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Worst Films of 2014

2014 was one of the best years in the history of cinema. It gave us so many incredible movies that I still admire and rewatch to this day. However, every year has its bad movies and this one is no exception. My worst list of 2014 features a couple of Oscar nominees made by famous filmmakers and a particular emphasis on terrible war movies.

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

The fifth place goes to this overrated Wes Anderson movie. I really dislike this director as he emphasizes strangeness for the sake of strangeness. The story, characters and themes in his films are almost non-existent. Though visually undeniably sumptuous and quite well acted, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a cluttered, annoying movie that particularly failed its actors as most of them were reduced to just cameos.

4. Rio 2

Rio 2 was pleasingly colorful and it had some fun and silly moments for sure, but for the most part this was a widely inferior sequel to the solid original that featured way too many annoying modern song renditions, weak characterization and a pedestrian plot. A lack of a bigger ecological message was once again problematic. It was and still remains a very unnecessary sequel.

3. Inherent Vice

Based on a supposedly impenetrable novel, Inherent Vice’s script is difficult to appreciate and overly complicated, but at the end of the the day empty. The characters are mostly very annoying, the neo-noir elements are discarded pretty quickly, and the excessive runtime proved to be a huge hurdle that the film never overcame. It represents all the worst excesses from Paul Thomas Anderson, the most overrated director working in Hollywood today.

2. Fury

David Ayer is a terrible director who has never made a decent movie and Fury is no exception. This movie was a pointless excursion in violence and soldiers sparring with each other with no meaningful moments to be found at any time. It’s technically well made, but the dialogue felt hopelessly anachronistic, the characters were horrendous and the hyperrealism on display was too aggressive. It’s both bad and immensely overrated.

1. American Sniper

And the worst movie of 2014 is easily American Sniper. This horrendous pro-war propaganda is all about American military supremacy, being pretty much racist and xenophobic in its messaging. It’s the type of film that only the more patriotic and nationalistic Americans can like and nobody else. This is Clint Eastwood’s worst movie and one of the worst Best Picture nominees of all time. It’s the only film of 2014 that I genuinely hated and I find it to be dangerous in its rhetoric. It’s pure evil, so it deserves this spot here.

Honorable Mentions:

Maleficent – A bad fantasy that is the worst live-action Disney remake so far, Maleficent is well acted by Jolie, but it has no connection to the original film and its unsubtle feminism was annoying.

V/H/S: Viral – V/H/S: Viral has a couple of memorable moments and it is still fun to watch, but this is by far the weakest entry in the franchise with the worst selection of stories yet.

Annabelle –  Annabelle was a very dull, tired spin-off which should have had much more action in it. The stupid ending and tiresome execution were the main issues here. The sequel was so much better.