After putting Winter’s Tale on my Best of 2014 list and Captain America: The Winter Soldier on my Worst of 2014, wait ‘til you see m number 11 here! The 14 Most Underrated Films of 2014 is a little more flexible than Best and Worst. Here we’re not strictly talking about quality, although the assumption is that all of these movies are worth seeing and didn’t get their due.
Check Out: William Bibbiani’s Picks for The Most Underrated Movies of 2014
But the degrees of underrating are subjective. There are films that no one saw, for sure, but even some $100 million blockbusters can be considered underrated when compared to their potential. I appreciate the chance to champion 14 more movies, although I gave one slot to another one of my Best Films of 2014. That’s how much I want you to see it.
Fred Topel’s 14 Most Underrated Films of 2014:
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
The Most Underrated Films of 2014: A Third Opinion
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14. Dying of the Light
Nicolas Cage joined director Paul Schrader and producer Nicolas Winding Refn in protesting the release of this movie, in a cut altered by the studio after it was taken away from Schrader. I respect their loyalty, but given Schrader’s last few movies (including The Canyons and The Walker), I suspect Lionsgate may have been saving him from himself. Not even Nicolas Cage can stop me from watching a Nicolas Cage movie, and I thought it was good. It is a solid terrorist thriller with Cage in his first gray haired role. He’s really good as a volatile, vulnerable CIA veteran suffering from early stages of dementia. I also can’t stop singing the title, “Dying of the Light, revved up like a deuce, another loner in the night.”
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13. Edge of Tomorrow
It’s hard to say that a movie derivative of Groundhog Day and alien invasions was the most original movie of the summer, but the elements were presented inventively. I don’t know if we can really blame the title for the film’s lackluster box office. Edge of Tomorrow suggests Tom Cruise’s character living on the edge of tomorrow, when he’s repeatedly pulled back to the previous day. Most people agree that this was a winner.
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12. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
It’s probably common sense that no one cared about another Sin City movie at this point. That’s what makes it all the more unfortunate that they missed a movie that’s actually really good. After a series of lazy, cheap Machete and Spy Kids sequels, Robert Rodriguez actually made a movie that’s stylish and cool again. Perhaps it’s that the world of Sin City lends itself to his preferred green screen filmmaking, but it still works. If you liked the original, and still remember it nine years later, this sequel’s definitely for you.
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11. A Haunted House 2
Last year I wrote about How to Save the Spoof Movie.
A Haunted House was my prime example of what’s wrong, and by comparison Scary Movie V was delightfully mediocre. Now, I’m not saying you should watch A Haunted House 2, but I will at least go to bat for a sequel that improved on its original, starting with choosing better movies to spoof (Sinister, The Possession, The Conjuring). Gone are the interminable long takes of “found footage” improv. Editing improves comedy. And I’m sorry, the Sinister demon falling on a branch and hitting his nuts is funny. Yes, the racial stuff is lame, but the absurdity of fucking the Annabelle doll and the immaturity of fart jokes made me laugh.
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10. The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Blumhouse really stepped up their game with this remake, the feature film directorial debut of TV director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. He gets on the ground with the townspeople so we can experience the horror of being stalked from inside, all with a clever way of following up on the original without quite remaking it. They went limited release with this, but it was far superior to October’s crop of mainstream horror movies (Annabelle, Ouija and Dracula Rising).
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9. Joe
Every time people want to count Nicolas Cage out, he shows us he’s still got it. When he was taking heat for his Jerry Bruckheimer action movies, he still gave us Adaptation and The Weatherman. Now after a series of over the top performances (which remain awesome), Cage made an indie movie where he reigns it in. Now available on home video, Joe is worth seeing for any Cage fan.
Read my interview with Nicolas Cage.
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8. The Expendables 3
The good will wore thin after two films, so a lot of fans turned their back on the third in this franchise. It was their loss. The Expendables 3 finally got the formula right, telling a fun story that balanced its extended cast, the humor and the drama well, and was finally shot with a smooth and clear camera. Piracy hurt this sequel too, but the PG-13 rating did not bother me in the slightest. I don’t need to see blood to be excited, especially now that it’s only going to be CGI blood anyway. Patrick Hughes constructed awesome action scenes that made an impact within the restrictions.
Read my interview with Sylvester Stallone.
Read my interview with Kelsey Grammer.
Read CraveOnline's interview with director Patrick Hughes.
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7. The Gambler
I suppose it’s hard to know for sure that this film is underrated when it hasn’t even come out yet. But it’s the awards season and I’m not hearing much buzz about it, so that seems underrated to me. Not that I buy into any awards hype, but if the season is going to exist, The Gambler should at least be included. There are some great performances in it, but what interested me more than the story was the way the story challenged the notions of hero-identification we take for granted in movies.
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6. Starred Up
A drama I saw at the Los Angeles Film Festival got a small U.S. release in September, while we were all busy with Telluride and TIFF. Jack O’Connell is doing well for himself, with the starring role in Unbroken, so perhaps I called it when I singled out his British prison drama. The prison society, the intense violence and the questions it raises make Starred Up worth seeking out.
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5. Ping Pong Summer
Okay, I completely understand why this wasn’t everyone else’s favorite movie. It is very specifically about Ocean City, MD., a place I visited every summer growing up on the East Coast. Watching an ‘80s sports movie play out in the location of my childhood was a very personal joy. It’s a fun movie for anyone, certainly universal in its formula, but to really get it I’ll admit you probably had to be there.
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4. Obvious Child
A very strong dramedy that features a definitive vehicle for star Jenny Slate and which introduced the powerful voice of writer/director Gillian Robespierre. Where most Hollywood comedies try to artificially add “heart,” Obvious Child is always able to have it both ways. It can be raunchy and adorable, edgy and heartbreaking. While a lot may have been made about its hot button subject, people may miss that it’s not a high concept comedy. It derives all its success from the characters.
Read my interview with Jenny Slate.
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3. Robocop
Of all the movies being remade lately, I was hardest on Robocop. Probably because the original sequels went so far off the rails, I was sure they’d just do a slick new Robocop with lots of CGI action. It turned out to be my favorite of the recent remakes, which isn’t saying much, but it proved it was worth making and gives me hope for a new Robocop series. That is, if it would have had it been successful. If you’re still on the fence, or stubbornly Team Weller, it’s worth giving this new Robocop a chance. As long as they’re always telling the story of Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), they’ll have a meaningful story in any format.
Read CraveOnline's interview with Robocop star Joel Kinnaman.
Read CraveOnline's interview with Robocop director Jose Padilha.
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2. John Wick
Perhaps John Wick wasn’t underrated at all. I read that its box office take was higher than tracking suggested, so that’s good. Considering it’s better than all the summer blockbusters though, it deserved to be the pop culture event of 2014. With an original character, a riff on the “never kill the dog” cliché and hitman genres, thrilling choreography and clear filmmaking, John Wick is another feather in Keanu Reeves’ cap and a character I’d love to see continue in more movies. Directors Chad Stahelski and Dave Leitch proved that well-choreographed action is still alive and well.
Read my interview with Keanu Reeves.
Read my interview with co-star Adrianne Palicki.
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1. Goodbye World
I suppose I can legitimately claim Goodbye World was the most underrated movie of the year because I don’t know anyone who saw it. I’ve been championing this movie since I saw it at LAFF last year, where I interviewed the director and two stars. It won’t be for everybody, but for people like me who are into two of its genres, it’s a winner. The philosophical discourse is presented dramatically and articulately, and the apocalyptic survival thrills are scary and surprising.
Read my interview with co-star Adrian Grenier.
Read my interview with co-star Caroline Dhavernas.
Read my interview with director Denis Hennelly.
