuster

What were your favourite blockbusters of 2014? 

More 2014 lists at I Love That Film:

Best Books I Read in 2014

TV in 2014

Top 10 Music Performances of 2014

Top 10 Best True Stories of 2014

Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 Poster

Just in case you aren't suffering from superhero fatigue syndrome, here is a lovely little poster from the folks at Marvel to show just exactly what your diary will be looking like from May 6, 2016 to May 3, 2019. This is phase 3 which will kick off after we've had Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man in 2015. The poster features a whole bunch of new characters, some of which I've never even heard of but hey, if you can make a success out of the barmy Guardians of the Galaxy, I guess you can afford to take a few risks.

Captain America will be facing off against Iron Man in Civil War, the Guardians will be back as well as the Avengers in a pair of films titled Infinity War and also Thor returns for round 3. I can't imagine the pay cheques these guys are getting. Fair play to you Chris' Evans and Hemsworth. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Added to the Marvel roster are Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and the Inhumans who sound like fun. So we have a black guy but still no women. Do Marvel even have any women superheroes?

As a very moderate fan of superhero films, this poster kind of makes me want to hide under a blanket until the superhero storm is over. I suspect that until 2019, cinemas are just going to be filled with a revolving door full of Marvel, DC and Disney's Star Wars films; all of which will be disposable fun but are hardly likely to change your life.

And just imagine how big the Marvel Cinematic Universe boxset is going to be one day when this is all over (if it ever is and if we even have boxsets anymore).

So who doesn't give a shit and who is on the edge of their seat?

Something else you might like to read while you're here:

The Summer of 2050 at the Cinema

Superheroes must die!

Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe it’s just because I never liked comics. But is it me or are there just way too many superhero movies these days?

I confess I’ve never read comics. I read books or I watch films. Reading with pictures just ain’t the same as it was when I was a kid. I tried. I read one graphic novel, generally considered a classic… ‘Watchmen’ and guess what… I much preferred the film! The ‘novel’ was long, complicated and for me, just not very engaging.

So what blockbusters have we got to look forward to this summer? Thor, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, Captain America: The First Avenger. All superhero flavoured, comic book madness. Give me Transformers 3 over this lot anytime.

The thing is I too get excited by all the hype surrounding these films. I read the features in the magazines, I gawp at the trailers and I even go and see a fair few of them expecting to get my mind blown and face melted.

Unfortunately time and again I’m disappointed. I blame X-men. Like so many others back in 2000, I went along to see it at the cinema because the critics were raving. Bryan Singer was directing. He made ‘The Usual Suspects’. Surely it would be good. But I felt nothing. The action and big climax were too filled with ridiculous looking special effects. The costumes were kind of cool and the cast were top quality but the film was totally unmemorable (to me). It goes in my eyes and gets crapped straight back out, barely registering on my brain.

As a kid I’d enjoyed Tim Burton’s Batman films and the Superman series but I think even then I preferred the Batman TV show with Adam West. This brings me to an exception. The Christopher Nolan Batman films have registered on my brain. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Bruce Wayne throw his wallet away to discover what it was like to have nothing. I loved Heath Ledger as the Joker and truly believe that even if he hadn’t died people would still be banging on about that performance. Great films… great director. Real adult themes and a distinct lack of ridiculous looking special effects.

There’s too damn many for me to go through all the comic book movies of the last ten years. Some critics have argued that we (mainly America) needed these fantastical heroes to save us from a post-9/11 depression. Most people just see these movies making bags full of money for greedy studios who can’t believe their luck! Stories that have already been written. The visuals storyboarded. Characters already created and fans already waiting. Fantastical super powers that can now be created with CGI. Easy money!

Don’t get me wrong… some of these characters are interesting. Iron Man and Hellboy were particularly enjoyable due to their funny and likeable main characters. Kick-Ass and Super give us hip new spins on the superhero genre. But for every cool character there’s always going to be a fair few Daredevil, Elektra, or Ghost Riders.

Now the studios are even starting to reboot the franchises that are barely a decade old. X-men, Spiderman and Superman are all getting a fresh coat of CGI and the paint has hardly dried on the last batch. Seriously do we really need another lot ALREADY???

These comic book/superhero blockbusters aren’t even taking over the top tens of highest grossing films of the summers. In 2002, only Batman Begins and Fantastic Four made it. In 2003 only X-men 3 and Superman Returns made it. But then in 2004 and 2005, the top spots were filled by Spiderman 3, Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Bringing it right up to date… in 2009, only the Wolverine spin off film hit the top 10 highest grosser list and in 2010, Iron Man 2 beat competition from original works like Inception and Despicable Me.

If you love comics and you love the movies and I’ve offended you to your very core, then I’m very sorry. But look at the blockbusters I got to devour as a kid in the 80s. Aliens, Back to the Future, The Terminator, E.T., Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Beverly Hills Cop. And the 90s… Titanic, The Matrix, Speed, Forrest Gump, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Toy Story! Give me these beauties any day over the next buffed up pretty boy in tights and a screaming damsel girl next door.

So despite the pretty trailers for the coming summer’s superhero antics, I’m going to vote with my wallet. If YOU want to see more originality or even just more sequels to interesting, exciting, not overdosed on silly special effects movies, then don’t be lured by the trailers! Remember you’ve seen it all before! You’ll forget it in a week (if not less).