Evan’s Top 5:

5. Godzilla –

Yeah, I’m still talking about it. I’ll admit my review was a bit… overzealous.  Sure enough, Godzilla had its flaws, but I still credit Legendary and Gareth Edwards for making a May release blockbuster that tried to be more than a lot of mindless action. Inspired creature design, Bryan Cranston and a filming perspective you wouldn’t expect from a film of this genre all add up to a breathtaking climax and something really, really special for Godzilla fans.  Aside from the original, it’s the best Godzilla movie to date, and I can’t wait for more from the sequel. This is how I like my monster movies.

4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes –

I said it for 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and I’ll repeat it again this year: Andy Serkis deserves a nomination for his motion capture performance as the Ape King, Ceasar. Director Matt Reeves took a major challenge in creating a world of CGI characters who possibly get even more screen time than their human counterparts. A blockbuster season film that puts its emotion and its tension first, but still has a masterful climactic war.

3. The LEGO Movie –

This is the movie of 2014 that restores my lost hopes of the film industry that I detailed in my Transformers rant last week.

Every once in a while, you have a kids movie that transcends the age group that it’s marketed towards. Sometimes an animated movie turns out to be genuinely funny, and is clearly a labor of love to everyone involved. The LEGO Movie could easily have been a terrible, meaningless cash-out and instead it’s ended up being one of the best films of the year so far. It was only recently dethroned as the highest grossing film of 2014, only to be defeated by the one and only Captain America.

2. Captain America The Winter Soldier –

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (Community, Arrested Development) Captain America’s first film since his appearance in The Avengers is the best and most important film of Marvel’s Phase 2, and arguably the best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is fearlessly intense and smart and echoes the information gathering issues in today’s world, all while feeling like an old Steve McQueen movie. Sometimes the world could use a little something old fashioned, and then here came the Star Spangled Man With a Plan looking more badass than anyone thought he could be. Here’s a throwback to my TYF Vlog with Ally from April this year.

1. Snowpiercer –

Joon-Ho Bong’s independent post apocalypse ride is a film unlike any I’ve seen in quite a long time. It’s officially the #1 selling film on iTunes currently, and is my first Video On Demand film purchased during a film’s theatrical run. Snowpiercer, with a cast as talented as Chris Evans, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer and Ed Harris, tickles the action movie bones and simultaneously emotes a tragic metaphor for human society, begging to be watched all over again. It has a wonderfully diverse cast, a smart, disgusting, but also funny script and scenes shot with a beautiful sense of style. I suggest every one of these movies I have listed with genuine excitement, but somehow Snowpiercer feels like something that demands as many viewers as it possibly can; this is how you make a wholly original movie.