The Darkest Movies of 2014

Here's a look at the darkest movies of 2014, and believe me, there have been plenty. These are in no particular order. 

Enjoy!

Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher is an adaptation of the book "Wrestling with Insanity" and is based off the true story of the Foxcatcher Farm murder which took place in 1996. Steve Carell gives a career transforming performance that could propel him to an Oscar for best Actor. If that doesn't spell out insanity, I don't know what does. Carell's depiction of John DuPont is as haunting as the prosthetic makeover that he was given in order to embody a madman. 



"Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf*cking horns on my motherf*cking head! "

Proof that Starbucks makes everything better.

Horns

It's hard not to be a fan of Daniel Radcliffe and his valiant efforts to escape the identity of Harry Potter with such attempts as "The Woman in Black", "What if" and the popular BBC show "A Young Doctor's Notebook." Horns is a movie that was not received well by critics, however will easily be considered a cult classic in due time. Horns captures the honest truth of what people really want to say when they look at each other, and of course it's never positive. 

Tusk
This movie is about as visually disgusting and amazing as it gets, there are few things darker than seeing a man getting transformed into a Walrus against his will. Kevin Smith has outdone himself with this one. Justin Long gives a great performance, along with Johnny Depp. This movie is rumored to be apart of a trilogy, I can't wait to see the next installment.

Noah

Noah was pretty silly at times, and the artistic license was a great touch on the biblical transmutation. Noah's realization that man is the greatest evil whether or not they are chosen by the divine leads to the realization that is destiny that the human race become extinct to save the Creator's masterpiece. However, when his adopted daughter conceives two baby girls, Noah becomes a psychological wreck conflicted with the duty he believes his creator has asked him to carry out. Murdering his infant grand daughters.

Fury

Fury has been compared to "Saving Private Ryan" by a great deal of my peers, which is pretty accurate for a WWII adaption. This tour of duty that we experience as we venture through Germany is engulfed with the sights of mass graves, soldiers that are burned alive, public executions, and the process of grieving between soldiers. Not since Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" have I truly experienced a war narrative that dark, psychologically.

Nightcrawler

After last year's "Prisoners" it is no surprise that Jake Gyllenhaal delivered yet again with "Nightcrawler", Nightcrawler is a haunting look at the average American's pursuit of the American dream, when it is in the hands of a man that is willing to do anything to achieve it. Nightcrawler is a great tale of partnership, anger, frustration, and betrayal.

Snowpiercer

A post apocalyptic sci-fi film, Snowpiercer portrays the class system accurately through the means of a train in a modern day ice age, the rich are at the front, the poor are at that back. This 1984 style dystopian narrative follows Chris Evans, better known for his role as Captain America, through different compartments of the Snowpiercer, each compartment revealing more ugly truths about the Snowpiercer, and the man that designed it. This movie is actually on Netflix now.

The Homesman

The Homesman is a western featuring Tommy Lee Jones, and Hilary Swank. Hilary Swank plays Mary Bee Cuddy, a woman burdened with the task of transporting three mentally ill women across the Western Frontier to a Methodist church for rehabilitation, with the help of a deserter, and squatter, George Briggs. This film tackles many issues along with insanity, such as rape, suicide, and our blatant unwillingness as a society to help those less fortunate than us. Furthermore if you can't handle seeing a mother throw her baby down the toilet hole of an outhouse I would not recommend this film to you.

The Skeleton Twins

The skeleton twins is a dark comedy featuring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live. This movie celebrates the relationship of siblings, while being entrenched with inner laid issues of suicide, depression, infidelity and more. While the ending may be a happy one, you can't help but look back at the issues that ensnare the lead characters.

Birdman

Birdman is one of my personal favorites this year, Michael Keaton is Riggin Thomson, a forgotten relic of the 90's, an old superhero known as Birdman. Thomson is on a quest for vindication throughout the movie and is trying to achieve it through the means of a Broadway Play adaption of Raymond Carver's short story: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Birdman covers a lot of ground in the near two hour run time, including family dynamics, addiction, schizophrenia, and suicide, and does it in a very charming way.

Gone Girl
If your jaw is not on the floor after the first hour and a half of Gone Girl, there is something seriously wrong with you. Rape, murder, betrayal, suicide, and the genuine feeling of being trapped by the most manipulative person you can imagine. This one takes the cake.

Thanks for reading.

Austin and his list of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Movies.

With 2014 wrapping up I feel it necessary to start listing off the years' great movies, along with the bad, as well as movies that follow certain trends. The first and the easiest movies to pick out are the bad ones. I work in a movie theater, so I do get to see first hand every bad movie that we release, and all the irreparable harm that they cause. So without further ado.

Honorable Mentions:

Transcendence, Need for Speed, November Man, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Pompeii, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

These movies were pretty bad, I'll spare you the details as to why, and go ahead and get started with the top ten.

10. I, Frankenstein

I normally expect more from a graphic novel adaptation, and I am a genuine fan of Marry Shelly's Frankenstein, however this movie just couldn't sell at all. It was bad from start to finish and if Aaron Eckhart's uninspired performance doesn't convince you, surely the banal special effects will.

9. Into the Storm

Complete with a flaming tornado, and a tank like humvee for bearing down in the wake of a deadly tornado , the dreadful acting along with the overdone redneck impersonations make it clear what Hollywood thinks of Oklahomans. A solid middle finger right back at the writer, director, cast, producer, editor, everybody that worked on that film or enjoyed that film.

8. The Legend of Hercules

No, not Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's "Hercules" this one is even worse, brought to you in mind numbing 3D. Who thought it would be a good idea to make two Hercules in one year? C'mon man!

7. Heaven is for Real

I'm guessing I'm going to upset a few people by listing this on the worst of the worst, let me say that I am not attacking Christianity or your faith, nor am I calling you stupid for being a believer. I guarantee you the people that make these movies, complete with banal scripts and sub par acting, are not interested at all in your faith, but in the all-mighty dollar. Don't base your faith around a movie, that's all I have to say. (Exhales)

6. God's Not Dead

Well, this movie just sucks. If you are offended by stereotypes, generalizations, or anything related to Duck Dynasty; don't watch this movie. Actually I take that back, NOBODY SHOULD WATCH THIS MOVIE. Every stereotype that can be conceived is thrown in, to name a few: The Islamic student with an abusive father, the godless Chinese students that are more concerned with grades than the afterlife, and last but not least, the asshole Atheist college professor that forces his students to also become atheists before passing his class. In fact the entire movie is centered around the idea of disproving an impossible thesis, and ends with Professor Asshole converting on his deathbed, what a heartwarming narrative. (Sigh)

5. Son of God

This one is just a Sunday School flick, and comes nowhere close to capturing the energy of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

4. Left Behind

I promise, I am almost done ripping Christian narrative film adaptions, but this is one that most can agree with; given the amount of refunds I had to give to people that walked out of this movie early. This movie features Nicholas Cage, which obviously puts any film in the running.To quote possibly the funniest film review I’ve seen on rotten tomatoes….. “Score one for Satan.”

3. No Good Deed

Simply put, this movie is racist, and misogynistic, a muscle-bound black convict escapes prison and breaks into an unsuspecting (also black) woman's home with intention of harming her, and her infant child. Is this 1915? This really seems like a sequel to "Birth of a Nation".

2. America: Imagine the World Without Her

A daunting tale of Satan, and his quest to destroy America (with the help of a few good liberals of course.) Thank you, D'Nesh D'Souza, I take great pleasure in imagining a world without you.

1. Transformers 4

Well, clearly there are worse movies right? Seeing as this was a global blockbuster though, and without a doubt cost the most to make; I have to acknowledge this as the biggest bust, and therefore the worst of 2014. It is rumored that Paramount submitted Transformers 4 for a bid at the Oscar for "Best Picture". How about submitting an apology instead Paramount?