Geoff's Top 10 Films of 2014
As I mentioned in my Top 10 Trailers of 2014 list yesterday, I didn't watch as many films this year as I normally do. It's a travesty, to say the least, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't help make my list of Top 10 Films of 2014 easier to write. Featuring independent releases, Hollywood blockbusters, sports documentaries, family-friendly CGI-animated films, foreign films, and festival favorites, I believe my list of my favorite films from 2014 runs the gamut of modern cinema... with the exception of horror films, but you all know by now they're not really my cup of tea, right?
Read on as I share my list and help explain why they deserved being remembered.
[Contest] Win a Free Blu-Ray Copy of The Lego Movie
[Update: You can also enter the contest by following us on Twitter and tweeting #RHLego!]
While I'm a huge fan of Legos, as has been seen throughout my time on Ruby Hornet, I never would have imagined that this year's The Lego Movie would have such immense success, bringing in more than $462.7m in box office sales with many more money to be made now that the film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. To commemorate its home media release, we're offering one lucky reader a free Blu-ray copy of The Lego Movie.
Using the "Everything is Awesome" app below, you can create customized 6-second GIFs of pre-selected scenes from The Lego Movie that automatically get uploaded to a special YouTube page. After you create your The Lego Movie GIF, comment on this page below with a link to your YouTube video. Make sure you use a valid email address so we can contact you if you win! You can enter as many time as you'd like. You have until July 2nd to get your entries in. Note: The contest is only open to US residents. Good luck!
[Trailer] The Lego Movie
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Do any of you remember the 1990 cartoon special, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, that united a collection of various cartoon icons (from Garfield to to Looney Tunes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) to tell kids the dangers of drugs? I feel that The Lego Movie will be this generation's Cartoon All-Stars, albeit without the anti-drug mission.
The animated film is about a normal Lego man, Emmet (Chris Pratt), mistakenly identified as a very special Lego person. Upon accidental discovery, he unites with such pop-culture Lego icons as Michelangelo, Batman, Abraham Lincoln, and more on their quest to take down an evil tyrant (Will Ferrell). The Lego Movie combines both stop-motion animation with "traditional' 3D CGI animation, merging together modern day computer animation with the classic stop-motion animation of yesteryear.
Anybody that knows me knows I have a soft spot for Lego stop-motion shorts, so a full-blown, high-budget Lego film speaks directly to me. The film might be targeting kids as its primary demographic. However, the director/writer duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller is known for Clone High, an edgy MTV cartoon series aimed for adults, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a surprisingly entertaining, tongue-in-cheek children's film that also had subtle jokes for adults.
The Lego Movie will hopefully hit all the right marks for both kids and adults alike when it's constructed into theaters on February 7, 2014.