People, they love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical ILX 2014 Film Poll Thread - Voting closes Friday, Feb. 21st at Midnight EST.

Starter cheat sheets

http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/20-best-films-of-2014

http://www.indiewire.com/survey/indiewire-2014-year-end-critics-poll/best-film/

Thought the point was that we were trying to make a list that was distinctive.

there is no point

Friendly reminder: vote for TOUCH OF SIN, cuz if you don't live in LA or NY, you probably didn't see it in 2013. and if you haven't seen it yet, it's on Netflix instant.

By that rationale, don't vote for The Immigrant til next year?

Move to better cities.

My #1 among debut US releases would easily be A Summer Tale, but I wouldn't vote for something I saw in 1998.

xp no, vote for the fuck you want. like i'm gonna vote for hard to be a god this year, too. and next year maybe. and raiders is still a good movie, righ?

it's a madhouse

A MADHOUSE!!!!

Touch of Sin was on the list last year, right? I saw it in 2014 as well - and it was def one of the best newish films I saw that year - but I don't think I'll vote for something that has already placed once?

Will people vote for Hard to be a God this year or the next? I'm up for both, it's all 2013 for me anyway.

It showed nowhere in the USA til 2015.

(and so far, just New York i think)

Yeah, Touch of Sin placed last year or else I'd vote. Hard to Be a God found its way ~out there~ pretty early on in the year but it didn't get a theatrical US release until two weeks ago so I didn't count it.

move to better countries

yeah, i'm sure i'll stick pretty much to 2014 US releases, but it pisses me off that we all aren't on the same year yet. this seems like an oversight on technology's part. like, a field in england didn't play the US or get a region 1 DVD until 2014, but came in pretty high on the 2013 countdown. it's easily one of the best films i saw last year, but should we now count it out just because a verdict's already been rendered?

life ain't far when you kneel before a calendar

a 1934 poll would solve these issues

Touch of Sin placed last year? That was going to go in my top 5.

Yeah, first saw Touch of Sin in 2014 = eligible for my ballot

I'll vote for it - has to be in there.

If you can get enough support for it it'll turn up again. "year of impact", I think they call it.

Not to say anything, but people outside of US vote for US films with releases next year all the time, it was kinda the reason for waiting until February to make the list - to let all the oscar-pap permeate all over. Hard to be a God is a hardcore stereotypical European festival-film, why not acknowledging it's 'real' window as being the festival tour it took in 2014, even though it came out elsewhere in 2015? Like, I'll put Imitation Game on my 2014 list, even though it only came out in Denmark in 2015, because it's the epitome of oscar-pap from the 2014 season (just kidding, I'll neither see nor vote for Imitation Game in time for this list. Might be a masterpiece, don't have the time. Oh, the abyss of unknowability.)

Anyway this is just for consideration. I accept all behaviour from everyone, except voting for Boyhood.

submitted my vote. quite a few things ive not seen but n/m.

Frederik, US ROOLZ, FESTIVALS DROOL

also about 4 people on this board have seen Hard to Be a God

(and I don't think it would make my top 20 for '14 anyway)

gutted i missed that at the LFF last year. hope it gets a uk release at some point.

You've all seen the Josephine Decker ones, right? I can vote for them?

they've played here for a week, i avoided them

They're good! Especially Thou Wast Mild and Lovely.

I forgot to vote for L is for Leisure. Hope others don't make this heinous mistake.

I'm not going to vote for anything that doesn't have gay sex in it.

Open to suggestions.

Swedish film Something Must Break. It won Saga Becker the Guldbagge for best actress, as the first trans woman in the history of Sweden. There's some pretty explicit gay sex in that.

Eric H - Moebius has no gay sex but has a high cock count.

voted

just lmk when Mordy's open troll is invalidated

my ballot is 100% sincere and represents the finest films i've seen in 2014

eat shit

gosh so hostile

Did anyone see N: the madness of reason? I loved it and it will be high on my ballot; markeresque cine-essay about a French guys attempt to write an encyclopaedia of west Africa

I accept all behaviour from everyone, except voting for Boyhood.

― Frederik B, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 11:52 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This has made my day. Spent half of 2014 reappraising people based on responses to this film.

Very excited about absorbing some last minute inspiration here. N and Something Must Break added to a (growing) list of nine films I should feasibly be able to make it through before ballot closes.

Did anyone see All This Mayhem? About unlikely Aussie skating stars the Papas brothers and their tumultuous (to put it lightly) passage through early pro skateboarding. It's not an area I know or am at all passionate about, but ended up seeing it at the cinema twice, such was the giddy thrall of its hideousness. I seriously rep it for anyone who enjoys deep character study and the word 'bogun'.

I feel like i post this list everywhere, but here's a bunch of things I loved / things that got inordinate critical acclaim that I still need to see that are readily available streaming on netflix... am i wrong to assume that all us ilxors have this either on their own dime or pirated on someone else's account?

Child's Pose: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70270821
Manakamana: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80010744
Like Father Like Son: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275749
The One I Love: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299863
Watermark: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293817
Stranger by the Lake: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285670
Blue Ruin: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70278931
Bird People - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Bird_People/80008461
Gideon's Army: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70267832
Finding Fela: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299905
Particle Fever: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70296323
We are the Best! : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293818
The Unknown Known: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70292939
Exhibition: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70296526
Gloria: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Gloria/70270790
Ida: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293721
Memphis: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70301276
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70274594
Frank: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299856
The Missing Picture: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70285668?
Miele: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285698
Venus in Fur: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275370
Violette: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293814
The Last of the Unjust: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285696
The Double: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293645
Virunga: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80009431
Test: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70288488
The Immigrant: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275521
The Retrieval: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70272892
Oculus: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293316
13 Sins : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70291114
Big Bad Wolves: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70274589
The Taking of Deborah Logan: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70301341
Stray Dogs - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293821
Joe - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293723
Last Hijack - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80014767
Fifi Howls from Happiness - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80011705
Abuse of Weakness - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70292975
Dormant Beauty - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70257739
Norte End of History - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285700
What Now? Remind Me - https://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299632

oh and:
It Felt Like Love - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70268905

lol is Oculus the WWE horror movie?

First I've seen of this list! That's this week written off... Yay!

i don't do Netflix. The library is free.

you could get a free month on Netflix but I'm sure you don't care

Yeah there's loads to watch before voting, including that Aussie skater doc. And Leviathan! Where's flopson to tell us not to watch films immediately before voting, though?

that's the right oculus. it got strong reviews in the horror community! Haven't seen it yet myself.

and i'm otherwise happy to field questions on that list if anyone has them.

i do still need to see Leviathan. And Only Lovers Left Alive. And The Dance of Reality and Night Moves. And The Boxtrolls,
Starred Up, Birdman, Foxcatcher, Big Hero 6, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Lunchbox, Nightcrawler, The Strange Little Cat, Mr. Turner, Whiplash, Inherent Vice, Obvious Child, Top Five, Get On Up and Maps to the Stars. And Enemy, Song of the Sea, John Wick, Locke, Force Majeure, A Field in England, The Blue Room, Wild, The Overnighter, Actress, American Sniper, The Tribe, Happy Valley, The Salt of the Earth, The Naked Room, Selma, A Most Violent Year, Maidan, Lucy, Gone Girl, Noah, Interstellar, X-Men Days of Future Past and Nymphomaniac (or as much of it as I can manage).

Can't see everything!

Maps to the Stars isn't out in the US til the end of this month, forks.

I still think my fave line of dialogue this year was Uma Thurman's in Nymphomaniac.

If only we were doing full Oscar categories, I'd be giving Uma all my points.

it was amazing i thought but the ending is ambiguous & slightly annoying. i prefer to think of it as giving the father a too-easy way out - a deliberately & falsely macho redemption that mirrors how his cowardice is whitewashed & downplayed by himself and those around him, but of course it can easily be read as 'we all act selfishly sometimes!' which isn't the point the movie had been making until then

truly terrifying ski lifts

yeah the shots of the resort at night

this movie also featured the most terrifying drone attack in all cinema ever

Also, skiing is definitely the most beautifully cinematic of all sports, for me, and this was way better than Hot Dog The Movie.

the bit where he 'rescues' his wife is enough of a false redemption bit though

the bus bit definitely feels extraneous

gah idk

Agreed. Honestly expected the film to end with the whole family standing in the snow just after the "rescue."

it even faded there iirc. might as well have been return of the king. (i was projecting and i reeeeeeeally wanted to go home.) but yes, pretty, weird. that one scene in the middle with the loud music was a theater staff favorite.

this was way better than Hot Dog The Movie

Now you've gone too far.

Agreed. Honestly expected the film to end with the whole family standing in the snow just after the "rescue."

― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Wednesday, April 29, 2015 1:38 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seriously

can anyone think of a good explanation for the ending

"Liking 3/4" of movies is my thing.

It wasn't necessary & the film might have ended better earlier but I don't see anything wrong with it aside from that? It was a good scene in a film of good scenes imo (w/o spoiling too much, i did like the feel of the final few minutes)

Also she wasn't acting selfishly, she was acting sensibly & protectively which is consistent

Anyway loved this film & look forward to voting for it in next years poll

Also yes great to see skiing in something other than a fucking bond film

yeah the very closing scene was a nicely-judged bunuel homage

very despondent despite the release

can anyone think of a good explanation for the ending

― carles the jekyll (imago), Wednesday, April 29, 2015 8:28 AM (53 minutes ago)

I haven't read any reviews so I don't know if it's been criticsplained, but it seems clear that everything after the snow avalanche was the human avalanche, everybody getting caught up in a massive release of potentially destructive energy that peters out at the end as it reaches the bottom of the hill. I liked the structure and the parallels, unsubtle as it was.

That's a good way of putting it, WilliamC. Also thought it was suggesting that the bourgeoisie have a very strong survival instinct, whatever tensions and cracks there might be in the nuclear family unit (whereas the prole bus driver is more reckless, driving into danger).

Could also be read as a tribute to the Italian Job.

Both Force Majeure and Play are a bit too long, so I can understand wanting to excise the tonally very different last sequence of FM, but if I was going to be prune anything it would be some of the stuff with the other couple, which felt more schematic to me.

Anyone besides the one person who apparently voted for it in this poll see The Way He Looks? I'm still beaming from watching it an hour later.

have now seen 'boyhood' and 'actress' and def rate both - boyhood would be somewhere top-3, actress is prob like 7th-8th

my ballot

The Newburgh Sting
Palo Alto
Finding Vivian Maier
Adult World
The One I Love
Land Ho!
Blue Ruin
The Humbling
Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart
Life Itself
Happy Christmas
Inherent Vice
Bansky Does New York
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Young and Beautiful
Watermark
Jodorowsky's Dune
Birdman

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, February 25, 2015 2:10 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Netflix Instant Watch update for 2014 nominees here (and a few others I'd either recommend or are interested in):

Goodbye to Language - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Goodbye_to_Language/80013603
Child's Pose: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70270821
Manakamana: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80010744
Like Father Like Son: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275749
The One I Love: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299863
Watermark: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293817
Stranger by the Lake: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285670
The Overnighters: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The_Overnighters/70299292
Keep on Keepin’ On - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Keep-on-Keepin-On/80011709
The Babadook - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70300205
Blue Ruin: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70278931
Bird People - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Bird_People/80008461
Gideon's Army: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70267832
Finding Fela: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299905
Particle Fever: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70296323
We are the Best! : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293818
The Unknown Known: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70292939
Exhibition: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70296526
Gloria: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Gloria/70270790
Test: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70288488
Vic and Flo Saw a Bear - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70270792
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/A_Girl_Walks_Home_Alone_at_Night/70301280
Beyond the Lights - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Beyond-the-Lights/70295409
Life Itself - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Life-Itself/70299909
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Through-a-Lens-Darkly-Black-Photographers-and-the-Emergence-of-a-People
Stop at Nothing: Lance Armstrong - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Stop_at_Nothing_The_Lance_Armstrong_Story/80007215
Ida: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293721
Memphis: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70301276
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70274594
Frank: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299856
Evolution of a Criminal: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Evolution_of_a_Criminal/80011623
Actress - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80011247
Nightcrawler - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Nightcrawler/70295182
The Guest - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Guest/70300664
Happy Valley - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Happy-Valley/70299907
Late Phases Night of the Lone Wolf - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Late-Phases-Night-of-the-Lone-Wolf/70306659
Point and Shoot - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Point-and-Shoot/80011862
The Homesman - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Homesman/70266680
Winter Sleep - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Winter-Sleep/80013562

Force Majeure: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80007252
The Blue Room - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Blue-Room/80014128
Noah - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Noah/70295061
Maidan - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Maidan/80013473
The Missing Picture: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70285668?
Miele: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285698
Venus in Fur: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275370
Violette: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293814
The Last of the Unjust: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285696
The Double: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293645
Virunga: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80009431
The Immigrant: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275521
The Retrieval: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70272892
Oculus: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293316
13 Sins : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70291114
Big Bad Wolves: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70274589
Stray Dogs - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293821
Joe - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293723
Last Hijack - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80014767
Fifi Howls from Happiness - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80011705
Abuse of Weakness - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70292975
Dormant Beauty - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70257739
All This Mayhem - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/All_This_Mayhem/80022983
Lilting - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Lilting/70299831
Housebound - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Housebound/80013767?
In Bloom - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/In_Bloom/70271702
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70293425
ilo ilo - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70285672
Parallels - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80025727
all this mayhem - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80022983
Norte End of History - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285700
It Felt Like Love - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70268905
Nymphomaniac - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/80017030
Robocop - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/RoboCop/70289948
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The_Kingdom_of_Dreams_and_Madness/80025391
Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70305215
Back Issues - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80022451