The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

In my opinion, this was the best movie of the Hobbit Trilogy and a worthy prelude to Lord of the Rings. It was truly the "Defining Chapter". As always the visual effects were stunning, and the cast was magnificent, but something that struck the most in this movie was Peter Jackson's vision. There were many shots in this movie that were just beautiful, and I would like to congratulate Peter Jackson on that. And also the song at the end sung by former cast member Billy Boyd was fantastic as well. 8/10.

Director: Peter Jackson

Music: Howard Shore

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian Mckellan, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lily, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Dean O' Gorman, Graham Mctavish, Ken Stott, Ryan Gage, John Bell, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, James Nesbitt, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, with Manu Bennet, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Sylvester McCoy, Michael Persbrandt, Hugo Weaving, and Cate Blanchett

Release Year: 2014

Rating: PG-13

Into The Woods

Into The Woods

With 3 Oscar nominations and a nomination for Best Comedy-Musical at the Golden Globes, Into The Woods has already been regarded as the best musical of 2014 and the best musical since 2012's Les Miserables. Adapted from the hit Broadway musical, this film interweaves many different fairy tales to create one big fairytale. Meryl Streep leads the ensemble cast that has astounded audiences around. Great singers, wonderful acting, fantastic costumes and set designs. 7/10

Director: Rob Marshall

Music: Stephen Sondheim

Cast: Meryl Streep, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, Daniel Huttlestone, Lilla Crawford, Billy Magnussen, Mackenzie Mauzy, Tracy Ullman, Christine Baranski, and Johnny Depp

Release Year: 2014

Rating: PG-13

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy

The highest domestic grossing movie of the year, the highest opening weekend in August in box office history, and the highest rated Marvel Cinematic Universe movie lives up to all of these qualities. Directed by James Gunn, the film stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and others as it takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a whole new level. With great humor, an awesome storyline, and amazing visual effects, this movie was great. One of the best Marvel movies by far. 9/10.

Director: James Gunn

Music: Tyler Bates

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Gunn, Peter Serafinowicz, with Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro

Release Year: 2014

Rating: PG-13

X-Men Days of Future Past

X-Men Days of Future Past

Being one of the best received and highest grossing films of 2014 X-Men Days of Future Past is a hit. Combining the casts of both generations of the X-Men, audiences were well rewarded with a lot of humor, amazing action sequences, and a quick shot of Hugh Jackman's rear. The music is amazing, and the writing is well done. Visual effects were some of the best, and with many surprising moments, this is definitely a must see superhero movie. 8/10.

Director: Bryan Singer

Music: John Ottman

Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Evan Peters, Omar Sy, Josh Helman, Daniel Cudmore, Anna Pacquin, Bingbing Fan, Booboo Stewart, Adan Canto, Lucas Till, with Ian Mckellan, and Patrick Stewart

Release Year: 2014

Rating: PG-13

The Amazing Spider Man 2

The second of four from the huge batch of superhero movies this year, The Amazing Spider Man 2 brings back Andrew Garfield as the reboot Spider Man and his real life girlfriend Emma Stone to save the city yet again. The movie had good special effects and though most people didn't like it, I don't think that it was as disappointing as the public believes it to be. It was a nice edition to the Spider Man universe. 6/10.

Director: Marc Webb

Music: Hans Zimmer

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jaime Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Campbell Scott, with Paul Giamatti and Sally Field

Release Year: 2014

Rating: PG-13

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The film that took three years to make a sequel and comprising a huge cast ranging from Marvel movies, this movie was honestly the best superhero movie since The Dark Knight Rises. Chris Evans and Scarlett Johanson return to their Avengers roles, while Sebastian Stan returns as the titular figure The Winter Soldier.
This movie also introduces new player The Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie This movie caught most peoples eyes by the fact that it is more of a political thriller than a superhero movie. The storyline was one of my most favorite of the Marvel movies. Wonderful movie. 8/10.

Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
Music: Henry Jackman
Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Cobie Smulders, Emily Van Camp, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, with Robert Redford and Samuel L. Jackson
Release Year: 2014
Rating: PG-13

The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men

Well the directed/written by, starred in, George Clooney war movie was quite good. It was the first movie of 2014 I thoroughly enjoyed. It stars a great cast, one that was perfectly put together. I hummed the music of the movie out of the theater that night, so I call that a thumbs-up to Alexandre Desplat. 7/10.

Director: George Clooney

Music: Alexandre Desplat

Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Bob Babladan, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Dimitri Leonidas, and Cate Blanchett

Release Year: 2014

Rating: PG-13