Best of 2014 So Far: Twin Cities Edition

2014
          so far

Taking stock in the year’s offerings in December while happily gorging on prestige flicks that have graced Cannes and Toronto seems habitual even if you don’t partake in the Wide World of Film Criticism. But undertaking the same kind of survey in June while suffering through summer bonanzas like Transformers or Godzilla and enjoying the pleasures, as major or minor as they may be, of movies like 22 Jump Street and Edge of Tomorrow feels a little more counterintuitive. Have we really seen anything good so far in 2014? Most definitely. Although our choices might differ, I think we can all agree that there were many gems in the first half of 2014 hiding under the buzz or right in plain sight.

Making our survey specific to films screened in the Twin Cities between January 1 and June 30 encompassed a number of anomalies, including late releases to our no-coast market from 2013 (Her, which opened January 10, locally scored big) as well as a large slate of early looks and undistributed films in April’s Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival (Boyhood earning standout marks). Other top tier movies in our accumulated votes--The Grand Budapest Hotel, Stranger by the Lake, Under the Skin, and Ida—will no doubt resurface in six months with our year end assessment.

Without further ado, our collective list scored via ranking and our individual ballots. Eight ballots resulted in 51 movies.

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1.     Her (2013) Spike Jonze - January 10, 2014  Area Theaters
2.    The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Wes Anderson - March 14, 2014  Uptown Theatre 
       Stranger By the Lake (2013) Alain Guiraudie - March 7, 2014  Lagoon Cinema
3.    Boyhood (2014) Richard Linklater - April 17, 2014  MSPIFF
4.    Under the Skin (2013) Jonathan Glazer - April 11, 2014  Uptown Theatre
5.    Ida (2013) Pawel Pawlikowski - May 30, 2014  Uptown Theatre
6.    The Past (2013) Asghar Farhadi - January 10, 2014  Uptown Theatre
7.    Night Moves (2013) Kelly Reichardt - June 6, 2014  Film Society of Minneapolis/St Paul       
       We Are the Best! (2013) Lukas Moodysson - June 20, 2013  Uptown Theatre
8.    Edge of Tomorrow (2014) Doug Liman - June 6, 2014  Area Theaters
9.    Narco Cultura (2013) Shaul Schwartz - January 8, 2014  Trylon microcinema
10.  The Double (2013) Richard Ayoade - May 16, 2014  Lagoon Cinema
       The Unknown Known (2013) Errol Morris - April 25, 2014  Film Society of Minneapolis/St Paul  
11.    The Fault in Our Stars (2013) Josh Boone - June 6, 2014  Area Theaters  
        Norte, the End of History (2013) Lav Diaz - April 12, 2014  MSPIFF
        The Wind Rises (2013) Hayao Miyazaki
12.   Like Father, Like Son (2013) Hirokazu Kore-eda - February 14, 2014  Lagoon Cinema
        The Missing Picture (2013) Rithy Pahn - April 25, 2014  Walker Art Center
        Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) Jim Jarmusch - April 25  Uptown Theatre
13.    Porcelain Horse (2012) Javier Andrade - April 4, 2014  MSPIFF
14.    22 Jump Street (2014) Phil Lord and Christopher Miller - June 13, 2014  Area Theaters
        Chef (2014) Jon Favreau - May 23, 2014  Uptown Theatre
        Cold in July (2013) Jim Mickle - May 30, 2013  Lagoon Cinema
        In Secret (2013) Charlie Stratton - February 1, 2014  Area Theaters
        The Starfish Throwers (2014) Jesse Roesler - April 10, 2014  MSPIFF
        Stray Dogs (2013) Tsai Ming-liang - April 4, 2014  MSPIFF
15.    All the Light in the Sky (2013) Joe Swanberg - March 17, 2014  Trylon microcinema
        Bethlehem (2013) Yuval Adler - March 7, 2014  Edina Cinema
        A Field in England (2013) Ben Wheatley - February 14, 2014  Film Society of Minneapolis/St Paul
        The Overnighters (2014) Jesse Moss - April 11, 2014  MSPIFF
        Return to Homs (2013) Talal Derki - June 27, 2014  Film Society of Minneapolis/St Paul
        The Rover (2014) David Michôd - June 20, 2014  Uptown Theatre
16.   Blue Ruin (2013) Jeremy Saulnier - May 16, 2014  Film Society of Minneapolis/St Paul
        Coherence (2013) James Ward Bykit - April 5, 2014  MSPIFF
        The Lego Movie (2014) Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
        How to Disappear Completeley (2013) Raya Martin - April 16, 2014  MSPIFF
        The Stuart Hall Project (2014) John Akomfrah - February 20, 2014  Walker Art Center
17.    Nymphomaniac (2014) Lars von Trier - March 21, 2014  Lagoon Theater
        The Rocket (2013) Kim Mordaunt - April 7, 2014  MSPIFF
        Stop the Pounding Heart (2013) Roberto Minervini - April 5, 2014  MSPIFF
        Teenage (2013) Matt Wolf - May 23, 2014  Lagoon Cinema
18.   Joe (2013) David Gordon Green - April 11, 2014  Edina Cinema 
        Le Week-End (2013) Roger Michell - March 21, 2014  Edina Cinema
        Obvious Child (2014) Gillian Robespierre - June 13, 2014  Uptown Theatre
        Sick Birds Die Easy (2013) Nicholas Fackler - February 12, 2014  Trylon microcinema
        The Strange Little Cat (2013) Ramon Zürcher - April 14, 2014  MSPIFF
        X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) Bryan Singer - May 23, 2014  Area Theaters
19.    The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) Marc Webb - May 4, 2014  Area Theaters
        Lone Survivor (2013) Peter Berg - January 10, 2014  Area Theaters
        The Lunchbox (2013) Ritesh Batra - March 28, 2014  Lagoon Cinema
        Noah (2014) Darren Aronofsky - March 28, 2014  Area Theaters

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Daniel Getahun

1. Boyhood
2. Her
3. The Missing Picture
4. The Fault in Our Stars
5. The Starfish Throwers
6. The Overnighters
7. Coherence
8. The Rocket
9. 22 Jump Street
10. Lone Survivor

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Matt Levine

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Her
3. Under the Skin
4. Only Lovers Left Alive
5. Stranger by the Lake
6. Return to Homs
7. Ida
8. Narco Cultura
9. Obvious Child
10. The Lunchbox

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Jeremy Meckler

1. Boyhood
2. The Wind Rises
3. Her
4. Under the Skin
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel
6. The Double
7. 22 Jump Street
    The Lego Movie
8. Nymphomaniac
9. X-Men Days of Future Past
10. Sick Birds Die Easy

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John Moret

1. The Unknown Known
2. The Past
3. Like Father, Like Son
4. Her
5. We are the Best!
6. The Rover
7. Edge of Tomorrow
8. Teenage
9. Joe
10. Only Lovers Left Alive

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Michael Montag

1. Edge of Tomorrow
2. The Past
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Ida
5. In Secret
6. Bethlehem
7. Blue Ruin
8. Stranger by the Lake
9. Le Week-End
10. The Amazing Spiderman 2

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Peter Schilling Jr.

1. We Are the Best!
2. Narco Cultura
3. Porcelain Horse
4. Boyhood
5. Cold in July
6. The Double

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Kathie Smith

1. Under the Skin
2. Norte, the End of History
3. Stranger by the Lake
4. Night Moves
5. Stray Dogs
6. A Field in England
7. How to Disappear Completely
8. Stop the Pounding Heart
9. The Strange Little Cat
10. Noah

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Peter Valelly

1. Stranger by the Lake
2. Night Moves
3. Ida
4. Her
5. Chef
6. All the Light in the Sky
7. The Stuart Hall Project
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel
9. The Fault in Our Stars
10. Sick Birds Die Easy