Best of 2014: Movies – Best Family Flick

Another year is in the books, and we here at Hush Comics couldn’t pass at the chance to rank our favorites of this year’s releases in all types of mediums. Some of the winners will surprise you; heck, some of the results surprised  us. The results are completely subjective, and therefore were chosen with infallible logic. We would love to hear your opinions on what we have chosen, or if you thought we missed anything. This should be a fun review before we gear up for 2015.

Click on the link to take you to the “Best of 2014” homepage.

Best Family Flick

• Big Hero 6
• Book of Life
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• LEGO Movie
• Maleficent

WINNER – LEGO Movie

I am a huge LEGO buff so it makes sense this was one of my favorite movies of the year especially since I worked at The LEGO Store during a lot of the post release for the film and I can not tell you how many times I have heard “Everything is Awesome!” But this film held a very special place in my heart for films this year because of my love for LEGOs, but also because of my love of animation and all things pop culture which the film was filled with. The film itself was a perfect mix of family and adult humor. The ultimate message of that everyone has the potential to be special but it is how you use your talents and what you have that can make you special is a great message to kids. In addition, the hero of the movie was not Batman or the typical archetype, but your regular old construction worker; that is sure to make any normal child feel they have the talent to improve the world if they try. – Jacob

Second Place – How to Train Your Dragon 2

How to Train Your Dragon has become a very cherished movie to most. This year’s sequel only furthered this intoxication with all things Toothless. Build-A-Bear Toothless dolls sold out everywhere in anticipation for the film. As people swooped in to enjoy owning their very own pet dragon I even considered fighting a 6 year old girl at comic con for one when I couldn’t get my own. The second movie did the impossible, and gave us a reasonable back story for Hiccup’s absent mother, and again showcased what is possible when you have a loving companion dragon by your side. This movie made me laugh, cry, and hate my life for the single fact that I will never be able to live in this beautiful world of dragons. It’s too late to see this masterpiece in theaters, but I would strongly recommend making a point to watch this with any family and friends you have. – Sara

Third Place – Maleficent

I knew I was going to automatically like this movie even before I saw it.  Does that make me biased?  Probably, but I don’t care.  Maleficent is hands down the baddest witch in town and being played by Angelina Jolie just made her perfect.  But beyond the reputation and the actress who played the part (above and beyond), Maleficent did a fantastic job at drawing the audience in and giving us a lot of feels.  Many times, a retelling can seem too far fetched, but the retelling of Maleficent’s story seemed plausible, if not probable.  And those wings?  Bad. Ass. – Adrian

RUNNER UP – Big Hero 6

Big Hero Six: the ass-kicking, robot-building, heart-warming movie of the year. Right off the bat it was awesome, a genius child with no direction using his prodigal engineering skills to enter robot fights. Later, with the guidance of his older brother he decides to use his talents in a more practical way. This all leads to him meeting his brothers invention, the medical robot Betamax and that is where his adventure begins. I loved this movie because of that warm, cliche feeling of the hero being triumphant in the end after overcoming physical and emotional hardship. It also is very diverse when it comes to the engineering department of his school, all of his friends coming from different racial backgrounds. I also loved that it could inspire kids to enter STEM fields in college and change the world through science. This movie definitely gets my vote for one of the best movies of the year. – Jojo

RUNNER UP – The Book of Life

With a better afterlife than Corpse Bride and better colors than a Sesame Street acid trip, The Book of Life is one of the best family movies in recent history. It’s a fun romp through the world of the dead. My favorite part is the fact that one of the producers is king of creepy goodness Guillermo Del Toro, unexpected and wonderful. The story is fun little love triangle between Manolo and Joaquin as they fight for the beautiful Maria. Channing Tatum brings a good humor to the story as Joaquin, a lady killer military man. In a wager between a fighting couple, of the spirit world variety, Manolo, Diego Luna, is sent to the Land of the Remembered after being bitten by a poisonous snake, he of course has to fight his way back to the realm of the living to win the heart of the lovely Maria, Zoe Saldana. Gather the whole family and enjoy this sugar skull full of fun. – Scott

Next Category: Best Independent Movie

Best of 2014: Movies – Best Comedy

Another year is in the books, and we here at Hush Comics couldn’t pass at the chance to rank our favorites of this year’s releases in all types of mediums. Some of the winners will surprise you; heck, some of the results surprised  us. The results are completely subjective, and therefore were chosen with infallible logic. We would love to hear your opinions on what we have chosen, or if you thought we missed anything. This should be a fun review before we gear up for 2015.

Click on the link to take you to the “Best of 2014” homepage.

Best Comedy

• 22 Jump Street
• A Million Ways to Die in the West
• Knights of Badassdom
• Neighbors
• Sex Tape

WINNER – 22 Jump Street

Let’s be honest.  No one goes to see a Jump Street movie because of the plot. But that doesn’t make the franchise any less hilarious.  This time, cop duo Schmidt and Jenko are working undercover as college students.  While the hijinks were the same, I found this movie funnier than its predecessor because the kids that were doing bad things were actually of age.  Ice Cube was hilarious in this movie, particularly when it came to his daughter.  There were many laugh-out-loud moments, making it our favorite comedy of the year. Plus Channing Tatum never hurts.  – Adrian

Second Place – Neighbors

Although North Korea has made America look like pansies by canceling The Interview with Seth Rogan and James Franco. In 2014, we need to remember we had the next best thing, kinda. We had Neighbors with Seth Rogan, Zac Efron and Dave Franco. This movie was filled with all the classics the world expected out of a Rogan-Franco film; drugs, penises, and the most amazing  dildo sword fight scene known to cinematic history. This film was hilarious, and allowed me to see how non-stressful and unserious the world can be sometimes. Without a doubt, 2014 became a little more comical with Neighbors. – Evan

Third Place – Knights of Badassdom

For 90 minutes (ish), Knights of Badassdom made LARPing the coolest thing in the world – and not in that dickish sarcastic way. What really drew me in were the guest appearances by Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones) and Danny Pudi (Abed Nadir in Community), not to mention that Firefly’s Summer Glau is the main love interest. This movie does have a bit of horror mixed in, but it’s much more Tucker & Dave Vs. Evil than Cabin in the Woods. – Sherif

RUNNER UP – A Million Ways to Die in the West

Don’t get me wrong, A Million Ways was not a great movie. It was barely a good movie. However, it was a Seth McFarlane movie, and that much it lived up to. This cast of relatively big names leads a fun adventure with the typical Seth McFarlane-esque humor. There are guest appearances, mustache dances (pictured above) and a lot of innuendo – thank you Jesus for Sarah Silverman. I especially enjoyed the commentary on how primitive a time the Wild West days actually were. People died, a lot. Fun fact: Liam Neeson, who plays the bad guy in the movie, insisted that he keep his Irish accent, only to pay homage to McFarlane’s joke on Family Guy of playing a cowboy with an Irish accent. It’s no coincidence that Seth McFarlane gets to cast a bunch of great actors; these guys love him! – Sherif

RUNNER UP – Sex Tape

One thing is for certain: nobody understands the Cloud. It’s almost like those hackers got their idea from this movie, because damn, how could that timing be any more awkward, right? Aynway, this movie revolves around an aging, but still somehow kind of hot Cameron Diaz and the sex tape she made with Jason Segel. There are tons of penis jokes – I know those are all the rage now – but the funnier part to me are the ones that make fun of how little this generation understands about the technology we use every day; isn’t that right, JLaw? You’re not gonna see anything spectacular here, but Jason Segel fans will still love his comedy. – Sherif

Next Category: Best Sci-Fi/Action Movie

Best of 2014: Movies – Best Comic Book Movie

Another year is in the books, and we here at Hush Comics couldn’t pass at the chance to rank our favorites of this year’s releases in all types of mediums. Some of the winners will surprise you; heck, some of the results surprised  us. The results are completely subjective, and therefore were chosen with infallible logic. We would love to hear your opinions on what we have chosen, or if you thought we missed anything. This should be a fun review before we gear up for 2015.

Click on the link to take you to the “Best of 2014” homepage.

Best Comic Book Movie

• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier
• Amazing Spider-Man 2
• X-Men: Days of Future Past
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

WINNER – Guardians of the Galaxy

There’s no way you thought it could be anything else, right? The pelvic sorcery was just too strong with this one. With Marvel constantly putting out sequels and reboots and team-ups, this film of the most rag-tag group of a-holes in the galaxy was a deep breath of fresh air for fans. It might have been a way to say, “look, we can make a movie starring a talking raccoon and a tree and you’ll love it,” or it could be a sign of Marvel’s willingness to finally look outside the box, but any movie that can take that lazy idiot from Parks and Recreation and make him an international sex symbol is worthy of some award. – Sherif

Second Place – Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

What’s not to love here? This movie not only had awesome special effects and fight scenes, but it also had a plot element that reverberated through the entire marvel cinematic universe including the television show. If that wasn’t enough, they even cherry-picked some of the best scenes from the comic books including a snippet from the Civil War storyline where Cap breaks out of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. While this wasn’t the first Marvel movie to follow The Avengers, it is the first one to follow more of the aftermath of that film as most of Thor was spent on Asgard (or at least dealing with that problem). We actually get to see the continuation of that plot as well as the buildup to the next Avengers movie. – Robert

Third Place – Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out this year. That sounds silly, but when thinking about a year in review, this movie’s premiere seems like it was ages ago.  Perhaps that’s because it felt like a classic comic movie to me.  I for one loved this movie.  It had scenes and dialogue that would appeal to all audiences, and at it’s core, that is what any Spider-Man movie should do.  While the ending was controversial, it was cannon and beautifully done.  It’s too bad that there were other films that came out this year that overshadowed this film; it may have done better last year.  However,  I think this is one will stand the test of time. – Adrian

RUNNER UP – X-Men: Days of Future Past

What can I say that anyone who’s been reading comics for more than a minute wouldn’t already know? It’s the movie of one of the best X-Men comics ever made – an apocalyptic future where sentinels readily hunt humans, and a little time travel is needed to fix it. These new X-Men movies are killin’ it, and I couldn’t handle how into this movie I was when I saw it in theaters. I do wish Kitty Pride had been the one to go back in time instead of Wolverine, but, Wolverine is apparently what the people want. Maybe the best thing about this new installment, though, is how it undid the unfortunate events of X3… by making it so that it never existed. – J.H.

RUNNER UP – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This will be a hard one to slice, and no pizza or sword pun intended there. This movie sure received a lot of hate and skepticism before the movie ever came out, and most people never shook that. To me, though, this film may not have been the best made comic book film (which definitely goes to Guardians), but TMNT gave me a feeling harkening back to my childhood and watching the original live-action turtles, which came out when I was only two…weird… Ultimately, they did Michelangelo right and as a man who owns a winter wardrobe where I look just like Mikey I can say that was enough to earn my approval. With Bebop and Rocksteady already confirmed for the sequel, you can bet I will be first in line all dressed up and ready to go. – Jacob

Next Category: Best Straight to DVD Movie