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Friday, March 27, 2015

Year in Review: 2014

2014 was one amazing year for geeks! From Guardians of the Galaxy to Sherlock's long awaited return, 2014 has had something for geeks of almost every fandom! Yet, at the same time, it has been a year that has seen several of our favorite franchises end... Today's post is going to take a look back at the highlights of 2014, and yes, I realize that this post is really late.

Marvel Domination
Without a doubt, Marvel dominated the year in movies! Starting in April, Marvel really hit a homerun with Captain America: The Winter Soldier being possibly the most thematically profound comic book film to date. Next came The Amazing Spider-Man 2, while flawed, was a fun movie that captured the spirit of the comic book, although now we know these movies do not matter anymore. In May, X-Men: Days of Future Past provided us with an exceptional time-travel story that brought the X-Men franchise to its former glory. Guardians of the Galaxy crushed the domestic box office, and even Big Hero 6 received high critical praise and a moderate box office haul.

End of Middle-Earth
Unless The Silmarillion is ever adapted into film, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the last journey into Middle Earth that we will experience on film, at least until some idiots reboot the franchise. Sure, not that many people loved the final chapter, but it certainly delivered on the emotion.

A New Doctor
2015 ushered in the first season with a new Doctor Peter Capaldi. Season 8 had its ups and downs with "Kill the Moon" being one of the worst episodes of Doctor Who since the 2005 reboot, yet we were also treated to the amazingly atmospheric "Flatline." As a whole, it was a solid season of Doctor Who that makes me excited for the next one later this year!

Hooked on a Feeling
Even though Guardians was mentioned in the Marvel Domination, it deserves special mention by getting the entire country "Hooked on a Feeling!" With Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel has proven that they can adapt even the most obscure source material and have outstanding results in both quality and box office success.

Arrow and The Flash
Despite DC's failure to make quality live-action films, they do success in area, their TV series on the CW, Arrow and The Flash. Thanks to Netflix, I was able to catch up on Arrow's first two seasons, and then start watching the recent third season along with The Flash. Both series, while not perfect, are incredibly fun and showcase that not all DC properties have to feature dull, lifeless, and emo protagonists with comical amounts of over-seriousness.

Parks and Recreation
After watching Guardians of the Galaxy, I felt the need for more Chris Pratt and to satisfy this craving, I discovered Parks and Recreation, a hilarious comedy from the creators of the Office about the Parks and Rec department in the small town named Pawnee. From the lovable characters to the wide variety of humor, Parks and Rec quickly became my favorite comedy series. Unfortunately, earlier this year, the final season finished airing, and while it had a fantastic conclusion, it is still sad to see it go.

The Godfather
Finally, after years of hearing that the Godfather is quote: "The Best Movie of All-Time," I got to see it for myself. As you may know from my review, which you can read here, the first Godfather was a great film, definitely not the best movie ever by any means, but it was good enough to place on my Top 100 Movies List.

Avatar/Korra Franchise Ends
During the fall of last year, I watched the entire Avatar series and caught up to what was currently airing of the Legend of Korra. Of course, as soon as I started watching, Korra aired its final season. While the final season was not all that consistent, the finale was mostly excellent. With that said, as a whole, the Avatar/Korra franchise is one of my favorites from American television. If you want to know more, you can read my reviews of each season, as well as reviews for every episode of Korra's last season.

Three 10 out of 10s
2014 might just be the best year ever in movies, or at least if you are a geek, because we had three films, all of which based on comic books, that completely blew my mind enough to warrant 10 out of 10. Unlike some, 10/10 is not a score that I give out often. In fact, until 2014, there were only eight films deserving of such a score. Of course, the three films that far exceeded expectations were: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Guardians of the Galaxy. However, you are going to make to wait until my J and J Movie Awards before you see which of the three ranks the highest.

What are some of your highlights from 2014? Please comment below and let me know.

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

14 comments:

  1. I try and rank everything I watch on IMDb and 2014 was the highest rated year for movies with atleast 12 movies rated. 2014 was an amazing year for movies!!!

    I'm still not completely sold on the MCU, but I do have very high hopes for Age of Ultron (Looks amazing! And especially excited since Whedon & Ruffalo said there is a lot more Hulk in the movie than the first film)

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    1. Wow, that's cool; I need to rate some movies on IMDB sometime as well.

      I have high hopes for Age of Ultron; I can't wait to see what Whedon does next.

      -James

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  2. I can't believe how awesome 2014 was! I haven't actually seen Big Hero Six, but I kind of want to! While I think I liked Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy more than I did X-Men, Marvel did kind of rule last year! And a new Doctor, yes! Gotta love Twelve! Can't wait to see what 2015 holds in store for us!
    -Tegan

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    1. Big Hero 6 was a fine movie; I hope to review it soon. I think I liked those two more than X-Men as well, although not by much.

      -James

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  3. Great rundown James! This was a fun read!

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  4. Nice summary of the year. I even had a similar experience with Parks and Rec! :) It was a good year, and this one looks promising too!

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    1. Cool, Parks and Rec is such an amazing series; I can't believe it is over!

      -James

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  5. Great post! :D I agree, we had some AWESOME geeky stuff last year! :D Such a fun year! :D Middle Earth, Marvel, ATLA/LoK, Doctor Who, etc! :D I agree, Guardians of the Galaxy was a lot of fun! :) Also finally saw Big Hero 6 and it was quite good.
    Looking forward to seeing what this year has in store! :)

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    1. Thank you! :D I know, so many things happened in the geek world. I agree, BH6 was good; hopefully I can review it soon.

      -James

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  6. 2014 was a great year, especially for Marvel movies!! For me I saw Seinfeld for the first time last year which was really awesome! I think I saw Parks and Rec for the first time last year too... :D

    ~Jamie

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  7. Interstellar, ,Snowpiercer and Edge of Tommorw. for movies.

    The Librarians, Vikings, the 100, Black Sails, House of Cards, Justified and Orange is the New Black on Kodi.

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  8. Days of Future Past and Battle of the Five Armies were my highlights, and I can't say which I loved most. Both are very dear to me.

    I also really liked Hercules and Monuments Men -- enough to own them on DVD and get the soundtracks. And I saw both Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks in the theater in January even though they came out in 2013, and liked both quite well too. Didn't buy Saving Mr. Banks, but did rent it and make my mom watch it.

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One rule: No strong profanity. If you want to link to one of your posts, please do; I am always interested in other reviews and such.

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